We inevitably, when we want to change psychologically, tend to change according to the parameters and goals that constitute our brains’ contents. In other words, we change according to our brains’ attributes. So changes in our lives are based on what our old-style brains have been for millions of years. We change according to past accumulations, knowledge, experiences, and stored-up presuppositions and acceptances. Such change may be no real (fundamental) change at all. It may just likely be an altered version — an extension — of the same old thing. It may be clinging to the past, as we have done for centuries.
It may be highly prudent to be open to change that is not merely the product of past accumulations, past expectations, and past conditioning. Then the “old brain” is not merely calculating what should be (according to past patterns, and past conditioning). Then something completely new and genuinely revolutionary can perhaps take place. And it would not take place merely within the realm of the circumscribed accumulations that were poured into one in the past.
We cling to what others poured into us, via having beliefs and plans for change, etc. But that very “clinging” is preventing us from going profoundly deep (beyond ordinary, inherited, cause-and-effect formulations and acceptances). And that miraculous, timeless, ineffable immensity exists far from our sequential (old-style) concoctions and attachments.
[Note: In order to get the full effect of this Halloween Spider — and, for that matter, of any of my previous photos — it is advisable to go to the original post, and (there) look at the larger featured image photo.]
Tom's Nature-up-close Photography and Mindfulness Blog 
Tom that photos is wondrous! But when I read posts like this I wonder what you do with your body that is the repository for feeling/ sensing/ intuiting etc? We have both a mind and body and even western science acknowledges a Gut brain for example. So how do you get around this? It confuses me
Thanks about the photo. 😊 Too many people are not appreciative of spiders, which is unfortunate.
To get to your question — and i’m not quite sure what you are asking — this post was about psychological change/motives… not physical changes. My very first sentence in the post points out that it is psychological change that i am referring to. And all i’m suggesting is that people may benefit from being open to change that is not dictated by ordinary customs, parameters, and banal expectations.
And physically, one takes very good care of the body and its senses. That is the mind’s responsibility to the body. One’s parasympathetic nervous system is operating just fine, and my GI system is just fine; it is taken care of, for instance, by maintaining a good microbiome, eating foods rich in healthy fiber, and eating whole organic foods.
Dear Tom I do get that but I don’t separate the two and think both mind and body are involved that all! Just a difference of opinion.
Yes, i say that, of course, the two aren’t separate… just different (to a significant extent, in terms of our limited language). It’s a big reason why i eat so extremely healthfully… What is eaten, and what affects the body, definitely affects the mind/brain. The brain is an organ of the body. So taking care of the body by eating the right (whole and healthy) kinds of food is what one does. If the brain is very healthy, then (perhaps) it can intelligently be where ordinary, conditioned change and limiting goals are seen as ludicrous.
True! And by the way healthy eating is what tastes so good!
That furry
Bright-eyed bee
Has no such worry –
Lucky he be!
I’m sorry but if you think that that is a bee, Harini, i’ve got some bad news for you. You won’t be getting any honey from it!
🕷😉
Oh, I see from your previous comments that it’s a spider. No matter, he still has no worries about changing from anything to anything 🙂
Yes, most people do not like spiders. But spiders have their own intrinsic beauty if one looks at them objectively (beyond what one was taught). 😉
I’m not wandering over to see a larger photo of the spider. I respect their place on the planet and let them be what they are meant to be. As for change, it’s almost my middle name. On a regular basis, my life gets turned upside down and around. Adaptability and perseverance are necessary qualities to handle all the change that comes in life. Along with a good bit of gratitude. I actually feel sorry for those that allow each day to be like the last and keep the same thought patterns. My dad always used to say the variety was the spice of life. I am a different person than even a year ago. My thoughts about things change with new information which I actively seek out. Growing your mind is too exciting to pass up. I’m always the odd duck in any group. That’s ok with me now. Great post.
Yes, Marlene, i think that gratitude is very important in life. During pretty much every meal i eat, i have gratitude, and i also take the time to thank the food for the sacrifice that it made.
Your father was so right about variety and change! Yes, i too feel very sorry for people who live a monotonous life and who live like a needle in a broken record. (Even records are not around much in this day and age!) Far too many people think and do the same old things in the same old ways (over and over again) stuck in a groove.
Stay with being the odd duck; that’s the only way to be… true to yourself. Walt Whitman, the great, wise poet, once said, “All my sympathies are with the radicals, the come-outers.” 😉
Oh my – I saw that hairy face and knew right away it was the Halloween Spider, something akin to the “Sports Illustrated” Pin-up of the Year, only spider-style. I wish I could love spiders, but I’ll admire them on the screen and scream bloody murder when I see them in person.
Spiders, in Michigan, are harmless to humans. And they eat nasty insect pests. They are our “house cats” to insects! 😊