Turn The Divisiveness Off

Written by Don Shetterly

It is too easy for us to engage with behaviors we think are helpful, but not be fully engaged as human beings.  We want to be conscious.  We want to be aware, but more often than not, we participate in life unconsciously.

It is epidemic these days as so many find their sustenance through every news headline, broadcast, and news shows.  They decry that which is said, but they cannot get enough of it.  They thrive on all that is reported as if their life will crumple to the ground without it.  If it is not the news, it is people that are like minded they listen to as if it is the gospel truth.

Many people say, "That's Not Me!" 

Many will say, "I Don't Do That!" 

Unfortunately, they do.

If as many people did not watch the TV news as said they did, we would see different programming.  If as many people didn't crave everything politicians said or tweeted, we wouldn't see much of this stuff show up.  If we learned to respect those we disagree with, we would be much more human and loving than we are.

The news and various people across the spectrum of our society get people cranked up.  They say and do things that will get a rise out of people and get them to respond.  Even while saying they won't, people seem not to be able to help themselves.

We worry far too much about what is in the news these days. My personal opinion is that there are little substance and value in the news reports.  Our society bases so much of our life upon this while screaming and raving about it.

If you want to bring change to the world, then turn the TV off.  There's very little value in what is purported to be news, and that is from all perspectives.  There is not anything out there worth consuming.  The more people that turn the TV off, the more things will change.

Yes, that is my view and opinion, but I do put my money where my mouth is.  We no longer get regular TV because it just had very little value to it for the money spent.  At first, I thought I could never do this, but I can tell you that I'm so happy we did.  We no longer miss it, and I believe that we've found a little more peace in a day.

The people grandstanding for all to hear in these times, thrives on someone listening to them.  If they are met with silence, it becomes like a clanging gong that no one needs to hear.  The best thing you can do to stop it is to just not listen.  Turn it off.

There is so much more to life, and we are consumed as a society by what is fed to us every day.  Let us find the joy and the peace, not the anxiety and despair.  Let us find love towards one another, not divisiveness and hatred.

The choice is up to each one of us in how we choose to live our daily lives and what we allow in.  We are at a turning point I believe, and I hope that each one of us will choose wisely each and every morning we awaken.

Our body, mind, spirit, and heart will thank us for it.

It's Not My Circus

Some days it is far too easy to get wrapped up in events that are just not part of our lives.  I'm one that can easily wrap myself up in things that just don't need to be in my life.  Part of that goes with being a highly sensitive person.  I feel so much and want to help others so much.

However, I'm learning more and more that it is not always my circus.  I don't have to engage with everything going on.

We all tend to do this though or the vast majority.  We make things that are not necessarily our issues, into major catastrophes.  When we do that, we rob ourselves of joy and energy, and we place so much stress and trauma on our lives.

If you look at the latest news headlines, there are far too many that eat, breathe, and live this at every turn in their life.  Sure, some of it is important, but if everything becomes the latest headline of the day, you're missing out on so much that truly does matter.  So much of this, we just need to realize that it is not my circus.

There are people who twist everything you say into some political punchline or issue manifesto.  I'm just surprised and shocked by the extent of this.  No matter what you say, someone makes it into their issues that they can't let go.  To that, I have to say, It's Not My Circus!

Some days we are far too shallow in seeing the bigger picture of life.  We focus on the mundane moments that are fed to us as if they are the only things that matter.  We find blame in everyone and everything, but we don't stop and disengage from all these things.

Yes, there is so much going on in our world today, but if we belly up to the bar and drink from its sustenance, we're only adding to the world's problems.  I know this isn't easy to understand, but if we want humanity to come back to the forefront, we have had to take a hard look at why we engage in what we do.

 Sometimes just stepping back and realizing that it's not my circus is the best thing you can do.  Sometimes it is best to step back and breathe and look at the bigger picture.  I'm not saying, close your eyes to what is going on, but make your life into much more than is happening in the world around us.

There a bright big beautiful world out there and social media or the news or your friend's drama are most likely not going to be the ones to enlighten you with what exists.  It is only by disconnecting from the drama will you find a way to discover it.

Sometimes you just have to say, "it's not my circus."

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Asleep With The Latest News Of The Day

This was one of the examples I used in the blog post on June 13, 2017, Are You Asleep?  This one is an epidemic in our country and most likely throughout the world, so it is important to bring up for discussion.

In this example, Louise has allowed the fear of needing to be up-to-date with the latest tidbit of news to keep herself asleep.  She doesn't realize she is doing this, but when you can stand back and see the bigger picture, it becomes quickly evident that she is asleep.

The news takes us into a dark hole of fear. It holds us there.  It is enticing because it uses all kinds of bright shiny lights and music that mesmerizes us.  Different people telling us how they think becomes how we think and all of this together drags us into fear that keeps us asleep.

At one time I had people in my life that said they never watched the news and I thought they were crazy.  I didn't tell them that to their face, but I thought it.  Yes, I'm being honest here.  However, several years ago we let cable go and we stopped watching the news as a result.

I could not believe how freeing it felt when we did this.  There was much more stress in watching the news, as each one of the pundits and guests they had on were screaming at each other as to what their opinions were. Being away from that felt lighter.  It felt more normal.

We don't realize just how much this is happening until we step away from it.  When we step back and let it go, it feels like freedom.  You begin to feel like you're getting your life back.

Now when I travel, I'll turn a cable news channel on and I end up with the conclusion, "I'm not missing much" by not having this in our house.  I get bored with it quickly because most of these news shows are not saying anything useful.  Most are repeating the same things over and over.  Few, if any, are even coming close to reporting the news.  It is all opinion.


Now, somehow without watching the news, I still seem to generally know what is going on. However, it is without all the noise.  Through Twitter I can see most things show up in a news feed, and in online news readers, I can see the headlines.  Beyond that, there isn't much that is useful.  I apologize to the media-at-large if this offends you, but it is the truth (and you know it).

When we see things in video format with facial expressions and music and words, it changes how our brain thinks.  Our brain is no longer awake and thinking for ourselves.  It is mirroring what we see presented to us.  It is being asleep with the latest news of the day.

If you're thinking I'm nuts, that's fine.  I don't take offense to it.  However, I'd challenge you to shut the news off for 30 days and see how it looks after that.  I bet you will see it differently.

 
Our body and our mind don't need this constant barrage of fear hurled at us.  We're only going to make ourselves more and more sick by stretching the nervous system beyond comprehension.  The mind and body need balance, not a constant bombardment of fear.

Knowing what is going on around us is a good thing, but bathing in it every second of the day is keeping us asleep.  It is not enlightening us as much as we may think it is.  May we wake up and treat our mind and our body with the respect that they deserve.

Make sure you check out the next part in this 11 part series

 Part 4 is "Asleep:  You're Wrong, I'm Right"

 

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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News Focus

I don't get it.  I really don't!  We are supposedly an advanced species living on this planet and yet, we act as if we only have one brain cell to engage.  Yes, this blog post is a rant.  I'm sorry.  I apologize, but I just don't understand humans.

Everything now and for the past year seems to be all oriented to politics.  I don't care what issue about politics it is or who is up and who is down, I'm just sick and tired of seeing politics plastered all over the internet as being the only thing that matters.

Again, this isn't about one political viewpoint over another, so if you think it is - sorry, but that is not what this post is.

I even had the audacity of someone take such a benign statement I made last night that was about pets and turn it into something that was political.  I'm still scratching my head about how that could be related to the subject of politics in any way, shape or form.

I look at the news feed reader on google that I use and it is all politics.  There are no other stories.  I can't help but think that we are so puffed up and egotistical in this country that nothing else matters in the world.  I'd love to read "the news", but I guess it does not exist.

People will sit there and complain about one group or the other right now, one disaster or another or whatever it is that is being shown around the clock on the media.  Yet, they don't know how to turn it off.  In fact, I don't think anyone can turn it off.  They just keep watching it and complaining and getting mad at those who don't agree with them.

Your favorite news channel doesn't enlighten you...

Years ago we dropped cable and it was one of the best things we did.  Now, I don't see all the garbage trash being disguised as news and have no desire to see it.  Watching your favorite news channel doesn't enlighten you or make you informed.  In fact, all you're getting is the beliefs and opinions of that show disguised as news.  It doesn't matter the issue or the cause.  100% of all news sources do it!

On the Newsroom, the premise of the show was that to be informed with facts, not beliefs and opinions was the foundation of a strong country.  Yet, everyone today thinks that as they read the "so-called-news" that they have the facts.  Some even think if you listen to multiple sources, you're more informed.  I sit here completely amused by these things.

I can guarantee you that if people start disconnecting their cable and turning off the news, things will change quickly.  Do you honestly think the media will run programming that no one watches?  They make their money by advertisement dollars and the more people that sit in front of the TV there is, the more they make.  If people don't watch, the advertisers leave.  Yet, for some reason people are glued to their news source.

One good thing is if you turn off the news and quit reading all the slanted news stuff out there, you'll fine your life gets less stressful and your quality of life improves.  I'm so glad we turned the cable off.  Not only did it save us an enormous amount of money, but we got our life back.  We learned what being human was.

So instead of turning everything into one singular focus of politics or the latest news story of the day, try to unplug.  Try to find a way in life to discover what is truly important, not just what others feed you and get you to believe is important.  The entire planet will be much better.


#NewsStoryOfTheDay

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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I'm Right and You're Wrong

In my view, I think we all do this.  To some degree, we all think I'm right and you're wrong.  I doubt there is a person on this planet that doesn't practice this every day or at least every week.  If there is, I would like to meet them.  I believe some are better at accepting others than some people, but let's not let anyone off the hook at this moment.

You see, its easy for us to think that this is something everyone else does.  The philosophy of I'm Right and You're Wrong is so prevalent in our society that no one even is aware they do this anymore.  Look no further than politics or religion or even most relationships.

I'm not going to sit here and tell you I don't do this, because I do.  It is something I really have to watch myself on because I can quickly look at others and think they are wrong.  I sometimes get a little too high and mighty for myself.  For me, I can chalk it up to the way I was raised.  If you didn't go to our church or think like my father, you were wrong.  It has taken me years of deprogramming to let go of that narrow minded thinking I was raised in.

What I've found in my own life is that if I view others as being wrong and I'm right, then I will enjoy a miserable experience each and every day.  There is no joy in that.  There is no love in that.  There is no feeling of being at one with another, because with that thinking you separate yourself from all others.

Say it with compassion and love...

Sure, maybe there is something you know that others have not realized yet, but if you use it to look down at them or beat them with a bully stick, than do you really have something good? What if instead of using your "enlightened thought" to slap the other person, you use it to help them understand what it is that you know.  Say it with compassion and say it with love!  You'll get much further.

There are some things that just don't matter in the grand scheme of life.   Sometimes, things are insignificant in the grand scheme of life and they just don't matter.  They might matter to you, but if you compare them to the thousand years of civilization in a great big universe, do they really measure up?  It is often better to pick and choose what is important, rather than trying to apply that to every moment of every day.

Even though we grow up with certain habits and procedures, it does not mean we have the only way to do stuff in life.  Often while we hold these teachings to be the right way, they are nothing more than what we were taught.  It is up to us as adults to begin learning what really matters, what really works in our life, and what we are going to care about in any given day.

I choose not care about some things...

On a TV show, I saw one character ask another their thoughts about some random subject.  His response was "I don't have an opinion."   Of course, the befuddled the person asking because they said, "you've got to have an opinion - its too important."  His response was, "I've only got so much ram and I can only care about so many things.  Some things I choose not to care about."  It was a good example.

Unfortunately we spend too much time in front of the screen watching our favorite news programs and allowing them to incite us to cement our beliefs for that moment.  We don't allow ourselves to think independently as we gulp down minute by minute news stories.  We see things in one way only and we watch the things that back up our views.  Often, we are not as enlightened and smart as we think we are.

 

You can either beat someone into submission to believe that you are right and they are wrong, or you can help lead them to discovery.  If you lead them to discovery, there is a good chance that both of you will learn something on the journey.

When we say I'm right and you're wrong, it is about attempting to control others so they see things our way.  The more others see things our way, the more safe and secure we feel.  It is not an enlightened moment of human interaction, but one of narrow mindedness and fear and control.

Challenge yourself - just don't take my word for it.  Challenge yourself to not see others as wrong.  We're just screaming at one another these days and the more we think we are right and everyone else is wrong, the more we're condemning this world to a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering and evil.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Neuroscience In The News On Aug 22

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted a more personal moment of neuroscience and how it relates to my own healing journey from Conversion Disorder to the present moment.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning August 22, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from August 15, 2016

My Thoughts On Neuroscience

I continue to be amazed at what we are learning in Neuroscience each day.  Some of the research studies coming out are taking us light years into the future.  While some of the things we think we know, are not yet established, there is so much we don't know.

Personally, I've been through enough trauma in a lifetime and it has affected my brain, body, and everything I do, feel, think, and say.  There is no escaping it completely that I have found, although I have found some body centered therapy to drastically help in my own healing and recovery.

If you have read other blog posts or even my first book, you will see that I went through Conversion Disorder in 1991.  It was before a person could search on the internet and understand what it was.  While it seems like a distant memory now, I know that my brain was not in contact with my body and even if it tried, my body did not listen.

In the body centered therapy that I have gone through, I've learned how to feel and connect in my body, knowing that as I do this, I am recovering more of who I truly am.  It is the essence of who I am.  While we often discount therapy that is not in the mainstream medical world, I know without a doubt what this body centered therapy has done to change my life.  I have seen it change many others.

Neuroscience is helping to put together what happens in the body and the mind.  There is no denying that the two need to be connected for optimal health, life, and happiness.  The more we understand about our minds, nervous systems, and all the parts inbetween, the more we can reclaim that which was lost during traumatic experiences of our past.  May we all find a way to work together towards this common goal.

If you would like to speak to me further about my own experiences, please contact me.  I am always happy to shed the light of what I have learned and share how I came through my horrible past into the person that I am now.

You can also check out more on my book which is on Amazon.  The title is, Hope And Possibility Through Trauma by Don Shetterly

Neuroscience In The News On Aug 15

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted an article about how past experiences shape who we are.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning August 15, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from August 8, 2016

Past Experience Shapes Us

Even though we don't want to believe it most of the time, what happened in the past does affect who we are today.  In the latest research article discussed on MindBodyThoughts.com, Behar Gholipour of the Huffington Post wrote, The Things You Don't Remember Shape Who You Are. There are so many things that we often don't remember and it always amazes me how they impact our every moment of every day.  We can run from them, hide from them, and try to ignore them, but they are still running as tapes in our minds, bodies, and tissues.

In our early years, it sets us up for what happens later in life.  We all have experiences that impact us one way or another and some of us have more difficult experiences which really brings this front and center.  To read more of the details of the study, please look at the following article, The Things You Don't Remember Shape You Who You Are as I have discussed on Mind Body Thoughts.com  [click to read more]

Glued To The News Of A Tragedy

Lately, we are overloaded as a people.  Our nervous systems are designed to handle a great deal and so is our brain.  Yet, when we see events of the past few weeks unfolding every day, we push the limits of all that we can endure.

If we are glued to the news of a tragedy, it can be just as harmful in my view as if we were right there involved in the tragedy.  I say this because I can see it in myself.  When we watch the images that are repeated over and over, its like we are re-traumatizing ourselves.  It imprints into our brain and wires us with emotion to make this a very strong neural pathway.

Even if we hover over every news article and tweet or Facebook posting, we are allowing ourselves to be glued to the news of a tragedy.  It is not healthy for us.  It keeps our body revved up as if the events are happening and continuing to happen.

It keeps fear alive inside of us...

It keeps fear alive inside of us because when we see these things unfold, it connects with that part within our mind and body that says, "it is not safe".  When we connect with the unsafe part, it recalls all those memories where we did not feel safe.  It re-traumatizes us as if not only this current event is happening, but that there is a strong basis for past events to have happened.

When we keep our body and our mind ramped up in fear, we are not taking care of ourselves.  We are not allowing our nervous system to calm down.  We are not feeling in our body, because the last thing that fear does is allow you to feel anything in your body.  The less we feel, the more we set ourselves up for illness and health conditions that will have an environment to grow.

Our nervous systems are overloaded...

Our nervous systems are already overloaded in this world.  We have pushed ourselves far beyond the normal limits of healthy behavior.  Events like we've seen unfold lately only push those limits into the upper ends of the danger zones for our mind and body.

It is up to each one of us to limit how much we take in during these tragedies of life.  Being glued to the news is not something that is helpful.  I'm not telling you to stick your head in the sand, but limit your intake of this harmful and toxic news that is replayed hour upon hour.

The media's goal is to keep you hooked into their programming so they make money.  They are not here for our evolution or awareness or consciousness.  If they limit what they show, you'll turn to those that don't.  If you truly want to take care of yourself, then don't glue yourself to the news of a tragedy.  It will only harm you, not help you.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

---

Neuroscience In The News On Aug 8

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted an article about hypnotherapy and the brain.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning August 8, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from August 1, 2016

Building Memory In The Brain

I really enjoy reading and learning about how the brain forms memories.  It is fascinating to me since I have struggled after Conversion Disorder to regain my memory.  In addition, there are many traumatic memories that resurface from time to time and take me down.  Learning about building memory in the brain, helps me to understand myself more.  At the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto along with the University of Toronto and Sanford University, the research they are doing is just beginning to scratch the surface.  To read more of the details of the study, please look at the following article, How The Brain Builds Memory Chains as I have discussed on Mind Body Thoughts.com  [click to read more]

Neuroscience In The News On Aug 1

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted an article about hypnotherapy and the brain.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning August 1, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from July 25, 2016

Hypnotherapy And The Brain

Our brain is a wonderful thing, but when we understand how it connects to our body, it can really help us heal physically in life and conquer things we thought were too great.  This article discusses some current research that helps provide credibility to hypnotherapy through a study at Stanford University.  I have also included some of my experiences being hypnotized and how beneficial that has been to my life.  To read more of the details of the study, please look at the following article, Hypnotherapy And The Brain [click to read more]

Neuroscience In The News On July 25

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted an article about the multi-sensory process in the brain for merging senses.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning July 25, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from July 18, 2016

Multi-sensory Process In The Brain

It is often hard to detect all that happens in our brain during the course of a day, let alone a minute.  New research studies being done on how the brain processes multi-sensory input will shed new light on areas we can barely dream of in our lifetime.  The brain takes in so much sensory input such as sound and visual stimuli and somehow the brain knows what to put together and what doesn't belong together.  It does this with such speed an accuracy.  Fortunately researchers at Bielefeld University are coming to understand how this happens and the role it could play with Autism, robotics, and artificial perception.  To read more of the details of the study, please look at the following article, Merging Of Senses In The Brain [click to read more]

I Wish I Had Enough Love

In this day of horrendous news and behavior that is less than human, I feel like I cannot do enough.  I know I'm not alone.  Others feel the same way when people are degraded and torn down and used as political footballs or as individuals to bully.   Its hard to see anyone murdered or beaten or abused and yet it happens far too often in our day.

As humans we should strive to be more than we are, not how we can abuse, tear down or kill or one-up every other person.  We should not aim to divide, but celebrate our differences and cherish where our lives intersect.  This world has become a dangerous place and the rhetoric spewed in abundance, does not help.  It may be the result of the ego, but it hurts everyone.

Words have become daggers throughout every country of this world.  If words can hurt and kill others, then we can use words to heal and soothe and uplift one another.  I write these words in an attempt to help us heal and soothe the open wounds of society.

...Who Suffered

I wish I had enough love to heal all those that have suffered in this world.  Whether it is from child abuse and trauma or from the horrors of bombs and mass killings.  Whether it is from those adults who have no idea how to respect their kids or from those that turn an eye.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

... Feel Wounded

I wish I had enough love to heal all those who feel wounded in life and lash out at everyone they meet.  Whether it is the ones that feel they have all the answers or the politicians that use people to win their posts.  Whether it is those that feel they should use every form of social media to portray their hurt and anger against recipients that don't expect it.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

 ... Numb and Disconnected

I wish I had enough love to heal all those who are so numb and disconnected in life.  Whether it is from all their past experiences or the current barrage of everyday news.  Whether it is from everything that has overwhelmed them or the moment where they feel like there is no hope.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

... Hurting From Being Strong

I wish I had enough love to heal all those who are hurting from being strong for so long in life.  Whether it is from current health issues that steal their strength, energy and vitality or from moments where their bodies are too tired to see another day.  Whether it is from those moments of just being so tired in life that they want to give up.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

... All The Hate

I wish I had enough love to heal all the hate that is portrayed to the world.  Whether it is from the political rhetoric or those that do it in the name of God and love.  Whether it is by those who cannot see or ones who have to cover up for their own lack of self worth.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

... All The Fear

I wish I had enough love to heal all the fear in this world.  Whether it is from the fear that is real or imagined or something that seems all too real.  Whether it is from the fear that hides within each soul, but goes unnoticed in our day and we put on the happy face so as to hide it.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

... All The Greed

I wish I had enough love to heal all the greed in this world.  Whether it is from the online sites that can only see dollar signs instead of authenticity.  Whether it is from those for whom there is never enough greed to fill their pockets in a day and they constantly seek more.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.  

... Hatred and Ignorance

I wish I had enough love to heal the hatred and ignorance towards one another.  Whether it is from racism or the color of one's skin or just the ignorance of seeing someone else as different.  Whether it is from long held family beliefs that were taught or the failure to see each other as human.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.  

... Not Seeing

I wish I had enough love to heal the willingness not to see in this world.  Whether it is through the constant chatter of the news for the daily fix of being re-traumatized or the superficial side of social media.  Whether it is through blind allegiance to those we agree with or the lack of being one's self.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

... What Was Taught

I wish I had enough love to heal the mind from seeing only what was taught.  Whether it is the teachings that were imparted from day one to a child who never realized that this was a beginning point, not an end point to knowledge.  Whether it was from those that were beaten into submission to learn only what they were told.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

 ... Planet

I wish I had enough love for the earth to heal the woes of this planet.  Whether it is the animals that are abused and tortured or given no sacred respect for their place in our civilization.  Whether it is for the plants or trees or land that is tortured for our own gain.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

... Forgiveness

I wish I had enough love to offer forgiveness to everyone.  Whether its on the battlefield of a war or on the murderous streets where we live.  Whether it is from those that did us so much harm that we can never begin to understand how to forgive them and let go.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

... Mind Body Connection

I wish I had enough love to help all humans to understand the mind - body connection in the way I've learned from experience.  Whether it is neglecting rest for our body or a healthy balance of all things in a day.  Whether it is the complete isolation and disconnect from our mind and body or a fear that it doesn't align with our beliefs.  I wish I had enough love to heal each one.

I feel inadequate beyond measure for all I see happening.  I feel some days as if I cannot do enough.  I often feel like even in what I try to do, it's never enough to heal the earth, its people, and all inhabitants we see.  For evil has marched upon this planet in the name of love while it has closed the eyes of many as if they have never seen.

I feel inadequate beyond measure to know how to help, but I long to help.  I feel some days as if love is not enough.  I feel at times that hope may never come to see another day.


Surely as a people and civilization living on this planet, we can do more than we are doing today.  Surely, we can be more than we are today.  Surely, we can all find some small way in this day to make a positive difference and then repeat it again tomorrow.

For if we continue down the path we are on, love may not be enough to pull us back.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2016 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Neuroscience In The News On July 18

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted an article about bullying and neuroscience.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning July 18, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from July 11, 2016

Bullying and Neuroscience

Through research, they are finding that bullying gives the bully a feeling of reward.  The more they bully others, the more reward they get. While there are areas in the brain that deal with such as the lateral habenula and basal forebrain, there is a chemical called GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) that is a primary inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain.  It is responsible for reducing the excitation of surrounding neurons and making them less active. While there is so much more to read on this topic, I hope that this research will help begin to stop bullying.  An estimated 28 percent of kids between 12 and 18 are bullied in school.  This needs to stop and if neuroscience can help solve this horrible plague upon our society, than I am all for it!  You can read more on this topic, Neuroscience of Bullying.   [click to read more]

Neuroscience In The News On July 11

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted an article about the brain and multitasking.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning July 11, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from July 4, 2016

The Brain and Multitasking

While we all want to believe that multitasking is great for all and makes us out to be a super hero in our jobs, there is research suggesting that this is anything but positive for us.  The more we do, especially challenging tasks and projects at the same time, the more detrimental and stressful it is to our body and our brain.  Stress builds up and when stress builds up, there is no real creativity or problem solving going on.  It exhausts the brain and the body in the process.  The following link takes you to more information and the source on the brain and multitasking.  [click to read more]

Neuroscience In The News On July 4

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted articles about star-shaped brain cells, songbirds and neuroscience, and a biased imbalanced in neuroscience research.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning July 4, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from June 27, 2016

Star-Shaped Brain Cells

A molecule that enables strong communication between our brain and muscles appears to also aid essential communication between our neurons, scientists report.

On the surface of our numerous star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes, they have found the molecule LRP4 is important in ensuring healthy levels of a brain chemical that enables learning and memory

The brain chemical, or neurotransmitter, is glutamate, the most important excitatory neurotransmitter in the brain, which essentially means it is passed between neurons to help one activate the next. It was known that astrocytes could regulate or modulate brain cell communication by adjusting levels of glutamate. [read more]

Article Link:

• Scientists learn more about how star-shaped brain cells help us learn
• Source:  www.eurekalert.org
• Dr. Xiang-Dong Sun, Dr Lei Li - Augusta University

(click image to read article)

Songbirds And Neuroscience

Certain songbirds have a pretty human-sounding way of learning their special tunes: They listen to their fathers.

Scientists have known that zebra finches — one of the most oft-studied songbirds — learn their songs by listening to their dads, but a new study published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications takes that a step further. Researchers are hunting for the neural pathways that allow the young finches to figure out how to sing.

This may seem like pretty esoteric work, but research into song learning in birds could teach us about our own neurological development.

Check out the video from this study [read more]

Article Link:

• Scientists are using neuroscience to unlock the secrets of songbirds
• Source:  mashable.com
• Study Source:  Auditory experience-dependent cortical circuit shaping for memory formation in bird song learning.
• Shin Yanagihara, Yoko Yazaki-Sugiyama, Okinawa Institute Of Science And Technology

(click image to read article)

Biased Imbalance In Neuroscience?

Lately, when I look at the current research trends in neuroscience, a question has been lurking at the back of my mind. Clicking on and reading abstracts after abstracts of journal articles, I found myself asking if there could be a motivation bias behind the remarkable endeavours of researchers.

More specifically, has there been a considerable amount of attention paid to the appealing cerebral cortical regions rather than those which maintain and regulate fundamental survival and autonomic functions, thereby striking a subtle imbalance of focus? There seems to be much expert concentration on our high-level mental capacities of cognition, reasoning, memory, decision-making, executive control and emotion. They make up the main chapters of behavioural neuroscience textbooks and probably shine the spotlight away from those which we cannot do without such as involuntary physiological processes: breathing, heart rate and swallowing, which are mostly taken care of by the hindbrain region of the brainstem. [read more]

Article Link:

• Letter: Is there a biased imbalance in neuroscience research?
• Source:  ubyssey.ca
• By Rowena Kong (4th Year Psychology student at UBC)

(click image to read article)

Neuroscience In The News On June 27

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted articles about the neuroscience of pain, why do our minds wander, and brain signatures of spontaneous thoughts.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning June 27, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from June 20, 2016

Neuroscience Of Pain

A primer on the neurobiology of pain pathways.

The sensation of pain is a necessary function that warns the body of potential or actual injury. It occurs when a nociceptor fiber detects a painful stimulus on the skin or in an internal organ (peripheral nervous system).1 The detection of that signal is “picked up” by receptors at the dorsal horn of the spinal cord and brainstem and transmitted to various areas of the brain as sensory information.

The facilitators of this pathway are known as neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters are endogenous chemical messengers that transmit signals across a chemical synapse, from one neuron to another “target” neuron, muscle cell, or gland cell.2 Some neurotransmitters are excitatory, facilitating transmission of messages, while others are inhibitory neurotransmitters, impeding transmission.2 These chemical messages are critical in the modulation of pain.

Article Link:

• The Neuroscience of Pain
• Source:  www.practicalpainmanagement.com
• Robert J. Gatchel, PhD, ABPP, Christopher T. Ray, PhD, Kiayra Spights, Tyler Garner, MS, Emily Beggs, Ryan Hulla, BA, BS, Eric Salas, MA, Meghan Humphrey and Alyssa Castro

(click image to read article)

Why Do Our Minds Wander?

Sometimes the mind wanders. Thoughts pop into consciousness. Ideas or images are present when just a moment before they were not. Scientists recently have been turning their attention to making sense of this.

One natural picture of the phenomenon goes something like this. Typically, our thoughts and feelings are shaped by what we are doing, by what there is around us. The world captures our attention and compels our minds this way or that. What explains the fact that you think of a red car when there is a red car in front of you is, well, the red car. And similarly, it is that loud noise that causes you to orient yourself to the commotion that is producing it. In such cases, we might say, the mind is coupled to the world around it and the world, in a way, plays us the way a person might play a piano.

But sometimes, even without going to sleep, we turn away from the world. We turn inward. We are contemplative or detached. We decouple ourselves from the environment and we are set free, as it were, to let our minds play themselves.

Article Link:

• Why Do Our Minds Wander?
• Source:  www.npr.org
• Alva Noë, University of California, Berkeley

(click image to read article)

Brain Signatures of Spontaneous Thoughts

Without prompting, they fill our stream of consciousness–Sudden amusement at a joke you heard yesterday, or a flash of panic over an important meeting that slipped your mind. Spontaneous thoughts constitute the majority of our mental landscape, yet little is known about how they arise. Because these events are harder to predict, manipulate or monitor than other experiences like seeing, speaking or paying attention, they pose unique challenges to studying in the lab. Recently, a team of Canadian researchers led by Kalina Christoff devised a clever approach to unveiling the neural underpinnings of a wandering mind. By tapping into the heightened internal awareness of experienced meditators, they unraveled the temporal progression of brain activity underlying the generation and evaluation of spontaneous thoughts.

Mindfulness meditators are exquisitely adept in their introspective abilities. Because of their exceptional accuracy at monitoring their internal experience, they are an ideal population in which to study conscious thoughts. Therefore, Christoff and her colleagues used fMRI to image the brain activity of 18 experienced (>3000 training hours) mindfulness meditators during a simple awareness task. In one condition, the meditators responded when they detected a word on the screen, while in another they indicated when a spontaneous thought arose. In both conditions, they classified the word or thought as an image, narrative, emotion or sensation.

Article Link:

• Brain signatures of spontaneous thoughts
• Source:  blogs.plos.org
• Emilie Reas, UC San Diego

(click image to read article)

Neuroscience In The News On June 20

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted articles about having good vibes for a learning culture, empathy is a cognitive process, and how neuroscience helps understand emotional control in teens.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning June 20, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from June 13, 2016

Good Vibes Learning Culture

Essentially, our energy influences other people and ultimately the environments we work in. That energy can either create an atmosphere that’s conducive to learning and productivity, or it can create one that is negative and stress-inducing – causing our brains to release hormones like cortisol and adrenaline. Vermeulen said these chemicals block electrical transmission, sap our energy and make it hard to think and to learn.

Our brains produce electricity – what’s more, we generate and conduct electricity.
People can feel the energy you’re emanating just as your subconscious mind registers the energy of people around you.

Article Link:

• The Connection Between Neuroscience, Good Vibes And Learning Culture
• Source:  www.clomedia.com
• Bravetta Hassell, Associate Editor at Chief Learning Office

(click image to read article)

Empathy Is A Cognitive Process

The ability to understand and empathize with others’ pain is grounded in cognitive neural processes rather than sensory ones, according to the results of a new study led by University of Colorado Boulder researchers.

The findings show that the act of perceiving others’ pain (i.e., empathy for others’ pain) does not appear to involve the same neural circuitry as experiencing pain in one’s own body, suggesting that they are different interactions within the brain.

“The research suggests that empathy is a deliberative process that requires taking another person’s perspective rather than being an instinctive, automatic process,” said Tor Wager, the senior author of the study, director of the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Laboratory and Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at CU-Boulder.

Article Link:

• Empathy For Other’s Pain Rooted in Cognition Rather Than Sensation
• Source:  www.sciencedaily.com
• Tor Wagner, Professor of Psychology at University Of Colorado Boulder

(click image to read article)

Emotional Control In Teens

In the midst of all the apparent tumult, intense emotion, and occasional reckless behavior characterizing the teenage years, the brain is, in fact, evolving and developing the neural circuits needed to keep emotions in check. Research in the June 8, 2016 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience describes how the ability to control emotions moves from one brain area to another as teens mature into adults, offering an opportunity to understand how disorders related to emotional control emerge.

"Our study opens the way for a better understanding of the neurobiology behind adolescent behavior in emotionally arousing situations," said study author Anna Tyborowska of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands.

Previous research links the spike in sensation-seeking and impulsive behavior during adolescence to the delayed maturation of the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain involved in reasoning, planning, and decision-making. Study authors Inge Volman, Ivan Toni, and Karin Roelofs previously demonstrated the importance of the anterior prefrontal cortex in emotional control in adults. However, it has not been clear whether and how the delayed development of the prefrontal cortex affects emotional control during adolescence.

Article Link:

• Study charts development of emotional control in teens
• Source:  www.sciencedaily.com
• Anna Tyborowska of Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands

(click image to read article)

Neuroscience In The News On June 13

These are articles that I found of interest relating to news about Neuroscience.  In this issue, I have highlighted articles about the signaling network of the brain, making and breaking a habit in the brain, and Trauma and Neuroscience learning.

Please check out the article links below and feel free to comment with other information related to these subjects.  I enjoy learning as much as I can about the brain and passing this information on to everyone else that shares these passions.

This is for the week beginning June 13, 2016.

Please come back each week and hopefully I will have some more highlights.  Feel free to share with me ones that you have found and I may highlight those as well.

Feel free to check out the highlighted articles from June 6, 2016

Signaling Network Of The Brain

Researchers have taken an important step toward deciphering the brain's complex neuroelectric communication system that could underlie sleep disorders and conditions such as Alzheimer's, epilepsy and schizophrenia.

The complex communication network connects groups of neurons that can be identified and studied by imaging the brain while a person rests using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Because the brain's resting state is not biased by any particular task, the approach provides a way to study its "intrinsic functional organization," said Zhongming Liu, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University.

"Data related to blood flow are different from the language used by the neurons themselves," said Liu, whose research is also affiliated with the Purdue Institute for Integrative Neuroscience. "The neurons use electrical signals to talk to each other, and these electrical signals happen much faster than blood flow. So we are translating those slow blood-flow signals into the fast signals the neurons use."

Article Link:

• Research yielding insights into brain's signaling network
• Source:  www.purdue.edu
• Zhongming Liu, Perdue University

(click image to read article)

Making And Breaking A Habit

Not all habits are bad. Some are even necessary. It's a good thing, for example, that we can find our way home on "autopilot" or wash our hands without having to ponder every step. But inability to switch from acting habitually to acting in a deliberate way can underlie addiction and obsessive compulsive disorders.

The study is published in Neuron and was led by Christina Gremel, assistant professor of psychology at the University of California San Diego, who began the work as a postdoctoral researcher at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism of the National Institutes of Health.

The study provides the strongest evidence to date, Gremel said, that the brain's circuits for habitual and goal-directed action compete for control -- in the orbitofrontal cortex, a decision-making area of the brain -- and that neurochemicals called endocannabinoids allow for habit to take over, by acting as a sort of brake on the goal-directed circuit.

Article Link:

• How the brain makes, and breaks, a habit
• Source:  www.sciencedaily.com
• Christina Gremel, University of California San Diego

(click image to read article)

Trauma and Neuroscience Learning

“We have a reasonable understanding of the negative spectrum of emotions like fear and stress responses, but we don’t know much about the positive side. What regulates joy? Where is our sense of resilience? Optimism?” Vaidya asks. “And all of these are clearly regulated by our brain.” Her lab at TIFR is one of the few in India to explore these complex questions.

Vaidya finds it fascinating how we all develop such unique circuitry, and, consequently, such different ways of responding to trauma despite sharing an identical neurological architecture. “It’s like this,” she explains. “In the beginning, an architect designs all the flats in a building identically. But after people start living in them, the homes will look extremely different because they bring in their own personal flavour. Similarly, genetically, our brains are designed on a blueprint, we all have prefrontal cortex in the same place, and yet in the micro details we vary.”

A study from her lab showed proof of this. “We showed that when you have traumatic events happen in the early window of life you actually show ageing-related effects two years down the road. The ability of the hippocampus [a part of the brain] to make new neurons drops abnormally in trauma. This tells us that if there is a traumatic early event, you may not see effects right away but there are effects down the road waiting for you.”

Article Link:

• It’s Time to Get Cerebral About Trauma – a Neuroscientist Leads the Way
• Source:  thewire.in
• Vidita Vaidya, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai 

(click image to read article)