Matt's Blog

Depression is a disorder of motivational systems. It drastically reduces motivation sometimes even to the point of losing the will to live. If you have never had severe depression, then you probably have no understanding of that concept. As human beings we take these motivational drives so seriously that if someone tries to convince us that our conceptions of what underlies our motivational systems is wrong, most people will resort to anger, aggression and violence pretty quickly to defend them. We consider directly attacking someone’s belief system as the second most offensive human behavior next to violence. This idea plays a part in all wars. Even in countries where we believe in freedom of speech when someone starts attacking our life philosophy and worldview we realize that we don’t like freedom of speech as much as we thought. Our belief systems provide a framework into which we can organize all of our motivational systems in our psyche in a way that makes sense of them and s

I don’t write because I like or want to write. I write because I have to write. I feel compelled to tell my story. Writing has always been really hard for me because it seems I am never able to accurately transcribe my thoughts into words. I have ideas that are well-formed and beautiful in my head, but something is always lost in translation.  As an introvert most of my thought energy is directed inward as opposed to the people and the world around me. Now, let’s not confuse thinking and feeling. They are distinct functions and originate in different areas of the brain. The brain is an incredible organ designed to take in sensory information and piece together a picture of reality. It then filters that information based on what’s most urgent and important, applies an emotional value to that information, which triggers a physiological response and impels behavior. But once we’ve felt the urge to do something we have the opportunity to rationally consider our behavior (I call this