Snake In The Grass

Why do we feel so much anxiety, so much fear, so much panic? It’s quite a simple answer, and really, often a very simple solution.

The problem is we are hardwired to see the snake in the grass. We are looking for situations all of the time that can be potentially dangerous to us. Our mind is constantly scanning the brain for information stored in our memory bank to see if we have experienced something similar to this in the past, and the mind will make connections even when they don't actually exist.

Firstly I want to share with you what the brain's primary job is. You can think about it as a giant storage device that holds 1 billion terabytes (or more). Actually, the brain has an infinite capacity to read and store information. HOWEVER, IT DOES NOT HAVE THE ABILITY TO CREATE!

Creation comes from inspiration, from the heart. The brain is only a storage facility for everything you have ever seen or experienced. When I say only, I am not trying to reduce its value or importance, I am merely attempting to show you that it is not the only place to go for information. So to be clear, if you are racking your brains for new knowledge, something that you have not seen, heard, sensed or experienced previously, you are looking in the wrong place.

The capacity of the brain to retain so much information gives us a false sense of safety like that is the only place information can come from. Information is continuously being shown to you, and yes new information can be experienced each and every moment.

But you MUST look externally if you are looking for something new. What is inside the brain is only regurgitated, often stale information, and must be viewed that way.

That is how evolution works, we use the old information infuse it with the new and voila, something new is created. A new skill, a new way of approaching things. If we only keep diving into the brain for knowledge, we will never evolve. Make sense?

Think about it. The mind is so clever. It stores all of our experiences, good and bad so that we may be able to re-experience them again, in a safe way. (the mind isn't always the bad cop).

So how does the brain work to keep us safe and why does the system sometimes make us feel unsafe.

Here is one scenario; You have just witnessed your mother being torn apart by a sabre tooth tiger. Your father went hunting a week ago and you do not know when he will be back. You are alone, in a cave and the sabre tooth tiger is now pacing for you outside of your cave.

If the brain had not stored the memory in the reptilian part of the brain, of your mother being torn apart, firstly you may venture out and be in danger, secondly, you may never come out of that cave again. The brain stores this memory so you can remember the danger but not have to relive it over and over each waking moment. You certainly would not want your brain to register that a sabre tooth tiger was just having a bad day. Equally, you would not want the memory to keep you frozen from that day forward, the memory needs to be hidden just a little so you can function in other ways and be productive. It is a protection mechanism that is built into all of us.

Now each time the tiger stalks past the cave entrance, your brain reminds you that there is danger. Pretty cool really. Eventually, the tiger will however need to go and tend to her cubs, so in time she leaves. The brain then makes a new decision if it is safe to venture out, just enough perhaps to pick some berries. The brain signals you to proceed with caution.

Similarly, the brain is looking for a snake in the grass most of the time. We are hardwired to sense danger, it is a survival mechanism.

Scenario number two; You are walking along a path in the woods and up ahead you see a snake on the ground. Your brain senses potential danger. You slow down, your heart starts to race, your breathing increases, cortisol starts streaming through the blood, adrenaline, and you get ready to run in the opposite direction. You then stop, your eyes scan the situation and you realise it is a stick, fallen from a tree. Slowly your breathing returns to normal, your racing heart slows, and your cortisol and adrenaline returns to normal. You happily walk ahead, whistling as you go.

Scenario number 3; You are in a job that you do not like, you were pressured into taking it because your finances were low. Your boss senses your lack of passion, so it appears she is always riding you. Each time she comes towards you, you feel a sense of panic, actually, it's a lot like when you were small and were never enough for mum or dad or teacher or partner. Your heart starts to race, your breath increases, your cortisol starts streaming and your adrenaline is pumping, except there is nowhere to run. Your brain has sensed danger from a past memory (or something like a past memory) and it wants to run but cannot.

Now that we know how the brain works in a way that can signal when we are in danger, we need to investigate why it continues to happen even when we are not.

In the world today we have been trained, since birth, to follow a script that is not entirely ours. We have been told to learn knowledge from external sources and to rely on what we have been shown and taught. We are overly exposed to information that is designed to keep us in a state of fear. If you are fearful, then you can be controlled.

I have told you that real knowledge comes from creation and creation only comes from inspiration.

We are constantly running off agendas and truths that do not belong to us. We are told from a young age, what to wear, how to be, what to eat, how to behave, and what job we ‘should’ be doing, so much so that when we arrive as adults, we are completely lost from ourselves, from our own inner mission in this human experience.

So we marry the ‘right’ one, we get the ‘right’ job, we eat the ‘right’ foods, we talk the ‘right’ way, we behave the ‘right’ way, none of which feels familiar. This causes us to feel discombobulated and dismembered from who we really are. We feel unsafe in this world. When we feel unsafe we are confused. We have forgotten who we really are. So we start to look for danger at every turn.

This is the cause of our depression, anxiety and fear. The fact is that we have forgotten our true nature, which is love. That is a true pandemic.

To know oneself is to love oneself and most of the population has no knowledge of either. They are looking outside of themselves for the answers to their lack of happiness, to their fears when all the time the answers lay within.

You cannot compare your experience to another. Each person is experiencing this life in the way they were created to do. It is a life of perception that is based on personal beliefs, no wonder we get so lost when we follow others ideologies.

The way back to the heart, to the truth, is with you, through you and of you.

There can be no projection to anyone else, it is not anyone's fault that you are depressed, sad, lonely, angry, exhausted, not respected etc. These are these gifts that you have been given to help you navigate your way back to you. The projection the will always end with pain. You know this is true. How good does it feel in your body when you are angry at someone else? Not good right!

We feel pain when our beliefs about ourselves and our world are triggered by others. We feel pain when we do not know how to remember our own true essence. You can fix this. How? By using the external world to correct your limited mind.

Find your limiting beliefs (your lower frequency thoughts) you have created by listening to the knowledge of others and challenge them with a rich and unfaltering knowing of yourself until they are dissolved and replaced with higher frequency thoughts.

If you can see these triggers, these challenges as a gift and find your way back to self-love, I promise you that they will fade into oblivion and there you will find the path to your joy, your peace and your self.

Love.