pimg class=”alignright” title=”Smile!” src=”http://i247.photobucket.com/albums/gg158/MDA2008/MDA%202011/smileyface.jpg” alt=”smileyface” width=”319″ height=”244″ /I think we can all agree that a basic goal in life is the attainment of happiness, that mind state characterized by positive and pleasant thoughts and emotions. But how do we become happy? By definition, happiness requires some type of pleasure to be present. We need good feelings and good physical sensations. Furthermore, the pleasure must come first, before the happiness. Something, and I don#8217;t care what it is, has to make you feel good before you can truly call yourself happy. As such, our behaviors and our motivations are shaped by that pleasure-seeking tendency. And that pleasure-seeking is mediated through the reward system, which has several different but interrelated components: liking, which describes the sensation of pleasure; wanting, which describes the desire to obtain the thing; and learning, the Pavlovian-esque conditioning. Basically,strong if we do something or expose ourselves to something […]
Original post by Mark Sisson
Filed under: Fitness