On happiness

Today I heard a story about the gut— that basement
factory into which we toss everything: stomach full
of meal, cheese curls, neon-colored maraschino cherries,
sliders topped with fontina cheese and pearl onions;
coffee, vodka, beer— how all of that ferment topped
up with spore-forming bacteria can make up to 80%
of the serotonin in the human body. The key to
happiness, therefore, seems to be finding the right
combinations of food that will elicit the highest
reactions from gut bacteria. Imagine that petri dish
quietly bubbling, its secret mission to modulate
and carry over; to keep the body somehow going
instead of stopping and giving up, the mind
mouthing a little cheer just for you at the end
of a complex of neurotransmitter highways.

One Reply to “On happiness”

  1. You thought I was joking with the bio under all my posts? Well, OK, maybe I was a little. Of course these days I am literally following my gut, since it somewhat precedes the rest of me.

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