Draw from within.
Stay connected.
A close-up view of Internal and External processing. Explore the language, notice the dynamics, and draw on the information this moment needs.
Explore LocalityWhere is your information coming from?
Locality is the XL2 dimension of Internal and External information. Internal draws on what you carry within. External connects you with present conditions, other people, and the consequences of action.
Internal / Information from within
Bring your experience.
“What am I bringing?”
Draw on memory, knowledge, imagination, expectations, values, private feeling, and the meaning you generate within.
External / Information beyond you
Meet the present.
“What is happening?”
Attend to environmental conditions, other people, observable events, interaction, feedback, demands, and consequences.
Integrated Locality: “Internally grounded while externally connected.”
Use experience to interpret the present. Let present information refine what you expect, understand, and do next. Either source can lead when it fits the demand; equal time with each source is not the goal.
Locality and polarization
Locality names the Internal ↔ External dimension. Polarization describes functional differentiation and weighting across processing orientations. Here, we examine which information source receives emphasis and whether its complement remains available.
Keep the three dimensions distinct
Locality: where information comes from.
Polarity: how you shape it.
Loops: what guides your response.
Either Internal or External information can be shaped through Vertical or Horizontal processing and informed by Cortical or Subcortical guidance. These are changing emphases, not fixed types of people.
View the Internal and External model graphics
Use these as functional model graphics. The orientations do not assign people to one side of the brain.
Change the boundary: Internal to what?
Internal and External depend on the boundary you select. A crewmate is External to you as an individual, but Internal to your crew as a system.
The language, made usable.
Select a comparison to explore how each source contributes. Use yourself as the boundary while distinguishing what you bring from what you encounter.
Inward; internally referenced
Emphasize information held or generated within you: memories, knowledge, expectations, personal values, and private experience.
Firehouse example: recall what a previous drill taught you.
Outward; externally connected
Emphasize information encountered beyond you: current conditions, other people, observable events, and outcomes.
Firehouse example: listen to what a colleague observed in today’s drill.
See the full descriptor comparison
| Internal | External |
|---|---|
| Focus: inward; about self; subjective; in one’s own head | Focus: outward; about the other; objective; outside exposure |
| Engagement: introversion; non-communicative; non-interactive with outer; unconnected; no social engagement; unplugged | Engagement: extraversion; communicative; interactive with outer surroundings; connected; noticeable social engagement; plugged in |
| Information: self-reference, memory, imagination, expectation, internal knowledge, personal values, private feeling, and internally generated meaning | Information: present environmental conditions, other people, observable events, interaction, external feedback, demands, and consequences |
| Network association: Default Mode network (DMN) | Network association: Executive Control network (ECN) |
Read these as functional emphases. Quietness and visible engagement alone do not establish a personality type or measure network activity. Internal knowledge can be accurate; External input still requires interpretation. Neither source alone guarantees a complete view.
Change the emphasis.
Inspect one contribution at a time, then reconnect them. Isolation helps you understand a source; effective use keeps its complement available.
Recall / Imagine / Bring meaning
Internal brings experience into view.
What you remember, know, anticipate, value, and feel gives the present a point of reference. The gain is continuity and personal meaning.
- What it contributes
- Self-reference, knowledge, imagination, expectation, values, and internally generated meaning.
- When the fit breaks
- Internal Lock: self-reference increasingly excludes meaningful environmental change.
- Your next question
- What present evidence could refine what I expect?
Firehouse learning lab
Past experience crowds out a new observation.
You remember a training approach working well. A colleague describes a different response from today’s participants, but your attention keeps returning to “It worked before.”
What would you emphasize next?
Use these examples for learning, planning, and reflection.
Notice the source receiving emphasis. Invite the missing contribution.
Act with experience informed by relevant present conditions.
Compare what happened with what you expected.
Update your understanding and the next response when needed.
One situation. One useful shift.
A brief reflection to connect understanding with action. Describe your present emphasis and what the situation needs.
Add the information you are comparing
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