We are a highly-intelligent species and yet we are often not able to resolve or often even recognize the stuff going on in our own heads. Why is that?
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Because “everything in our heads” is actually everything in our body.
We believe that our brains think. But only part of our brain does that. The rest of our brain communicates with the rest of the body via chemicals. These chemicals are why we feel scared, happy, angry, hungry, aroused etc
Also, the chemical part of our brain forms shortcuts. If it sees the same person over and over again, it starts to remember what chemicals it used the last time it saw that person and immediately dumps those chemicals back into your body. This is why seeing a loved one triggers a warm feeling, or why you immediately tense up when seeing someone who annoys you.
Sometimes those shortcuts confuse the thinking part of your brain. Sometimes the short cuts overwhelm your thinking brain. Sometimes the shortcuts are hard to distinguish from other shortcuts.
But the worst part is that your brain doesn’t know the difference between its rational thoughts and the shortcuts. It’s all information and all the information looks the same or feels the same.
So if the chemical part of your brain makes a mistake, the thinking part doesn’t say “hey, you made a mistake,” it says “thankyou for that information. I’m glad I thought of that”
So a therapist can help you distinguish the short cut information from the rational information.
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