by Sierra-Marie Gerfao, DRE
It seems like the idea of happiness is coming back in vogue. I've been reading and hearing more news reports on studies having to do with happiness recently, and related subjects such as play, so I looked into it.
Apparently, at UC Berkley, there is now a whole department called "The Greater Good Science Center," devoted in part to understanding the science of happiness. If you are noodling around on the internet, you can find a short promotional documentary they have done on their center and its work at YouTube.
There is also an interesting 2003 documentary called "Children Full of Life" that has been making the rounds recently on blogs and Facebook pages. The film (directed by Noboru Kaetsu and produced by the Japan Broadcasting Corporation) documents a year in a fourth grade class in Kanazawa, northwest of Tokyo.
Early on in the film, Mr. Kanamori, the teacher, becomes serious, focused, and opens with this question: "What's the most important thing this year?" "To be happy," his students reply. "What are we here for?" he asks. "To be happy" the students repeat in unison.
It's an unusual goal for a teacher to set, but it isn't out of left field. Ask parents what they want for their children, and happiness will almost universally rank in the first three answers.
In fact, ask any person getting ready for Christmas what they hope for the holiday, and chances are, if they don't say "happiness" outright, it is implicit in the other things they say. Is not the stuff under your Christmas tree this year there to produce the effect of happiness?
Dacher Keltner, one of the researchers at the Greater Good Science Center says that happiness is an evolutionary drive, not just in terms of the need to feel happy ourselves but to help others feel happy. He refers to Darwin's writings in Descent of Man, and underscores the line "sympathy is our strongest instinct." Now this caught my attention.
I've been talking for several years now about the exciting discovery in neurological science of "mirror neurons." Even while quietly observing others, our neurons are not disengaged. Essentially, we each have a neurological "virtual world" inside our heads that engages with others in the things they do and the feelings they feel.
The folks over at the Greater Good Science Center have been studying heart rate and breathing responses to videos: a sad video, a neutral video, and finally a video about children with cancer. What we might expect in the latter is that the heart rate and breathing of participants would go up in response to the video, indicating stress. Instead, the opposite occurs.
When participants watched a video about children with cancer, their heart rate and breathing actually slowed! The researchers hypothesize that when we encounter the sadness of others, our bodies help us stay calm so that we can engage in soothing and compassionate ways. Indeed, it seems, sympathy may be our strongest instinct.
Your joy is really a joy to the world. We all know that come January or February, the elation of our new toys from Christmas will have faded into routine. Physical touch, habits of gratitude, and living compassionately, however, are examples of practices that cultivate a sustaining happiness. With all the bustling around this season, I wish for you most of all, those things that bring real joy in your lives. Merry Christmas! I'll see you at the Christmas pageant this Sunday.
Yours in Faith,
Sierra-Marie
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