Blog

Unhappiness is a natural brain function, but we’re taught to see it as a disorder. They say THE Science proves this, so it's hard to question. My...

Personal responsibility is the spark that allows “help” to help. It’s time that we fix a flaw in our mental health model: its denial of personal...

You can trigger more happy chemicals naturally. Here's how.  You can stimulate more happy chemicals with fewer side effects when you understand the...

Your teen self is still the core of who you are Does life sometimes seem like a high school cafeteria? It's not your imagination. Our brain is...

Love makes your happy chemicals surge, but they always dip Love triggers dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin. That's why it's so motivating. But happy...

If you have a bad habit, it’s because your brain thinks it’s good for survival. If you eat a donut when you’re annoyed, for example, it’s because...

Your phone triggers dopamine, serotonin, and oxytocin, while it relieves cortisol Our brain is not designed to release good feelings all the time...

Overcoming obstacles is the natural way to feel good. Our frustrations are often blamed on modern society, but monkeys had the same frustrations 50...

Winning doesn’t matter, we’re told, but something deep inside suggests otherwise. “Our society” creates the urge to win, we’re taught, yet monkeys...

And the choice to live without partisan goggles. I am surrounded by political anger. Everyone expects me to be on their side because they are the...

You need to express yourself to feel safe. We are born with no survival skills except the ability to express pain. When you withhold your urge to be...

Patronage works in the Baboon World Every baboon troop is led by an alpha who holds power until ousted by a challenger. Brute force makes you alpha...

"When I'm good no one remembers.  When I'm bad no one forgets." This lament rings true for most people. How can we learn the skill of feeling good...

Reaching a goal triggers dopamine. That feels great, but the spurt soon ends. Then you become who you were before the spurt. If you’re not...

In a perfect world, ice cream would have no calories, I would win every tennis match I played, and everyone I loved would love me back. Then I...

Happiness is just a neurochemical spurt. Four different brain chemicals create happy feelings, and you need all of them to feel good. You miss out...

Your brain evolved to look for problems. You get a break while your happy chemicals are surging, but when the surge ends your brain goes back to...

You are hard-wired to care about what you leave behind when you're gone. Animals focus on making babies, and humans, until recently, focused on...