“Feeling” is the mechanism that allows a system to perceive its own condition.
It works like a thermometer whose scale goes from intense pain to extreme pleasure.
What this thermometer actually measures is the deviation between where you are now and your goal of equilibrium (homeostasis).
How the System Thermometer Works
DEVIATION:
If you lack water, the system generates the “thirst” signal (pain).
The feeling is not random.
It is information.
INTENSITY:
The greater the deviation from the goal, the stronger the feeling.
The stronger the feeling, the greater the urgency of action.
FUNCTION:
The brain is configured to escape pain and obtain pleasure as quickly as possible in order to restore stability.
Its primary objective is balance.
The Route Simulator: Your Greatest Leverage
Our unique human ability is that we are not just passengers of instinct.
We have access to a powerful tool: the Route Simulator (our Imagination).
Unlike animals, humans can use imagination to generate feedback signals internally.
By thinking about a future scenario, you can “pre-feel” the satisfaction of arrival or the pain of failure before you even lift the anchor.
The “feeling” generated by imagination is what makes a goal real for your system.
Without emotional signal, a goal is just an idea.
With emotional signal, it becomes direction.
In Practice: The Ship in the Financial Storm
Imagine that you need to organise your debts.
The Standard Alarm
When you think about the painful task, the system detects a shift toward pain.
It triggers the “fear and anxiety” siren.
The ship manoeuvres toward procrastination (for example, watching a series).
The Captain’s Intervention
Before opening the accounts, you switch on your “simulator”.
You vividly project the final destination.
Six months from now, with an emergency reserve.
Feeling peace of mind and financial freedom.
The New Signal
By maintaining this simulation until you feel the pleasure in your body, you create a positive feedback signal that competes with the anxiety siren.
Now, the system is not just running away from pain.
It is navigating toward pleasure that it has already virtually “tasted”.
Questions for Reflection
(Dashboard Reading)
Stop and analyse your system’s indicators.
- Think of a goal you are putting off.
What is the “pain alarm” (boredom, fear, discomfort) that your system is generating about it right now? - What vivid and detailed “pleasure alarm” could you create in your route simulator to compete with that negative signal?
- If the thoughts we choose are the paints that colour the signs in our lives, what kind of “artist” have you been lately?
What colours (fear, hope, gratitude) have you been using most often?
What Comes Next
In the next post, we will explore where all these signals are stored.
We will enter the System Loop Archive and understand how motivation is actually the reactivation of feedback patterns you already have.
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