Guided Neuroplasticity can help you relieve cortisol and stimulate your happy brain chemicals. You can enjoy more dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphin when you know how your brain works. You can build new neural pathways instead of repeating old pain endlessly.
Here you will learn what it takes to build new neural pathways, and why old pathways are so powerful. You will learn what turns on your happy chemicals in the state of nature, and what turns on your stress chemicals.
Our brain evolved to protect us from harm, so it is constantly alert for potential danger signals. Cortisol is turned on by pain and the anticipation of pain. The bad feeling prompts your brain to scan for more evidence about the threat. You can easily wind up with endless pain, but you can also rewire your brain with new responses. You'll be glad you did!
Negativity is natural because our brain zooms in on problems. We feel good when we solve them, but our brain immediately shifts to the next problem. You miss out on positivity when you see the world through this lens. Fortunately, you can build a corrective lens that lets in the good that your negative lens has screened out. You can reduce the stress / anxiety of cortisol and stimulate your dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin in new ways.
Your brain is always picking and choosing its information because the world floods us with more detail than we can process. Your brain zooms in on bad news and threat signals when your cortisol is turned on. A bad loop results: you feel threatened so you find evidence of threat, which leaves you feeling more threatened and more disposed to find evidence. Here's how to escape from that loop.
Zookeepers are expert at managing temperamental mammals. They face the risk of conflict and aggression every moment of their day. Here's how they manage it:
1. Don’t reward bad behavior. (Or else you’ll get more of it.)
2. Introductions take time. (Don’t expect instant acceptance.)
3. Enrichment always. (The mind needs stimulation.)
4. Good habits can replace bad habits. (The brain runs on habit.)
Our brains are wired by early experience. We can build new wiring later on, but it's hard. When you know why it's hard, you know why we revert to old patterns, and what it takes to change them. Our brain learns from rewards, so you need to find healthy rewards to build healthy new pathways.
Comparing yourself to others is a major cause of unhappiness. Our brains are actually designed to compare, so it's hard to stop. Animals try to one-up each other when they can do it without pain. Natural selection produced a brain that tries to avoid conflict but also to seize the one-up position. You hate it when others try to one-up you, but when you do it, you think are just trying to survive. Endless frustration results unless you make peace with your inner mammal. Here's how.
1. The job of each happy chemical in the state of nature
2. The neural pathways that control these chemicals
3. How to create new pathways to enjoy more of them
Our happy brain chemicals are not meant to flow all the time for no reason. Each one has a job to do, and when you know what turns them on in the state of nature, you know how they work in your life. But your happy chemicals are controlled by neural pathways built from past experience. Here's how to build new pathways to turn them on in new ways.
Dopamine makes you feel good when you anticipate a reward. It evolved to promote survival, not to make you happy. But our brain defines survival in quirky ways, so we do quirky things to stimulate it. Fortunately, you can rewire yourself to turn on the good feeling of dopamine in new ways.
Your brain evolved to meet your needs, so your neurochemicals surge in response to anything relevant to your needs. Natural selection built a brain that responds to opportunities and threats with a sense of urgency. No wonder politics gets us going! It's easy to see how this works in others, especially your social rivals. It helps to see how this works in yourself. Then you can make careful decisions about where you invest your limited brain power.
Mammals live in groups for protection from predators, but group life is frustrating. Other mammals get the good bananas and mating opportunities. When things go your way, your brain releases serotonin. It feels good, which motivates your brain to do things that stimulate more. You have inherited a brain that cares about its status in a herd or pack or troop, though you would never consciously think this. Your neurochemical ups and downs make sense when you understand the mammal brain.
Your brain releases happy chemicals when you see something good for survival. You define survival with neural pathways built from experience. They can lead to behaviors that are not really good for survival. You can build new pathways, but it's not easy. It helps to know how the old ones got there. Neurons connect from emotion and repetition. Emotions are chemicals controlled by the brain structures we've inherited from earlier mammals. You cannot just ignore your animal brain because it's part of your operating system. Your three brains have to work together, even though they're not on speaking terms.
You were born with billions of neurons but very few connections between them. You built connections whenever your happy chemicals or unhappy chemicals were flowing. Your brain relies on the pathways it has, but we all end up with some pathways we're better off without. You can build new pathways in your brain to turn on your happy chemicals in new ways. It's not easy, but when you know how your brain works you can do it.
Happy at Home: Keep up your dopamine and oxytocin when you're stuck at homeLoretta Breuning, PhD
The document discusses how the brain is designed to scan for threats and rewards, releasing cortisol in response to threats and "happy chemicals" like dopamine, endorphin, oxytocin, and serotonin in response to rewards. It explains that when the world changes, old neural pathways for avoiding threats and gaining rewards can become unreliable. However, we can build new neural pathways by focusing on goals and taking small steps toward them to stimulate dopamine, and by creating opportunities to build social trust to stimulate oxytocin. Making new habits daily can help give the brain's electricity new places to flow and help us expect to feel good.
The Biology of Belonging
Loretta Breuning, PhD
If belonging were easy, we would not be talking about it. Belonging is not easy, and that’s hard to explain since it feels so good. Biology can help us explain.
Animals seek safety in numbers in order to survive. Natural selection built a brain that rewards you with a good feeling when you find social support. The good feeling is produced by the chemical, “oxytocin.” We humans seek social support because oxytocin makes it feel good.
You may have heard that touch stimulates oxytocin, but it’s more complicated. Touching someone you don’t trust feels bad. Oxytocin comes from trust. But how do you know who to trust? Neurons connect when oxytocin flows, and that wires you to turn on the good feeling more easily in similar future circumstances. Each brain looks for social trust in ways that worked for it before.
It would be nice to enjoy oxytocin all the time, but our brain does not work that way. Trusting everyone all the time would not promote survival. Our brain evolved to make careful decisions about when to release oxytocin.
For herd animals, isolation means instant death in the jaws of a predator. The mammal brain releases the bad feeling of cortisol when it sees that it’s isolated. Cortisol is relieved when a mammal returns to its herd, but a different bad feeling results when it competes for grass that others have trampled on. We mammals long for greener pasture, but when you go your own way, your oxytocin falls and your corisol rises. What’s a big-brained mammal to do?
Animals have a simple solution: they gather when predators lurk, and space out as threats subside. Baboons quickly forget their differences when a lion approaches. Humans do the same. We bond against common enemies because oxytocin makes it feel good. But we pay a high price for this strategy. Your groups dwell on “enemies,” and the fear keeps you following the herd when you’d rather not. It’s not easy being a mammal!
To make life even harder, cortisol is triggered by disappointed trust. We are disappointed with our friends and family a lot because we expect so much from them. Cortisol makes it feel like a survival threat even though you don’t consciously think that. Neurons connect when cortisol flows, so the bad feeling turns on faster in similar future situations.
The solution is to recognize that belonging as a skill. We all build that skill all the time. My children cannot learn the skill if I create belonging for them. They have to learn it by taking small steps toward social trust, again and again. Each step connects neurons that make the next step easier. It’s the same for adults!Know why belonging is hard so you can transcend the obstacles and meet the need.
The brain chemicals that make us feel good are inherited from earlier animals: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphin. They are not meant to flow all the time for no reason. They evolved to do a job. They reward a mammal with a good feeling when you take action to promote your survival. They're controlled by pathways built from early experience. You can enjoy more happy chemicals when you know how they work. You can re-wire yourself to turn them on in new and healthier ways.
Happy brain chemicals: Dopamine, Serotonin, Oxytocin and EndorphinLoretta Breuning, PhD
Here's a simple introduction to the brain chemicals that make us happy. You can rewire yourself to turn them on in new ways. This simple look at our neurochemistry what turns them on in the state of nature, and why they inevitably droop. Ups and downs are natural, but you can build new circuits to enjoy more ups.
This document discusses how to empower the subconscious mind. It notes that geniuses are able to use more than the typical 3-4% of the brain and lists influential figures like Einstein, Gates, and Jinnah. The subconscious mind stores all experiences and beliefs and is responsible for behaviors, talents, and attitudes. It works continuously, even when sleeping. One can reprogram the subconscious mind by changing thought processes to be positive, visualizing goals, and taking powerful action towards dreams. Belief in oneself and one's abilities is key to achieving what one conceives in the mind.
The document outlines the process of manifestation using the law of attraction. It discusses understanding one's desires, asking for desires, experiencing desires through visualization, taking action towards desires, and expressing gratitude throughout the process. The goal is to deliberately create the life one wants by changing thoughts and focusing positive energy on their desires.
The document discusses the power of the subconscious mind. It explains that the subconscious mind contains our memories, experiences, and principles that guide us outside of our conscious awareness. While the subconscious mind can hold negative thoughts, it also contains untapped potential that can be harnessed. To channel the power of the subconscious mind positively, one should visualize their goals, believe they are worthy of achieving them, and take time each day to reinforce positive thoughts and beliefs in their subconscious.
- The document discusses the Law of Attraction (LOA) and how it operates ceaselessly in our lives. It states that LOA is one of the greatest blessings and its benefits are innumerable.
- It explains that thoughts become things through the LOA. Humans are thinking beings and our thoughts have the power to manifest ideas into material things. It also discusses how higher vibrational thoughts manifest faster.
- The document outlines the process of manifestation through LOA as asking for what you desire, expecting to receive it, focusing on the end result, believing it will come to pass, and receiving it through feelings of love, appreciation, gratitude and joy.
The document discusses practicing positive thinking through establishing a morning routine focused on self-development. It recommends dedicating the first hour of each morning to activities like meditation, visualization, exercise, reading, and journaling. These "SAVERS" can help cultivate positive habits and direct one's thinking. The document also discusses focusing mental energy on issues one can influence rather than worry, and cultivating an "attitude of gratitude" to improve well-being. It provides an example of a positivity routine incorporating these concepts.
Our happy brain chemicals (dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphin) are inherited from earlier mammals. They did not evolve to make you happy all the time. They are meant to motivate you to go toward things that promote your genes, and warn you to avoid things that threaten your genes. No conscious interest in your genes is involved - these chemicals create such strong impulses that we search for information to make sense of them. That's the job of our big cortex. It's not easy being a mammal, but your ups and downs are easier to manage when you know the job they do in the state of nature.
Meet Your Happy Chemicals: Dopamine, Serotonin, Endorphin, OxytocinLoretta Breuning, PhD
We all have "happy habits." We repeat behaviors that triggered our happy chemicals in the past, even without conscious intent. Habits have power because brain chemicals pave neural pathways. Our brain expects to feel good by doing things that felt good before. Unfortunately, good things have side effects. We can end up feeling bad despite our efforts to feel good. Fortunately, we can rewire ourselves to replace an unwanted habit with a healthier habit. Here is a simple plan for choosing a new habit and repeating it until it feels natural. You can stimulate more happy chemicals with fewer side effects. It's not easy, but you can do it in 45 days it you commit.
The document discusses neuroplasticity and its implications for optometry. It begins by defining neuroplasticity as the brain's ability to change its structure and function through experience. It reviews evidence that the adult brain remains plastic. It then discusses how neuroplasticity relates to vision disorders like amblyopia and binocular vision anomalies, and how vision therapy can harness neuroplasticity to improve function. Factors that influence neuroplasticity like repetition and intensity are also examined. The document concludes by exploring lifestyle factors that may enhance neuroplasticity.
Brain Science Applying Neuroplasticity Principles To Higher Educationsmarkbarnes
This document discusses applying principles of neuroplasticity to higher education. It explains that the brain can reorganize and form new connections throughout life in response to environment and thoughts. Certain factors like attention, intensity, repetition and sleep help facilitate neuroplastic changes. Educators can use these principles to help students build stronger neural circuits and mental tools through techniques like creating outlines, flashcards, visualizations and discussions. The goal is to stimulate learning and long-term memory formation in students.
Serotonin is a neurotransmitter found primarily in the gastrointestinal tract, blood platelets, and central nervous system. It plays various roles such as regulating mood, cognition, memory, appetite, sleep, and gastrointestinal motility. Serotonin acts through multiple receptor subtypes. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors are commonly used to treat depression and anxiety by blocking reuptake of serotonin. Potential side effects include nausea, sexual dysfunction, and serotonin syndrome, a rare but serious condition caused by dangerously high serotonin levels.
Love is a cocktail of brain chemicals: Dopamine, Oxytocin, Serotonin, Endorphin. These happy chemicals evolved to promote your genes, not to make you happy all the time. You can manage the roller coaster when you understand the job these chemicals do in the state of nature. More information like this at InnerMammalInstitute.org
1. Cells that are activated together frequently form connections called engrams, resulting in neuroplasticity. Persistent activation of cell assemblies leads to changes in brain connectivity.
2. Fixed action patterns are innate or learned complex motor patterns like walking or playing an instrument. Playing music in your mind activates similar brain areas as actually playing, showing neuroplasticity.
3. Musicians are a model for neuroplasticity as their brains adapt and change in response to extensive musical training and practice over time. Complex musical stimuli and long exposure can physically change the brain.
The document discusses the concept of neuroplasticity, or the brain's ability to change and adapt as a result of experiences. It describes how neural pathways are formed and strengthened through mechanisms like axonal sprouting and synaptic pruning. Experiences drive which connections are kept and which are pruned away. The brain remains plastic into adulthood, as evidenced by cases of recovery from brain damage and phantom limb pain. Thinking itself can induce neuroplastic changes, as cognitive therapies have been shown to alter brain activity patterns similarly to medications for conditions like OCD. Overall, the document outlines how learning, experiences, and even thoughts can physically change the brain's structure and connections throughout life.
The brain undergoes significant development and changes throughout life. In early childhood, the brain rapidly forms new connections, with trillions of synapses forming by age 3. During childhood, synaptic pruning occurs, removing unused connections. Experience and environment influence which connections are strengthened and retained. Early childhood experiences are particularly important for brain development. Brain plasticity allows the brain to adapt and recover from injury through mechanisms like remapping of functions. Early intervention programs provide therapeutic support and aim to maximize development for children with disabilities or delays.
1. The document discusses neuroplasticity, which is the brain's ability to reorganize and form new neural pathways in response to new information or injury.
2. It describes the basic structures of neurons and glial cells that make up brain tissue and allow for neuroplasticity.
3. The document provides an overview of the anatomy of the brain and its various regions that work together through neuroplasticity.
The nervous system consists of neurons and neuroglial cells. Neurons transmit nerve impulses through electrical and chemical signals. The neuron has a cell body, dendrites which receive signals, and an axon which transmits signals. Schwann cells wrap around axons and form myelin sheaths to insulate axons. Myelin allows faster impulse transmission. The nervous system regulates sensation, movement, and organ function through sensory, motor and interneurons. Nerve impulses rely on ion exchange and travel through the nervous system via pathways and reflex arcs.
Neuroplasticity: The Brain That Changes ItselfS'eclairer
The document discusses neuroplasticity and how the brain can change itself through experiences like stress, beliefs, environment, and activities. It provides examples of research that shows how thinking patterns can impact health conditions like heart disease, how environments and experiences can influence gene expression, and how cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness can help rewire the brain and reduce symptoms of obsessive compulsive disorder.
Here's a fun and attractive way to understand the brain chemicals that make us feel good, and find your power over them. It's based on the book, "14 Days to Sustainable Happiness," which is the workbook that goes with "Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels."
Sustainable happiness is habits that spark your happy chemicals in the short run without harming you in the long run. There's no easy way to do that with this brain we've inherited, but it starts with realistic knowledge about how these chemicals work in animals.
The most successful storytellers often focus listeners’ minds on a single important idea and they take no longer than a 30-second to forge an emotional connection.
Story telling can be effective if and only if both teller and listeners are in happy mood
Happiness is just a neurochemical spurt of four different brain chemicals
WE need all of them to feel good.
Happiness is just a neurochemical spurt.
Four different brain chemicals create happy feelings, and you need all of them to feel good.
You miss out when you rely on one or two old familiar ways of triggering your happy chemicals.
You can enjoy a balanced happy chemical diet if you know the distinct kind of happiness each brain chemical evolved for
Happiness is just a neurochemical spurt.
Four different brain chemicals create happy feelings, and you need all of them to feel good.
You miss out when you rely on one or two old familiar ways of triggering your happy chemicals.
You can enjoy a balanced happy chemical diet if you know the distinct kind of happiness each brain chemical evolved for
The document discusses the importance of sleep and outlines several key points:
- Sleep is regulated by circadian rhythms influenced by light and melatonin levels, and disruptions to these rhythms can negatively impact sleep.
- College students often do not get the recommended 8-9 hours of sleep per night, leading to poorer academic performance and health issues.
- Establishing a regular sleep schedule and relaxing pre-sleep routine can help improve sleep quality.
- Activities like exercise, caffeine, and screen time close to bedtime should be limited to promote better sleep.
This document discusses how our emotions can affect our health. It explains that people with good emotional health are aware of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, and have learned healthy ways to cope with stress. However, life events can disrupt emotional health and lead to sadness, stress, or anxiety. Poor emotional health can then weaken the immune system and impact health. The document also outlines various foods and nutrients that are associated with improving mood and emotional health by boosting "happy hormones" in the body.
The document discusses how the human brain is inherently focused on survival due to evolutionary pressures, as it is inherited from ancestors who survived. It explains that while humans are not born with hardwired instincts, the brain wires itself early in life based on experiences, resulting in "survival circuits" that do not always match up with actual survival needs as adults. The goal of the book is to help readers understand their brain's natural functions and learn new habits that can trigger feelings of well-being in healthier ways.
The document discusses the interaction between the mind and body. It explains that the brain acts as the central control center, taking in information and using neurotransmitters to produce emotional and physical reactions. When the brain is constantly perceiving threats due to faulty interpretations from the past, it can lead to exhaustion and mood disorders as the body stays in a prolonged stress response. Rebalancing the mind and body requires examining old beliefs, reducing stressors, and allowing the body to properly recover through quality sleep, nutrition, and relaxation.
In today’s nonstop world, late nights and early mornings have become the norm. We all want to get more done each day, do better at work, spend more time with our families, and make more money. But all that hard work can wreak havoc on our bodies.
You know that 8 hours of sleep is ideal.
The benefits of adequate rest have been proven time and again:
● Improves memory
● Boosts creativity
● Strengthens immune system
● Reduces stress
● Helps weight loss
● Helps the body heal itself
● Sharpens attention
● Supports brain function
● Extends lifespan
Learn more about sleep Wellness
In today’s nonstop world, late nights and early mornings have become the norm. We all want to get more done each day, do better at work, spend more time with our families, and make more money. But all that hard work can wreak havoc on our bodies.
You know that 8 hours of sleep is ideal.
The benefits of adequate rest have been proven time and again:
● Improves memory
● Boosts creativity
● Strengthens immune system
● Reduces stress
● Helps weight loss
● Helps the body heal itself
● Sharpens attention
● Supports brain function
● Extends lifespan
Learn more about sleep Wellness
The video for this presentation is available on our Youtube channel:
https://youtube.com/allceuseducation A continuing education course for this presentation can be found at https://www.allceus.com/member/cart/index/index?c=
Examining how moods are influenced by thoughts and behaviors, and thoughts and behaviors are influenced by moods. It can be a positive spiral, or a downward one.
The subconscious mind is powerful and controls much of our daily functioning and behaviors outside of our conscious awareness. It processes and stores all information we encounter and communicates with our conscious mind through thoughts, emotions, and memories. While the conscious mind is limited in its abilities, the subconscious has virtually unlimited capacity and can control vital bodily processes like breathing and digestion. We can access and reprogram the subconscious mind through practices like meditation, visualization, affirmations, hypnosis and by exposing it to positive information and environments on a consistent basis to manifest beneficial changes in our lives.
The document provides examples comparing various psychological concepts to everyday experiences and observations. It uses over 40 comparisons to explain concepts related to neuroscience, learning and conditioning, intelligence and testing, motivation and emotion, personality and psychotherapy. The comparisons make these complex psychological phenomena more accessible by relating them to common activities, objects and situations.
This document discusses how drugs and alcohol work in the brain by interacting with neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. It explains that drugs can mimic neurotransmitters, stimulate their release, or prevent their reuptake. While drugs may temporarily change mood or perception, they can also cause long-term brain damage and addiction. However, natural activities like exercise, meditation, helping others, and hobbies can also elevate mood through neurotransmitters without harm. Making natural highs a regular part of life may help reduce reliance on drugs and alcohol for their perceived benefits.
All animals need sleep and people have been fascinated by sleep throughout history. There are different stages of sleep including light, deep, and REM sleep. During REM sleep, the brain is active while the body is paralyzed, which is important for memory, learning, and creativity. Most adults need around 8 hours of sleep per night but many people suffer from sleep deprivation or disorders. Not getting enough quality sleep can seriously impact health, mood, and cognitive performance.
Similar to Do You Want to Share Your Pain or Relieve It? (15)
CHAPTER TWO (SHATKARMA AND PRANAYAMA)
Chapter 2 Verse 1 Being established in asana, pranayama should be practiced
Thus being established in asana and having control (of the body), taking a balanced diet; pranayama should be practiced according to the instructions of the guru.
Chapter 2 Verse 2
When prana moves, chitta (the mental force) moves. When prana is without movement, chitta is without movement. By this (steadiness of prana) the yogi attains steadiness and should thus restrain the vayu (air).
Prana and mind are intricately linked. Fluctuation of one means fluctuation of the other. When either the mind or prana becomes balanced the other is steadied. Hatha yoga says, control the prana and the mind is automatically controlled, whereas raja yoga says, control the mind and prana becomes controlled.
Chapter 2 Verse 3
As long as the vayu (air and prana) remains in the body, that is called life. Death is when it leaves the body. Therefore, retain vayu.
Chapter 2 Verse 4
The vital air does not pass in the middle channel because the nadis are full of impurities, So how can the state of unmani arise and how can perfection or siddhi come about?
It's beautiful creative expression carefully curated to revisit areas of lateral or divergent thinking with thought stimulants that's adds both VALUE and PURPOSE.
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Do You Want to Share Your Pain or Relieve It?
1. Do You Want to
Share Your Pain or Relieve It?
Inner Mammal Institute
Loretta Breuning, PhD
Guided
Neuroplasticity
2. Our brain
creates
endless pain
because
• it confuses social pain with physical pain
• it equates disappointment with pain
• it blends anticipated pain with actual pain
3. You can escape this loop when
you know how your brain works
4. You can turn on your
happy brain chemicals in
new and sustainable ways
dopamine endorphin oxytocinserotonin
5. You can build new neural pathways
to give the electricity in your brain
a new place to flow
6. This presentation shows you:
1. what turns on the pain chemical (cortisol)
2. what turns on the happy chemicals
(dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphin)
3. how to build new neural pathways
to enjoy more happy chemicals and
avoid more pain chemicals
7. Then you will choose a new behavior or thought
pattern to stimulate the chemistry you want.
You’ll repeat it every day for 45 days without fail.
8. It’s not easy, but on Day 46
you’ll be so thrilled that you’ll want
to start your next rewiring project
78. Dopamine rewards you for the
effort of steps toward your needs.
Serotonin rewards you for getting
respect from others.
Oxytocin rewards you for finding
the safety of social support.
Endorphin rewards you for action
that relieves pain.
79. 3. Let’s see how your brain
builds the pathways that
control your happy chemicals
80. You were born with billions of neurons
but very few connections between them
98. This is why old patterns may
repeat despite our best intentions
99. You can blaze a new trail
through your jungle of neurons
100. But it takes a lot of effort
to activate a new pathway
101. And after all that, your new trail
will disappear into the jungle
unless you blaze it every day
102. The new trail may feel wrong
even when you know it’s right
103. But it will feel natural in 45 days
if you repeat your new pattern
without fail
104. Your old path will still be there, but your
electricity will have a new place to flow
105. You can wire in behaviors that turn on
your happy chemicals in new ways
106. For example, you can stimulate the joy of
dopamine by taking steps toward a goal
Results are
unpredictable but
you can always
adjust your
expectations and
take another step
107. You can stimulate the pleasure of
oxytocin with small acts of trust
It’s not safe to
trust always and
everywhere.
We’re designed
to make careful
decisions about
when to trust.
108. You can stimulate the pleasure of serotonin
by finding the good in what you have
You can feel important
without putting others
down or waiting for
them to put you up
109. You can enjoy endorphin
through laughter and exercise
We are NOT designed to inflict pain on
ourselves. Small endorphin drips are enough.
110. Habits of a
Happy Brain
Retrain Your Brain to Boost
Your Serotonin, Dopamine,
Oxytocin, and Endorphin
$11.00
Detailed suggestions for each chemical
and a step-by-step plan are in:
by Dr. Loretta Breuning
113. Free resources for rewiring your
happy chemicals at InnerMammalInstitute.org
• Youtube video:
Your Ups and Downs Are Natural …and also learned
• 5-day Happy Chemical Jumpstart
• infographics: You Have Power Over Your Brain
• PsychologyToday.com blog: Your Neurochemical Self
• a training program
115. Dopamine
Dopamine makes you jump for joy
when you reach a goal or get a toy.
Innature,ithelpsfindfoodwhenyouneedit.
“Eureka, I got it!” A memory gets created.
Dopamine causes expectations.
Correct predictions bring good sensations.
Dopamine feels great so you try to get more.
It rewarded our ancestors trudging through gore.
Cocaine triggers dopamine. Caution to all:
Joy without goal-seeking leads to a fall.
Dopamine flows when you feel like “I’ve done it.”
Whenothersdoitforyou,yourdopaminewillshunit.
116. Serotonin swells your chest with pride
When you get respect and needn’t hide.
Yourbrainfeelsgoodwhenyouboostyourselfhigher.
But when others do this, it provokes your ire.
“I don’t care about status. It’s other who do.”
Butyouspurtserotoninwhenthelimelight’s on you.
You are quite modest and don’t like to boast.
But no serotonin flows when you coast.
Status doesn’t depend on money.
You can be clever or helpful or funny.
But when others one-up you, your mind agitates.
‘Cause serotonin droops ‘til you lift your own weights.
Serotonin
117. Oxytocin
Oxytocin makes you trust your mates.
We love the bonds that it creates.
Oxytocinflowswhenyoustickwiththeherd.
“Notme!” youmaysay,“I’mnobovine orbird.”
But without social bonds, your brain feels alarm.
This protected our ancestors from all kinds of harm.
Thoughtheherdwillannoyyou,thepackhurt you so.
When you run with a pack, oxytocin will flow.
“My pack is great and the other is nuts.”
This thinking prevailed since the first mammal struts.
You’re above all this foolishness, obviously.
But it feels good when I trust you and you trust me.
118. Endorphin
Endorphin helps you mask the pain
Of injuries that you sustain.
Yourancestorsescapedfrompredatorattack
‘Causeendorphinfelt goodwhile theyranback.
Endorphin feels great when it eases your pains.
But only real pain makes it flow in your veins.
Exercise triggers it, experts alert you.
But first you must do it ‘til body parts hurt you.
Endorphin receptors let opium in.
So you feel like you’re safe without lifting a shin.
Laughing and crying can trigger it too.
But just for a moment– then the job’s through.