Animals compete for power in their herds and packs and troops, and we humans have inherited the brain structures that motivate this.

Nice people don't acknowledge the natural urge for social dominance, but it's harder to manage when you ignore it. The mammalian limbic system releases a good-feeling chemical when you gain social power, and a bad-feeling chemical when you see a threat to your social position. This is why we all have strong feelings about social status, despite our best intentions.

Your conscious brain may insist that you don't care about social power, but your inner mammal seeks it because the serotonin feels good. This is not what you've heard about serotonin, but the research is fully explained in this book. Serotonin is quickly metabolized, so the good feeling never lasts. This is why we are motivated to seek social recognition again and again.

When these efforts fail, cortisol is released, which makes it feel like a survival threat. You fill your life with cortisol if you don't understand your inner mammal.

Our brain is wired by early experience. The social recognition of your youth wired you to seek more good feelings in similar ways. The social setbacks of your youth wired you to fear similar setbacks. Life is easier when you see these emotions as primal impulses rather than as reality.

This book shows how "junk status" lures us as much as junk food. Then it explains how to enjoy serotonin without the frustrations of an endless quest for social power.

You will find peace when you know that social comparison is a natural brain function. When you know that your feelings about social rivalry are common to all mammals, you can just relax. Nothing is wrong with us. We are mammals. You can build your power over this impulse instead of letting it hide. This book shows you how.

We use good words for the impulse in ourselves and bad words for the impulse in others, especially those we don't like.

More at: innermammalinstitute.org/books/i-mammal/