On my journey to mindfulness I'm getting a better understanding of our short term cravings for dopamine. I have learned that when I am operating on "auto-pilot" I tend to be a slave to my cravings for dopamine. One prime example is television. Before I quit cable cold turkey roughly 4 years ago I periodically let TV waste my precious time. When I look back at what TV did for me as a person I don't really have that much of an optimistic view. As I wake up into consciousness I'm understanding that our society has a heavy addiction to self entertainment. Everybody wants to entertain themselves. Being entertained does nothing for personal growth. Being entertained may relieve stress every once in a while but it's easy to get addicted to the leisure, sedentary lifestyle of being entertained. I realized that if I was not aware of my own self talk that this addiction to self entertain can easily take control of me in a short period of time. It's very easy to get addicted to the leisurely vibes of being entertained. But think about this. Imagine spending most of your adult life being entertained. Where does that take you? Where do you envision to go with that lifestyle? Those are some big questions I think so many of us forget to ask. And then our life passes by and we realize our addiction to self entertainment meant nothing. Absolutely nothing.