Loretta Graziano Breuning's Blog

Your brain turns on the excitement of dopamine when you approach a reward, but it defines "rewards" with neural pathways built from your dopamine past. New paths to dopamine await.

We often hide our negative reactions, even from ourselves. Babies can help us understand our natural responses.

Our ancestors lived with huge threats, but they coped by focusing on their next step.

Mammals live in herds for protection from predators, and we've inherited a brain that rewards you with oxytocin when you stick with the herd. But herd life is not all warm and fuzzy.

Does your brain turn on the threat alarm when you think about speaking up? Past threats wire you to expect new threats, but you can wire in positive expectations too. Here's how.

Your brain evolved to protect you from touching a hot stove twice. It alarms you when you see anything similar to a past threat. You can accept old pathways and flow into new ones.

If you share the fears of those around you, your life will be wasted in fear. You can learn to redirect it when you understand it.

We are building time management skills and social skills, and putting realistic expectations above the blame game. These are things to celebrate.

We are building time management skills and social skills, and putting realistic expectations above the blame game. These are things to celebrate.

Here's how to avoid a cortisol spiral, even when others panic.