If you're not happy, it means something is wrong ... right? 

Dr. Loretta Breuning is a PhD researcher & author. Since becoming unconvinced by prevailing theories on human behavior, she has researched everything from monkeys to the mafia. Now she’s not only helping people hack their brain, she’s shedding light on how the altruistic outlook may be popular, but ultimately damaging.

In this episode, she explains WHY we believe that if we are unhappy something is wrong, how simply “getting back to nature” can backfire, the problem with happiness studies & (this is important) how to start your own happiness plan.

This episode originally aired March 7, 2024.

If you like this episode, you’ll also like episode 275: IS AMBITION ANTI-HAPPINESS? REASONABLE HAPPINESS & FETISHIZING WEALTH

Guest:

https://innermammalinstitute.org/

https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-happy-brain/id1377502232 

https://www.instagram.com/inner.mammal.inst/

https://innermammalinstitute.org/course/ 

 https://www.facebook.com/LorettaBreuningPhD 

https://twitter.com/lbreuning  

Host:  

https://www.meredithforreal.com/  

https://www.instagram.com/meredithforreal/ 

[email protected]

https://www.youtube.com/meredithforreal 

 https://www.facebook.com/meredithforrealthecuriousintrovert 

Sponsors: 

https://www.jordanharbinger.com/starterpacks/ 

https://www.historicpensacola.org/about-us/ 

02:05 — Rousseau’s “nature is happy” legacy

02:48 — Why academia spreads the meme

03:36 — The medical model of unhappiness

04:18 — Blaming society vs building skills

07:24 — Hunter-gatherer reality check

09:58 — Culture shapes how we report happiness

10:32 — Why Americans hesitate to say “I’m happy”

11:32 — Cortisol: when expectations miss

13:42 — Childhood culture becomes adult politics

14:06 — Status envy in academia

15:10 — Moral superiority as serotonin

15:48 — The “I did it the right way” trap

16:38 — Everyone thinks they’re the overlooked underdog

18:06 — Popularity: the motivator no one admits

19:02 — How biology gets politicized

23:18 — Why therapy and religion sell unhappiness

24:08 — The media and your happy chemicals

25:02 — News as a brain-chemical cocktail

31:04 — How not to throw the baby out with the bathwater

34:08 — Reward yourself like animal training

34:42 — Train your inner mammal

Request to join my private Facebook Group, MFR Curious Insiders https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BAt3bpwJC/