You Must Think Like Me

When growing up, we were mind controlled every way.  From the fundamentalist church we went to and the family I grew up in, the unwritten rule and code of the day was YOU MUST THINK LIKE ME!

Now the inhabitants of the family and the church would never admit to this.  They would say I was crazy.  They would say I was brainwashed.  In fact, it isn't that they just would say these things, but they have already made sure our friends know that I"m crazy and brainwashed.  I've been ostracized by everyone that knew me.

You see, I didn't accept all of this belief any longer.  I challenged it.  I questioned it.  I didn't just subscribe to the mind control philosophy of YOU MUST THINK LIKE ME.

They didn't like that.  They tried further countermeasures but those didn't work.  They escalated the countermeasures through every means possible and yet those didn't work.  When they could not control and manipulate my mind anymore, they continued to pester me every day with hurtful assaults and comments.

I had to walk away...

In my case, I finally had to walk away from the family.  I had to leave it behind.  There was no way I was going to accept the mind control that they were forcing upon me.  I didn't want to subscribe to their views and beliefs that YOU MUST THINK LIKE ME!

Yet, today in this country and world, I see the continuation of the mind control methods being employed.  People look at one another and state, YOU MUST THINK LIKE ME or I won't be your friend or I won't have anything to do with you or I will ridicule you.

Off with your head...

It is epidemic that we have gotten to a place where we hate one another so much because of some position the other person holds.  It doesn't matter what position it is, there is no coming together and no balance.  It is all about thinking like what you believe, or off with your head!

Social media displays this far more than most things.  In fact, I think it is more efficient showing the hatred for one another than even the churches or mind controlling families like my own.  You see it every day and if you don't, you're not opening your eyes.

Why is it that our way is the only right way.  Why is it that YOU MUST THINK LIKE I DO or you are wrong?  Why is it that we cannot even begin to entertain something different than what we believe?

No way to learn from others...

There is no way to grow as a person if you only see things in one dimension.  There is no way to learn from others if you see all that hold different view points as the enemy or the losers or the ones that are horrible people and scum of the earth.  There is no way to rise to higher moments in our world if all we do is stand opposed to one another.

If what we believe and think is so solid, it will stand.  We will be able to accept differing viewpoints without harming our foundation.  Yet, if our foundation is something that is not strong or we do not have confidence in, then we will not feel as if we can stand with others who think differently.

Thinking differently and allowing ourselves to entertain those thoughts is essential to being human.  It is required for us to grow.  It is necessary for our survival.

When you look at life as "YOU MUST THINK LIKE ME", than you're limiting humanity and holding all of us in a prison of our own making.  May we shake this attitude that is so pervasive across all communities and peoples and see how we can come together for our common good.

If all of our ideas were right and all other ideas are wrong, will we ever make it into a new millennium or will we be the downfall of our own civilization.  We will destroy our own by thinking we know all and everyone else is wrong?

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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. 
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Monkey See Monkey Do

Most of our life, we've probably known this, but often we don't put it in perspective.  Monkey see, monkey do is as alive and relevant as it ever has been.  I think one could easily describe this as mirror neurons.

Mirror neurons are those parts of our body that really look towards other humans to help us orient ourselves in the world around us.  What we see others do, we tend to mimic and do this as well.  We mirror what we see.  So, in all reality, it is monkey see, monkey do.

Like the small child who observes a brother or sister doing something and they learn from this so they too do the same thing.  It is the same as a young child who watches their parents do things and somehow all of the sudden they can do those things as well.  It is the way we learn and grow and evolve.

Now, please don't take this to extreme like the church I grew up which thought if you do something wrong, you're responsible for the actions of your brother or sister.  I mean, these people took this to the extreme.  I believe we all still have choices that we make and no matter what another person does, it doesn't mean we have to follow in their actions and footsteps.

I believe mirror neurons though help us find our place among society and with human civilization.  It is to help us learn how to work together and function together for the survival of the species.  Without it, we might all be walking in different directions.

Of course, I believe today there is a warning, because as we look at political leaders, they are performing actions that are less than human.  Unfortunately the mirror neurons of their followers are operating at full peak and does not appear to be any chance of slowing down.  I believe these actions can be harmful because they are not controlled by survival or the heart, but by the power and control of the ego.

As humans, I believe we have a responsibility to consider the highest good and survival of our species.  It isn't helpful to our civilization when we act as if we have no moral guide and compass.  Spouting hateful rhetoric towards another really shows just how low we have sunk in following the mirror neurons we see before us.

My hope is that we begin to use our mirror neurons to mimic behavior that is for our highest good, not for the lowest common denominator.  We all need to work together to survive in this world and on this planet.  Acting as if it is us against them in no ways brings about the future survival of our species.

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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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Critical Thinking Lacking In Stress And Survival

Lately I've had more than my share of rough moments in life.  The stress and anxiety has been through the roof.  Trying to juggle many things at the same time and dealing with people who are anything but human, is challenging beyond belief.  In these moments, its hard to just function in a given day, let alone try to advance yourself.

Critical thinking is often lacking in times of stress and survival.  After all, in moments where the lions of life are chasing you, you're not trying to plan out how you're going to build your dream home or what you need to buy at the store.  You're mainly just trying to outrun the lions and keep the yapping jaws from clenching their teeth into you.

Some days I am not sure how to deal with everything.  I'm sure friends and people close to me are tired of hearing me complain.  Yet, if I don't let this stuff out, it just builds up inside of me to the point I want to seriously do some harm.  I've never been good with letting anger go, although I've come a long way in learning how to deal with it.

Change To Heal

Its easy to just go with the flow and think the skies will part and the birds will fly.  Yet, in order to heal, we often need to make changes in our life and our beliefs.  Some of these changes to our beliefs will be met with resistance unlike anything we have ever attempted to do.  Yet, if we hold on to everything that continues us to live in our despair, how will we change?  How will we heal?

From the moment we are born, we are brought into a world of beliefs, opinions and teachings that we soak up at a record pace.  What our caregivers, parents, siblings and those around us do, we soak up as a sponge soaks up water.  We crave to know more about this world we have been born into and inhabit.

Unfortunately some of the things that we are taught really don't serve our life well.  Some times they are limiting to us and throughout our life, we will come to know that we must shed them if we want to discover more about our self. 

When we come upon moments in our life where healing is being held back, sometimes we have to go in and change our life from these core moments so we can heal.  Sometimes it requires us to step out in faith and change core beliefs because while that belief got us to this point in our life, it may no longer serve us going forward.

Trama and the Limbic System

The limbic system is the part of our nervous system that is responsible for our survival as well as emotions like fear and anger. It is also involved in feelings of pleasure such as eating and sex. It is a complex set of structures that lies on both sides of the thalamus just below the cerebrum and includes the hypothalamus, hippocampus, amygdala and thalamus.

The amygdala and hippocampus are part of the limbic system and play a major role in our memory. The amygdala determines what memories are stored and where they are stored while the hippocampus is responsible for sending out memories to the appropriate areas of our brain for long term storage. The hippocampus retrieves the appropriate memories when it is necessary. The amygdala is involved in our emotional response.

The limbic system has an important role as it helps in the self preservation and survival of the species. it is responsible for the fight or flight response. If parts of the limbic system are impacted negatively, it can strongly influence or disrupt normal social behavior.

According to the article, "The Biological Response To Psychic Trauma", because the limbic system is the main area of the Central Nervous System where memories are processed, this is the most likely place to find an explanation of memory issues as a result of trauma. The hippocampus does not fully mature until at least the third or fourth year of life but the amygdala matures much earlier in life. In the first few years of life, the quality of events but not necessarily the context with which they happened can be remembered. Severe traumatic events of prolonged stress can disrupt the normal processes of the hippocampus which then disrupt the memory process by creating fearful associations without context, yet the feelings are still associated with the memories.

The main thing to keep in mind is that there are memories stored throughout our body and that connect to our mind. These are stored as emotions and sensations. Our fears get locked in with these memory sensations and so in order to understand our emotions and to understand the fear we hold, we must go in to the body. Only trying to access these memories through cognitive or mental exercises, is like only filling up a water glass a third of the way to quench your thirst after being outside all day. While you may add water to your body this way, you're going to still suffer from thirst. So it is with cognitive functions. If you only address part of the underlying events that reside in the body, than you're missing the greatest part of it.

Many claim that they have the right way to heal and they try to prove this. However, just having emotions come up or feeling nice or relaxed or seeing certain conditions change does not necessarily mean you are at the root of what is going on. If there is not a grounded body connection to the method of healing where you go in and embrace the fear, you are missing the point as a healer. There has to be a connection to the body, through the mind to arrive at the place of release, surrender and healing. Without all these elements, true healing is not taking place.

For More Information:
Reference: http://www.cirp.org/library/psych/vanderkolk2/
Anxiety Research (U.K.), Volume 4: Pages 199-212
The Biological Response to Psychic Trauma: Mechanisms and Treatment Of Intrusion and Numbing

Are You Ready To Let Go?

The other day, I went in a for a session with Dr. Canali and I proudly displayed what was left of the rash I've been dealing with. (See blog post about the rash from Jan 5, 2010 - Body Memories, Abuse Memories and Trauma Recovery ) He looked at me and said, "Are you ready to let go of that today?" At first, the question struck me as odd and my immediate response was of course "yes, I am!"

However, as I sat there and thought about this like I do with everything, I wondered in my mind - was I really ready to let go of it. It was hard being honest with myself because deep down, I wasn't sure if I was. Here I had responded to Dr. Canali that I was ready to let go but part of me said - you really don't believe that do you?

Once I got on the table, I looked at Dr. Canali and stated that you know I thought I was ready to let go of it but to be completely honest, I'm not sure if I am. As I explained, this rash seems like a part of me just as any other body part. To let go or get rid of the rash means I'm giving up something about myself and if I do that, I'm not sure what will replace it.

You see the fear of what is beneath it (even if it has the potential of being something good) is unknown. It isn't a hopeful oh my gawd there's possiblity there. It is more of losing a major part of yourself that you've known all your life. It is like losing your identity that you come to know all your life even if the identity is twisted and not completely accurate.

See how difficult that could be to give this up? We all have these parts of ourselves. Even if they are parts we don't like about ourselves, they might have been there to help us survive situations or get us through life. Without them, we may fear that we cannot survive or continue in life even though that may not be the case. Survival in our early years has a tremendous impact on how we view our lives from that point forward.

This is part of the ego. It is a part of the ego that desires control and feeds off our own energy. To allow this part of the ego to continue its neurotic feeding frenzy on us, aids in the denial of our true self. I'm not going to write that it is easy to let go because I know from first hand experience just how difficult this is, how much control the ego and these things have over us and just how it can affect us physically.

As I went into the session, I came up against this part of me that did not want to let go. Was I successful that day in letting go? I'm not sure. I don't feel like I was or I completely was at this point. In fact, it felt like a war was waging within me that day from where Dr. Canali and his assistant, Quayny, were trying to assist me in moving forward from the part that wasn't about to let go. In fact, he did some acupuncture on me that day and the needle he had in my heart center (think that was what he called it) had to stay in for some time. He told me that my body was holding on to it for dear life.

The next day, I felt terrible in my body and I felt the anger full force. Fortunately I was able to work on myself on the table and release some of this through my body. I feel much better now than I did the next day after the session. A lot has moved through and out of me which is good.

You know, I so badly want to flee from the effects of all that I've been through and I wish I could wave a magic wand to do it. I know there is no such thing that exists because the way through this is for me to go within myself, into and through the fear and allow things to be let go. That's a process and one that isn't necessarily easy. I'm just glad I could be honest that day with Dr. Canali about really being afraid to let go of these things because I learned so much about myself that day.

*For more articles, check out the Mind Body Thoughts Blog

Our Survival

How we deal with trauma from generation to generation will determine our survival as a species. - Dr. Paul Canali