Well, I once again dove into psychiatric research for fun. I think I missed my passion in life. I should have been a psychology researcher. I actually enjoy reading the studies they do. I find them full of crazy theories and I love how they try to prove them. Fascinating. Maybe I will become doctor of psychology in the later part of my life, then I will become the founder of my own foundation, I will write books and speak at giant symposiums and write a real blog that people actually read! Yes! That is the answer to all my problems! I will act now…..
The mesolimbic pathway in my brain just released a flood of dopamine and I am feeling the emotion and reward of coming up with such a great idea. A few moments later, the mesocortical pathway released a bunch of dopamine in the dorsolateral frontal cortex of my brain and now I am feeling really motivated and I am kicking into high gear, planning my new career, figuring out my new priorities. I continue to get more dopamine release as I get more excited and motivated by this new career choice. The feeling is great, love the euphoria that comes from the dopamine release.
And here is the trap. It is both a blessing and a curse. You need dopamine, it is a great to do with who you are as a person and more importantly what makes you human. You are an advance creature because of your brain’s ability to manufacture dopamine and send it down the four major pathways of your brain stimulating you to action, causing you to make decisions, and almost every other conscious action. Here is a thing to think about. Have you ever eaten a box of chocolates and realized after you were stuffing your face repeatedly with the high sugary morsels that you were barely even tasting them? In fact, come to think of it, they really were not that good. Especially those ones with the cherry syrup inside, yuck! However, you continue to pop them into your mouth, chew for a few moments, and go for another.
Here is the deal, think about this carefully. Are you even benefiting in any tangible way from the chocolate binge? Sure, it tastes good, but you are barely tasting it. It is not nutritious in any major way. It is not helping to satiate your hunger or even to hydrate you. You probably do not need any more fast burning calories in your system after the first piece. So what is going on?
Your brain is rewarding you with dopamine release. Plain and simple. This is an ancient and primal thing. The opportunity for you to grab a high calorie sugary morsel is, in a hunter gatherer sense, an extremely valuable find. Can you imagine? If you spend the entire day scavenging for roots, insects, small nuts, seeds, maybe a berry and then suddenly you came across a Snickers Bar. That would be an incredible haul in sugary, calorie dense food that would be awesome! Your body is wired to reward you with intense dopamine release on such a find. In the few short thousands of years since we have become more civilized, the brain has not quite made the realization yet that there is a Sees Candy Shop down the street where I can buy thousands of these things and they are actually bad for me in massive quantity. So you have become addicted to the feeling that the dopamine release give you when you eat repetitive amounts of chocolate!
Unfortunately, I too have become addicted to creating new and wonderful plans to change my life for the better. I do not actually like BEING BETTER. I much prefer PLANNING to be better. The reason is that planning gets me a nice dopamine release, and lots of it too. Helps me feel better, helps me get motivated, helps me feel like I am ON TOP OF THE WORLD! Even though on Monday morning the ship is going to be sinking pretty damn quickly. So this is the double trap. You get a dopamine release from thinking about self improvement, but that is not quite the same of actually doing the activity.
To defeat this, you really need to understand the brain pathways and how they work. You must master the art of manipulating dopamine release. It is the only way to success. This is why small little achievements, with a reward structure actually work for people. It gives you that dopamine hit in enough intervals that it keeps you motivated. If you do not, then you risk a dopamine withdrawal and that can leave you despondent, depressed, and agitated until you figure out a new plan that causes you to get the next rush of dopamine. So the point is that you must understand how you are being influenced by the human brain, it is the only way we can tweak the system to get what we want. Otherwise you will find yourself binge watching netflix, eating chocolate and feeling all sorts of guilt and loathing about it.
With that I will leave you with a quote from “the Brain” and his companion “Pinky.”
Pinky:”Gee, Brain, what are we gonna do tonight?”
Brain: “The same thing we do every night, try to take over the world!”
Brain: “Pinky, Are you pondering what I am pondering?”
Pinky: “Uh…I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and a career….oooh, it’s all too much for me.”
NARF!!
Guy Reams
