I just heard Martha Beck, the Oprah columnist & life coach, talking about her new book Steering by Starlight. She was saying that the reptilian brain (the older part of the brain) is primed to scan for "lack or attack."

Lack = Not Enough = Money Fears

She said that in humans with our highly developed cortex, this fear driven part of our brain can be constantly talking to the cortex, where it starts telling itself scary stories over and over and over. I'm not saying this very well, but she did... and she had suggestions, from the world's mystical traditions & brain science on how to deal with it.

Let me look for a link somewhere...

Oh, here:

http://www.buffalonews.com/185/story/326868.html