“It’s not what you look at that matters, it’s what you see.”
Henry David Thoreau
Dear one,
The human brain is a fascinating three pound supercomputer, charged with maintaining our bodies and mental functioning consistently and without a break. But what happens when there’s a glitch in our supercomputer and it tells us a different story about what we’re looking at or thinking about?
So many factors come into play when our brain is processing information. As we take in context clues, our brains instantly apply a lifetime of experiences to quickly help us sort the new information into understandable categories. This important and necessary aspect of critical thinking can also distort reality, exerting trauma responses at times and in ways we don’t imagine possible or necessary.
What we see is often manipulated by what we have experienced. If you had a negative experience surrounding a snake, you are likely to have negative mental reactions when you encounter a snake, for example. The next time someone does something nice for you out of the blue, pay attention to the dialogue in your brain. Do you default to appreciation for the nice gesture, or are you looking for ulterior motives?
Never forget that I love you, and that excludes no one.
Love,
