Alone and welcome to world a part of if you want to be happy just be this not similar mistakingly attributed to leo tolstoy whom by the way was a very unhappy person has nonetheless supported in your science far from it the physics the feel good why is it a result of our daily actions and expectations how to maximize it in a world that seems to be so prominently on the ads and on actual depressants while to discuss that im now joined by at letter at the burning Professor Emeritus of management at polygamist a university and author of the habits of the happy brain dr burning its so great to talk to you thank you very much for your time. Thanks so much for having me now the pursuit of happiness is stated as an amiable right in the years declaration of independence and it is defined there as. F. Street striving towards joy as long as a does not violate the rights of others so even the american Founding Fathers day and a half centuries ago defined it as something for us actionable and 2nd time to an individual and i gathered from your blog that modern day neuroscience approaches it pretty much the same way. Actually my work is not representative of modern neuroscience i took early retirement to do my own thing separate from academia so i cant speak for nurse science and i think they see it differently because the modern medical model suggests that happiness is the natural default state and if youre not happy all the time then thats a disease and they can fix you and i absolutely disagree because when i Study Research about research on the animal brain from the past it shows that animals have the same happy chemicals that we have and theyre not just signed to be on all the time theyre designed to alert you to specific opportunities and thats what makes. And this is such a great point because many philosophers many writers have long approached happiness as a kind of a metaphysical category but whats interesting about it and whats practical about this approach is that it treats it as essentially a regulatory system and that if what informs you on the things that either threaten oprah mold to your survival there is nothing philosophical about it as far as i can get its pure chemistry right. Youve summarized it perfectly. However to add one more thing everyone is wired differently because despite the fact that its pure chemistry which turns the chemicals on and off is what ever turn them on and off in your unique individual youth which is just a random collection of experiences so one child in one family might have totally different experiences from another so whatever turned on my dope i mean insert tone and when i was young that gives me a pathway and thats how i seek it in the future but those pathways as far as i understand there are no old sad and stoned theyre pretty strong especially when theyre formed in. Very young. But its still within the power of an individual to either reshape them or perhaps substitute than with some other path. Yes exactly and i equate it to learning a Foreign Language in the sense that your old health ways are like your native language which you would not warrant if you built it from a huge amount of repetition but you dont remember that so your native language comes to you effortlessly so its a same with your emotional responses they got wired in from a huge amount of repetition now they feel so effortless that you just take them as the truth and you dont realize that you actually built them and you have power to build new ones but its as hard as learning a new language and we all know that its possible to learn a new language but it takes so much repetition most people just absolute am the best example of a by the way illyria tolstoy whom i mentioned in the beginning or was a good example to and he famously said that all happy families are happy in the same way but all im happy families have their own special where from happiness as far as i understand when we apply that to individuals their versus true and happen this has the same taste for everybody if the taste of course has all but when it comes to this good feel by its actually derived d from or different sources and each one of them has its own distinct function without those loretta. So the ones i talk about art opening sarah tone and oxytocin and endorphin and ill give a very quick summary of what turns each of them on in animals and then my website in my books and videos go into a lot were detail so dont i mean is the good feeling of meeting a need so if you imagine a monkey waking up hungry in the morning it needs food when it sees food in the distance its like oh wow i can get that and thats what we like is that feeling of oh i can get that and because our stomach just fall were not constantly searching for food so we need other things to give us this oh i can get that feeling in our telling. Oxytocin in animals is the good feeling of social support so animal sick hurt for safety in numbers and protection from predators and humans often romanticize this and think that theyre always supporting each other but when you think about it in a herd there will hiding so that someone else gets eaten so if you feel frustrated about your hurt a place to not romanticize and its the fact that our brains the record when were isolated because an isolated animal is threatened by predators and when an animal goes to the her it feels like it and let down its guard and thats when an animal eats though we want that feeling i can let down my guard because im safe with these people now im related to that is sara tone in which is also a social hormone right yes exactly and so we have 2 different social urges one of us acceptance and belonging and serotonin is different it reflects the real competitiveness among animals which has become quite happy to where i live in Northern California everyone likes to think that theyre not competitive but then theyre bolting others for pink who have it. The fact is all animals are competitive not just the top ones because when the top one disappears another one quickly and theyre always fighting to get more opportunity because of serotonin rewards them with a good feeling but its not a question its a good feeling that i can meet my needs because im strong and im respected if its reflective of your place in a social hierarchy and the 4th one is indoor fit which really is and this is something that really surprised me we all think of indoor him as this you know slasher hourman but you lay out in your book that its actually a natural painkiller its not exactly its not giving your pleasure as much as it is masking the pain. Yes we could call i call it a euphoria that masks pain which is the way humans experience it but in the animal world its only triggered when theyre actually in pain and if you see a wildlife medio than an animal has its flesh ripped open by a predator but its still able to run because for 15 minutes endorphin masks pain and then enables you to act to save your life so if a caveman broke his leg then for a short time he could go get help but then were not meant to have pain all the time and mask it with endorphin were meant to protect our injury and not cause ourselves pain and i dont know if you would agree with me but i think we rely on and or friends way too much i mean i dictions are a big problem in mahmouds developed countries and what struck me when reading your book is that. Almost all and dictions are ultimately undergirded by endorsements which relieve the pain in the short term by force to find it in the long term should it even be categorized as a happy chemical because it seems to be such a double faced side kick to court is all. I see what youre saying ok i think youre confusing 3 Different Things to opening endorphin and theyre dremel and so if you dont mind a so into orphan what people say runners high but runners dont get it every time they run but only if they run to the point of pain but addiction so if youre addicted to opioids thats enjoy our fun and also heroin but not cocaine cocaine is. Dope meet with dope and mean its also whether a person over eats or smokes or is always looking for another romantic opportunity its the i want more i want more i want more so that part of every addiction regardless of what youre addicted to so it could go together dont mean an endorphin now finally adrenaline is excitement so some people love excitement some people hate it some people love to climb mountains and watch horror movies and others hate it so its that. Little bit of threat and now lets talk a little bit about cortisol because were in the stressful times we all want a big glass of red but as you make the case in your book cortisol is neither good or bad in fact it can be very useful when you understand how it works and how to process it not only a metabolically but also mentally how do you go about it. So 1st is to understand that its the chemical that tells an animal that a predator is about eat it and in the state of nature there was a lot of pain in daily life as you were you know maybe climbing through thorn bushes to get berries to be or running after an animal but in the modern world were so safe we have this huge alarm system and we have nothing to do with it so if you dont get invited to a party. Which you were hoping like or if you dont get a promotion so every time youre hoping for a good feeling and you dont get what you hoped for you turn on natures emergency broadcast system and then you get a little bit of corn azzam and cortisol does its job by telling you to look for danger because when a gazelle smells a predator has to find the predator so youre always looking for danger in that turns on more quarters so when you know that youre doing that you can know that you created this sense of danger instead of believing that the world really is so dangerous as that it was actually at a major revelation for me that while the in the nature of threats to our survival hast changed our signaling has stayed the same so whether you are stuck in traffic or out whether you have lets say an altercation with you with your colic it still feels like danger danger im about to die do something about it and in your book you actually recommend resisting that urge to do something and sort of getting used to that discomfort now thats easier said than done isnt it. Yes so i have a new book called taking your anxiety and then there was an indeterminate book called the science of positivity so the idea is that if youre already wired to court. This all is designed to make you not have to touch a hot stove twice so everything that ever hurt you in your past thats what your brain is looking for if you want to focus on the positive you have to build those new pathways if you want to not run when you when you smell a predator you have to build new pathways so i give a simple plan to do that and i make it easy i think well dr burning lets take a very short break now but we will be back with this discussion in just a few moments. You live in the age of just believe the people dont trust the government and the government doesnt trust the beauty come to this get this if the legitimacy and more importantly is there a way out of this dialogue. Welcome back to worlds apart with that selling author a letter at the burning doctor bringing just before the break we were talking about your advice some of it is. Valid you a difficult to follow i have to say but while piece of advice that i found very how thoughtful and easy to follow is essentially consciously putting those 4 chemicals into a balance so for example a cell driven manic like myself may benefit from strategically looking at oxytocin cultivation and being more mindful of the other people while for example a people pleaser would be. Made that i said more from setting goals and working video can. Pathway and more i guess what youre talking about here is simply being diversification of the tap in this production and if we dont have to call it happen as happiness is such a general world but sort of cultivating your wellbeing and your sense of wellbeing. Yes so a big part of it is to recognize that our brain is designed to sequence chemicals to seek these good feelings because theres an h. There nature signal that you connect your survival needs so when theyre not on you have this illusion that your survival is threatened with theyre not designed to be on all the time so theyre designed to push us to keep going going into why everyone has this treadmill feeling and everyone blames society for this treadmill feeling but its not society at all and mention around sister working for food all the time in a harsh world thats what our brain is designed to while as if they were not supposed to be happy all the time but we are also not supposed to be and happy all the time and if you look if you look at the broad span of history really when the most prosperous the most accurate simple time in Human History and yet one would not be able to say that by watching the news and i think part of that is the nature of news of course is all jevon information but another part is how we process that information how does one stay informed without succumbing to the emotional charge that comes with it. Great question so 1st i want to talk about common enemies so in the animal world animals would really rather spread out because if you look for food in a tight group youre poking each other and competing for food but as soon as they spread out then somebody is near a predator as soon as they smell a predator they group together so humans have always grouped by imagining a common enemy so a lot of the newest is to worry you about a common enemy so that you stick with the group and then you just worried all the time this is the subject of my book the signs of positivity so the question is you said how to stay informed without having this distress level. I dont worry about people judging me for not being warm thats one thing its like if they want to think im stupid because i dont know what was in todays headline its fine let them think they are driving themselves down down a spiral while on investing my time productively and in the kitchen and books in if you read history books will have better insight but you are speaking about history wrote recently that. Everyone who has d ever leave had this sense that they were leaving at a turning point in history precisely because the human brain is constructed in a way to interpret history with reference to its own needs and i think for many people its extremely difficult and im easy to accept that because in our societies we are sort of accustomed to or demonstrative lee here for others but when you focus on yourself it isnt that active social isnt that true self. Ill admit that there is a cost so if your with a group of people and theyre all in a rage about todays news or theyre all so worried about the fear of the day and if you dont share their fear they may act like whats wrong with you then i frankly dont even enjoy being in that so i me very careful decisions about how much time i spend pursuing my own goals vs how much time i listen to other Peoples Group worrying and. Its very individual depending on their childhood and how they got to enjoy either context but you dont have to believe any of these philosophies that tell you which way is better well are you still have to be part of the society i assume and you know at least for oxytocin production but bringing it closer to the news of the day. Racial tensions are in the in the headlines a lot a lot and as an outsider and i think as a russian i can say that when i look at the data statistically the black community is much better off now than at any other point in history including a matter is of Police Brutality even though the public clearly doesnt believe that to be the case and what strikes me about the us a man says that most of the reaction is not about dope im in lets do something lets set the goal and lets fix it its more about oxytocin and sarah tone and lets get together and rage and disparage your clapping actor there is wrong and bad. Absolutely true so theres 2 things one is that humans have always felt this way animals monkeys test and so i got started doing this i read so many books about monkeys and thats what they do they get together to fight another monkey and thats how they raise their status and that promotes their genes and Natural Selection builds a brain that motivates us to do this so the bigger question is 0 people always done this why is it but i cannot say this in public now i am saying it in public but an american with never invite me to say this in public because they would be worried that they would be ruined so its a its a sad thing and i always focus on taking responsibility rather than blaming others so if i were to take responsibility i would say that i was a College Professor for 25 years and i was part of the system that indoctrinated all of these young people with a marxist mindset and its tragic its horrible and i wish i had a simple answer look i am not an american and russian who was born into a society that have tried to implement some of their marxist maxims in real life it didnt succeed but. I think people could tell i mean they even the natural response to your argument would be that we are not monkeys we have much more complex societies and we should not give up on trying to improve the society is giving up would be a dereliction of a citizens duty jast as much as blaming everything on the system would be an abdication of personal response a bit of responsibility where is the gold in the middle there. Oh thank you thats the topic of my new book its called status games why we play and how to stop and it will be out not for a year from now but im working it on now so youre right that the answer is the golden middle but it has to come from inside because as i mentioned our emotions are wired in like our native language so when children are reinforced for that certain ideas and patterns its hard to change every will later on so schools really need to not glorify this. Opposition to authority is the only valuable skill and i think thats what theyre teaching now and a lot of parents are also in this idea that opposition to authority is the valuable skill and i dont think its a healthy thing but i was a parent i was sucked into that trend like other people you know when i talk to you know angry black people or angry women are any other group that reserves the right to be collectively angry their argument always comes down to that compounding nature of the disadvantage and even if thats the case i think youre an individual always has a choice between seeing himself or herself as a victim in this circumstance or as a challenge or of those d circumstances what is the difference in terms of harmonial pathways that they stude different frames activate. Question so they idea that that based on you mentioned the beginning antidepressants forgot the words you used so the idea that everybody else has an easy life and everybody feels good all the time and im getting left out but the basic thought paradigm thats built into the modern Mental Health system and modern psychology in academia and its not true at all other people are not getting free happy chemicals all the time so from a certain perspective its the idea that other people have status easily its just given to them they dont have to do anything white males have an easy life everything just comes to them its so not true white males have as hard a time as there ever everybody else and everyones indoctrinated to think that other people have an easy life im left out so im going to demand and fight for an easy life. As you point out in the book that we wait fracs more than the we secret wars and i think the danger of indoctrinating this. Victimhood narrative is that if you perceive yourself as a mic them if you see the world outside as fundamentally unfair and friendly and out to get your it only promotes learned how to listless and rage robbed of them. Conferred with deliberate action what do you think. Great i write totally crazy i write a lot about social comparison so we have inherited a brain that is constantly comparing itself to others so before a monkey reaches for bit of food it compares itself to others and if it sees that its weaker then it doesnt reach for the banana because its afraid of getting bitten if it sees that its stronger sarah tone and is released and it goes for it and it feels good so we built patterns when we were young of comparing ourselves to others and making decisions about when we feel one up and when we feel one down and its easy to feel one down all the time if youre into alternated to think that way and then you end up with this court has all of the time and thats the root of depression but if you think oh im going to feel what up all the time im ok that was that way they would get into fights and they would get bitten and they would get into trouble so as you said the golden mean is the complexity and again thats happening but its difficult. When i look from my side at whats happening i think its you know the knocking down of monuments which is probably the most unproductive thing youre going to ever do to improve your life thats what happened in the soviet union when the soviet union fell people went 1st for the monuments absolutely but theyve. Now go ahead where ever kissed have leaders with a handbook and theyre using the same hammer but i find this so im characteristic of the United States because america has always been more individualistic of them act collectivist it was more are always more about dope and men doing something than courts is all you know fuming about something and when did it change. So before world war 2 a lot of europeans came to the United States they came to new york and they say. If a cli targeted Teacher Education and journalism this is the history of cultural marxism grew up right near new york city with teachers who were educated in that mindset and so within the last 100 years theyve been able to have that mindset through the media and Teacher Education and i grew up not just with you know because the word marxism was taboo you would never admit that that was it but the idea that every european is better you know maybe no but america always had that and then well have that balance where people try to take pride in things american but the real if you were really one up and high status you were european. Well im surprised and almost sorry to hear that because their 2nd quality is that the rest of the world and mars about being out of states and that is you know the south may drive and i think it would be a shame to lose it and to lose a lot of Cultural Heritage along the way anyway dr burning we have to leave it there its been great pleasure talking to you. You too thank you so much and thank you for watching and hope to see her again next week but of all the part. Time after time called peroration to repeat the same mantra sustainability its very important to accelerate the transition to sustainable transport sustainability. More equitable and sustainable while. They claim the. Production is complete the hamas. Has no models and. Companies want us to feel good about buying their products while the damage is being done far away this is something ill just as he want any minute i need much. And you miss me do me man im stuck. On just superman in. New Research Shows delays to Cancer Treatment in the u. K. Due to the corona virus could cause an extra 6000 deaths we speak to a man who only discovered that he had advanced cancer when he finally got a much delayed scan. This is devastating news is not from those i can see no words to put forward feel. No words to describe t. Im just devastated. Serbia sees a 5th day of violent protests over the governments decision to reimpose the curfew after a surge in covert cases