neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson has investigated this essential question:

For the past 40 years, neuropsychologist Dr. Rick Hanson has investigated this essential
question: How can we be truly, deeply happy, regardless of the circumstances of our lives? In his audio program The Enlightened Brain, Dr. Hanson teaches us how we can lay the foundations for lasting happiness by learning new ways to use our brains. In this excerpt, Dr. Hanson explains that focusing on what’s going on in the brain with increasing clarity and specificity allows us to fully engage with a positive or wholesome state of mind. We can then use the power of the mind alone to stimulate the neural substrates underlying those wholesome states—thereby strengthening them and encouraging their return.
http://www.soundstrue.com/store/weeklywisdom?page=single&category=PP&episode=2573&utm_source=soundstrue&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=weeklywisdom-150821&utm_source=bronto&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Image+-+Learn+More&utm_content=Unhooking+from+Our+Thoughts&utm_campaign=Weekly+Wisdom+150821&_bta_tid=3.RM0.A3zEcA.BANg.ZgOd..vpJp.b..l.ATe7.a.VdfQmA.Vdf98g.1qwiRg&_bta_c=l5psjq9ac7c35166ujqs7ti4myy1i