The Choice to Keep Thinking

Saying that if a person is hurting, he or she can’t think, of course states it in too absolute terms. There is a tendency to shut down and not think, but there is at least a margin where a person has a choice of resisting restimulation and staying rational.

The motivation of an emergency does pull the attention out and often enables a person to keep thinking in a restimulative situation. I have operated like this for years. I may not think well, certainly not as well as if I were relaxed, but in a dangerous situation I go to some kind of a hard, deliberate checking over of possibilities instead of allowing myself to shut down.

Harvey Jackins
From a letter written in 1973


Last modified: 2022-12-25 10:17:04+00