Your Neurochemical Self

Getting real with a 200-million-year-old brain

Loretta G. Breuning Ph.D.

The Harsh Truth About Dopamine

Your brain turns on the excitement of dopamine when you approach a reward, but it defines "rewards" with neural pathways built from your dopamine past. New paths to dopamine await.

This Is the Face of Cortisol

We often hide our negative reactions, even from ourselves. Babies can help us understand our natural responses.

How Did Our Ancestors Manage Anxiety?

Our ancestors lived with huge threats, but they coped by focusing on their next step.

The Biology of Belonging

Mammals live in herds for protection from predators, and we've inherited a brain that rewards you with oxytocin when you stick with the herd. But herd life is not all warm and fuzzy.

Why Shy?

Past threats wire you to expect new threats, but you can wire in positive expectations too. Here's how.

False Alarms: 7 Reasons Why We Have Them

Your brain evolved to protect you from touching a hot stove twice. It alarms you when you see anything similar to a past threat. You can accept old pathways and flow into new ones.

Fear Is Natural, But You Can Be Super-Natural

If you share the fears of those around you, your life will be wasted in fear. You can learn to redirect it when you understand it.

What Good Can Come of This?

We are building time management skills and social skills, and putting realistic expectations above the blame game. These are things to celebrate.

Stuck at Home? How to Keep Up Your Happy Chemicals

Here's how to avoid a cortisol spiral, even when others panic.

Three Ways to Laugh More

Laughing stimulates endorphins and helps you avoid cortisol. Here are three simple strategies that anyone can use.

Fear the Future?

Your sense of dread about the future is natural. You have power over it when you know where it comes from.

Personal Responsibility and Mental Health

Mental health is a skill that must be learned.

Your Self-Soothing Habit

Our happy habits feel good in the short run, but we may use them to avoid our feelings.

Why We Want What Others Have

Social comparison shapes our happiness because we're mammals. We have power over this impulse when we understand it.

From Stressed to Rest in an Hour

Our brain prioritizes bad feelings because it evolved in a dangerous world. You can train your brain to go to a happy place instead.

The second shirt says “Focus on the Good.” Photos taken with permission in Peru and Colombia.

Mental Health Through an International Lens

I haven't heard much positivity lately, so I am thrilled to find it in the Latin America Positive Psychology Network.

This Is the Face of Dopamine

The joy of dopamine is released when you meet a need, but your brain defines needs in a quirky way. Knowledge is power!

When Others Hold You Back

Clinging to others promotes survival in nature but it frustrates us in daily life. You can manage this frustration when you know how you produce it inside you.

Expecting a Crisis?

Instead of focusing on the threats lurking everywhere, you can discover new pastures. You can train your brain to feel safe when you know how it creates alarm.

Cheer Does a Body Good

Whether you're cheering a new year, a sports team, or a birthday, it feels good. There may be lasting benefits too, so it's worth finding authentic opportunities to cheer.

Shakespeare’s True Identity Helped Me Understand Myself

A chance experience led me to read about the person who wrote the Shakespeare plays, and it was a thrill to see life's ups and downs through his eyes.

The Man Who Drew Neurons

The man who discovered the synapse wrote a book of career advice a century ago. His advice helps you stimulate your happy chemicals (dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin).

What Lens Do You Choose?

You can put on the glasses that let you see the world as a supportive place instead of a dangerous one. Why wouldn't you?

Fashion Trends and Primal Urges

Dopamine motivates us to seek novelty. Oxytocin motives us to fit in. Serotonin to be special. Fashion trends are natural for us mammals and you may find them in grandma's closet.

Compassion Failure: A New Paradigm

It's easy to blame problems on "our society," but the blame habit leads to hate, greed, and disempowerment. Invest yourself in a new paradigm instead.

A Post-Traumatic Growth Story

A brain-injury patient recovered his consciousness in a way that illuminates your consciousness. A true tale of triumph!

The Neurochemistry of Love

Love is a powerful motivator because it stimulates all your happy chemicals at once. But our brain evolved to motivate reproduction, not to make you feel good all the time. Alas.

Nourish Your Brain in Five Minutes a Day

Your quality of life depends on the circulation in your brain.

Self-Soothing Skills Learned in Childhood

Here are some curious childhood stress relievers that will help you identify your own. Your early habits are pathways in your brain that you can build onto today.

Why Is My Phone So Addictive?

Your phone triggers dopamine and oxytocin and relieves cortisol.

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