Week 6 - The Science of Happiness and Wellbeing PDF

EL PT N Prof. Manas Kumar Mandal Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Lecture 26 – (Re)connecting happiness: beyond pandemic What happens … EL ▪ when are we forced to make...

EL PT N Prof. Manas Kumar Mandal Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Lecture 26 – (Re)connecting happiness: beyond pandemic What happens … EL ▪ when are we forced to make PT significant changes in our life-style? Source: Getty image ▪ when are we forced to make N changes in our personal coping style? ▪ when are our resources depleted for making such changes?  Lifestyle EL Coping style PT Contamination obsession Source: Getty image N Co-habitation stress Biological rhythm Life-style changes post-covid-19… ▪ The way we use technology (overindulgence) EL ▪ …way we learn lessons (e-learning) Source: see list PT ▪ …we exercise our freedom (no nuisance) ▪ …we uphold our personal hygiene (face mask) N ▪ …we secure personal finance (new age poor) ▪ …we get breaking news (half-truth) ▪ …we stay informed (daily counts in e-portals) Coping style changes post covid-19… ▪ The way we find our personal space (co-habitation stress) EL ▪ The way we trust each other (social paranoia) PT Source: see list ▪ The way we follow daily routine N (procrastination) ▪ The way we experience tragedy (secondary trauma) How does it impact us? Contamination obsession EL Loss of time anchors (locked down) Source: see list PT Loss of biological rhythm, sleep N Become suggestible to possible cure Anxiety about testing or treatment What can we do? ▪ Do not question uncertainty: Avoid untested stories ▪ Let’s unlearn old habits, change to covid-appropriate EL behavior & set it as ‘default’ Source: see list PT ▪ Do not look for paradoxical happiness or get into N ‘optimism bias’ ▪ Stay informed but do not obsessively ask for suggestions ▪ Maintain the rhythm of sleep-wakeful cycle What happens… to children? ▪ Lose time anchor by not attending school EL ▪ Develop anxiety about parent’s health Source: see list PT ▪ Show regressive behavior, desperation N ▪ Develop somatization or seeking attention ▪ Find difficulty in sleep pattern What parents can do…for children ▪ Talk about the danger in simple language ▪ Stick to the facts, isolate fake news EL ▪ Make suggestions age-appropriate Source: see list PT ▪ Choose a safe & time for conversation ▪ Offer them thinking tool N ▪ Assist children adhere to ‘new’ normal Forming a new habit… ▪ It takes 21 days (about 3 weeks) to dissolve an old mental image EL ▪ Change of behavior takes about 66 days; habits Source: see list become automatic for simple tasks PT ▪ New habits develop by commitment rather than N by pressure or coercion ▪ Small, incremental improvements make habit stronger rather than drastic action ▪ Human behavior does not change everyday; we need to rewire the brain  Beyond pandemic… Leaving behind ‘contamination obsession’ may take time Our ‘baseline’ may have changed, habits atrophied EL Our interest may have changed, priorities reset PT We may have been getting comfort in ‘flight’ syndrome Proximity stress may have created belongingness barrier N We may have ‘behavior-fatigue’ Some don’ts… ▪ Do not question uncertainty & avoid untested stories EL Source: see list ▪ Do not speculate too much about the PT future & avoid making assumptions N ▪ Do not overwhelm your discussion on possible threats & avoid feeding in anxiety Some do’s… ▪ Our gestures matter: Comforting EL gestures give us strength Source: Getty image ▪ Allow positive thoughts: Else our PT body has to bear the burden N ▪ Words matter: Talk about danger in simple language  Stress is inevitable, but suffering is optional EL Find pleasure in simple things again; it’s a choice PT Fine-tune social relationships – intimacy matters Indulge in inner call for kindness N Web links: https://sitare.org/blog/sitare-kids/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/45909111@N00/49983904461 https://www.zeebiz.com/india/news-covid-19-india-recorded-10273-new- coronavirus-cases-with-243-fatalities-in-the-last-24-hours-active-cases-dipped-to- 111472-179730 EL https://www.wired.com/story/coronavirus-covid-19-isolation-psychology/ PT https://www.unicef.org/india/media/3401/file/PSS-COVID19-Manual-ChildLine.pdf https://ironmumkarla.com.au/2020/02/instead-of-creating-new-habit-try- unlearning-it.html N https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-00175-z https://www.livemint.com/news/india/covid19-pandemic-causes-steep-rise-in- anxiety-depression-cases-lancet-11633747853630.html N PT EL  EL PT Prof. Priyadarshi Patnaik Department of Humanities and Social Sciences & N Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Lecture 27 – Meditation and Mindfulness: An Overview  What is meditation? A brief history EL Relevance and research An interaction with a PT mindfulness expert N  Meditation Mindfulness EL Breath Concentration PT Relaxation Happiness N  What is meditation? A wide variety of practices Thousands of years old EL Various traditions and cultures Mind and body integration (yoga – yoke) PT Focus on breath, sound, image, words N Maintenance of awareness, non-judgement Short or long durations Guided or self-driven Various sources: See references Mindfulness A specific subset of meditation Focus on present moment without evaluation EL Lucid awareness of bodily or mental phenomena Associated with Zen, Vipassana, Tibetan techniques PT Etymology – sati (smriti) – bare attention – awareness of things in relation N to things - leading to correct views Means to develop self-knowledge and wisdom Mindfulness – deeply researched in the West: MBSR Scales have been developed – MAAS, FMI, CAMS, etc. A brief history Meditation – from meditatio (Latin) – think, reflect, devise, ponder Dhyana – Indian origin (Sanskrit) dhyai – to contemplate or meditate EL No universally accepted definition – hence a composite definition Earliest references – the Upanishads, the Mahabrarata (the Gita) PT Jainism – the tri-ratnas – padasthadhyana – mantra N Buddhism – bhavana – anapanasati – dhyana /samadhi Samatha (serenity or tranquillity) – vipasanna (insight) Hinduism – yoga / dhyana – pure consciousness A brief history… Patanjali – Yogasutra Eight limbs: Yama, Niyama, asana, pranayama, pratyahara, dharana, dhyana, samadhi Hatha yoga, Bhakti yoga, Tantra… EL Sikhism: Simran Taoism: concentration, insight, visualization PT Judaism: Torah – ref to meditation N Christianity: meditation as a form of prayer, spiritual exegesis Islam: Salah (prayer), khushu (concentration): Sufism In modern times World parliament of religion and Swami Vivekananda 1960s – many Asian spiritual teachers visited the West EL Many forms of guided meditations PT Psychotherapy (Jung) N Clinical applications Meditation at work Relaxation techniques and bio-feedback Relevance Negatives reduced: depression, anxiety, stress Physiological: lower heart rate, breath rate, stress hormones, sympathetic nervous system responses, BP EL Brain wave pattern changes – alpha, delta and even theta waves PT Reduces pain Concentration and focus N Positive mental states Self-awareness – EI Productivity (sic), anxiety, altered mental states – Swami Vivekananda Meditation and Happiness Transcendence Altered positive mental state (short / long duration) Possibility for self awareness, self knowledge EL Reduction of negatives (stress, anxiety, insomnia, etc) Reduction of negative health conditions PT Altered physiology Linked to meaning (possibility of answering existential questions) N Transcendence A short interview with Dr. Saamdu Chetri Expert on Mindfulness What is mindfulness? What is its relevance? EL How does it link to happiness? PT Dr. Saamdu Chetri Visiting Faculty of Happiness at NCR, Delhi, Chandigarh, IIT Kgp, & N other universities in India  What is meditation? A brief history and relevance Relation to happiness EL PT N  All images are from Google Images Wikipedia: Mindfulness, Meditation Fontana, David. The Meditators Handbook. EL Thorsons, 1992 (2002). Tan, Meng-Chade. Search Inside Yourself. Collins, PT 2012. N N PT EL  EL Prof. Priyadarshi Patnaik PT Department of Humanities and Social Sciences & N Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Lecture 28 – Meditation and Mindfulness: Practice Toolkit  Practicing meditation Mindfulness: a brief history EL Mindfulness: Relevance Mindfulness practice toolkit PT N  Breath Consciousness EL Happiness Meditation PT Mindfulness Visualization N ‘Doing’ Meditation & Mindfulness Art of Living Patanjali Divyayoga EL Vipassana Mindfulness PT Heartfulness N Prajnan Mission Yogananda Foundation S-Vyas Google and Western Clinics Search Inside Yourself (Chade-Meng Tann) MBSR (Jon Kabat-Zinn) EL Workplace PT Chronic pain relief N Scientific validation and extensive use Emotional Intelligence Concentration  EL PT Source: Tan, Meng-Chade. Search Inside Yourself. Collins, 2012. Toolkits from N workplace practitioners  Toolkits from workplace practitioners EL PT N Fontana, David. The Meditators Handbook. Thorsons, 1992 (2002). A quick overview of Mindfulness: Dr. Saamdu Chetri An overview from a practitioner EL PT N Benefits of Mindfulness: Dr. Saamdu Chetri For the body and for the mind Relate to what we discussed earlier about meditation and its EL implications for happiness and wellbeing PT N Bodyscan Mindfulness Meditation Dr. Saamdu Chetri An effective antidote of Insomnia and Stress EL PT N Verse Visualization Mindfulness: Dr. Saamdu Chetri Controlling the conscious mind Reducing negativity EL Increasing focus and concentration PT N  A quick overview of the art/practice of happiness – meditation A brief history and relevance of mindfulness Toolkit for a happiness – of mind and body EL PT N  All images are from Google Images Fontana, David. The Meditators Handbook. Thorsons, 1992 (2002). EL Tan, Meng-Chade. Search Inside Yourself. Collins, 2012. PT N N PT EL  EL Prof. Priyadarshi Patnaik PT Department of Humanities and Social Sciences & N Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Lecture 29 – Creativity, Intuition and Flow  Creativity Intuition EL Flow Relationships and implications PT N  Creativity Intuition EL Flow Happiness PT N  Creativity? The use of imagination or original ideas to create something new (Dictionary) Imagination - process EL Original – outcome or process Creation – process leading to outcome PT New – outcome or process N Applications: business, workplace, life (apart from entertainment and the arts) Creativity and happiness – high intensity Schaffer O (2013), Crafting Fun User Experiences: A Method to Facilitate Flow, Human Factors International Intuition The ability to understand something instinctively, without the need for conscious reasoning (dictionary meaning) EL Almost without thought – heuristic Spontaneous / natural / non-cognitive PT N Relevance: easy, flow, effortless Flow Flow is a cognitive state where one is completely immersed in an activity- from painting and writing to prayer and surfboarding. It involves intense focus, creative engagement, and the loss of awareness of time and self. EL Source: Flow: Psychology Today Coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi PT Focus N Loss of awareness Time and space altered Mastery Intrinsically happy Relationship Flow – intrinsically happy – autotelic, happy with work Flow Creativity – mastery, control, leading to flow EL Intuitive – natural, effortless, leading to creativity, creating conditions for flow PT Happiness N meditative Crea Intu tive ition Revisiting intuition In academic disciplines intuition is let in only when it leads to knowledge. Intuition … ‘the only truly valuable thing.’ (The world as I see it, But what about the artistic process and Einstein) experience? EL Do we question Intuition? Or do we live Intuition (is) an accredited way to with it? PT knowledge (A J Ayer) N Our derivative knowledge of truths consists of everything that we can deduce from self-evident truths by the use of self-evident principles of deduction. (Russel) Intuition: all pervasive Buddhist: Progression: Study born discernment (learning/knowledge) – meditative concentration (discipline) – contemplation born discernment (intuition) (Samadhi) Yoga: dharana, dhyana, samadhi – jnana (intuition) EL PT N  The perceiver (Abhinavagupta) Disinterested, sympathetic attention – an experience of enjoyment that is freed from I and samsara, cause and effect, practical interest EL PT The artist /(sic) creator (Pt Ajoy Chakravarti) N Discovery Visualization Realization Reconstruction Flow: Revisited Clear goal Immediate feedback Match – skill and challenge EL Knowing what to do PT Knowing how to do it N Knowing how well one is doing Knowing where to go (if navigation is involved) High perceived challenges High perceived skills Freedom from distractions Schaffer O (2013), Crafting Fun User Experiences: A Method to Facilitate Flow, Human Factors International What next? Creativity: insights from our day to day lives Is creativity the privilege of only a few? EL PT N  What are creativity, intuition and flow? How do they relate? Their link to happiness EL PT N  All mages are from creative commons A J Vaidya and P Bilimoria. *Intuition* in Classical Indian Philosophy: Laying the Foundation for a Cross-Cultural Study. The Map and the Territory. Springer. 2018. Kofi Agyakwa. Intuition, knowledge and learning. The Journal of Educational Thought. 1988. EL Leonard Waks. Intuition in education: teaching and learning without thinking. Philosophy of Education. 2006. PT Schaffer, O. (2013). Crafting fun user experiences: A method to facilitate flow. Human Factors International. N N PT EL  EL Prof. Priyadarshi Patnaik PT Department of Humanities and Social Sciences & N Rekhi Centre of Excellence for the Science of Happiness Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur Lecture 30 – Can we really not be creative and happy?  Recap: creativity concepts Insights for our daily lives: EL conversations Practicing creativity PT Relevance: apply to study and work N  Creativity Conversations EL Practice Happiness PT N Recap: What is creativity? Out of the box Use of imagination EL Unique New PT Ideas into reality N Normal viewed differently Turning the ordinary into extraordinary Invention This involves tension… Intellect- intuition Conscious - unconscious Order - EL disorder Conventional -unconventional PT Left-brain - right-brain (sic) N Originality, uniqueness, the different Artistic vs. scientific Individual expression Divorce from social reality Expressive EL PT Disciplined N Logical thinking Insight (we had talked of intuition!) Solution to a problem based on past experience Solution which needs a radical new way of looking at EL things, a restructuring, nonobvious PT Ah! Light Bulb! N Sometimes earlier knowledge or familiarity can make the problem for difficult – fixation Problem solving methods (an aspect of creativity) Trial and error Means-end analysis EL Analogies PT Schema Divergent thinking N Analogies One uses an analogy when one says, “this is like that” (in some respects but not in others). For example: a plane is like an bird – they both fly, they both have wings, they can both travel for a long way without landing, and both can sense EL where they are going; but they are not similar in that they have different means of propulsion, are made of different things, etc. PT Example of successful use of analogy? N Aero planes Submarines Computer and brain … Analogies can be used creatively. For instance, biological analogies are often used to solve mechanical problems. Toolkit 1 “Identify what it is you want ideas for, and try to find a core verb phrase that captures the essential functional nature of what you are looking for - e.g.: 'How to make EL X'. 'How to prevent Y', 'How to speed up Z', 'How to become better at A’.” PT N “For each verb phrase generate a list of items (people, situations, objects, processes, actions, places, etc.) that is 'like' it in some way - e.g. analogies to 'making X' (having a baby, making a pudding, the Genesis creation story, a robot car factory,...etc.).” Continued… Identify analogies that look interesting - ideally from different domains. Describe the analogue: Actions – how it works, what it does, what effects it has, how it is used. EL Passive dimensions: size, position, etc. PT Can you relate these to find ideas relevant to your problem? N Can the comparison be used directly? Do the differences suggest other possible ways of exploring your problem? Attribute listing: Toolkit 2 Attribute listing is a technique from the early 1930s. Take an existing system or product Break it down into small parts or subsets EL Identify various ways of getting these parts Can these be recombined to form new products or systems? PT One can identify products one wishes to improve. N List its attributes. Say a pen: Material, Shape, Target market, Colours, Textures, etc. Choose, say, 7-8 of these attributes that seem particularly interesting or important. Identify alternative ways to achieve each attribute. Brainstorming Brainstorming and creative thinking often used interchangeably. Group-based generation of ideas Suspended EL PT N Toolkit 3 A group of between 4-8 ideally Write the initial topic on a flip board or whiteboard so that all can see it Clearly articulated problem can yield better solutions Has everyone understood the problem? EL Avoid criticizing ideas / suspend judgement All ideas are equally valid PT Lots of ideas N Don’t criticize Listen to others, use their ideas to extend yours Avoid discussion that may stop the flow of ideas Ideas should then be examined, classified, and the best options kept aside for further discussion Free Association: Toolkit 4 In serial association, start with a trigger, you record the flow of ideas that come to mind, each idea triggering the next, ultimately reaching a potentially useful one. It is like the stream of EL consciousness. Centred association: focus on one central trigger, around which PT ideas build up. Suspend judgement. N Encourage ideas that you generally suspend to also come up. Follow the fascinating and intriguing idea: They may not seem instantly apt, but may develop into meaningful ideas later. IIT Kharagpur Ice Cream Students study Village Mountain Milk Study academy Nature Himalaya Face Work brand Oldest Cosmetic Stress brilliant Green Cool Thick stress Food! Snow Rich Young hard Students Tea White Enjoy EL Difficult Culture Engineer Hostels Fun PT Fly Hot Student Difficult water Learn Create your own ad text… N Kids Flow Cool River Nice Books Fragrant Skin Target: Ice cream for IITKGP students Six Thinking Hats: Toolkit 5 Early in the 1980s Dr. Edward de Bono invented the Six Thinking Hats method. The method is a framework for thinking and can incorporate lateral or divergent thinking. EL The six hats stand for six modes of thinking. They are directions to think or encouragements to think in certain PT ways. N It encourages Parallel Thinking It encourage full-spectrum thinking It separate ego/individual from performance  White Hat thinking EL This covers facts, figures, information needs and gaps. Drop all arguments, look at facts and figures. PT N  Red Hat thinking EL Intuitions, feelings, emotions. Don’t try to justify gut feelings, just state them. PT Full permission for coming forward with one’s subjective feelings without the N support of logic.  Black Hat thinking EL Judgement, caution. Logical PT Use it to point out why something may not succeed N  Yellow Hat thinking EL Logical and positive. Look forward to something potential or look at something positive that has PT happened, and N  Green Hat thinking EL Creativity, alternatives, proposals, provocations, changes, etc. PT N  Blue Hat thinking EL Overview or process control Self-reflexive, looks at itself or the process of the different hat thinking. PT N  Recap Creativity techniques – mostly focused on problem solving or coming up with new ideas EL PT N  Many of the slides are based on the webpage on creativity and problem solving at: Encyclopedia Britannica 2007, Deluxe Edition. Cognitive Psychology by Wikibook contributors, 2004-2006. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cognitive_Psychology_and_Cognitive_N EL euroscience Refer to books by Edward De Bono for more insights PT N N PT EL