Practiced Brain Function
"The discernment process is often called the development of our “third eye” or maybe third ear. It refers to the ability to stand away from ourselves and listen and look with some kind of calm, nonjudgmental objectivity. This process is normally quite difficult at first (thus most people never go there), but it is absolutely necessary for truth and freedom. Otherwise the “I” that I am cannot separate from its identification with its own thoughts and feelings. Most people become their thoughts. They do not have thoughts and feelings; the thoughts and feelings have them." -Richard Rohrer
Mindfulness and meditation move us away from our (often rutted and self-sabotaging) practiced brain function into consciousness. In this way, we are able to understand why our patterns have continued as they have, and even better, we begin to see we are empowered and capable of changing them.