Of the many major structures in the brain, many are and have been extensively studied while others are shy a few years of research from discovery. And yet of the structures studied and explained in great details, I have many questions for the integrity of the researches done or the discoveries presumed achieved.
It is thought that when we see an object (because of ample light), it is transformed into our thought processes. If this is the first time we see it, it gets stored in our memory, and if it is something we have seen before, we are able to retrieve the information and remember it. While this is all true (as written by great scientists), there is still the possibility of someone interpreting that object as something other than what others perceive it to be. When what is perceived is beyond the moral values (which humans at some point deemed right according to society?) of the norm, then it is said to be a psychiatric problem and these issues are later justified with the abnormal firing of neurotransmitters (substances in our brain that is said to control what we remember, feel, see, touch and can even turn around to cause great damage, even death).
Minus the boring medical story, let's get down to what brought me to these thoughts. Perception of happiness. If the title (and the dull paragraph above) doesn't suggest that I'm rather critical of it, then allow me to reinstate it: perception of happiness?
Say there are two people, A and B. At any point both A and B can be happy, and yet at other times, A and B can feel different. Say A and B grew up together, saw the same things, had the same parents, had the same friends, wouldn't they perceive what is happiness to be the same? I'm sure you're thinking NO, OF COURSE NOT. At some point in their lives they would've seen and learned different matters that later on shaped their personalities, thus giving them each, their own perception of happiness. A and B will no doubt have lots of fights and quarrels and perhaps someday down the lane, drift apart. Wouldn't it be better if scientists could discover NOT WHAT THE BRAIN DOES, but what we can do so we perceive happiness as the same despite personality differences?
Why is it that we say some people just don't understand while others do? Why is it that we think this sentence I'm writing now makes perfect sense in English? Just as the latter question may be alien to someone whose first language isn't English, the former question only justifies my point in writing, that a definite perception of happiness does not exist. What in our sense, and how we have agreed on believing since we were young, hence shaped us today, should not be the judge of someone else' personality.
We are all different in our own ways. When someone you know is having a hard time, or doesn't seem to understand you, perhaps it is best to approach the problem or matter at hand directly. Giving it space to cool off may work in movies, but from my observation (yet a vague or rather subjective perception of my believe), confrontation and talking things out helps. Help your friends, family and loved ones. Talk to them, even if it means boxing your ego into a take out container and hiding it in the freezer for a while. Who knows, after talking things through, perhaps you will learn to perceive some happiness together. Some happiness (if not indefinite) can take you a long way.
