by Loretta Graziano | April 2018 | Brain chemicals
Everyone looks at the world through a lens built in high school. No one intends to, but neuroplasticity peaks in puberty so our core neural pathways develop at that time. Humans are not born hard-wired like smaller-brained creatures. We’re designed to wire ourselves...
by Loretta Bruening | February 2018 | Brain chemicals
We are influenced by social comparison more than we like to admit. When you see what others enjoy, you may suddenly feel that you need that to be happy. You don’t want to think this way. Like a child who urgently wants the red cupcake after another child chooses it, a...
by Loretta Bruening | October 2017 | Brain chemicals
I just got back from Mexico, where I presented the Spanish translation of my book Habits of a Happy Brain. Here I am on the Mexican equivalent of The Today Show, after furiously working on my Spanish for a few weeks. A few reporters showed up with dog-eared copies of...
by Loretta Bruening | August 2017 | Brain chemicals
Imagine yourself getting great news on your phone. It stimulates your dopamine, which paves a neural pathway connecting your phone to your dopamine. The great feeling of dopamine tells your brain “this meets my needs.” Of course you don’t consciously think...
by Loretta Bruening | May 2017 | Brain chemicals
“Wild” means meeting your own needs. We don’t feed wild animals because it undermines their ability to meet their own needs. I was reminded of this by a blog warning to tourists in Costa Rica: “Don’t Feed the Monkeys. Conditioning them to expect human handouts...
by Loretta Bruening | March 2017 | Brain chemicals
Positive psychology can help recovering addicts discover their power over old habits. A positive approach to recovery can make an important contribution to a field that can be unwittingly negative. Despite good intentions, many treatment strategies weaken a recovering...
