Do small rewards feel less exciting? Here is how to harness the small wedding Well in reality
Americans They say they are more satisfied With life ever.
The lack of pleasure, which is the loss of enjoyment of fun things usually, and excessive normalization, that is, the experience of daily life amid a worrying societal change, can lead to a decrease in the well -being of the individual. Even “small desserts” – accessories that can be accessed such as walking, or a piece of cakes, or enjoying direct broadcasts – can stop feeling satisfied in this context.
“Part of the problem of living in such a strained world is a mixture of fatigue, exhaustion, mercy and destruction, but also not doing anything about it,” says Michael Steger, founder and director of the Meaning and Purpose Center at Colorado State University.
But joy is very important to flexibility and movement forward. “The ability to actually feel the pleasure of life … and the behavior of what we do is actually a way to liberate us and a sign of our liberation,” activist Adrian Mary Brown. He said In July.
For those who suffer from depression or tension for long periods, clinical care from a qualified advisor or psychotherapist can be invaluable. However, it is possible to enhance an individual’s basic ability to enjoy, which prepares the brain to easily reach stimulation and happiness. Small sweets will not solve everything, but here is what experts say about her appreciation again.
Anticipate
Your walk or pastry may be objective as always as it has always been, but you may be bored if your mind does not activate. Experts say this has a relationship with dopamine.
Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that mediates “the pursuit of pleasure – hope for a good thing,” says Dr. Ann Nawil Samaha, an expert in biology of bonuses for rewards and motivation at the University of Montreal. She says that when people feel that they are without fun, it is because they lost the motivation to seek enjoyable things.
“Research indicates that the anticipation can produce dopamine activity more than the bonus itself,” says psychiatrist. When this motivational spark is low, even the activities we enjoyed may seem unpleasant. He says: “The brain does not record it in the same way, and the cycle that usually turns the small pleasures to continuous sources of motivation.”
Create rituals
Since the brain is based on expectation and prediction, the way to enhance pleasure is not to get more rewards or prepare to enjoy more things, but create a routine.
If your favorite sweets are no longer “beating” anymore, “monotony and fixed and repeated movement are in reality the key here. Over time, it mainly builds that make these largest impulses of fun possible again,” says Regi. It says that the accuracy of our brain predictions, “and not the size of the reward” is the one that ultimately restores fun.
For example, it may be tempting to take pastries just for bleeding. But Regi suggests the start of a ritual on Saturday morning in your favorite bakery instead. Throughout the week you know that it is coming, which builds the anticipation. “By Saturday, it is not only the pastries – but rather the rituals, familiarity and the small story that I built around,” says Regi. The anticipation is activated dopamine a long time before the treatment arrives. He says, “Your brain does not only enjoy sprawling, but also enjoy expectations and assurances,” he says.
Do not go alone
You may realize that the treatment itself is just one part of enjoying pleasure. Another way to enhance fun is to make it social. “Just buying things will not help,” says Samaha. “What we need is to stay in contact with others.” Setting a permanent date with a friend of coffee or deleting a task from your task menu can lead to an emotional exaggeration.
Research supports this. “Anything is social … it makes people happier than any activity they do on their own,” says Dr. Sonia Liopomerski, a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, whose work focuses on happiness. In fact, treating another person may improve your mood more than treating yourself.
Learn how to taste sparks of joy
In the case of emotional lust, the pleasures can look weak and transient. When this happens, Stager recommends a practice called “taste”, which resembles mental alertness. He says: When you enjoy something, attract your attention to comfort at this moment. Then expand this joy by examining it. What were you thinking, or your mind is clear? Did you change your mood with skill or is it significantly improved? What were you interested in – the quality of light, the birds rough, and the grass under your feet?
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Steger explains that this helps you to understand your internal pleasure mechanism, which is important even if your mood is a little improved.
Note when you use bonuses as auxiliary bandits
You can search inappropriately for sweets to avoid or deal with bigger problems.
Steger says, for example social anxiety. If you are concerned about an event and decide to overcome it, this may be good at that moment. But over time, such decisions can enhance the idea that you “will never have a nice social life,” he says.
Instead of using rewards to calm bad feelings, consider them rewards for solving problems and improving your life. For example: “If I finish this task, I will give myself a reward. If I made that phone call that I was avoiding, I will give myself a reward,” says Liopomersky.
According to research, the effort made can make the treatment more satisfactory. Samaha says: “There were some studies conducted on mice that have shown that they prefer the rewards for which to work on the rewards that they get for free … One of the theories is that the effort is a reward in itself.”
Remember the past – and tell the present
If you feel that the present is silent, try to think about the past.
“We are beginning to witness the construction of nostalgia for the past,” said St. Think about your past; Your relationships, achievements, and development; He adds that the difficult things that have already overcome it can give you a feeling that you are “in the middle of an interesting story and a good life.” This can enhance your feeling of belonging and flexibility.
On the contrary, try to think about the present as something you will think about in the future. “After five or ten years from now, the future will try to find the things you feel nostalgic. You don’t want them to skip this entire stage of your life, right?” Steger says. The idea does not lie in the introduction of joy in dark moments, but rather to start observing what may seem meaning later.