Pause Your Machinery: Operating Principles

Stop and take a moment to “pause your machinery.” The concepts and techniques I present throughout my latest book, Your Mind Is What Your Brain Does for a Living, require mindfulness to learn and master, and this brief written exercise will give you the opportunity to rest, step outside the pattern of passive reading, and

27 Nov, 2014
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How my Organizing Principles Can Dominate and Control my Experience of the Present

Here’s a firsthand example of how one of my Organizing Principles—part of my prior learning—can dominate and control my experience of the present. Let’s say I’ve gone out socially with a new friend whom I want to connect with. If I’m being mindful, input from what’s occurring in the moment will enter from the

24 Nov, 2014
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The Interplay between Mindful Awareness and the Brain as “Anticipation Machine”

Let’s look at what’s happening in our brains when we operate on automatic pilot that allows our Organizing Principles to run us, no matter how dysfunctional these beliefs may be and how disabling a bind they create for us. Because of the brain’s very nature and structure, we are programmed to react. That’s what we

20 Nov, 2014
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How Organizing Principles and Acts Are Related

The more clearly I understood my Organizing Principles, the more clearly I saw how they relate to my acts. For example, my Organizing Principle “I’m not qualified to handle painful situations. That takes a real adult, and in my inner world I’m still a vulnerable kid” is the basis for my act, “Poor me, the

6 Nov, 2014
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Reflect on Your Behavior to See What Causes You to Act as You Do

Besides noticing the difference between your beliefs and attitudes and those of other people, another way to uncover your Organizing Principles is to reflect on your behavior to figure out the beliefs and core issues that cause you to act as you do. Start with observing the specific things you do routinely. For example,

3 Nov, 2014
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