As children we knew how to notice without judgement. We learnt judgement along the way.

We notice a flame, subsequently learn it is hot, and we judge it to be dangerous.

Judgement then turns into feeling. We notice a flame, we judge it to be dangerous, and we feel fear.

This default algorithm or basic instinct serves us well as a shortcut, when it comes to protecting ourselves and promoting procreation - saving us from physical danger, foraging for food, finding a mate. However this same basic instinct fails us in our daily lives today.

As the years pass, we continue to attribute "judgements" to everything we "notice", and associate "feelings" with everything we judge, and this becomes our default behavior with no control over it.

Notice -> Judge -> Feel.

This default mode is the fundamental cause of stress and anxiety. It is interesting to note that each of the act of noticing, judging and feeling are nothing but neurons firing in your brain. Fundamentally they are all the same.

What we have done is connected the firing of one neuron (noticing a flame) to a second (judging danger) to a third (feeling fear).

This applies to every one of our experiences. We create neural pathways and then the connections fire automatically each time.

We hear an unkind word from our friend (notice), we then (judge) it to be unfair and we (feel) anger.

The mind is a simple machine. Every time a neutral pathway is fired it becomes stronger. Infact this is how memory works. A neural pathway that is fired repeatedly, is accessed more easily by our brains each time.

This mechanism was created by evolution to reinforce pathways that ensure we avoid harm and live to pass on our genes. Soon we find ourselves in a vicious loop, reinforcing these neural pathways that create stress and anxiety over and over again

We have forgotten how to "notice without judgement"

Meditation is a proven and effective method to train our minds to get out of this vicious cycle. (More to follow)