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.

1. The Science of
Happiness
Loretta G. Breuning PhD
Inner Mammal Institute
innermammalinstitute.org
dopamine endorphinoxytocinserotonin

2. dopamine endorphin oxytocin serotonin
Good feelings come from
brain chemicals
inherited from earlier animals

3. These chemicals are NOT meant
to flow all the time for no reason

4. They evolved to do a job

5. When you know how they work
in the state of nature,
it’s easier to turn them on today

6. Brain chemicals are nature’s GPS
Happy chemicals
motivate a body to
approach a reward
Unhappy chemicals
motivate a body to
avoid a threat

7. Our brain
evolved to
promote survival,
not to make you
happy
all the time

8. Everyone has ups and downs
because:

9. 1.
Happy chemicals
turn on in
short spurts,
so you always
have to do more
to get more

10. 2.
Your mammal
brain cares
about the
survival of
your genes

11. 3.
Our happy chemicals are
controlled by
neural pathways
built from past
experience

12. Whatever turned on your chemicals
in the past built pathways that
turn them on today

13. We keep trying to stimulate
good feelings
with the pathways we have

14. because that’s how our
brain is designed to work

15. Let’s see what triggers happy
chemicals in a young mammal

16. and how you can build
new pathways

17. to trigger them in new ways
dopamine endorphinoxytocinserotonin

18. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Dopamine
is the great feeling
that a reward is at hand

19. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Dopamine
releases energy for the chase

20. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
The good feeling of dopamine
motivates you to take steps that
meet a need

21. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Dopamine droops once you
get the reward, until you set
your sights on another reward

22. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Neurons connect when dopamine
flows, which wires you to expect a
good feeling when you see things that
stimulated it before

23. Your expectations & excitement
depend on the pathways built by
your dopamine past

24. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute
Oxytocin
is often called
the “love chemical” or the “bonding hormone”

25. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute
Oxytocin
creates the feeling that
it’s safe to lower your guard

26. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute
Oxytocin is stimulated by
trust,
touch,
birth,
and
sex

27. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Our brain evolved to make careful decisions
about when to turn on the oxytocin because
trusting everyone would not promote survival

28. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
A mammal longs for the dopamine of greener
pasture, but when a common enemy lurks, it
seeks the oxytocin of safety in numbers

29. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Oxytocin is soon metabolized so
you have to keep stimulating it to
keep enjoying that nice safe feeling

30. Whatever triggered oxytocin in
your past will turn on your trust
more easily today

31. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Serotonin
is the pleasure of
social dominance

32. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Serotonin
is not
aggression.
It’s the calm
sense that
“ I will get
the banana ”

33. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Serotonin is the mammal brain’s
signal that it’s safe to assert
yourself to meet your needs

34. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
It’s easy to see this in others,
but it’s useful to recognize your own
natural urge for social dominance

35. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Serotonin
is soon
reabsorbed,
so we are
always looking
for ways to
stimulate more

36. Your past serotonin experiences
built the pathways that turn on
your social exectations today

37. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Endorphin
is a euphoria that masks pain

38. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Physical pain is what triggers it
We are NOT designed to inflict pain on
ourselves. We are designed for survival.

39. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Endorphin means
“endogenous morphine”
It evolved for
emergencies,
not for pleasure

40. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Fortunately, you get a bit of
endorphin from vigorous exertion

41. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
The brain
built by
natural selection
rewards you with
a good feeling
when you do things that
promote survival

42. This gets confusing in daily life
because our brain defines survival in
quirky ways

43. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
You don’t choose old pathways
consciously, but…

44. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
The electricity in your brain
flows like water in a storm,
finding the paths of least resistance

45. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
The paths you built
before age 8 and during puberty are
the superhighways of your brain
because
that’s when
you have a
lot of MYELIN

46. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Myelin insulates neurons,
making them super efficient

47. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Whatever you do with your
myelinated neurons feels
natural and normal and easy

48. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
When you
try
something
new

49. it feels
difficult,
wrong

50. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
even dangerous

51. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Fortunately,
you can build new pathways
to turn
on your happy
chemicals
in new ways

52. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Repetition is what it takes
after your myelin years

53. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
So choose a new behavior or
thought pattern and repeat it

54. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
To build
a new
dopamine
circuit,
focus on
a goal
and take a
small step
each day

55. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Build a new
oxytocin
circuit by
taking a
small step
toward
social trust
each day

56. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Build a new
serotonin circuit by
taking a small step toward
social importance each day

57. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
It’s HARD

58. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Blazing a trail through a jungle of
neurons takes tremendous effort

59. But if you slash the same
trail every day, a new path
gets established

60. Your electricity has
a new place to flow

61. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Small steps are enough if
you repeat them consistently

62. You will build a pathway that
expects good feelings

63. Habits of a
Happy Brain
Retrain Your Brain to
Boost Your Serotonin,
Dopamine, Oxytocin,
and Endorphin
$11

64. The Science
of Positivity
Stop Negative
Thought Patterns
By Changing Your
Brain Chemistry
$11

65. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
books
podcasts
videos
infographics
training certification
slide shows (incl this)
5-day Happy-Chemical Jumpstart
all free except the books
innermammalinstitute.org
The Inner Mammal Institute
has the resources you need
to make peace with your
inner mammal

66. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2018
Loretta@InnerMammalInstitute.org
contact me

67. I, Mammal
$12
How to Make
Peace With the
Animal Urge for
Social Power

68. ANXIETY
What Turns It On
What Turns It Off
$5
Replaced in 2019 by
Tame Your Anxiety

69. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2015
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.

70. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2015
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.

71. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2015
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.

72. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute © 2015
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

73. one more thing

74. Don’t compare
yourself to others

75. Don’t compare
yourself to others

76. Don’t compare
yourself to others

77. Don’t compare
yourself to others

78. Don’t compare
yourself to others

79. Don’t compare
yourself to others

80. Don’t compare
yourself to others