Perhaps the most important thing you can do for your brain – and for your life! – is to be happy. And yet, many Americans who are living in the highest economic standards of the world are only marginally satisfied. They are on the treadmill chanting, “if only I had more time…more money…” etc.
Well, you do have more time, if you choose how you spend it. Making pleasure a priority seems to go against our hard-working goal-oriented culture. Yet, in the end, the time you spend in pleasurable activities will be your most treasured memories.
Which brings me to this thought: who’s in charge here? You have your brain and your mind. Your brain may be focused on basic instincts, which can be briefly stated as the four F’s: feeding, fighting, fleeing and fornicating. Those instinct may be highly refined and disguised as other activities. But we are not really far removed from our primitive ancestors. We are still seeking food, our place in society, pleasure and freedom from control, and a basic desire to extend our genes through having children.
The mind is your higher self, and can choose which basic instincts to follow and which ones to suppress for the moment. You can direct your mind to focus on priorities and make choices. But you can’t separate your brain from your mind, or your mind from your brain.
Paul Pearsall, who authored the book The Pleasure Prescription, explains that we have selfish brains driven by survival instincts. “We need to counteract our ‘delight deficiency’ and ‘toxic success syndrome’ with some balanced healthy pleasure. We need a prescription to slow down, rediscover the joy in daily living, and reconnect with people.”
This then is the secret to having a truly healthy brain: good physical and mental environments on molecular, chemical, and social levels.
You can contribute to your brain's capacity to serve you well in having a happier life.
Whatever you do, whatever your job, wherever you live, and whatever your beliefs, you can choose to help out your genetic DNA through healthy diet, supplements, exercise and social activities. Your brain will love you for this.
Having a healthy brain will allow you to stretch yourself to achieve more than you ever thought possible, and you will have greater satisfaction and quality of life well into your later years.
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