02/16/2026
"The Machine That Was Always You"
You’ve felt it.
Maybe it was a headline about automation, or a quiet moment of tightness in your chest when you realized a machine can now do in seconds what took you a decade to master.
That feeling isn’t a weakness. It’s your nervous system telling you that the ground is shifting beneath the story you’ve built your life on.
In our latest deep dive, we explore why "AI anxiety" is rarely about the technology itself—it’s about self-image. Borrowing from the father of cybernetics, Norbert Wiener, and the insights of Maxwell Maltz, we look at how our internal guidance systems are losing their old "target coordinates" (our jobs, our roles, our identities) and searching for a new lock.
The most important feedback loop isn’t happening in a server farm. It’s happening in the quiet space between what you fear you’re losing and what you haven't yet dared to envision.
This is a time for "Soul Work":
Engineer reflection loops to close the feedback gaps in your day.
Reclaim what your hands know—woodworking, gardening, journaling.
Gather without screens to practice the presence that cannot be automated.
The abundance interregnum is here. It is a collective recalibration. But remember: You are, and have always been, the system that sets the target.
Read the full reflection here: https://www.journeymindfulness.com/blog/cybernetics-self-image-ai-disruption
The same cybernetic principles powering AI are the ones that govern your self-image. Exploring why AI anxiety is really an identity crisis — and how to consciously set a new target.
