Choose your state

There’s a whole library of states in the brain, and a part that picks which one fits right now. Huberman’s words. Which means you can pick too. A state isn’t weather that rolls in — it’s a shelf you reach for.

Worry is an arrow. It only lands if you believe it. When you don’t react, don’t grab on, don’t believe anything can hurt you — the arrows stop hitting. You make them real by aiming attention at them.

I know I’m calm. So when a picture shows up — I won’t make the payments, it’s all coming down — I feel it. It’s all in the body, it’s real for a second. And I think: alright, interesting, like watching a horror film. Except none of this is here. No point burning fuel — the tank’s already low. You worry, then the thing doesn’t happen, and you floored the gas for nothing. The resource was tied up. You could’ve spent it on something good.

Under all of it: sleep. That’s the floor everything stands on — it refills the neurotransmitters. Skip it and the shelf goes empty; there’s nothing good left to reach for.