Here's a simple introduction to the mammal brain that controls your happy chemicals: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin. You learn how they're wired from past experience, and how you can rewire them by feeding your brain new experiences. You learn why they're not on all the time, so you can build realistic expectations. Our happy chemicals are inherited from earlier animals, and when you know how they work in animals, you can find better ways to stimulate them.

1. Your Power Over Your
Happy Brain Chemicals
Loretta G. Breuning PhD
Inner Mammal Institute
innermammalinstitute.org
dopamine endorphin
oxytocin
serotonin

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

3. human cortex
animal brain
Our happy chemicals are controlled by brain
structures inherited from earlier animals.

4. Our 2 brains are not on speaking terms because
the animal brain cannot process language

5. Our happy chemicals are NOT meant
to flow all the time for no reason

6. They evolved to do a job

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

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

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

10. Everyone has ups and downs
because:

11. 1.
Happy chemicals
turn on in
short spurts,
so you always
have to do more
to get more

12. 2.
Your mammal
brain cares
about the
survival of
your genes

13. 3.
Our happy chemicals are
controlled by
neural pathways
built from past
experience

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

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

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

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

18. and how you can build
new pathways

19. to trigger them in new ways
dopamine endorphin
oxytocin
serotonin

20. Dopamine
is the great feeling
that a reward is at hand

21. Dopamine is the brain’s signal
that a need is about to be met

22. Dopamine
releases energy for the chase
when you think “I can get it”
and you link it to your needs

23. The good feeling of dopamine
motivates you to take steps that
meet a need

24. Neurons connect when dopamine
flows, which wires you to expect a
good feeling when you see things that
stimulated it before

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

26. But it’s complicated

27. Old dopamine circuits are
never perfect predictors
of new rewards

28. Dopamine droops once you
get the reward, until you set
your sights on another reward

29. The brain habituates to the
rewards it has, so it takes new &
improved to stimulate dopamine

30. Meeting an
UN-met need
is what
stimulates
dopamine,
which is why we
keep feeling an
urge to seek

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

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

33. Loretta Graziano Breuning PhD, Inner Mammal Institute
Social support
promotes
survival, so the
mammal brain
rewards you with
the good feeling
of oxytocin
when you find
social support

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

35. Neurons connect when oxytocin
flows, which wires you to expect
more where you got it before

36. But it’s complicated

37. Old oxytocin circuits are
never perfect predictors
of new rewards

38. Oxytocin is quickly metabolized so
you have to keep stimulating it to
keep enjoying that nice safe feeling

39. Trusting everyone would not promote
survival. Our brain evolved to make careful
decisions about when to turn on the oxytocin

40. Proximity brings conflict,
so mammals disperse until they
see a common enemy

41. When a common enemy lurks,
you exchange the dopamine of greener
pasture for the oxytocin of safety in numbers

42. Serotonin
is the pleasure of
social dominance

43. Animals avoid conflict because they
are skilled at predicting who would
win. Serotonin is your brain’s signal
that you are in the position of strength

44. Serotonin
is not
aggression.
It’s the calm
sense that
“ I will get
the banana ”

45. Serotonin is the mammal brain’s
signal that it’s safe to assert
yourself to meet your needs

46. It’s easy to see this in others,
but it’s useful to recognize your own
natural urge for social dominance

47. But it’s complicated

48. Serotonin
is soon
reabsorbed,
so we are
always looking
for ways to
stimulate more

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

50. If you always see yourself as the big
monkey, you risk a lot of conflict.
But if you always see yourself as the little
monkey, you deprive yourself of serotonin.

51. Endorphin
is euphoria that masks pain

52. Endorphin means
“endogenous morphine”
It’s the body’s
natural opioid

53. We are NOT designed to inflict
pain on ourselves
Endorphin evolved for
emergencies, not partying

54. But it’s complicated

55. Fortunately, you get a bit of endorphin from
laughing as it activates intrinsic muscles

56. It would be
nice if our
all happy
chemicals
flowed
effortlessly
all the time

57. But the brain
built by
natural selection
rewards you with
a good feeling
when you do things that
promote survival

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

59. You don’t choose old pathways
consciously, but…

60. The electricity in your brain
flows like water in a storm,
finding the paths of least resistance

61. 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

62. Myelin insulates neurons,
making them super efficient

63. Whatever you do with your
myelinated neurons feels
natural and normal and easy

64. When you
try
something
new

65. it feels
difficult,
wrong

66. even dangerous

67. Fortunately,
you can build new pathways
to turn
on your happy
chemicals
in new ways

68. Repetition is what it takes
after your myelin years

69. So choose a new behavior or
thought pattern and repeat it

70. To build
a new
dopamine
circuit,
focus on
a goal
and take a
small step
each day

71. Build a new
oxytocin
circuit by
taking a
small step
toward
social trust
each day

72. Build a new
serotonin circuit by
taking a small step toward
social importance each day

73. It’s HARD

74. Blazing a trail through a jungle of
neurons takes tremendous effort

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

76. Your electricity has
a new place to flow

77. Small steps are enough if
you repeat them consistently

78. You will build a pathway that
expects good feelings

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

80. 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

81. Tame Your
Anxiety
Rewiring Your Brain
for Happiness

82. The Science
of Positivity
Stop Negative
Thought Patterns
By Changing Your
Brain Chemistry

83. Status
Games
Why We Play
and How to Stop

84. one more thing

85. Don’t compare
yourself to others

86. Don’t compare
yourself to others

87. Don’t compare
yourself to others

88. Don’t compare
yourself to others

89. Don’t compare
yourself to others

90. Don’t compare
yourself to others

91. Don’t compare
yourself to others