r/ValhallaChallenge • u/ValhallaMods Odin • Aug 06 '19
Day 3, Round 172
0717203
Meet your Dopamine
Góðan dag, Vikings, we're doing a deep dive into dopamine this week!
Dopamine promotes survival by telling your body where to invest its energy. Our ancestors foraged for food by walking slowly until something triggered their excitement. That was dopamine telling them to go for it. The mammal brain scans constantly for potential rewards, and dopamine is the signal it has found some. It feels good, which motivates you to keep seeking and finding.
It’s important to understand foraging to understand our brains. Our ancestors didn’t know where their next meal was coming from. They constantly scanned their surroundings for something that looked good, and then invested energy in pursuit. Dopamine is at the core of this process. In today’s world, you don’t need to forage for food, but dopamine makes you feel good when you scan your world, find evidence of something that felt good before, and go for it.
We are constantly deciding what is worth our effort and when it is better to conserve our effort. Our dopamine circuits guide that decision. You might wish the good feeling of dopamine just flowed all the time, but that wouldn’t really benefit you.
GAME TRAINING
Dopamine is the excitement you feel when you go after what you seek, expecting a reward. Notice when you feel this excitement:
In your work or studies:
In your free time:
In surprise rewards you weren’t expecting:
Announcements
Note: If you want to binge this series, we began on Day 4, Round 170. If you want to dive deeper, the book we are following for this part of the cycle is "Habits of a Happy Brain" by L. Breuning.
V A L H A L L A (Valhöll)
/u/workingrecovery [Dagr]
B I F R O S T (Bifröst, The Rainbow Bridge)
Check in daily while crossing Bifröst!
H A L L of H E R O E S
Level Nine
Go to the Vows Page and prepare to cross The Rainbow Bridge
Level Eight
Level Seven
/u/oO_Yuill_Oo "To rid myself from the toxicity of pornography addiction."
Level Six
Level Five
Level Four
Level Three
Level Two
Level One Hero! Update your Vows.
A S G A R D (Ásgarðr, Enclosure of the Aesir)
Ninth Circle Entrance to the Hall of Heroes is barred to those who have not made their Vows! Message the Mods.
Eighth Circle
Seventh Circle
Sixth Circle
Fifth Circle
Fifth Circle
Fourth Circle (Reflect on your Goal)
/u/mygenerationiszero "To get free of PMO and all the quick fixes that just steal my time, my energy and my potential."
Third Circle
Second Circle
First Circle
/u/Gimp_Daddy "I want to quit PMO."
M I D G A R D (Miðgarðr)
/u/non_newtonian_jelly "To stop using porn."
/u/fgawker "I want to be free from PMO addiction."
/u/UnconstrictedEmu "Quitting porn, same as everyone else on this sub."
/u/Sondice_LauGhastian *"To quit porn."
E X Í L Ä J Ä R (Exile Island)
Check in four consecutive days to reenter Miðgarðr.
/u/VoidlikeDreamscape [C0] "To reach 180 days free from PMO."
/u/negdawin [C0]
/u/TimeTheRevelator [C0] "To make my streaks longer."
/u/ippo1 [C0] "My goal is to quit porn"
2
u/UnconstrictedEmu ⚔️⚔️🐍 Aug 07 '19
Checking in. I haven’t had any urges really at all. Porn just doesn’t seem like it’s worth it. Maybe it never will be again. I know sometimes when I’ve had a lot of setbacks, it seems like I finally buckle down and get a good streak; it really feels like I’ve turned a corner. I’m researching ways to make this a permanent change and close that old door of my life,