May 6, 2013
A good exploration of happiness should include the world’s happiest person. And neuropsychological studies show that a 66 year-old French molecular geneticist who dropped everything to become a Tibetan Buddhist monk actually holds that title. While meditating on compassion, his brain imaging showed previously never before seen levels of gamma wave activity and excessive activity in the left pre-frontal cortex, both markers of happiness. What great lessons of living according to our own values and internalizing control of life (as depicted by dropping a successful career in the pursuit of happiness), as well as the positive effects of cultivating a sense of compassion for others.