Become The Watcher
There is a graceful stingray out in the canal today. It’s unaware of the beautiful water it’s swimming in similar to the way I am often unaware of the thoughts I am thinking. As humans, we can actually become more aware of our thoughts by developing the skill of being The Watcher. The stingray is not so lucky.
Humans evolved to develop a prefrontal cortex that is fully formed by around the age of 25. Like its name, it is located at the front of the brain, behind our forehead. This part of the brain helps us to plan, make decisions, goal set and achieve. It can also watch the thoughts that the primitive brain is serving up. And trust me, it needs watching.
Our primitive brain is designed to scare us and generate doubt and confusion. It doesn’t mean to. It just wants to keep us alive. It needs watching. It needs reminding that we are safe and everything is OK. It is running amuck with thoughts that often don’t serve us.
I have an acronym for my primitive brain. I call it my P.E.A. brain (Afterall, it’s pretty small). It’s designed to:
Pleasure seek (food to keep us alive, sex to procreate etc…)
Take the Easy way out (expend minimal effort, do what it already knows)
Avoid pain (stay with the pack, don’t take chances)
I’m thankful to my PEA brain for all it does to keep me alive but I need to Watch it because it can’t differentiate between thinking I’m going to die and that whatever is happening is okay. Sometimes I notice that because it likes Pleasure, it goes into overdrive and wants more food, more sugar, more sex, more Netflix. It thinks that if something is pleasing, more of it is even better. The Watcher has to remind it that isn’t so.
Then there’s the take the Easy way out….It serves me up thoughts like “Do it this way because that’s what we’ve always done” or “Why would you try something new? That’s going to take so much work”. The Watcher has to remind it that the extra effort may bring a better outcome.
And Avoiding Pain…It is super good at that. “People please or you might be rejected”, “Don’t try that or you might suffer failure”, “Don’t perform or you might feel embarrassed”. The Watcher has to remind it that as a human I get to feel all the emotions and that they are just vibrations in my body. They are not going to kill me.
Become The Watcher and be curious about the thoughts your PEA brain is serving up without judging them. Remember to be compassionate and kind to yourself. You’ll be surprised at what you will see.
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