Lorwen Harris Nagle, PhD Profile picture
Feb 23 10 tweets 4 min read Read on X
The most misunderstood dopamine problem is:

Chronic Procrastination.

It's why your immune system is in chaos and you stay anxious.

Here are 7 steps to break this habit (share with someone you love): 🧵
Step 1: Protect Your Sleep Architecture.

Every all-nighter depletes tomorrow's motivation.
Every sleep debt compounds procrastination.

"Getting sufficient sleep each night literally restores your dopamine reserves."

7-9 hours isn't optional—neurologists say it's a MUST.
Step 2: Practice Non-Sleep Deep Rest (NSDR)

This isn't meditation, it's yoga nidra-- something more powerful--a rotation of consciousness.

• Lie down
• Body scan
• Long exhales
• Let go without sleeping

10 minutes of yoga nidra can increase dopamine by up to 65%.
Step 3: Get Morning Sunlight Exposure.

5-10 minutes of morning sun (no sunglasses) triggers a dopamine cascade that lasts all day.

Cloudy day?
Go for 20 minutes.

Your retinal cells signal your brain to produce motivation molecules: ↓
Procrastination usually isn’t “low dopamine.”
It’s a Protection Pattern.

Overthinking? People-pleasing? Perfectionism?
Each one creates a different procrastination loop.

Find yours → (Protection Pattern Quiz) offers.lorwenharrisnagle.com/protection-pat…Image
Step 4: Eat Tyrosine-Rich Foods.

Tyrosine is dopamine's building block. Without it, your brain can't manufacture motivation.

• Parmesan cheese
• Lean meats
• Almonds
• Avocados

You can't build neurotransmitters from thin air. Image
Step 5: Walk outdoors (no devices).

Movement regulates dopamine + stabilizes mood.

• 5x/week minimum
• Cardio + resistance

Feel air on your face. Ground under your feet.

Barefoot on grass/sand if safe.
Step 6: Break the All-or-Nothing Cyclical Thinking.

Here's where philosophy meets neuroscience:

Procrastinators often think in extremes.
"If I can't do it perfectly, why start?"

But dopamine responds to progress, not perfection.

Small actions create upward spirals.
Step 7: A tiny act of “will” reclaims your inner life. (2 minutes)

When you avoid, the unconscious runs your whole day.

When you choose one small difficulty, you return to presence.

Do one thing that your pattern hates—briefly, cleanly—
and the spell breaks.
If this thread hit home, you don’t need more tips.

You need a container that rewires the pattern.

Enrollment opens for Alchemical ART (3 months) on Mar 23–Apr 5.
Community begins Mon Apr 6 (12pm ET).

25 seats.

Reply ALCHEMY and I’ll send the details.

And, please follow @Lorwen108 for more insights on the journey to a better you.

Repost this for someone stuck in their head. 🙏

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More from @LORWEN108

Feb 22
The most dangerous, oddly glorified, yet overlooked problem in the world:

Overthinking and underacting.

It's why you're stressed, depressed, and your immune system is always in chaos.

Tolle's 9-step protocol is a overthinking: 🧵 Image
Image
Most people don't realize that unnecessary negative mind activity contributes significantly to their unhappiness.

Overthinking isn't just annoying - it's physically damaging your body...

When you think fearful thoughts, your body reacts as if you're in real danger.

Here's what's happening in the mind...
STEP #1: Recognize there's a voice in your head that never stops commenting on your life.

This realization alone can be transformative.

Most people are completely unaware they're trapped in continuous mental chatter.

Listen to Tolle talk about self-talk patterns...
Read 15 tweets
Feb 21
Most people use meditation to “calm down.”

But for some people, it does the opposite: it destabilizes the psyche.

Here are 10 warning signs your practice is backfiring 🧵

1. Emotions feel far away...like they're not quite yours. Image
Image
2. The “I don’t get angry anymore” illusion.

“I’ve transcended fear.”
“I never feel jealousy.”
“I’m never resentful.”

If it’s “gone,” it’s often just underground.
3. You “think” feelings instead of feel them.

Grief shows up → you analyze it.
Anger shows up → you intellectualize it.
Joy shows up → you detach from it.
Read 12 tweets
Feb 19
Your body is stuck on ON.

Here are 7 vagus nerve resets to switch it off 🧵

1. Ice on your face in the morning Image
Ice on your face = a fast nervous system reset.

It wakes you up and can trigger the dive reflex—a built-in signal that helps the body settle.

Try this: One ice cube on cheeks around eyes for 20–30 seconds.
2. Humming (the “throat switch”).

Vibration is a direct message to your system: "you’re safe".

Try this: hum one steady note for 60 seconds (yes, really).
Read 10 tweets
Feb 18
"Some people die at 25 and aren't buried until 75."
---Benjamin Franklin

• Stuck in their parents' dream
• Lost in soulless jobs
• Tangled in traumas

If this is you, here are 6 laws for finding your purpose:

1. Your Purpose Is Expiring Soon. A THREAD Image
Image
Jung knew 90% of our life is ruled by the unconscious.

Few people become who they are truly meant to be.

We exist in the personal unconsicous and call it "real life".
2. Your Shadow Commands Your Mind

Jung discovered we all carry a "shadow"—the parts of ourselves we've rejected or hidden.

• Anger we've suppressed
• Desires we're ashamed of
• Qualities we criticize in others

These don't disappear. They influence us from the unconscious.
Read 12 tweets
Feb 16
In my 30s and 40s...

• I made reckless choices.
• Anxiety trapped me for years.

Then I found Martin Heidegger.

He taught me how to stop living FALSELY.

Here’s his 4-step protocol for mental freedom: 🧵 Image
Heidegger was a philosopher and when anxiety hit, his
Salience Network (SN) yelled: “Something is off.”

He also noticed he was spinning false stories:

“What does this mean about me?”
"Why am I a loser?"

(His DMN was activated)

But then he did something very different.

He observed his thoughts.

And, by observing, he came up with a cure for 21st century anxiety:
(I'll summarize below...)
Step 1: Treat anxiety as a signal, not a symptom.

Don’t ask: “How do I stop this?”
Ask: “What false life is being exposed?”

Practice (60 seconds):
Name it plainly:
“This anxiety is pointing at ____.”

One sentence. No spirals. Image
Read 11 tweets
Feb 15
The most influential psychologist of the 20th century wrote private letters to his children.

They weren’t about therapy.

They were about how to survive being human without losing your soul.

Here are 9 principles Carl Jung QUIETLY taught his children—that most people never hear about: 🧵Image
First, understand who Jung was:

• Medical doctor + psychiatrist
• Founder of analytical psychology
• Broke with Freud at the height of his career
• Studied myth, religion, alchemy, and dreams
• Treated world leaders, artists, and thinkers

But his most radical work wasn’t in books.

It was in how he taught his children to live.Image
Principle 1: “Do not become what the world wants from you.”

Jung warned his children that society rewards adaptation—but punishes authenticity.

“If you live only as you are expected, you will become empty.”

The task wasn’t to be successful.

It was to become whole.
Read 13 tweets

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