Thank you for your post, Erin. Your welcome, and congrats on your successes. See you in a couple weeks!

Thanks Rabbiah! Scientifically there is a lack of clarity on what exactly is going on with respect to perception and recognition. In my view, choosing a spiritual interpretation, our brain is the interface between the physical world and our spiritual self. Our brain is a machine that we program, one decision and one perception at a time. Our brains scan our five senses for patterns, and if any patterns of importance are discovered, then everything else on the “screen of our mind” is pushed aside. The mind and the body is already in action to be ready to deal with whatever is detected before we even know what we are seeing. Our brain is always scanning for these programed patterns. It’s actually quite amazing how vigilant our brains are. It seems that there are three separate perceptions that take place: 1st, the original perception that had you assign importance to the pattern in the first place. Your brain faithfully registered that perception and it is now rejected in your neural net. 2nd, at the later date your machine brain recognizes a similar pattern and places it front and center on the screen of your mind prepared to take action accordingly. 3rd, you see this pattern and have a choice to react with the programed response or respond by consciously choosing a new response. The moment where you have a choice is very brief and it is easy to believe that you have no choice. But you do. Some forms of meditation can help a person to recognize these brief moments of choice. Also, it is important to note that the higher the stress level one is experiencing in response to real or imagined threats, the harder it is to not just react. And if the stress level is too high, it might be impossible to not just react. This is a long answer, I hope it makes sense!

Thanks Kym!