Cave-Person Syndrome: the woe to all your problems?
Einstein once said, “You can’t solve a problem with the same level of thinking that created it”.
Another common saying is that “insanity is doing the same thing and expecting a different result”.
Are we insane to believe that we can live a happy, fulfilled, and worthwhile life with a mind that is programmed to be unhappy by design?
Enter the caveperson syndrome – we all have it (even if we are unaware of it). This is the phenomenon that our bodies and minds are programmed and operate from hundreds of thousands of years of biological and cultural evolution – and despite recent advances in our society and technology – we are still stuck in a hunter-gather body, brain, and mindset.
We are programmed to be fearful, overreact to stressful events, and continually feel incomplete - striving for more safety, resources, and pleasure.
We are either in survival mode {Fight/Flight/Freeze or Appease} or in craving mode {I am currently unsatisfied and need more to make me safe, happy, and complete}. Neither of these primary human action states lead to a lasting happy and fulfilled life.
We are hard-wired to operate from cave-person syndrome – and few escape it.
It requires radical honesty, bravery, and tenacity to step out of the crowd (who are often sleepwalking through their life) and rewire your brain and body.
The fields of neuroscience, psychology and contemplative traditions are converging on a simple premise – we need to make a concerted effort to be healthy, happy and fulfilled.
It requires a significant effort to rewire the brain and body – but once you do – it creates the new “normal” and doesn’t require a lot of work to maintain thriving.
If you would like to learn more about stepping out of caveperson syndrome and into a life of conscious and continuous thriving – click below:
