Paralysis by Lucrezia Dal Toso

Anxiety is a normal and often healthy emotion. However, when a person regularly feels disproportionate
levels of anxiety, it might become a medical disorder. Anxiety disorders form a category of mental health
diagnoses that lead to excessive nervousness, fear, apprehension, and worry. These disorders alter how a
person processes emotions and behave, also causing physical symptoms. Mild anxiety might be vague and
unsettling, while severe anxiety may seriously affect day-to-day living. Anxiety disorders affect 40 million
people in the United States. It is the most common group of mental illnesses in the country. However, only
36.9 percent of people with an anxiety disorder receive treatment. What is anxiety? Disproportionate
reactions of tension and worry characterize anxiety. The American Psychological Association (APA) defines
anxiety as
PARALYSIS
“an emotion characterized by feelings of tension, worried thoughts and physical changes like
increased blood pressure.” Knowing the difference between normal feelings of anxiety and an anxiety
disorder requiring medical attention can help a person identify and treat the condition. When does anxiety
need treatment? While anxiety can cause distress, it is not always a medical condition. When an individual
faces potentially harmful or worrying triggers, feelings of anxiety are not only normal but necessary for
survival. Since the earliest days of humanity, the approach of predators and incoming danger sets off alarms
in the body and allows evasive action. These alarms become noticeable in the form of a raised heartbeat,
sweating, and increased sensitivity to surroundings. The danger causes a rush of adrenalin, a hormone
and chemical messenger in the brain, which in turn triggers these anxious reactions in a process called
the “fight-or-flight’ response. This prepares humans to physically confront or flee any potential threats
to safety. For many people, running from larger animals and imminent danger is a less pressing concern
than it would have been for early humans. Anxieties now revolve around work, money, family life, health,
and other crucial issues that demand a person’s attention without necessarily requiring the ‘fight-or-flight’
reaction. The nervous feeling before an important life event or during a difficult situation is a natural echo
of the original ‘fight-or-flight’ reaction. It can still be essential to survival – anxiety about being hit by a car
when crossing the street, for example, means that a person will instinctively look both ways to avoid danger.
Anxiety disorders The duration or severity of an anxious feeling can sometimes be out of proportion to the
original trigger, or stressor. Physical symptoms, such as increased blood pressure and nausea, may also
develop. These responses move beyond anxiety into an anxiety disorder. The APA describes a person with
anxiety disorder as “having recurring intrusive thoughts or concerns.” Once anxiety reaches the stage of a
disorder, it can interfere with daily function. Symptoms While a number of different diagnoses constitute
anxiety disorders, the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) will often include the following:
restlessness, and a feeling of being “on-edge” uncontrollable feelings of worry increased irritability
concentration difficulties sleep difficulties, such as problems in falling or staying asleep. While these
symptoms might be normal to experience in daily life, people with GAD will experience them to persistent
or extreme levels. GAD may present as vague, unsettling worry or a more severe anxiety that disrupts dayto-day
living. Types Panic disorder is a type of anxiety disorder. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual
of Mental Health Disorders: Fifth Edition (DSM-V) classifies anxiety disorders into several main types.
In previous editions of DSM, anxiety disorders included obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and posttraumatic
stress disorder (PTSD), as well as acute stress disorder. However, the manual now no longer
groups these mental health difficulties under anxiety. Anxiety disorders now include the following
diagnoses. Generalized anxiety disorder: This is a chronic disorder involving excessive, long-lasting
anxiety and worries about nonspecific life events, objects, and situations. GAD is the most common
anxiety disorder, and people with the disorder are not always able to identify the cause of their
anxiety. Panic disorder: Brief or sudden attacks of intense terror and apprehension characterize panic
disorder. These attacks can lead to shaking, confusion, dizziness, nausea, and breathing difficulties.
Panic attacks tend to occur and escalate rapidly, peaking after 10 minutes. However, a panic attack
might last for hours. Panic disorders usually occur after frightening experiences or prolonged stress
but may also occur without a trigger. An individual experiencing a panic attack may misinterpret
it as a life-threatening illness, and may make drastic changes in behavior to avoid future attacks.

PARALYSIS
by Lucrezia Dal Toso

Introduction of the author
Being alone makes you think.
And sometimes thinking isn’t good.
Yourself is the only one around.
Not just one, two of you, actually: one
you that feels and thinks and another
you that watches yourself feeling and
thinking. Almost a role game. But the
observer yourself sometimes does
not appear immediately, but remains
silent to observe. And there come the
hardest moments. When the breath
gets shorter. When the head weighs
down. When no word or action seems
worth it. Because that’s when the mind
takes over. And no one, no one but
yourself can help you get through
that moment. I say moment because
it won’t last forever. There are good
and bad moments. They all go by
and they all end. To overcome a fear,
you have to look it in the face, touch
it with your hand, dive yourself into it
and recognize it. Only after you have
been in close contact with it you can
see the fear from the outside and say
“It was just a phase. And I managed to
overcome it with my own strength.”
4 5

Remember
when you were a kid
you were told to
think twice in order
to avoid making mistakes?
What if the mistake was thinking twice?
6 7

LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
I didn’t think my mind coud be so
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
LOUD
8 9

This is your last
chance.
After this, there is no turning back.
YOU TAKE THE
BLUE PILL.
YOU TAKE THE
RED PILL.
The story ends, you wake up in your
bed and believe whatever you want to
believe.
You stay in Wonderland and I show you
how deep the rabbit-hole goes.
10 11

Introduction...........................................................................4
Overthinking.......................................................................58
Human mind........................................................................14
How to deal.........................................................................90
Brain&feelings.....................................................................30
Yourself..............................................................................108
Left ‘n’ Right..........................................................................46
Credits................................................................................124

1
HUMAN MIND

HUMAN
=
MIND
=
LIFE
Humans are beings gifted with intelligence, physically stored in
the brain and symbolically in the mind. In every action they perform, this
capacity is in continuous development and evolution.
Every movement, every thought, every goal achieved is thanks to the mind.
Consequently, the mind allows us to compose the wonderful mosaic of life.
I don’t like the idea that I’m not in control of my life.
from Matrix
16 17

“Cognitive science” does not refer to an organic set
of theories, but to a multiplicity of addresses and
approaches to the general problem of how a mind
knows as a thinking system, whether natural or
artificial.
The human brain is the best example of a biological
system that makes thinking and other mental
performances (language, actions, feelings) possible.
The computer is the best model of machine, which,
using a complex operating system, can simulate
some typical performances of the mind.
The cognitive sciences are cognitive
neuroscience, cognitive psychology,
artificial intelligence and cognitive
linguistics. Cognitive neuroscience, in
particular, studies the interaction of
the mind with the brain, or rather, with
the central nervous system.
A basic alternative emerges from the comparison
between neuroscience and philosophy of mind: that
between dualists and physicalists.
The dualists admit the existence of a “mind” with its
own characteristics and performances (such as the
intentionality of acts), irreducible to the underlying
physical processes.
The problem of mind-brain interaction
The expression philosophy of the mind refers to
one of the directions of Anglo-Saxon philosophy,
cultivated by analytical philosophers.
The reflection on how we can represent cognitive
processes and the interaction between mind and
body is proposed as interdisciplinary research
in which the philosopher cannot invoke any
metaphysical primacy.
He accepts from the cognitive sciences the
empirical basis, in the absence of which
philosophical analysis risks being translated into
a discourse without assumptions.
Physicalists deny that such a reality exists, and they
tend towards various forms of monism, united by
the idea that complete knowledge of the brain
leaves nothing unexpected in the mind, beyond
the functioning of the central nervous system. What
seems to prevail among the latter is therefore a form
of reductionism.
Sometimes this term is given
a “substantial” and almost
metaphysical meaning: as of
those who intend to deny reality
to mental phenomena, identifying
them with physical states.
But there can also be an
epistemological, not metaphysical
reductionism.
It is not intended, that is, to
deny reality to consciousness,
but to construct a unified theory
that respects the phenomenal
diversity of the mind while arriving
at a single causal explanation,
applicable both to physical events
and to concomitant mental events.
18

Exposure.
That’s the only thing that works.
Everything else is just talk.
You have to have to courage to stay
in the situation that frightens.
And then you’ll learn
that fear isn’t dangerous.
The thoughts distort reality, not the other way around.
from Antichrist
21

It came to me when I tried to classify
your species and I realized that you’re
not actually mammals.
Every mammal on this planet instinctively
develops a natural equilibrium with the
surrounding environment.
But you humans do not.
from Matrix
22

The dualism of Popper-Eccles
That of mind/body interaction is a traditional problem of philosophical
reflection. The development of new scientific disciplines today tends to propose
it again as a problem of the relationship between the mind - or self-awareness -
and the brain.
The most authoritative exponents
of the dualist model are the
philosopher Karl Popper (1902-
94) and the neurobiologist and
Nobel Prize winner John Eccles
(1903-97). Their thesis (The self and
its brain, 1977) is that the mind,
self-conscious thought, is an entity
ontologically distinct from brain
matter and is able to influence it
causally. Eccles identifies in the
left frontal cortex of the human
brain some microstructures, called
“psychons”, which would have the
function of communicating to the
brain the “wishes” of the conscious
mind (his critics will compare them
with irony to Descartes’ pineal
gland). Popper frames Eccles’
discoveries in a broader theoretical
paradigm, called “Three Worlds
Theory”, which assumes a complex
model of interaction.
The self and his brain
The core of the mind/brain problem is the
qualitative difference and categories between the
nature of brain structures and processes and the
nature of mental objects and processes.
What is the relationship between mental activity
and the electrical and chemical activation of a
certain number of brain cells? In what sense can
one say that a thought or emotion depends on
the brain?
In particular, the conscious self is a phenomenon
that is difficult to reduce to a set of brain
processes, just as the intentionality of mental
acts (which allows us to think both real and
unreal objects) is difficult to explain as a material
epiphenomenon.
Schematically, two main models of solution can
be distinguished: a dualist and interactionist
model and a monist and materialist model.
The 3-Worlds Theory of Popper
Most people would easily agree that the scientific method is not the only way to
bring about knowledge.
Popper distinguishes, at the level of
regional ontologies, three worlds:
World 1, consisting of matter
and physical processes; World 2,
consisting of mental states; World
3, consisting of the products of the
human mind (abstract concepts,
scientific theories and other
cultural objects). No purely physical
system can grasp the abstract
contents of World 3. Therefore
there must be mental activities
(World 2) that grasp the objects of
World 3 and then interact causally
with the events of World 1.
Critics have objected that if
electronic computers can simulate
thought, and if the brain is a
“biological machine” that functions
like a computer, we would have
an example of direct interaction
between World 1 and World 3.
Popper counter-objectioned that
this is only an analogy and not an
appropriate account of how the
principles of World 3 (including
logic) govern the activities of
World 1.
24

My mind is running so fast
and I can’t focus.
26 27

2

Right now we are putting immense pressures on
ourselves to make the most of this time squeezing
out any creativity we have inside us.
Focus on what makes your heart happy, what calms
your mind and do things just because it brings you
joy. Not because you want to check it off a list.
But pressure is a killer of creativity.
32 33

The mind and the brain, feelings and emotions
In the structure of the brain, each specific area corresponds to a
function and therefore an emotion which in turn generates a feeling.
The interaction between all brain areas and between the right lobe
(Broca’s area) and the left lobe (Wernicke’s area), allows a perfect
functioning of the homeostatic processes of each individual, thus creating
the development of a conscious subjectivity endowed with ethical sense
and morality.
What are the areas of the brain
and what functions do they have?
The two hemispheres of the brain
control the opposite part of the body
and therefore, if there are cardiovascular
accidents, one part
or another of the brain will be
compromised.
First of all, I would like to point out that the
nervous system and the brain, which is part
of it, are very complex structures. The aim
is to explain, in the simplest way possible,
the functioning of the most important
organ of our body.
Brain stem
It is located at the base of the brain. Vital functions such as: heart rhythm,
breathing and blood pressure and digestion are functions controlled by this
area. It is also a bridge of communication between the brain and the rest of the
body, through the spinal cord. The brainstem is in turn divided into: bulb or
myelencephalon and midbrain. This is the engine of the brain and the centre of
the development of consciousness. A compromise or damage to the brainstem
constitutes a total blackout, of all the most important functions, leading precisely
to a loss of identity.
The brain is the organ that serves to
explain the control and regulation of body
functions. This organ is composed of
thousands of nerve cells that respond to
different stimuli sent by our body and the
external environment.
Cerebellum
It is the organ that maintains and posture and is involved in all the motor
processes of our body and coordinates all our movements.
Learning is always a painful process.
from Lucy
The brain is divided into three areas:
brainstem, cerebellum and brain proper.
Brain
The brain is the organ that receives the stimuli and translates them into
responses, it is related to emotions, somato-sensory structure and memories.
For example, when we burn ourselves and feel a sensation of strong physical
pain, an internal imbalance of our equilibrium and of our basic feeling takes
place inside us, starting already from the lower or primordial neural bases that
communicate with the upper ones in an automatic way.
35

I’m drowning in my own mind.
37

It is also important to mention two other important structures that make up the brain:
the limbic system and cerebral cortex.
limbic system
cerebral cortex
It processes emotions. Inside
the same we find two structures:
a structure called amygdala
and an insula, which control,
process and store our emotional
reactions.
The amygdala is activated
both when we feel sensations
of taste and disgust, the insula
only when we have unpleasant
sensations.
It is composed of two cerebral
hemispheres, the right and the
left, which in turn are divided
into four lobes.
The cerebral cortex consists of
a very thin laminar layer, and if
an accident of cardiovascular
order occurs, the area in the
opposite direction where the
injury or trauma occurred will be
compromised.
38

this is not
a game.
41

You can only depend on yourself. The cavalry ain’t coming.
from The pursuit of happiness
42 43

3
LEFT ’n’ RIGHT

TRAPPED.

The two hemispheres
Conscious thinking is processed in the
frontal lobes, and it is there that problems
are solved; it is the area where feedback
skills, i.e. re-evaluation of errors, and problem
solving skills, i.e. the ability to intuitively solve
problems quickly and optimally, finding the
best solution in the shortest possible time, are
developed.
Composition
Each hemisphere is composed of four
areas or lobes: frontal lobes, parietal lobes
(concerning the perception of stimuli related
to touch, pressure, temperature and pain),
temporal lobes (concerning the perception
of auditory stimuli and memory) and finally
occipital lobes (related to visual and auditory
stimuli).
50 51

MY MIND IS A MESS
Right hemisphere
Intuition and recognition of faces, voices and
melodies is controlled by the right cerebral
hemisphere, where memories and thoughts
are manifested through images.
Left hemisphere
The verbal sphere, on the other hand, in
most people is controlled by the left cerebral
hemisphere. If this area suffers injuries, the
person concerned will have great difficulty
in writing and speaking, as well as having
serious problems in expressing themselves
and understanding the language of others.

You cannot escape.
The left hemisphere is also important for
the ability of analysis, logical reasoning,
numerical problem-solving, algorithms,
decision-making and creative ability, and
the development of the resulting feedback
and problem-solving skills.
55

4
OVERTHINKING

overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?
overthinking?

Most of the times, you’re scared about things you don’t know.
Getting deeper into them could help you not to have fear of them.
Knowledge kills fear
It is a difficult time, of anxiety and worry, the
important thing is to transform our fear.
Nothing comes at random, we take advantage
of being at home to meditate, to reflect on
many things, I am sure that this experience will
be very useful to improve ourselves.
It is important that we take great care of the preventive function, starting
from two fundamental energetic principles:
1. Awaken our original Qi with the practice of meditation.
2. Strengthen the Immune System through the activation of Wei Qi.
In Lingshu we talk about Wei Qi compared to Zheng Qi, the human Qi.
Wei Qi is supported by the flowing Blood, the Ying Qi (nutritive Qi)
present in the Lung that transforms Wei Qi.
Wei Qi is represented with the color Gold, like the stars, like the Aura, is
very precious.
The Tibetans who live at a height of over 3000 meters, with rarefied
oxygen, have developed this method to strengthen the Immune System,
through this Meditation with Mantras.
I can control my mind.
62 63

What is the most resilient parasite? Bacteria?
A virus? An intestinal worm? An idea.
Resilient... highly contagious. Once an
idea has taken hold of the brain it’s almost
impossible to eradicate. An idea that is fully
formed - fully understood - that sticks; right
in there somewhere.
from Inception
65

Now let’s talk about how the human body’s
metabolism can cope with the virus, that’s why
we need a perfect Immune System.
1
The virus has a very different nature from the microbe, the
microbe can live alone being endowed with a DNA, it feeds
on proteins that make it autonomous in survival; this is not the
case of the virus, for this reason it is more aggressive, it has
mainly RNA, and it has the need of a living being that feeds it
and sustains its survival.
2
The virus enters our body through the nose, descends to the
throat and reaches the lungs, it can also penetrate through
the skin - in Chinese medicine it is said that it penetrates
the Taiyang and Yangming layer and then spreads into the
tissues - and penetrates the cells, because the virus needs to
penetrate the cell to feed itself.
3
The virus penetrates the center of the cell, pushing the
human body to produce proteins that nourish it and ensure
its reproduction and spread to other cells. It is during this
process that the virus causes infection with manifestations
such as fever, fatigue, sore throat, dry cough...
Note: at this stage it is
very important to drink
very hot, a fresh ginger
infusion, viruses are
damaged by heat.
I can control my mind.
I can control my mind.
I can control my mind.
I can control my mind.
66 67

The body is the theatre of the human mind.
Antonio Damasio
69

4
The human body is wonderful, it reacts immediately
and in the Blood produces APC (Antigen-Presenting Cell) are a category of
cells of the Immune System, which come out of the blood vessels, these cells
understand that something is going wrong in the body, they understand that
there are cells attacked by the virus. This is because the proteins produced
to feed the virus are different from the others and these Antigens recognize
that the cells attacked by the virus are different, that they do not belong to
the same family.
5
These Antigens surround these cells like an envelope,
they build a wall around these unrecognized cells, in
order to unlock their development and spread, the first
action is therefore to isolate the cells infected by the
virus. This is the first reaction of the body to defend itself,
which can manifest itself with even very high fever.
6
7
This reaction must be very fast to be effective, if the
reaction is too slow, the development of the virus in
the body causes an infection in the cells, resulting in
an “explosion” that spreads the virus in the body very
quickly.
To counteract the spread of the virus, the APC cell
surrounds the affected cell but at the same time sends
a signal for help, in the Lymph (the Lymph is also part of
the Immune System) flow lymphocytes, Thl CD4, ready to
defend us and surround the affected cell.
I can control my mind.
I can control my mind.
I can control my mind.
I can control my mind.
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I can control my mind.
I can control my mind.
I can control my mind.
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I can control my mind.
70 71

He’s having a migraine attack. Imagine someone
saws her head, fills it with razor blades and shakes
it with all the strength.
from Shutter Island
73

8
When this protein comes into
contact with the cell affected
by the virus we have a chemical
reaction that produces a
substance named IL-12, this
substance re-enters the Thl cell,
strengthens it and stimulates it
to produce another cell called
CD 8 or Killer cell that has the
task of killing the virus.
9
When these T cells are effective
and work well, a chemical
reaction is produced in the
Lymph, Killer cells are formed
to kill the virus. This is a part
of the process, Thl CD4, is
very important, because it
corresponds to the Heart Spirit
in the human body, it is the
master of Thought, if these cells
are not well developed you can
not have a good Immune System
to fight the virus.
How does the human body react when the virus enters the body?
In the book “Shang Han Lun” (classic cold disease) two levels are described:
1. Taiyang level: chills and
then fever.
The reaction in the body
of this phenomenon is
chills and fever.
2. Shaoyang level (deeper
than the Taiyang level):
biliary bladder level; in
this book the symptoms
are described very well,
in addition to the first two
symptoms, we add: dry
throat and bitter mouth.
10
12
It is the spirit of the Heart which,
like a control unit, directs this
process. It takes care of the
production of Killer cells but
at the same time these T cells
establish contact with the blood
circulation, and it is in the Blood
that the B cells or B Lymphocytes
are activated, very useful for
producing Antibodies.
To date we are faced with two
situations:
Weak Immune System: we risk infection.
Strong Immune System: we are able to
produce Antibodies to defend ourselves.
In the future there may be a third situation:
Vaccine.
Today we also have some drugs that can
be useful but the most important aspect is
certainly the production of Antibodies.
11
Starting from Th1 we have
simultaneously: in the Lymph
the production of Killer Cells
and in the Blood of B cells, if
these two systems work well
our Immune System creates
the Antibodies necessary to
protect us.
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I can control my mind.
74 75

Let’s recapitulate the four key symptoms.
CHILLS
+
FEVER
+
DRY THROAT
+
BITTER MOUTH
76 77

I don’t know... I’m just worried.
Future is scary.
WHAT FUTURE?
78 79

I see all this potential,
and I see it squandered.
God damn it, an entire
generation pumping gas,
waiting tables - slaves with
white collars. Advertising
has us chasing cars and
clothes, working jobs we
hate so we can buy shit
we don’t need. We’re the
middle children of history,
man. No purpose or place.
We have no Great War. No
Great Depression.
Our great war is a spiritual
war... Our great depression
is our lives. We’ve all
been raised on television
to believe that one day
we’d all be millionaires,
and movie gods, and
rock stars, but we won’t.
We’re slowly learning that
fact. And we’re very, very
pissed off.
from Fight Club
This is our war.
80

I will get dressed later.
83

I hate being alone.
I hate it because love is a matter of
presence. It is made of touch and
closeness. And other virtual ways of
contact can’t substitute it. In a society
where individuality is always winning on
collectivity, staying just with ourselves will
let us know how much the other matters.
This is not a situation I want to be used to,
it is a challenge. I stay at home, but only
because I am looking forward to go out
again and see everything that is out of
these four walls with a new point of view.
We will touch each other again without
fear. Until then, there is nothing to stop
us from thinking each other so hard - and
maybe let each other know it.
84 85

5
HOW TO DEAL

ME
Put one like on yourself, not just on other’s pictures.
93

What can I do?
The most important thing is to strengthen our
Immune System and now let’s see how this works.
Research has allowed us to understand how very
important sleep is, we have to do like turtles, sleep
a lot.
Normally we need to sleep 8 hours a night, but
today’s rhythms have reduced these times, it seems
that only 30% of the world population sleeps on
average more than 7 hours a night. On average they
talk about 5-6 hours of sleep per night and this is not
enough. A good time to sleep is to go to bed at 10
pm and wake up at 5 or 6 a.m., this is the best time
to sleep.
This time corresponds to the Wei Qi cycle in Chinese
medicine.
The most suitable time to strengthen the Immune
System is from 10 p.m. to 1 a.m., it is the time when
the Brain Waves are slow and allows us maximum
rest, it is the SWS (Slow Wave Sleep) phase of the
Alpha and Theta Waves, a phase of great calm,
serenity and deep sleep.
It is during this phase that our body produces
growth hormone (GH), it is a very useful hormone
in children for their growth, so it is important that
children go to bed early. Children often dream of
flying and this has to do with growth. In Chinese the
23 o’clock is called child’s time, at this time children
have to sleep deeply because otherwise they do not
grow up well.
The action of this hormone is also very important in relation to the Immune System.
Growth hormone stimulates the cells that defend our body and attack the virus to destroy it.
Sleeping the right hours also affects the beauty of
the woman, you don’t need creams to look young
just sleep well.
94 95

I wasn’t high.
I wasn't wired.
Just clear.
I knew what I needed to do and how to do it.
from Limitless
96 97

What do you do when you’re anxious to
avoid this feeling?
“I go outside for a walk”
“I make up fake and impossible scenario to get
distracted”
“Music makes me feel better”
“I go for a drink”
“I deeply breath”
“I just smoke a cigarette”
“I find something new to cook”
98 99

What do you do when you’re anxious to
avoid this feeling?
“I try to solve the problem or at least work on it”
“I clean my room”
“I smoke while I’m listening to music”
“I simply stop myself”
“I start play videogames to distract myself”
“I usually do some sport or a walk in the nature”
“I count things, multiply the results and then see if
they’re a prime number”
100 101

102 103

I can’t do this, Sam.
What are we holding on to, Sam?
I know. It’s all wrong.
By rights we shouldn’t even be
here. But we are. It’s like in the
great stories, Mr. Frodo. The
ones that really mattered. Full of
darkness, and danger, they were.
And sometimes you didn’t want to
know the end, because how could
the end be happy? How could the
world go back to the way it was
when so much bad had happened?
But in the end, it’s only a passing
thing, this shadow. Even darkness
must pass. A new day will come.
And when the sun shines, it’ll shine
out the clearer. Those were the
stories that stayed with you. That
meant something. Even if you were
too small to understand why. But
I think,
Mr. Frodo, I do understand.
I know now. Folk in those stories
had lots of chances of turning back
only they didn’t. They kept going.
Because they were holding on to
something.
That there’s some good in this world,
Mr. Frodo. And it’s worth fighting for.
from The Lord of the Rings
104 105

6
YOURSELF

the only person who has the power of destroying
you is
YOU.
110 111

For the past 33 years, I have looked
in the mirror every morning and
asked myself: “If today were the last
day of my life, would I want to do
what I am about to do today?”.
And whenever the answer has been
“No” for too many days in a row, I
know I need to change something.
Steve Jobs
And so what this young generation
needs to learn is patience. That
something that really really matters,
like love, or job fulfillment, joy, love
of life, self confidence, a skill set, any
of these things take time…
Simon Sinek
My name is Maximus Decimus
Meridius, commander of the
Northern army, general of the
legions Felix, loyal servant to the
one true emperor Marcus Aurelius.
Father of a murdered son, husband
of a murdered wife. And I will have
my revenge. In this life or the next.
from The gladiator
112 113

Look, the world isn’t all roses and
flowers, it’s really a miserable and
dirty place, and no matter how
strong you may be, if you let it, it
will bring you to your knees and
leave you with nothing forever.
Fear is going to be a player in your
life, but you get to decide how
much. You can spend your whole
life imagining ghosts, worrying
about your pathway to the future,
but all there will ever be is what’s
happening here, and the decisions
we make in this moment, which are
based in either love or fear.
So many of us choose our path out
of fear disguised as practicality. What
we really want seems impossibly out
of reach and ridiculous to expect, so
we never dare to ask the universe for
it. I’m saying, I’m the proof that you
can ask the universe for it. And if it
doesn’t happen for you right away,
it’s only because the universe is so
busy fulfilling my order. It’s party
size!
Neither you nor I can hit as hard
as life does, so going forward is
not important how you hit, the
important thing is how you can
resist the blows, how you cash in
and if you end up on the floor you
have the strength to get up... So
you’re a winner!
And if you think you’re strong, you
gotta prove it! Because a man only
wins if he can take it! He doesn’t
go around pointing the finger
at people who aren’t involved,
blaming this guy and that guy for
making a mistake! That’s what
cowards do and you’re not! You’re
not a coward at all! [...]
Until you have faith in yourself, your
life is no longer your own.
I learned many great lessons from
my father, not the least of which was
that you can fail at what you don’t
want, so you might as well take a
chance on doing what you love.
Rocky Balboa
Jim Carrey
114 115

10 motivational movies
Rocky (1976)
Seabiscuit (2003)
Unbroken (2014)
Limitless (2011)
The Founder (2016)
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013)
The Gladiator (2000)
Forrest Gump (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Dead Poets Society (1989)
116 117

Get infected.
From the hands washed for at least
20 seconds of those who work.
Hands did not even think for
a second of holding them still.
From the lips that can’t hold back
a laugh.
Get infected.
Locked indoors, stay open.
Open your eyes wide and let
in your favorite movie.
Open your ears to the music your
neighbour is shooting at full blast.
Keep listening to it or listen
to it. Talk instead of posting.
Get infected.
Get infected.
From a thought, from a brilliant
idea. By the strength of someone
who faces the virus in the front line,
face to face, behind a mask.
Locked in your house, get out
of your personal red zone.
Don’t contain yourself: make
more plans, dream, pry, imagine.
Don’t stop spinning your energy
for a second, because fortunately
positive energy is also contagious.
119

Dear Roberta Sparrow,
I have reached the end of your book and there
are so many things that I need to ask you.
Sometimes I’m afraid of what you might tell me.
Sometimes I’m afraid that you’ll tell me that this
is not a work of fiction.
I can only hope that the answers will come to
me in my sleep.
I hope that when the world comes to an end,
I can breathe a sigh of relief, because there will
be so much to look forward to.
from Donnie Darko
120

122 123

Photographic credits
Verne Ho
Noah Buscher
Reno Laithienne
Isco
Mwangi Gatheca
Alexander Krivitskiy
Erik McLean
Alexander Krivitskiy
Adi Goldstein
Ben Blenner
Szabo Viktor
David Brooke
All these pictures are taken from unsplash.com
124 125

Bibliography
La filosofia della mente da Il discorso filosofico, a cura di Fabio Cioffi, Giorgio Luppi,
Amedeo Vigorelli, Emilio Zanette, Anna Bianchi, Edizioni Scolastiche Bruno Mondadori
Pearson
Credits
Free University of Bozen -
Bolzano
Faculty of Design and Art
Subtitle Text
Avenir Next Medium
12/14 pt
Tesi di Laurea Magistrale in Filosofia della Società, dell’Arte e della Comunicazione,
Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia, Il Rapporto Mente e Cervello ed il ruolo della
coscienza nella costruzione del proprio Io, Ch. Prof. Ivana Maria Padoan, correlatore Ch.
Prof. Eleonora Montuschi, laureando Giulia Schirato Matricola 829871, anno accademico
2016 / 2017
Meditazione blu e immunologia a cura di Liu Dong
Agoraphobia (2016, February 20)
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/agoraphobia/
Anxiety (n.d.)
http://www.apa.org/topics/anxiety/
Anxiety disorders (2016, March)
https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/anxiety-disorders/index.shtml
Bachelor in Design and Art -
Major in Design
SS 2020 l 2nd semester
foundation course
Project Modul:
Order and Eccentricity l
Editorial Project
Design by:
Lucrezia Dal Toso
Book l Paralysis
Supervision:
Project leader
Prof. Antonino Benincasa
Project assistants
Prof. Emilio Grazzi
Prof. Emanuela De Cecco
Body Text
Avenir Next Regular
8/11 pt
Caption Text
Avenir Next Demibold
6/8 pt
Layout Grid:
5 Column Grid
Module Proportion:
1:1.412
Published:
June 2020
Facts and statistics (2017, August)
https://adaa.org/about-adaa/press-room/facts-statistics
Digital Publishing
Generalised anxiety disorder in adults (n.d.)
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/generalised-anxiety-disorder/symptoms/
Format:
170 x 240 mm
Kupfer, D. (2015, September). Anxiety and DSM-5. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience,
17(3), 245-246
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4610609/
Fonts l Fonts Sizes & Leading:
Title Text
Avenir Next Bold
16/18 pt
Martin, I. M. Ressler, K. J., Binder, E., & Nemeroff, C. B. (2013, June 17). The neurobiology
of anxiety disorders: Brain imaging, genetics, and psychoneuroendocrinology
Psychiatric Clinics of North America, 32(3), 549-575
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3684250/
126 127

Live without fear.
128 129