In dancing around a writing project with deadline which I should be working on, I came across an old University of California Television talk with Dr. Lustig and a provocative title: “The Hacking of the American Mind” I couldn’t resist taking a peek. It wasn’t what I expected, instead it was another one of those little gifts of synchronicity the universe hands out. I wonder if the talk might stir any discussion.
Lustig caught my attention right off the bat:
00:40
… I believe it comes down to a mistake that we’ve made between the interpretation of two of our most important and positive emotions.
Pleasure and happiness.
Lot of people equate the two.
But I’m here to tell you that they are completely different.
Okay, I get it, which was followed by solid reasoning, and this little jewel.
04:47
And the problem is you can’t fix a problem, unless you identify what the problem is.
At seven minutes another hit.
07:11
So what’s the difference between marketing, which is what companies say they do, and propaganda? And the answer is the truth, that’s the difference.
At about twelve minutes in, the notion that pleasure begets a need for pleasure, whereas happiness is satiating. That really hit home with me and my Earth Centrist, pragmatic minimalist humanist outlook.
Then, as if echoing something that’s woven into my writing about this chain of mutual experiences between Li’l G and myself, that have us connecting over these past couple weeks.
12:16
… Accessible to every single human being on the planet.
They’re all the things your mother told you, but you forgot, or not.Dr. Lustig calls them the four Cs.
First one, connect.12:32
So, interpersonal connection turns out to be extraordinarily important for happiness and the reason is because face-to-face, eye-to-eye connection, generates something called empathy.Empathy activates a specific set of neurons in your brain, which have been termed mirror neurons.
That the feelings of the person you’re talking to ultimately become adopted by you as well. And in that process, you generate contentment.
So, interpersonal connection is extraordinarily important.14:04
Second one, contribute.
Third one, cope - sleep; mindfulness; exercise
Fourth one, cook for yourself, eat well.
After this he broadens his horizon to encompass our global situation, and my life disappears into a void so though it was interesting to listen to, it didn’t pack that punch of significance these earlier quotes did.
31:29
Bottom line, we have mistaken the experience of pleasure for the experience of happiness.
31:47
And you can’t undo the paradigm unless you understand it.**
I looked up Dr. Lustig and he has a distinguished enough career with solid accomplishments and is well respected.
{It’s always nice to find out that the guy that’s been impressing one, isn’t a quack. 
}
