The Happy Brain; Loretta Breuning

Mindfulness Mode

Bruce Langford

Health & Fitness, Health & Fitness:alternative Health, Religion & Spirituality, Education, Spirituality, Self-improvement, Alternative Health

4.8 • 541 Ratings

🗓️ 1 May 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Loretta Breuning helps people around the world live with a happy brain. She is Professor Emerita of Management at California State University and the author of Habits of a Happy Brain and Why You’re Unhappy: Biology vs Politics. Unsatisfied with conventional theories of motivation, she turned to animal brain chemistry, where she found powerful insights. Her work has since helped thousands worldwide, with her resources translated into twelve languages and embraced by readers seeking natural paths to happiness. Listen & Subscribe on: iTunes / Stitcher / Podbean / Overcast / Spotify Contact Info Website: https://InnerMammalInstitute.org Book: Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels by Loretta Breuning Most Influential Person Sigmund Freud Effect on Emotions I have two thoughts on emotions. One is to know that we're not meant to be happy every minute. The other is that when I feel bad, I look for a pattern. For me, it was often the anticipation of criticism. I would project that this person is criticizing me, because I was criticized a lot when I was young. Then I realized, they're not criticizing me. They're just doing their own thing. Thoughts on Breathing This breathing topic is a real big challenge for me. I've tried all the breathing techniques. Because I have severe scoliosis, my spine and my rib cage are not aligned. My neck and my pelvis are not aligned. I'm fine when I'm active, but when I'm resting, it's a problem. Partly, I think it's because I've taken all these breathing classes. The breathing classes have caused me to override my natural breathing which is perfect. Then I try to force something that doesn't come to me. Suggested Resources Book: Chimpanzee Politics: Power and Sex Among Apes by Frans de Waal Book: Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels by Loretta Breuning Book: Why You're Unhappy: Biology vs Politics by Loretta Breuning More Books: https://innermammalinstitute.org/readinglist/ App: Duolingo (Language App) Words of Advice I always like to get to the subject of social status. This is something that people blame on society, but every animal group has a status hierarchy, and they drive themselves crazy over it. This is a learned content imposed on a natural impulse. The reason we do it is because the mammal brain rewards you with serotonin when you think you're rising in the status hierarchy. In a way, it's like an addiction. You feel like you have to keep rising in the status hierarchy to keep getting the serotonin. Once you notice that you're doing that, then you can learn to stop doing that by reading my book, Status Games, or, I Mammal.----more----

Transcript

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0:00.0	Mindfulness Mode.
0:01.0	Every animal group has a status hierarchy and they drive themselves crazy over it.
0:07.0	Mindful Tribe, welcome back to another episode of Mindfulness Mode.
0:14.0	And today we're going to learn about some things that, well, I want to learn about them because these are words we hear on a regular basis,
0:22.2	serotonin, dopamine, endorphine levels, all of these kinds of things.
0:28.2	And I know for me, sometimes I think, oh, yeah, I know what that is.
0:31.5	And other times I think this just seems to be a bit of a mystery.
0:36.6	And today we're here with someone who is going to take care of that.
0:42.3	They're going to eliminate the mystery. She is going to help us to understand these words and to
0:48.4	understand how we can get rid of this whole business of being unhappy and instead we can learn how to be happy.
0:59.2	And she has a book about it too called Habits of a Happy Brain.
1:03.0	And I'm here today with Loretta Bruining.
1:05.5	Loretta, are you in mindfulness mode today?
1:08.3	Yes, thank you.
1:09.9	Yeah, I'm so glad to have you here.
1:11.6	So tell us, what does mindfulness mean to you, Loretta?
1:15.6	Well, being aware of my nonverbal thoughts because the verbal brain talks to you in words,
1:23.6	and so a person can easily think that's the whole story. But it's really only a small
1:29.3	part of the story. And when Sigmund Freud talked about the unconscious, that gave it a certain
1:35.3	flavor that men people rebelled against. And yet, I, like many people, you know, you find
1:43.3	yourself in your verbal brain repeating things that
1:46.7	you've picked up elsewhere that don't really serve you and you just try to figure out what
	...

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