Hi everyone,

Around this time of year, people where I live start engaging with ghosts, ghouls, and goblins. It reminded me of a fascinating study.

Adults in Britain who denied believing in magic, discovered their beliefs were more complicated. They were asked to imagine a witch approaching them on an empty street, offering either a good spell for wealth and happiness or an evil curse on their future. Despite not believing in magic, none of the participants were willing to accept the curse.

Why not? And what can this teach us about ourselves?

The main idea here is that we can hold contrary beliefs at the same time. We might consciously believe one thing, while emotionally believing another.

This is fundamental in therapy: people often seek help for anxiety when they rationally know they’re safe, yet their emotional brain still predicts danger. Much of the work is learning how to update emotionally triggering ideas we learned when we were young.

When an emotional reaction is triggered, I like to ask myself which underlying beliefs might be driving it, even if they’re inaccurate.

Upcoming Exploration:

In my next video, I share my experience testing out neurofeedback — something that had a surprising impact on me.

Thanks for reading and being part of the journey with me.

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