Do You Want to Share Your Pain or Relieve It?

Do You Want to Share Your Pain or Relieve It?

Inner Mammal Institute

Loretta Breuning, PhD

Guided Neuroplasticity

Our braincreatesendless painbecause

• it confuses social pain with physical pain • it equates disappointment with pain• it blends anticipated pain with actual pain

You can escape this loop when you know how your brain works

You can turn on yourhappy brain chemicals in

new and sustainable ways

dopamine endorphin oxytocinserotonin

You can build new neural pathwaysto give the electricity in your brain

a new place to flow

This presentation shows you:

1. what turns on the pain chemical (cortisol)

2. what turns on the happy chemicals (dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin, endorphin)

3. how to build new neural pathways to enjoy more happy chemicals andavoid more pain chemicals

Then you will choose a new behavior or thought pattern to stimulate the chemistry you want.

You’ll repeat it every day for 45 days without fail.

It’s not easy, but on Day 46you’ll be so thrilled that you’ll want to start your next rewiring project

Pain = Cortisol1.

Cortisol is found in all mammals, reptiles, birds, fish and mollusks

Cortisol is triggered by bodily harm (and the anticipation of harm)

Neurons connect when cortisol flows

This wires us to turn it on faster in similar situations

Anticipating harmpromotes survival

This monkey escaped a lion by climbing a tree. Now his brain is good

at scanning for trees.

Whatever turned off your cortisol saved your life, from your mammal

brain’s perspective

Brains with more neurons can wire in more danger signals, and

more ways to escape danger

We humans prevent harmby anticipating it and taking action

But we can end up witha lot of cortisol

Cortisol works by making you feel bad so you do

what it takes to make it stop

This zebra would rather be eating, but smelling a lion triggersmore cortisol than hunger

It scans for evidence of threat soit can do what it takes to relieve the bad feeling and go back to grazing

Cortisol is nature’s emergency broadcast system

Your cortisol makes you feel bad when you get a whiff of

anything that hurt you before

It alertsyour brainto scan for potential threat

A big brain is good at finding threat when it looks

When there’s no immediate threat,you scan out for

distant, subtle threats that fitthe neural pathways you have

The electricity in your brainflows like water in a storm.

It finds the paths of least resistance.

You can end up feeling threatened all the time

To make matters worse,we mammals feel social pain

as well as physical pain

Social pain is the cortisol that surges when you see a potential

threat to your social needs

In the state of nature,social pain = physical pain

because separation from the herd is an immediate survival threat

Your genes are annihilatedif you don’t meet

social needs

Natural selection built a brain that makes social

disappointment feel urgent

Any social pain in your past connected neurons that flow

to your cortisol today

To complicate things further,happy brain chemicals mask

cortisol, but only for a moment

Happy chemicals distract you from cortisol

dopamine oxytocin endorphinserotonin

But their natural spurts are brief and they’re soon

metabolized

When a happy chemical spurt ends, you might confuse that with pain

This is why we keep looking for ways to stimulate our

happy chemicals

But many ways ofstimulating them have

bad consequences

You can end up with more cortisol

To make things even worse,disappointmenttriggers cortisol

It’s easy to see why from the lion’s perspective

This lion will starve to death if it keeps chasing a zebra that got away

Cortisol surges when your expectations are not met, which motivates you to stop investing

energy in a failed pursuit

This is nature’s operating system

Happy chemicals motivate you to approach rewards andunhappy chemicals warn you to avoid harm

Nature’s operating system motivated our ancestors to do what it takes to survivein theharshestconditions

But we all end up withsome pathwayswe’d ratherdo without

It’s not easy being a mammal

But you can buildnew neural pathways to turn on

your happy chemicals in new ways

You can feel goodwhen you do things that are

good for you

You can give your electricitya new place to flow

Let’s lookcloser at what turns on the happy chemicals

2.

Good feelings arebrain chemicals we’ve

inherited from earlier mammalsdopamine endorphinoxytocinserotonin

It would be nice if they flowed all the time, but they are there to do a job

Your brain rewards you with

a good feeling when you do

something good for your survival

Butour braindefines survival in quirky ways

1. It cares about the

survival of your genes

(even putting your body at riskto promote “reproductive success”)

2. It relies on neural pathways

built in youth

(even though early experienceis rarely a reliable survival guide)

This is why happy chemical spurts can be hard to make sense of

Your brain turns on a happy chemical when it

sees a way to meet a need

But the spurt is soon over and you have to do more

to get more.

This makes life frustrating for everyone

Our brain evolved to seekhappy chemicals because

in the state of nature,what feels good is good for you

dopamine endorphin oxytocinserotonin

Let’s see why they spurt in nature, and why they droop after they spurt

Dopamineis the great feeling

that a reward is at hand

Dopaminereleases energy for the chase

Dopaminedroops

once you get the

reward, until

you set your sights on another

reward

Oxytocinis often called

the “love chemical”

Oxytocin is stimulated bytouch and trust

Oxytocin droops when you’reseparated from the herd,

which makes you feel like your survival is threatened

Serotoninis the pleasure of social dominance

Serotoninis not

aggression but a calm sense that

“ I will get the

banana ”

Serotoninis soon reabsorbed, so we are always looking for ways to stimulate more

Endorphin masks pain so you can do whatit takes to survive

Endorphin is triggered by pain. You get a little bit from vigorous exertion.

Endorphin droops afterit spurts because pain is

urgent survival information

Dopamine rewards you for the effort of steps toward your needs.

Serotonin rewards you for getting respect from others.

Oxytocin rewards you for finding the safety of social support.

Endorphin rewards you for action that relieves pain.

3. Let’s see how your brain builds the pathways that control your happy chemicals

You were born with billions of neurons but very few connections between them

Connections got built each time something felt good or bad

Your pathways got built from lived experience

Each dopamine spurt connected neurons that turn on thegood feelingin similar circumstances

Each serotonin or oxytocin spurtwired you to seek more

good feelings in similar ways

Your electricity flows effortlessly where it

flowed before

You got wired by the accidents of your past experience

Reptiles are born hard-wired with the experience of their ancestors.

They leave home at birth because they already have survival skills.

Mammal brains get wired from life experience

The bigger a creature’s brain,the more helpless it is at birth and the more it

relies on neural pathways built from experience

Experience includes mirror neurons,which turn on when

we see others get rewards or pain

Mirroring wires a little monkeyto do what it takes to meetits survival needs

It must master the skillin order to eat

Mirror neurons can wire you to reproduce pain you observe

even when you face no real threat

Each mammal gets wired to seek happy chemicals in ways that

worked before

Building new pathways later onis not easy because old pathways

feel normal and natural

Electricity flows effortlessly down old pathways because they got pavedby a substancecalled myelin

Myelination peaks before age 8, and again in puberty

This is why old patterns may repeat despite our best intentions

You can blaze a new trail through your jungle of neurons

But it takes a lot of effort to activate a new pathway

And after all that, your new trail will disappear into the jungle unless you blaze it every day

The new trail may feel wrong even when you know it’s right

But it will feel natural in 45 days if you repeat your new pattern

without fail

Your old path will still be there, but your electricity will have a new place to flow

You can wire in behaviors that turn on your happy chemicals in new ways

For example, you can stimulate the joy of dopamine by taking steps toward a goal

Results are unpredictable but you can always adjust your expectations and take another step

You can stimulate the pleasure of oxytocin with small acts of trust

It’s not safe totrust always and everywhere.We’re designedto make careful decisions about when to trust.

You can stimulate the pleasure of serotonin by finding the good in what you have

You can feel important without putting others down or waiting for them to put you up

You can enjoy endorphin through laughter and exercise

We are NOT designed to inflict pain on ourselves. Small endorphin drips are enough.

Habits of aHappy BrainRetrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, and Endorphin

$11.00

Detailed suggestions for each chemicaland a step-by-step plan are in:

by Dr. Loretta Breuning

Don’t just share your pain it. Relieve it!

You’ll be glad you did

Free resources for rewiring your

happy chemicals at InnerMammalInstitute.org

• Youtube video:Your Ups and Downs Are Natural …and also learned

• 5-day Happy Chemical Jumpstart

• infographics: You Have Power Over Your Brain

• PsychologyToday.com blog: Your Neurochemical Self

• a training program

DopamineSerotoninOxytocinEndorphin

Plan your new circuits:

Dopamine

Dopamine makes you jump for joy when you reach a goal or get a toy. In nature, it helps find food when you need it. “Eureka, I got it!” A memory gets created. Dopamine causes expectations. Correct predictions bring good sensations. Dopamine feels great so you try to get more. It rewarded our ancestors trudging through gore. Cocaine triggers dopamine. Caution to all: Joy without goal-seeking leads to a fall. Dopamine flows when you feel like “I’ve done it.” When others do it for you, your dopamine will shun it.

Serotonin swells your chest with pride When you get respect and needn’t hide. Your brain feels good when you boost yourself higher. But when others do this, it provokes your ire. “I don’t care about status. It’s other who do.” But you spurt serotonin when the limelight’s on you. You are quite modest and don’t like to boast. But no serotonin flows when you coast. Status doesn’t depend on money. You can be clever or helpful or funny. But when others one-up you, your mind agitates. ‘Cause serotonin droops ‘til you lift your own weights.

Serotonin

Oxytocin

Oxytocin makes you trust your mates. We love the bonds that it creates. Oxytocin flows when you stick with the herd. “Not me!” you may say, “I’m no bovine or bird.” But without social bonds, your brain feels alarm. This protected our ancestors from all kinds of harm. Though the herd will annoy you, the pack hurt you so. When you run with a pack, oxytocin will flow. “My pack is great and the other is nuts.” This thinking prevailed since the first mammal struts. You’re above all this foolishness, obviously. But it feels good when I trust you and you trust me.

Endorphin

Endorphin helps you mask the pain Of injuries that you sustain. Your ancestors escaped from predator attack ‘Cause endorphin felt good while they ran back. Endorphin feels great when it eases your pains. But only real pain makes it flow in your veins. Exercise triggers it, experts alert you. But first you must do it ‘til body parts hurt you. Endorphin receptors let opium in. So you feel like you’re safe without lifting a shin. Laughing and crying can trigger it too. But just for a moment– then the job’s through.