Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Meals

I have desecrated an enormous opportunity to bond with my family members. Meal time.

I use to just rush through each meal, fueling up in order to end the hunger pains of my stomach. Not anymore! I am going to eat as many family meals as possible with family members because it is a perfect time to talk and catch up with one another. It is a time to create stronger relationships and happiness. I've never witnessed so much love and tenderness as when two or more people sit down, and share their woes and delights over a fresh, delicious meal. Bon appetite! And take your time!

Next time you're thinking about skipping a meal with your family. Don't! You'll regret it someday.

-Stephen

Sunday, December 30, 2012

New year, new direction

Hello everyone! I want to apologize for my previous posts containing 'chakras.' I have no experience with chakras so please disregard what I said about them.

I realized I was thinking way too abstract about my life. Chakras are not important. What is important are the facts. Dopamine is a chemical that has a huge impact on our lives. Addictions and dopamine go hand and hand. Why? Dopamine = pleasure. Plain and simple. What happens when we do things like thrill seeking, computer gaming, pornography, or extreme sexual behavior? We get a huge splash of dopamine in our brains. This huge splash feels much more pleasurable than the usual steady stream of dopamine we receive during our days, like completing our chores or playing with our children and friends. Cpnsequently, we start avoiding things like chores, friends, and everyday behavior and start seeking the dopamine surges more and more. We see people playing video games for 5 to 6 hours, we see people who have sex with a different person each week, we see people who are going off bigger and higher jumps out on mountains or fisherman trying to angle larger and heavier fish. Yes, this is all the same chemical. Dopamine.

Is there a solution? Absolutely, and it's knowledge. Knowing that chasing huge dopamine surges will cause you to enjoy the steady dopamine stream of your days, you can avoid chasing the dopamine splashes all together. Give up your thrill-seeking addiction and grind through a couple of weeks of agony. Once you pu,ll through a month or so, you won't miss the highs at all. You'll be enjoying a more steady, noticable stream of pleasure throughout your day! Don't forget to relax though! Stress can rob you from pleasure faster than a pick-pocket in a mall!

Stephen

Thursday, May 24, 2012

I love how kids just naturally want to play with everyone. They know what's important in life. Playing and having fun!
Swimming is amazing. I love how whether or not you float is all contingent upon the air supply in your lungs. Makes me feel water is powerful and I'm very, very mortal.

Stephen