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Details: Written by: Kamran Mofid; Published: 12 March 2022; Hits: 1034

‘Can we really harness our brain chemicals to give ourselves a blast of positivity? Researchers share their shortcuts to boosting oxytocin, serotonin and more.’- Amy Fleming Via The Guardian

Photo: PNGDIR

‘Loretta Breuning grew up around a lot of unhappiness, but couldn’t figure out why. To try to find out, she avidly read up on psychology, alongside raising two children and working as a professor in management at California State University. “I thought that, if I followed the research, it would make everybody happy all the time,” she says. “And then I saw that my students were not that motivated, my kids were not that motivated, and the kids of social science professors were not that motivated. So I started looking for the deeper roots of our motivation and our emotions.” She went on to write a book, Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Oxytocin and Endorphin Levels.

Today, when the news seems endlessly bleak, we all need an extra blast of positivity. Can harnessing our understanding of brain chemicals – from dopamine and endorphin to oxytocin and serotonin – help? Breuning, along with a number of scientists working in the field, believe so…’- Continue to read

7 Habits of a Happy Brain

You can rewire your brain to enjoy more serotonin, dopamine, oxytocin, endorphin

By Loretta Breuning Via Psychology Today

Photo: SPEAKER

Make this part of each day and you'll like the results:

Remember that you have power to build new pathways in your brain. (But it takes more persistence and courage than you may expect, because your old pathways are already well developed and connected to your pleasure and pain centers.)
Remind yourself that your frustrations are just electricity flowing down the path of least resistance in your brain. (You can give your electricity a new place to flow if you focus on a positive new choice every day for 45 days without fail.)
You can turn on the excitement of dopamine by taking a step toward an expected reward. (Of course rewards are unpredictable in the real world, but you can always adjust your expectations and take another step.)
You can enjoy the safe feeling of oxytocin by taking small steps toward social trust, often. (The mammal brain rewards you with a good feeling when you create social trust, but it makes careful choices because it’s not always safe to trust.)
You can stimulate the nice feeling of serotonin by focusing on what you have instead of what you lack. (The mammal brain makes social comparisons because that promotes survival in the state of nature, but you can find ways to feel good about yourself without putting others down.)
Laughing triggers the joy of endorphins, so make time in your life for laughter. (You may not laugh at what your friends think is funny, so let your own sense of humor be your guide.)
Stop what you’re doing when your cortisol turns on, because it makes everything you do look bleak. (Cortisol is designed to alert you to potential threats, so you will see plenty of threats until you give your body a couple of hours to metabolize it.)- Read the original article HERE

Photo: Adams Media Via psychology corner

‘A revolutionary approach to enhancing your happiness level!

Get ready to boost your happiness in just 45 days! 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. Filled with dozens of exercises that will help you reprogram your brain, Habits of a Happy Brain shows you how to live a happier, healthier life!’- Buy the book HERE

A Selection of Related postings from our archive

'Be in love with life and the living and the world will be a better place.'- Kamran Mofid

Larkspurs, signifying happiness and love.Photo: Petal Republic

In Praise of Laughter and Joy in these Dark and Uncertain Times

Happiness is to Do Nothing

Simplicity: it’s our true guide to a better life

Healing the world as if the web of life mattered: In Praise of Ancient Wisdom

Are you physically and emotionally drained? I know of a good and cost-free solution!

Rand’s Ugly and Values-less Philosophy of Selfishness

The Destruction of our World and the lies of Milton Friedman

In Praise of Kindness

Kindness to Heal the World- Kindness to Make the World Great Again

What if Universities Taught KINDNESS?

What is Life's Greatest Gift

Detaching Nature from Economics is ‘Burning the Library of Life’

What is Happiness? What is the Good Life? Lessons from the ancient philosophers to help improve our lives today.

Land As Our Teacher: Rhythms of Nature Ushering in a Better World

Coronavirus and the New Tapestry of Life: The time is now to rediscover our true selves

Rethinking Education at the Time of Coronavirus Crisis: The Time is Now to Explore the Benefits of Nature-Based Education in Our Teaching Models

It’s All in The Mind: Focus on Mental Health

GCGI is our journey of hope and the sweet fruit of a labour of love. It is free to access, and it is ad-free too. We spend hundreds of hours, volunteering our labour and time, spreading the word about what is good and what matters most. If you think that's a worthy mission, as we do—one with powerful leverage to make the world a better place—then, please consider offering your moral and spiritual support by joining our circle of friends, spreading the word about the GCGI and forwarding the website to all those who maybe interested.

Details: Written by: Kamran Mofid; Published: 10 March 2022; Hits: 1495

"My words are tied in one with the great mountains,

with the great rocks, with the great trees, in one with my body and heart.

All of you see me, one with this world."- Yokuts Prayer

Mother Earth Hear Our Prayers

Photo:TheAwarenessSchool

'Mother Earth hear your child,

Details: Written by: Kamran Mofid; Published: 05 March 2022; Hits: 1964

From real-life wars amongst ourselves to the war that we have waged on Mother Earth and Nature, we are often reminded of how humanity could be destroyed. The pertinent question must surely be: So how best can we protect our future, our survival?

With what is going on in the world today, nuclear war feels like a more realistic threat than for decades.-

Photo: Galerie Bilderwelt/Getty Images

We are only visitors, why are we then destroying and abusing everything in our path?

Could we really destroy all life on Earth?

Yes, indeed, as long as we remain focused on our selective humanity and values

‘War is the failure of humanity’

N.B. Similar to the great wise teacher, the man of peace and humanity, Dr. Martin Luther King, I, too, ‘refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality... I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.’

‘Every war is a failure—of leadership; common sense; “policy”; concepts of “manhood” or “courage”; of “loyalty” and “patriotism; of imagination.’- Pressenza, Peace and Nonviolence journalism

Let the horror in the Ukraine open our eyes to the suffering of war around the world

They are ‘civilised’ and ‘look like us’: the racist coverage of Ukraine

Precedents of Permissibility

Afghanistan is on the brink of famine. How can Biden just forget about us?

…‘Millions of children are frightened and starving to death in Afghanistan because of sanctions imposed upon a new government. Millions are frightened and starving in Yemen, where western arms support allows Saudi Arabia to cripple food supplies. Children in Syria are frightened and hungry as the civil war drags on. Iraq is failing and the children suffer. In Africa, starvation and fear permeate the continent in places such as Nigeria, Ethiopia, Somalia and Sudan. And everywhere the faces of children are a fierce and damning testimony to adult behaviour…’-All wars horrify us, but it seems not equally so

I don't know who wrote this, but it's so meaningful...‘We fell asleep in one world, and woke up in another.’ That, sums up our journey.

‘War is the failure of humanity’

As I watch the terrifying and soul-destroying images of war in Ukraine, I am taken back to the dehumanising and horrifying images of the invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya-supported directly or indirectly- by NATO forces. The same NATO that today is seeking to save Ukraine!

They were, it seems, on a mission: To ‘Civilise’ the ‘Barbarians’, bringing them democracy and market economy, very similar to what they were doing in many ‘non-white’ regions of the world in past centuries! A practice that has so tragically remained their hallmark up to current times. Lest we forget.

I am recalling the images of the Iran-Iraq war, the eight-year war that nobody cared to end. They said it was a good way of recycling the petro-dollars. They kept selling arms to both of them!‘I am recalling the horrors of what is happening in Yemen, thanks to the abundant supply of weapons of mass destruction by many NATO countries to a few countries in the Persian Gulf, to recycle the petro-dollars again!

Still going back in history, I recall the horrors of slavery, the plundering and destruction of mother earth, and the dehumanisation of the indigenous people of North America, Australia and New Zealand, to name but a few, by Europeans who are today wishing to be the saviours!

We are also witnessing the destruction and degradation of our host, our home: Our Mother Earth and Nature, our only source of life, living and survival.

The Abuse and Destruction of Earth and Mother Nature is as Big a Threat to Humanity as Wars

Photo: Via change.org

Friends, our experience on Earth is brief, yet our presence here has an impact. Let’s vow to generate the energy of peace for ourselves and others around us. And at the same time, to support all who suffer from the ravages of war, regardless of their creed, colour or origin.

We must come together and tune into peace, love and wisdom with a spiritual revolution and save the web of life.

The time is now to begin and believe in ourselves, who we are, what we are. We must recognise that we have the real superpower in us to wage peace and usher in a new season of hope on Earth by sharing a common belief in the potential of each one of us to become self-directed, empowered, and active in defining this time in the world as an opportunity for positive change and healing and for the true formation of a culture of peace by giving thanks, spreading joy, sharing love, seeing miracles, discovering goodness, embracing kindness, practising patience, teaching moderation, encouraging laughter, celebrating diversity, showing compassion, turning from hatred, practising forgiveness, peacefully resolving conflicts, communicating non-violently, choosing happiness and enjoying life.

War is a disaster. Let’s build peace