Paying a Price For Having a Highly Creative Brain
July 21, 2011
We all experience mood swings, fear, doubt and uncertainty. And for some, these conditions morph into mental states such as depression, schizophrenia, bipolar, obsessive compulsive and post traumatic stress, which prevents us, in many cases, from moving forward.
If we could penetrate our psyche, I believe we would find that we humans pay a price for having a highly creative brain that has created, without our knowledge or permission, a likeness, an image of who our brain thinks we are that we know as the ego or alter self.
This image is the “negative pole” of our personality and is composed of our beliefs, which employs the “chatter” in our head as its gatekeeper. This gatekeeper, which is part of our DNA, is heavily vested in the ego’s image; its need to control, to be right and not being accountable.
Our “positive side” is an extension of our universe that loves to create, is open to change and in order.
Terms such as separation and disconnection - redemption and transformation are used to describe the mental act of passing from one side of our personality to the other, which raises a question. Is moving from the positive to the negative an illness? No, not unless you stay there and according to a report by the surgeon general, 20% of the American populous, over 40 million people have entered this “realm,” without an exit strategy.
Could it be that we’re not as sick as we think we are, but rather lack the understanding of what makes up the positive and negative sides of our personality and how they work? Imagine having the power to reduce a “mental illness” to a mental challenge that’s manageable with the right education.
To learn more, click here; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29SSuVwc78M
The Emergence of “The Self” – No Wonder We’re Confused
July 11, 2011
Ever since Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden we have contemplated, without much success, why we humans can be so extraordinary on one hand, and on the other, confused, self-serving, and at times, destructive? Surely there must be a reason why the most intelligent animal on the planet, suffers under the weight of its own thinking?
Inspired by a quote from the famous story book detective Sherlock Holmes, who said, “There is nothing as elusive as an obvious clue,” I decided to play detective by re-examining my own thinking to see what I could find. However, the likelihood of finding such a clue was dependent upon asking a different set of questions. For example, why don’t the other primates have the psychological problems that we do?
Clue! Unlike the other primates, humans have the ability to imagine at a very high level. We can see, in our mind’s eye, what is not there. Every invention, cure and innovation began as a mental picture.
Clue! It’s our imagination that propels us into the future and past, traversing space and time. It is our imagination that enables us to be extraordinary. But how does our imagination contribute to our being confused, self-serving, and at times, destructive?
Clue! The answer lies in the context of our nighttime dreams, which are often chaotic and nonsensical.
For example, have you ever dreamed about a person, place or thing that did not appear as they really are? We all have, which demonstrates that our brains have the ability to take what is true and twist it into something of its own making, which proves that our brains can and will miss-create. Now you may think, “So what, I’m awake, I’m in control, I know what’s going on.” But wait! There’s more to the story. Much of what our brain does, it does in our subconscious, away from our prying eyes. For example, at this very moment our brains are regulating every aspect of our bodies without us even knowing about it.
The fact that our brain controls our subconscious and have the ability to miss-create led me to theorize that our brains, without our knowledge or permission, has created an image of who our brain thinks we are that “chatters.” You know that voice, the one that talks down to you and speaks about fear, lack and regret.
And we wonder why we’re neurotic.
For thousands of years, metaphors such as the tree of life, tree of good and evil, the yin and yang allude to the fact that we have a “two-part” personality, which is why we can be up/down, happy/sad, confident and then insecure, which raise a question.
What are the mental qualities of each side and how do they work?
Our “positive side” is aware of this duality, lives in the present moment, makes conscious choices and is connected to what moves us forward.
Our “negative side” is a creation of the brain that will twist our ability to reason into judgement. Judgement ignites the chatter in our head that points to the evidence (what’s happening that we don’t like) in the hope that we will react. And react we do, with negative thoughts and emotions that hold us back.
To see this new paradigm in action, click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=29SSuVwc78M
