Your Brain is Brilliant, but… – Your Mind Isn’t Broken—It’s Just Built That Way.
Have you ever watched your finger slowly move from one side of your face to the other? If you’re paying close attention, there’s a moment when your finger disappears. No magic trick. No glitch in the Matrix. Just your brain filtering out what it thinks isn’t essential.
That’s the first clue:
Your brain isn’t a flawless machine—it’s a filter. And sometimes, that filter distorts more than it reveals. We don’t always think with clarity—we think with bias, habits, and shortcuts. The brain isn’t stupid, but it does do some things that seem stupid. That doesn’t make you broken. That makes you human. You’re not crazy.
You’re just seeing through the cracks of an ancient operating system. These cognitive blind spots, also known as cognitive biases, shape our decisions, beliefs, and behaviors. And if we don’t learn to recognize them, we risk thinking we’re incompetent… when really, we’re just unaware.
Here are just a few ways the brain makes a mess of things:
1. Avoidance Reflex
This is a psychological and behavioral response where we instinctively steer away from discomfort, especially emotional, cognitive, or social discomfort. When something challenges your worldview, it creates tension. The avoidance reflex kicks in to dodge that tension by ignoring, denying, or rationalizing the new information. Rather than feeling vulnerable, admitting a mistake, or confronting an uncomfortable truth, you default to distraction, perfectionism, or control. It feels like protection, but functions like a governor.
2. Best Available Illusion
This refers to a belief, mindset, or system that feels true. We overvalue the information we already have, even when it’s incomplete. We will hang onto that belief, mindset, or system until we are confronted with something better. The brain doesn’t search for truth—it settles for convenience. We have to continually ask ourselves, “What illusion am I operating from, even if it is working ‘well enough,’ that is keeping me blocked?
3. Blind Spots You Can’t See
Blind spots are survival strategies that have outlived their usefulness. The very nature of a blind spot is that you can’t detect it. These are beliefs, habits, emotional patterns, or assumptions that shape our behavior but operate outside of our awareness. And when you don’t know it’s there, you assume it isn’t. That’s when it does the most damage. For example, people may claim they are thorough, but perfectionism can mask fear, delay action, and kill momentum.
4. Confirmation Addiction
We look for evidence that confirms what we already believe and conveniently ignore what doesn’t. It is the compulsive need to seek out, filter, and interpret information that confirms our beliefs. The truth will set you free… unless you’re filtering it through your ego. Being right is safer than being real. The problem is you rationalize poor outcomes instead of reconsidering assumptions.
5. Ends Over Everything
We justify bad decisions because the result worked out okay. This is how toxic success sneaks in the back door of morality. When the outcome matters more than the process, you risk losing both. When the result becomes the only thing that matters, you compromise everything that does. In other words, the end will always justify the means, until it doesn’t.
6. Expectation Distortion
When your expectations are distorted, reality will always elude you. We see what we expect to see. This is why prejudice lives so long—it wears the mask of “what I thought would happen.” Without expectation, you will never be disappointed, frustrated, resentful, or burned out. When your expectations are inappropriate, you will never succeed. Unrealistic expectations aren’t healthy; they are pressure in disguise.
7. Familiarity Fog
This is the way the brain normalizes abnormal circumstances. When we live in a system, environment, or pattern for so long, we don’t notice it anymore. We only notice what we recognize. We glorify the mundane and ordinary. Normal becomes counterproductive. Legend has it that indigenous people couldn’t see Columbus’s ships because they had no concept of what a ship even was.
8. First is Forever.
The first thing we hear often sticks the hardest, no matter how wrong it is. That is because it becomes the default version. When we learn something new, we always measure it against what we already know. Even if that former belief is rooted in fear, scarcity, or illusion, it will take precedence. If you pour concrete over your first belief, don’t be surprised when it becomes a prison.
9. Status Quo Seduction
Change feels like danger. So, we cling to the familiar, even when it’s failing us. The comfort zone is where your potential goes to retire. The comfort of the known keeps more people stuck than the fear of failure, because people don’t fear change as much as the loss of control. This is the brain’s primary purpose: to keep us alive, but it resists change because it is risk-averse.
The problem is that our survival instincts are often in conflict with our desire to grow and try new ideas. We need to identify the assumptions and conclusions that are holding us back. Ask for new perspectives from others, challenge your beliefs, and seek advice. Biases thrive on speed, so slow down. When we examine our thought processes, we grow.
Sir James Gray Robinson, Esq., is an award-winning third-generation trial attorney specializing in family law and civil litigation for 27 years in his native North Carolina. Burned out, Sir James quit in 2004 and has spent the next 20 years doing extensive research and innovative training to help others facing burnout and personal crises heal. He has taught wellness, transformation, and mindfulness internationally to thousands of private clients, businesses, and associations. As a licensed attorney, he is focused on helping lawyers, professionals, entrepreneurs, employers, and parents facing stress, anxiety, addiction, depression, exhaustion, and burnout.
Sir James is a highly respected speaker, writer, TV personality, mentor, consultant, mastermind, and spiritual leader/healer who is committed to healing the planet. He possesses over 30 certifications and degrees in law, healing, and coaching, as well as hundreds of hours of post-certification training in the fields of neuroscience, neurobiology, and neuroplasticity; epigenetics; mind-body-spirit medicine; and brain/heart integration. Having experienced multiple near-death experiences has given him a deeper connection with divinity and spiritual energy.
Sir James regularly trains professionals, high-level executives, and businesspeople to hack their brains to turn stress into success. He is regularly invited to speak about mental and emotional health at ABA and state bar events. His work is frequently published in legal and personal growth magazines, including the ABA Journal, Attorneys-at-Work Magazine, and the Family Law Journal. Sir James has authored 13 books on personal growth and healing, including three targeting stressed professionals, and over 100 articles have been published in national magazines. He has produced several training videos for attorneys, executives, entrepreneurs, and high-level professionals.
Sir James has generously endowed numerous projects around the world to help children, indigenous natives, orphans, and the sick, including clean water projects in the Manu Rain Forest; orphanages, schools, and medical clinics/ambulances in India; Buddhist monks in Nepal; and schools in Kenya, Ecuador, and Puerto Rico.
In addition to his extensive contributions, Sir James produced and starred in three documentaries: one released in 2024 and two scheduled for release in 2025, focusing on healing, mental, and emotional health. The first, “Beyond Physical Matter,” is available on several streaming platforms, including Amazon Prime. The trailer can be found at www.BeyondPhysicalMatter.com. The second, “Beyond the Mastermind Secret,” is scheduled for release in the fall of 2025. The trailer can be found at https://BeyondMastermindSecrets.com/. The third, “Beyond Physical Life,” is posted on Gaia and Amazon Prime. The trailer can be found at https://beyondphysicallife.com/. He has formed an entertainment media production company, Beyond Entertainment Global, LLC, and is currently producing feature-length films and other media.
In recognition of his outstanding work and philanthropy, Sir James was recently knighted by the Royal Order of Constantine the Great and Saint Helen. In addition, Sir James won the prestigious International Impact Book Award for his new book, “Thriving in the Legal Arena: The Ultimate Lawyer’s Guide for Transforming Stress into Success.” Several of his other books have also won international book awards.
President Joe Biden recently awarded Sir James the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for his outstanding service to his community, country, and the world. In the fall of 2024, he will be awarded the prestigious International Humanitarian Award, also known as the Men with Hearts Award, in London, England. He will also be named Man of the Year and Couple of the Year with his wife, Linda Giangreco. Best Life Holistic Magazine 2025 has also awarded him Coach of the Year for 2025.
Sir James has a wide variety of work/life experiences, including restaurateur, cattle rancher, horse trainer, substance abuse counselor, treatment center director, energy healer, bodyguard, legal counselor for several international spiritual organizations, golfer, and marathon runner. He graduated from R.J. Reynolds High School in 1971, Davidson College in 1975, and Wake Forest University School of Law in 1978.
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