Day 5 - The Roots of Your Mind

When you change the roots, everything that follows changes as well. If you just try and change how you think and feel, it won't stick.

Yesterday we looked at the structure of your brain - the 4 different levels/animals. There is an ancient metaphor in the practice comparing your mind to a lotus plant: with the roots hidden deep in the mud (body), the stem hidden underwater (emotions), the leaves on top of the water (thinking) and finally the beautiful flower/fruit up in the air (awareness).

The roots of your mind - the place where permanent change can happen - are hidden deep within you. Mindfulness is a practice of gaining access to these depths and making them healthy and strong. When you change the roots, everything that follows changes as well. If you just try and change how you think and feel, it won't stick.

Today we looked briefly at the order of operations of your mind:

As you live your life, your reptile mind (body), sitting right on top of your spinal cord, gets the information first in order to do your brain's most important job of keeping you alive. The language of this mind is body sensations.

Your mammal mind (emotions) is second in line, reacting to/judging the sensations in the body. These emotional reactions come in 1 of 2 flavours: "I like/want it!" or "I don't like/want it!".

Your monkey mind (thinking/self) comes third, arising out of - and requiring - an emotional reaction. This is our homebase. In actuality, most of us are trapped here.

Finally, sitting on top of the stack, your human mind (awareness) flowers and bears fruit, freeing you from the stuck-in-their-programming previous minds.

---