What story is your brain telling you? Is it true? In this episode, we wrap up our discussion about the joy elevator and the pain processing pathway with a closer look at the brain’s narrative engine.

“Show, don’t tell” is the thing to remember for resolving pain stuck at Level 4 of the pain processing pathway. In this episode, we start celebrating OTT’s 1-year anniversary, and we camp out on level 4 of the pain processing pathway. 

When the joy elevator in our brain gets stuck, our pain isn’t able to fully process. In this episode, we continue to unpack the joy elevator and the five levels of the pain processing pathway. 

Sometimes the joy elevator in our brain gets stuck and our pain isn’t able to fully process. In order for suffering to keep from becoming traumatic, our brains need to process the pain at all five levels of the pain processing pathway. In this episode, we begin to unpack the joy elevator and the pain processing pathway. 

It’s no secret – negativity robs our joy. Toxic thoughts can imprison us in unpleasant emotions. How do we get free and return to joy? In the next phase of our joy series, we’re discussing some of the brain science of toxic thoughts and strategies for how to replace them.

When emotions are dragging, there is an amygdala to soothe. 

In this episode we finish our discussion about how to tame the amygdala and return to joy when we find ourselves trapped in one of the big six negative emotions.

We’re continuing our joy series with a little brain science. When something triggers the amygdala as “personal,” it sends out a signal of good, bad, or scary. If bad or scary is signaled, it triggers one of six emotions: sadness, shame, disgust, despair, anger, or fear. 

For the next two episodes, we are talking about how to tame the amygdala and return to joy when we find ourselves trapped in one of the big six negative emotions. 

Would you describe your inner world as joyful?  

Whether conscious of it or not, most of us live out of an inner world of fear or joy. Last episode we talked about tearing down that inner fear house.

In this episode, we are talking about building an inner joy house. Building a joy house can also be thought of as growing resilience.

This episode recaps the ABCs of Building Bounce and introduces an overview of the acrostic from The 4 Habits of Joy-Filled People - CASA: calming, appreciating, storytelling, and attacking toxic thinking. 

Let’s tear down the house of fear and build a house of joy. Last episode we introduced Joy Bonds. Our brains are designed to run on the fuel of joy, but they can default to fear. In this episode we’re looking at the counterpart—fear bonds. 

A joy-filled life is possible. Let’s talk about how to cultivate one.

Marcus says two words blew up his old paradigm: Joy Bonds. His old paradigm said belief + choice = transformation, but what about joy and attachment? 

We’re starting down a new trail for the summer where we explore the transformative nature of joy, and we hope you’ll join us!