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| The resting-state |
It is 1 am, but your pounding heart keeps you awake. Judgmental voices in your head discuss your faults. You toss and turn, trying to shush the chatter, but the voices cannot be silenced; only complete exhaustion spares you from the internal battle when finally, you fall asleep.
The resting state is a wave of slow activations occurring
between functionally related brain regions. These activations give rise to continuous
self-talk. Stimulus halts this self-centered flow of thoughts to direct focus
onto your daily tasks. However, this constant self-talk always returns to fill your downtime with personal
vignettes, evaluations, and endless chatter.
The quality of your internal dialog depends on your mental state. When you are happy, then your mind generates a constructive and pleasant internal dialogue. Anxiety generates quarreling voices in your head, which castigate and diminish you. You must seek diversions to spare yourself from being alone. You spend time with friends or online, using drugs, cigarettes, anything that helps you escape, or at least postponing their onslaught. But these are fake solutions, which make the problem only more acute.
Why does the brain form a resting state at all? The resting-state weaves current events into the fabric of our lives. The resting-state combines your past into your present moment. The resting self-talk formulates your convictions, beliefs, loves and hates, the emotional foundation of your personality. A healthy personal anchor provides a secure grounding. It provides instant response to millions of problems during the day, whether you should accept the extra assignment from your boss or join your friend for a drink after work.
What is the quality of your self-talk? Do you have demons in your head? Watch my video: Mental Congruence: TheSecret Ingredient of Success. You will learn how to develop persistence and determination to move forward and reach your goals. Instead of constant sources of mental torture, your past mistakes and sins can become tools of learning and self-betterment.
You have only one life; live it well.
More information on the resting state of the brain: Resting-State fMRI: A Review of Methods and Clinical Applications
