Ivan Pavlov, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1904, demonstrated that dogs reflexively salivate when presented with a slab of meat. When the presentation of meat is consistently paired with the sound of a buzzer, the dogs salivate when they hear the buzzer, even if no meat is immediately forthcoming. The interpretation is that the dogs have learned to associate the slab of meat, a natural reward, with the buzzer, a conditioned cue. What’s happening in the brain?

By inserting a detection probe into a rat’s brain, neuroscientists can demonstrate that dopamine is released in the brain in response to the conditioned cue (e.g., a buzzer, metronome, light) well before the reward itself is ingested (e.g., cocaine injection). The pre-reward dopamine spike in response to the conditioned cue explains the anticipatory pleasure we experience when we know good things are coming.

Dopamine Nation

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How do I tell you I love you without choking on the words?

Growing up, I never heard my family say 'I love you'. It was something people confessed in films and books and not what mother said to us or father told my mother. I love you was an exotic bird that existed somewhere in the world- too far away from us. I love you was a weakness that required immeasurable strength.

So, I pour my love in the morning coffee. And in the evening, I peel an orange for you, I love you. And I send you 15 cat pictures an hour, I love you and I hope you see it. And I text you good morning at the same time everyday, I love you, I love you, I love you. And until I learn to swallow it and live in it and whisper it, I hope you see how much I love you.

-Ritika Jyala, excerpt from The world is a sphere of ice and our hands are made of fire

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Few Takeaways from the Book Atomic Habits:

Start small: Instead of trying to overhaul your entire life at once, focus on making small, achievable changes that will eventually add up to big results. For example, if you want to start exercising regularly, start by doing a few push-ups or jumping jacks each day and gradually increase the amount over time.

Make it a habit: The key to success is to make the desired behavior a habit, so that it becomes automatic and effortless. One way to do this is to use the "habit loop," which consists of a trigger, a routine, and a reward. For example, if you want to start meditating, you might set an alarm on your phone as a trigger, spend 5 minutes meditating as the routine, and reward yourself with a piece of dark chocolate afterwards.

Track your progress: It's important to keep track of your progress so that you can see how far you've come and how much further you have to go. One way to do this is to use a habit tracker, which can be as simple as a piece of paper or a spreadsheet where you record each time you complete the desired behavior.

Get accountability: It can be helpful to have someone else hold you accountable for your habits, such as a friend, family member, or coach. You can also use a habit tracking app or website that allows you to share your progress with others and receive support and encouragement.

Celebrate your successes: It's important to celebrate your successes along the way, even if they are small. This will help you stay motivated and keep moving forward. For example, if you've been sticking to your exercise routine for a month, you might reward yourself with a new workout outfit or a massage.


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All About Love is a book by Bell Hooks that explores the concept of love from various angles. Here are a few actionable examples from the book:

Challenge the idea that love is only romantic or sexual. Hooks suggests that we expand our understanding of love to include platonic, familial, and self-love as well.

Practice forgiveness. Hooks argues that forgiveness is a crucial component of love, and that it is essential for healing and moving forward in relationships.

Engage in self-care. Hooks emphasizes the importance of taking care of oneself in order to be able to fully give and receive love. This includes taking care of one's physical, mental, and emotional well-being.

Communicate openly and honestly. Hooks encourages readers to communicate their needs and boundaries in relationships, and to actively listen to and validate the experiences of others.

Take responsibility for your own happiness. Hooks argues that we are responsible for our own happiness, and that we should not rely on others to make us happy. Instead, we should focus on cultivating joy and fulfillment within ourselves.


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November, 1936
Journals of Anais Nin 1934-1939
[volume 2] 


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– Billy-Ray Belcourt, A History of My Brief Body

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Mattilda Bernstein Sycamore, “On Writing On Your Own Terms”


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John Kaag, Hiking with Nietzsche 

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You lie in bed for hours staring at the ceiling, thinking how outside, all these people are living their lives while you’re just stuck here, too scared to even get up and face the world for one morning.

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Kafka said “all the love in the world is useless when there is total lack of understanding” and I think more people need to understand that

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“We feel emptiness sharply but cannot stand to listen long enough to find out what it means, what we need, what it tells us about how we live. Instead we reach for the nearest thing at hand with which to fill it up. And so we go for years, not able to sit with the silence, not able to face what we have become–and becoming increasingly something we cannot stand. And if we cannot stand ourselves–if we fear, and I think we do, that to even look at who we are would be too painful to bear–how do we live?”

—Marya Hornbacher, Waiting

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“Be wild, disobedient & daring with your creativity, take risks instead of following predictable routes; those who play it safe do not advance our culture or civilisation.”
– Bernardine Evaristo, Manifesto

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In today’s dopamine-rich ecosystem, we’ve all become primed for immediate gratification. We want to buy something, and the next day it shows up on our doorstep. We want to know something, and the next second the answer appears on our screen. Are we losing the knack of puzzling things out, or being frustrated while we search for the answer, or having to wait for the things we want?

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I despise my own hypersensitiveness, which requires so much reassurance. It is certainly abnormal to crave so much to be loved and understood.

Anaïs Nin · The Diary of Anaïs Nin, Volume I: 1931-1934

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Factors affecting Delayed Gratification/ Delay Discounting:

1) Ingestion of High Dopamine Goods.. which leads to Prefrontal Atrophy. Part of brain related to planning and abstract thinking.

2) People growing up in Resource poor environment primed with mortality cues.

3)Leisure time that we have today, and with it the ensuing boredom (
Leading to Compulsive over consumption)

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One patient who seemed to be doing well on antidepressants told me she no longer cried at Olympics commercials. She laughed when she talked about it, happily forfeiting the sentimental side of her personality for relief from depression and anxiety. But when she couldn’t even cry at her own mother’s funeral, the balance for her had tipped. She went off antidepressants and a short time later experienced a wider emotional amplitude, including more depression and anxiety. She decided the lows were worth it to feel human.

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The sci-fi movie Serenity (2005), directed by Joss Whedon, imagines a future world in which national leaders conduct a grand experiment: They inoculate an entire planet’s population against greed, sadness, anxiety, anger, despair in hopes of achieving a civilization of peace and harmony.

Mal, a rogue pilot, the movie’s hero, and the captain of the spaceship Serenity, travels with his crew to the planet to explore. Instead of finding Shangri-La, he finds corpses without a ready explanation for their death. An entire planet is dead in repose, lying in their beds, kicking back on their couches, slumped at their desks. Mal and his crew eventually puzzle it out: The genetic mutation deprived them of hunger for anything.

Like real-life dopamine-depleted rats who starve to death rather than shuffle a few centimeters for food, these humans died for lack of desire.

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We’ve all experienced some version of pain giving way to pleasure. Perhaps like Socrates, you’ve noticed an improved mood after a period of being ill, or felt a runner’s high after exercise, or took inexplicable pleasure in a scary movie. Just as pain is the price we pay for pleasure, so too is pleasure our reward for pain

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