In this YouTube monologue, Aaron Doughty explains that dopamine is fundamentally an anticipation chemical rather than a reward neurotransmitter. He argues that modern society’s constant pursuit of dopamine spikes—through phones, substances, relationships, and achievement—creates a cycle of craving that can both fuel and sabotage the law‑of‑attraction process. Drawing on his personal history of addiction to cannabis, Adderall, meditation, and later his business, Doughty illustrates how dopamine drove his success but also led to perpetual dissatisfaction. He references the book The Molecule of More and a recent Joe Rogan episode to contextualize the “molecule of more” concept. He introduces the idea of “here‑and‑now” neurotransmitters (oxytocin, vasopressin) that promote presence, and proposes a “middle way” that balances dopamine‑driven motivation with mindful awareness. Practical advice includes becoming aware of one’s dopamine cravings, grounding energy in the body (hands, feet), and re‑associating activities with genuine pleasure rather than anticipation. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to like, comment, and subscribe.
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Dopamine is like salt. You need it to survive, but too much of it would kill you. And the reason I say this is because this is something I'm currently learning in my own life, and I'm learning how fleeting dopamine can be. But what I want to share with you is something that I think will save you so much time on the process of you creating your dream life. It is something that will also help you not fall into the same trap that I see so many people fall into, and this is learning how to go beyond dopamine to manifest your dream life in exactly step-by-step how to do that. Welcome back to another video. My name is Aaron Doughty and I help people expand their consciousness. Now in this video, I'm going to be sharing with you the danger of dopamine, how most people are using dopamine to manifest what they want, how it's still somewhat necessary, but how do we get around needing to constantly be stimulated by more, more, more, and more? And let me first off say that dopamine is something that I think has been, in our society today, we are so continuously becoming addicted to different things in our life, whether it's the dopamine spikes in our phone, whether it's the dopamine that we get from using different substances, It's the dopamine we get from different love relationships or dynamics. Dopamine is in a way, they say the reward neurotransmitter, like the reward chemical, but that's not actually not the truth. Dopamine is the anticipation chemical. It's what we anticipate. And many people in the law of attraction community, they want to manifest things into their life. They want to create things to come into their life. And a lot of times it's done from the energy of wanting. It's done from the energy of of lacking, of anticipating. And I say this because I've recognized in my own life, you might notice that I have a new studio behind me and it's because I recently moved and I realized how fleeting some of these things are. I think that back in 2017, uh, actually 2012, I think I was addicted to cannabis. It was something I was doing all the time. Before that it was Adderall or at the same time, and it was something that I felt like I needed. It was something that I could do and it would immediately change my state. And I think I was also resisting going into my own pain, maybe my childhood trauma and stuff like that. But it's interesting after that, I think that in a way I may have become addicted to meditation. I was addicted to this new identity shift. I was addicted to learning more about spiritual awakening, about how reality works. And I spent like, you know, 3 to 5 hours a day just like doing spiritual things and and being in the sun and doing these things that I think were more beneficial for me. But it's funny, after that in 2017, I've become very intense about business and I can absolutely see how my business has become a dopamine addiction. It is something I anticipate more, more, more. And they say that in a way dopamine is the molecule of more. So the molecule of more, it's like, can I have more? Because it's the anticipation of more. And just recently I also realized this even more so, because I moved to Austin, Texas. I bought a house in a cool area here downtown and then realized I want a bigger house. This house isn't big enough for me running an online business and doing all these things I wanna do. So I rented out my house and I moved to another part of Austin where I have more space. And I'm in this awesome house now with all this space, but I'm realizing, am I just addicted to more? Am I just addicted to the anticipation? Once I get and have everything that I want, I know that there's gonna be this drop. In emotion where it's like, what do I have to look forward to now? Is it the live events? Is it this new thing? And what I'm learning in this process is that, and there's a book on this too, it's called The Molecule of More that I've been reading. And there's also a Joe Rogan podcast on dopamine that came out recently that I've been watching, listening to, and I've realized just how addicted my mind is to more. And in a way it has helped me. In a way, The Molecule of More has helped me to become successful. I became very passionate, almost addicted to my own business back in 2017. That created a lot of success. At one point I was addicted to making YouTube videos, created a lot of success, but guess what? As much as it rises up, it's like then it begins to drop down. So what is the, uh, first off, the, the mechanism for understanding dopamine. I think it's important to understand that everything in our life has no meaning other than the meaning we give things. And with that being said, what we associate with pleasure, we will always move towards, and what we associate with pain, we will always move away from. Back in 2017, I associated a lot of pain with making videos, with doing things to put myself out there, because what will people think? But then I switched it. I started to associate pleasure with it because I started to imagine my life, living life on my own terms. That changed everything. So what we associate pain and pleasure with is up to us. But the thing is, is we become addicted to where we don't realize those things are running us. Many people have some type of like porn addiction. They may be addicted to toxic relationships. Dopamine is something that's constantly going through our body, but the key to this is becoming present. In that book, The Molecule of More, one thing it says is there's something I think called it, H and N neurotransmitters, and then the dopamine transmitters. So H and N literally just means like here and now transmitters, which is oxytocin, vasopressin, and different neurochemicals and, and ways that we can, we can be more present to the moment. And it's funny because when people smoke cannabis, it makes them release more of those cannabinoids or whatever it's called that makes us just okay with being. Now, The key, everything I'm sharing with you right now is not that one is bad or that another is good. It's that we must become aware and not let these things use us because you'll realize that like people that become addicted to video games, a lot of times they become so addicted to video games that all that dopamine is being rushed while they're playing video games. They don't have energy for anything else. People that have porn addictions, they are using that energy. They don't have energy for anything else. It's almost like there's a certain amount of dopamine And when we start putting it to the things that we want or the things that actually are beneficial for us, we can use that as fuel, but the key is not let that use us. Because now that I'm in this new house, I'm realizing I gotta become okay with where I'm at, not the anticipation of all this new things. Can I be here and now? And this goes back to something I teach where it goes, it's not just about doing things for the things that gets us, So making videos 'cause of the subscribers or making the art because of the money you get, it's doing it because it's also who you are. It's what you're passionate about. You can be in love dynamics where it's a dopamine, like whole bunch of chemicals and you feel crazy and it's here and it's there and it's crazy. Or there could be that of something where it is something that grows as you go and you have more of a compassion. It's not as crazy spiky up and down. And the thing that I'm learning to do is that instead of using dopamine to create my dream life, I'm becoming aware of it. I'm associating things with, with pleasure that I know benefits me, but I'm at the same time, I'm focusing on here and now being present inside my own body. And as I do that, it's what's called the middle way. It's the middle way. I like challenges. I think that challenges for my business, it's something that it keeps me going. I was listening to Joe Rogan on that podcast and he really It's like, I love challenges. I need it. I need this. I need that. And I, I somewhat agree with that, but at the same time, there's the middle way. So don't let this dopamine use you by becoming aware of it. And then the step-by-step thing that you do is that you start to get more inside of your own body. You start to put the energy in your hands and your feet. I know that sounds very cliché and like simple, but as you become more present here and now, a lot of times that will, that may also bring up things to look at. Like trauma. I think a lot, one of the reasons I was smoking a lot of cannabis is 'cause it would kind of, it would take me away from having to deal with my childhood stuff. So it can also be a powerful healer. So it depends. That's why just as many people are watching this, there's that many like combinations of how this dopamine thing can work. But one of the things that you can begin to do is become aware of the dopamine addictions you have, the things that you realize you're always craving, you always want more of and how it's never enough. And you can start to put the awareness in your body and being present to the moment. And as you do that, these two things mix is going to be the degree to which you can really create that success in your life. So with that being said, if you guys like little short videos like this that really just get to the point, go ahead and like this video, comment below, let me know. Other than that, subscribe if you haven't already. I've got a lot more videos coming out like this. And as always, I'll talk to you in the next one. Peace, much love, and namaste.
