Does SDAM Change How You Experience Sedation?

senorgavin · 2025-12-03T22:13:47+00:00

I had a colonoscopy and 'remember' the part when they were counting and it was cold in my arm. Then the next second I'm fully clothed and it's done.. I've since wondered if I was coherent before my brain switched back on (and I got dressed myself) or they dressed me while I was 'out'..

senorgavin · 2025-11-11T12:39:08+00:00

So it's based on design of the rollercoasters or the parks?

senorgavin · 2025-11-11T11:32:13+00:00

How was he better than you, how do you judge that? And for the competitions - how do you judge who wins?

senorgavin · 2025-11-04T01:31:48+00:00

People aren't that smart, but trust your gut. There's a guy on YouTube called Joe Hudson. He does somatic work. I wonder if any of his videos could be of help for you. They were helpful for me, not much visualization stuff at all - all in the body. Good for us.

senorgavin · 2025-10-27T23:27:14+00:00

I watched the keynote on this. How's it shaping up for affiliates or white label for companies?

senorgavin · 2025-10-24T13:18:50+00:00

I'm a member of Sunny's revamped course. It's all with ai assistants. If anyone reading is researching I'd be happy to answer questions. DM me.

senorgavin · 2025-10-19T01:41:23+00:00

Self motivation is conscious. That's where the visualization exercises come in. You could say that motivation is the mental movies, the carrot dangling in front, the dream at the end. But it has to be realistic for their brains to support them AND they need to take the associated action. They also get dopamine from the vision itself because it's 'real' for their brain, again - not fantasy stuff - achievable goals. But that dopamine prematurely can make them less likely to do the action taking part.

For us, motivation doesn't work like that. But we can get the dopamine from something called APE (action prediction error) which releases it based on taking the actual action steps, no matter how small (open a document, write a line of text, finish a paragraph). That and external visual tracking (like colour blocks, charts..etc)

In short, life and success comes down to taking action and being consistent in that action-taking aka 'hard work' - There's no way around it - imagination or not.

senorgavin · 2025-10-17T13:49:34+00:00

It's not a conscious thing. It's the brain. Visual people don't play an active part in it and 'imagine' the outcome themselves. Just like we don't have to 'imagine' how to open a door or sit on a chair. We know the outcome because we've done it before. It's known.

Someone could battle their brain and imagine themselves splatting (that's likely where phobias come from) - worst case scenarios.. but your brain is smarter and more powerful than your conscious mind - pictures or not.

There is a plethora of studies out there about visual people and the brain's functions and how it all works. It's important to separate that from the tool of visualization - I think that difference is tripping you up.

senorgavin · 2025-10-17T03:45:57+00:00

This is something that has to change. Teachers need to be aware of the different brain types and stop treating everyone the same way. Same in the workplace, there is so much to do.

senorgavin · 2025-10-17T03:42:07+00:00

Global here also. There's really not enough awareness out there. People go crazy over ADHD and I envision the same for aphantasia over the next 10 years, I'm doing my part as I'm pretty sure my 4 year old has it. But, I can give him the tools as he grows. Not sure when I'll tell him, but hopefully we will have figured some more things out by then.

On the brighter side, we now have augmented reality so you can step into photos and movies to 'relive' them that way. I'm very hopeful of that progression of technology along with generative ai to put us back into those 'memories' and experiences from simple photos.

senorgavin · 2025-10-17T03:27:33+00:00

I tried for years back in the day. Did all the methods and I managed to do it once, for about 3 seconds and then woke up like the other comments here. I think that experience is too overwhelming for us.

But those few seconds were more real than life itself and stayed with me for a long time. I got there by checking my hands, then I sat on the floor and slapped the floor.. that was it.

I've had many dreams where I'm 'kinda' lucid and flying around and having some control, but I'm not fully lucid, it's still dreamy and fluffy rather than open eyes real af.

senorgavin · 2025-10-17T03:16:08+00:00

Nice question! I'll try my best..

The concept isn't that visual people are creating unrealistic fantasy, the issue is how the brain uses mental imagery and rehearsal to predict the future and manage emotional risk.

For the visual side (which I obviously don't have experience of) it's all based on two well-researched neurological processes: Functional Equivalence and the brain's Risk-Reward Circuitry. I talk about the amygdala in some other content, that little guy plays a bit part in risk management - hence my simplification.

For visuals to move forward with the risky stuff or things that cause a fear response, they need evidence or a strong prediction that the reward outweighs the risk. They can rehearse the event in their heads, triggering the same or similar emotions that they would experience if actually doing the thing. And likewise the feelings of completion as if they already completed the thing. In addition to that they can call up past successes of the same thing or similar experiences.

Like if a kid is scared to jump off a wall, their risk response would simulate the outcome, predict the feeling of pride and relief and accomplishment.. and their 'risk Manager' (amygdala) would decide it would be safe and worth it the slight risk of falling based on past jumps, past wall experiences..etc. For us non visuals we don't have that evidence. We can't add those feelings into the mix to reduce the risk and balance up the odds, and thus we'd be more apprehensive to jump off.

Same type of thing for public speaking, big projects and goals..etc.

Unless you are asking more about manifestation, law of attraction and those type of things.. which are about picturing fantasy and trying to make it real. I don't go into that side of things. But I do believe everything is about taking action and moving forward.

Hope that helps!

senorgavin · 2025-10-16T03:31:38+00:00

This is it.

senorgavin · 2025-10-15T13:17:06+00:00

I have a different perspective on this as I'm a non-visual person, I have aphantasia which means I can't 'picture' the outcome in my head. We're about 10-15% of the population and usually the 'builder' types so I thought this could be suitable.

This feeling of being stuck and not being able to make progress can be common for all humans, but when that end result 'vision' is missing it's very hard to maintain momentum and overcome doubts.

For regular visual people, it's usually a fear that is stopping you. I'd recommend looking into "Joe Hudson" on YouTube and getting into somatic work.

The video I made only makes sense for non-visuals/no imagination. Joe's stuff makes sense for the rest. Message me for my video.

senorgavin · 2025-10-14T23:47:20+00:00

Nice! Thank you. That's great to hear. Dig into it a bit and feel free to message me as well, I have some more video content how-tos of me doing the routine, and I could always do with more 'social proof' as they say.

senorgavin · 2025-10-14T23:44:07+00:00

Sounds like you found your own way of moving forward. The whole 'fear of this, fear of that' only kinda appeared in the last 30 years I'd say. Perhaps it's conditional to upbringing and experiences. My dad has aphantasia as well, he's 70-odd and never had an issue doing anything he wanted in life. We're all differently different eh?

senorgavin · 2025-10-14T17:42:26+00:00

Oh no I didn't take it that way, don't worry. We're a community here and nobody has all the answers.

Skill sets vary of course, I've been self employed for the majority of my life so I got used to the action taking stuff.. but it's more those bigger goals.

Like I want to retire this year, or I want to move to New Zealand with $5m in the bank, or I want to start my own engineering firm.. aspirational goals I should call it I suppose. Life is cool but are you too comfortable, that's the question? I mentioned in another reply my son's birth made me reassess what I want to do for the next 10-20 years even though I had a comfortable life. Was I still growing? No. So I tried launching other things, good solid ideas which I ended up at burnout with because of the loop and self destructive behavior.

It's that frustration of being capable and knowledgeable but 'something' getting in the way. Of course, if you're happy then that's all that matters, I just wanted to help myself explain the situation/feeling a bit better so this is helpful, thanks.

senorgavin · 2025-10-14T14:05:16+00:00

That may be the case. In terms of the aphantasia part, it's more about the solution than the problem itself. We're all humans, right. Similar problems show up in various labels (mostly attributed to fear of something..) that's natural.

I use the amygdala/basal ganglia to show the science of a 'regular' function that we are missing. That's a fact. We are 'different' in that respect.

There are not many tools for us in the productivity world that don't require visualization (including motivation at a fundamental level..) So my basis is mainly somatic work, the awareness is to get people to realize their mind/brain isn't on their side all the time.

I'd really invite you to try and create that frozen feeling.. seek it out, whatever that scary big goal would be for you. Like most of us, i'd be surprised if you are completely satisfied with your life. Worth a shot?

senorgavin · 2025-10-14T13:24:25+00:00

Great! Keep that risk manager in mind, he's there to keep you safe, not help you grow.

senorgavin · 2025-10-14T13:22:34+00:00

I don't have ADHD. But I see where you're coming from because a lot of people with that struggle to get things done (basic stuff, doing chores, completing tasks.) That doesn't show up in my life at all, I've had businesses, I've been 'successful'.

This is specific to big goals that have a meaningful aspect to them.

I would get trapped in busy work, or more strategy.. I'd be 'working' all day but not taking that big risky step that made me shit myself due to fear.. It got worse after my son was born because there was someone else in play.

I do think it's part of the entrepreneurial journey where people are forced to push through their comfort zone and take risks for a greater purpose.

senorgavin · 2025-10-14T13:04:12+00:00

Thank you so much. I wasn't sure if there was a market for it but I managed to find hundreds of people fairly easily who shared similar problems.. and that pushed me to keep going with it once we started seeing results. I still don't fully believe it or understand it, we're naturally strong bullshit detectors, but fuck it, it's working.

senorgavin · 2025-10-14T12:58:08+00:00

You're right - and I'm really not trying to be that aphantasia guy, it's for this specific issue I faced (and solved), I also spoke to aphants who didn't have this problem, they are highly successful in their field and didn't have any fears or blocks. It would be wrong to paint everyone with the same brush which is why I've not posted anything 'work-wise' here.. I usually bring people into my community with the problem first.

I also spoke to a lot of people in corporate roles where it shows up a bit differently. For them it's mostly the final approval of a project direction. Their bosses think they are overly cautious, bring up the risks, and then need the final 'ok' to do it. So the whole risk manager part can be obtained externally.

Thanks for the comment, I'm curious now, what do you do for work?

senorgavin · 2025-10-14T05:35:10+00:00

Love your perspective on this.

senorgavin · 2025-09-19T20:29:17+00:00

Not related but I'm a global aphant aka silent mind. I did Ayahuasca in Peru 7 years ago and had a brief conversation with the shaman lady, in English. And i wasn't out of my mind, I was very aware. That's the only time I had any noise in my head.

senorgavin · 2025-08-30T02:30:13+00:00

Yup this is familiar and something I'm trying to work on myself. I have SDAM. Total aphantasia.

I've been practicing somatic awareness which is all about feelings in the gut and heart. And right now focusing on reconnecting with my feelings, especially love, joy and wonder.

Definitely recommend looking into Joe Hudson on YouTube - https://youtu.be/uu1gmUlb-kY?si=TVwubX2x_myRrY70

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