Our world has experienced a tremendous amount of change in a relatively short period of time. Most of it is totally out of our control. Change happens and the pace is growing exponentially. Our human response is to resist it or even try to stop it, if we can.

I remember when I was an investment consultant and financial institutions started transacting business through the web. Some were eager to jump in, but many were terrified that it wasn’t safe and hated the idea that their personal information must be floating around the vast and growing web of the wide world. Many refused to even get an email account (something that is well on its way to becoming obsolete itself).

I also remember being the last of my friends to get a cell phone. I was sure it was quite an unnecessary evil…and I still think I’m right, but I am now on my 10th phone. My protest lasted until 9/11 when I was unable to contact my wife.

We have all experienced and witnessed the human instinct to resist change. In fact, we fear it.

Here’s why from a neuroscience perspective:

Right now your brain is sorting out what is relevant to pay attention to and what it can simply ignore. And it can do this with 140 distinct pieces of data at a time. Hopefully, it is not telling you to ignore what I am saying right now.

The reason your brain does this is so that it does not become overloaded with data processing. The part of your brain that does this is called the Reticulating Activation System or RAS. It’s kind of like a relay switch.

Most stimuli in our environment do not require our attention, such as the temperature, assuming it’s constant and comfortable. Now if all the sudden it starts getting hotter and hotter, then your RAS will begin to send signals to two places, one is your prefrontal cortex, which allows you to analyze the temperature situation. You might look around and see if other people appear hot. But unless you smell smoke, you will probably assume that the heat got turned up or it has warmed up outside. No danger. Just need a glass of water, maybe

But before your RAS sends signals to your pre-frontal cortex it sends it to your amygdala, which is essentially your fear center, and a more animalistic part of your brain. Any time your RAS recognizes something different or new in your environment it alerts your amygdala which prepares your body for action. Elevating your senses and sending adrenaline into your body, to prepare to fight or run.

The signal that goes to your pre-frontal cortex (the conscious thinking part of your brain), arrives later. In other words you might react before you think. It’s important then to give your brain time to analyze the situation before you react simply out of fear. All this happens in a split second.

So every time you hear something new that is in some way in opposition to what is familiar to you, your natural first response is one of fear. Your base, animal, instinctive response is to fight or run. And if there is a true threat, this response might save your life. And if there is not a true threat and you do not take time to investigate further with the thinking part of your brain, you might be fighting or running for no reason.

Curiosity is the best state of mind for learning and for relationship. The reason is because our brains are much more receptive to information from our environment whether it be the person talking to us or something going on in the corner of our vision. The better our fear centers are being held in check the more we can perceive.

So if we hear something that is new or just different, it is crucial that we maintain a curious state of mind so that we can perceive the most amount of information possible so that the executive center of our brains can discern whether it is good, bad, safe, or dangerous.

Christians may have an even greater built in resistance to change. After all, we are heavily invested in a book written thousands of years ago. It would be easy to view every new idea introduced after the Bible was canonized as a threat to our belief system. Hence, there are millions of Christian who vehemently resist schools of thought like evolution, climate change, and psychology.

The irony is that we believe that the Holy Spirit is our built in guide to leading us to the truth. I believe that the Holy Spirit is a perceivable entity–maybe not with our five senses, but through the built-in sense in our minds. But how can we perceive the guidance of the Spirit if our brains (our centers for perception) are on lock down out of fear of invading ideas?

If you feel you are entering into a situation where your understanding of truth might be challenged, here is a simple method of maintaining an open and curious mind, which also keeps you open to the Holy Spirit: S.T.O.P.

STOP what you are doing

TAKE three deep breaths

OBSERVE what’s going on with yourself and your environment,

PROCEED with your day with this new sense of mindful awareness.

Your RAS may be wrong sometimes, but the Holy Spirit will always lead you to the truth. Fearlessly seek the truth in all things. STOP your fear of change.

For further reading on how to maintain everyday mindfulness try Scott Eblin’s book Overworked and Overwhelmed: The Mindfulness Alternative.

Giving credit: I was introduced to the RAS in a workshop by coaching guru Jane Creswell.