The ReWired Brain: Free Yourself of Negative Behaviors and Release Your Best Self

Top Highlights

“I know many parents who, for different reasons, tolerate their child’s disobedience, lack of respect, or misdeeds. Some turn a blind eye. Others refuse to exact discipline for fear the child will do worse things. Whatever the reason, these parents act upon unconsciously exaggerated System 1 feelings that tell them their child is perfect or come up with what they believe is a reasonable answer for why their child is misbehaving.” (source)

“When System 1 is always in overdrive, we interpret the world as a place with emergencies everywhere. Most situations we encounter seem to pose a serious threat to our survival. Thus, we overreact with exaggerated System 1 responses in the most vital parts of our lives time and time again. Our conscious System 2 just can’t keep up. In fact, studies show that chronic stress, anxiety, depression, PTSD, and addictions all alter the metabolism, function, and even size of brain regions involved with System 2 thinking. Overwhelmed by System 1’s chaos, System 2 underfunctions or shuts itself down and allows anarchy to reign. Now we are prisoners of our own minds.” (source)

“The central idea of DPR is that there are two very distinct types of responses and reasoning that arose at distinct points during human development and that they operate in very different ways. The interaction between these two systems determines our personalities, our outlooks, our characters, our emotions, and our behaviors.” (source)

“In his beautiful book Warrior of the Light, Paulo Coelho describes the pain and disappointments of life as ‘the beloved marks and scars that will open the gates of Paradise to me.’² I love this because if we allow whatever pain we experience—whether self-inflicted or caused by others—to be our teacher, it can transition us to a new place.” (source)