The Unscripted Mind - The Unscripted Mind | A Cognitive Dissident

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The Unscripted Mind

The Hungry Ghost.

The Hungry Ghost.

I had never heard the term “hungry ghost” until I heard Rainn Wilson use it. The metaphor was new to me. The feeling wasn't. What happens when ambition, certainty, approval, or simply needing to know becomes something we feed without even realizing we're hungry?

Answer #1: Because.

Answer #1: Because.

Forty years ago, I passed a college psychology final by writing one word. This is where that one word eventually led me.

Question #1: Why?

Question #1: Why?

Forty years ago, I passed a college final exam by writing a single word. I'm still trying to understand it. This is the first in a two-part reflection. The second will follow in a few days—not to provide answers, but to continue the conversation.

What If Nothing Is Driving Me?

What If Nothing Is Driving Me?

A friend asked what was driving me toward my next level. The question made sense—but it also revealed how differently I now think about goals, purpose, and the pressure to keep moving.

The Paradox of Care

The Paradox of Care

We are told to take care of ourselves first. We are also told to take care of others first. Somewhere between those two pieces of advice is a paradox most of us are still trying to live honestly.

The Unscripted Mind: When Silence Becomes a Script

The Unscripted Mind: When Silence Becomes a Script

I never wanted The Unscripted Mind to become political. That was never the point. The point was awareness. The point was the pause. The point was learning to notice the scripts we inherit, repeat, defend, and mistake for our own thoughts. I wanted to talk about breath. Stillness. Questioning. The

When I Finally Let Go of Letting Go

When I Finally Let Go of Letting Go

This morning the lake looked perfectly still. Rain tapped softly against the windows. The sky was gray and heavy in that familiar way that suggests the weather may get worse before the day is over.

Part 2 — Engineered Appetite

Part 2 — Engineered Appetite

Most of us spent our entire childhood hating being told what to do. Fighting for independence. For choice. Now we’re adults—and we still hate being manipulated by friends, family, leaders. But somehow… we accept what we’re being fed.

You Start Noticing — Food, Health, and the Questions That Stay

You Start Noticing — Food, Health, and the Questions That Stay

We spend more on healthcare than anyone in the world, yet we rank near the bottom in actual health outcomes among developed nations.

The Silence Everyone Is Calling Awakening

The Silence Everyone Is Calling Awakening

Everyone keeps saying the silence means humanity is awakening. I’m starting to wonder if people are just tired of speaking into a world that isn’t listening.

The Space Between

The Space Between

In fast environments, reacting quickly looks strong. But sometimes the real strength is waiting long enough to see what’s driving you.

You Don’t Think Your Thoughts

You Don’t Think Your Thoughts

Spend a quiet minute watching your mind and something odd becomes obvious Thoughts just appear You do not schedule them you do not vote on them you do not approve them before they arrive

The Matrix Was Never About Machines

The Matrix Was Never About Machines

What if your experience of the world is filtered more than you realize.

Can Mindfulness Cause Stress and Anxiety

Can Mindfulness Cause Stress and Anxiety

Mindfulness can create stress. There I said it and I am not taking it back.

Remembering

Most of us believe calm is something we generate. That it comes from doing the meditation correctly. From breathing the right way. From quieting the mind enough, long enough, to earn a moment of peace.

Change Isn’t the Problem. Fighting It Is.

Change Isn’t the Problem. Fighting It Is.

Change is inevitable. There is no going back to the good days, because those days were never fixed in the first place. Every generation believes something precious is being lost. And every generation is wrong in the same way.

Questioning In A Noisy World

Questioning In A Noisy World

We live in the most informed age in history, yet we question very little. Long before modern noise, the Buddha offered a quiet reminder: don’t accept ideas because they’re repeated or spoken by authority. Pause. Observe. Discern.

Standing Where Meaning Isn’t Required

Standing Where Meaning Isn’t Required

You are here to be. You are here to experience— the good and the bad, the clarity and the confusion, the moments that feel right and the ones that dismantle your ideas of right and wrong entirely.

The Drift: When Practice Becomes Product

The Drift: When Practice Becomes Product

What begins as presence becomes product. Not all at once— but in the quiet drift toward branding, consistency, and the need to appear whole. This isn’t about purity. It’s about remembering why we began. And what we silence to stay marketable.

The Storm Was Never Outside

The Storm Was Never Outside

stress and anxiety are conditions of the mind, not the world around you and once you recognize that truth something shifts you can’t go back to the old story you can’t pretend you didn’t see it and in that space between what was and what is now understood clarity begins to rise on its own

Maybe This Is Christmas: A Reflection for the Ones Who Don’t Feel It

Maybe This Is Christmas: A Reflection for the Ones Who Don’t Feel It

A quiet, honest reflection for those who move through the holidays with more grief than joy. This isn’t about performing peace—it’s about reclaiming presence.

A Simple Holiday Wish

A Simple Holiday Wish

If you are here in the US, I hope the holiday gives you a moment to breathe… to slow down… to enjoy the people around you. And if you are not celebrating this week, I still wish you the same thing, a small pocket of peace wherever you are.

Are You Smarter Than a Dog?

Are You Smarter Than a Dog?

We like to think we’re smarter than the dog. But most of us are just better trained. This is not a post about mindfulness. It’s about what happens when you mistake reactivity for reality—and call it growth.

Dissecting the Crazy Train

Dissecting the Crazy Train

We spend half our lives riding the crazy train chasing movement, mistaking noise for life. Only when we slow down do we realize the world was never moving as fast as we thought. Awareness changes everything, even how we hear the music.

Mindfulness and the Myth of the Calm Self

Mindfulness and the Myth of the Calm Self

There are moments when choosing calm over chaos makes sense...But there are other times, times when calm shouldn’t be the first move.