Happiness has been explained by the media to exemplify money, beauty, and status. However, when you compare the people who have earned these trinkets, none of them appear to be any more happy, but often times more stressed, confused, and depressed. So, the world continues its search for true joy. While this discovery would seem to be something that might elicit fireworks and confetti, in reality, your own happiness may not rely on what is happening on the external side of your body, but rather the internal.
Consider those fleeting moments you are walking along the street to an appointment, when you are suddenly struck by the beauty of the sky and the changing colors of the leaves on the trees. It is these moments that we often tell ourselves that we don’t have time to smell the roses, because we have too many other things to get done. So, what do you do? You correct your perception, and block out the beauty that surrounds you, and focus your attention on your internal state and destination.
If you have never heard of Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, author of the book My Stroke of Insight, you are about to get the introduction of a lifetime. She is a neuroanatomist who once was very left brained (analytical, objective, logical), until she suffered a stroke that allowed her to experience life from the vantage point of mostly her right brain (thoughtful, free, subjective). Through this traumatizing experience, Taylor discovered that it was actually not all that traumatizing. In fact, it became quite enlightening as she realized that never in her life had she felt such peace, unity, and joy.
Join Taylor at TED as she describes the experience in detail: