illusions

Understanding Reality: Beyond What Meets the Eye

/ Sheri / Leave a comment

Reality isn’t as solid as it seems

What do you see? (Image by author)

Early morning or late at night? My brain was confused as I took in the photo my son texted.

Factually, he’d told me the picture was taken on a Saturday evening. And the smattering of stars to the left made my cerebrum eager to confirm this.

And yet. The bright light in the center of the wispy-clouded sky told me it was early morning, in the wee hours of dawn.

“But that’s the sun.”

“No, that’s the moon.”

Wait…what?

The same sky from a different angle. (Image by author)

The Fact is…What?

Intellectually, I know that the moon will sometimes look bright because it reflects light from the sun, and that the moon itself does not emit any light. And yet, my brain couldn’t compute the bright circular light against the fair blue sky to be anything other than the sun.☀️

Our brains love certainty. They love to predict, compare, and plan. They deserve a gold star for their tenacious effort to keep us safe.

But the fact is, reality isn’t as solid as it seems. And when we allow our well-meaning brains to run the show, we can lose out on wonderful possibility.

When we allow our beautiful brains to assume, we miss out on considering life from another perspective, another angle. The fact is:

💡the sky is violet in color, not blue

💡dark matter makes up most of the Universe (85%) yet remains invisible

💡humans spend about 10% of waking hours with their eyelids closed(blinking)

💡The Earth is not perfectly round (It has a slight bulge around the equator)

Of course there are MANY more mind-blowing facts and that’s the point: when we keep the doorway open between science and perspective, our reality alters — something that tends to make our brilliant brains feel uncomfortable.

But something wonderful happens when we allow ourselves to dwell in the space between fact and perspective: we find opportunity where there once was lack, we find possibility where before we only saw impossibility, we find wonder where before there was status quo.

Each of us arrives with a unique set up fingerprints, formed at 3 months in utero. No two of us are alike as are no two tongues alike (Yup! There are actual tongue prints forensics will use.🕵️‍♂️)

Our well-meaning, extremely beneficial brains will continue to compare and look for similarities and patterns, predicting and planning in an effort to keep us alive. And that’s all good. But we mustn’t allow our brains to hijack our wonder, our curiosity, and the potential for seeing life through a different lens.

Want to Face Your Fear?

/ Sheri / Leave a comment
Most modern-day anxiety is a by-product of our ancient brains. Like the whac-a-mole game, the mind’s alarm system is doing what it’s designed to do. Discover what happens when you don’t play the game.

There are countless tips and tricks to consider when it comes to overcoming a fear. Everything from imaging exposure to the big “F” to taking it on the anxiety-producing source in increments.

Let’s say you have a fear of elevators. You might imagine pressing the button to the elevator, hearing the doors swoosh open, and stepping inside the machine, all while you remain at home. Or perhaps you stand in front of the elevator one day and the next, press the button to go on, observing any anxiety that shows up (i.e., a racing heart, sweaty palms, etc.) with each increased exposure.

Whatever tactic you choose, there are two things worth noting:

  1. You have to SIT WITH any discomfort to overcome said fear.
  2. The fear isn’t real.

Fear is generated by the thoughts we think based on the experiences we have. Fear is your mind playing tricks on you in order, (so the mind falsely, well thinks) to protect and help you survive.

There are those who love a scary horror flick and loathe the idea of public speaking. Yet both activities manifest some kind of adrenaline. It is the mind’s interpretation of each event that makes all the difference, determining which you perceive as fun and which as frightening.

The brain is an organ, no different than the heart or kidneys. It has a job. It thinks. Our ancestors depended on the mind to protect us, flooding us with flight-or-fight catecholamine activity to help us survive a grizzly bear heading toward us. 

But we are no longer living as our ancestors did. There are no wild beasts coming after us as we sleep in a field. Our brains, however, have not adopted to our modern-day world of indoor plumbing and central air. 

Our brains aren’t cruel. They are like puppies with a new chew toy. As Dr. Amy Johnson writes (author of Just a Thought):

Our minds are “a very smart machine that isn’t always wise, but it loves you.”

Fear can’t sit still when you face it. It changes form. The emotion we feel is real, but the thought behind it can change. You can talk to your busy mind as you would an overtired child whose had too much sugar:

“I know you [mind] think I’m in danger, but it’s really okay. I got this.”

If you sit long enough with the fear, the fear will morph into something new. The fear of touching an elevator button will change to the fear of getting on the elevator to the fear of allowing the elevator doors to close. Your mind will continue to generate new ways to protect you since that’s what a mind does.

Discomfort shows us “psychological experience is being mistaken for something solid, personal, and true…. When we get lost in our mind’s narrative and temporarily forget who-we-are, which we often do, we feel discomfort. Discomfort is the built-in alarm that alerts us to our misidentification.” Dr. Amy Johnson

Take comfort in the discomfort; allow your beautiful mind do what it is meant to do, knowing it is manufacturing worst-case-scenarios to unnecessarily protect you. Watch it compare, compete, create negative bias, warn, exaggerate, and sit with any negative sensations that may arise within your body. You’ll know you’re on the right track when you notice new fears pop up. Just like the original fear, your higher self knows they are all illusions.

*Source: Just a Thought: A No-Willpower Approach to Overcome Self-Doubt and Make Peace with Your Mind