The Happiness Hack_ How to Take Charge of Your Brain and Program More Happiness into Your Life ( PDFDrive )

THE happi

iness HACK

Praise for The Ha “The Happiness Hac for the brain. It ma understandable, rele providing a friendly, putting your brain —NIR EYAL, BESTSELLIN HOW TO BUILD HABIT- “In today’s stressfu who among us wou a happiness boo breaks down the pr happiness with un useful examples t science and well-re in this approacha helpful book. A —LYNDA WEINMAN COFOUNDER O

appiness Hack ck is a user’s manual akes neuroscience evant, and practical, , actionable guide to n to work for you.” NG AUTHOR OF HOOKED: -FORMING PRODUCTS ul, complex world, uldn’t benefit from ost? Ellen Leanse rocess of achieving nderstandable and that merge brain esearched wisdom, able, fascinating, A must read!” N, EDUCATOR AND OF LYNDA.COM

“As a neuroscientist, about ways to get kn brain ‘out of the lab’ of people who can us lives. Ellen does that Hack. It makes knowl relevant and access ways to apply insigh to positive changes —SARAH EAGLEMAN, P “If you want to b productive, calm, who doesn’t?), then you. Wisdom and w every page, along w explanations of the s goes on in our heads brain—will never b —ROZ SAVAGE, GUINN HOLDER AND LECTURE

, I’m always thinking nowledge about the ’ and into the hands se it to improve their t with The Happiness ledge about the brain sible while offering hts from neuroscience s in everyday life.” PHD, NEUROSCIENTIST be more happy, and fulfilled (and n this is the book for wonder bursts out of with clear and simple science behind what s. Your life—and your be the same again.” NESS WORLD RECORD R AT YALE UNIVERSITY





THE happi How to Take Your Brain and Happiness in Ellen Petr

iness HACK e Charge of Program More nto Your Life ry Leanse

Copyright © 2017 by Ellen Petry Leanse Cover design © 2017 by Sourcebooks, Inc. Internal design and illustration © 2017 by Jillian Rahn Internal image credits: page 1, johavel/Getty Images; Images; page 2, GeorgePeters/Getty Images; page 6, page 6, wissanu99/Getty Images; page 7, 9, 58, mag Getty Images; page 8, 13, 105, shopplaywood/Shutt page 16, youngID/Getty Images; page 16, johnwoodc Shutterstock; page 17, MicrovOne/Getty Images; page 17, aboutmodafinil.com/public domain; page 27, 28, 29, DoubleBubble/Shutterstock; page 27, H oleynik/Shutterstock; page 29, silver tiger/Shutterst 41, Wellcome Images/public domain; page 43, 61, Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary/public NEILRAS/Shutterstock; page 104, ArtColibris/Shutte 107, Vector Draco/Shutterstock Sourcebooks, the colophon, and Simple Truths are re All rights reserved. No part of this book may be rep mechanical means including information storage a brief quotations embodied in critical articles or revi publisher, Sourcebooks, Inc. This publication is designed to provide accurate an subject matter covered. It is sold with the underst rendering legal, accounting, or other professional ser is required, the services of a competent professional p of Principles Jointly Adopted by a Committee of the A Publishers and Associations All brand names and product names used in this bo trade names of their respective holders. Sourcebook vendor in this book. Published by Simple Truths, an imprint of Sourceboo P.O. Box 4410, Naperville, Illinois 60567-­4410 (630) 961-3­ 900 Fax: (630) 961-2­ 168 www.sourcebooks.com Printed and boun QL 10 9 8 7 6 5

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for Alex, Je always my

eff, and Matt— best teachers

To enjoy goo bring true to one’s fam peace to al first discip control one If we can cont we can find Enlightenme wisdom and naturally c —THE B

od health, to happiness mily, to bring ll, one must pline and e’s own mind. trol our mind, d the way to ent, and all d virtue will come to us. BUDDHA

Happiness is you arriv manner of —MARGARET LEE

s not a station ve at, but a f traveling. RUNBECK, NOVELIST ix

Nothing ca biological arg than the famo slogan: “Happ within.” Mo status, plas beautiful hous positions—­n will bring yo Lasting happ only from dopamine, a —YUVAL NOAH H A BRIEF HISTORY

aptures the gument better ous New Age piness begins oney, social stic surgery, ses, powerful none of these ou happiness. piness comes serotonin, and oxytocin. ARARI, SAPIENS: Y OF HUMANKIND

Take a Think whate It’s your b yourself at —L I N-­M A N U PLAYWRIGHT, C

a second. ever you want. brain. Make t home in it. UEL MIRANDA, COMPOSER, ACTOR xi

Contents

s

xIV Introduct xVIII Getting t 34 Building C 54 Unpluggi 66 Mastering 92 Activatin 100 Taking Ch 104 Recomme 106 Acknowle 108 About the

tion to Know Your Brain Connections ing g Your Mind ng harge ended Reading edgments e Author xiii

Introduct

tion

A few years back daunting struggles. No my worries well. But s in my questions. Looking aro answers I simply couldn’t find. I was missing. WhysdaeoreTompuHetnowoRdphIlbVmeeenIeNi'Gm so OV E RWH E L M E D? Why do I feel like I’m wasting my time and talents? Am I the asking thes I didn’t know where to fin questions people bring up in c seemed, people were doing grea So I smiled harder and pretend I felt more than confused.

tnk, I faced some big questions and o one would have guessed it: I hid something was off, and I felt alone ound, it seemed other people had . Watching them, I wondered what Is this really what life is supposed to feel like? exHiafomIwpfleceealfnotrIhsimseytwctahhyi?ledrriegh e only one se questions? nd answers. After all, these aren’t casual conversation. Around me, it at—­at least that’s what they told me. ded it all made sense to me too. xv

The Happine I felt alone. When I talked with my doctor ab “Everyone feels this way.” Maybe h tion comforting. I didn’t. He talked prescribed when people said they fe “Really?” I wondered.“Is that the Something inside told me there looking for it. I opened my mind an I read voraciously, took classes, and learn how others answered life’s to purpose, and the pursuit of happ modern and timeless wisdom, and s and religion. I explored real-­life st self-­expression and self-c­ are. Insights came slowly at first. But the brain, something clicked. For the the different paths to happiness—­an With increasing clarity, I saw a n science of the brain—seemed to re seeking. And the more I learned, the Today, I still have questions. Bu not about what’s holding me back. A brain—a­nd studied its role in shap happier. More energized. More cu beyond what I would have imagin could have prepared me for the ben understand, and work in accord wit As I’ve shared my learning wi Silicon Valley and beyond, I see agai xvi

ess Hack bout my concerns, he shrugged, he thought I’d find this revela- d about medications he usually elt this way. e answer?” re was another way. So I went nd challenged my assumptions. d explored every path I could to ough questions about meaning, piness. I looked to philosophy, science. I studied anthropology tories and tried to increase my t when I started learning about e first time, I saw patterns across nd even in my own experiences. new light. Neuroscience—the eveal some of the answers I was e clearer those answers became. ut they’re about what’s possible, As I’ve learned to work with my ping our life experiences—I­’m urious, focused, and confident, ned a few years back. Nothing nefits I’ve received by learning to th, my brain. ith students and audiences in in and again how understanding

Intro the brain and working with it— us do more of what satisfies us This book offers some of th and people I’ve worked with, fin faction. As I talk with people— backgrounds and experiences, faced real hardship—­their ques did ten years ago. My intention a shorter path than my proce terrain was hard, but now that I Understanding the brain he least some of the time, rather of you. Brain-a­ ware thinking h bly powerful tool, guiding you purpose, and even happiness. A working with your brain gives yo and resilience.

oduction —i­n a word, being mindful—h­ elps and less of what slows us down. he frameworks that have helped me, nd more purpose, clarity, and satis- —­all kinds of people, from different whether they’ve lived with ease or stions sound surprisingly like mine n in writing this book is to offer you ess gave me. Navigating unknown I have a map, I want to share it. elps give you some control of it, at than simply letting it be in charge helps you take charge of an incredi- to new paths—to focus, a sense of As you’ll learn in the pages ahead, ou new ways to face life with clarity xvii

Getting t Your Bra Your brain is built o and glia—h­ undreds of one of these cells is city… Each cell send other cells, up to h second. If you repre trillions and trillions o by a single photon o output would be blind The cells are conne a network of such stag it bankrupts human tates new strains of m as many connections meter of brain tissue the Milky Way galaxy. —­DAVID EA SE

to Know ain of cells called neurons f billions of them. Each s as complicated as a ds electrical pulses to hundreds of times per esented each of these of pulses in your brain of light, the combined ding. ected to one another in ggering complexity that language and necessi- mathematics… There are in a single cubic centi- e as there are stars in . AGLEMAN, INCOGNITO: THE ECRET LIVES OF THE BRAIN

Your Brain: An O Inside your head is a three-p­ ou ogy in the world today. Sparke and an ever-­changing blend of it unendingly updates and rema Powered by one hundred b ten thousand additional neuron complex object in the known u It regulates your fundamen heart rate, and digestion. It re hormonal cycles. It processes memories. Em indulge them. It manages how All this, and an unending list b often without you even knowin Your brain also does things you carefully place a bandage on

Owner’s Guide und marvel that rivals any technol- ed by the flow of electrical currents chemicals, each with a distinct job, aps itself to make you possible. billion neurons, each connected to ns, the brain, many say, is the most universe. And what a job it does! ntal body functions: your breath, egulates sleep, hunger, growth, and motions. Cravings, and how you you sense and navigate the world. beyond, is the work of your brain, ng what it’s up to. s you’re very much aware of. It lets n a child’s knee, mindfully directing 1

The Happine muscle movements that otherwise you close your eyes and inhale slow delicious, savoring the aromas—an When you organize how you’ll you should (or shouldn’t) get a pup to a new employee, or stop yoursel guessed it: you’re also using your br to Puppy? or not to Puppy? 2

ess Hack simply happen. It guides how wly when you smell something nd the moment. study for a test, consider why ppy, carefully explain a process lf from losing your temper, you rain.

Getting to K But you’re using different b brain areas, for the various actio Our brains are so complex i description. They remain mys work in neuroscience and oth psychology, anthropology, artif more. Textbooks, websites, even intricacies. Yet no one discipline ing of how our brains really wor To begin to understand the approach, reviewing the brain’s unique roles. We could explore ing how neurotransmitters and We could look to psychology, disciplines seeking to understa the brain. All of these ways are fascin the whole job. To paint a full a range of disciplines—n­eur anthropology, and more. It s ers, from respected leaders, a innovators who’ve left meanin look at all of this through the about the brain to ignite new make decisions about your lif

Know Your Brain brain functions, and even different ons just described. it’s hard to explain them in any one sterious, even with ever-­advancing her cognitive sciences: linguistics, ficial intelligence, philosophy, and n popular shows explore the brain’s e seems to give us a full understand- rk—­or how we can work with them. brain, we could take an anatomical s specific regions and each of their the chemistry of the brain, discuss- d hormones modulate brain activity. studies of consciousness, or other and life through the perspective of nating. No one path, though, does l picture, this book borrows from roscience, psychology, spirituality, shares wisdom from great think- and from a range of artists and ngful marks on the world. We’ll lens of happiness, sharing enough ways of thinking about it as you fe—­and your path to satisfaction. 3

The Happine In the pages ahead: we’ll look at basic b show where some o talk about are we’ll peek at a few b the main ones sparking f motivation, stress, a we’ll explore the brain how it makes decisi some cases, we can its automatic re we’ll explore why the familiar routines, even lead to the thoug we wish we cou The point of this book is to give on inside your head so you can wo and potential in new ways. Your br “prediction machine,” working nons 4

ess Hack brain anatomy to of the things we e happening; brain chemicals: feelings of pleasure, and satisfaction; n’s innate processes: ions and how, in n affect or alter sponses; and brain defaults to n when they may not ghts or actions uld choose. e you a glimpse of what’s going ork with your brain’s tendencies rain, after all, is something of a stop to keep you safe and alive.

Getting to K It constantly updates itself wit world around you and integrat of information collected across new information comes in, the pathways, or maps, to guide its often stubbornly, to those well-w­ leading us in the desired directi That can make change hard. “If it’s worked so far, keep doing “Worked,” to the brain, is pr here, you’ve survived, so what working. Regardless of how ha or actions have made you, to th But, as this book will explain pathways the brain uses, or ev or new ones you choose. Wha moving from automatic decisio will continue to update its path will become part of your brain’s once-n­ ew actions become easy, To start understanding this, Your Brain = T One zettabyte of information: i fact, it’s so big, we have to descr imagined before. Haven’t heard a term recently coined to descr tion stored in the world today.

Know Your Brain th incoming information from the tes those updates to the vast stores s your entire life experience. When brain calls on existing, dependable response. Left to itself, it will stick, w­ orn pathways—e­ ven if they’re not ion. . It’s almost as if the brain is saying, g it. If it’s new, it’s risky—­so resist.” retty simple. For the brain, if you’re t you’ve done in the past must be appy your past decisions, outlooks, he brain, it’s been a winning strategy. n, you can often have a say in which ven paves: the old familiar go-t­os at’s more, as you choose new ways, ons to intentional ones, your brain thways. With time, those pathways map of “what works,” helping those even automatic, routines. , let’s look at some brain basics. The Digital World it even sounds like a lot. And it is. In ribe it in ways most of us have never of a zettabyte? You’re not alone: it’s ribe the amount of digital informa- 5

The Happine But that’s how much information dimensional map of just one brain’s computational neuroscientist Seba images” human brains to map the brain, it would take a full zettabyt lent of all digital information in th between all of the connections.1 A byte, you may know, is a unit o number, or character generally tak memory. A zettabyte is 1,000,000,000,000, For reference, it would take seven iPads to store a zettabyte of inform Your brain may weigh only three the most complicated objects in the 1 James Gorman, “All Circuits Are Busy,” New .nytimes.com/2014/05/27/science/all-circui 6