Jul 29, 2016
Emma Seppala is today’s guest. She is author of “The Happiness
Track: How to Apply the Science of Happiness to Accelerate Your
Success.” She is the Associate Director for the Center of
Compassion at Stanford University. Emma’s work isn’t based on
theories or common knowledge, there is a tremendous amount of
neuroscience backing her work.
Emma starts the podcast off stating that being happy is a very
subjective experience. With that in mind, in general, happiness is
divided into two main categories; hedonic and eudemonic. Hedonic
happiness doesn’t last long and is more associated with short burst
of excitement such as sex and food. Eudemonic is much longer
lasting and is more associated with self-fulfillment. Emma goes
into depth explaining and giving example of both forms of
happiness.
Michael asks Emma to talk about the myth of success next. Emma says
Americans are over stimulating themselves, and believing that
running on adrenaline is the best way to get things done. Chronic
stress is actually what we are embracing and it starts to deplete
our immune system. Emma acknowledges that you may not be able to
control the world around you, but you can control your state of
mind. Working on Stanford’s campus, Emma has seen first hand the
severe epidemic of students buying into myths of happiness,
especially on higher achieving campuses. They believe the only way
to be successful is to burn themselves into the ground and of
course, this notion is completely false. Unplugging and taking more
vacations is the best way for us to reach our maximum potential.
Creativity and happiness in the workplace depends on it.
Next, Emma discusses the impact breathing has on our emotions.
There are different breathing practices that help out with stress
and anxiety. Nurturing more calmness in our life helps us manage
our energy much more. There was a study done at Harvard that showed
our brains wonder 50% of the time. However, science shows that we
are never happier than when we are in the moment of now. With
technology constantly at our fingertips, it is getting harder and
harder to be in the present moment. But when we are in the moment,
it boosts our charisma and happiness. People are drawn toward
others that are satisfied being in the present moment with them.
Michael and Emma turn the conversation to negative emotions. These
emotions make us more focused on ourselves and selfish. When the
focus shifts to positivity, authenticity is created. Others crave
authentic people they can connect to. They finish on talking about
creativity and how to best tap into the creative parts of your
brain. Just by making small changes in the way you work can really
make a huge difference in the way your feel and your brain
works.
In this episode of Trend Following Radio:
- Benefits of happiness
- Stresses in life
- Controlling your mind
- Happiness in college
- Cultivating resilience
- Tapping into the opposite of fight or flight response
- Impact of different breathing techniques
- Living in the moment of now
- Authenticity
- The flow state
- Activating creativity