Charlotte Center For Mindfulness // Podcasts
Sep 14, 2026 · 22 min · 7 segments
Continuing to explore Judson Brewer’s model– today’s sharing is a bit about “gear 2” and then a self-inquiry exercise. For the pdf of the exercise, click…
Uh, so, um, gears.
[laughs] When...
If you are my generation, you know what gears are because you probably learned to drive on a stick shift.
[laughs] Um, and when the going is rough or you're just starting, you need to be in gear one, the low gear that just gets things started.
And then gear two is there's a little more momentum, um, but it doesn't really go yet.
And then gear three, there's this natural flow.
It's a brilliant model, and I appreciate, um, Clara naming to me that, um, Judson Brewer's actually added a fourth gear, reverse, and that's when you're not going [laughs] you're going in the, the backward direction.
You're not even awake to any of it.
Um, so thinking about this for habit patterns that are tripping us up, it's a really helpful way of understanding just seeing the habit is not enough.
That's gear one.
I have to see it.
I'm in reverse until I can see it.
But that gear one is typically an intellectual, "Yeah, I know how I kick myself in the butt again and again and again and again.
I just can't stop myself from doing it." But at least I'm seeing it.
What...
Our, our culture is so entrained in the quick fix that we think that should be able to do it.
That n- that if I can see it, I should be able to get past it.
I should, I should, I should be done with the whole thing.
But that's kind of the equivalent of, um, going to the auto mechanic with a car problem.
They do a quick assessment, and they say, "I think the problem is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." And you go, "Oh, yeah, I agree," and then expect that the car to be fixed from that.
[laughs] The, the just being able to name that's the problem, um, it should be all done.
And we know that's crazy from the standpoint of the car.
We miss that that's what we're expecting when we want our intellect to be able to fix what is an embodied nervous system-wise entrained issue.
So first we have to be able to see it, and then we, um, gear two, we shift into gear two, where we start to dig deeper to understand it in the body.
Uh, so, um, gears.
[laughs] When...
If you are my generation, you know what gears are because you probably learned to drive on a stick shift.
[laughs] Um, and when the going is rough or you're just starting, you need to be in gear one, the low gear that just gets things started.
And then gear two is there's a little more momentum, um, but it doesn't really go yet.
And then gear three, there's this natural flow.
It's a brilliant model, and I appreciate, um, Clara naming to me that, um, Judson Brewer's actually added a fourth gear, reverse, and that's when you're not going [laughs] you're going in the, the backward direction.
You're not even awake to any of it.
Um, so thinking about this for habit patterns that are tripping us up, it's a really helpful way of understanding just seeing the habit is not enough.
That's gear one.
I have to see it.
I'm in reverse until I can see it.
But that gear one is typically an intellectual, "Yeah, I know how I kick myself in the butt again and again and again and again.
I just can't stop myself from doing it." But at least I'm seeing it.
What...
Our, our culture is so entrained in the quick fix that we think that should be able to do it.
That n- that if I can see it, I should be able to get past it.
I should, I should, I should be done with the whole thing.
But that's kind of the equivalent of, um, going to the auto mechanic with a car problem.
They do a quick assessment, and they say, "I think the problem is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah." And you go, "Oh, yeah, I agree," and then expect that the car to be fixed from that.
[laughs] The, the just being able to name that's the problem, um, it should be all done.
And we know that's crazy from the standpoint of the car.
We miss that that's what we're expecting when we want our intellect to be able to fix what is an embodied nervous system-wise entrained issue.
So first we have to be able to see it, and then we, um, gear two, we shift into gear two, where we start to dig deeper to understand it in the body.
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