According to leading neuroscientists, neuropsychologists and brain researchers, about 50% of our capacity to feel happy is genetic; that’s bad news, if we believe that the brain is fixed. Actually the brain has plasticity — it’s changeable. That 50% can often give us a propensity to feel sad or to attach gloomy feelings to our life conditions. Often those worrisome “sadness” genes surface in our response to challenging situations. We have a “negativity bias” encouraged by a number of life stressors that can lead us to blame and a sense of victimhood. But we need not be imprisoned by our genetics. If we allow our awareness to heighten with meditative practice, and see clearly the life we are experiencing, we can change our thoughts with dramatic changes in our brain chemistry.

Even though we are genetically coded, according to researchers, to react to negative situations by moving toward it (fight), moving away (flight), becoming immobile (freeze) or losing emotional voice (fawn), change is possible. In other words, we fight, flee, freeze or fawn in response to a perceived threat to our well-being. The problem is that we believe our own stories about these challenges. Instead of being simply aware of what happens in our lives, we attach meaning to events, and then focus on our fears. We default to the highly charged emotions in our brain and throughout our bodies, even when there is no palpable threat.

Another 10% of our capacity to feel happy is thwarted by a belief that life conditions are unchangeable. But everything changes, everything is temporary, and life conditions do not define us unless we allow them to linger in our awareness. The part of our brain that provides reason and logic gets lost in our impulsivity in the face of challenges. Like pouring ink into a container of water, everything gets “colored” by the flood of fear into our evaluations of a life condition. When we face our fears, they lose their power, a power to disturb our “peace of mind.”

But here’s the good news, nearly 40% of our capacity to feel happy can be driven by awareness of the nature of our being, and by the comfort derived from gratitude, forgiveness, appreciation, compassion and mindfulness. The gifts of awareness also include acknowledging and cherishing relationships. When we acknowledge that we are one spirit, a sense of peace is inevitable. If we give up the notion of separateness from others, we become open to joy. Being still in the present moment with who we are has a healing effect on us all.

Beyond happiness is joy. When we find joy our molecules change. We realize that we are loving spirits and that who we are is enough. We realize that finding joy and feeling happy are ways to experience the divine within us.