When you feel better you do better, but our happy chemicals are not designed to flow all the time for no reason. What's a big-brained mammal to do? These happy chemical strategies are simple enough to teach the people around you. You can have company on the path to dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, and endorphin!

1. Positive Results
from Positive Mood
Loretta G. Breuning PhD
Inner Mammal Institute
dopamin
e
endorphinoxytocinserotonin

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

3. You have power
over these chemicals when you
know how they work
dopamin
e
endorphin
oxytocin
serotonin

4. Here’s how to find your
power and help others too

5. Our happy chemicals evolved to do a job

6. Not to flow all the time for
no reason

7. When you know the job of each chemical
in the state of nature,
your power is easier to find

8. Let’s explore
the job of
dopamine
serotonin &
oxytocin

9. Dopamine
is the expectation of a reward

10. Dopamine
feels good because it releases energy

11. The good feeling of dopamine
motivates action to meet needs

12. But it’s complicated

13. Your brain expects rewards with neural
pathways built from your past dopamine

14. When your expectations are
disappointed, your brain releases
cortisol,“the stress chemical”

15. To complicate
things further…

16. Dopamine stops once you get
what you seek, so you always
have to do more to get more

17. And our brain habituates to the
rewards you have, so it takes new
rewards to stimulate dopamine

18. What’s a big-brained
mammal to do?

19. 1. Realistic Expectations
there is no free dopamine
my expectations about
rewards are shaped by my
unique past experience
disappointment turns on a
visceral threatened feeling

20. 2. Personal Agency
I have to keep stepping to keep enjoying dopamine
I am not really threatened despite the cortisol
I can build new pathways by feeding my brain
new experiences

21. Oxytocin
is the pleasure of social trust

22. Oxytocin
is the good feeling that
it’s safe to lower your guard

23. We seek social trust because
oxytocin makes it feel good

24. But it’s complicated

25. Oxytocin is quickly metabolized
so you always have to
do more to get more

26. Trusting everyone does not promote
survival. Our brain evolved to make careful
decisions about when to release oxytocin.

27. Whatever
triggered
oxytocin in
your past
connected
neurons that
tell it when to
turn on today

28. Betrayed trust triggers
cortisol

29. Neurons connect when cortisol
flows, which warns you not to trust
again in similar future circumstances

30. What’s a big-brained
mammal to do?

31. 1. Realistic Expectations
there is no free oxytocin
social isolation feels like a survival threat
despite conscious intent
my threatened feelings flow from
my own expectations

32. 2. Personal Agency
I must step toward trust to enjoy oxytocin
My cortisol is not necessarily a real threat
I can build new pathways w. new experiences

33. Serotonin
is the pleasure of
social dominance

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

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

36. But it’s complicated

37. You think others are dominating you
because your verbal brain doesn’t hear
your mammal brain’s urge for dominance

38. Serotonin
is soon
reabsorbed,
so we are
always longing
for more

39. Your past serotonin experiences
built the pathways that turn on
your social expectations today

40. What’s a big-brained
mammal to do?

41. 1. Realistic Expectations
there is no free serotonin
disappointments in the quest for social dominance
feel like survival threats despite conscious intent
my threatened feelings are triggered by
my own natural urge for social importance

42. 2. Personal Agency
I can keep creating small moments of pride and
self-confidence to keep enjoying serotonin
I am not really threatened despite the cortisol
I can build new expectations by feeding my brain
new experiences

43. With Realistic Expectations and
Personal Agency,
I can PARE my cortisol and
REAP happy chemicals

44. With repetition, I can build new
pathways to my happy chemicals
dopamin
e
endorphinoxytocinserotonin

45. Small steps are enough if
you keep repeating them

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

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

48. The electricity in your brain will have
a new place to flow

49. You will build a pathway that
expects to feel good

50. Habits of a
Happy Brain
Retrain Your Brain to
Boost Your
Serotonin, Dopamine,
Oxytocin, and
Endorphin
$1
1

51. 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

52. Loretta@InnerMammalInstitute.org
contact me

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

54. one more thing

55. Don’t compare
yourself to others

56. Don’t compare
yourself to others

57. Don’t compare
yourself to others

58. Don’t compare
yourself to others

59. Don’t compare
yourself to others

60. Don’t compare
yourself to others

61. Don’t compare
yourself to others