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“Being complicated increases our lifespan” – Loretta Breuning

Why are humans so complicated? Why aren’t we happy all the time? Why do we get addicted to things? How can we accomplish more each day and reach our goals? Why do we want to go on adventures? How does our neurochemistry affect things like pride, accomplishment, touch, love, exercise, and habit?

Knowing how our brain chemistry and structure works can provide many of the answers to questions like these.

Today’s guest founded the Inner Mammal Institute because she was not satisfied with the existing science around what motivates us.

Loretta Breuning Ph.D. is Professor Emerita of Management at California State University, East Bay and the author of  Habits Of A Happy Brain, Meet Your Happy Chemicals, Beyond Cynical, and I, Mammal. She is a Docent at the Oakland Zoo, where she gives tours on mammalian social behavior. She constantly marvels at the overlap between a wildlife documentary and the lyrics to a country western song.

Dr. Breuning spent a year in Africa as a United Nations Volunteer after graduating from Cornell University and Tufts. She has lectured worldwide on resisting corruption pressures, based on her book “Grease-less: How the Thrive without Bribes in Developing Countries.”

I’m really excited about this episode because Loretta is a master at taking basic brain science and teaching how we can apply that knowledge. Dr. Breuning takes us on a tour through the behaviors and feelings associated with dopamine, serotonin, endorphin, and oxytocin, and what we can do to use this knowledge to shape our lives.

Quotes:

“Being complicated increases our lifespan” – Loretta Breuning

“We are born with millions of neurons and no connection between them”- Loretta Breuning

“Your brain solidifies around experience”- Loretta Breuning

“Humans are more aware of the prospect of death”- Loretta Breuning

“Dopamine is released when you see a new way of getting rewarded”- Loretta Breuning

“Adrenaline is just a gas pedal telling you something is urgent”- Loretta Breuning

“Bad feelings help us avoid wasting energy”- Loretta Breuning

“Mastery is when you build confidence in your ability to manage a threat”- Loretta Breuning

“Animals are always comparing them selves to other animals”- Loretta Breuning

“In nature, touch and trust go together”- Loretta Breuning

What you will learn in this episode:

-How the structure of our brain effects our behavior

-How dopamine, serotonin, endorphin, and oxytocin effect us

-The evolutionary benefits of feeling bad, dissatisfied, or uncomfortable

-How the brain grows connections

-How to create new habits for being happier

-How to maximize our knowledge of neurochemicals

-The difference between adrenaline and endorphin

-How to use brain chemistry and structure to accomplish more

-How to break a vicious cycle

Continue the Adventure (Resources from this episode):

Inner Mammal Institute

Preorder Loretta’s New Book:

Habits Of A Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin, & Endorphin Levels

Meet Your Happy Chemicals: Dopamine, Endorphin, Oxytocin, Serotonin

Here are your free video training and worksheets from Loretta. There are 3 twelve-minute videos and cheat sheets to go with it.

Thanks Loretta Breuning!

If you enjoyed this session of The Art of Adventure Podcast, let Loretta know by clicking on the link below and sending her a quick shout out on Twitter:

Click here to thank Loretta on Twitter!

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This episode is brought to you by my friend Ladan Jiracek over at the Travel Wisdom Podcast

Ladan talks to all sorts of people (check out my episode here) and asks how travel has improved their lives. He’s and interesting dude who has spent about $30k to travel to 80 countries because he believes like I do that travel is an investment into your future.

Go to Travel Wisdom Podcast or find Travel Wisdom in iTunes or Stitcher or your favorite podcasting app. I love listening to the show and you should give it a try – I think you will as well.

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