* Lori: these two shops you mentioned: 1) re-thinking the past 2) anticipating the future, these two shops are the evolutionary purpose of our default thinking/ the “wondering mind”/ the “monkey mind”- that is when we are not thinking about a particular task- or focused on sensing- we go to default thinking (called: “default brain network” or the like). It is natural, normal and effective: helps us learn from the past and make better choices in the future: an… honorable function. It is when overdone- as you know- that if works against us.

So how do we operate this normal Default Brain Network to our advantage, that is … in moderation, is the point. We can never make it disappear. It sustained many, many years of human brain evolution because it has a purpose. Running amok is the tendency when people are anxious.

It is the refocusing on sensing at times; being engaged in (a non- automatic) tasks at other times while working on the anxiety, the distress, its roots, origins, applying self empathy along the way…

anita