A few also mention how something like gardening or woodworking gives them time to themselves, and helps put them into a better frame of mind – almost like meditation.

All these are good benefits of physical exertion, but I feel there is even more benefit than these.  I believe any activity that occupies the body, without requiring heavy, continuous thought, has immeasurable positive impacts on our minds and spirits.

We free our minds if we keep our bodies occupied.  This, I believe, is why so many people pace when they are thinking, or grab things like stress relief balls when they are contemplating.

Conversely, if our minds are not actively engaged and our bodies are inactive, we are shackled by this inactivity, and rarely see benefits.

Think about sitting on the couch watching television.  It is possible we might find a fascinating show that challenges us to think and re-evaluate things we know, and gain benefit because our minds are actively engaged.  However, most people sit there, occasionally changing channels, doing nothing more than passing time.  When was the last time you can recall having a flash of inspiration – and acting on it while randomly watching television?

Our minds are like hospitals, and our bodies are like the power generators keeping them going.  If our bodies are inactive, we are not generating energy for our minds to operate.  We have our batteries that we recharge nightly by sleeping, but those only supply so much energy each day if we are inactive.

Carrying the analogy further, our consciousness is like the emergency room, and our subconscious minds are like the rest of the hospital.  Just as doctors and nurses are called from other parts of the hospital to help in the ER when it gets busy, so too does all our mental processing focus on our conscious thoughts when our minds are actively engaged – whether it is for work, or studying, or anything else that involves heavy concentration.

By disengaging our consciousness, our subconscious can handle all its background processing if we give it the chance.  This is where the generator idea comes in.  Engaging our bodies causes our body to release energy stores to provide the energy our muscles need to perform.  The brain also benefits from this, as the energy moves through the whole body.  If our conscious mind is not monopolizing all our mental energy, this leaves more energy for our subconscious to use to process ideas, come up with revelations, work through problems in ways we aren’t even aware of, store memories, create intuitive connections, and more.

We don’t even need to be alone for this to work.  Think about hiking or backpacking with a close friend.  You don’t need to talk all the time – you can enjoy the trip and the company.  Your body is focused on the hiking, and your mind is free to wander from thought to idea and solution as you enjoy the scenery.  Even talk that doesn’t require much thought – as you get with friends – leaves plenty of energy for your subconscious.

How can we improve this?  We need to set aside time each day or week to allow the subconscious to capitalize on this process.  It can be as simple as visiting the gym three times a week – giving you opportunities to improve both your physical and mental shape.  Or, it can involve carefully scheduling chores and childcare responsibilities to give you the time.

Either way, we only lose if we don’t give our minds time to process information in their own time and way.

What if we are wrong?  What if happiness is actually bad for us?  This wouldn’t be the first time this has happened.  Those triple-fudge, death-by-chocolate brownies with two scoops of ice cream and caramel all over them, topped with cherries and nuts are so good, yet so bad for us.  Could happiness be the same thing?

I believe some forms of happiness are bad for us.  Happy we did not get pulled over for speeding because the cop got called away for something more serious.  Happy someone gets fired because we didn’t like them.  These are a couple cases where we can’t help but be happy (or at least relieved), yet at the same time we might feel guilty for being happy.

There are other, more subtle cases of happiness that are, perhaps, even worse for us.  In recent years, there has been considerable backlash against the fashion world for portraying the ideal of beauty as anorexic, white, and emotionless.  This has led to campaigns encouraging women to be happy with their bodies – flaws and all.

I believe both of these views are bad.  Most supermodels must be unhealthy to get and keep the bodies they flaunt – very bad and ultimately leads to more problems in the long run.  However, on the other extreme, telling people to be happy with their morbidly obese (or even just obese) bodies is no better, and in many cases even worse than the issues the supermodels face.

Even in our daily lives, this “happy with who I am” can and will be counterproductive.  If I am happy with who I am, I don’t have any incentive to change.  The reasons behind being happy with myself really don’t matter – I can delude myself into overlooking my flaws, change my standards so that my flaws are acceptable, or even elevate my flaws by considering them strengths.  By settling for being happy with who I am, I believe I am robbing myself of the opportunity to become the best person I can be.

Does this mean I need to shun happiness?  Absolutely not.  The moments of happiness we find on life’s journey are what make life worth living.  However, my feelings of happiness are more intense – and more memorable – the more I have to work to achieve them.

You value something the more you pay for it – whether the cost is time, money, physical effort, emotional investment, or mental anguish.  Being happy with me as I am costs me nothing, so I do not value it.  Being happy with myself when go through the effort to I think and act the way I want to be is one of the most valuable gifts I can give myself.

Set your standards high – but realistic.  Don’t be happy with yourself when you fall short.  In the end you will be that much happier when you meet your standards.  Then start over – set your standards even higher and start trying again.

If this is the Pursuit of Happiness, then maybe the founding fathers were right after all.

gfranks.com – Writing – 20 Life-Altering Metaphors

Looking through the list of quotes he gave, I found the following particularly striking to me.

“Reading is a means of thinking with another person’t mind; it forces you to stretch your own” Charles Scribner Jr

“Happiness is as a butterfly which, when pursued, is always beyond our grasp, but which if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you” Nathaniel Hawthorne

“In matters of principle, stand like a rock; in matters of taste, swim with the current.” Thomas Jefferson

Can this be true?  After attempting to research this and trying to find a statistical correlation that I trust, I have to conclude “not necessarily.”

Looking at everything from life expectancy to cancer rates and cure rates for cancer, fertility rates, and even general causes of death, I do not see anything that I can point to and say “Eastern(or Western) practices are more effective, as shown by X.”  Instead, I see evidence that less empirical that shows that different aspects of each are useful to a long, healthy, and active life.

Those that get caught up in one side or the other are missing out on benefits offered by the other.  Western science can’t prove why Eastern techniques work.  Conversely, Eastern techniques don’t address all the issues Western science has found.  Instead, I am researching and applying elements of both to my life.  Since I have grown up in Western society, and been focused on modern scientific methods and thoughts, I do things more in line with Western thought, but I am slowly incorporating elements from Eastern traditions into my life as I find ways they can complement my life and needs.

I emphatically say no.  In my mind, the pinnacle of human development is a balance point where we both understand and accept our shortcomings, strive consistently to reduce them, and reach out to others to help us and to help them.  It also involves managing a complex range of healthy relationships, appreciating others’ views of ourselves without allowing them to decide our view of ourselves, and using our influence for positive change instead of our own advantage.

Since life is a journey without a set destination, it is up to us to chart our own course and make our own decisions.  Our happiness and personal development is only in our hands – we can’t delegate it to others.  Neither can we force others to develop themselves, we can only encourage – that is a decision only they can make for themselves.