Understanding Dopamine to Cultivate Inner Peace
“We have to engage fully with the life that we have been given. We give it meaning by diving into it.”
Do you ever feel like you’re on an emotional rollercoaster? The highs feel like everything is progressing in the right direction. Before a single low makes you wonder if they ever will.
I found myself in this loop the first half of the year. I knew these work related achievements were insignificant. Still, I couldn’t shake them. I also couldn’t discern why I cared so much. It finally hit me while learning about dopamine from Dr. Anna Lembke, Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University and Chief of the Stanford Addiction Medicine Dual Diagnosis Clinic.
I felt relieved when I realized that those stressors stemmed from seeking dopamine. I also felt normal. Dr.Lembke assures us that our cravings don’t signify a lack of discipline or perspective. They’re part of our biology. This felt like the missing link in the wellbeing equation.
In her book, Dopamine Nation, Dr. Lembke reveals how understanding our quest for dopamine empowers us to make choices that enable us to live in a state of equilibrium. The most important decision is the most straightforward…
Choose enduring dopamine over cheap dopamine.
Cheap dopamine offers temporary pleasure, like checking your email or social media. Whereas enduring dopamine is adaptive, like exercising or talking to a friend.
“We have to engage fully with the life that we have been given. We give it meaning by diving into it.”
We feel this intuitively. Still, willpower rarely prevails in the midst of temptation.
In our conversation, Dr. Lembke reveals what’s happening inside of our brains when we participate in addictive behaviors and explains how we can regulate our pleasure-pain balance. She shares a range of tools to gain control over any addictions we may have and replace them with healthy behaviors. Dopamine fasts - four week periods of abstinence - are particularly encouraging. Our brains begin regenerating our own dopamine, cannabinoids, opioids, and serotonin in just two weeks! Our body is always working to be in balance.
In a world of constant striving and stimulation, Dr.Lembke’s work is a breath of fresh air. She reminds us that inner peace is possible and offers a roadmap there.
What is one way you can replace cheap dopamine with enduring dopamine this week?
Wishing you peace,
Jenna