Joy Is More Than a Feeling: The Neuroscience of Joy and Why it Matters
What if the reason joy can feel so elusive has less to do with your circumstances and more to do with what your brain has learned to notice?
In this episode of Finding Joy, Leona talks with neuroscientist and behavioural psychologist Natasha Sheyenne about the neuroscience of joy and how our brain chemistry influences our emotions, relationships and ability to navigate difficult experiences.
Natasha explains the four-part neurochemical “symphony” of joy: dopamine, serotonin, oxytocin and endorphins. She explores why the brain naturally pays more attention to threats, how joy can counter this negativity bias and why that matters for emotional regulation and resilience.
You’ll also discover how pausing to savour a positive experience for just 15 seconds can begin to strengthen new neural pathways. This research-backed conversation offers a hopeful reminder: joy is not simply something you either have or don’t have. It is a capacity you can intentionally build.
In this episode, we explore:
- What happens in the brain when we experience joy
- The neurochemicals connected to happiness and social bonding
- How joy supports emotional regulation and resilience
- Why the brain tends to focus on threats and negative experiences
- How neuroplasticity allows us to build new patterns
- Why savouring a positive experience for a few extra seconds matters
- The relationship between joy, meaning and resilience
- Practical ways to strengthen your brain’s capacity for joy
Memorable moments
“Joy acts as a vital counterweight to negativity bias.”
“Joy is more contagious than the flu.”
“Savouring joy for just 15 seconds can rewire your brain.”
In this episode, we explore:
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00:45) What neuroscience actually is and why it changes everything
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02:02) The four reasons understanding joy's science matters
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03:35) Why joy is more contagious than the flu
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07:38) The symphony inside your brain when you feel joy
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09:20) The 15-second practice that builds new neural pathways
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11:07) How meaning-making unlocks joy even in the darkest moments
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14:40) Why joy is one of the most vulnerable emotions we experience
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16:44) The "bummer genre" of resilience and its surprising connection to joy
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19:52) Micro-wins, oxytocin moments, and how we become agents of joy for others
(
25:04) Natasha's 2-minute TED Talk: upgrading your brain's operating system
Connect with Natasha Sheyenne
Natasha’s Books
Coming November 2026: The Alchemy of Leadership
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What is Finding Joy?
The Finding Joy podcast provides a space for you to explore what it means for you to find a life that is your own.
Too many of us are building lives around who we think we should be instead of who we really are.
Hosted by speaker, leadership facilitator, coach, and author Leona deVinne, Finding Joy explores the conversations that help us reconnect with ourselves, find the courage to stop performing, and start living with authenticity, not apology.
Through honest conversations, powerful stories, and practical insights grounded in psychology, neuroscience, leadership, and lived experience, Leona explores what helps us live with greater clarity, confidence, courage, and meaning.
Some episodes feature ordinary people navigating extraordinary circumstances. Others unpack ideas around identity, resilience, burnout, confidence, boundaries, leadership, relationships and what it takes to create a life that actually feels like your own.
Because joy is not something we chase.
It finds us when we finally own who we are.