This Emotional Recap: Rethinking Happiness

The third and final episode of This Emotional Life flows with much more ease than the second episode did.

It’s said several times during “Rethinking Happiness” that happiness is harder work than misery, but This Emotional Life blooms when the topic isn’t bogged down by the less pleasant emotions.

“Rethinking Happiness” is a swift and thorough look at the how money, health, and work are important to the equation of happiness — but in complicated ways.

And it’s take-away point comes full circle to the first episode: quality of relationships are the underlying factor.

Because we need others to survive, as host Daniel Gilbert explains, nature designed us to be happy when our social connections are strong.

Happiness spreads

And happiness appears to be contagious. Physician and sociologist Nicholas Christakis shares his research on the data gathered from the Framingham Heart Study, which tracks six generations of residents in the Framingham, Massachusetts.

His findings show that spreads through social networks up to the third degree.

Can you imagine what the studies will show on how this relates to social networks on the web?

The power of human connection

Bob Shumaker, a former POW in Vietnam, shares his story on how human connection can transcend even the most brutal circumstances.

He and other prisoners developed a tap code on their cell walls that spelled out the alphabet. Through this tapping, they exchanged French lessons, music lessons, and how to fix a television.

It kept their minds active and their human connection alive.

Bob’s segment is a must-see, and a testament to our human strength and capacity for resilience.

The power of mindfulness

As relationships are key to happiness, mindfulness is key to relationships.

Mindfulness helps you enjoy the moment, take in new experience, be emotionally available to those you care about, and pay attention to your priorities in life.

“Rethinking Happiness” has a nice segment on the benefits of aging, as they naturally lead to increased mindfulness in the form of: clarity about oneself, daily gratitude, and less worry about the past or the future.

The promise of mindfulness meditation

The brain research on the merits of mindfulness meditation are also introduced, as well as interviews from the Dalai Lama.

It’s shared that Buddhist monks and other experienced mediators’ brains show more “active” left prefrontal cortices, which is thought to in large part “register the positive emotions.”

This suggests meditation increases levels of well-being. It’s a breakthrough in the bridging of science and spirituality.

The limits of mindfulness meditation

But it’s also a very broad suggestion, and much more investigation will be pivotal in steering a more mindful bridge.

Meditation can do wonders for relieving stress and anxiety, but turning on and off the darker emotions isn’t so simple, or even always possible.

When asked if he would eliminate his POW years from his life if he could, Bob said he wouldn’t. Because he learned things about himself that he otherwise would not have learned, and he developed psychological tools that helped him live his life.

So being able to turn down the stress is a useful skill to have. But it’s not a long-term solution, because emotional resilience comes from integrating the painful, rather than avoiding it.

And it’s not always possible to avoid a negative emotion, let alone a negative circumstance.

The relationship between meditation and mindfulness is a complex one, and “Rethinking Happiness” introduces it to a wider audience.

The promise of forgiveness

Forgiveness is also prescribed as a way to decrease negative emotions and increase well-being.

I’ve written before how forgiveness — commonly preached — is more often a game than a successful coping mechanism.

But I do like how Director of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects, Fred Luskin emphasizes the importance choosing response ability over clinging to past pain out of a sense of “righteousness.”

I’d take that, and leave any dysfunctional ways to dealing with dark emotions, such as mindfulness meditation as a prescription. Which essentially helps one avoid having to experience and integrate their dark emotions.

The importance of science

It’s clear from “Rethinking Happiness” that Gilbert and the co-creators of This Emotional Life have profound respect for the scientific process, and how it’s answering a lot of tough psychology questions that we’d do better with answers too, even if those answers are continually developing.

Thus, it’s clear that Gilbert doesn’t appreciate much of the self-help industry boom, which can mislead people due to a lack of scientific framework. And he’s wary of media jumping the gun on positive psychology, which is still a very young field.

Yes, it’s true that science holds the key to better understanding human happiness, and perhaps spreading it, but it’s not a simple dichotomy of science is good and intuition is bad.

The complexity of science

The fact is, science is intricate in itself. Reading soundbites about science isn’t science literacy, and what we really need is more literacy, which fosters a more critical understanding of research.

Science is a constantly growing endeavor, and it’s a human endeavor, shaped by human minds. We need to be mindful of that fact, and remember that even when science doesn’t have all the answers, we still need to act on what we’ve got.

We still need to cultivate response ability and emotional resilience, by our own accord.

The power of This Emotional Life

All in all, episodes 1-3 of This Emotional Life present a rich tapestry of research, case studies, and candid interviews on what makes our emotional lives so complex yet also so simple.

Be sure to check out more the official Web site if you haven’t already, which is likely to expand its hub of resources on the important topics covered throughout the show.

If you watched the whole production, or just this final episode, share your thoughts with us below.

Thanks for joining me

Thanks for tuning into to the This Emotional Life article series, which included a critical precap and recaps 1, 2, and 3.

This Emotional Life is just the beginning of your journey. I encourage you to keep the dialogue open, and keep asking important questions about your emotional life.

Grab your feed to stay tuned for future Mindful Construct discussions on emotions, their intelligence, their complexity, and their grace.