Your brain releases happy chemicals when you see something good for survival. You define survival with neural pathways built from experience. They can lead to behaviors that are not really good for survival. You can build new pathways, but it's not easy. It helps to know how the old ones got there. Neurons connect from emotion and repetition. Emotions are chemicals controlled by the brain structures we've inherited from earlier mammals. You cannot just ignore your animal brain because it's part of your operating system. Your three brains have to work together, even though they're not on speaking terms.

1. HowYour
Brain Works
Loretta G. Breuning, PhD
a 200-million-year
success story

2. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Humans inherited brain structures
from earlier animals and added on.

3. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
You have 3 brains

4. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
They’re all good
Each of your brains
has successfully
promoted survival
for millions of years.

5. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
They promote your well-being
by working together

6. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Each brain seeks in survival its own way
reptile
mammal
human

7. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
The reptile brain
seeks survival by
reacting to threats.
The mammal brain
seeks survival
through social bonds.

8. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
The human cortex
seeks survival
by learning patterns
from experience.

9. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Working together,
your three brains use experience
to build social bonds and avoid threats.

10. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
But it’s not easy.
Your three brains are not on speaking terms
because the animal brain
doesn’t think in words.

11. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
It thinks by releasing neurochemicals
into the body. Humans experience
these chemicals as emotions.

12. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
When the animal brain sees something
good for survival, it releases chemicals
that humans experience as happiness.
Dopamine
Serotonin
Oxytocin
Endorphin

13. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Something bad for survival triggers
cortisol in the animal brain.
Humans perceive it as anxiety.

14. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Neurochemicals are powerful
enough to trigger urgent survival
behaviors in the state of nature.

15. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Our neurochemical responses are hard
to put into words, but it’s easy to see
the behaviors they trigger in animals.

16. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Your human cortex learns
about survival by extracting patterns
from past experience.

17. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
You were born with lots of neurons
but very few connections between them.
Your connections built from life experience.

18. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Neural pathways build
from emotion and from repetition

19. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Repetition gradually
improves a neuron’s
ability to trigger
other neurons.
Emotion instantly
improves a neuron’s
ability to trigger
another neuron.

20. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Your brain can “learn” behaviors that
are not really good for your survival.

21. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Your animal brain seeks
whatever felt good in
your past, and avoids
whatever felt bad.
Your human cortex
seeks patterns that lead
to better feelings in your
future.

22. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
It’s not easy managing three brains.

23. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
The electricity in
your brain flows like
water in a storm,
finding the paths of
least resistance.

24. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Electricity flows easily into the pathways
built from past emotion and repetition.

25. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
You can create new neural pathways
by repeating new experiences.

26. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
But it’s not easy.
!
The more you know about
how your brains works,
the better you can promote
your own well-being.

27. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
200 million years ago,
mammals began evolving brain systems
that support group life.

28. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
More of their babies survived as a result,
and the successful brains got passed on.

29. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
You have inherited
the brains of successful survivors.

30. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
Knowing how
your brain works
helps you
understand
yourself
and others.

31. Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD InnerMammalInstitute.org
$9. paper
$4. ebook
99
99
Meet Your
Happy Chemicals
is a lighthearted guide to the
brain’s natural ups and downs.
You can re-wire yourself for
more ups in 45 days.