Your Daily Cup of `Neuro-Latte`

11 min readOct 27, 2018

Eudaimonia (Greek: εὐδαιμονία) : Human happiness and well-being leading to human excellence, virtues, flourishing or prosperity.

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” — Constitution of the World Health Organization, Principles

Happiness is a product of emergence, it does not exist. Happiness does not exist by itself, it is a whole from its parts and processes. In order for the emergence of happiness to be ensue, 4 neurotransmitters should be produced. This is related to our daily activities, behavior, attention, focus and intent.

Well-being is not just a state, it is a skill.
If you can’t make your life happy, at least make it interesting.

The following is what you do to induce and conduce them. Here is a daily prescription:

Dopamine

What it is: Neurotransmitter — a chemical released by neurons (nerve cells) to send signals to other nerve cells. Organic chemical of the catecholamine and phenethylamine families that plays several important roles in the brain and body. It is an amine synthesized by removing a carboxyl group from a molecule of its precursor chemical L-DOPA, which is synthesized in the brain and kidneys.

What for: Helps with reinforcement — motivating an animal to do something again and again. Reward and reinforcement help us learn where to find important things such as food or water, so that we can go back for more.

Related emotions: `Flow` induction, relatedness, belonging, nostalgia, feelings of rewarding, feelings of achievement, motivated, feelings of attainment of excellence (areté), curiosity.

Related anti-emotions: Discouragement, anhedonia, boredom

Activities (Examples): 
1. Micro-wins (Anything that gives a sense of getting something done)
2. Planning anything that gives you a sense to look forward to something
3. Games
4. Reaching goals you stated. Make long term and short term goals and act on them. Review ‘To Do’ list and cross off something you’ve done.
5. Watch a comedy / mystery, music. Anything provocative or evocative.
6. Anything motivation that gives you a pulse of drive or hope. Read motivation articles and work on it.
7. Anything that gives you a sense of control or progress (such as learning something, maybe a new martial art technique, or amuse yourself with a newly discovered magic routine, … anything, it may not seem fun, and gives you a sense of progress, keep an open-mind). 
8. Gradually `conquer` yourself physically, then mentally, you’ll be able to surmount yourself emotionally. Be aware of `inner conversations` (e.g. don’t say “I can’t”. Have you really try hard enough yet? (Example evidence: how much have you sweat this week?). Go for a jog, stretch your limits. Breath control with diaphragm coordination when running.
9. Start a <how to improve my life> journal, and start mining for methods and evolving the methods found. Philosophize and derive new methods (to be tested later).
10. A creative mind is a happy mind, possibilities are reborn, solutions may be discerned in the process (Discovery may lead to hope).

Curiosity is the light that drives out the gloom of boredom. Incite the motive, before you excite the motivation. The will to act will be conduce before it is conducted.

Oxytocin

What it is: Peptide hormone and neuropeptide. Oxytocin is normally produced by the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus and released by the posterior pituitary.

What for: Plays a role in social bonding, sexual reproduction, and during and after childbirth.

Related emotions: Compassion, sexuality

Related anti-emotions: Ostracism, hatred, enmity, rejection

Activities (Examples): 
1. Help someone (especially, helping the needy). Encourage someone else, you will forget your own problems, or even discover something outside your previous consideration (diffused mode of mind gives us access to parts of our brain previously not well activated).
2. Social activities
3. Playing and cuddling with pets
4. Getting connected to someone elses’ stories (including deeply caring about what is happening around the world)
5. Cultivate compassion (awareness that everyone is family and the benefits of global caring)
6. Game a drive of A.R.K. (Acts of Random Kindness. This is the only kind of delightful and safe `prank` I encourage)

Passion is only ½ the seal. You need the other ½ - compassion.

Endorphin

What it is: Endogenous opioid neuropeptides and peptide hormones in humans and other animals. They are produced by the central nervous system and the pituitary gland. The term “endorphins” implies a pharmacological activity (analogous to the activity of the corticosteroid category of biochemicals) as opposed to a specific chemical formulation. It consists of 2 parts: endo- and -orphin; these are short forms of the words endogenous and morphine, intended to mean “a morphine-like substance originating from within the body”. The class of endorphins includes 3 compounds — α-endorphin — (Alpha endorphins), β-endorphin — (Beta endorphins), and γ-endorphin — (gamma endorphins)- which preferentially bind to μ-opioid receptors.

What for: Inhibit the communication of pain signals; they may also produce a feeling of euphoria similar to that produced by other opioids.

Related emotions: Excitement (intense), Arousal (varying)

Related anti-emotions: Apathy, boredom

Activities (Examples): 
1. Do something crazy. Example(s): Go for a swim, dive, do crazy stunts in water. Try Parkour (safely).
2. Getting a short laugh (humor helps). Joke absurdly.
3. Vent it out on a punching bag (use that as a fuel to drive performance)

Once you ‘see’ the possibility, it sets you awake. What inspires, will aspire.
Use your enthusiasm to drive your endurance.

Serotonin or 5-hydroxytryptamine

What it is: monoamine neurotransmitter. the indoleamine molecule is derived from the amino acid tryptophan

What for: Contributor to feelings of well-being and happiness

The worst torment in life is to be deprived of a peace of mind. Peace is the foundation of every bliss.

Related emotions: Peace, contentedness, assurance, being wanted, eudaimonia

Related anti-emotions: Loneliness, unrest, insecure, indignation. animosity, antagonism, enmity

Activities (Examples):
Anything that distracts you from anxiety or worries for the moment. Anything that provides either calm, comfort or contentment.
1. A walk in the park or scenic places. (Feed pigeons. Get some bread crumbs, notice how you can lead them out of the neighborhood like in the tale of the pied piper.)
2. Sitting in the night, listening to crickets. Step outdoors and look at the sky.
3. Heart-to-heart talk with people you trust, chat over tea / coffee, etc. Intelligent dialogue with a friend (journalize what people say, it may lead to some materials to find your answers)
4. `Holodeck` to remember happy events (not nostalgic nor wistful) or just daydream. 
5. Getting into the `Flow` (Cooking, gardening, painting, playing music, learning something, getting into a story / movie, feeding pigeons / fish (at the lake in the park), getting into a rhythm in a swim or jog, etc.)
6. Music can set your moods and mode
7. Read philosophy and state a purpose
8. Massage, or just yawn and stretch like Garfield.
9. Mental segregation (‘Away and isolated from mundane world’, meditative day-dreaming, etc.) 
10. Assurance through the sense of control, doing the things you like or good at. Re-assess things you are thankful for (kind of the ‘count-blessing list’, but more on what you can work with). 
11. Watch children play, talk to them, ask them for advice (you may be in for a surprise).

Confidence requires evidence. Evidence is mined from one’s own industry. Assurance will find its own contentment. Yet, assurance comes from engineering hope, not passive wish. Therefore, one must first dare, then the will to act. Courage, therefore, must be part of the cultivation. Faith is one’s own Eden. Never wait for the Promise Land. It is in your hands. Grow that design from your intent.

Take care of the garden, and the flowers and fruits can be harvested. Seek the grounds instead.

Caveat: Be aware that mental fatigue increases adenosine concentration in the brain (which decreases dopamine levels), it is 1 of the causes of ego depletion. Plan your repletion and recovery in accordance. There is no point pushing the neuro-machine beyond exhaustion to failure.

There is an order to the DOSE method for motivating and orchestrating humans. Humans need the safety, assurance and certainty (Serotonin) before they can form trust and emotional bonds (Oxytocin). From there, we induce and conduce excitement (intense feelings) and arousal (various feelings of novelty) (Endorphin). Once this stage is reached, they will be ready to be motivated to activation (Dopamine), i.e. they will move."""
[Serotonin] ➤➤ [Oxytocin] ➤➤ [Endorphin] ➤➤ [Dopamine]Happiness and peace is the 1st fuel. Mental alertness is the 2nd fuel. Physical boost is the 3rd fuel.  Build your peace 1st, then your bliss, then your happiness. When your mind is calm, you grow strength. Alertness and focus will follow. Your body will ramp up, and your work and tools will prosper."""
The well-being of your friends and family is the 1st basis of peace of mind before any happiness. - 2013-06.26Tools, peace, happiness, inspiration, knowledge, health, purpose and if God does not forbid - love, what do you get? - Re: 安居乐业 (ān jū lè yè) , 2012-09.28
"""What can impede the pathways are:
[Serotonin (disrupted by fear, confusion and uncertainty, feeling of inadequacy and insufficiently, feeling of being threatened or abandonment) ] ➤➤ 🚫
* certainty also means people must feel they are included provided for and understood.[Oxytocin (disrupted by distrust and suspicion, feeling of being threatened or abandonment, lack of attraction)] ➤➤ 🚫
* being included also means people must feel they are being cared for.[Endorphin (disrupted by boredom, exhaustion, lack of attraction)] ➤➤ 🚫[Dopamine (disrupted by the lack of the especially Endorphin)] ➤➤ 🚫

The Chapter Of Happiness

How may we internalize independently and with immunity from external events? The mind is not still, it moves. How can we make it well rooted? How do we visualize? Create internally such as to manifest the entelechic creation to move events externally. Pneuma is hard to be conditioned and neuro-rewired to be autonomously operative and immune to external events.

There is a lack of communication between the internal moods and the external senses. The internal mood can tune the external senses more powerful than the other way around. The external work is only to prevent aggravation and agitation to the internal sensibility. How may we apply logos-psychology?

To usher happiness and joy in to make our lives wholesome and fulfilling, it behooves us to keep poor thinking habits at bay and guard vigil on our judgments of our daily affairs. For vigilance itself is an inviolable religious habit.

Synthetic happiness should be a controlled desensitizer used on locking out traumatizing reality that will trammel the progress of an individual and in such administering, allows him to continue function productively and efficiently. It should not be abused as a self-deluding auto-ensconcing administration to suit his passive, ease-seeking escapist by means of shutting off possibilities of a proactive remedy and extricating himself proactively from current draconian state of affairs.

义生气, 气生力. Tune your thoughts is the 1st step to tuning your moods. It tunes your fate. The sense of purpose and mission forge your fortitude. Cultivate your Qi. Qi is Psyche energy synchronized with Soma energy. Kairos is Qi in opportune time."""
Contemplation 3x times a day to cultivate vigilance and perspicacity, fun and happiness 3x a day to energize your emotional fuel for launching your plans. - 2012-10.13Happiness lies in having a plan and getting excited about it - no matter how insidious or mediocre. Joy comes when the fruits are inspiring, sweet and lasting. - 2013-03.15At the end of our days, few will realize that the Pursuit of Happiness is deceitfully transient, illusively fruitless and hopelessly futile - none of those ever last. Perhaps it is that Hope itself that will defy the curse of our mortality, and truly lead us to the truth and joy everlasting. - Re: Hope - The Prophet's Dream, 2009-04.06
"""

Humans have a natural instinct of kindness, because they are programmed to care for their young. The problem is the perception of time and happiness. On 1 end, humans are terrible with decisions, and most of them are present-oriented. They are also distorted with the concept of happiness. On the other end, they know the only way to retain a peace of mind and sanity is to attain personal and social harmony, and an equilibrium of social contentment and justice has to exist. However, they cannot link the 2 ends.

Do we absorb happiness, or does happiness absorb us, or just both? - 2014-12.14

Does happiness need a system and framework to sustain it? Is this the reason why for 1000s of years, human cannot net the fleeting ghosts of happiness aside the sirens of pleasure that can only be heard but will drag us to the depths of its abyss?

Happiness is fleeting, so is fulfillment. But every stage we reach in the constant scaling of transcendence, we emancipate ourselves of the old pain. Happiness is akin our own shadow, the more we chase, the more they run from us, but what if we stop — they stop running; and what if we sit down, would they be drawn towards us? You don’t create happiness, it evaporates and is hard to grasp, instead — you create the condition, the container for happiness.

It is not merely perspectives, but directed and deliberated frameworks that guide the mind to focus on optimality. While a stranded person on an island may see hope in a stranded person with a boat, a stranded person in a boat may see hope in a stranded person on an island. See hope in both, and always ensure expertise and equipment are enhanced from time onwards. How do you anchor the mind?

The “secret” of happiness is the space between “deprivation” and “relief”. That velocity and the momentum to the climax it can reach due to the pressure — is that “happiness index”. The more we press the ball into the water, the higher, it gains the momentum to jump. Deep felt gratitude, not just gratitude, is the key to happiness and hope.

It is a management of Yin and Yang — when it is filled — empty, as it gets empty — filled. The difference and polarization is the movement from grief to relief, and relief to reprieve.

The difference and polarity in events that lead to a satisfaction or fulfillment is - happiness. - Re: Create, anticipate, participate (`flow`), obtain (emotional response to an outcome), 2020-08.17The art to arousal is thematic, artful anticipation. - 2020-08.17

Happiness ensues when you control and define it, rather than having it to control and define you. The crux of happiness is not on the availability of choices, but the courage to choose to do something about your life despite the availability. You create happiness, and you construct joy. Happiness is a fuel, joy is an engine. Happiness is what you feel, joy is what you become or in becoming who you designed to be fulfilled.

The Missing Chapter — Happiness And Joy

The Evasive Ether Of Happiness

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The Door To Happiness — Love, Hope And Beauty

It is time we recognize that anger is ugliness, compassion, and empathy is beauty. The aim of philosophy is emancipation. Joy is the fruit, but optimal toil with minimal effort is the means.

Love brings joy, simplicity and harmony, peace of mind, whereas hatred is the antithesis. It is really not that complicated.

How do you steal peace from the gods without a sound? Lavish the gods with vanity and empty glory, by the time they had realized, peace had been switched and stolen without their notice, and joy and hope would have left with it.

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