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I made up my mind that I could be as happy as I wanted to be .
This was pre-Mind Map days for little old me , so I wasn ’ t armed with the knowledge to know what was happening inside my head , but I knew it felt right .
Lucky for you , I am going to break it down here for you so that you too can see that you can make up your mind to be as happy as you want it to be .
A little Mind Map science here …
The brain is hard-wired for the negative . It is hell bent on survival , first and foremost . It is also the superior pattern-recognition machine .
This means that it craves order in the form of prediction-response , prediction-response and so on . If it is not in this state , then it is in a state of reaction . And when in a state of reaction , we are usually not in a state of happiness .
Now the two animal brains , the reptile and the mammal , have certain needs . They are in line with Maslow ’ s hierarchy of needs : physical needs ( food and sex ), connection , experience , relationships , etc .
Those two older parts of the brain literally have to be happy before we can move forward with our human brain , otherwise they will keep taking over until their needs are met or there is clarity within them .
Really , it ’ s the mammalian brain . This is the region of the brain where connection and bonding occurs via a structure known as the anterior cingulate cortex ( ACC for short ). If something is off in the mammal brain , we can usually rest assured that there is a relational issue and many times it ’ s connected to judgment and / or your environments .
Why those two things ?
Well , the animal brains perceive things differently than the newer , human brain does . The most stressful time of the day for the human body is in the morning upon waking .
Going from an unconscious environment to a conscious environment ; sleeping to waking . This the reason that the main stress hormone , cortisol , spikes upon waking . The hormones duty is to alert us to our environments , form predictions quickly so that we can form responses .
Now , most of the times , we are waking up in safe beds , and we don ’ t have to perform a mental inventory of our physical environment . But , the brain is very , very sensitive to your environments and this means that most of the time it ’ s the people within your environments , be it at home , at work or in social settings .