Happiness Is Not Positive Thinking — It’s Leaving Autopilot

Don’t change who you are. Change the mode.

When someone feels tired, anxious, or lost, the advice usually comes fast:
“Think positive.”
“Change your thoughts.”
“Adopt a better attitude.”

But this almost never works for long.

And it doesn’t work because the problem is not the content of thought.
The problem is the mode in which the brain is operating.

You can be thinking something “positive”
and still be stuck on autopilot.

The brain does not think in only one way

The human brain does not operate in a single fixed mode.
It switches functional modes depending on the task, the environment, and the bodily state.

In our model, we use a simple metaphor to explain this:
Rock – Paper – Scissors.

This is not judgment.
It is not a label.
It is a perceptual tool.

Scissors — “Think Slow” (prefrontal mode)

Scissors represents the analytical and executive mode:

• planning

• classifying

• comparing

• deciding

• controlling

This mode is essential for studying, organizing, and building methods.
Without Scissors, there is no science.

The problem appears when Scissors stays on all the time.

In that state:

• everything becomes a problem

• mistakes turn into threats

• the body becomes tense

• the mind becomes rigid

Positive thinking here becomes just more control.

Rock — “Think Fast” (sensorimotor mode)

Rock represents the automatic mode:

• habits

• fast responses

• defense / attack / escape

• repetition of what is known

This mode is efficient.
It saves energy.

But when life becomes only Rock:

• you react without noticing

• you repeat patterns that no longer work

• you live in “this is how it’s always been”

Here, thought barely appears.
It is pure autopilot.

Paper — Fruition + Metacognition (Zone 2)

Paper is the most misunderstood — and the rarest — mode.

It is not:

• euphoria

• constant excitement

• forced positive thinking

Paper is:

• open attention

• a regulated body

• expanded perception

• effortless presence

In Paper:

• you notice what is happening

• without needing to control

• without reacting immediately

This is the state we call Zone 2.

Real happiness appears here
not as excitement,
but as clarity without noise.

The problem is not being on autopilot

Being in Rock or Scissors is not a moral failure.
It is not weakness.
It is not a personal flaw.

It is biology.

The problem begins when:

• you don’t notice the mode you are in

• you confuse mode with identity

• you try to “think positive” inside a rigid mode

Then frustration appears:

“I know what I should do, but I can’t.”

Because it is not a matter of will.
It is a matter of brain mode.

Yagé: noticing the mode changes everything

This is where the Yagé avatar comes in.

Yagé does not ask for immediate change.
It asks for mode awareness.

Simple questions that activate Yagé:

• Am I reacting or perceiving?

• Am I trying to control or am I present?

• Is my body accelerated or regulated?

Just noticing the mode already changes something.

You don’t leave autopilot
by accelerating thinking even more.
You leave autopilot
by realizing you are on autopilot.

Small practices to return to Paper (Zone 2)

Nothing complex.
Nothing mystical.

Some simple examples:

• pausing before responding

• feeling your feet on the ground

• stretching the body for a few seconds

• reducing stimulation instead of adding effort

• breathing more slowly than usual

These actions do not change who you are.
They change the state of the system.

And when the system changes,
thought changes on its own.

Math/Hep: science as a tool, not an authority

The Math/Hep avatar enters here to remind us of something essential:

Science is not meant to tell you
“how you should be.”

Science is meant to:

• measure states

• test hypotheses

• understand causal relationships

• prevent self-deception

Math/Hep does not tell you to “think positive.”
It asks:

• which mode is the system in?

• what changes this mode?

• which variable can I test now?

Good science liberates.
It does not imprison.

Positive thinking does not change mode

You can repeat positive phrases
and still remain in rigid Scissors or defensive Rock.

Happiness is not about convincing the mind.
It is about organizing the system.

When the body regulates,
when rhythm slows,
when attention widens,

thought naturally changes its tone.
Without effort.

The central point

You don’t need to become another person.
You don’t need to “improve your personality.”
You don’t need to fight your thoughts.

You only need to notice the mode
and create conditions to leave autopilot.

Or, in the key phrase to keep:

Don’t change who you are. Change the mode.

When the mode changes,
happiness stops being an idea
and becomes a state that is possible now.

Scientific references (post-2020)

Balconi, M., Angioletti, L., & Amenta, S. (2024).
Inter-brain synchronization during interoception: A multimodal EEG–fNIRS coherence-based hyperscanning approach.
Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews.
— Combines EEG and fNIRS to show that interoceptive attention (e.g., breathing focus) modulates neural coherence between individuals, evidencing functional mode shifts linked to regulation and presence (Zone 2).

Chen, X., Liu, Y., & Zhang, D. (2024).
EEG–fNIRS-based emotion recognition using graph convolution and capsule attention networks.
Brain Sciences.
— Demonstrates that emotional and attentional states are objectively identifiable via EEG + fNIRS, reinforcing that changing thought content is not the same as changing neural operating mode.

Nozawa, T., et al. (2021).
Interpersonal neural synchronization during social interaction: An EEG–fNIRS hyperscanning study.
NeuroImage.
— Shows that different interaction styles produce distinct neural synchronization patterns, supporting the idea of automatic modes (Rock), rigid analytical modes (Scissors), and regulated coordination states (Paper / Zone 2).

Koike, T., Tanabe, H. C., & Sadato, N. (2021).
Hyperscanning neuroimaging designs for social interaction research: A review.
NeuroImage.
— Methodological review validating EEG and fNIRS for studying real-time cognitive and social states, reinforcing science as a tool for observation and testing, not normative authority.

Raimondo, F., Cheng, R. K., et al. (2023).
Brain states of mind wandering identified using simultaneous EEG–fNIRS.
Cognitive Neurodynamics.
— Shows that mind wandering (autopilot) and regulated attention states have distinct neural signatures, supporting the thesis that happiness is not “positive thinking,” but leaving automatic modes.

One-line Brain Bee summary

Science shows that happiness does not depend on thinking better,
but on changing the mode in which the brain is operating —
something observable, testable, and trainable with EEG and fNIRS.