ReClaim your Brain! Reclaim your Pleasure!
The natural function of the reward circuit is to provide a reward and associated pleasurable feelings in response to life sustaining functions, such as eating, sex, exercise and laughter to encourage repetition of that function. The reward circuit functions through the use of neurotransmitters, mainly dopamine. Nicotine use stimulates this same response, in many cases to a greater degree than the natural response causing a spike in dopamine levels. It can block dopamine receptors in the reward circuit. After being released, if the receptors are blocked, dopamine has nowhere to go and it remains in the synapse where it was originally released causing a build up of dopamine. The use of Nicotine to influence the reward circuit can lead a user to bypass survival activities and repeat use, because it is being rewarded over other activities such as eating.
A "negative state" of dopamine level can be produced, since the natural level has been elevated, causing a need for Nicotine by the user to restore normalcy. Changes that take place in the brain also affect behavior. Circuits are altered in the brain change the way the neurons in the system work. Dopamine's production, how its message is received, and how it is inactivated are all affected.
If this is true, how do people overcome their own brains to recover from addiction? Could it be that the brain changes back to its normal state in turn allowing the addict to recover or could it be the addict forcing his brain to change back to its normal state, causing recovery?
You have to recapture your Brain and relearn natural pleasure! That takes a lot of self talk and retraining! Mindfulness allows you to see the simple pleasures of the senses in a whole new light.
Gratitude helps readjust your thinking about natural pleasures that occur in your life every day (but you couldn't see them because of Addiction Hijacking!)
Meditation helps you to recapture your reward circuit.
Eating, sex, exercise and laughter stimulate your dopamine production in a healthy way!
You literally relearn Pleasure the way that our Creator intends for us to EXperience it!
It's a GOD Given Pleasure!
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