World’s Happiest Man Whose Brain Shocked Scientists with Unusual Activity Shares His Secret to Happiness.

How do you define happiness?  Is it  fulfilment of your life’s goals? Is it the pleasure of being a billionaire? Or is it just being content? It is never easy to define happiness because one man’s happiness may not be the same for another. I would like to think being happy is easier when  you aren’t in the pursuit of happiness because then the goal always changes. Trying your hardest to be happy might just stress you out and the key to happiness is just being content. That being said, Matthieu Ricard, a French writer, photographer, translator and Buddhist monk who resides at Shechen Tennyi Dargyeling Monastery in Nepal says he knows the key to happiness and perhaps he does. You see, back in 2008, Ricard was the subject of an experiment at the university of Wisconsin where scientists found his brain produced waves they had never observed before.

Who is Matthieu Ricard?

Matthieu Ricard is 76 years old. Born in France, he holds a PhD degree in molecular genetics from the Pasteur Institute in 1972. Rather than be famous, he gave up his scientific career to practice Tibetan Buddhism, and lived in the Himalayas. An altruist, Ricard has written several motivational books on meditation, self-transformation, Buddhism and positivity. Since 1989, he has also acted as the French interpreter for the 14th Dalai Lama. He is a popular figure but back in 2008, he gained fame as the happiest man alive after a study in the University of Wisconsin which found some pretty incredible stuff in his brain. It worked differently from others.

The Experiment Found Something in Ricard’s Brain Never Seen Before

Ricard’s brain was hooked up to 256 sensors. He was then asked to meditate on compassion and the researchers were shocked at what the experiment revealed. Ricard’s brain produced waves never seen before in earlier experiments of the same nature. Furthermore, his brain produces exceptional gamma waves linked to consciousness, attention, learning and memory at levels not seen or heard of before.

Moreover, scans of the left prefrontal cortex of Ricard’s brain showed incredibly high activity in comparison to the right one. This meant that the monk possessed an abnormal increased capacity for happiness and the lowest capacity for negativity. The neuroscientists concluded that this Buddhist monk knew a thing or two about what it takes to be happy in life and it wasn’t about achieving material things.

In the same study, the scientists looked into the mind of several other monks too. They found that those who were experienced in meditation (who had achieved at least 50,000 bouts of meditation)  displayed significant changes in brain function but those with just 3 weeks of 20-minute meditation daily showed a minimal change. So, what was Ricard’s secret?

Ricard’s Secret to Happiness

Ricard is only too willing to share his secret with humanity. His book released in 2006, Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill  explores the meaning and fulfilment of happiness. It became a major best-seller in France.

 “Meditating is like lifting weights or exercising for the mind. Anyone can be happy by simply training their brain, try sincerely to check, to investigate, that’s what Buddhism has been trying to unravel — the mechanism of happiness and suffering. It is a science of the mind….Matthieu Ricard

Speaking to reporters at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland several years back, he emphasized the importance of not being selfish. “It’s not the moral ground. It’s simply that me, me, me all day long is very stuffy. And it’s quite miserable, because you instrumentalize the whole world as a threat, or as a potential sort of interest to yourself.”

According to Ricard, the key to happiness is also benevolence. “If your mind is filled with benevolence, you know, the passion and solidarity… this is a very healthy state of mind that is conducive to flourishing,” he says. “So, you, yourself, are in a much better mental state. Your body will be healthier, so it has been shown. And also, people will perceive it as something nice.” “There is a view that benevolence, attention, emotional balance and resilience are skills that can be trained.”

He Speaks from Experience

We all know that happiness is a luxury especially in our stress filled lives. Ricard understands this and his theory outlined in his books is derived from works of fiction and poetry, Western philosophy, Buddhist beliefs, scientific research, and personal experience. He puts forth solutions on how to look at our lives in a fast-paced world from a different perspective.

“Our minds are often working at a hundred miles a minute and looking out for the negatives, but that’s not to say we can’t change things with a little time and effort.” Ricard feels that like all other goals we focus so intently on, happiness too should deserve the same energy. He says “With mental training, we can always bring our level of happiness to a different level.

“It’s like running. If I train, I might run a marathon. I might not become an Olympic champion, but there is a huge difference between training and not training. So why should that not apply to the mind?

Ricard’s Technique to Achieve Happiness

All this might sound too much for many. After all, who has time for experiencing happiness when we are so busy chasing it. But the happiest man in the world has himself demonstrated how people can achieve happiness with a simple technique by spending just 15 minutes a day thinking about what makes you happy but if I may suggest myself, thinking about material gain is never self-satisfactory, neither is thinking how you’re going to get back at all those who have wronged you.

Rather, it is  thinking about what would give you that moment of well-deserved stress-free peace of mind, and contentment that will get those positive waves working in your brain. Let’s admit it folks, we all want some times out badly for ourselves, don’t we? Whether it’s to sit curled up with a book and a coffee, whether it’s a relaxing day at the beach or going hiking and being among nature, anything that can get you away from what drives you crazy is happiness. Happy moments can also be happy memories, or thinking about how nice it would be to do something for others.

Just that 15 minutes a day reflecting on positive emotions will provide immense mental benefit that will begin to show results in just two weeks. It isn’t just Ricard; studies too have proved how meditation is good for wellbeing. Ricard didn’t become the world’s happiest man in a day. It took him weeks and months of meditation and positive thinking, there is no reason that you can’t get a piece of that happiness too.

Author-Andrew Kevin Alpin

video credit: Study Buddhism