I really enjoyed this blog post by meditation teacher and neuropsychologist, Dr. Rick Hanson. He has taught me so much over the past several years about how the brain and the mind work. It’s a nice complement to the post I recently made about using Reiki to reduce unhelpful attachments.
Many of the seemingly problematic traits I’m working to lessen are actually a product of evolution. That doesn’t mean I’m forever doomed to suffer, but that what I experience is perfectly natural. There are strategies for overcoming behaviors whose roots lie in not being eaten by a tiger. While I’m not in danger of being dinner for a large animal, my brain unnecessarily protects me from such crises. I need to intervene if I wish to experience freedom from such evolutionary overprotection.
He explains it a lot better if you also like to geek out about why we do the things we do when we really don’t want to do them! He also provides very simple, very practical tools for creating lasting change that don’t include Reiki, but pair nicely with it for those on that path.
