Here is a post from Brian Luke Seaward!
It has been quite a while since any new posts have been published,
and now there will be two – one this week and one next week.
They add to the fine list of articles that he has written for WINN
since it began publication ten years ago, in June of 2016.
Looking forward ……
Celia Coates, Editor
By Brian Luke Seaward
Some people hike the Inca Trail so they can see Machu Pichu through the sun gate in
the early morning light. It’s a sight that brings real joy. A few years ago that was my plan
as well, but little did I know that the four days spent hiking the trail would include a crash
course in shamanic wisdom. As it turned out, unlike other groups I met hiking that were
led by young guides, my guide was a wise, middle-aged, Peruvian shaman and
wisdom-keeper. Not wanting to miss a chance to learn – even while on vacation – I
asked a million questions during this mountain trek.
“Do you know the difference between knowledge and wisdom?”, he asked one day.
Before I could answer he replied, “Knowledge is knowing that water is comprised of
hydrogen and oxygen. Wisdom is knowing how to make it rain.” Then he described the
importance of emotions, particularly feeling bliss. “To make it rain, you have to feel the
rain on your skin and the joy and happiness this brings to your heart.” He taught that the
feeling aspect of intention is essential to manifestation. Wisdom isn’t just knowledge
plus experience, it includes the application of emotional and spiritual intelligence – love.
In the words of cultural mythologist, Joseph Campbell, it is necessary to “Follow your
bliss”.
When the 2025 world happiness report was released, the results were no big surprise.
Americans are not a happy people, at least compared to the international rankings that
placed the United States 25 th , down 12 places from 8 years earlier. Finland, Denmark,
Iceland, Sweden, and the Netherlands make up the top five. Thailand was ranked high
as well. It appears Americans are not following their bliss.
Perhaps with the abundance of stress in the American culture, where anxiety was the
most often googled word in 2024, the quest for happiness has been quite popular to
explore in the last decade with scores of best-sellers, articles, and broadcast specials. A
new field of study even opened up – Positive Psychology made popular by Martin
Seligman. If stress is the disease,
Can happiness be the cure? We really want to know.
Harvard University published the results of what became known as the Happiness
Study (originally it was called the Longevity Study). The findings proved quite
interesting. With over 700 subjects (all male) studied through personal interviews,
medical records, and interviews with their wives, it became clear that the key to
longevity was “positive social interaction”. When questioned as to what the primary
factor for longevity was, the answer appeared to be one’s level of happiness. Upon
further examination, it was revealed that happiness involved the emotion of love.
Finland and Denmark may have ranked as the happiest countries in the world, but
Bhutan has taken the concept of happiness to the next level by adopting this essential
quality of life into their constitution with what they term “Gross Domestic Happiness”.
While not everyone in Bhutan walks around with smiles on their faces, citizens of this
country rave about the quality of life they maintain. Bhutan was just one of many
inspirations for the United Nations to create International Happiness day (March 22) in
order to promote economic happiness.
In his book, THE GEOGRAPHY OF BLISS, NPR reporter Eric Weiner wrote about
travelling the world to find the happiest people and to learn their secret. Like the recent
World Happiness study, he found the Scandinavian countries at the top of the list. He
also reported that the key to being happy wasn’t money or fame, but trust, an abstract
concept that is the foundation not only for happiness but also for a sense of security.
Author Wallace Nichols, in his book BLUE MIND, draws a direct line between water
(particularly blue water) and happiness. Like Weiner, he gathered some facts about
happiness, including the following:
In attempting to understand the alchemy of happiness it has been determined that 50%
is associated with genetics, 10% with life circumstances and events, with the remaining
40% attributed to our perceptions or our choice of attitude, what Nichols calls “a practice
of happiness”.
While we cannot change our genetic inheritance, our history, or even our
circumstances, we definitely can reframe our thoughts in the direction of joy, bliss, and
happiness. In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “People are about as happy as they make
up their mind to be.”
Is humor the same thing as happiness? No, but it can be connected to it. Norman
Cousins is credited with inspiring the field of psychoneuroimmunology (or mind-body
medicine) with his use of humor and laughter to lift his spirits and improve his health.
Learning that stress was the most likely cause for his chronic disease, he hypothesized
that if distress could cause illness, then eustress (happiness) could reverse it. Given a
1-5000 chance of survival by his team of physicians, he elected to check out of the
hospital and into a nearby hotel where he watched hours upon hours of comedies that
included Charie Chaplin, The Marx Brothers, the Little Rascals, and even the best of
Candid Camera. (This was years ago.) He was eventually freed from his disease. He
went on to write the best-seller ANATOMY OF AN ILLNESS and he stated,
“I made the joyous discovery that 10 minutes of genuine belly laughter would give me
two hours of pain-free sleep.” Humor can elicit uplifting emotions that take us in to the
realm of happiness.
Researchers have classified happiness into Hedonistic Happiness and Eudemonic
Happiness. Hedonistic Happiness relates to short-term pleasures that include drinking
alcohol, taking drugs, or even having a massage or a bubble bath. While these (and
other experiences) can create good feelings, sadly they are short-lived and it is
necessary to go on to find the next quick fix. On the other hand, Eudemonic Happiness
goes the distance because it is based on meaning and purpose – quite often found
through helping others (often altruistically, which is known as Agape Love) and finding a
way to serve a purpose higher than oneself.
This wasn’t the first time I had heard about the power of uplifting emotions. For many
years mind-body luminary, Dr. Joe Dispenza, has collected scores of personal stories of
people who have harnessed the power of positive feelings to bring the physical body back into a
state of homeostasis and healed themselves of chronic illnesses. Tapping into the
stream of consciousness where joy, compassion, and mirth seems to become a way of
entraining the human body into the frequencies of healing.
We are living in a time when uplifting emotions are as uncommon as precious rare earth
minerals. The dominant emotions these days seem to be fear, anger, grief, and anxiety.
While these are certainly real and an ordinary part of being human, staying stuck at this
end of the spectrum of emotions diminishes everyone’s health. For many people the
road to happiness includes roadblocks and barriers such as unresolved fear and grief
that can and will become anxiety and depression. Before we can heal we may need first
to do some inner work to clear away these obstacles and then become free to go on to
exploring what has meaning in our lives and to understand what love is.
Norman Cousins was more than the grandfather of Humor Therapy. He was an
American Shaman of sorts. Years ago, I had the great pleasure of hearing him speak at
Johns Hopkins Medical School. After a glorious introduction, he approached the podium
and bellowed out at the audience.
“I never said humor healed me!”
A large hush fell over the audience.
He continued, “I never even said humor cured me!”
The room fell silent once again, but this time people sat uncomfortably in their seats.
Then Cousins took a long pause and said,
“It was love that healed me. Humor is just a metaphor for love.”
* * * * *
Brian Luke Seaward, Ph.D., is the author of acclaimed books that include,
STAND LIKE MOUNTAIN, FLOW LIKE WATER
QUIET MIND, FEARLESS HEART
STRESSED IS DESSERTS SPELLED BACKWARDS
He lives in Boulder, Colorado and can be reached at http://www.brianlukeseaward.com[1] [1]