During my work at a neuroscience lab in Switzerland, it quickly became apparent that neuroscientists understand a lot about neurons, neural circuits, and neurotransmitters but they’re utterly clueless about the mind. By “mind,” I don’t just mean thinking; I mean the entire phenomenological psyche—perception, cognition, imagination, intuition, thinking, feeling, judgement, language, memory, and awareness itself. The ability to be aware of the contents of your mind is a domain that neuroscience knows nothing about.

When meditation was introduced to the West, it came to us through two sources: Language translations of Eastern spiritual texts and Asian teachers who came to the West to share their wisdom. As someone who speaks several languages fluently, I can attest to the fact that different languages aren’t simply different ways of saying the same thing.

Mindfulness meditation is a method for developing neutral, non-judgmental, objective self-awareness. This is called, “Meta-awareness,” which means being aware of your awareness.

Your problems are not wrong. They feel awful but they’re not pathologies to just try to zap away. They’re meaningful and purposeful processes designed to wake you up to something new, increase your self awareness, and expand who you are. They’re your personal growth trying to happen.