No worries about being preachy! On the contrary you are sharing your insights and experiences, which I value a lot.

Brains are extraordinary, I totally agree. I think the value of Hoffman’s work is showing us just how much we don’t know, while still framing the discussion in a way we can understand. I don’t pretend to have his level of intellect but his explanations are intriguing.

I meditate a lot, every day, and that is one reason I’ve started exploring this…along with therapy, and positive affirmations. I’m doing EMDR therapy, which if anything has taught me how flexible my brain is. I thought I was stuck in the dreck trauma, but now my brain simply approaches those emotions differently. I won’t say, “without trying” because I’ve been doing this therapy for a year now, and it has been very trying! Ahahaha! But it is still change at a subconscious level, not specifically planned out by me or my therapist. The positive affirmations are different, though, much more purposeful.

Your own experiences support some of my own in life, though, and I wonder if this is all coincidence or synchronicity? Luck or the power of intention? Maybe, as you say, a bit of everything?

As a skeptic and an atheist, I always shy away from the idea of “magic” but I also have to remember Arthur C. Clarke, who said “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”