A Place Called Heaven (Happiness is a state of mind)

"A Place Called Heaven" is a short story based on a dream.  I posted it because it relates to happiness. Those on the dark side of Heaven were limited by their hopes and expectations. As a result, they lacked willpower to make it to the bright side of reality. Last Sunday, I listened to a lecture on happiness--the difference between natural happiness and "synthetic" or man-made happiness.  According to the lecturer, there was no difference in the way our brain records it, so whether our happiness is natural (we get what we want so we're glad about it) or whether happiness is synthetic (we don't get what we want but find happiness despite disappointment), it's up to us to train our brains to think happy thoughts. Research tells us that the brain focuses on negativity first in order to keep us safe, so if we fuel it with more negativity, the brain accepts negativity as the norm and creates more negative thoughts because it aims to also make us happy in addition to keeping us safe. But these negative thoughts can become incessant and lead to emotional disorders like depression. No matter how badly we feel, we've got to accept that negativity is the brain's way of keeping us safe, but we can retrain our brain to focus on good thoughts until it learns to accept positive thinking as the new normal. Practice makes perfect. Retraining the brain happens one day at a time.  Happiness is natural, but synthetic happiness is the next best thing. We need to acknowledge and process our negative thoughts--write about them and reflect. Then we need to negate, challenge, and replace them with positive thoughts--every time. Step by step, day by day, the brain can be trained to create the happiness we deserve.