A WhatsApp Message : dated 19/08/2018

As I sat in the park after my morning walk, My wife came and slumped next to me. She had completed her 30-minute jog. We chatted for a while. She said she is not happy in life. I looked up at her sheer disbelief since she seemed to have the best of everything in life.

 "Why do you think so?" "I don't know. Everyone tells I have everything needed, but I am not happy."Then I questioned myself, am I happy?  "No," was my inner voice reply. Now, that was an eye-opener for me. I began my quest to understand the real cause of my unhappiness, I couldn't find one.

 I dug deeper, read articles, spoke to life coaches but nothing made sense. At last my doctor friend gave me the answer which put all my questions and doubts to rest. I implemented those and will say I am a lot happier person.

She said there are four hormones which determine a human's happiness - Endorphins, Dopamine, Serotonin, and Oxytocin. It is important we understand these hormones, as we need all four of them to stay happy.

Let's look at the first hormone the Endorphins. When we exercise, the body releases Endorphins. This hormone helps the body cope with the pain of exercising. We then enjoy exercising because these Endorphins will make us happy. Laughter is another good way of generating Endorphins. We need to spend 30 minutes exercising every day, read or watch funny stuff to get our day's dose of Endorphins.

The second hormone is Dopamine. In our journey of life, we accomplish many little and big tasks, it releases various levels of Dopamine. When we get appreciated for our work at the office or at home, we feel accomplished and good, that is because it releases Dopamine. This also explains why most housewives are unhappy since they rarely get acknowledged or appreciated for their work. Once, we join work, we buy a car, a house, the latest gadgets, a new house so forth. In each instance, it releases Dopamine and we become happy. Now, do we realize why we become happy when we shop?

The third hormone Serotonin is released when we act in a way that benefits others. When we transcend ourselves and give back to others or to nature or to the society, it releases Serotonin. Even, providing useful information on the internet like writing information blogs, answering people's questions on Quora or Facebook groups will generate Serotonin. That is because we will use our precious time to help other people via our answers or articles.

The final hormone is Oxytocin, is released when we become close to other human beings. When we hug our friends or family Oxytocin is released. The "Jhadhoo Ki Jhappi" from Munnabhai does really work. Similarly, when we shake hands or put our arms around someone's shoulders, various amounts of Oxytocin is released.

Now, we can understand why we need to hug a child who has a bad mood.So, it is simple, we have to exercise every day to get Endorphins, we have to accomplish little goals and get Dopamine, we need to be nice to others to get  Serotonin and finally hug our kids, friends, and families to get Oxytocin and we will be happy. When we are happy, we can deal with our challenges and problems better.

Jain Interpretation of above 

Four types of Hormones are being identified as cause for happiness or unhappiness which are physical entities. It is interesting to note that  in Jainism the same are called fruition of pudgala karmas namely Satavedaniya or Asatavedaniya. With the nimitta of fruition of Satavedaniya karma a Jiva finds  happiness while  the nimitta of fruition of Asatavedaniya karma results in unhappiness. These karmas are different from the Jiva being pudgala. The real happiness of the Jiva is beyond senses known as Atindriya which is experienced when Jiva contemplates upon the self. In the above message the physical happiness alone is covered and not the real one.

To surmise, the four types of hormones are not goals of life since they are pudgala , transitory and dependent upon bondage of karmas accrued earlier. The real happiness lies within self. However the above message establishes that the worldly happiness which Jiva experiences is nothing but fruition of pudgala karmas. It may be noted that we tend to believe the terms like Oxytocin more than Sata Vedaniya which were told 2000 years back in Shatkhandagam.