I, Mammal: Why Your Brain Links Status and Happiness

314 Pages·2011·9.68 MB·English

by  Loretta Graziano Breuning

Humans have inherited the brain structures that all mammals
have in common. This mammalian limbic system controls the
neurochemicals that humans experience as happiness. Our happy
chemicals flow when we do things that promote survival from a
mammal’s point of view.
Survival often rests on our ties to a herd or pack or troop. The
mammal brain constantly chooses between the urge to take what it
wants and the urge to avoid harmful conflict with group-mates.
Neurochemicals guide a mammal to either hold back or assert, as it
reads the circumstances of each moment. When a mammal finds a
way to meet its survival needs, its brain releases happy chemicals.
Dominance hierarchies emerge spontaneously as each
mammal in a group seeks rewards and avoids harm. The social
dominance behaviors of wild animals are eerily familiar. The field
notes of a primatologist are suspiciously similar to the lyrics of a
country western song. A zoology textbook bears uncanny resemblance
to a soap opera script. Animal behavior tells us what our own limbic
system cannot put into words.
We all look for ways to stimulate our happy chemicals and
avoid unhappy chemicals. We mammals are curiously preoccupied
with social hierarchy as a result. You may say you’re “against status.”
But if you filled a room with people who say they are anti-status, a
hierarchy would soon form based on how anti-status each person is.
That’s what mammals do.
The mammal brain responds to the world with
neurochemicals, not with words. This lack of language makes it hard
for the human cortex to understand the mammal brain it’s attached to.
No self-respecting human thinks of themselves as a dominance-
seeking herd animal. But if you want happy chemicals, you have to get
them from your mammal brain. We can finally understand this hybrid
brain of ours thanks to an accumulation of research in animal science
and neuroscience.
The frustrations of social hierarchies are not caused by “our
society.” We are simply heirs to the brain that helped mammals thrive
for millions of years. It’s not easy being human with a mammalian
operating system. Managing your mammal brain is the challenge that
comes with the gift of life. No one else can manage it for you, and you
cannot do it for someone else. When you know where your
neurochemistry came from, you can stop fixating on our flaws and
celebrate how well we do with the mental equipment we’ve got.
I
, m a m m a l
Why Your Brain Links Status and Happiness

I , m a m m a l
Why Your Brain Links Status and Happiness
Loretta Graziano Breuning
System Integrity Press
copyright 2010
by Loretta Graziano Breuning
all rights reserved
EAN-13 9781453750469
ISBN- 978-1453750469
contact: [email protected]
www.Imammalthebook.com
System Integrity Press
orders and information contact:
[email protected]
www.SystemIntegrityPress.com
DEDICATION
to Donna Meehan
Rosen Method Practitioner
for extraordinary support