Everyday Practices
Why Our Minds Do What They Do
For Understanding the Stone Age Mind in a Modern World
Welcome. These tracks are here to help you understand why your mind does what it does, so you can be a little kinder to it. Start wherever you like, and use the shorter versions when time is tight. Tap play to listen, or download any track to keep.
The Stone Age Mind
For understanding why the mind is always on the lookout. Our Stone Age ancestors survived by spotting danger, and being cut off from the tribe meant death. Our minds still run on that safety-first setting. You hear how this leads to worry and avoidance, and how awareness helps you step out of the cycle with a simple ‘Thank you, mind, for trying to keep me safe.’ The shorter version keeps the Stone Age story and the compassion, without the examples or the part on awareness.
8 min · fullDownload
Key Insights From Never Mind Your Mind
For a short overview of how the mind works. I take you through four ideas. The brain evolved for survival, not happiness. The mind has two goals, safety and comfort. There’s the negativity bias, where one criticism outweighs ten compliments. And there’s the compassion that comes from understanding all this. It finishes with something you might try saying: ‘Thank you mind, for trying to keep me safe. I know you’re just doing your job.’
Listen · 6 minDownload
A Letter to My Mind
A letter to your mind, written in a café. It thanks the mind for the helpful thoughts that come with planning and creating, and is honest that it isn’t always a friend. It talks about looking at thoughts more often, instead of from them, and choosing a kinder relationship with the mind even when it’s unfair. It ends grateful even for the unhelpful thoughts, as ‘an excellent reference point’ to choose from. The micro version keeps the opening and the part about looking at thoughts, then goes to the sign-off.
4 min · fullDownload
The Blank Canvas
For when you feel covered in your own thoughts and feelings. Every experience is a pot of paint, from the flutter in your stomach to the stream of thoughts in your head. An artist paints them onto a vast blank canvas, and the colours fade like chalk in the rain. The canvas is your awareness, and underneath all the paint it stays untouched. Then a letter to your mind, and the affirmation ‘I am the canvas, unshaken, serene.’ The shorter version leaves out the letter.
11 min · fullDownload
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