Ep 21 - Psychology and Spirituality | The Physiology of Happiness

foreign welcome to this psychology in spirituality a bridge to a better life discussion I am your host Mercy Trejo and with me is my co-host josada korngod jasada is the Secretary General of the international spiritus Council and former president and current Vice President of the United States spiritus Federation for the past 30 years josada corn goat has been volunteering as a counselor in fraternal conversations in several spiritist institutions I want to thank you for joining us and I want to say that the psychology in spirituality program is brought to you sponsored by Ami Brazil United States spiritus Federation and the international spiritus Council make sure you subscribe to our Channel if you have it already done so and if you want more information please check us out at www.spiritus.us and if today's topic of interest for you we would like to recommend you read the following books by Joanna DeAngelis they are all written with a collaboration by devaldo Pereira Franco um we have wake up and be happy uh we also have finding peace uh in health way and the conscious being with that I would like to say that those books are currently available at the layout publisher spiritus books and you can find them by uh going to www.lialpublisher.com and I want to say hello to josada how you doing today hello Martia hi everyone welcome back yes yes it's so good to be here and today we're going to continue a conversation that we started last week and it is the overarching topic is happiness but today we're gonna zoom in into the physiology of happiness and for that I'm going to take a little bit to different approach I'm going to read a couple of quotations from um Joanna DeAngelo's book on finding peace and health and I would like for us to just talk about Comet reflect upon is that okay with you sure okay so the first word which is beige uh my page 127 because I think you have the book in front of you if you want to reference it but it says um that no scientists have increasingly

kay with you sure okay so the first word which is beige uh my page 127 because I think you have the book in front of you if you want to reference it but it says um that no scientists have increasingly strived to detect the hormones in the brain that trigger joy and happiness and the hormones responsible for resentment and depression slowly the understanding and decoding of the elements answering for feelings in the biochemical processes of the brain which are greatly responsible for behaviors emotions are emerging so with that I want us to talk a little bit about maybe uh the you know the the impact of hormones it's very specific how do we feel have a correlation to the hormones that are triggering joy happiness on one hand or resentment and depression um can you talk to us what are those hormones and what can we do with understanding that we emote and we are co-responsible if you will for our own sense of happiness yes Marcia um as you all may imagine at this point this is a very big subject and uh we are not experts in the area but of course we are students and uh as human beings it's something that is in the field of our interest especially when we are talking about uh psychology and spirituality because we understand that the the functioning of our physical body is sorry is is directed by our spirit our spirit meaning our emotions our you know the whole inheritance so to say that we bring that may have provoked an impact and even in the formation of our bodies to be um and when we are talking about this aspect specifically uh understanding that um our let's say analyzing the reactions here I I don't I don't feel happy I don't feel satisfaction I have a tendency to not necessarily just depressive mood but really uh clinical diagnosed depression all of that uh we understand that it's re it represents a is a result of the unbalance of those hormones so the chemicals in our brains normally we're talking about the serotonin the Anderson the dopamine and the oxytoxin right yeah and

's re it represents a is a result of the unbalance of those hormones so the chemicals in our brains normally we're talking about the serotonin the Anderson the dopamine and the oxytoxin right yeah and um so um what we do not understand is that it the mind is in convention and it will have an impact in how much this the deficiency is going to uh to be prolonged or not here we're not saying that uh we should just think of like you know some people will say oh look something for it for you a hobby look for a hobby and then you will no longer feel depression once it is established we have to to follow up with uh uh our doctors and maybe we will need to take medicine in order to reach a state of balance again but what is important for us to under to understand it's all that we are talking in terms of feelings emotions they will impact for the better or for the worse and it's not something that we think we think as much sometimes you know we see people that have a natural tendency see to depreciate everything they have all the good things that happen that are happening to them maybe this is it because of an unbalance is not because there is a lack of good things going on their way and on the contrary we may see people that have each and every reason to feel miserable and they're not yeah you have a different stage of you know reacting to all that what do you say Marcia oh this is this is right right on the money if if you may if I may use that expression right uh we we talked a lot about definitions of Happiness we talked a lot about uh it's more the 90 10 right 90 percent in in how we we are set to to have a life with goals and 10 in those uh lower uh the lower needs if you speak about uh Maslow's uh hierarchy of needs right the more the material Comfort Etc we talked all about it and here we talk about well there's this whole other area that impacts our sense of well-being right rosada in our sense of happiness and it's all about that access to to those to to that balance of

t and here we talk about well there's this whole other area that impacts our sense of well-being right rosada in our sense of happiness and it's all about that access to to those to to that balance of hormones and of course the I believe the oxytocin is the it's called the the happiness hormone all right that he also mentioned that and uh and uh I just uh wanted to say here that my wish for you Jose and for myself is that we all have the right level of hormones in in our bodies so let's talk a little bit maybe about the fact that your brain triggers those hormones but your your you know there's an Outlook there's an impact on our physical right and emotion and I'm sorry in mental health which all goes back into uh uh trigger a reflection toward your emotions in how are you done are so do you want to to for me to continue with the next paragraph and there is one paragraph that actually it's in the next page 128 okay same book Finding peace and health yeah which is starting negative emotions okay let me I'll read that one paragraph and we can talk about it okay and maybe we could read the the two paragraphs okay and then we talk about it and then we will read the other two because they are very very important for us to and I think uh uh hearing from the words of Juana di Angela's herself especially when you're talking about you know such a big and important subject the physiology of happiness I I think we all gonna going to benefit much more absolutely so let's start now and I hope I can read slowly so everybody can can catch the words but basically Joanna d'angelis starts the same chapter that I read before but here she says the following negative emotions stimulate more the right hemisphere of your brain which is active while positive emotions are founded on the left side or the left frontal lobe producing the corresponding feelings of unhappiness and happiness respectively thanks to this mechanism our preferences satisfactions Joys and affections are archived as well as our heart breaks

lobe producing the corresponding feelings of unhappiness and happiness respectively thanks to this mechanism our preferences satisfactions Joys and affections are archived as well as our heart breaks anxieties ill feelings animosities transforming into feelings of one or the other kind so we talked about hormones now we talk about the structure of the brain proper but but you see it's uh the structure of the brain is completely connected with this structure of the you know the spirit yes when we were talking about the self you know not staying at the ego going for the self but everything that we store in the subconscious so whether we are aware of that or not because it's in our unconscious so level so to see to say um everything that we are um Gathering throughout life stays there so a lot of negative uh emotions negative stimuli or positive ones so it's everything there and sometimes you know we may see ourselves feeling you know this uh negative emotion in anguish that we we may even say I I don't know why I'm feeling this way but maybe somehow we have to Stir It Up or something trigger you know this part of our brain should jump and show its side because this is what we we've been doing this is how we are uh storing is like you know our computer personal computer are storing data yes and you see how one thing like you know the monkey chain right yeah things brings to another because uh here we are I mean we're talking about peace uh a few weeks ago now you're talking about happiness but then you know to maintain this happiness I have to or I have to be more conscious my more mindful of uh what kind of nourishment I'm going I'm giving to my brain and what kind of nourishing month I'm giving to my brain is going to determine my emotions because they will directly impact the hormones the enzymes everything that you know one thing in a vicious circle aggravates the other and this is man it is so hard for us to break down we need um you know different stimuli like for

t the hormones the enzymes everything that you know one thing in a vicious circle aggravates the other and this is man it is so hard for us to break down we need um you know different stimuli like for instance when we engage ourselves in activities like the one we are doing now when we we put ourselves you know uh before uh lessons of life and and things that may lead us to to reason to ponder more about certain aspects in our lives that we don't pay that much attention um sometimes you know maybe people will say our happiness you're happy or you're not happy not necessarily right like we said before it's uh we can see that we can go to countries to Regions where they have only if they do have it the bare necessities of life and their state of mind the way they present themselves with that you know naivete even yes yeah so much you know less stressful more beautiful than when we say we have we live in a country with a high GDP right but it has nothing to do with that you find a bad reason right go ahead no no I want to I want to actually challenge this notion because you're bringing Point Counterpoint right we think happiness it's to have everything that quote unquote civilization brings but the Counterpoint to this no not necessarily you know if you have the bare necessities you can be in more often than not are happier and I even say the other way around somehow knowing that just said leads us to believe that you could only be happy if you go to this paradise Paradise of an island and and have this pristine Blue Waters and have nothing and I say well not necessarily either because it's all about that state of mind that you're talking so uh even the the Counterpoint to the Counterpoint we're all here talking about the complexity of attaining um your true state of happiness because it is mental it is emotional but it's also physical right technological advancements you know uh everything that we have in terms of the the Modern Life we are we are not saying anything against that on the country I

is emotional but it's also physical right technological advancements you know uh everything that we have in terms of the the Modern Life we are we are not saying anything against that on the country I mean they they they are wonderful when they came to make our lives easier and exactly because of that we should have more time to think about us to think about our real real needs I don't have to you know to to go hunt for you know to to survive anymore I don't have to walk and thank God in many places of the world but some places not yet walk I don't know how many miles to to have a bucket of water you know so everything came to make our lives easier and and it really focus more on the self and and say okay now I have all that I have the time to you know to to meditate upon more more about myself so this is in no way um criticism to the modern way of living um but just you know making us reflect about you can be someone that has basically nothing and be in a state of bliss yeah feel well and you may have everything and not necessarily feel happy and and it's a lot of little things right I mean that that's why there are so many studies and I I'm sure one of the topics that of our discussions is going to be about you know forgiveness uh but you know that shows us that holding grudges uh will impact our health and holding grudges is exactly what we are talking about here is me in this way is storing my the right hemisphere of the brain more you know garbage yeah that's good yeah you don't want the garbage anymore this is this is an invitation for no more garbage to anyone else recycle yes I'm gonna to transform this in something nicer and that's that's awesome yes to what we are going to keep uh some things we can recycle that some but some things is are really trash and we don't want to bring this trash to us yes absolutely absolutely so let's go back to reading because this is an interesting book for all of us that are uh here today to to read more but as we continue in the same chapter chapter

rash to us yes absolutely absolutely so let's go back to reading because this is an interesting book for all of us that are uh here today to to read more but as we continue in the same chapter chapter nine we'd say that all that is pleasant and enjoyable is archived we mentioned that right on the left side of the brain while perturbing an afflictive matters are stored on the right side so individuals who exert a great deal of control over their emotions in everyday events develop the right hemisphere more becoming introspective insecure dissatisfied and pessimistic while those who stimulate the left side have better humor as well as more joy they have more confidence in themselves and in relation to others with whom they live or associate the first group exudes unhappiness because they hold on to negative feelings while the second group is more pleasant to live with Inspire joy and easily go along with prepositions that provide well-being this is because extroverts produce larger amounts of lymphocytes that Humana immunize them against bacteria in viruses or destroy them if they already exist for this reason good natured laughter is considered therapeutic given the presence of immunoglobin globulins that when present in saliva Aid digestion but also protect the body against certain pathogens amazing right I know and no so everyone out there we gotta laugh we're going to have good disposition we got to be healthy but what else can we talk about this idea of our brain the the so the more we are unhappy the more we feel feed the right hemisphere of the brain and they become almost this sense of this is the type of person that I am and I it's just harder and harder for you to live with and since we are social gregarious animals it's getting harder and harder to live with people like that I can tell you Sarah as I'm saying this I can think of a person exactly like that that is just a good person but boy it's so hard to be around because the world is a dark place everything has a

e that I can tell you Sarah as I'm saying this I can think of a person exactly like that that is just a good person but boy it's so hard to be around because the world is a dark place everything has a Sinister motive everything is so much worse than it really is that this person is miserable and uh and I come in and they call me Miss Sunshine right hi everything is good and we we just we go like you know we we don't cross well because of our different dispositions so how about you josara what can you tell everyone who's here with us doing our our discussion today about the left and the right hemisphere of our brains I think this is a a beautiful invitation that Joanna DeAngelis is uh is bringing to us here because uh she is um giving a living example of action and reaction you know of everything that we do has a consequence our thoughts you know um our emotions our way of acting there will bring bring consequences and in the sense everything that we are storing in the negative sense being in the right side and the brain and the the positive on the the the the left side of the brain but then she says you know if not only because you wanted to feel good to you know feel have that well-being sensation um should strive to be paying more attention to your thoughts and behaviors but also because there will be a chemical transformation as a consequence of everything that you're thinking and doing so um the when I'm feeling down when I have that much you know disbelief in the world I don't feel like uh relating you know having relationships going out and have a good laugh as she says we are going to be more introvert like she's mentioning here staying with apple with our own thoughts that not that many times are going to be destructive kind of kind of thoughts and on the contrary when there is more of this you know storing more the positive um and and listen when we were you were talking about that we are not just talking about the experience okay because we we both may witness

hen there is more of this you know storing more the positive um and and listen when we were you were talking about that we are not just talking about the experience okay because we we both may witness the same a sunset mm-hmm And the emotions that will bring to me will not necessarily be the same to you so here we are not talking about opportunities oh but those people have more opportunities because they don't know things that we all have but we look at them in a different way according to our inner disposition and then she talks about you know the lymphocytes for for instance that can help us in terms of uh fighting against bacterias viruses and uh even if they are present already in our system to reduce them to destroy them completely to increase immunoglobulins also to help and protect our body against any kind of pathogens and infections or all of this so we have to start paying attention that's why I thought when we we we were talking about you know what kind of uh topics should we be talking about happiness this one was one of them the physiology of happiness for this reason and even to understand that there are things that are at our reach to put us in a state of much better well-being and emotional physical health everything that can contribute for us to become more Optimist and uh and see life with the different eyes different lenses right I I I I remember I don't know if you do but I remember the idea that when we see things from this Rosy colored glasses if you will uh people you would call you oh you're Pollyanna where everything is so naively put that everything is is is nice and I don't know that that's necessarily what you're saying I think number one we need to Be watchful right of how we react to that external factor I don't know if if you're okay with me giving a little bit of uh one minute lesson on emotions there are more emotions than we can name them or we're easily named them right but if we start talking about the four basic emotions and they are let me see

tle bit of uh one minute lesson on emotions there are more emotions than we can name them or we're easily named them right but if we start talking about the four basic emotions and they are let me see if I can remember fear anger sadness and joy right and and the idea is those are those are part of our day-to-day there is no judgment over good or bad uh emotions in fact they we go through that that plethora of emotional states and the one thing that I like to bring when I talk about emotions the fact that they're all a reaction to an external event okay very important so for example I feel Joy josada when my daughter I don't know I'm just bringing up something my daughter brought me flowers right and I just feel a sense of joy for the flowers uh I get sad when I I watch a movie and there's a bed of a really sad ending whatever it is those external uh inputs will make me feel this way the important thing for us to understand is feeling um as opposed to emotions are born Within so when we think in terms of the sensitivity that your spirit has uh depending on your level of maturity will then emote or bring from within this feeling that corresponds or reacts to that emotion that is a reaction to the external events so from within from without and the important thing here is to know that you can control your feelings by looking at your emotions so for example just a quick example here I am angry josada I am so angry so you start to you can ask yourself that but just that is my good friend and she'll say Mercia why are you so angry well I was driving right and this this car just went and took my place and I got so angry because I don't like people doing that to me so the question here is it's okay to be angry but why are you angry and that really important connection point to understand your emotions may lead to the feeling of superiority right I am angry because I feel that that person that cut me off does not deserve to cut me off and this is just a a poor example of that so when we start to be

may lead to the feeling of superiority right I am angry because I feel that that person that cut me off does not deserve to cut me off and this is just a a poor example of that so when we start to be very mindful of your emotions you can start then decode them if you will translate them if you will if you will interpret them to understand what is my real feeling and when we have that translation you are able to start to see is this something that has come mean as a as a response mechanism from my ego or from myself that's my one minute lesson on emotions because I was thinking for instance in terms of information right we are walking down the street and then there is this huge noise that uh it freaks you out and uh and um you know you feel it in your gut right that that emotion but what is the the correlation with the feeling is the fear yes because it's a a a a noise that came out of nowhere you don't know what it is you don't know how to identify and immediately it triggers your fear but it comes in a form of an emotion that it just in the god person that's how where we feel the center of emotions the solar plexus right I mean when we scared we are scared uh sometimes without realizing we put our hands on top of our belly button because it's exactly you know the the the emotion that comes in this area from the solar plexus so it's it it's it's so many things so many important things and there's one point Sergeant dropped you um the one point that I find it interesting here is uh in Joanna talks in in so many words about this when she talks about being vigilant about all the physiology right and how it's it's one way or another how we can become very Vigilant in terms of is this my propensity to be negative or not how am I becoming that type of person but I think it's very interesting when we start to talk about mindfulness when we start to look at that moment between a a trigger the the loud noise triggering fear and that fear which is a normal response right that will trigger

ing when we start to talk about mindfulness when we start to look at that moment between a a trigger the the loud noise triggering fear and that fear which is a normal response right that will trigger through hormones uh adrenaline in this case that will push you in your fight or flight or freeze uh reactions uh which is our part of our ancestral brain to protect us but what's important for us to understand is number one we no longer live in the African savannas therefore we don't need to flight so much from Lions we we don't have that problem yet our stressors from day to day life will push us to have this this dose of stress adrenaline because of stress and will lead us to this constant state of fear that may Express itself in a mental condition of anxiety so I think we by being very mindful of what is your environment what I can control what I cannot control what is okay and what is not so okay and when do I need to ask for help is very important in this discussion here yes and and for uh before we wrap up Marcia and it and not only uh the episode of today but even this topic of course it's the NeverEnding topic but uh I I would like to read also from this chapter uh one is that uh Joanna DeAngelo talked about here uh that was our main question in the last episode and today as well how can I attain happiness and so she says happiness is knowing how to manage everyday occurrences I'm going to read it again management the happiness is knowing how to manage everyday occurrences extracting the lessons from the most difficult situations which produces Harmony and regarding them as fitting educational opportunities that prepare one for future class classes being happy is the existential goal in reaching this goal is a psychological challenging waiting for human beings maturity so I I love it so much when she says it um looking at all all of you know the everyday occurrences the less from life even when they heart they are hard as fitting educational opportunities this

urity so I I love it so much when she says it um looking at all all of you know the everyday occurrences the less from life even when they heart they are hard as fitting educational opportunities this is what it is to leave and to experience life whether they are bringing a smile on our face or not or maybe Tears of Joy or or an app it's always an opportunity for us to build up you know and to to go into in the direction of this psychological maturity that she's talking about here we no longer want to be in the infancy of our uh spiritual possibilities our physiological and mental possibilities we want to expand we want to know more we want to feel more we want to appreciate more so and all of this comes from this exchange that we have uh the learning that we have with each other um and how much we can grow by observing things that belong not just to the realm of nature but to the realm of the human beings uh and um how they they strive even when the situations are very very challenging and just knowing that we have this possibility the possibility to adapt right and to rise up again even when we are down there this is uh it should be a source of great happiness and and fulfillment for us in every occasion of Our Lives yes yes this is amazing so we're very close to the end of our time together and I invite all of you to read those books that we mentioned previously and uh and uh just uh to to to to to put a few more thoughts in our discussion today it's important to understand that actually happiness is not different from an unhappiness because we cannot consider happiness and the the figure of Joseph Campbell right with his book on on the he where he defines the Bliss but it's the idea that no one should consider happiness to be that state of bliss that state of uh idealized uh uh sense of No Stress This Is Not What happiness is right we we mentioned this before and what I wanted to to also say is um when we when we discuss this sense of physiological um uh aspects of Happiness we're talking

ress This Is Not What happiness is right we we mentioned this before and what I wanted to to also say is um when we when we discuss this sense of physiological um uh aspects of Happiness we're talking here but we made a connection that it's not just the the physical but your mental your emotional state that will lead to that so some of the things that we can say that for all of you and I think jasada mentioned previously is that what may lead us to use our left brain or left hemisphere to become happy to be you know positioned to have a a life is to feed them with perhaps I don't know uh sincere friendship righteous a life of Peace um a a life where you invite opportunities for altruistic uh activities to have a sense of fraternal uh relationships it is basically is to live life but make an effort and this is really important make an effort to not fall prey to the stressors and anxiety and all-consuming reactions to anger and all those emotions that can lead to very difficult states such as and we talked about anxiety before but we in the states of sadness and Melancholy can lead to depression right or that anger that can lead to some actual pathological states of mind let us think about it it's normal to feel it's normal to have those emotions but that we are responsible for managing for controlling them for being Mindful and choosing to be happy and it's important what you said Marcia because uh you know relationships and uh friendship uh fraternity uh even the other day I was here in Pro from Dr Annie uh which uh you know she she's part of this project with us right uh technology and spirituality and she was saying that um vegetarians and I am a vegetarian so I can say that vegetarians have attendance to have more depression and she explained why it has nothing to do with your meals with what you are eating but more with how you may segregate yourselves interesting no longer are going to be pertaining to a certain group of people that will do will not like to go to you know

meals with what you are eating but more with how you may segregate yourselves interesting no longer are going to be pertaining to a certain group of people that will do will not like to go to you know restaurants vegetarian restaurants with you and you don't want to go out with your non-vegetarian ex-friends so to say then you create you create a situation that you he uh you put yourself more in solitude right and then it has nothing to do with the food which which we know it's in a way can be much more advantageous to your physical health person yes not necessarily mental health so you know the little things that we have to learn right and yes yes oh okay thank God never had this you know with going to a place where it or a restaurant that's not vegetarian but but it's something that leads us to think about it and and to go and and and and discover even more you know um or have more knowledge about things that can contribute to our state of Happiness absolutely I would like to to take a moment here just started to just conclude with the notion that uh Happy frame of mind is equally important than cultivating a happy body so just like what you're saying if I am a vegetarian for philosophical or dietary physical uh dietary restrictions it doesn't matter right you you have to to understand those are the two sides of the coin and um and knowing that the mind is pretty much the only thing that we control totally at any moment of Our Lives here's some tips for you to maintain a heavy mindset so I'm going to give some tips and you just saw that you conclude our episode after I finish all right so a happy mindset uh can be one that you have Detachment from your circumstances right so knowing to be mindfully present and detaching from the outcomes it means that you're now able to take better control of your lives faith faith in a higher power however you want to call it so your faith in in that higher power will help you go through the the darkest hours just to have that

le to take better control of your lives faith faith in a higher power however you want to call it so your faith in in that higher power will help you go through the the darkest hours just to have that connection with the Divine the connection with the sacred positive mental attitude right achieving Happiness by simply cultivating that positive mental attitude in paying attention josada mentioned before very careful attention to what are your daily thoughts what are you how are you reacting how are you putting storing the events into either side of your brain change in your perspective whenever we're confronted with challenges we can put ourselves in the frame of mind that you can change our perspective just by looking intentionally into the situation at a different uh way with a different light and believe right believe in yourself believe in your capabilities believe that we are taking care and everything that happens happens for a reason and we're here to learn instead of begrudge over those events and the last and most amazing point is expect to be happy it's your destiny it's my destiny and we're all here fated to be happy yeah I'm gonna I'm gonna finish in a very cheesy way no worries no be happy I hope you all have a wonderful happy weekend until next time be well awesome bye everyone be well foreign