Habitual inclination of biology is to default to our wandering mind (scanning), to keep negative in view, to save metabolic energy by letting past memory direct the present behavior and create the same future – in this are the assumptions, based on past data, that keep us biased toward and away from – always seeking comfort.

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Stress study through contemplative interventions reveals this predilection of brain bias leads to avoidance of perceived pain, including emotions, thoughts, physical sensation, which creates behaviors that can comfort or block the pain such as addictive habits (repeated behavior despite adverse consequences) from Netflix to Narcotics.

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Avoidance of Experience = Negative Symtomology (Habits that Hinder)

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But we are more than our biology, we have consciousness and this habitual reactive pattern leaves us weakened. By repeating the familiar avoidance we never grow in response to the ever-changing environment and leave out entire segments of our lives, as it will be painful. Pleasure-seeking never leads to satisfaction but an incessant wanting for escape that has created billion-dollar industries to support our addictions.

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These habits are not sustainable, leaving us depleted and in need of more relief. Instead we can develop a competency in approaching our lives to excavate a more meaningful life.

We need to start translating the perceptual cues that the dear brain has automatically determined as threat and begin to discern what’s really here, instead of continually scaring ourselves to death with our imagination.

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By training in somatic intelligence (felt sense of bodily perception conscious interpretation) we can interrupt the automatic reactive patterns of behavior (habits) by decoupling the brain's memory association