Recovery and the Neurology of Joy & Happiness

How The Neurology of Joy Influences Recovery

True joy can be an enigma to many of us who suffer with addictive behaviors for many reasons, particularly if we confuse our anxious expectations and demands with happiness. Expectation can never know true joy because it is based in fear and self-protection and is almost always disappointed. It is perpetually discontent and will almost always produce a victim mindset. Anticipation however has its very roots in joy because it has open hands and a loose grip realizing that the journey and the process are where we find our purpose and meaning.

So how is it that we can undo our expectation and fear and create a mental space that lives in anticipation? Can part of the brain actually be conditioned to experience joy in the same way that our amygdala and limbic systems have been conditioned to produce false messages brought on by trauma and anxiety?

When we study addiction and the brain we learn that various portions of the brain eventually become conditioned to send us false messages hijacking the limbic system and wreaking havoc with our cravings, compulsions, and coping mechanisms. Those of us who work in the field of addiction recovery have spent hours in courses studying how the back of the brain can drive the bus in active addiction and the various ways we fall into a victim mindset in our compulsive behaviors as well as the high cost of self-centered fear.