What is Irrational in the Mind of One is Completely Sane in Another (Part 2)

In my last blog, I created VERY emotionally-based examples from my own experiences that demonstrated charged neurological pathways that imprinted both PAIN and PLEASURE memories in my own brain (and those of my children in their own way). Just for a change of pace from my usual emotional/psychological writings, I am gathering statistical, sociologically-neutral information to show the importance of how memories are gathered on a global scale. I WILL be honoring my promise to help each person reading this blog on a personal scale by showing HOW to get to a point of creating a new system to rethink old memories based on what we have learned on both a macro and micro scale that will bring our world into a realistic perspective and still allow individual subjectivity to understand why we go through the experiences we do. Are you still with me? If this doesn't quite make sense by the end of the blog, then contact me personally and we can go through the experiences you have had and work on them on an individual basis.

[**By now, I hope all of you realize that my vision in my writing and in my holistic discovery is to share as much information as possible to as many as I can and not create a system of monetary wealth from my information--as I am going back to school to become a holistic-naturopathic practitioner, the end goal is to create the communities necessary to provide these healing modalities to EVERYONE, regardless of financial situation!**]

Connecting Our Global Thoughts

According to the research I have gathered from many different websites and medical journals, the human brain has anywhere between 100 and 160 Billions neuron pathways. That is a lot of learning material and places for memories and emotions to hide. And it is widely believed and estimated that we use only 10% of our brain, even though it is wired to use 100%. We use approximately 10-16 Billion neuropathways per person on average, therefore up to 150 Billion pathways are left unused.

On this planet, according to the latest 2012 census reports and population websites, we have between 6.875 and 7 Billion people in the world and it continues to grow exponentially every day. The birth rate is over double the death rate. 13.3 Million people die of heart disease each year, while 2.4 Million die of AIDS (last year's census). 5.8 Million die of cancer and 2.9 million die of respiratory illnesses. 50% of the world population lives at the poverty level at $2.50 a DAY. 80% live on less than $10 per day, even in the United States. And with 1 Billion children living in poverty and very little access to education, what is the point of having 160 Billion neurological pathways per child? If the survival part of the brain is the only one in use the majority of the time, we do not have an adequately tapped population regardless of size!

So, according to these statistics (and yes, these are based on scientific generalizations and patterns of human sociology and biology), we can guestimate that there are anywhere from [6.875 x 10 to the 19th power (10 quintillion)] neuron pathways to [1.12 x 10 to the 20th power (100 quintillion)] neuron pathways being used globally by humans EVERY DAY. Without calculating the amount of brain loss and not even attempting to estimate the average thought processes of humanity, these brain waves that are interconnected by everyone on our planet are sending messages inward throughout each body and outwardly connecting every other body that affects the energetic and sociological outcome mapping of behaviors throughout the world.

If therefore we use the median statistic of 905 Quintillion neuropathways (the average number of cells used per brain and average number of living humans on the planet), then we can safely say that all it takes is ONE act of national interest, broadcast to the majority of people within the United States (314 Million people approximately alive as of this blog) to emotionally affect the entire nation and push over the dominoes of emotion that subsequently affect humanity internationally to rewire the thoughts of all 7 Billion in a major way within a week's time, even if it is only using 1 pathway per person per day to change a thought about our global condition. Because we are so strongly, emotionally connected by being in the human body--energy made up of impulses that are conscious and subconscious to run all the body and mind functions--we can surely affect those around us just by where we consistently focus our thoughts.

A great example of an emotional event going global is a major news story like the Egyptian protests on April 20th, 2012 in Tahrir Square that began its global protest on social media sites like Facebook. The gathering brought tens of thousands of Egyptians together to protest the unfair disqualification of candidates in the elections for President. By April 28th, the protests led to one death and 30 wounded, and 90 more wounded during the night before the morning of the 29th. The significance was that it was actually covered internationally and was broadcast in every major country of the world due to its unusual popularity and methodology of gathering. The riots over governmental rule have been happening on and off for many years, most notably after elections in 2011, but they have become a forefront to the Muslim nations because of their use of the internet to gain attendance at the protests as well as their plea to an international audience. Egypt has long held peace treaties with the U.S. and with Israel, both of whom have supported Egyptian governmental changeovers. But as a group, the Egyptians have become very emotionally charged and the riots are becoming a massive expression of their plight (protesting began January 17, 2011 according to The Huffington Post article, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/22/egypt-protest-timeline_n_1107476.html#s486979&title=January_17_2011).

Many other countries have experienced similar protests, but they were not as visible as the Egyptian protests seemed to have become. The exception is the September 11-16, 2012 riots internationally by Muslim protesters who rallied against an anti-Muslim film released in Hollywood. The protests, preplanned in 20 muslim countries, were fueled by an emotional outpouring against the U.S. and created a scene of violence that ended in 3 deaths at the U.S. Embassy in Tunis.

Again, billions of homes had access to the news. The same could be said of the debate for President of the United States recently aired internationally here in Denver, Colorado. I had met several members of the International Press who attended the debate. In spite of its uneventful outcome, because it is one of the most watched elections of the world. According to the Nielsen rating system, in the U.S. alone, there were 67.2 million viewers on 11 networks in our country alone.

Special internationally-recognized events and news-worthy stories have traveled globally in a matter of hours, like the plane crashes on 9/11, the international coverage of the World Olympics, and the death of Princess Diana of Wales. We have access to news 24/7 by cable, television, internet and newsprint. But the greatest source of news travel is by word of mouth. Yes, there are remote regions that do not cover such events but it doesn't mean that they cannot be accessed at any point throughout the world. It is an amazing accomplishment that humanity has a global network of communication that is so varied and sophisticated that it can be shared within a day's time anywhere!

Our Own Personal Memories Attached to Global Events

Going back to the INDIVIDUAL MIND, every human has the CHOICE which messages are allowed to enter the brain or not. In spite of the surrounding environment, we choose to connect globally or not to connect. This is where our values, our interests and our filters kick in. When you think about the above events, what emotions do YOU personally attach to them? Or do you even care?

Here are some of the thoughts I had about events and MY personal memories attached. I want you to think about these and what YOU think about when you remember them:

1. The Egyptian protests in 2011-2012: I remember hearing briefly about the protests online from several news sources. My emotional attachment to the protests only came in the form of a fascination surrounding the media presence of the the individuals who posted their gatherings on Facebook (especially with the arrests of protesters in February 2011). I found it fascinating that the story went international because of its social media appeal. I personally have been in several major protests, so the attachment to that kind of memory is charged with an attachment to see justice and the truth of a situation come to light.

2. The death of Princess Diana: I remember when the Princess died. It was very emotionally charged for me because it was also the same week that Mother Theresa died. That was why I was so saddened by the deaths of two humanitarians in the same week. I was living on Saint Simons Island in Georgia. I had a newborn baby (Jacqui) and two toddlers. And I was emotionally charged due to post-partum depression anyway. Thus, I was a basket-case over the news. I remember Princess Diana fondly and related well to her depression over dealing with her husband's family. At the time, I was going through a similar experience (of being ignored and my feelings discounted) and thus it was a PAINFUL memory that was truly based in my sadness for her children.

3. The 9/11/01 Events: I arrived at work the morning of 9/11/01 to find out about the plane crashes. Denial and shock turned into anger and sadness over the hundreds of lives lost in New York City that day. Immediately, I began to call my family to find out if my relatives in New York were still alive and okay. My memory of the event is attached to my job (I had a PLEASURABLE experience with the position at the Boulder Valley School District), who was with me at the time (I was living with my daughter Ginny and was in my own apartment), and the fact that it was such a tragic event has imprinted a sympathetic sadness for the families that were involved (not technically a PAINFUL memory per se, just the PAIN associated with all those losses and our inability to have stopped the incident). I personally was NOT there, nor did I lose anyone close, but I can relate to those that did.

As far as an emotional attachment to the Presidential debate, I don't have one. I believe either candidate, no matter what happens, will be faced with the ever-sinking ship of debt we incurred during the Bush administration over a war I felt was causing us to recklessly spend money on an ideology I never truly believed in in the first place. And the fact that we are still trying to rule the oil supplies of the world to keep monies in the pockets of the rich, while I watch my friends suffer from poverty, homelessness, drug addictions and depression, makes me really not like politics nor care much for those that care for nothing but getting rich off the masses....enough said....

Reassigning Our Personal Memories of PAIN and PLEASURE

Obviously, in our surroundings daily, we encounter those who think of anything from depression to imminent death and grief over a death to violence and suicide. We are going to encounter these people no matter where we go, whether in traffic or on a public transit or in a building or even walking down the street. We may be unaware of those who think this way, but I guarantee everyone reading this has encountered at least one desperate thinker this week.

On the flip side, you will also encounter at least ONE person who is loving and attached to a loving vision of the Universe in some way. The thoughts floating in a person who is in love with their God, their spouse or partner, their child, their friends, their life, will also affect us in some way by an encounter. The idea is are we consciously or unconsciously aware of our own thoughts and can we utilize them daily to have these moments of love and gratefulness that will influence others around us and in what way?

So this leads me to vibrations and awareness. Let's go through a typical day for you. What do you feel is your strongest emotion when you wake up? Do you dread going to work? Are you excited to spend time with your spouse? What do you feel you have to accomplish during the day? Do you feel overwhelmed by your responsibilities with your children? Do you have people you encounter that drive you crazy? Where does your mind go during the day?

So what happens to your mind when a major event comes across your plate? Are you drowning in daily drama? Do you find your passion for life is waning or is in full force? And when a major trauma has happened, whether it be a personal death you have experienced or an attachment to a traumatic event, what happens to your thought process? I bet nobody really ever asked you what YOU thought personally about a tragedy, or if they did, is it someone like a psychiatrist whom you have to pay? Who has asked you truly what you think and feel?

Now, going back to examples from this and those examples from your own life, let's make one of my proverbial lists. I believe often when we go back and analyze our existence, it often feels like a great accomplishment when we can check off a "to do" list. In this example, we are going to accomplish a list of memories to reexamine and retrain our brain to look at each memory from a holistic perspective.

Reorganizing Memories: Finding a Yin to Each Yang

Now that we have covered a basic understanding of the amazing enormous network of neuropathways within each person and connecting all of humanity, we have a greater understanding how one event, one thought, one act of creation or destruction can affect an entire bulk of humanity if given the right communication forum and attention. You can just imagine what might happen if we were to spread the word to change humanity into creating a higher minded purpose. What if one of YOUR thoughts and your intentions were to become a famous quote or the idea behind a blockbuster film or the catalyst for peace in a foreign country? What if we could collectively overcome the corruption of the elite financial few by just educating the right people that will come up with a way to actually implement a solution to world hunger? What if you are raising the next Nobel Peace Prize winner and it is up to you to point them in the right direction?

What is the irrational part of emotions with what you can or cannot relate? If you have a child or a friend has a child, when you see them cry, what do you think? Does it occur to you that once you were like that child? Or do you completely reject their emotion in some way (an outburst, a crying fit, etc.) and can't understand their change of temperament? Or when you see someone on the street, in a store, at the mall, in traffic, that is throwing a major fit, what is your initial thought of that person?

You see, the important element in memory and emotion is YOUR interpretation of that thought!!! It's the key. In my writings several years ago, I created a forum in which you can use gratitude as the key to unlocking potential. It is the same with the brain function of thought: if you see every experience as a learning one, whether you label it a good or bad memory, you can become whole in your life by allowing yourself to find the gratitude in even the toughest experiences! I know, it seems counterintuitive, but holding onto PAIN is actually the detriment of the self. I will go into this more in the next blog. Enjoy your week and I look forward to hearing from everyone who wants to share with me about your own experiences in these practices.

Let's further investigate these thoughts in my next writing.

What is Irrational in the Mind of One is Completely Sane in Another (Part I)

I have been facing some VERY strange life path issues today and within the last week. After having an amazing channeling session with my friend Joshua Magee (http://yournotthat.com/) about what to do with our lives once we acquire all this wonderful knowledge about the Spiritual development and workings within the Universe. I have been blessed by the answers, which include the fact that I AM always swimming in the right direction because the Universe will change us according to our will and our final destinations. We are designed to learn lessons in this lifetime (or recall those that may have been from other lifetimes) to teach us something, whether they be considered pleasurable or painful lessons (after all, our human selves react to ALL situations based on PAIN or PLEASURE). We create a thought form that becomes a belief based on our reaction. Our reactions, of course, are partially spiritually and partially genetically designed to determine our outcome responses.

For instance, a child goes to school and realized she is smarter than everyone else in her class. (Sorry, daughter of mine, I AM using you as an example). Her mother has spent a great amount of time educating her to read and to be aware of her Universe long before she even turns four. So her experiences within her realm of reality are based on 1. her knowledge base that was passed along to her by her mother and 2. the fact that she is already genetically pre-disposed to intelligence since both her parents were scholars. Now, within her framework, this child has a choice to use this knowledge and intelligence to baffle her teachers, to hold her superiority over her classmates, or to become lazy in school.

All these are normal responses for children to experience, especially in the realm of American school dynamics and the sociological upbringings these dynamics have manifested throughout the years. HOWEVER, my child responded to these "gifts" (knowledge, wisdom and information) with humility and often with questioning and wonder at the Universe, rather than with pride and superiority. So I am SUPER proud to say that this child grew up to be an amazing brilliant, responsible AND humble young woman who truly understands her gifts are also that and her Universe is created through her gratefulness. SO she took her spiritual self (higher self) into consideration and has been blessed because of these decisions. She created a world of positive feedback, which activates the PLEASURE center of her brain, to feed her desire to succeed in both her educational and her relational life.

I have several friends with children with disabilities. They are amazing parents! I don't know that ALL parents with children with disabilities are amazing, but my friends are. A couple of examples in particular have stuck with me. We had a young boy in our neighborhood growing up with cerebral palsy. He was a great friend to all and loved immensely among the kids. I watched how his mother, who had 2 sons much older and born "normal", was such a patient and loving and calm woman. I was so grateful and will always be grateful for her in my neighborhood because she was the mom-figure I aspired to be like the most. Her son turned out to be a great young man, who not only graduated with his high school class, but finished college. Her patience and beauty were memories that always gave me the feelings of PLEASURE. I used to babysit often for this young man when I was a teenager because I loved being around him and their family.

The other woman I am thinking of as an example is a childhood friend who still lives in our home town. She is also an amazing woman. In her case, she overcame a lot of family adversity and skewed belief systems that allowed her own mother to treat her very poorly as a child and treat her sister like she could not do anything wrong (both family patterning examples are irrational, but they seem to be ingrained beliefs that are deeply rooted). Black and white thinking is very abusive and also very common. In my friend's case, she has one son who was born with Autism. And I have never seen a more lovely example of a mother! She is such a wonderful, patient, loving woman who is raising her son to be so happy and brilliant. Her amazing tenacity and steadfast unconditional love shine through when she talks about her son. I watched her interact with him and it was apparent he is the luckiest boy on the planet to have a mother like her. He can integrate his PLEASURE feelings with those of memories with his mother.

If a child grows up with an abusive parent, in a controlling scenario, or is repeatedly rejected based on the family's "treatment" of him or her, that child may have completely different responses or reject their family altogether, depending upon the influences in his or her life. In my life, my father was and is a wonderful man. However, during my childhood, he wasn't around much. He had the responsibility, chosen or imposed, to care for many children financially (I am the oldest). My mother, on the other hand, was very Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde. One day she was amazing, supportive, loving, and created a world of possibilities and experiences for us. The next, she would be upset by something and would freak out on everyone around her and impose her displeasure those closest to her, mainly her children, and principally me as the oldest.

I was NOT a quiet child. I would fight back. So by the time my father would come home, it was just a matter of time before whatever really bothered her in the first place was stuffed and not dealt with because the most pressing issue would then become her imposition of her feelings on me and my blatant disrespect for not allowing her to rant and scream without fighting back (like my poor sister often did). My brother always tried to "logically reason" with her (he is great in that way), but often she would still fly off the handle and all the logic in the world did nothing to console her aggressive and often violent outbursts. But it was only consistent in the fact that we knew, eventually every week at some point, she would lose control and we would have to emotionally be prepared for a verbal lashing.

I was not a perfect parent, especially given these examples that were definitely and deeply ingrained in my psyche. Of course, they were obviously ingrained in my mother's psyche as well, and her father, and so forth and so on... I spent the first few years of parenthood absolutely doting all over my children and couldn't be apart from them for 2 minutes. I was a "supermom" type, but I was extremely unhappy without the balance of my own self-worth and career. I became a "martyr"--home raising children because my husband told me I was not "allowed" to return to school, which imprinted a very negative and PAINFUL bitterness that festered for years. I found myself in the same stale marital situation as my parents, and my kids' father was never around and he was truly never there for me emotionally because he was too busy appeasing his parents and put his work over his family. In the long run, the ideal marriage that was suppose to be a lifetime commitment was undermined by his inappropriate action to make all our marital decisions with his father's control and his mother's passive insistence. But that is not the point of this reflection today. Our marriage did fall apart and I left him because I had had enough being ignored and disrespected and dishonored. And it is totally okay not to put up with verbal and emotional abuse.

But in the course of life events after I went to college and before I actually left my lifeless marriage ten years later, there was a time I could feel myself slipping into the role and becoming the very mother figure with whom I was raised (miserable about my failing marriage, lonely, sad, and several times I lost my temper--yet I always curbed it and ALWAYS apologized to my children, which changes the story drastically). This subtle transformation into negativity was a shock and a horror to me! I never ever in a million years wanted to pass that to my children! So I left the man who was imposing these beliefs on me (male superiority, male and religious privilege, financial superiority, and emotional berating), and I chose to be a single mother. As stated in previous chapter, that didn't turn out well, because there were so many moments I was lonely and would not allow myself to be alone, which led to several bad relationships and several plans to escape. The PAIN center of my life was becoming difficult to manage, so I would run from it, but it always appeared in a new and different form because it was one of my life path lessons.

So the PAIN of the marital situation, which mimicked the PAIN Of the parental situation (I married a version of my mother), led me to pull my proverbial hand away from the stove and I chose to leave. Since then, their reactions (both of them) have responded to me out of jealousy, hatred, vengeance and my mother tried everything to ruin my relationship with my children. Once again, one person's skewed view of life being "unfair" and that because they were not given a break gives one false liberty to hurt others or martyr themselves. Classic Greek Tragedy stories. Which I maintain to this day were and are also genetically linked behaviors in humanity. Betrayal, however, is in my judgment and in MY belief system, the most unforgivable crime. Though this is truly not a reality (everything is an illusion), it is only an attachment that remains from my feelings attached to the divorce, my mother siding with my ex-husband, my youngest sister's betrayal by lying in court to give him custody (and having a relationship with him, also out of vengeance) and my ex-father-in-law still imposing his control by imprinting his male superiority onto his son and maintaining that belief system to this day. It has, however, caused my children and I GREAT PAIN and so we all have reacted differently to it according to our mind's pain reaction to the situation. I continue to write and fight for the just outcome to be done, but my three children are just trying to forget it had ever happened and run from the PAIN, rather than face it.

So we have covered that successes and positive feedback lead to PLEASURE responses and negative and dishonoring feedback lead to PAIN responses. We call the latter in psychology fight or flight. Obviously my most painful examples are used as thus because I am going through this major transformation with them as they are deeply embedded into my PAIN centers of my brain. in my discovery, I have established a median line: all experiences cause both PAIN and PLEASURE. For example, one event that brings a PLEASURE response, like meeting a love interest for the first time, may be the cause of PAIN for that partner's ex. The love interest (in my case, several of them) then finds himself wandering off or getting back together with the ex, both to avoid PAIN and instigate PLEASURE. And thus that first memory of the meeting of that person can no longer be thought of as exclusively a pleasurable experience.

Thus this leads me to my most current situations. I have found that a series of enjoyable events, mainly in traveling across the country with my partner, are not as enjoyable in my memory as they once were. We have torn apart the trip and both assigned negative consequences to everything pleasurable about the trip. It was an amazing learning experience and I definitely felt at the time I was swimming in the right direction. However, now that there are negative memories attached to each of those experiences, I have to reevaluate what is PLEASURE to my memory is not necessarily that to my partner, nor the other way around. But once again, the reality is that what I believe to be a great memory may not be what another would find as great. As we are analyzing our successes and failure over the last year, I have come to discover I find that most of our PAIN-based experiences were our greatest learning lessons, but our minds cannot fathom letting the PAIN out of our consciousness in order to let the experience go.

For example, when we were in Florida this past Spring, we made a 2 week detour to Orlando. We found that hotels in Kissimmee were by the national average the least expensive hotel rates per week of any hotel in the country. So we checked into a weekly hotel and had a few extra days intermittently while we were there at other places. We had made a little money while acting in New Orleans and between that and a tax return, we were able to get a 4-day pass to Universal Studios. That adventure, by far, was my favorite part of our trip and to this day the memories attached to the theme park and how we are both avid movie fans (thus why we own a production company) gave us childlike joy when experiencing the adventures we did. We rode The Hulk ride and saw The Blues Brothers Show and experienced Harry Potter's Hogworts Kingdom and laughed hysterically at the Simpsons ride...and the tribute to Lucille Ball and the Tower of Doom and the Jurassic Park ride...okay, I could go on. But it was in the 4 days that I felt the closest to James and felt that overwhelming PLEASURE of our closeness and our happy memories.

But in a most recent argument, as all couples do, we are stressing over money and our trip to Orlando came up. He is still angry at the amount of money it cost to be there and take that trip. That was a surprise because I thought it was such a magical time together, and it really hurt me. I was saddened by the response. Since then we have begun to talk through why it is SO important to create these memories that are positive. As I pressured him into staying the extra time, I have to apologize for my part in making the memories attached more PAINFUL than PLEASURABLE. In the apology, he has two ways to respond: accept it for an error in judgment and let it go, or hold onto the regret and not allow it to heal as a memory that carries both LOVE and FEAR (the pain of losing money).

This goes back to my example of parenting. If we make a mistake as a parent, we cannot expect our children to forgive us! But we can expect them to have a different memory attached to a bad parenting experience IF we choose to say we are sorry for what we have done. This is truly the only way to change a "bad" memory into a "good" one. This actually has a similar resonance that vibrates with emotions. We can either vibrate in Love or in Fear. I have covered this in many of my past writings. However this vibration, this memory, this attached emotion can only be totally resolved if there is a consistent change in parenting as well, such as in this example. Any experience that leads one to have to repeatedly say "I'm sorry" but never really mean it or resolve it, will then have to continue to get the same responses from the injured parties of such decisions.

So we can only lead by example. We can create great memories for ourselves, our children, and those around us. We have the choice to deal with all life experiences and attach emotions to those experiences. However, as I will further in the second half of my resolution, I will show that it is in the process of transforming all of these memories and thoughts into learning moments by NOT attaching a label to the experience (as I learned in our talk on Saturday with Joshua and his friends) that we are truly free then to vibrate only in accordance to our TRUE NATURE, or higher self, and only allow experiences that resurface to do so in order to process them, not to use them to fuel an emotional flame from days past. This process is not easy and I would LOVE to walk everyone through it in my next writing.