TED Talk a Day - Day 4: The Habits of Happiness by Matthieu Ricard

Here are my notes from Matthieu Ricard's 2004 TED talk, The Habits of Happiness.
  • We have a deep, profound desire for wellbeing/happiness
  • Pleasure and happiness is not the same thing
  • Wellbeing is a deep sense of serenity and fulfillment, a state that pervades all emotional states
  • An act of unselfish generosity gives us a sense of adequation with our deep nature and we would like to be like that all the time
  • Behind every single thought there is bare consciousness, pure awareness
  • There is a possibility for change because all emotions are fleeting
  • Mind training is based on the idea that two opposite mental factors cannot happen at the same time
  • If you look at the thought of anger it will vanish like frost under the morning sun
  • Brain plasticity
  • Mind training matters.  It will determine the quality of every instance of our life
  • We spend surprisingly little time taking care of what matters most.  The way our mind functions
Here's the talk.  Leave your favorite moments in the comments section below!