Brains generalize in order to make sense of the world in the most predictive, efficient way possible. 

And while there are a lot of necessary benefits of this, there are some drawbacks too. We lose some nuance and fluidity when we’re hanging out in a highly generalized view of things. Our experience tends to be habitual, repetitive, and familiar, which aren’t great when we’re dealing with habits or anxiety.

In this episode, I’ll discuss how most of our habitual reactions are the result of us hanging out high up on the ladder of generalization. As we move down the ladder to a more nuanced, less certain, more fluid and new experience, habits and anxiety not only look different…

…they literally don’t exist. 

The post EP156: How Generalizing is Keeping you Stuck in Habits and Anxiety appeared first on Dr. Amy Johnson.