Loretta Graziano Breuning

14 Days to Sustainable Happiness

You have power over your emotions, but it's limited, so you need to understand it. Here is a simple explanation of the chemicals that make us feel good: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. You'll find out what turns them on in animals, and how you manage them with the animal part of your brain. Then you'll learn to rewire your happy chemicals by feeding your brain new inputs in a new way. We'll do the same for the unhappy chemical, cortisol, too. It's a step-by-step method with no jargon, based on the work of the Inner Mammal Institute. A more complete presentation of the science is in the companion book, Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels. With one lesson a day for fourteen days, you will discover your power over your happy brain chemicals. This is not a checklist of activities. It's a guide to the way your brain got wired long ago, and the way to add on new wiring. We humans get wired by early experience, so we all need updates. You can learn to blaze a new trail through your jungle of neurons to reach your happy chemicals in natural, healthy ways. Realistic expectations are the key. Our happy chemicals are not designed to flow all the time for no reason. They evolved to reward you for taking a step that meets your needs. Our brain defines "needs" in a quirky way, alas. You will learn about these quirks so you can design realistic steps toward your happy chemicals. You cannot rewire your whole brain in 14 days. You can build one new neural pathway at a time. You will learn to target the new pathway you want and the steps that will build it. It will build with repetition, so you will flow there as smoothly as you now flow into your old happy-chemical pathways. You can replace an unsustainable habit with a new habit designed by you. You'll be glad you did CONTENTS Day 1Your Power Over Your Brain Day 2The Joy of DopamineDay 3The Safety of OxytocinDay 4 The Pride of SerotoninDay 5The Challenge of EndorphinDay 6The Pain of CortisolDay 7Your Dopamine PastDay 8Your Oxytocin PastDay 9Your Serotonin PastDay 10Your Cortisol PastDay 11Your Dopamine FutureDay 12Your Oxytocin FutureDay 13Your Serotonin FutureDay 14Design Your Sustainable Path What is the Inner Mammal Institute? It's not really about animals.It's not about happiness as your verbal brain defines it.It's about the happy brain chemicals we've inherited from earlier mammals: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. These chemicals are designed to do a job, not to flow all the time for no reason. When you know how the happy chemicals work in animals, you can find healthy ways to stimulate yours. You can train your mammal brain and your verbal brain to work together. Nothing is wrong with you Nothing is wrong with us We're mammals. Get the whole story at innermammalinstitute.org Disclaimers: This book is not intended as medical treatment. Nothing in this book is intended to support breaking the law. We all benefit from the rule of law.