howtofixADHD

ADHD brains have higher phasic dopamine spikes relative to a lower tonic baseline. This is a genetic feature of the individual and not inherently bad or wrong in any way.

What it means is that this person learns very quickly. The analogy used in sensepleasures explains the system well: there is more pressure on the phasic chisel which carves than there is on the tonic planer which prunes.

Over time this brain develops local minima, the same as any other would but more exaggerated because of the exaggerated difference in dopaminergic tone.

These minima - sand tunnels - are the looped thoughts and obsessions which we get stuck in. They are - as [themap] lays out - only part of the algorithm that our brains are trying to solve.

The way that these minima are usually resolved is through the [confluence] and [cascade] periods in the map, but both of these require elevated tonic dopamine. ADHD brains do not have the same baseline tonic levels so combining the results of our disparate computations is very difficult without exercise, dopaminergic drugs or meditation.

The minima themselves are usually carved deeper than the normal brain so we actually have more knowledge and understanding in specific realms, but it is hyper-compartmentalised.

You can think of us as a network of supercomputers which has gone offline. They have all run their own individual part of the algorithm to completion and have their answers lopping round and round and ready to go, but the network is down so they cannot converge and output the answer. It hurts.

This is why we need bike tours :)

Or meditation or drugs or whatever, but it needs to be with an intent to solve these problems or they will not be solved.

We need to identify these minima which are causing us physical pain. Yes - it’s physical - but we’ve had it our whole lives so we do not know. Like someone with a lifelong toothache, we will chew on the other side of the mouth and avoid the things which activate the loops because the silo’d partial answers cause us serious discomfort if activated.

What we need to do is get on our bikes or go for a walk to open the dopamine tap and start to *write about the loops* which are bothering us. This lines them up for consolidation.

We then need to keep at it with the cycling or walking, and sit to meditate, or make some knives. We need to go into our hot bath and hum and move the vibrations around our heads to activate the minima - you will feel them, though if it’s your first time they will be everywhere so you may just feel pressure all over.

We need to get these silos primed for flushing and then we need to get out of that hot bath with our elevated dopamine and serotonin and we need to have a cold-ass shower to ramp dopamine even higher and we need to either a) sit and meditate or b) hold something heavy and rock back and forth or just do anything to regulate and keep doing that while allowing whatever discomfort is there to *just be*.

Do not push the discomfort away. Embrace it. This is your [forkstorm] starting to converge and you are going to probably induce a eureka moment of some description; just don’t go to the doctors telling them you’re Jesus if you do.

Something happens, or not. If it happens you write it down. Then you go to sleep. And you repeat the process. And repeat. And repeat. And your mind will become empty and your problems will be solved.

The process of consolidation needs elevated tonic dopamine. Zone 2 aerobic exercise (*not* high intensity work), repetitive actions, walking, humming, hot baths/saunas and cold plunges, meditation - any of these methods will work.

And once you hit your [cascade] you export it as fast as you can and you breathe a sigh of relief and jump for joy and then review it that evening because - make no mistake - it is going right back into the churn.

And maybe you jump on Twitter like Kanye or on LinkedIn like me and you declare to the world that you’re a genius. But if you do, you’ll probably regret it when you hit the [rollback] phase. Haha.

Anyway enjoy. Solve your life’s problems with a bike ride and a hot bath.

Win.

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