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Pleasure-Saturated

Pleasure-Saturated

We Homo Sapiens are notorious for avoiding pain and seeking pleasure. In fact, we have transformed the planet from a place of scarcity to a place of overwhelming abundance, with ample opportunities to flood our brains with dopamine at every turn.

But over-consuming has consequences: Exposure to prolonged and repeated pleasurable stimuli decreases our capacity to tolerate pain and increases our threshold for experiencing pleasure.

On today’s show: Resetting your neural set point to make dopamine work FOR you, not against you.

Here’s a preview:

[3:00] Here’s exactly why our brains aren’t designed to work optimally in our 2024 world of pleasure

[7:00] Measuring the dopamine-induced addictive potential of various foods, habits, and drugs

[10:00] What goes up must come down: Here’s what opponent process theory means for you and your brain

[14:00] Quantifying leisure time from the Civil War to present day

[24:00] Dopamine fasts work! Here’s how to recalibrate your brain

[28:00] How to best lean into a bit of pain (and why you may want to)

 

 

 

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The "Away" Illusion

Ever wonder where your bags of donated clothes actually end up?

Most of us treat dropping off a bag at a donation bin like a magic trick. We hand it over, walk away, and assume it finds a good home.

But very often, away is Kantamanto Market in Accra, Ghana, where 15 million secondhand garments arrive every single week.

On today’s show, contemporary artist Emmanuel “DoTT” Kunfaa pulls back the curtain on the dark side of donating and highlights they ways in which the illusion of charity is feeding waste colonialism.

 

Here's a preview:

[6:30] What really happens to your donated clothes once they leave your hands

[11:00] Kantamanto used to be a success story in circularity. What changed? (Hint: fast fashion.)

[15:00] Musings on expensive handbags. What purpose do they actually serve?

[22:00] Five things we can all do better when it comes to buying and donating clothes

 

Resources mentioned:

 

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Hello there, I’m Stephanie. I live a crazy, beautiful life as a full-time wife, blogger + mother to two spirited daughters. I’m on a mission to simplify eco-friendly living so as to greater enjoy life’s sweeter moments.

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