February 8, 2023

Notes by Shakthi Ananthanarayanan

What do you say is your greatest struggle?

                PROCRASTINATION

TAPAS – intentionally denying & Live according to your needs, not your wants.

Why is TAPAS important in our lives?

• It shows us discomfort 

Dopamine – a feeling that is released that makes us motivated when we do things that give us PLEASURE.

Lesson/ Video: 

We watched an interview with a neurobiologist giving a talk about DOPAMINES.

Key Points from the video:

• Pleasure is not good for our body 
• When we are engaged in something that gives us pleasure our brain gets used to the pleasure but when we do something that doesn’t give us pleasure the dopamine that our brain releases, decreases so we feel unmotivated.
• We should find joy in all the things we do in our life.
• We, humans, can change our environment but that takes EFFORT, now we can change the environment in seconds.

1. Disengage in things like devices – it resets our brain so it doesn’t seem bad
2. We are constantly in pleasure & pain, we always want pleasure. We go way down when the time comes for the pain we feel unmotivated.

So, when we have TAPAS we get used to the feelings of discomfort then we are no longer scared of the pain.

• We have to experience joy in the small things in life.
• Intentionally put yourself in a discomfort situation.

We think Happiness is an emotion. But whenever we experience happiness we are in a state of mindfulness. Once we have fulfilled the wish we have no thoughts about wanting things. This is the state of our mind in Quietitude.

• We have to keep our mind in Quietitude in every moment not just when we get what we want.
• All the sensations are the same but the change of you was a desire.
• We have to absorb the task we do, which gives us quietude.

RAW: Each morning before we do any tasks, we have to spend 5 minutes in the sun.

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Notes by Om Shreejay

Virtue of the week: Tapas (Austerity)

Shankarji asked us what was the biggest struggle or greatest challenge we were trying to overcome right now? Answers included procrastination, lack of motivation in pursuing goals etc., which ties to the virtue for this week – Tapas.

Tapas – literally means to burn and indicates austerity, which is –

• to intentionally deny yourself certain comforts
• to purposefully make yourself uncomfortable
• to live according to your needs, not your wants

How can discomfort be good for us? It teaches us to be grateful for what we have, to get outside our comfort zone. 

We watched a short clip about the relationship between dopamine and motivation. 

Dopamine is a chemical that your brain releases when –

• you are feeling pleasure
• you are doing something you enjoy
• you are motivated and striving to work for something that makes you feel good

Pleasure itself is not the problem. The problem is when we focus on pleasure without doing the hard work beforehand. The most successful people control their relationship with pleasure by creating their own internal buffers.

When we constantly engage in things that bring us pleasure e.g., eating nice food, hanging out with friends, watching television, texting, taking drugs etc., our brain starts getting used to a high level of dopamine. When we have to do something that is hard e.g., study, doing homework which does not bring us give us that dopamine spike, it makes us unmotivated to put in the effort.

Addiction is a progressive narrowing of the things that bring you pleasure, in contrast to –

Living a good life, which is a progressive expansion of the things that bring you pleasure and includes pleasure through motivation and hard work.

Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is driven by the over-consumption of dopamine from various sources with a high level of context switching in a small amount of time with little effort e.g., with social media (scrolling on TikTok, Instagram etc.). It then becomes difficult to engage in activities which do not give us the same level of stimulation of the mind. Being bored is a symptom of constantly seeking pleasure instead of experiencing the normal cycle of pleasure and pain.

The solution is self-regulation. We can stop engaging with the things that are constantly stimulating our minds e.g., overuse of devices. This resets our mind and brings dopamine levels back to normal. When we begin to accept feelings of discomfort intentionally and can get used to it, we can break the cycle of constantly seeking pleasure and reduce the fear of feeling pain. This will also help us experience joy and pleasure in small things and in every moment.

Question: How does one normalize one’s dopamine levels e.g., after a weekend/break? 

Answer: Intentionally put yourself in a situation of discomfort e.g., eat healthy, have a cold shower, practice self-denial – intentionally deny yourself something you want to do e.g., accept your hunger or thirst for a longer period of time. Practice feeling uncomfortable – fight the tendency to escape from facing the discomfort. 

Focus on training your mind to be quiet

We think of happiness as a feeling or emotion. Any time that we are experiencing happiness, what we are actually experiencing is a state in which our mind is quiet e.g., when I want to eat ice cream, my mind stays agitated thinking about the ice cream until I actually taste it. We mistakenly associate the fulfillment of desire of having the ice cream as what gives us happiness, but it is really the quietude of mind that gives us happiness. The moment of quietude of mind is what gives us joy. 

In order to be happy, we need to train our mind to be quiet in every experience vs. focus on the fulfillment of desire. For example, when we are in a concert, we associate happiness with the music and environment. If you feel the urge to go to the bathroom, then the original source of happiness shifts from the music and friends to the presence of the new desire to go to the bathroom. When we pursue joy, what we are really pursuing is to teach our mind to be quiet. The key to quietening the mind and feeling joy is to be totally engrossed and immersed in the task at hand, to be absorbed in what you are doing in the moment. 

Reflection Adventure for the Week (RAW)

Every morning before going to school, spend at least 5 minutes outside (even if it is cold or not comfortable).