Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain Audiobook By Elaine Fox cover art

Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain

How to Retrain Your Brain to Overcome Pessimism and Achieve a More Positive Outlook

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Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain

By: Elaine Fox
Narrated by: Karen Saltus
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About this listen

Are you optimistic or pessimistic? Glass half-full or half-empty? Do you look on the bright side or turn towards the dark? These are easy questions for most of us to answer, because our personality types are hardwired into our brains. As pioneering psychologist and neuroscientist Elaine Fox has discovered, our outlook on life reflects our primal inclination to seek pleasure or avoid danger - inclinations that, in many people, are healthily balanced. But when our “fear brain” or “pleasure brain” is too strong, the results can be disastrous, as those of us suffering from debilitating shyness, addiction, depression, or anxiety know all too well.

Luckily, anyone suffering from these afflictions has reason to hope. Stunning breakthroughs in neuroscience show that our brains are more malleable than we ever imagined. In Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain, Fox describes a range of techniques - from traditional cognitive behavioral therapy to innovative cognitive-retraining exercises - that can actually alter our brains’ circuitry, strengthening specific thought processes by exercising the neural systems that control them. The implications are enormous: Lifelong pessimists can train themselves to think positively and find happiness, while pleasure-seekers inclined toward risky or destructive behavior can take control of their lives. Drawing on her own cutting-edge research, Fox shows how we can retrain our brains to brighten our lives and learn to flourish. With keen insights into how genes, life experiences, and cognitive processes interleave together to make us who we are, Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain revolutionizes our basic concept of individuality. We learn that we can influence our own personalities, and that our lives are only as “sunny” or as “rainy” as we allow them to be.

©2012 Elaine Fox (P)2012 Gildan Media, LLC
Psychology Psychology & Mental Health Human Brain Mental Health Health

Critic reviews

"Every day I send my kids out the door to school with this admonition, ‘you can choose to be happy.’ More often than not, they roll their eyes, but in Rainy Brain, Sunny Brain Elaine Fox (no relation) offers a scientific argument for my contention. After much research, and in comprehensive, but comprehensible detail, Professor Fox provides a mental map to the sunny side of the street. For optimists and pessimists alike, this fascinating audiobook is a must listen.” (Michael J. Fox)
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Most relevant  
in terms of the science of positivity versus negativity this book was excellent. if you're looking for a book to help you become more positive this is not the book for you. it only talks about the science.

science not practical use

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