As a practicing yogi, I want to say that gratitude is a great practice! It's supported not just by modern science, but ancient wisdom. Some advanced monks and yogis are able to spontaneously invoke feelings of extreme gratitude or compassion, which are now measurable in brain scans.
Regarding happiness, many yoga traditions would suggest that attachment to outcomes is a major root cause of suffering. Dedicated work without attachment to outcomes is suggested to free oneself from these binds of suffering. In particular, it's stressed that even attachment to positive outcomes will lead to suffering.
This, in additional to renunciation of baser desires, yoga (which I'll define here as exercise and some meditation), and finally surrender to "god" or "love" or the true self.
You are not your mind and you are not your body. Realizing this, and learning to identify with the true self, and to subdue the ego, are the keys to happiness in the yogic tradition. When this happens, your happiness is less and less affected by the outside world; the yogi learns to smile through adversity and keep a level head through triumph.
I imagine in the near future, hackers here and elsewhere will recognize yoga as a method to "hack" ones own tendencies, emotions, health, cognition, etc. I highly recommend it as a gesture towards happiness; I've found it to be both practical and practicable for the most part.
Regarding happiness, many yoga traditions would suggest that attachment to outcomes is a major root cause of suffering. Dedicated work without attachment to outcomes is suggested to free oneself from these binds of suffering. In particular, it's stressed that even attachment to positive outcomes will lead to suffering.
This, in additional to renunciation of baser desires, yoga (which I'll define here as exercise and some meditation), and finally surrender to "god" or "love" or the true self.
You are not your mind and you are not your body. Realizing this, and learning to identify with the true self, and to subdue the ego, are the keys to happiness in the yogic tradition. When this happens, your happiness is less and less affected by the outside world; the yogi learns to smile through adversity and keep a level head through triumph.
I imagine in the near future, hackers here and elsewhere will recognize yoga as a method to "hack" ones own tendencies, emotions, health, cognition, etc. I highly recommend it as a gesture towards happiness; I've found it to be both practical and practicable for the most part.