What Your Body Knows About Happiness
How to Use Your Body to Change Your Mind
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- $299.00
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- $299.00
Descripción editorial
Happiness isn't just a state of mind. It's also a state of body.
Standing straight can give you a shot of confidence and forcing a smile might improve your mood. But do you know why? We generally believe that the brain is the big computer telling our bodies how to respond, but new research shows that the system often works in reverse. Your body reacts first, and your brain then interprets the physical signals. As you walk by a dark alley, your heart starts pounding and only then does your brain get the message: I’m scared! The body can also send messages about positive emotions, allowing you to experience more happiness, love, and joy.
Based on groundbreaking research and expert opinions, What Your Body Knows About Happiness will teach you:
• How to use your body to spark your creativity
• How to find joy through your senses
• How changing your environment can improve your mood
• The unexpected powers of diet, exercise, and sex
• The ways your brain can resolve bodily pain
• How to create optimism through your body
In What Your Body Knows About Happiness, Janice Kaplan, the New York Times bestselling author of The Gratitude Diaries, explores the startling new evidence showing that our feeling bodies are often smarter than our thinking minds. Talking to experts in a wide range of fields, she brings her distinctive brand of conversation, humor, and storytelling to scientific research, drawing unexpected links that reveal the power of body-mind connections. You’ll also get tips and strategies for knowing your body in a whole new way—leading to greater happiness and pleasure every day.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The modern belief that joy originates in the mind discounts the body's role in well-being, according to this persuasive guide from novelist Kaplan (The Gratitude Diaries). Arguing that "happiness isn't exclusively a conscious decision," she details how physical signals—reactions to sensory cues, hormones that affect mood—are translated by the brain into emotions. As modern technology continues to promote virtual rather than face-to-face interaction, people have grown increasingly disconnected from their bodies, viewing them as a burden "rather than a partner in making us happy." Kaplan shows readers how to better read physical signals, find healthy ways to address them, and implement such body-centered practices as surrounding oneself "with soothing objects that bring physical pleasure" (a steaming cup of coffee, a fuzzy sweater). Casting a wide net, the author cites a wealth of illuminating research on why the body reacts as it does, noting, for instance, that the visual system triggers emotional responses to architectural styles—gentle curves and fractal-inspired design patterns that are reminiscent of nature inspire more joy than brutalist, utilitarian buildings. Her commonsense suggestions may not be groundbreaking, but they're sound and easily implemented. This is a worthy addition to the recent wave of books on the mind-body connection.
