Magical thinking is the belief that one's words, actions, thoughts, or use of symbols have an effect on the external world and/or events. In this discussion, Helen Greene will explain how in childhood magical thinking starts, how people use it as a psychological tool, how even people without belief still practice magical thinking, and how to break oneself from falling into these patterns.

Helen comes from a diverse background of beliefs. Raised Catholic then rejecting the church to move into paganism, she was a pagan high priestess for 10 years during her time in that faith. Eventually realizing through education and skeptical inquiry into herself, she came to the conclusion she had no solid evidence for her beliefs which brought her to a more humanistic and realistic worldview. Still studying psychology even out of college, she spends her time trying to understand human behavior, the emotional and psychological understandings of ourselves, and what forms our perspectives and why. On top of her volunteer work here at RfR, she is also a volunteer at the Atheist Community of Austin, an advocate of LGBTQIA+ rights, and a cohost of the podcast Left of the Valley. For fun, she enjoys horror (esp cosmic horror) and sci-fi movies, video gaming, and diving deep into made up world building stories such as the Lord of the Rings.

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