Have Anything, Be Anything – Part 2 of 2
There’s good reason to fear change, at least in the context of biology. Long time ago, doing things differently would most likely get you dead. Taking a different route, hunting a new valley, etc., often meant confronting dangers that could — and would — kill you, eat you, or otherwise make you dead.
We are programmed to trust what works, and to be very skeptical of un-necessary change. But it goes deeper. We take absence of harm or death as a sort of proof that something is good or functional, and should be repeated or reinforced.
But times aren’t that simple anymore. Few things that scare or stress us will actually kill us (or even really harm us). With few exceptions, we can try a “new route” or explore a “new valley” with no danger of harm. Our middle brain (the limbic system, the emotional brain) continues to be very, very skeptical of change. Suffice it to say (here . . . ) that our limbic system thinks it’s protecting us, when it’s really limiting us.
I could go on and on about this (I am fascinated by how our brain works, and how powerful our emotions are in creating and maintaining our lives). For now, I will ask you to take some chances. Do something new and be willing to learn. Call it experimentation, call it whatever you like, but do something a little scary and uncomfortable — you’ll be fine.
[To read the first half of this post click here.]