What? Are You High
On Dop(amine) Again?
Let's talk some biology for a second. More specifically, let's talk about how the body and brain are affected by pleasurable experiences. There's this neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Dopamine is responsible for allowing you to feel pleasure, satisfaction and motivation. When you feel good that you have achieved something, it's because you have a surge of dopamine in the brain. The sensation can be triggered by anything from drugs such as opiates and heroin to laughter. Clearly, I would prefer the latter.
The brain enjoys the experiences it receives when Dopamine is flooded into it. In a sense, you might say that the brain is addicted to the neurotransmitter. In reality, the brain is addicted to that external stimuli which then triggers the Dopamine release. this is why it particularly easy to become addicted to drugs that create the release of Dopamine.
Now, consider for a moment those other things that trigger a Dopamine release. Let's consider fun and laughter. This, by the way, is one of the reasons we tend to scroll through social media. We are attempting to find things which are funny or enjoyable so we get that quick little Dopamine high. It’s sort of sad that there is so much of the bad stuff between all of those funny memes. It's sort of amazing how much social media junkwe’re willing to go through just for a little bit of a dopamine high, but I digress.
We know that we are attracted to this pleasure neurotransmitter. We know what triggers it. Now, we can be responsible for the release of this neurotransmitter in others and the results it provides by creating an environment of fun. Do you see how easy this can be? I'm not talking about a framework of telling funny jokes all the time or just being an outright goof. My suggestion is to extend beyond that and create a reality that is joyful, positive and enjoyable. This environment will naturally enable fun and laughter which will create more pleasure and satisfaction, which will enable more fun and laughter, which will create more pleasure and satisfaction, which …
Well, you get the picture.