How do I get bigger chemical responses out of my brain?

[Racecarlock]

What I want to do is make all of my entertainment better by making the chemical reactions it creates in my brain bigger. How do I do so without drugs?

 

[Queen Michael]

Replace whatever you're doing with watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It'll make things much more fun.

 

[Racecarlock]

Replace whatever you're doing with watching My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It'll make things much more fun.

Ha ha ha ha. Now does anyone have any serious answers?

 

[GigaHz]

You could try sniffing glue or paint thinner.

Those aren't necessarily drugs.

Could leave you with permanent brain damage though.

 

[Hero in a half shell]

Interesting challenge.

I'd say first, you have to experience emotions. Maybe not strongly, but you have to have a starting point.

Sounds like we need a master of emotions to tell us exactly what we need.


No further questions, your honour.

 

[Racecarlock]

Interesting challenge.

I'd say first, you have to experience emotions. Maybe not strongly, but you have to have a starting point. So the best way to do that (barring some kind of neurological/psychological condition that inhibits emotions) is to experience life. Make enough friends that you might know the joy of spending time with them, and the pain of losing them. Fall in love. Get to know people outside your age range. Take (sensible) risks, and experience those risks paying off and coming back to bite you on the ass.

Next, learn to empathize with others. Try to figure out how other people feel based on what's going on in their lives. Ask people about what's going on in their lives. Share an interest. Try to help them. Practice understanding how people feel when their experiences are different from yours.

So basically, the best way to get more out of your entertainment is to live life away from it. That way when you come back to your entertainment, you can relate to the characters in it better and feel it more directly.

Also, try not to consume terrible entertainment. No amount of emotional training can make Star Trek Voyager, for example, more than minimally impactful. That's because the few moments of emotional impact it has are overwhelmed by a monstrous pile of suck that dominates every episode.

What constitutes terrible entertainment? Because that sounds very subjective to me.

Also, I did enjoy the episodes of star trek voyager I did catch. So there's your mind either blown or "Convinced of my bad taste", but whatever.

 

[FalloutJack]

Zoop

Your Mileage May Vary, as I liked most of Voyager.

OT: The point I think we're grabbing at is that your external stimuli CAN be more emotionally-impacting and therefore more likely to bring out the enjoyment. Do it with something you like. Maybe do it with someone you like?

 

[lacktheknack]

Deprivation and binge tends to result in bigger changes and reactions.

However, this requires deprivation, which most people refuse to do.

 

[Naeras]

Don't do anything entertaining for a month, and suddenly any form of entertainment ever will seem like the best thing ever.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

Watch funny things when you're tired. Things that are funny to you when you're not tired are 100% funnier when you are exhausted. Probably doesn't work for anything other than humor.

Works for me, anyway.

Also: listening to Midnight in Harlem when you're tired. That Derek Trucks solo at the end? Jesus... I could fall asleep to that. And have.

Spoiler: Helps if you've a comfy chair

 

[Ryleh]

For me it comes from shutting down the internet and caring more about life in general.

Go outside, observe the weather and your surroundings, hoon some literature, write journals reflecting on your day/feelings, play video games offline with the lights off...

And when it all gets too much drink some beers and come crawling back to the interwebs and her glorious forums.