Top Highlights

• The problem is that the stress response is not only triggered by physical stress like the lion chasing us but also by metabolic and psychological stress. As a result, you see lions everywhere. The stress response ends up being recruited chronically, and can even cannibalize the joy response, as the brain cannot be in a state of joy and stress at th...
• The vast chemical and electrical differences between the brain states explains why, up to this point, stress management has been so challenging. Most methods are one-size-fits-all. They encourage you to use the same process—self-analysis, positive thinking, and meditating—no matter what your brain state. That worked fine until we began learning mor...
• From the emotional brain’s standpoint, any change is objectionable because the emotional brain confuses safety with the familiar. Anything novel, such as a bright sunny mood, is suspect and, in fact, blips of joy can trigger a full-blown stress response.
• But with practice it becomes easier, as the emotional brain follows your lead and learns to favor a state of joy. And a point arrives when a switch finally flips and joy becomes the brain’s set point. The brain begins to feel safe in joy and will work to get back to it—just as it once fought to return to stress. At this point, life becomes organize...
• To assure that you will do whatever it takes to survive, your brain tricks you into perceiving that there is only now. It always has been this dire, and it always will be this dire. No reflecting on or anticipating a better situation. Instead, you are consumed by your terror and feel overwhelmed, lost, and open to doing whatever it takes to allevia...