Perceiving Reality

Life satisfaction is correlated more to a person’s inward state, than to a person’s outward circumstances. This concept is the key to understanding the science behind happiness. In our culture we often assume that the circumstances of our external world predict our happiness. But in reality, psychologists say if they know everything about ones external world, they can only predict 10 percent of that persons long-term happiness. This means 90 percent of long-term happiness is predicted by the lens through which one sees the external world—not necessarily how it really is.

Reality is relative. In fact, reality may be perceived as different for two people in the same circumstances. Personal reality comes through how one inwardly see the world. My definition of reality is the lens through which the brain views the world. That lens is what shapes individual reality. If we can change our perspective—by changing the lens through which we view the world—we can control our happiness.

Shakespeare

A grand legend through the centuries—William Shakespeare is undoubtedly the most well-known playwright of all time. He was a bit of a mysterious fellow, but we know he was born in England, and most of his plays were performed at the Globe Theatre in London. Shakespeare is credited with lavish praise for shaping modern drama and theatre. His plays remain a widely regarded part of theatre entertainment throughout the modern world.

Love’s Labor’s Lost is one of Shakespeare’s more unique plays. Abundant with quick wittedness and one of Shakespeare’s early comedies, it breaks the norm from his traditional comedic plays because it does not end with marriage.  It was first performed around 1594, and was first printed in 1598. Shakespearian scholars say Love’s Labor’s Lost targets Shakespeare’s most intellectual crowd; perhaps it was written for the entertainment of university students. The play is rich with literary illusions, sophisticated word choice, and contemporary poetic forms. 

The Four Gospels

In studying the four gospels Matthew, Mark, and Luke will often record an event that John speaks nothing of; likewise, John will record an event that the other authors speak nothing of. Each book is a whole by itself, and at the same time, each book is also part of the whole, as they come together in the harmony of one book.

Together the four Gospels tell who Jesus was, but they are more testimonies than biographies. They descried the character of Christ more so than the day-by-day story line of his ministry.  The testimonies in the gospels tell who Jesus was, what he said, what he did, and why it was important.

Thoroughly reading the four gospels this semester has brought me to a deeper understanding of his nature. I’ve discovered that it is essential to know of the Lord in order to believe in him. The more I learn of the Savior the deeper the roots of my faith grow.  

Positive Psychology

In a recent Ted Talk, Shawn Achor explained how he studied the happiness of the Harvard freshmen class. He said no matter how happy the students were when they got accepted to Harvard, after the first two weeks of school their brains were focused, not on the privilege of being there, or on their classes. Their brains were instead, focused on the competition, the workload, the hassles, the stresses, and the complaints. The students had forgotten to be happy about the privilege of studying at Harvard.

Achor’s study demonstrates how happiness is correlated to the inward state more than to outward circumstances. This concept is the key to understanding the science of happiness. In our culture we often assume that the circumstances of our external world predict our happiness. But in reality, Achor says “if I know everything about your external world, I can only predict 10 percent of your long-term happiness,” which means 90 percent of long-term happiness is predicted by the lens through which we see the external world. 

The Science of Happiness

I just listened to the most fantastic "Ted Talk," called The Happy way to Better Work. It's about positive psychology and the science of happiness. Below is a portion of my favorite part. Very Enlightening. 

"First, every time your brain has a success, you just changed the goalpost of what success looked like. You got good grades, now you have to get better grades, you got into a good school and after you get into a better school, you got a good job, now you have to get a better job, you hit your sales target, we're going to change your sales target. And if happiness is on the opposite side of success, your brain never gets there. What we've done is we've pushed happiness over the cognitive horizon as a society. And that's because we think we have to be successful, then we'll be happier."

"But the real problem is our brains work in the opposite order. If you can raise somebody's level of positivity in the present, then their brain experiences what we now call a happiness advantage, which is your brain at positive performs significantly better than it does at negative, neutral or stressed. Your intelligence rises, your creativity rises, your energy levels rise. In fact, what we've found is that every single business outcome improves."  

Charity

Charity is a thread woven through all the standard works. Nephi explains charity as the highest, noblest, and strongest kind of love, he defines it as the most joyous to the soul. And Paul’s writings to the Corinthians talk about faith, hope, and charity—and his conclusion is “the greatest of these is charity.” Through Paul’s phenomenal discourse on charity we learn that charity is a state of being, that it isn’t doing more, it’s being more.  

I think of charity as a sign of spiritual refinement. I think charity becomes part of us as we put off the natural man and become a new creature in Christ. Perhaps we become charitable, as we grow closer to Christ, because the more time we spend with him the more his characteristics influence us. It’s the same with happiness; we are all the happiest when we are closest to Heavenly Father. In my opinion this is because he is a radiantly happy being, and the more time we spend communing with him, the more his happiness rubs off on us. 

Merry-Go-Rounds: Solution to Ghana's problem

Problem one: Students in Ghana have no way to do their homework at night because they have no light.

Problem two: Students only have one toy on the playground—a soccer ball.

A group of BYU students found the solution to both problems— a merry-go-round. This merry-go-round is designed specifically to create electricity, so students in Ghana can charge their lamp lights and have light to study in the evenings.

The merry-go-round also solves the second problem. Ghana students can play on the merry-go-round during recess, which powers the generator, which in turn acts as an energy source to lanterns. This allows the students to take the lanterns home so they can study into the evenings.

Professor Shumway of BYU, has visited Ghana several times to teach teachers how the merry-go-rounds works. During his visits to Ghana he usually educates school staff on how to teach students the science behind the magical merry-go-round. Additionally, the education behind the miraculous playground piece serves as a catalyst in getting students to think about the magnificence of science and technology.