The Abridged version:
- Having, making and spending money all trigger neurotransmitters that can affect joy and happiness.
- A series of studies found that, generally speaking, more money can lead to greater emotional well-being.
- Financial instability can lead to low motivation and burnout by reducing dopamine levels.
Andru Defeye served as Sacramento’s poet laureate from 2020-2024 and is the driving force behind Sacramento Poetry Week. In this new regular feature, “The Great Joy Hunt,” he explores the science behind joy and shares strategies for adding more to our lives.
Money.
The apostle Paul famously said the love of it is the root of all evil.
The Beatles told us it can’t buy us love.
Notorious B.I.G. said the more of it we had, the more problems would accompany.
The poets never write too favorably about money.
Money permeates everything from our politics to our pop culture.
How does our money, or a lack of it, contribute to our overall joy? How much money do you need to be happy? Is there any scientific truth to manifestation and attracting more money? It all starts with how capitalism affects the nervous system.
Financial stress is one of the strongest predictors of chronic stress in adults. Chronic financial stress keeps cortisol elevated. Elevated cortisol is linked to anxiety and depression, poor sleep, high blood pressure and weakened immune systems. It feels like you’re always bracing for something.
Income, especially under the capitalist system, activates our DOSE (dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin, endorphins) circuits. For example, the anticipation of income spikes dopamine while financial instability makes dopamine crash and contributes to low motivation and burnout. Financial stress can test relationships and oxytocin. Serotonin is activated through self-esteem which is often tied in some way to financial stability. Endorphins are tied to release, laughter and recovery. People under financial strain report less leisure, movement and laughter. And lately that includes more and more of us.
According to a February 2026 survey by U.S. News & World Report, 43% of Americans couldn’t currently pay for a $1,000 emergency expense with their savings. One-third say they don’t have enough savings to cover even one month of living expenses. This is what survival mode looks like at scale.
Poverty overloads the brain. Research has shown that poverty can impair cognitive function, comparable to losing up to 13 IQ points. Scarcity and survival mode keep cortisol elevated and decrease access to dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins. This is the state that financial instability has many of us living in daily.
How much is enough?
In 2010 Daniel Kahneman and Angus Deaton conducted a revolutionary study on income, life evaluation and emotional well-being. Their study found that while life evaluation continues to rise with income, emotional well-being increases only up to about $75,000 a year, after which it no longer improves.
In 2021, Matthew Killingsworth challenged this with a study of his own that showed emotional well-being continues to rise with income even above $75,000, with no clear plateau.
So in 2023 Killingsworth and Daniel Kahneman got together with Barbara Mellers and did a study that would settle the debate once and for all. The results of their combined efforts were that for most people, emotional well-being continues to rise with income, but for a smaller group of already unhappy individuals, happiness increases up to around $75,000–$100,000 and then plateaus. After adjusting for inflation the 2026 equivalent number is closer to $100,000 than $75,000.
Changing our relationship to money
For many of us the topic of money comes with a stressful energy because of past lived experiences. Maybe we came from a family that didn’t have enough. Maybe we were scarred by financial struggle ourselves.
“Part of healing your nervous system is understanding why you feel the way you do about money,” Lauren Madeira explains. “When you see it as a tool rather than a status symbol, the relationship changes.”
Madeira is a venture capitalist, financial coach, mother, business owner, mentor and the creator of “The Daydreamer Journal,” a daily mindset workbook that helps creators and entrepreneurs retrain their brains around success and abundance using tools and tricks proven by neuroscience research.
“You can feel wealth with nothing in the bank when you have a full fridge and gas in the car,” she explains. “It’s not the money itself that brings you joy. It’s the comfort and safety, that’s what we’re looking for, not necessarily the money.”
Money is not the feeling. Safety is.
In her practice, Madeira talks a lot about neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to adapt and transform to new ideas and information. It’s one of the most valuable tools one has as a joy hunter. At times it allows us to create and step into whole new identities through self narrative. For example, in my past I have taken on “nonsmoker” and “healthy eater” as new identities. My progress toward health in both cases increased exponentially because I allowed myself the new identity through self-narrative.
Madeira doesn’t talk about manifestation as magic so much as she talks about it in terms of regulation. When your nervous system feels safe, your decisions change. “Your nervous system is always trying to keep you in control of you,” she explains. “You have to live and purchase with intention. When you’re not living with intention, you can have everything and still feel empty. Once you shift into abundance and gratitude, your life will feel full no matter the number.”
Manifesting more money
All of us could use a little more safety stacked up in the bank account these days. Is there any scientific truth to all of the woo-woo surrounding (spooky music) manifestation, especially when it comes to money? Let’s prove and debunk at the same time.
The brain sees what it’s trained to look for. It’s called the reticular activating system, or more commonly known as selective attention. When you actively look for money, opportunity and growth, then you start to subconsciously and consciously recognize patterns surrounding those things. It’s like setting your radio dial. The more you tune your attention to something the more awareness you will gain around it. This is the reason that when you buy a new car, all of a sudden it seems like everyone is driving your car’s make and model.
Expectation changes behavior. If you believe something is possible you behave differently. Research shows that higher expectations lead to more persistence and more persistence leads to better outcomes. If you believe you can make more money, then you are more likely to negotiate, take risks and apply for better opportunities.
Visualization is key, but there are multiple paths. Process visualization allows us to map how we will get to our desired results and outcome visualization focuses our attention on the results specifically aiming to shift the narrative of what is possible for us. Both are complementary and can be helpful at different times and in different ways.
The last ingredient to the science of manifestation is dopamine, which triggers when you anticipate or expect something, in this case income. Dopamine is the chemistry of pursuit.
When it comes to manifestation you don’t just magically attract more money by picturing it, but you can condition yourself to move differently around money via these visualization practices.
The great joy hint poem
When staring down financial instability, don’t spiral.
Take sixty seconds and name everything that is stable at the moment. (Serotonin)
Food. Shelter. Support. Income. Friends. Family. Community. Art. Vision. All of it.
Your brain is wired to look for what’s wrong. Interrupt it.
Move your body for 5 minutes. (Endorphins)
Get some blood flowing.
Get your body out of stillness so your brain can follow.
Create a signal of forward motion. (Dopamine)
Pay off a bill.
Put $10 away or in savings.
Make a plan or a list.
Andru Defeye is the former poet laureate of Sacramento and a regular contributor, writing The Great Joy Hunt for Abridged.