This is how to build a happy life, the Atlantic's podcast on all things happiness.

I'm Arthur Brooks, Harvard professor and happiness correspondent at the Atlantic.

In this series, I want to figure out how we can live more joyful lives.

Through scientific discussions and an exploration of what happiness is,

I'll uncover the how-to's of happy living and assign you exercises to make happiness a daily practice.

Popular culture tells us that feelings happen to us and that we should get in touch with them.

The problem is, we don't get very much training in the way that we can turn the tables and manage our own feelings.

Most people probably think they can't manage their own feelings. They just hope they get better feelings.

Excessive negative feelings are not just something to try to get rid of.

Now, sometimes there are true medical problems.

Things like depression and anxiety, negative feelings are a part of everyday life.

It would be weird, it would actually be dangerous to eradicate them completely.

The problem is, they're out of balance in our lives so often.

We feel like they're managing us, instead of us managing them.

Can we find a balance where we don't eradicate bad feelings, but we manage them appropriately?

The answer is yes.

This time, on how to build a happy life, manage your feelings, so they don't manage you.

Let's say that you're crossing the street, you're in a big city, and a car is about to run a red light and run you over.

Well, the visual stimulus of that, you see the car barreling toward you, is processed by the visual cortex of your brain,

which signals a part of your limbic system called the amygdala.

The amygdala lights up like a Christmas tree, sending an electrical signal through your hypothalamus instantaneously to your pituitary glands,

which signals your adrenal glands, which are all the way down by your kidneys to crank out a bunch of stress hormones.

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