Fotografía de autor

Sobre El Autor

Loretta Graziano Breuning, PhD, is founder of the Inner Mammal Institute and author of Habits of a Happy Brain: Retrain Your Brain to Boost Your Serotonin, Dopamine, Qxytocin, and Endorphin Levels and The Science of Positivity. Stop Negative Thought Patterns by Changing Your Brain Chemistry. She is mostrar más professor emerita of management at California State University, East Bay. Dr. Breuning's work has been translated into many languages and featured in Forbes, Wall Street Journal, Psychology Today, time, Cosmopolitan, Real Simple, and Men's Health, as well as on NPR, Fox, NBC, Dr. Oz, and various podcasts. mostrar menos

Obras de Loretta Graziano Breuning

Etiquetado

Conocimiento común

Fecha de nacimiento
20th century
Género
female
Nacionalidad
USA

Miembros

Reseñas

Human people are part angels and part monkeys; this book is about our humbler heritage. It’s mostly descriptive, about how we do think, more than prescriptive, about how we should think. (It’s not like reading Blake: He who shall hurt the little Wren/Never shall be beloved of men.) It’ll tell you why you’re a sad monkey that doesn’t feel grateful, (habituation); it won’t tell you an uplifting story about how someone got happy with the angels about being grateful, although by explaining your patterns it can help you to catch them.

And there is some value I think in knowing something just because it’s so; I certainly must get habituation from searching for new things because I have to read out of at least half a dozen books, little snippets, each day, or else it just doesn’t give me the same feels, if it’s the same topic at length.

…. The other thing I it occurs to me to say is that although sometimes one is struck by the mystery of the universe, there are still reasons why things happen, and you can do things naturally; you don’t have to say, No dopamine—guess I need another med. As important as ingesting is, you don’t have to be the defeated ignorant consumer who thinks they need to be rescued by medicine, right.

…. And there are also some (prescriptive) practical tips, as well as the background information…. But I can’t tell you what I learned about that; it’s too personal.

…. Afterword: I try to compliment science (and the natural philosophy girls!), but since science (and individualism!) is of course not her only cultural baggage, let me be like other people, and like her, and be a little negative, and say that she is a little into the tyranny of fun. I don’t really remember the four chemicals, although I’d probably have a little see-and-recall knowledge if I looked them up, but I do remember her —attitude— towards politics (and people who need it! People who can’t pass over Jordan without Moses, I guess), and again the whole tyranny of fun thing. I guess any specialization tyrannizes if you let it…. Baah baah, Mommy, the people who have been passed over don’t want to have fun! Make them have fun, Mommy! Stop them from ruining my party! I’m trying to give a talk, dammit! This is the time, and the place, for Fun!

Ooo, science is gonna bring about a new world! 😂

…. “Me without you is like a present without a bow.”
—a happy song

And it’s like, presents don’t need bows, you sniveling bitch, and you don’t need presents so much as you need a little fucking dignity, so maybe don’t throw it away and forgot where you stashed it? Lord knows I ain’t gonna find it for you.

“Science helps me to become the Culturally Normal American Girl!”
—“happiness is science!”

And it’s like….

I mean, this book has some validity to it, because real happiness is a good thing, (although I work for a sad little man, a fat rich fucker I’ve never met who deludes women into being smaller and more manageable, so that he can take their money, and he has us play music, I swear, that’s more conformist than the music they play at the Bank, and if you asked him why I’ll bet it’s because his wife has to be “happy”—Or if you’re not don’t talk to me! I own a large multinational corporation!), and it’s nice to know some of the sources of happiness, like relationships and accomplishments, and certainly I tend to short sell relationships, (although man doesn’t need a sexual partner, he just needs to find the mother that lives within him, the inner guru and the outer soul friend).

But she’s so full of herself, you know—full of herself and her “happiness”. She doesn’t get that happiness requires non-happiness elements in this world, so she’s the no-compromise Culturally Normal American Girl, all, I’m just gonna do accomplishments and talk with my friends, and if there’s any non-happiness element, if there’s any poor slob or politician or prophet of freedom, then I’m just gonna crush em and starve em and get ‘em underneath, you know…. Cause I just want to be happy!

And at what price do we sell ourselves, you know? Because woe to the slave of the slaves, to those constrained by the weak and pilfered by the Lilliputians and liars and puppet players, you know.

No freedom, no dignity, no fucking intelligence, when you come to it, in the things that matter. Oh, but the scientists tell us we’ve become 5% more important this quarter! (So, be happy, dammit!)

But don’t worry, I’m happy to consider your feelings and fight your enemies, because after all, you sacrifice so much for me; I know you do. (movie anger) I have sacrificed my whole life for MY PROPERTY, (real quiet) but what has it got me? (middle anger) I tell you this: I’m too kind.

The time has come to be happy!

Fine, YOU be happy; but my anger keeps me safe and makes me happy; I’m an angry cat, you know. 😼

People think they’ll be happy when there’s money, but the real wealth is not robbing and not telling lies.

…. “But maybe you calling her a sniveling bitch didn’t help her reclaim her dignity.”

But it made me feel good—and I love to feel good. 😸 You gotta be happy!

But you’re right; let’s re-wrap up. Let’s see, I need a…. Near-cliche. *hits button* “Spiritual beauty is a journey.” There you go. It’s a journey. Better to be learning than learned—distrust people with smug assumptions—even if they’re scientists!

Actually if they’re “scientists” with smug assumptions, that makes it all the funnier! 😹
… (más)
 
Denunciada
goosecap | 4 reseñas más. | Aug 17, 2021 |
I like the premise behind the book and don't really disagree with much of it, but it is frustratingly vague. It's full of repetitious phrases repeated elsewhere in the book that make it very dull to read. It would've benefited *enormously* from including more examples (or at least *some* examples) of the points it makes behind how to increase your brain's quantity of the various "happy" neurochemicals.
½
 
Denunciada
caimanjosh | 4 reseñas más. | Jun 3, 2021 |
I have some health issues and along with them I have a large dollop of anxiety. Other books by this author address anxiety and so when buying one of those I purchased a copy of this book also. I didn't actually read all of either book though...too busy being anxious I guess. When I received a free copy of this book on audio, I decided to listen to it. Am I ever glad I did!

I'd grown discouraged with many methods of dealing with panic, stress, and anxiety. I did my best to have proper positive thoughts but inevitably failed. I was afraid ALL of the time; either I was ill or I was afraid of being ill. It had grown very difficult for me to distinguish between being sick to my stomach because of my physical problems and being nauseated because of my ever-present fear. It doesn't help that among my peers anxiety and its related illnesses seem to be...trendy. I'm embarrassed to say it like that but honestly, it seems like the rarity in my area is being in my age range and NOT struggling with depression, anxiety, and/or some autoimmune illness.

This book, How I Escaped Political Correctness and You Can Too, was not a magical cure-all for my anxiety. What this book did for me, though, was help me understand that there is not any magical cure-all for my anxiety.
I used to think that if I admitted that I wasn't going to wake up one morning and everything be magically all better, it was the same as saying I would be miserable for the rest of my life This is not at all the case! Just knowing WHY my body behaves the way it does during times of stress or illness is incredibly empowering! Understanding what is going on often allows me to turn an impending doom moment aside and be all right after all! I go for very small stretches of time not thinking about my illness now (we're talking a few minutes here and there, but this is actually an incredible victory!) I feel that with some time and some more listening and/or reading of the way my mammal brain works I will be able to begin making new connections in my brain that will help me live more healthfully in my body. This may sound ridiculous but I didn't even know what it meant to be a mammal. Now I have a much better idea and I'm amazed and proud of how smart human's bodies and brains are.
Instead of fighting my brain, which has actually evolved to do a darn good job of helping me survive, I am going to commit to understanding better how to help it do its job.

One last note: the author gives quite a few examples of how her emerging understanding of certain things conflicted with the political tones of those in her environment. I find this to be true also. The interesting thing is that, speaking broadly, the author refers to people who seem to have a liberal bent. I am steeped in an area that is predominantly conservative. It doesn't matter, I think, what the prevailing belief system is. It all works the same and the message is identical: conform or be cast out. I found this very interesting indeed.
… (más)
 
Denunciada
Merryann | Mar 13, 2020 |

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