Without inner narratives we would be lost in a chaotic world.

Although Burton's article brilliantly warns us about the risky relationship between science and our natural tendency to storytelling and the fatal consequences that this innate characteristic of us might imply, in my compilation below I've chosen to focus on his rigorous illustration on why our brain needs to construct stories to make sense of the world we live in.

Looking for an extremely quick correlation and more than probable prediction on what's out there, has an incalculable value for our survival and well being, but is not always accurate. We have to remember that those correlations are no more than speculations of a probable scenario, that although possible, is, still, a construction.

That awful and scary feeling that we all suffer in silence and we can't get rid of.

Regrets suck.

We regret in the present an action (or more properly an in-action) that happened in the past, and our inability to change it drags us downward to a spiral of guilt and self punishment. But I am coming here to say that regret is too, a useful and necessary emotion, and so defends Dan Pink in his new book The Power of Regret.

How so?

Because if we take a close look at our biggest regrets, we can figure out the things that matter most to us: "Regrets are lessons not yet learned. A lesson we need to internalize and put into action."

Why do we regret?

Because we fucking care. And that's a good thing as they provide meaning. If we stop seeing regret as an ever-present threat, but rather as a helpful reminder of what matters, it can be an opportunity to improve our life.

It’s impossible to avoid regret, Pink says. In fact, he argues,

Not to be discussed that Purpose is a universal human need, as Joseph P. Carter highlights in his magnificent article: "without it, we feel bereft of meaning and happiness".

But confronting the Aristotelian idea that the universe has an essential directive with it and that each thing has an inherent principle that guides the course of its existence, Modern science explicitly jettisons this sort of teleological thinking from our knowledge of the universe.

From particle physics to cosmology, we see that the universe operates well without purpose, and it looks like there is nothing intrinsic about the goals and purposes we seek to achieve it. You just have to take a quick look at the second law of Thermodynamics where Entropy, being the degree of disorder in a system, (for example our universe) is always increasing.

So why is it Purpose such an

It's really tempting. I can't deny I have considered, and I still am.

I am tempted to print out Sheldon Kopp's Eschatological Laundry list and hand it to every single one of my clients, even (or specially) before getting started in a coaching process.

Because this list summarizes one of the most significant pieces of wisdom I have encountered in my research. Sheldon Kopp, psychotherapist and author, If You Meet the Buddha on the Road, Kill Him (1972), not only has a realistic approach, but also an extremely empowering one by recognizing the responsibility that grows with freedom.

I highly recommend reading it till the end. If you want to give it away out as a Christmas gift, you can download it here, it's free but at the same time priceless. 

In a beautifully illustrated episode of After Skool, British philosopher Alan W. Watts eloquently states why life should not be considered a journey because by doing so we are missing the point the whole way along.

Curious in finding out what is the basis of his argument? Click on the video below.

Don't worry and don't panic; for once Watts is pristine clear and easy to understand and, on top of it, all in just 4 minutes.

Brilliant 4 minutes of wisdom.

Based on Lisa Feldman Barrett decades' of research, it looks like emotions are not what we thought they were.

They are not universally expressed and recognized. You might feel that emotions are hardwired brain reactions, that your brain is prewired with mythical emotions circuits that you are born with.

But you are not.

Emotions are not built in at birth, they are built. They don't come by default.

What are they then really? Emotions are guesses that your brain constructs in the moment trying to answer: What's this most likely, based on my past experience?

Your brain comes prewired with some feelings. Simple feelings that come with the physiology of your body: calm, agitation, comfort, discomfort... but those are not emotions, they are just summaries of what's going on inside your body. Like a barometer.

The problem is that those physiologically connected sensations are too broad, not detailed enough, and in order to act, you need detail to know what to do next about them.

How do you get details? With predictions. Using past

If you do not, your parents for sure will remember Wayne Dyer, and most probably they have read or at least heard from his first book, Your Erroneous Zones (1976), one of the best-selling books of all time, with an estimated 100 million copies sold to date.

"Thoughts determine feelings. Remember that. Make a note. Get a tattoo. This powerful idea goes back thousands of years to the Stoics".

Feelings aren’t truth incarnate.

Emotions are useful, but they are our biological suggestions, not commandments. Our brain is a pattern-recognition machine. It makes observations and starts forming rules about the world. It’s really good at this. It creates automatic thoughts based on previous experience to simplify our way through life.

But sometimes our brain makes errors when it’s forming its rules, and the most common error is "better safe than sorry" acting as an overprotective parent.

So maybe that automatic emotional reaction, that gut feeling isn't really adjusting to reality.

And so? What to do?

Listen.

Eric's Barker approach on states on Aaron's Beck book ...