Embracing boredom in a dopamine flooded world

plus 9 Melbourne based social enterprises for Christmas gifts

Hello! With 10 days out until Christmas how are you feeling? I hope you are doing okay.

In my monthly review for November I shared my thoughts on the books I had read that month, one of which was Dopamine Nation – Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence By Dr Anna Lembke. I had been waiting for months for my reserve of the book to be filled. I can see why it is a popular book. I really enjoyed reading it and found it to be an illuminating look at the dopamine-flooded world we live in and the impact this can have on us.

But herein lies the problem. Human beings, the ultimate seekers, have responded too well to the challenge of pursuing pleasure and avoiding pain. As a result, we’ve transformed the world from a place of scarcity to a place of overwhelming abundance.

Dopamine Nation – Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence By Dr Anna Lembke

Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that is involved in a variety of important functions in the brain, including movement, motivation, and reward. It is produced by a number of different brain structures and is associated with feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. It is also involved in the regulation of mood and emotion, and in the development of addiction.

Lembke discusses the reciprocal relationship between pleasure and pain throughout the book and uses the analogy of a see-saw to help explain addictive behaviours. These behaviours are not limited to drugs but also include addictions to food, sex and smart phones.

“”Any prolonged or repeated departures from hedonic or affective neutrality….have a cost.” That cost is an after reaction that is opposite in value to the stimulus. Or as the old saying goes, What goes up, must come down.”

Dopamine Nation – Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence By Dr Anna Lembke

The book shares stories of clients of Lembke’s and how they found themselves addicted to sex, alcohol, or in the author’s case, romance novels. Lembke offers insights into how we can find the delicate balance between pleasure and pain, and why now more than ever finding balance is essential.

There is a chapter in the book that is dedicated to the pain element and it explains why we feel so great after activities like cold exposure and hard exercise efforts. This tips our seesaw to the pain side and kicks in the opposite stimuli – pleasure once we stop it. Hence the runners high and how you feel amazing after an ice bath.

Understanding how our brain works and why we respond we do the way we do is such important information to have so we can better navigate the world we live in. It certainly made me reflect on where I spend my time and the absolute importance of having time when I am not stimulated by anything – not music, not podcasts, not caffeine, not people, nothing. I need to make sure there is plenty of time in my week where it is just me and I need to sit with that. I need to embrace boredom for the tonic it is in our dopamine nation.

Boredom is not just boring. It can also be terrifying. It forces us to come face-to-face with bigger questions of meaning and purpose. But boredom is also an opportunity for discovery and invention. It creates the space necessary for a new thought to form, without which we’re endlessly reacting to stimuli around us, rather than allowing ourselves to be within our lived experience.

Dopamine Nation – Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence By Dr Anna Lembke

You can find Dopamine Nation – Finding Balance in the Age of Indulgence By Dr Anna Lembke here and if you would like to read the rest of my monthly review you can find that here.

Are you having a freak-out because you still have lots of Christmas shopping to do? If you live in Melbourne then these social enterprises can help you purchase the perfect gift. You can avoid the big shopping centres and the craziness that entails this time of year and buy gifts that not only will your family and friends love but you will be buying from businesses that do good in the world - Melbourne based social enterprises for your last-minute Christmas shopping.

Enjoy the rest of your week.

Nic