How to Think- Free Book

How to Think

According to American social psychologist Daniel Todd Gilbert, “Happiness is the ultimate goal of life." If the goal is short-term, achieving it promotes a temporary boost in happiness, and if it is a pursuit of a long-term goal backed by purpose, which provides meaning and direction, it provides long-term and relatively greater happiness.

There is a belief that “success leads to happiness," and that's true also. Those who achieve goals and succeed, whether in their personal, professional, or social lives, feel the boost in their happiness level.

In contrast to this belief, few researchers in positive psychology believe and suggest that happiness is not the sole end destination of success but rather a state of being that ideally precedes it and facilitates it. Happy people are more likely to be productive, creative, resilient, and performing, which leads to better success rates, higher income, better health, and stronger relationships.

Chasing external markers like name, fame, wealth, or social status often leads to short-term high feelings before one’s happiness returns to its baseline, causing us to chase another goal. Goals that focus on personal growth, relationships, and purpose are intrinsic in nature and bring lasting happiness.

According to Sir Daniel Gilbert, a psychological professor at Harvard, happiness is the ultimate goal of virtually all decision-led actions in life. Achieving goals or success and happiness are interconnected, but at the end, happiness remains important.

Whether it is the creation of success or happiness, thoughts are the same ingredients. I have read and heard somewhere, as researchers say, that thoughts are not the creation of the brain, but rather they are processed there and are created within a non-tangible entity known as the mind, which, according to some spiritual organizations, is a part of the human soul, which is again intangible.

The ultimate goal of education is to create good, constructive, creative, productive, successful, and happy human beings. This could become possible only when we create good, constructive, creative, productive action, which is possible only when we create good, constructive, creative, and productive thoughts. When we create good and positive thoughts in our mind, it helps release dopamine and serotonin, which improves learning, decision-making, and creative problem-solving, all so important for success.

A growth mindset (positive, creative, and constructive thinking) allows people to view failure as necessary steps towards success rather than reasons to quit. This in turn helps build resilience and persistence, the most important human attributes to achieve success.

A “positive thinking mind (which usually develops with training/practice)” view challenges learning as opportunities rather than obstacles. Such a thinking process is nothing but the way we perceive and process the world around us, and that is the internal state of mind that keeps us happy.