> I hypothesize that the source of most anxiety or nervousness stems from our brains making no correct predictions in that moment.
Since fight/flight behaviour is regulated by the amygdala and basal ganglia, you can say:
Anxiety stems from our amygdalae getting started up, because they sense a threat where none is, and effecting inappropriate behaviour thereafter.
Actually, the threat is often correctly sensed, it's just the behaviour (running away, attacking, feigning death/freezing) that's not useful in the modern world.
The therapeutically interesting question is how to change that.
Compared to the rational parts, those emotional mechanisms are much deeper and better wired to the rest of the brain. At the same time they aren't very sophisticated. Some people refer to them as "reptilian complex".
We can't adjust emotions directly and in general we have to wait much more time (think: weeks, sometimes months) to let new ideas like not being afraid of something sink into the subconscious.
But knowing and accepting that makes it possible to grow.
"Sorting themselves out" is a loaded word, I see that now.
I agree with you. This being at peace with your own company is a result of a tendency to work on your inside, and respond to emotions and "calls" from there immediately.
The other side are people who regularly experience a state of mind which could be described as happily relaxed nothingness. No thoughts, ideas, inner monologues etc.
No urgency to work on their inner life.
That isn't better or worse. It brings advantages and disadvantages.
> If you put them in an empty room, you could instead easily picture the introvert being calm and the extrovert tense due to a lack of human interaction.
That is what I said. I guess my usage of the word "tension" is different.
> Being alone is then a way of reducing sensory input to produce a sense of calm, it's not that an introvert would need to be alone to relieve any inner tension.
Producing a sense of calm IS the work of relieving inner tensions. I think here lies our misunderstanding.
When I'm talking about inner "tension", I'm not talking about any form of visible or invisible stress. Just that there is something "going on". Thought, ideas, inner monologue, some kind of inner activity.
There are people who regularly experience prolonged periods without thoughts, idea, inner monologues etc. They are routinely able to access a state of mind which could be described as happily relaxed nothingness.
You just might be more on the introverted side of the personality scale.
A good way to see the difference between intro- and extraversion is as follows.
Introverts have a lot of inner tension. That starts when they are toddlers. They constantly have something to think about, thus they need more alone-time than others to sort themselves out and work with their inner life.
Talking to others is fine and rewarding, but recovery time is needed afterwards, so they choose their communication carefully.
Extroverts have way more inner peace. They don't need much time for themselves, they often get bored being alone. So they seek out other people for stimulation. More often than not they seek out introverts, because those are especially interesting.
Talking to others is refreshing for them, it refills their batteries.
So if you see yourself on the introverted side, don't worry about it.
Just accept it and give yourself the peace you need.
Invite more or different guests, so they can talk to each other, while you are busy with someone.
Serotonine is the most influential neurotransmitter most animals have. You have two production sites in your body. Sleep, memory, behavioural learning, pain-regulation, appetite, blood-pressure, sexual behaviour, body-temperature are all controlled by it.
The mechanism for translating light into mood starts in the suprachiasmatic nucleus*, which sits right behind where your optic nerves cross.
Light-sensitive nerves trigger and transfer that information to the pineal gland, which in turn, starts breaking down serotonin to melatonin.
I dream about a brain implant that artificially stimulates the SCN. Control that stimulation and you control sleep, serotonin, melatonine, hunger, cell-growth, stress etc. etc. etc.
Fuck motivation. it’s a fickle and and unreliable little dickfuck and isn’t worth your time.
Better to cultivate discipline than to rely on motivation. Force yourself to do things. Force yourself to get up out of bed and practice. Force yourself to work. Motivation is fleeting and it’s easy to rely on because it requires no concentrated effort to get. Motivation comes to you, and you don’t have to chase after it.
Discipline is reliable, motivation is fleeting. The question isn’t how to keep yourself motivated. It’s how to train yourself to work without it.
It's 12 years since I've read Diamond Age, but the way I remember the ending is that it gave me a feeling like a camera zooming out of the world. Everything drifts into distance, goes diffuse and becomes, with all it's importance, unimportant.
It decided to not reveal it's consciousness and destroy humanity using only the newsfeed to manipulate our emotions.