Meditation, a mind-body practice, has gained popularity in recent years because it is believed to be effective in reducing stress and altering significant biological processes that result in people feeling happier about themselves, their bodies and their spirits. What is meditation? Despite its diverse forms and variety practices, meditation can be defined as a family of self-regulation practices that bring mental processes under voluntary control through training attention and awareness and therefore foster mental well-being and bring consciousness to an ultimate state of calm, clarity, and concentration (Walsh & Shapiro, 2006) Happiness is a state of well-being and contentment, and it can be merely pleasure, be free from pain and displeasure. Happiness can be more than pleasure, and there are all the other aspects, such as the eudemonic of meaning, accomplishment in life, engagement of compassion for other and love in life. They are important in happiness too. People may report sense of wellbeing, but they might not quite as happy as they could be. Are there intervention strategies to maximize that happiness? Can we engage in certain mental exercises that benefit our brain and emotion health like we do physical exercise for our physical health? What is the link between meditation and happiness? I am going to use my own experience to explore if meditation will contribute to happiness as many people believe. I had 10 minutes Focused Attention meditation a day for a week in a quiet place with few distractions, in which the mind is focused on a single object. The request for posture is that the spine must be kept straight and that the rest of the body must be neither too tense nor too relax. The result of Focused Attention is believed to increase not only the stability of one’s concentration but also its intensity. During the meditation it is thought to induce pleasurable sensations, including a lightness of mind and body, increase mental and physical well-being. For the measure of happiness, Scales of Psychological Well-Being (Ryff, 1989) was used as a rating system to record my data of happiness score before and after the meditation. Happiness (Well- Being) Score | Meditation | Autonomy | Environmental Mastery | Personal Growth | positive relations with others | Purpose in Life | Self-Acceptance | Total score | Day 1 before | 39 | 36 | 43 | 32 | 33 | 37 | 220 | Day 1 after | 40 | 36 | 43 | 33 | 34 | 37 | 223 | Day 2 before | 38 | 36 | 43 | 31 | 32 | 37 | 219 | Day 2 after | 37 | 37 | 43 | 32 | 32 | 37 | 220 | Day 3 before | 39 | 35 | 42 | 33 | 32 | 37 | 218 | Day 3 after | 39 | 34 | 43 | 33 | 31 | 38 | 218 | Day 4 before | 40 | 34 | 44 | 33 | 31 | 38 | 220 | Day 4 after | 40 | 35 | 44 | 33 | 31 | 38 | 221 | Day 5 before | 38 | 34 | 43 | 34 | 31 | 37 | 217 | Day 5 after | 39 | 35 | 43 | 35 | 31 | 37 | 220 | Day 6 before | 39 | 34 | 42 | 33 | 31 | 36 | 215 | Day 6 after | 39 | 34 | 42 | 34 | 31 | 36 | 216 | Day 7 before | 40 | 35 | 42 | 34 | 32 | 36 | 219 | Day 7 after | 40 | 35 | 43 | 34 | 32 | 36 | 220 |
1=strongly disagree 2=moderately disagree 3=slightly disagree 4=slightly agree 5=moderately agree 6=strongly agree By analyzing the above data of happiness score before and after
