Saturday, December 30, 2023
If you feed squirrels and raccoons, they’ll keep coming back. I often wonder the same thing about the homeless. Some people cannot take care of themselves, but what does feeding them teach them? It continues to perpetuate the story that they need help. Jails are similar. Recidivism is at an all-time high, and if you keep locking up a criminal, they never learn. I wish I could teach each person just how self-reliant they are. If only we knew who we were and what we were made of. How do we teach this?
The mind is like the birds, the squirrels, and the criminals. If you keep feeding it, it becomes atrophied and dependent upon stimulation. Junk food for the mind is worry, social media, Netflix binging, and the evening news. The mind loves to be anxious. Why? The brain’s function has evolved to keep you out of trouble. Its job is to scan the landscape and avoid threats. But what if the landscape is totally safe? Even death is safe.
How can I teach the truth that we are safe? Try to engage in activity with such devotion that the brain has no choice but to learn that it is safe. Junk food for the brain is thinking, stewing, and circling in fear. Healing for the brain is immersive, engaging work and play. Deepening one’s experience turns off the survival mode. Business, worry, electronic devices, and gossip turn on the survival mode. Put down the phone. Learn, read, compose, write, cook, dance, play, etc. Talk about and participate in engrossing activities that mean something. Starve the brain from its appetite for anxiety, and it will learn to produce masterpieces of great works!