This document discusses how our brain chemistry and behaviors are influenced by our innate mammalian instincts. It explains that humans have inherited brain structures and chemicals like dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, and endorphin from earlier mammals that influence our feelings of happiness and bonding. Our brains evolved to promote survival, not happiness, so it saves "happy chemicals" for behaviors that historically aided survival and reproduction. This leads people to do "quirky" things to stimulate these chemicals. Understanding our inner mammal can help with self-acceptance and acceptance of others, as we all struggle with similar drives to feel good and secure threatened feelings from our brain's survival instincts. Building new neural pathways through different experiences and perspectives can help retrain our brain's
12. Your brain saves the happy chemicals
for things that promote survival
13. But it defines survival in a
quirky way
1. It cares about the
survival of your genes
2. It relies on neural
pathways built in youth
14. Good feelings turn on when
you do things that:
1. Spread your genes in the state of nature
(ie. attracting mates and nurturing children)
2. Triggered happy chemicals in your youth
(because a neural pathway developed)
55. Blame
• Your inner mammal thinks others are the problem
• You can prove it!
Your cortex is designed to find external evidence
to explain your internal alarm signals
• You feel threatened constantly if you let your
brain do this
59. We all strive to stimulate happy
chemicals and relieve threat
chemicals in whatever way worked
in our unique past experience
60. We all struggle to feel good with
a brain that saves the happy
chemicals for survival moments
61. Self-acceptance
1. I am a mammal
2. My happy chemicals don’t flow all the time
so I am urgently motivated to do things that
trigger them
3. They’re controlled by neural pathways built
from my past experience
4. I can build new pathways by feeding my
brain new experiences- if I invest the effort.
62. Acceptance of others
1. My friends are mammals. My family. My
partner. My co-workers. My fellow citizens.
2. Their happy chemicals don’t flow all the time
so they are urgently motivated to do things
that trigger them
3. Their neural pathways are built from their past
experience.
4. They can build new pathways by feeding their
brain new experiences- if they invest the effort.
64. New happy pathways
dopamine
positive expectations about my own steps
serotonin
stop thinking others are putting me down
oxytocin
build trust actively in small steps instead of
bonding around common enemies
65. 1. Personal agency
• I focus on steps toward
rewards because dopamine
makes me feel good when I
succeed.
• When my path is blocked, it
may feel like a survival threat.
• I can remind myself that my
survival is not actually
threatened. I’m just a
dopamine-seeking mammal.
66. 2. Social comparison
• We mammals keep comparing ourselves to others
• When your one-up position is threatened, it feels
like a survival threat
• You can remind yourself that your survival
is not actually threatened. You are just a
serotonin-seeking mammal.
67. 3. Trust and betrayal
• We mammals seek the safety of social trust.
• When others disappoint our expectations,
it feels like a survival threat.
• I can remind myself that my survival is not
actually threatened. My inner mammal is just
seeking oxytocin.