Wired for Joy : Creating Happiness from Within

[Guest guest]

How to build joyful circuits . . .

When I get into my car in the morning, I put the key into the ignition and turn

on the engine. At least that's what I assume I do, since I end up driving to

work. But I don't do any of it consciously—it is so automatic that I don't have

to think about it.

The information that lets me do this is stored in my emotional brain, the

unconscious memory storehouse. In fact, most things are stored in our

unconscious memory. When humans are faced with a stimulus, we draw upon these

unconscious memories of past experiences to respond effectively. These responses

are stored as wires. The normal stresses of the day—the coffee spilling, a

deadline looming, or a craving for sweets—arouse wires, each of which channels

chemicals and electricity along a specific pathway so that we respond the same

way that we have in the past.

Those wires fall into two categories. Some of those wires are highly

effective—just what you need. We call these joy circuits. The coffee spills, and

you say, " ouch " and go about cleaning it up and feeling pretty good. You keep

your cool and don't let one spilled cup of coffee ruin your day. The other

wires—the ones that are not effective—we call stress circuits. When they are

triggered, that one spilled cup of coffee leads to a burning sense of

resentment, having a chip on your shoulder during a meeting, soothing yourself

with chocolates, and feeling bloated and grumpy. That's an ineffective wire,

arousing unnecessary stress that is prolonged.

What's causing most of your stress is that you have too many stress circuits and

too few joy circuits. The strategy in emotional brain training (EBT) is to use

powerful, practical tools to alter that wiring, breaking stress circuits and

building joy circuits that move you through stress and make you feel great. EBT

is a practice. These circuits break only over time, with repeated use of the

tools. You are rewiring the emotional brain, the center not only of stress

processing but also of emotions, intimacy, spirituality, and pleasure drives.

As the tools have their effect and more of the stress circuits fall away, joy

circuits will take hold and allow you to gracefully and effectively process

daily life. When that occurs, life changes in ways that are nothing less than

revolutionary. Using the brain's natural processes, you can rewire your

emotional circuitry and make it easy to be in love with your life and to do what

you came to earth to do. What could be better than that?