We Are Wired For Survival, Not Happiness?

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A friend of mine had another friend share this with her and it was life changing- “we are wired for survival, not happiness”. It changed the way my friend saw her reactions to many things in life to the point that it changed her behavior and she wanted to share the concept with her friends too.

As I thought about it more, I reflected back to some of my own experiences that fit that description, two of which I blogged about (both short and at the bottom of this post if you’re interested). I realized that I am habitual rather than reflective in my responses and I’m beginning to agree conceptually that it’s about survival, not happiness. I’m trying to take a pause before reacting to stressful situations in order to really consider options that lead to happiness and other positive outcomes. These decisions often come at the expense of immediate discomfort like fear and vulnerability, so it’s really hard, but has been worth the effort.

Do you have thoughts, experiences, or observations you’d like to share? If so, please comment or share a blog. Here are mine:

Habit Stopping Love, https://wp.me/p9Stpq-4z

And

Week of Wow, I Just Recognized The Obvious. https://wp.me/p9Stpq-5r

Credits:

*Photo by LahLa at a U2 concert.

*I heard this saying through a friend of a friend, however, when looking into other possible sources, I saw similarities in the excerpt of Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson which deserves a mention.

Published by Lahla

I am a brain cancer survivor living life after emergency-mode. I’ve gone through everything you hear about, finding out you have cancer, surgery, treatment, making plans, getting help, being unconscious, and so on. I may refer back to that... Shit, it may COME back to that! But for now, I’d like to talk about life AFTER the emergency mode that brain cancer brings. I’d like to talk about normal, regular, everyday life when part of your brain is gone and the rest takes over. I’d like to talk about normal, regular, everyday life when your perspective changes. I’d like to talk about normal, regular, everyday life when others see you differently and they either get you or they don’t. I’ve spent over three and a half years holding this in, mainly because I didn’t want to be labeled as having brain cancer. Many people fail to understand what that label brings. It’s not the same as denial- think about that. However, after all this time, I realize that holding onto it feels like cancer. I didn’t chose cancer but I had chosen to hold onto what felt like cancer. Not any more. So here it goes. I hope you get something good out of it, my brain cancer freeish, everyday life perspective.

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