The Suspicion Engine

Metaphorical Narrative

Picture a man in a control room of alarms. Sometimes those alarms come from his own body — stress signatures rising like smoke inside his chest. Other times, they are external voices or faces that carry suspicion, throwing sparks of negativity his way.

Inside or outside, the result is the same: the engine runs hotter. Suspicion fuels suspicion. Stress fuels stress. He breathes it in like oxygen. But here’s the truth — if it is inside, it is his own residue to bin. If it is outside, it is not his perfume to wear.

The door out of the control room is always there. The alarms do not have to define him.

Core Insight

Negativity bias distorts the present, turning neutral events into threats. Suspicion can originate in the body’s stress loop or land on us from others. The key is recognition:

• If internal → treat it as a residue, a stress print from the past. Bin it.
• If external → don’t wear it. Just because someone walks in dripping suspicion doesn’t mean you spray it on yourself.

Executive function means knowing the difference. And in both cases, stepping free of the engine before it consumes you.

Saturday Experiment

1. When suspicion or stress rises, pause and ask: “Is this from me or from them?”
2. If from you → write it down, then bin it.
3. If from them → imagine it sliding off like water. You don’t wear it.
4. Choose one simple action from your calendar, proof that you are powered by clarity, not alarms.

Sunday Reflection

• How does he look when his fuel is suspicion?
• What is the cost of wearing stress that is not his?
• What freedom comes when he bins internal alarms?
• What changes the moment he refuses to spray himself with external suspicion?