Using Joy to Deflect Fear

This spring I faced a very stressful situation and used joy to deflect my fears and anxiety.

The radiologist told me there was a suspicious area on my screening mammogram.  Well, this was not news I wanted to receive!  To make matters worse,  I was told it would be two weeks before I could get a diagnostic mammogram and ultrasound in order to have a more definitive view of the area.

I wondered how I would get through the next two weeks with out stressing myself out knowing I could potentially be told I had breast cancer.  I didn't like having to wait this long but I did like having time to work with my mind and emotions while I waited for the final diagnosis.  I wanted to create a state within myself that could accept whatever life handed to me without being overwhelmed with fear and I wanted to be free of anxiety and worry while I waited for the upcoming tests.

During this same time period,  I was in the process of learning several songs which I would be singing with the choir I was part of  and I decided I would use this  to create more joy  in me and deflect anxiety and worry. Nothing brings me more joy than singing with the choir so it was the perfect choice for me.


All my spare time was used to practice the songs we were working on.  One piece I was working on was a song  I wrote and our music director had invited me to sing it during our Sunday church service and one piece was one I would be singing with two other women at an annual talent show.  

All this could not have happened at a more perfect time.  My mind could stay focused on the things I loved and my time would not be spent in worry.  I spent the entire two weeks singing as often as I could and I allowed joy to fully awaken  in me and with mindfulness I sent this this joy into every cell of my body, affirming I was whole and well.

The morning I went for the diagnostic studies I took all my music with me because I knew I would have time to work on it while I waited.  I wanted to keep my mind focused and keep my joyful state active.   I sang my heart out as I sat in the tiny room waiting for the doctor to come and tell me her findings.   I had pre-paved my calmness during this day by cultivating a state of joy during the previous two weeks. Not once did I give into fear!

When the doctor and the tech entered the room they both had very solemn expressions on their faces and I thought to myself,  " they really should have more positive expressions when they deliver good news to people."  I had convinced myself it would be good news and their sour expressions did not phase me!  And it was good news! There was no indication of cancer!

Surely, they thought it strange when they walked into the room and saw this woman, who was waiting for a possibly very serious diagnosis to be delivered,  sitting there beaming with joy.  Believe me when I tell you I was beaming!  Not only was singing keeping me in a joyful state but a friend  surprised me and showed up to be with me during this time.  I could not have been happier.  I could feel my joy radiating out into the room. They must have felt it too.

Did my refusal to give in to worry and fear affect my outcome?  I believe it did.  I believe I could have made myself ill, even create cancer,  during those two weeks by worrying and living in fear every moment. Our minds and emotional states creates the medium the cells of our body reside in and those states promote either illness or health.

I am very grateful for the outcome I had and grateful for the knowledge I have of the power of the minds affect on the body.  

May all be well and at peace.

Susan

Recipe For Releasing Emotional States

Here is a recipe you are sure to benefit from:  "Recipe for Releasing Emotional States From Subconscious Mind".

Sometimes we get stuck in a painful emotional pattern  when painful memories are activated in the mind by circumstances that remind us of some past event.  These unpleasant emotional events are sometimes hard to shack without some prodding on our part.  Here is a method for releasing the emotional charge and finding some relieve.   If you give it a try, I would love feedback on your results.

1.  Affirm the  presence of  Love, of God,  Divine love, or Wisdom  (whatever works for you)  3 times.

2. Affirm memories are powerless to disturb you because of this Divine Presence.

3. Declare aloud:  I know release the thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and attitudes that are causing ________________________.  Tell your subconscious to revel the the memories causing this attitude.

4. Write on a sheet of paper:   I now release these error thoughts,  I let them go;  and I allow them to be dissolved for all time and  in all directions.

5. Sit quietly for a short time and then write down short phrases of the  thoughts, feelings, and attitudes attached to the memories.  Do not write facts, write your feelings and do not reread.  Cover each phrase you write with a clean sheet of paper so you don't reread.

6. When no more memories come,  tear the paper to shreds while repeating:  I now release these errors; I loose them; I let them go ; and I let the dissolve into nothingness, for all time and  in all directions.

7. Now burn the paper in a suitable receptacle.  Watch the flames while declaring aloud:  These error thoughts are now consumed by  Love, by God,  by Wisdom, etc, . The energy is released to be reused in a new and better form NOW.  Repeat the statement as long as the burning continues.

8.When reduced to ashes say a prayer of thanksgiving for your freedom from the errors of the past .  Thank you, God, Divine One, Subconscious mind, (whatever works for you)  for my freedom from the mistakes of the past and the results of the mistakes of the past.

9. Make an affirmation that  claims your good:  I now attract and enjoy ________________.

10. When any thoughts about this reoccur state:  I have no more need for that thought.  I  deactivate it and release the energy NOW.

11.Replace the dismissed thought with a positive statement :  I am poised and centered in peace, love, forgiveness, security, strength, beauty, success,  etc.    My soul is undisturbed by anyone or any circumstance, past or present.

12.  If the mental pattern continues, repeat burning process.  Some emotional states may require 3 burnings.

How Meditation Changes the Brain

The information about meditation is  from a recent email I received from Luminosity.  I practice meditation because of the known benefits and recommend it to anyone who seeks greater peace, insight, health, and well-being.   I also recommend the  brain training exercises at Luminosity.  If you have not tried them, go to Lumosity.com and sign up for their free training.   It is great fun and helps improve your memory. For more information on meditation and its benefits,  I recommend the following books: Super Brain - Chopra and Tanzi The Mindfulness Solution - Siegel                             Real Happiness - Salsberg How to Meditate - Chodron Meditation for Beginners - Kornfield      _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"A new study out of Brown University has found that a form of mindfulness meditation known as MBSR may act as a "volume knob" for attention, changing brain wave patterns.

What is MBSR?

Originally developed by a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medical School, mindfulness based stress reduction (MBSR) is based on mindfulness meditation techniques that have been practiced in some form or another for over two millennia. The 8-week MBSR program still follows some of the same principles of the original Buddhist practice, training followers to focus a "spotlight of attention" on different parts of their body. Eventually, it is hoped, practitioners learn to develop the same awareness of their mental states. In the last 20 years, MBSR and a similar practice called mindfulness based cognitive therapy (MBCT) have been included in an increasing number of healthcare plans in the developed world. Some studies have shown that these practices can reduce distress in individuals with chronic pain and decrease risk of relapses into depression. In this study, Brown University researchers wanted to investigate whether MBSR could have a broader application beyond the clinical realm. Could MBSR impact the alpha brain waves that help filter and organize sensory inputs, improving attentional control?

Study design

Researchers divided the study’s 12 healthy adult participants into two groups: a test group that underwent MBSR training for 8 weeks, and a control group that did not. After 8 weeks, a brain imaging technique known as magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used to measure alpha wave patterns in participants. While hooked up to the brain scanning equipment, participants felt taps on their hands and feet at random intervals. On average, those who trained with MBSR demonstrated faster and greater alpha wave changes in response to these taps. These alpha wave surges indicated that participants were better able to quickly focus attention on the relevant body parts.

How alpha waves affect cognition

Alpha rhythms help filter irrelevant sensory inputs in the brain. Without proper filtering, the ability to carry out many basic cognitive operations can be crippled. Imagine the simple task of backing a car out of the driveway. In order to reach the street safely, you must hold your destination in mind while steering and ignoring distractions from every modality: news on the radio, children playing at the end of the block, an itch on your foot, the glare of the sun in your eyes. Most people filter out these distractions subconsciously — but should irrelevant stimuli distract you, backing out can become a difficult ordeal. This Brown University study is in line with other research on meditation, confirming previous findings that link enhanced attentional performance and fewer errors in tests of visual attention with meditation. While it’s still too early to declare meditation a cure-all for everything from attentional control to chronic pain, it’ll be fascinating to see what future research uncovers about this millennia-old tradition’s impact on the brain.

Dealing with Addiction

                                                                          

Using alcohol and drugs to alter the state of your consciousness is a slippery slop that few can escape without leaving scars within and without.

It may start out as innocent fun but if engaged in long enough it becomes a habit and you permanently change the wiring of your brain. This rewiring leads to the destruction of the things most of us hold dear;  health, relationships, finances, jobs, spirituality, and self-respect.  Once the brain is wired for addiction, you put “it” before everyone and everything else and the parts of the brain that have to do with relationships, memory and decision making actually shrink. 

You are more at risk for addiction if you have a family history of addiction, suffered abuse, neglect or were traumatized as a child and if you began using at a young age or administered the drug by smoking  or injecting.  

Having grown up surrounded by the disease of alcoholism, I can tell you first hand that it leads to abandonment, betrayal, sexual deviance, relationship crimes, dependency, spiritual bankruptcy, self-hatred, anxiety and panic, dishonesty, personality disorders, distortions of reality, divorce, isolation, shame, and physical disease.

For a fuller discussion of addition please click on the link below. 

http://www.helpguide.org/mental/drug_substance_abuse_addiction_signs_effects_treatment.htm

                                                       

Improve Your Mood? Naturally!

Below is an exert from Dr. Mercola's recent newsletter regarding the use of antidepressants and what you can do naturally to improve your mood.   The information if valuable so I am sharing it with you.  Please check out the entire article.  The link for the article is at the body of this page.

• Dramatically decrease your consumption of refined sugar (particularly fructose), grains, and processed foods. (In addition to being high in sugar and grains, processed foods also contain a variety of additives that can affect your brain function and mental state, especially MSG, and artificial sweeteners such as aspartame.)  There's a great book on this subject, The Sugar Blues, written by William Dufty more than 30 years ago, that delves into the topic of sugar and mental health in great detail.
• Increase consumption of probiotic foods, such as fermented vegetables and kefir, to promote healthy gut flora. Mounting evidence tells us that having a healthy gut is profoundly important for both physical and mental health, and the latter can be severely impacted by an imbalance of intestinal bacteria.
• Get adequate vitamin B12. Vitamin B12 deficiency can contribute to depression and affects one in four people.
• Optimize your vitamin D levels, ideally through regular sun exposure. Vitamin D is very important for your mood. In one study, people with the lowest levels of vitamin D were found to be 11 times more prone to be depressed than those who had normal levels.18
  
  The best way to get vitamin D is through exposure to SUNSHINE, not swallowing a tablet. Remember, SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) is a type of depression that we know is related to sunshine deficiency, so it would make sense that the perfect way to optimize your vitamin D is through sun exposure, or a safe tanning bed if you don't have regular access to the sun.
• Get plenty of animal-based omega-3 fats. Many people don't realize that their brain is 60 percent fat, but not just any fat. It is DHA, an animal based omega-3 fat which, along with EPA, is crucial for good brain function and mental health.19Unfortunately, most people don't get enough from diet alone. Make sure you take a high-quality omega-3 fat, such as krill oil.
  
  Dr. Stoll, a Harvard psychiatrist, was one of the early leaders in compiling the evidence supporting the use of animal based omega-3 fats for the treatment of depression. He wrote an excellent book that details his experience in this area called The Omega-3 Connection.
• Evaluate your salt intake. Sodium deficiency actually creates symptoms that are very much like those of depression. Make sure you do NOT use processed salt (regular table salt), however. You'll want to use an all-natural, unprocessed salt like Himalayan salt, which contains more than 80 different micronutrients.
• Get adequate daily exercise, which is one of the most effective strategies for preventing and overcoming depression. Studies on exercise as a treatment for depression have shown there is a strong correlation between improved mood and aerobic capacity. So there’s a growing acceptance that the mind-body connection is very real, and that maintaining good physical health can significantly lower your risk of developing depression in the first place.
• Get adequate amounts of sleep. You can have the best diet and exercise program possible, but if you aren't sleeping well you can easily become depressed. Sleep and depression are so intimately linked that a sleep disorder is actually part of the definition of the symptom complex that gives the label depression.

To see the entire article please copy and paste this link into your browser.

articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/10/03/antidepressant-side-effects.aspx?e_cid=20131003Z1_DNL_art_1&utm_source=dnl&utm_medium=email&utm_content=art1&utm_camp

Creating Peacefulness

Walking is a great relaxing exercise.  You can deepen the relaxation experience with purposeful self talk while you walk.                                   

Speaking the following words while  pressing  your first two fingers and thumb together which each statement, creating an anchor (neuro-pathway) in your brain.

Engage both, your right and left brain by speaking the words with feelings, with sincerity, directly from the heart.

May I feel peaceful and calm.

May all beings feel peaceful and calm.

May I feel loved and supported.

May all beings feel loved and supported.

May I feel safe.

May all beings feel safe.

May I feel connected to others.

May all beings feel connected to others.

May I feel joyful.

May all beings feel joyful.

May I feel confident.

May all beings feel confident. 

May I feel healthy.

May all beings feel healthy.

May I be free of  negative judgments of others.

May all beings be free of negative judgments of others.

May I know my skills and talents.

May all beings know their skills and talents.

May I confidently demonstrate my skills and talents.

May all beings confidently demonstrate their skills and talents.

May I feel prosperous.

May all beings feel prosperous.

May I be free of the false belief others are out to hurt me.

May all beings be free of the false belief others are out to hurt them.

May I trust my inner guidance.

May all beings trust their inner guidance.

May I be free of the false belief I am a victim.

May all beings be free of the false belief they are victims.

May I feel empowered.

May all beings feel empowered.

May I be wise.

May all beings be wise.

May I love and appreciate my physical body.

May all beings love and appreciate their physical body.

May I forgive myself and others of perceived wrongs.

May all beings forgive their's  and other's perceived wrongs.

May I be free of  dis-ease.

May all beings be free of dis-ease.

May you be at peace now and always.

Seeds of Addiction

Traumatic experiences in childhood tend to increase the chance of  developing  harmful addictions later in life. These early experiences determine our personal view of self, our self-image and worth, therefore, are the seeds of addictions. 


Here is what I hold to be true regarding addictions;  " If people think highly of themselves, have their basic psychological needs met and enjoys life,  they will not turn to unhealthy addictions. When parents  have harmful addictions,  they will likely pass on to their children a bumper crop of issues which makes them susceptible to destructive addictions of their own."   


If during development, individuals are reinforced with the idea they are brilliant, beautiful, and important, their brain becomes hard- wired to think well of themselves and will most likely make healthy choices during their lifetime. Choices which keep them safe, happy, and content.  


On the other hand , if individuals feel ignored, criticized, abandoned, isolated, unsupported, unwanted, unloved, unprotected, or if they are abused and beaten, or hungry and cold,  the brain becomes wired in a totally different way and the individual will likely engage in self destructive habits to escape unwanted feelings of poor self-worth.


Addictions, or habits,  are formed when we repeat a behavior over and over.  Whether it's taking a drug or watching a sporting event,  if it makes us feel good our brains release dopamine.  We like the feeling dopamine gives us and we will want to repeat the behavior again and again.


Each time the behavior is repeated,  the nerve pathways in the brain, for that particular behavior, becomes stronger, more heavily entrenched, until it  becomes "set" as if in concrete.  

A person  is able to choose whether they will repeat the behavior  for awhile, but  after many repetitions there will come a point when the "setting" in the brain  becomes fixed and the person is no longer at choice.   They become hard-wired for this behavior and must have what they desire or they will experience terrible physical and psychological pain.    Destructive addiction is born.                                          


As infants, we arrive in this world with a brain stem that is hardwired to tell us to breathe, sleep, eat  and so on.  We do not have any choice in these matters.  The brain stem's control or programming will override our desire to hold our breath, for example, and we will eventually breathe.


The brain stem's programming is the reason people drown.   They are underwater, holding their breath, they know they should not breathe, but there will come a point when they will breathe and  water will enter  their lungs and they will  die. They have no choice! 


This is how an addiction can take over some one's life.  Repeat a behavior often enough, like drinking too much, and the behavior will  become part of the brain's hard-wiring.   The addict wants to stop but cannot.  The user does not know at what point  the hard-wiring will occur but it will occur eventually and it requires a great deal of work to undue the addiction pathway. However, it can be done and many people have been successful at overcoming horrendous addictions. 


Addicts tend to have multiple addictions and need help, from outside themselves, in order to really overcome their destructive behaviors.


The most common types of addictions are:
Alcohol
Illicit drugs
Sex
Work/Achievements
Food
Gambling
Prescription Drugs
Religion
Shopping
Money
Approval
Relationships
Depression
Sports
Smoking
Learning
Exercise
TV shows 
Illness 


These behaviors  allow us to escape ourselves, our thoughts, judgments, feelings, circumstances,  and other people.  We become unconscious of  psychological or physical pain.  The behaviors become destructive when we habitually repeat them to the detriment of ourselves and others.  


The best defense against seeds of addiction? Cultivate a health self- worth!


To assess your feelings of self-worth give a yes or no answer to the following seven questions.  If you answer no to the majority of the questions you may have the seeds of addiction planted in your psyche and are at risk for developing harmful addictions. If you already have serious addictions seek professional help as soon as possible. .


1.  I feel connected to friends and my family of origin by love, 
     support and trust.
2.  I form long term, healthy relationships with appropriate people.
3.  I am proud of my achievements, work, talents, skills  or
     accomplishments. 
4.  When assessing people I know or just meeting someone,
     I  primarily see their beauty and value rather than their     
      frailties, limitations, or ugly parts. (our judgement of others is 
      often how we judge ourselves)
5   I express my ideas and opinions easily and honestly. 
6.  I trust myself to make choices  that are right for me.
7.  I have values and believes that allow me to feel connected to something greater than myself and I feel better about myself for it.    
     
Many of  us have seeds of  addiction but  we do not have to fertilize  and cultivate them.  We can cultivate healthy self worth and find greater enjoyment in our lives.  Seek professional advice if you know you need help in this area.  



The first step in overcoming an addiction is to

acknowledge their is a problem and ask for help.