When people arrive for a Buddhist teaching, to learn to meditate, or to begin therapy, they usually believe they know why they have come. 

They come because they are curious about meditation or Buddhism, because they have read a book, because they want to feel calmer or less overwhelmed, or because they are seeking relief from anxiety, depression, grief, or stress. 

Sometimes they arrive because a relationship has ended, a loved one has died, or success has brought far less satisfaction than they imagined. The reasons are often sincere and understandable. Yet the longer I have done this work, teaching meditation and sitting with people in the therapy room, the less interested I have become in the reasons people give and the more interested I have become in the question beneath them.

What exactly are we looking for?

The human brain is not a passive receiver of information. It doesn’t simply sit back and wait for reality to arrive through the senses like a camera recording what is “out there.” Instead, the brain constantly predicts what will happen and updates those predictions based on what occurs.