2/6 (Tue.) Happy Chemicals / Meaning of Life (Host: Andy)

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Andy
Vice President
文章: 116
註冊時間: 週五 12月 17, 2004 4:36 pm
來自: Taipei

2/6 (Tue.) Happy Chemicals / Meaning of Life (Host: Andy)

文章 Andy »

Hello! I'm Andy. It's my pleasure to be the host. Let's talk about happiness and meaning.

What makes people happy? The research showed that chasing happiness may make people unhappy. Happiness comes and goes, but when life is really good and when things are really bad, having meaning gives you something to hold on to. People commit suicide because they're unhappy, right? Wrong. They do it because they lack meaning. Meaning comes from the pursuit of more complex things than happiness.

Session I: Hacking Into Your Happy Chemicals: Dopamine, Serotonin, Endorphins and Oxytocin
Article: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/thai-ngu ... mg00000003

多巴胺(Dopamine)
Dopamine motivates us to take action toward goals, desires, and needs, and gives a surge of reinforcing pleasure when achieving them.
血清素(Serotonin)
Serotonin flows when you feel significant or important. Loneliness and depression appears when serotonin is absent.
催產素(Oxytocin)
Oxytocin creates intimacy, trust, and builds healthy relationships. It’s released by men and women during orgasm, and by mothers during childbirth and breastfeeding.
腦內啡(Endorphins)
Endorphins are released in response to pain and stress and help to alleviate anxiety and depression. The surging “second wind” and euphoric “runners high” during and after a vigorous run are a result of endorphins.
Along with regular exercise, laughter is one of the easiest ways to induce endorphin release. Even the anticipation and expectation of laugher, e.g., attending a comedy show, increases levels of endorphins.

[Question]
1. What are the three most important things for you to be happy in your daily life? What happy chemicals do you think triggered that happiness?
2. Do you think that happiness is within us or does happiness depend more on other people and external conditions?
3. Do you agree that older people are less happy? What affects your levels of happiness?
4. What was the happiest time in your entire life? What happy chemicals do you think triggered that happiness?

Session II: There's More to Life than Being Happy


Four Pillars of A Meaningful Life:
歸屬感(Belonging)
- The first pillar is belonging. Belonging comes from being in relationships where you're valued for who you are intrinsically and where you value others as well. But some groups and relationships deliver a cheap form of belonging; you're valued for what you believe, for who you hate, not for who you are. True belonging springs from love. It lives in moments among individuals, and it's a choice -- you can choose to cultivate belonging with others.

目的(Purpose)
- For many people, belonging is the most essential source of meaning, those bonds to family and friends. For others, the key to meaning is the second pillar: purpose. Now, finding your purpose is not the same thing as finding that job that makes you happy. Purpose is less about what you want than about what you give. A hospital custodian told me her purpose is healing sick people. Many parents tell me, "My purpose is raising my children." The key to purpose is using your strengths to serve others. Of course, for many of us, that happens through work. That's how we contribute and feel needed. But that also means that issues like disengagement at work, unemployment, low labor force participation -- these aren't just economic problems, they're existential ones, too. Without something worthwhile to do, people flounder. Of course, you don't have to find purpose at work, but purpose gives you something to live for, some "why" that drives you forward.

超然(Transcendence)
- The third pillar of meaning is also about stepping beyond yourself, but in a completely different way: transcendence. Transcendent states are those rare moments when you're lifted above the hustle and bustle of daily life, your sense of self fades away, and you feel connected to a higher reality. For one person I talked to, transcendence came from seeing art. For another person, it was at church. For me, I'm a writer, and it happens through writing. Sometimes I get so in the zone that I lose all sense of time and place. These transcendent experiences can change you. One study had students look up at 200-feet-tall eucalyptus trees for one minute. But afterwards they felt less self-centered, and they even behaved more generously when given the chance to help someone.

說故事(Storytelling)
- The fourth pillar is storytelling, the story you tell yourself about yourself. Creating a narrative from the events of your life brings clarity. It helps you understand how you became you. But we don't always realize that we're the authors of our stories and can change the way we're telling them. Your life isn't just a list of events. You can edit, interpret and retell your story, even as you're constrained by the facts.

[Question]
1. What's the difference between being happy and having meaning in life?
2. What image or metaphor has best described your life? (e.g. a race, a circus..)
3. According to the speech, which pillar is the most important to you?
4. Imagine your future, what future story do you want to tell? Or what would you do to make your life more meaningful?


********************************************************************************************************************************************
Agenda:
6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings & Free Talk / Ordering Beverage or Meal / Getting Newcomer’s Information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening Remarks / Newcomer’s Self-introduction / Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm Summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:25pm Regrouping / Instruction Giving / Taking a 10 Minutes Break (Intermission)
(Session II)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm Discussion Session (40 mins)
9:05 ~ 9:25pm Summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding Remarks / Announcements ********************************************************************************************************************************************
聚會日期:列於該貼文主題內
聚會時間:當天請準時於 6:45 pm 到達 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
星期二聚會地點:丹堤濟南店
地址、電話:台北市濟南路三段25號 (02) 2740-2350
捷運站:板南線 忠孝新生站 3 號出口
走法:出忠孝新生站 3 號出口後,沿著巷子(忠孝東路三段10巷)走約 2 分鐘,到了濟南路口,左轉走約 2 分鐘即可看到。
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給新朋友的話:
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最後由 Andy 於 週一 2月 05, 2018 11:33 pm 編輯,總共編輯了 2 次。
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Andy
Vice President
文章: 116
註冊時間: 週五 12月 17, 2004 4:36 pm
來自: Taipei

Re: 2/6 (Tue.) Happy Chemicals / Meaning of Life (Host: Andy

文章 Andy »

2017 World Happiness Report places Taiwan in 33rd.
http://worldhappiness.report/
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Rock
YOYO member
文章: 2161
註冊時間: 週三 10月 31, 2007 9:03 am

Re: 2/6 (Tue.) Happy Chemicals / Meaning of Life (Host: Andy

文章 Rock »

Question 3. Do you agree that older people are less happy? What affects your levels of happiness?

I guess Andy has got the answer, but hasn't experienced it yet.
http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencen ... story.html

I am having the first-hand experience now, and it's quite positive. The worse eyesight and failing agility are no big deal, neither do the wrinkles and lower testosterone bother. Aging gives me every reason to be unhappy, but actually I am happier than before. The secret to this paradox is, of course, low expectation. :lol:
https://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwart ... uage=zh-tw
In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock.
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Andy
Vice President
文章: 116
註冊時間: 週五 12月 17, 2004 4:36 pm
來自: Taipei

Re: 2/6 (Tue.) Happy Chemicals / Meaning of Life (Host: Andy

文章 Andy »

Attendee (22):
Andy, Ryu, Joseph, Gloria, Bonson, Iris, Janice, John, Momo, Rock, Tanya, Rosie, Wenhan, Light, Steve, Rita, Chris, Sherry, Luis, Ryan, Yvonne

Thanks for coming and sharing your ideas. :D
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