132 episodes
The Happy Brain MHNR Network, LLC
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- Science
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4.9 • 31 Ratings
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Do you wonder what stimulates your happy brain chemicals- dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphin? Answer your questions with these lively conversations between Loretta Breuning and real readers of her book, Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels. Still have more questions? Read the book and be a guest on the show yourself! Contact Dr. Breuning and learn more about her work at the Inner Mammal Institute at: InnerMammalInstitute.org.
The brain chemicals that make us feel good are inherited from earlier mammals. They evolved to do a job, not to make you feel good all the time. When you know the job of each chemical in the state of nature, your ups and downs make sense. More important, you can re-wire yourself to enjoy more of them in sustainable ways.
But it’s hard. Our brain is designed to release happy chemicals to reward you for steps that promote survival. But our brain defines survival in a quirky way: it cares about the survival of your genes and it relies on neural pathways built in youth. To make things even harder, our brain habituates to the rewards it has so you always have to do more to get more happy chemicals.
We are not born with survival skills like our animal ancestors. Each newborn human wires itself from its own early experience. Happy chemicals are like paving on your neural pathways, wiring you to repeat behaviors that made you feel good before. This is why our urgent motivations don’t make sense to our verbal brain. It’s not easy being mammal!
When you know how your brain works, you can find healthier ways to enjoy happy chemicals and relieve unhappy chemicals. You can build new neural pathways by feeding your brain new experiences. But you have to design the new experiences carefully and repeat them a lot.
The Inner Mammal Institute has free resources to help you make peace with your inner mammal: videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books illuminate the big picture and help you plot your course. You can find new ways to feel good, wherever you are right now.
Music from Sonatina Soleil by W.M. Sharp. Hear more of it at InnerMammalInstitute.org/musicbywmsharp
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Change Catalyst
Lisa Cunningham DeLauney shares my interest in travel and animals and management, so I was eager to hear how she helps people deal with change.
Check out my new video course, Train Your Inner Mammal to Feel Good Now https://innermammalinstitute.org/course
Get 10% off with the code ReaderDiscount at the checkout. You will learn to rewire your happy chemicals with small simple steps!
Check out video clips from this episode and others here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1hyR2RHXp04OmVhFUKNh81FT5gffvplq
If you like The Happy Brain Podcast, please rate and review it to help others make peace with their inner mammal.
THE HAPPY BRAIN PODCAST helps you blaze new trails to your dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. My guests are pioneers in retraining the inner mammal. I love learning from them! Listen in and subscribe so you can turn on your happy chemicals in healthy new ways.
Your host, Loretta Breuning PhD, is founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author of "Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels.” Details at: https://innermammalinstitute.org
Life is more peaceful and satisfying when you understand the brain we’ve inherited from earlier mammals. Your mammal brain controls the chemicals that make you feel good: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. These chemicals are released for reasons that don’t make sense to our verbal human brain. When you know what these chemicals do in animals, your ups and downs make sense!
Our happy chemicals evolved to reward survival behavior, not to make you feel good all the time. Each happy chemical has a special job. When it turns on, it paves neural pathways that turn it on more easily in the future. That’s why we repeat behaviors that we’d rather do without. Fortunately, you can re-wire yourself to stimulate them in sustainable ways.
But it’s hard. It’s like learning a foreign language: it takes a lot of repetition. Yet people do it every day. You can be one of them! You can design a new path to your happy chemicals and repeat it until it’s strong enough to turn on easily. The Inner Mammal Institute shows you how.
The Inner Mammal Institute has free resources to help you make peace with your inner mammal: videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books explain the big picture and help you plot your course step by step. No matter where you are right now, you can enjoy more happy chemicals in healthy ways. Get the details at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org.
Music from Sonatina Soleil by W.M. Sharp. Hear more of it at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org/musicbywmsharp -
Boost Your Mood 10th Anniversary
Ten years ago, I wrote a blog post on boosting your happy chemicals, and I re-posted it last year. My guest Lisa Williams Edgar wrote to tell me that she read it ten years ago and has been using it with her clients since then. I was excited to hear more about it so I invited her onto the show. (https://www.newhorizontraining.co.uk)
Check out my new video course, Train Your Inner Mammal to Feel Good Now https://innermammalinstitute.org/course
Get 10% off with the code ReaderDiscount at the checkout. You will learn to rewire your happy chemicals with small simple steps!
Check out video clips from this episode and others here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1hyR2RHXp04OmVhFUKNh81FT5gffvplq
If you like The Happy Brain Podcast, please rate and review it to help others make peace with their inner mammal.
THE HAPPY BRAIN PODCAST helps you blaze new trails to your dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. My guests are pioneers in retraining the inner mammal. I love learning from them! Listen in and subscribe so you can turn on your happy chemicals in healthy new ways.
Your host, Loretta Breuning PhD, is founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author of "Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels.” Details at: https://innermammalinstitute.org
Life is more peaceful and satisfying when you understand the brain we’ve inherited from earlier mammals. Your mammal brain controls the chemicals that make you feel good: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. These chemicals are released for reasons that don’t make sense to our verbal human brain. When you know what these chemicals do in animals, your ups and downs make sense!
Our happy chemicals evolved to reward survival behavior, not to make you feel good all the time. Each happy chemical has a special job. When it turns on, it paves neural pathways that turn it on more easily in the future. That’s why we repeat behaviors that we’d rather do without. Fortunately, you can re-wire yourself to stimulate them in sustainable ways.
But it’s hard. It’s like learning a foreign language: it takes a lot of repetition. Yet people do it every day. You can be one of them! You can design a new path to your happy chemicals and repeat it until it’s strong enough to turn on easily. The Inner Mammal Institute shows you how.
The Inner Mammal Institute has free resources to help you make peace with your inner mammal: videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books explain the big picture and help you plot your course step by step. No matter where you are right now, you can enjoy more happy chemicals in healthy ways. Get the details at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org.
Music from Sonatina Soleil by W.M. Sharp. Hear more of it at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org/musicbywmsharp -
Change Your Branches by Nourishing Your Roots
Andrea Nakayama trains functional nutritional counselors, and teaches me about functional medicine, training, and to tell you the truth, about poop. https://www.fxnutrition.com/about-andrea/
Check out my new video course, Train Your Inner Mammal to Feel Good Now https://innermammalinstitute.org/course
Get 10% off with the code ReaderDiscount at the checkout. You will learn to rewire your happy chemicals with small simple steps!
Check out video clips from this episode and others here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL1hyR2RHXp04OmVhFUKNh81FT5gffvplq
If you like The Happy Brain Podcast, please rate and review it to help others make peace with their inner mammal.
THE HAPPY BRAIN PODCAST helps you blaze new trails to your dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. My guests are pioneers in retraining the inner mammal. I love learning from them! Listen in and subscribe so you can turn on your happy chemicals in healthy new ways.
Your host, Loretta Breuning PhD, is founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author of "Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels.” Details at: https://innermammalinstitute.org
Life is more peaceful and satisfying when you understand the brain we’ve inherited from earlier mammals. Your mammal brain controls the chemicals that make you feel good: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. These chemicals are released for reasons that don’t make sense to our verbal human brain. When you know what these chemicals do in animals, your ups and downs make sense!
Our happy chemicals evolved to reward survival behavior, not to make you feel good all the time. Each happy chemical has a special job. When it turns on, it paves neural pathways that turn it on more easily in the future. That’s why we repeat behaviors that we’d rather do without. Fortunately, you can re-wire yourself to stimulate them in sustainable ways.
But it’s hard. It’s like learning a foreign language: it takes a lot of repetition. Yet people do it every day. You can be one of them! You can design a new path to your happy chemicals and repeat it until it’s strong enough to turn on easily. The Inner Mammal Institute shows you how.
The Inner Mammal Institute has free resources to help you make peace with your inner mammal: videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books explain the big picture and help you plot your course step by step. No matter where you are right now, you can enjoy more happy chemicals in healthy ways. Get the details at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org.
Music from Sonatina Soleil by W.M. Sharp. Hear more of it at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org/musicbywmsharp -
Self-Confidence: Can It Be Taught?
Paul Levitin tells me how he teaches people to feel their own strength— though they don't know it's serotonin. (instagram.com/paullevitin)
Link to my new course! https://innermammalinstitute.org/course
If you like The Happy Brain Podcast, please rate and review it to help others make peace with their inner mammal.
THE HAPPY BRAIN PODCAST helps you blaze new trails to your dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. My guests are pioneers in retraining the inner mammal. I love learning from them! Listen in and subscribe so you can turn on your happy chemicals in healthy new ways.
Your host, Loretta Breuning PhD, is founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author of "Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels.” Details at: https://innermammalinstitute.org
Life is more peaceful and satisfying when you understand the brain we’ve inherited from earlier mammals. Your mammal brain controls the chemicals that make you feel good: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. These chemicals are released for reasons that don’t make sense to our verbal human brain. When you know what these chemicals do in animals, your ups and downs make sense!
Our happy chemicals evolved to reward survival behavior, not to make you feel good all the time. Each happy chemical has a special job. When it turns on, it paves neural pathways that turn it on more easily in the future. That’s why we repeat behaviors that we’d rather do without. Fortunately, you can re-wire yourself to stimulate them in sustainable ways.
But it’s hard. It’s like learning a foreign language: it takes a lot of repetition. Yet people do it every day. You can be one of them! You can design a new path to your happy chemicals and repeat it until it’s strong enough to turn on easily. The Inner Mammal Institute shows you how.
The Inner Mammal Institute has free resources to help you make peace with your inner mammal: videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books explain the big picture and help you plot your course step by step. No matter where you are right now, you can enjoy more happy chemicals in healthy ways. Get the details at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org.
Music from Sonatina Soleil by W.M. Sharp. Hear more of it at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org/musicbywmsharp -
Mean Mammals
Mean Mammals Realtor Matt O-Neill describes people who manipulate, intimidate, and try to get something for free, and how the inner mammal approach helps him manage it. (https://www.mattoneillrealestate.com/agents/matt-oneill/)
Check out my new video course, Train Your Inner Mammal to Feel Good Now https://innermammalinstitute.org/course
Get 10% off with the code ReaderDiscount at the checkout. You will learn to rewire your happy chemicals with small simple steps!
If you like The Happy Brain Podcast, please rate and review it to help others make peace with their inner mammal.
THE HAPPY BRAIN PODCAST helps you blaze new trails to your dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. My guests are pioneers in retraining the inner mammal. I love learning from them! Listen in and subscribe so you can turn on your happy chemicals in healthy new ways.
Your host, Loretta Breuning PhD, is founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author of "Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels.” Details at: https://innermammalinstitute.org
Life is more peaceful and satisfying when you understand the brain we’ve inherited from earlier mammals. Your mammal brain controls the chemicals that make you feel good: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. These chemicals are released for reasons that don’t make sense to our verbal human brain. When you know what these chemicals do in animals, your ups and downs make sense!
Our happy chemicals evolved to reward survival behavior, not to make you feel good all the time. Each happy chemical has a special job. When it turns on, it paves neural pathways that turn it on more easily in the future. That’s why we repeat behaviors that we’d rather do without. Fortunately, you can re-wire yourself to stimulate them in sustainable ways.
But it’s hard. It’s like learning a foreign language: it takes a lot of repetition. Yet people do it every day. You can be one of them! You can design a new path to your happy chemicals and repeat it until it’s strong enough to turn on easily. The Inner Mammal Institute shows you how.
The Inner Mammal Institute has free resources to help you make peace with your inner mammal: videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books explain the big picture and help you plot your course step by step. No matter where you are right now, you can enjoy more happy chemicals in healthy ways. Get the details at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org.
Music from Sonatina Soleil by W.M. Sharp. Hear more of it at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org/musicbywmsharp -
Rapid Transformation Therapy
RTT practitioner Valentina Michetti joins me for a deep discussion of what it takes to rewire, and asks me great questions about enabling, myelin, relaxation, abstract thought, and using bad words. (facebook.com/BetterBelief)
Apple Podcasts:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-happy-brain/id1377502232?i=1000558350153
Spotify Podcasts: https://open.spotify.com/episode/1wuRZCKcRWsg0sIPSvcrA6?si=jEJRVF72TSKNaE5b5pk1ig
You can now enroll in my new course! https://innermammalinstitute.org/course
If you like The Happy Brain Podcast, please rate and review it to help others make peace with their inner mammal.
THE HAPPY BRAIN PODCAST helps you blaze new trails to your dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. My guests are pioneers in retraining the inner mammal. I love learning from them! Listen in and subscribe so you can turn on your happy chemicals in healthy new ways.
Your host, Loretta Breuning PhD, is founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author of "Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain your brain to boost your serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin and endorphin levels.” Details at: https://innermammalinstitute.org
Life is more peaceful and satisfying when you understand the brain we’ve inherited from earlier mammals. Your mammal brain controls the chemicals that make you feel good: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. These chemicals are released for reasons that don’t make sense to our verbal human brain. When you know what these chemicals do in animals, your ups and downs make sense!
Our happy chemicals evolved to reward survival behavior, not to make you feel good all the time. Each happy chemical has a special job. When it turns on, it paves neural pathways that turn it on more easily in the future. That’s why we repeat behaviors that we’d rather do without. Fortunately, you can re-wire yourself to stimulate them in sustainable ways.
But it’s hard. It’s like learning a foreign language: it takes a lot of repetition. Yet people do it every day. You can be one of them! You can design a new path to your happy chemicals and repeat it until it’s strong enough to turn on easily. The Inner Mammal Institute shows you how.
The Inner Mammal Institute has free resources to help you make peace with your inner mammal: videos, blogs, infographics, and podcasts. Dr. Breuning’s books explain the big picture and help you plot your course step by step. No matter where you are right now, you can enjoy more happy chemicals in healthy ways. Get the details at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org.
Music from Sonatina Soleil by W.M. Sharp. Hear more of it at https://InnerMammalInstitute.org/musicbywmsharp
Customer Reviews
Love the mean to mammals guest
Thanks Loretta!
Happy sound bites to treat my brain
I love this podcast because it’s easy and practical digestible advice from a variety of experts in their field on how they apply the Happy Brain principles.
Nah
Weird that this is called The Happy Brain because the scientist doesn’t seem very happy. Also, equine therapy is definitely not about viewing the horse as a perfect or superior being, that’s ridiculous. It’s clear the scientist prioritizes individuality and not the beauty of collectivism and community.