By: Deepak Chopra M.D. and Rudolph E. Tanzi Ph.D.
I recently received a copy of this book and really enjoyed reading it.
Emotions are a vast subject, but there's one statement that
holds true for everyone. The most desirable emotional state is happiness. Even though happiness is a mental state, the body is deeply affected by our moods. Chemical messages tell every cell how you feel. In its own way a cell can be happy or sad, agitated or content, joyous or despairing. The super genome amply confirms this fact. If your stomach has ever tightened from fear, the "gut
brain" is eavesdropping on your emotion, and when depression afflicts several generations in a family, epigenetic marks may be playing a key role. Most polls find that around 80 percent of people describe themselves as happy, and yet other research indicated that at best around 30 percent of people are actually thriving, while rates of depression, anxiety, and stress continue to
rise.
It is highly unlikely that a "happiness gene" will ever be discovered. As discussed in the newholds true for everyone. The most desirable emotional state is happiness. Even though happiness is a mental state, the body is deeply affected by our moods. Chemical messages tell every cell how you feel. In its own way a cell can be happy or sad, agitated or content, joyous or despairing. The super genome amply confirms this fact. If your stomach has ever tightened from fear, the "gut
brain" is eavesdropping on your emotion, and when depression afflicts several generations in a family, epigenetic marks may be playing a key role. Most polls find that around 80 percent of people describe themselves as happy, and yet other research indicated that at best around 30 percent of people are actually thriving, while rates of depression, anxiety, and stress continue to
rise.
book, SuperGenes. The new genetics tells us that in complex diseases like cancer hundreds of separate genetic mutations are likely involved. Emotions are much more complex than any disease. But we don't need to discover the happiness gene. Instead, we should give as much positive input to the super genome as possible, trusting it to produce positive output. Science may take decades to
correlate the complex gene activity that produces happiness; in the meantime, the super genome connects all the input that life brings us.
Let's contrast the kind of input that promotes beneficial gene activity with the kind that creates damage. Both lists contain items you are quite familiar with by now, but it's good to see everything gathered together.
Positive Input to the Super Genome
12 things that reinforce happiness
- Meditation
- Love and affection
- Satisfying work
- Creative outlets
- Hobbies
- Success
- Being appreciated
- Being of service
- Healthy food,
- water, and air
- Setting long-range goals
- Physical fitness
- Regular routine
- free of stress
It's hard to imagine that someone whose life contains these things on a daily basis wouldn't be happy. By the same token, the things that the super genome reads as negative must be avoided.
Negative Input to the Super Genome
14 things that damage happiness
- Stress
- Toxic relationships
- Boring, unsatisfying work
- Being ignored and taken for granted
- Constant distractions during the day
- Sedentary habits
- Negative beliefs, pessimism
- Alcohol, tobacco, and drugs
- Eating when you're already full
- Processed foods and fast food
- Physical illness, especially if painful
- Anxiety and worry
- Depression
- Unhappy friends
Pick up a copy of the book and find out more about your Supergenes.
Reprinted
from SUPER GENES. Copyright © 2015 by Deepak Chopra, D.D., and
Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D. Published by Harmony Books, an imprint of the
Crown Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House, LLC.
