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Because I love helping you to have a better, healthier and happier life, I’ve decided to wish you a Happy New Year … by giving you some habits to get a Happy Brain.
And for that, I thought it could be great for you to meet your happy chemicals !! …???… your brain chemicals that cause happiness !!
You see, one of the reason I’m smiling so often is because doing so constantly keeps me in a great mood. It’s true! The more you smile, the happier you’ll feel. And the happier you feel, the more you’ll smile.
Turns out there’s a biological reason for this…
When you smile, the muscles in your face trigger a flood of happy-inducing endorphins in your brain. So, if you’re ever feeling sad, angry, anxious, or depressed, just realize that smiling will instantly elevate your mood.
It would be nice if your happy chemicals just flowed all the time, but that’s not how they work.
Nonetheless, I still have good news for you !!… Like smiling, there are many other strategies you can use to turn things around quickly and for the better. Such as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), be here now, eco-meditation, mirror work, develop a healthy mind, practice gratitude and a lot more.
But come back to our friends the happy chemicals.
We all have four happy chemicals to chose from : Dopamine, Serotonin, Endorphine, Oxytocin.
And your brain wants all of them.
But don’t stick to the one you’re already good at. Try the others !!
It’s much better to give yourself a well balance happiness diet.
LET MEET THE HAPPY CHEMICALS :
- Dopamine
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter often referred to as the “chemical of reward”. When you achieve a goal or accomplish a task, you receive a pleasurable hit of dopamine in your brain that tells you you’ve done a good job.
But you can also get a natural dose of dopamine when you perform acts of kindness toward others such as volunteering. Some researchers have even found that it only takes thoughts of loving kindness to bring on the dopamine high.
- Endorphin
Endorphins are opioid neuropeptides, which are produced by the central nervous system to help us deal with physical pain. They also make us feel lightheaded, and even giddy at times. One way to induce endorphins is exercise.
Endorphins released after physical exercise, as little as 30 minutes of walking for 10 days in a row are sufficient enough to produce a significant reduction in depression among clinically depressed subjects.
- Oxytocin
Mothers may be familiar with oxytocin, the hormone produced in abundance during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Oxytocin is primarily associated with loving touch and close relationships.
This hormone provides a multiple whammy of warm fuzzies, by stimulating dopamine and serotonin, while reducing anxiety. To get your hit of oxytocin give someone you love a cuddle. Even a pet will do.
- Serotonine
Serotonin may be the best-known happiness chemical because it’s the one that antidepressant medication primarily addresses. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that is naturally triggered by several things we can do each day.
Exposure to bright light, especially sunshine, is one way to increase serotonin. Exercise and happy thoughts also stimulate production of this chemical.
Your happy chemicals don’t tell you in words why they turn on and off.
They pass quickly, and we don’t really like it when our happy chemicals dip.
The book Habits of a Happy Brain from the BOOKS’ CORNER shows us how to enjoy more ups by building new pathways to our happy chemicals.
But before let us smile and elevate your mood with the JOKES’ CORNER.
THE JOKES’ CORNER
THE BOOKS’ CORNER
You can build new neural pathways to turn on your dopamine, serotonin, endorphin, and oxytocin in new ways. Dopamine is the “I can do it!” feeling. Serotonin is the pleasure of getting respect. Endorphin is a euphoria that masks physical pain. Oxytocin is the security of social trust. These impulses are easy to see in animals because they don’t mask them with words.
Habits of a Happy Brain shows you how to retrain your brain to turn on the chemicals that make you happy. Each page offers simple activities that help you understand the roles of your “happy chemicals” — serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, and endorphin. You’ll also learn how to build new habits by rerouting the electricity in your brain to flow down a new pathway, making it even easier to trigger these happy chemicals and increase feelings of satisfaction when you need them most.
<<=== click here to order the book
THE COUNSELORS’ CORNER
If you find hard to stick to a well balance HAPPINESS DIET, I’m happy to offer you a ‘ Happiness Booster Session ’ where we’ll look at 5 things that might be negatively impacting your happiness diet and the #1 thing you need to do to move forward.
So go ahead and book your ‘ Happiness Booster Session ’ ===> make a booking
And, please share your comments with our community below or on my Facebook page 🙂