Reflections with The Professor- Addictions

 

WHAT ARE ADDICTIONS?

As regards addictions, it is a chronic brain condition influenced by genes and the environment that is characterized by substance use or compulsive actions that continue despite harmful consequences

1) Transforming your life by fighting poor habits / terrible addictions is not about willpower. Will power is fleeting and short-lived. Not sustainable. To truly quit any and all addictions - you need to understand the mechanism of addiction and have systems to fight it.

2) All addictions are a game of pleasure and pain in the brain. You are an addict because your dopamine levels are above or below the baseline (normal levels). When above, brain tries to reduce it. Leads to depression. When below you feel craving and want more of the pleasure. 

3) You get into addictions from a desire to escape pain, not from a desire to seek pleasure. Once you find out a substance can reduce pain, you often return for more. Don't fall for this illusion. It does not relieve pain, it numbs you to it. Replaces it with craving.

4) You have baseline dopamine levels. It is necessary for reward and pleasure mechanisms. When you indulge in alcohol, porn, nicotine etc,  it gives out lot of dopamine. the brain tries to correct it by reducing natural dopamine level thereby bringing you to a state of pain ( cravings ).

5) Modern society is dull beyond belief. All of our needs are met within the confines of our homes. Comfort is everywhere. This makes us weak, susceptible to fall into temptation. You will pursue anything that makes you feel some excitement, some pleasure or arousal. Resist this

6) Addiction can happen to any of us. You can be addicted to anything. Substances, behaviour and even people. Anything that keeps you in a heightened state of pleasure by bathing your brain with dopamine will lead you into the pleasure-pain loop and cause addiction

7) To quit any addiction, you need 3 things - a) Get your dopamine levels to baseline b) Replace your sources of dopamine to stable healthy natural sources that can be controlled c) Hypervigilance, constantly being aware of your behavior at all times. This is 90% of the battle

8) You need 30 days to get your dopamine levels to baseline. 60 days if you are an extreme case. This is how long you need to stay away from the substance or habit. Also avoid other big hits from other activities to avoid relapse. (Happens due to neural pathway activation)

09) If it is a drug, when you stop using your drug for the first 2 weeks, you will feel like shit. This is because the brain is now in a deficit of dopamine and is in a pain state of low baseline dopamine. You will feel depressed, irritable and anxious. You have to ride it out. It only gets better

10) Focus on doing today right, then focus on doing it again. Over and over. Don't plan out 30,90 days it doesn't work like that. Do one day right. Then use the momentum to move forward every day. This will keep you consistent and positive. This is your road to recovery

WHAT IS DOPAMINE?

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter made in the brain. Basically, it acts as a chemical messenger between neurons.

Dopamine is released when your brain is expecting a reward.

When you come to associate a certain activity with pleasure, mere anticipation may be enough to raise dopamine levels. It could be a certain food, sex, shopping, or just about anything else that you enjoy.

For example, suppose your “go-to” comfort food is homemade double chocolate chip cookies. Your brain may increase dopamine when you smell them baking or see them come out of the oven. When you eat them, the flood of dopamine acts to reinforce this craving and focus on satisfying it in the future.

https://www.healthline.com/health/dopamine-effect

Learn to be with nature, reflect, enjoy BEING than BECOMING

Take a few minutes to discuss what is the difference between us and flowers..........what competition has done to humans.......why were we so stressed and tensed........flowers bloom and many humans doom...why?............can we be like flowers? How should we be mindful, relaxed and bloom in the coming days.

Learn from the Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees, 

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Some reflections by Manisha

Blooming is not a choice for flowers but for humans it's a choice to bloom or doom,

For flowers there is no second-guessing… only the relentless twisting, doubling, splitting, growth towards its destiny.

A flower doesn’t worry about the dark possibilities, the what if’s, such as…

being planted in the wrong place…

Am I going to block someone’s view?

attracting insects that may not be a perfect match for that spot?

Am I going to annoy someone?

not being the right color, shape or size…

What if no one notices me? What if no one wants me?

As humans we can take the following into account from flowers.

Resiliency is blooming wherever you are planted.

Courage is reaching for the warmth and nourishment of the sun and growing into the unknown.

Faith is dropping seeds, wherever, for the next season’s crop.

Curiosity is the small tendril that reaches out to connect in the most delightful, unexpected ways to build roots and vines on an adventure towards the sun.

Hope is the smile on the face of a pansy or the 5-foot tall stalk waving at you from beneath a magnificent sunflower

Like flowers, we should learn to bloom and not to doom. If it is a choice we should make our choice wisely to bloom and not to doom