Why happiness is a matter of technology
By AvantiKumar
06 Apr 2009
“The study of how people behave is no less scientific than quantum physics,” Professor Khambatta, a teacher during my boyhood in London told me. “Look for the underlying methodologies in the most sophisticated computer on the planet.”
Khambatta said that the human brain is largely untapped, let alone understood. “The programmes within it are instilled during a slanted education system that produces fear rather than confidence, and motivates much of our day to day thinking and action.”
Inspired by such an approach and before my career in IT, as a qualified coach and hypnotherapist in the UK, I adapted left-brain & right-brain exercises into a structured coaching sequence primarily for directors and writers working in drama and creative arts in England. At the time, the twelve-step coaching sequence was a solution to the problem of how to switch between one side of the brain (editing mode) to the other (creative expression).
Debugging the brain
However, one of the X factors – by-products of the coaching sequence included happiness, peace, inspiration, and other beneficial states.
These occur in what are now termed theta, delta, and gamma states (when pertaining to EEG and biofeedback measurements). Another teacher of mine in the early days, Emerson, identified the sequence of states as:
• Beta (13-40 HZ) – the conscious day-to-day critical left-brain state, where most people spend much of their lives.
• Alpha (7-12 HZ) – creative mode, in the so-called right-brain, identified by such symptoms as ‘day-dreaming.’
• Theta (4-7 HZ) – a deeper creative state
• Delta (1-4 HZ) – usually a deep healing sleep condition
• Gamma (40 HZ) – when both right and left brain are in balance, the person appears to be asleep but is in a heightened creative ‘inspired’, meditative condition.
The first three conditions are natural, whereas the desired highly-productive states— Delta and Gamma—are induced with definite techniques, as very rarely do we enter such states of high inspiration and happiness. “The interesting thing about these higher states is that external factors do not affect the symptoms of inspiration and happiness,” said Khambatta.
The first six steps in the coaching sequence deal with identifying and debugging the brain of restricting thought patterns, derived from our education and external world, whereas the second six steps are designed to instill new programming of our own goals and visions.
ICT and the creative value of fun
“The economic downturn brings out the best and the worst in us,” the chief executive officer of a large IT database company told me. “ICT is both a blessing and a curse. The division between work and leisure is blurred. We work harder than previous generations and are far less happy.”
We are all much busier than ever before, especially during this downturn, and many make use of the good side of ICT. Those mobile connected devices that cause us to drag our office around with us day and night can also be used for a bit of beneficial fun.
At the suggestion of renowned author and psychologist, Dr Robert Holden, I wrote up the coaching sequence into what I hope would be a useful little book. How did I find the time?
Real techies are always interested in gadgets. For those interested, I used those spare minutes during weekends, evenings, and waiting for appointments, to write up the book on Nokia E-series devices, a Nokia Bluetooth keyboard, and both QuickOffice and OfficeSuite applications.
This happy combination injected some therapeutic fun into dragging my office around in my pocket day and night.
AvantiKumar is the Malaysia correspondent for Fairfax tech brands and deputy editor of Computerworld Malaysia.
