My Journey Making This Guide
So last week my niece asked for help with her psychology homework about states of consciousness. I flipped through her textbook and damn, those paragraphs looked like alphabet soup. Way too many fancy words squished together. Figured I’d make something actually readable for teens.
Step-By-Step Process
First, I grabbed my coffee and re-read the whole textbook chapter. Highlighted like crazy – all the sleep cycles, dreaming stuff, and altered states sections. Kept thinking “How would I explain this to a 15-year-old while eating pizza?”
Then I started breaking things down real simple:
- Made a chart comparing normal waking vs sleeping states using emojis (brain emoji = awake state, moon emoji = deep sleep)
- Drew stick figures showing sleep stages – light sleep, deep sleep, REM with doodles of dream bubbles
- Wrote drug effects section using “your brain’s volume knob” analogy – substances either turn the volume up or down
Tested the draft with my niece’s study group. They got confused at “circadian rhythms,” so we swapped it with “your body’s daily alarm clock.” When blank stares hit during “neurotransmitters,” changed it to “brain messenger chemicals.” Their feedback was gold.
Final tweaks:
- Added a quick consciousness checklist – “Can you name three colors right now? Congrats, you’re conscious!”
- Threw in a meme about Monday mornings counting as altered states
- Cut textbook examples nobody cares about, like Freud’s cigar dreams
Took me three coffee-fueled nights to finish. Last thing I did was read everything out loud to my cat. If she didn’t walk away, I knew the language was simple enough.
What’s In The Final Guide
Ended up with bite-sized chunks:
- Daily awareness stuff explained through TikTok attention spans
- Sleep cycles shown using gaming energy bar graphics
- Hypnosis section with stage magician vs real science comparisons
- Simple meditation steps even my niece’s hyperactive friend could follow
Proof it worked? Niece texted yesterday saying “finally didn’t fail a quiz.” That’s the win I wanted.