The "no arousal" rule

Amen. Did you have trouble implementing this technique? I have been trying really hard to put it into practice, but i still slip up at night and in the mornings sometimes when i am in bed. What would be your best advice for when you accidentally get aroused?

 

That is really cool. Has it basically become a habit to kill arousal when it pops up?

 

Great work OP! I've implemented the same rule.

Literally tell yourself no. As many times as it takes. Even if it has to be said out loud. It will be more routine the more you do it!

 

This is the way to go. I was following this method with ease until a few days ago I didn't stomp on it immediately, I let it linger and boom reset and now I'm on my second round. This time no leniency! Discipline is interesting...in some sense it's very difficult but actually makes everything monumentally easier...seems paradoxical!

 

This is an important step people miss.. if you're getting a dopamine hit you're not rewiring.

 

Nice !

 

That's what Gabe actually recommends. Any stimulus that isn't there, whether it be on screen or in your head, is considered bad.

I look forward to your later journal entries. You'll involuntary be 100% unaroused by stuff. So yay to that.

 

the problem with the "no arousal" and "dopamine" is that you can't cut it off 100%. I don't know, for instance you're walking on the street and see a hot girl, that second that you think "damn she's hot" and then you think "no arousal rule" you already are receiving a fragment of dopamine. Am I wrong in that?

 

Yes. I mean when you get to a certain point in your flatline, you will have zero interest in her. Instead of checking out her body, and being aroused by it, you might think "wow, she has really pretty hair." Then you could look at a tree with the same feelings being like "look at those leaves. They're green."

You'll hit a 100% asexual ness that resets the dopamine receptors.

 

So basically the flatline it's like a compensation... we're so saturated of dopamine that that compensation leaves you "asexual" for a certain period of time. right?

 

Hmmm. I don't really know to be honest. I tak ADD meds that keep the dopamine gates open, but I still feel this way. It's more like you just shrivel up your porn and nude imagination receptors, so they die, and your focus just goes elsewhere. Kinda like learning a new habit or forgetting any other one. You just lose interest in that way of thinking.

 

A problem I see a lot here lately is that people are fixated on dopamine and dopamine receptors. You are right but you forget about delta fosb.
It's a protein that changes genetic expression. It keeps you addicted. After your last PMO it takes 6-8 weeks until that protein is gone. That's one reason why rebooters with small streaks never recover.

 

I'd actually agree with this. I never really looked up what deltafosb is, but it seems to be the most important neurochemical involved with addiction/nofap.

 

i found that the longer my streakgets, the more clear the line is between sexual thoughts and arousal. looking at a hot girl's body is just a sexual thought, but i may not feel aroused. if i start imagining what i would do to her then i get aroused.

recent example - yesterday i went on a date with a hottie with a great body. later i had a quick fantasy about kissing her and i was rock hard and could palpably feel the dopamine rushing through my brain.

the difference for me between a sexualthought, and it escalating to arousal is in staying present and grounded. arousal is definite no no to reboot properly, and once i accepted that i realized that sexual thoughts are a waste of time and counter productive. became much easier to catch myself drifting off into fantasy then