Dr. Martha Beck

in the modern society, the things that we do on vacation, hunting, fishing, basket weaving, whatever it is, the reason we enjoy them so much is that they are what we evolved to do and they are highly regulating to our nervous systems. But we don't live that way. We get up into a world that is very, to cite the work of the wonderful Ian McGilchrist, who you

He says we live in a world created by only the left hemisphere, which loves things it can grasp and things it can build and things it can predict and measure. And it loves to have things and it's highly anxious. And we never get back, many of us never get back into the environmental situations that are meant to pitch our nervous systems where they really belong. And then we call that normal.

He says we live in a world created by only the left hemisphere, which loves things it can grasp and things it can build and things it can predict and measure. And it loves to have things and it's highly anxious. And we never get back, many of us never get back into the environmental situations that are meant to pitch our nervous systems where they really belong. And then we call that normal.

He says we live in a world created by only the left hemisphere, which loves things it can grasp and things it can build and things it can predict and measure. And it loves to have things and it's highly anxious. And we never get back, many of us never get back into the environmental situations that are meant to pitch our nervous systems where they really belong. And then we call that normal.

And nothing about the world that you and I live in would be normal to a human 100 years ago. And humans have lived for hundreds of thousands of years. We are in a wildly aberrant moment. And there are ways you have to deal with that, that we can't wait to evolve to adopt them.

And nothing about the world that you and I live in would be normal to a human 100 years ago. And humans have lived for hundreds of thousands of years. We are in a wildly aberrant moment. And there are ways you have to deal with that, that we can't wait to evolve to adopt them.

And nothing about the world that you and I live in would be normal to a human 100 years ago. And humans have lived for hundreds of thousands of years. We are in a wildly aberrant moment. And there are ways you have to deal with that, that we can't wait to evolve to adopt them.

Partly. I mean, the reality of it. We were just talking before we started recording about how I once tracked up way too close to a rhinoceros. And then really, truly, when I looked up and saw this rhinoceros right in front of me, wild rhinoceros, really, truly thought I was going to die. And it came as a wave of clarity and exhilaration.

Partly. I mean, the reality of it. We were just talking before we started recording about how I once tracked up way too close to a rhinoceros. And then really, truly, when I looked up and saw this rhinoceros right in front of me, wild rhinoceros, really, truly thought I was going to die. And it came as a wave of clarity and exhilaration.

Partly. I mean, the reality of it. We were just talking before we started recording about how I once tracked up way too close to a rhinoceros. And then really, truly, when I looked up and saw this rhinoceros right in front of me, wild rhinoceros, really, truly thought I was going to die. And it came as a wave of clarity and exhilaration.

And peace, but also acute, intense, sort of visceral knowing that if I did certain things, that if I kept my body soft and slow and low, I would be less likely to be attacked. And I don't know where those deeper things came from. I hadn't been trained to feel them. But that kind of clean fear, there's a psychologist named Stephen Hayes who talks about

And peace, but also acute, intense, sort of visceral knowing that if I did certain things, that if I kept my body soft and slow and low, I would be less likely to be attacked. And I don't know where those deeper things came from. I hadn't been trained to feel them. But that kind of clean fear, there's a psychologist named Stephen Hayes who talks about

And peace, but also acute, intense, sort of visceral knowing that if I did certain things, that if I kept my body soft and slow and low, I would be less likely to be attacked. And I don't know where those deeper things came from. I hadn't been trained to feel them. But that kind of clean fear, there's a psychologist named Stephen Hayes who talks about

clean pain and dirty pain, and fear goes the same way. Clean pain or clean fear, it's about something that is right there, that is real, that we can work with, and it rises and falls very quickly. When the danger is gone, it goes away. I have watched a lion attack an antelope and had the antelope speed up to levels the lion wasn't willing to reach.

clean pain and dirty pain, and fear goes the same way. Clean pain or clean fear, it's about something that is right there, that is real, that we can work with, and it rises and falls very quickly. When the danger is gone, it goes away. I have watched a lion attack an antelope and had the antelope speed up to levels the lion wasn't willing to reach.

clean pain and dirty pain, and fear goes the same way. Clean pain or clean fear, it's about something that is right there, that is real, that we can work with, and it rises and falls very quickly. When the danger is gone, it goes away. I have watched a lion attack an antelope and had the antelope speed up to levels the lion wasn't willing to reach.

And so the lion stopped and the antelope stopped on a dime and started grazing, completely relaxed with the lion still there because he knew there would be no attack. That's how quickly a fear response is meant to fall. But this ongoing brooding anxiety that we have that makes us, it makes us insane, frankly.

And so the lion stopped and the antelope stopped on a dime and started grazing, completely relaxed with the lion still there because he knew there would be no attack. That's how quickly a fear response is meant to fall. But this ongoing brooding anxiety that we have that makes us, it makes us insane, frankly.

And so the lion stopped and the antelope stopped on a dime and started grazing, completely relaxed with the lion still there because he knew there would be no attack. That's how quickly a fear response is meant to fall. But this ongoing brooding anxiety that we have that makes us, it makes us insane, frankly.

It makes us act, McGilchrist says, like people who've had a massive right hemisphere stroke. We don't know anything to do but to try to ensure our survival and our victory over the oppressors, whatever we see as the oppressor. And the whole time we're just sort of sitting in a chair somewhere.