Talk About Yourself Happy

Apart from the frequent blather about excessive alcohol consumption or the occasional announcement that I might not be the happiest person in the world I am generally reticent when it comes to discussing my personal experiences and activities, believing, based on a substantial amount of evidence accumulated over the course of my lifetime, that pretty much anything else is a more interesting topic for conversation. But maybe I’m doing it wrong.

Talking about ourselves — whether in a personal conversation or through social media sites like Facebook and Twitter — triggers the same sensation of pleasure in the brain as food or money, researchers reported Monday.

About 40% of everyday speech is devoted to telling others about what we feel or think. Now, through five brain imaging and behavioral experiments, Harvard University neuroscientists have uncovered the reason: It feels so rewarding, at the level of brain cells and synapses, that we can’t help sharing our thoughts.

I like pleasurable sensations in the brain! Have I told you lately how awesome I am? it’s true. Get ready, from now on it is me me me all the time. Because SOMETHING needs to make me feel good, goddamnit, and nothing else seems to be doing the trick these days.

Photo by ImageryMajestic, via Shutterstock