Even with so much comfort and entertainment available to you, does life still seem to have a sense of missing something?
There will always be something more to do which you think will satisfy you but again that leaves you craving more!
Why?
Well, it has to do with a neurotransmitter and hormone named Dopamine.
If you have not heard this name before, it is a hormone that gets released whenever you do or think of doing any pleasurable activity. It regulates your motivation level, drive, happiness and mood.
So, how does dopamine relate to your sense of lack or misery?
Your brain is designed to maintain a homeostasis of pleasure and pain which basically means it ensures balance. Imagine a sea-saw with one of it’s side pain and another pleasure. To maintain balance, the brain releases a substance called Gremlins when one side tilts.
As we naturally want pleasure and avoid pain, we tilt the balance on the pleasure side and the brain will balance it out.
It is common for us to feel unpleasant and uncomfortable after consuming something that gives us pleasure due to the brain’s balance action. If we don’t do anything automatically that sense of uneasiness will go away on its own.
However, we consume more of the drug of our choice. It can be anything that gives us a sense of pleasure ranging from tea, coffee, chocolate, cakes, movies to smoking, alcohol, drugs etc.
Day in and day out, we consume things that give us pleasure but paradoxically those same things make us miserable due to homeostasis. So, after a prolonged period of time, we need to consume those drugs of our choice continuously to become normal.
Our dopamine level gradually decreases, as does our quality of life and experience.
As we have seen what makes us miserable, now the question is what we can do about it?
The solution lies in the problem itself!
Brain releases gremlins to maintain balance. It does not differentiate between pain and pleasure. What if we gradually inject discomfort and pain into our lives?
Have you ever wondered why you feel positive after doing something difficult, something you are not comfortable with or after a workout?
Your brain does its job of balance to make you feel excellent!
So, the solution is simple but not easy.
You need to reduce the consumption of the drug of your choice gradually and let that feeling of discomfort and misery pass without further indulgence. You should develop courage and patience for the withdrawal symptoms which will definitely make you feel worse. This will force you to consume those drugs again.
Systematically you need to induce some discomfort or pain in your life. This includes daily exercises, new skills you have not learnt before like instrument, painting, programming etc. This will make your brain to maintain balance in the opposite direction by tilting it towards the pleasure side.
Automatically your base dopamine level will increase gradually and you will feel high all the time even without doing anything.
By chasing pain, pleasure will come.
Understand, experience and experiment with brain homeostasis and use it to enhance your life.
Take care.
