Escape the Left Brain Trap: Finding Freedom from Overthinking | Chris Niebauer

A New Way of Being

Simon Mundie

Education, Spirituality, Self-improvement, Health & Fitness, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 523 Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2025

⏱️ 119 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In his superb book No Self, No Problem: How Neuropsychology is catching up to Buddhism Chris Niebauer explains how the left side of the brain — brilliant at language and problem-solving — also creates constant mental chatter. It labels, judges, compares, and spins stories, including the biggest story of all — the idea of a solid identity or self-concept.

But this overthinking isn’t who we are — it’s just a habit of the left brain doing what it does.

In this conversation, Chris shares how recognising this can free us from getting caught in endless thought loops, helping us drop back into the present moment where clarity, ease, and creativity naturally arise.

Key Insights:

The left brain is responsible for language, categorization, and creating a narrative of who we are
Our thinking mind is not our true self, but a survival mechanism that generates constant stories
Suffering often leads people to spiritual exploration and understanding consciousness
The right brain represents intuition, playfulness, and immediate experience
Consciousness is fundamental, not an emergent property of the brain
Meditation and self-inquiry can help us recognize the space between thoughts

Themes Explored:

The illusion of self
Limitations of psychology and materialism
Flow states and intuition
The role of suffering in personal growth
Potential of AI and consciousness

If you would like to explore more you can sign up for my free mini-course on finding flow: https://www.simonmundie.com/restore-balance-mini-course

Or get in touch about 1:1 explorations: https://www.simonmundie.com/restore-balance-coaching

Transcript

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0:00.0	For me, that was a huge part of what was missing. I think psychology is really useful. It really
0:05.6	does describe the interpretive thinking mind in depth. But psychology thinks that's who we are.
0:14.0	Yeah. I mean, that goes back to your observation. You know, you're the observer. And the key
0:18.6	mistake that psychology makes is they think they're we're the ones doing
0:22.7	the thinking.
0:23.4	I tell you, it hits you hard when you realize you don't think your thoughts.
0:32.3	Chris Niebuhr is the author of one of my all-time favorite books called No Self, No Problem,
0:39.0	How Neuropsychology is Catching Up to Buddhism. In his book, which I will link to in the show
0:44.8	notes, Chris deftly explains how the left hemisphere of your brain, which is brilliant at language
0:51.0	and problem solving and pattern recognition also creates the constant mental
0:56.1	chatter we're all familiar with. It labels, judges, compares and spins stories continually,
1:03.4	including the biggest story of all, the idea of a solid identity or self-concept. But this
1:09.7	overthinking isn't who we are, is just a habit of the left brain doing what it does.
1:15.8	So in this conversation, Chris shares how recognising this, really seeing it clearly, can free us from getting caught in endless thought loops,
1:23.9	helping us drop back into the present moment where clarity, ease and creativity
1:29.4	naturally arise.
1:36.7	Chris Niebauer, it is an absolute pleasure to have you on a new way of being. How are you
1:41.6	this fine morning? I'm doing great. Thanks. It's great to be here.
1:45.8	It's a pleasure to have you on here. Huge fan of your work. I'd say your book is definitely in my all-time
1:51.3	top five. Right now, I put it at number one. So yeah, I absolutely love it. I hand it out willy-nilly.
1:58.4	Now, this podcast is called A New Way of Being.
2:02.0	I would suggest that we all need a new way of being to a certain degree because humanity
	...

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