The #DoingHappy House: A Thought Experiment

Happy New Year 2022. Happy? That seems like Mission Impossible. Should you accept the mission? In movies that is an option on, but maybe we don’t have a choice. The drum beat of fear and anger in the news can make us forget that life can bring joy and happiness. That’s what the #DoingHappy Challenge, as discussed at PerfectCoaches.com, is all about.

So here is a thought experiment to go along with the #DoingHappy challenge. Imagine that you live in a house with five people named Doe Pamine, Sara Tonin, Ozzie Toksin, Ed Dorfin, and Andy Renolin.

But first, what is a thought experiment? Thought experiments are “devices of the imagination used to investigate the nature of things.” For example, Albert Einstein imagined himself riding a light beam in one of his most famous thought experiments. Einstein used concrete people and objects to help understand abstract ideas. .

This is not a science lesson in the Einstein-riding-light tradition. The functions of hormones, neuro-transmitters and chemical events that shape what we do are too complex to illustrate with one example. The goal here is more humble: To explore the idea that, to some extent, what we DO determines our inner experiences, and these inner experiences have neuro-chemical causes. So now, our cast of neuro-chemical characters. 

The first four members of the cast are about happiness and feeling good, Doe Pamine symbolizes Dopamine, which is associated with pleasure and plays a role in the brain's reward system. Sara Tonin symbolizes Serotonin, which stabilizes moods and helps create the experience of happiness. Ozzie Toksin symbolizes Oxytocin, associated with social bonding. Ed Dorfin symbolizes endorphins, chemicals triggered by exercise and considered to be the body’s natural pain killers and mood elevators. The fifth character, Andy Renolin, symbolizes Adrenaline. Less about feeling good and more about survival, adrenaline is part of the body’s “fight or flight” response to danger, but is also linked to anger and anxiety.

And then, of course, there is You. Imagine that every day you decide, based on the things you do, which of the neuro-chemical five you spend your time with. This brings us back to the #DoingHappy challenge. Check out the banner page of our website PerfectCoaches.com for ideas. If you join the challenge you can come on our weekly YouTube show and tell us about your #DoingHappy house.