Scientific research appears to support a key principle of the Ananda schools: that “Children who learn to love, love learning.”

For example, scientists at Heart Math Research Center in California have studied the effects of positive feelings such as love and compassion and kindness on the body and brain. Here are some of their findings:

• Deliberately focusing attention in the heart while cultivating feelings of love and compassion, etc. This leads to clearer thinking and calmer emotions and improved physical performance and health.
  
• The positive feelings quiet the mind and generate a sense of ‘self-security and peace and love,’ and increase the frequency of the feeling of ‘connectedness to God.’
  
• Negative emotions such as anger and fear and hatred make the heartbeat change the speed erratically. The heart literally speeds up and slows down chaotically from one beat to the next one, like the jerky motion of a car that’s running out of gas. They have also studied children’s heart rate in the position of anger, relaxation and appreciation. The heart’s power output is approximately 380 percent higher during feelings of ‘appreciation’ than simple ‘relaxation’.
  
• The heart and brain communicate continually through the nervous system. Thus, the heart’s powerful positive or negative messages, harmonizing or disruptive messages are carried instantly to the brain, where they enhance or interfere with our ability to remain cool and concentrated.
  (The heart is the body’s most powerful oscillator, sending out electrical signals roughly 60 times as strong those emitted by the brain).

To summarize
Positive, harmonious feelings enhance mental focus and calmness and health and performance and the frequency of spiritual feelings. They increase relaxation, alpha-wave output in the brain (associated with a calm, meditative state), and synchronize heart-rhythm patterns, respiratory rhythms, and blood pressure oscillations.

No matter whether our goal is peak performance in the classroom, in our relationships, or on the job, cultivating positive feelings facilitates success.

Source: www.livingwisdomindia.org

Photo: Amy Burton