It is an irony of life that we spend so much time thinking but very little time examining the mechanism which allows these thoughts to enter our existence.

The brain has been your constant companion throughout life, and its abilities to allow you to comprehend the good or bad in a situation dictate your moods, words, and actions in all cases you are facing. The brain is in continual production of thought, and there are some things we can look at to understand how the brain’s function occurs for us. Our evolution as humans has left us with thought patterns that have encouraged survival but not happiness over thousands of years. Those two things do not have to be mutually exclusive. Evaluating your brain and the thoughts it creates about your life and its situations will lead to greater happiness. Look for the ideas of separations, stabilizing environments, and the practice of approaching opportunities and avoiding threats.

Separations

People look to maintain separation from the world and others because of the appearance of safety. To be reliant on only yourself leaves no room for another person to cause you any harm. We see ourselves as unique individuals separated from all others, but is that true? There is a multitude of ways that we are obviously.

Connected to the world and dependent upon it for social interaction, food sources, more significant learning, growth, understanding, and goods/services. When you see this apparent contradiction, you may feel isolated, alienated, overwhelmed, or as if you are in a struggle against everything.

Accepting that we are indeed dependent and interconnected with the world around us and other people in the world is a frightening concept. Still, you live in a delusion when you deny this or choose not to think about it. From the simple dependency on oxygen to breathe, we are connected. Many of these types of connections exist, and they are honest and vital. To see separation as reality is the mind playing an uncomfortable and untruthful trick on you. It is the work of an out-of-control ego seeking to maintain your identity.

Seeking Stability

When you become unstable in your body, mind, or relationships, your brain will produce signals of threat and impending pain. Your mind works to bring you back to stability.   This happens whenever we experience any change because differences get the unknown. It may be better, but it may be worse. That is uncomfortable for the survival instinct and people because life is continual.

Changing and will be until the day it ends. Learning to see your connections to the world and reliance upon others will allow you to look at your thoughts and notice what they are causing you to feel. You can then start to understand your emotions and have a chance to control them rather than the other way around.

The balancing act is tricky to accomplish because all of the factors in our lives are constantly experiencing change. So nothing is ever the same for long. Physically, mentally, spiritually, economically, and intellectually we are changing. With each new experience, we have to adjust our previous thoughts and beliefs to the further information coming to us. This uncomfortable feeling of constant evaluation feels like a threat. Even though, in the long run, the changes may prove good for us.

Opportunities and Threats

All of us naturally look for areas of opportunity to embrace and threats to avoid. Neutral things we just let drift away. Your brain is responsible for your feelings for every experience and how it is painted, opportunity, threat, or neutral. Many believe the human mind has a negativity bias and pays far greater attention to the negative experience than they deserve. This will

Create apprehension and cynicism about the things we face in life.

Often it seems the brain builds up both pleasant and unpleasant experiences so that we are chasing very hard after things that bring minimal pleasure and hide away from painful things that are exaggerated in danger or not even real. Most worry is this way. Strict attachments to outcomes are examples of building things up on the positive, and worry results from building up the negative. Each will cause pain, and both are created inside your brain.

Your brain is your constant companion throughout life, and it is a powerful tool that can help you solve problems and even help create things in your life. But you have to understand that your brain, as powerful as it is, is not you. You are the person behind the brain. You can watch your thoughts like an old-fashioned stock ticker. Many believe that their brain is their identity when it is not. It is just a means to an end. Think about that for a minute.