Happiness Is In Your Left Hemisphere

Contrary to popular belief, our emotions and feelings do not reside in our hearts, but in our brains. Studies done in recent times show that a large part of our happiness lies in the left hemisphere. Every time we feel excited, full of energy, positive and hopeful, it is our left prefrontal cortex that shows the most neural activity.

This is very interesting. Daniel Goleman talked about this in an article in the New York Times. He explained that disciplines such as psychology, along with Buddhism and spirituality, work together to find answers to many of the questions we have as human beings, about human beings.

In May 2000, a joyful and productive meeting was held. The Dalai Lama met the best psychologists and neurologists of the time. They had one purpose in mind. It was a difficult but practical purpose: to know how Buddhism dealt with negative emotions. They also wanted to find out what happened in a person’s brain when they meditated and focused on goodness, altruism and happiness.

They held meetings for five days in Dharamshala, India. This should prove to be a very productive meeting for one of the researchers, namely Dr. Richard Davidson, head of the Affective Neuroscience Laboratory at the University of Wisconsin. He has also written the book The Emotional Life of Your Brain . He left this meeting with a hypothesis:

Happiness lies in your left hemisphere

Dr. Davidson is known for his research on affective neuroscience. He repeats a certain phrase in every conference he holds: the key to having a healthy life is to have a healthy mind. Today, he heads the Center for Healthy Minds, at the same university.

In 2008, he focused one of his studies on demonstrating the relationship between neuroplasticity and meditation techniques. He wanted to see if people who have practiced meditation techniques for large parts of their lives had greater electrical activity and better concentration.

We can also find some of his most interesting theories in his book The Emotional Life of Your Brain . It was published in 2012. In this book, he reveals that happiness lies in the left hemisphere. Let’s dive deeper into this idea.

The forehead patch and our emotions

Many studies have been done on the mass of trillions of neurons that lie inside our skulls. To say that happiness lies in our left hemisphere is a way of expressing how our positive emotions have also evolved over time.

• For example, until recently, people assumed that emotions and emotions were located in the most primitive area of ​​the brain, sometimes known as the reptile brain. This is where we can find the oldest structures, such as the limbic system. The limbic system regulates the autonomic processes such as respiration and blood pressure. It also has an effect on emotional reactions such as fear and anger.
• But neuroscience made a new discovery more than 30 years ago. We already know that emotions are not exclusively placed in the limbic system. In fact, this structure is directly related to the frontal lobe, a structure involved in more complex thought processes.

Bad feelings, stress and anxiety are located in the right hemisphere

Dr. Richard Davidson already had this in mind. He already knew about the existing relationship between the limbic system and the forehead. But after many years of research and some MRI tests, something caught his attention:

• The functional images showed that when we feel anxiety, stress or depression, the most active areas of the brain are the circuits that converge in the amygdala as well as in the right prefrontal cortex.
• The right prefrontal cortex is related to extreme alertness, a condition that occurs when we are exposed to high levels of stress.

The left hemisphere and positive emotions

Happiness lies in the left hemisphere, or more specifically in the left part of the forehead. When we feel calm, optimistic, relaxed and hopeful, the right part of the forehead begins to show less activity due to the intense neuronal activity that occurs on the opposite side. This is a very important and striking fact that neuroscience has validated.

If happiness lies in the left hemisphere, how can we stimulate this area?

Dr. Davidson has established that in order to change brain activity, the best thing we can do is improve our thoughts and general mental activity. This is something that the cognitive-behavioral approach supports, as it is often used to treat anxiety, depression, phobias and stress.

Similarly, if happiness lies in the left hemisphere, and you want to “pacify” the hyperactivity of your right forehead, we recommend that you practice these dimensions:

• Meditation.
• Kindness.
• Altruism.
• Give yourself time to rest.
• Cultivate friendship.
• Keep a goal in mind (be motivated ).
• Be enthusiastic.
• Be positive and hopeful.

No matter where a particular process, quality or competence lies, there is one aspect we must always keep in mind. No one but yourself can change or optimize your mental activity. We should want to live a happier, more flexible and open life. We should give ourselves the opportunity to determine the authentic neurological basis for happiness.