People are hard-wired to live in fear. It's a brain-thing, according to Dan Baker, the author of "What Happy People Know". Fear isn't just a nail-biting, cold-feet experience--it often surfaces as anger, perfectionism, pessimism, anxiety, depression and feelings of isolation. In a recent survey, 2/3rds of Americans indicate that they "aren't very happy"--we are worried about not having enough (scarcity) and not being enough (image).
How do we move past our fears to live happy (not "ha, ha" happy but "whole" happy) lives? We trick our brains, that's how. We override the imbedded "fear factor" found in the brain stem and the amygdala (the parts of the brain that hold instinctual fears and the primary survival hormones) with the neocortex (the 'higher intellegence' part of the brain).
Most people try to override the system with "stuff": they try to buy happiness. It doesn't work.
What does work? LOVE. That's the only thing. Love each other by having a real appreciation for life and for other people. Love yourself, too, by focusing on your strengths and not your weaknesses.
There is research that shows that there are "tricks" that work in overriding the system: experiments have been performed in labratories and studies have been performed on people in real-life situations. People who use these 'tricks' (appreciate, love, look at the positives, laugh, etc.) really do have happier, more full lives than the average American--regardless of their income or social status.
God created us to be whole and happy people. According to Jesus' teaching and life, the only way to be whole is to loving God, each other, and ourselves, too. In other words: override the system, get past our fears, and live as though what we do here matters.
Pretty cool. Brain research and theology pointing in the same direction: love wins, every time.