3 Tips A Neuroscientist Recommends For Becoming A Genuinely Happier Person

When you think about it, happiness as a concept is a little elusive—what does it mean, really, and can you actually become a "happier" person? What does "searching for happiness" truly look like in practice?

We had to float the question over to communication pathologist and cognitive neuroscientist Caroline Leaf, Ph.D. Her answer? Yes, you can train your brain to become happier—although, the process looks different for everyone. "It's your formula. You have to find your code for happiness," she says on this episode of the mindbodygreen podcast. 

According to Leaf, we must gravitate away from the notion that happiness is synonymous with pure positivity. While a sunny, bubbly personality may come to mind when you think of what "happiness" looks like, Leaf says true happiness doesn't always have to exude sunshine and roses. 

"Redefine happiness as a sense of peace," she notes. Inner peace can, of course, include smiles and laughter. But sometimes? Peace can be tranquil, quiet. Peace is acceptance. "That internal sense of 'This is who I am,'" adds Leaf. "This is what I can do. This is what I can't do, and I'm OK with that. I'm OK with feeling depressed sometimes, and I'm OK with being anxious sometimes."

"It's your mind that drives your happiness," says Leaf. That's why she touts mind management as a useful tool, so you can easily recreate that feeling whenever you like.

We've already waxed poetic about her five steps for mind management (find all the full steps here), but generally follow these steps: You'll want to gather awareness ("What is happiness? Why do I feel happy? Why don't I feel happy? What's making me happy?" Leaf explains), reflect on those emotions, write them down for cognitive fluency, reframe your thoughts to a possibilities mindset, and, finally, create an action plan for how you can actively pursue them. 

The last tip, says Leaf, is to pay it forward. "As soon as you've got the internal sense of happiness because you know who you are, you just want to share it with others," she notes.