Episodem 18: Anticipation, Addiction & Alignment: How Dopamine Shapes Your Reality—and How to Take Your Power Back
In this powerful episode, we’re pulling back the curtain on how dopamine—the brain’s reward chemical—shapes not just our habits, but our energy, alignment, and ability to manifest.
As a Substance Use Disorder (SUD) professional and aligned living mentor, I share how I learned that dopamine doesn’t just spike when you receive a reward—it spikes in anticipation of it. This understanding shifted everything for me, and today I’ll show you how it may be silently driving your self-sabotaging behaviors, addictive loops, and even your mindset around success and worth.
Whether you’re navigating recovery, breaking free from numbing behaviors, or simply trying to live more in tune with your highest self, this episode will help you:
Understand how your reward system actually works (and how it gets hijacked)
Recognize the connection between addiction and manifestation
Identify what you may be unknowingly chasing
Learn how to reset your dopamine system using mindfulness, micro-joys, and alignment-based practices
Rewire your brain to anticipate pleasure from things that truly nourish you
Plus, I’ll guide you through a simple integration practice you can use today to shift out of the chase—and into clarity.
✨ This episode bridges neuroscience, soul-work, and daily embodiment so you can take your power back—gently, intentionally, and with deep self-trust.
Feeling stretched thin trying to do it all in your business?
What if the support you need is just one trained assistant away?
Let me introduce you to the game-changer that helped me finally get back to doing what I love.
🧠 Learn More: Scientific Sources That Informed This Episode
Salimpoor, V. N., Benovoy, M., Larcher, K., Dagher, A., & Zatorre, R. J. (2011).
Anatomically distinct dopamine release during anticipation and experience of peak emotion to music.
Nature Neuroscience, 14, 257–262.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nn.2726Braver, T. S., & Westbrook, J. A. (2016).
Reward motivation and cognitive control: A neuroscience framework.
Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 10, 555.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2016.00555/fullBrewer, J. (n.d.).
Hacking the Habit Loop.
Omega Institute for Holistic Studies.
https://www.eomega.org/article/hacking-the-habit-loopKim, H. R., Malik, A. N., Mikhael, J. G., Bech, P., Tsutsui-Kimura, I., Sun, F., & Watabe-Uchida, M. (2023).
Dopamine transients follow a striatal gradient of reward time horizons.
Nature Neuroscience, 26, 649–662.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-023-01566-3
van Holst, R. J., Veltman, D. J., Büchel, C., van den Brink, W., & Goudriaan, A. E. (2014).
Distorted expectancy coding in problem gambling: A functional magnetic resonance imaging study.
Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience, 8, 100.
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnbeh.2014.00100/full
Explore the Empowered Recovery Course:
Helps women rewire those thought loops, release self-sabotage, and reclaim sovereignty over their mental landscape.