Come to the calm of a well functioning brain.
|
I let stress override my sleep a couple of nights ago. I was in the half awake portion of the night and doing what I call the bed dance, rolling over to one side and then the other, trying to find that place of comfort and drifting off. So here is a little bit of information that I found about our sleep cycle.
When we take a bath or a shower before bed, the body temperature becomes set at a higher level. We need the body temperature or core temperature to come down. This is a matter of only two or three degrees. The circadian clock, which is the bodies internal clock set by the hypothalamus, keeps the sleep/wake cycle in rhythm. When we go to sleep the bodies temperature is lowered and then it starts to warm up to get us awake. Think of a bear that is hibernating for a short amount of time. I would bet that some of you wake up that way. More on that later. So the best way to get to sleep is to take a shower or bath 90 minutes before the pillow calls you. This will help you to get the core body temperature down to the ready for sleep place. LENS should calm down the neurons that insist on being fired up all the time. I guess I need to treat myself. .
0 Comments
So what are these negative thoughts teaching you? What is at the base of your fear? If you don't dig it out by the roots and take a good long look, that little monster will keep invading you. It is really a place of healing. Here is a quote by Rumi, "Don't turn away. Keep your gaze on the bandaged place. That's where the light enters you." Is this the only way to understanding this life of suffering? If you can find another ways that is your way. Please comment. I have found a great deal of pain and I know that there is a way to make this pain into the flower of understanding.
I challenge myself to look and see how others impact me. My sensitivity is very high. I perceive the disappointments and the lack of understanding around the people I have in my life. I also see the caring and the love that others have for each other. So where am I in this passion play? I am still learning to "just be." What is going on is just that, it is going on. I choose to be in the middle of the chaos. I choose to just let go of the pain that surrounds my life. I keep learning and giving that understanding to myself. If the negative thoughts are hurting too much, open the door to help. If you can't find the right help right away, keep looking. I have found that what is called the alternative approach to be the best fit for me. I think that the word alternative was created to keep us away from therapies that have been around for a very long time. LENS neurofeedback can be considered an alternative approach. However, it does work and keeps on working. Give it a try. I work with people that have been in a bad place. They have had physical and emotional things happen to them and it is hard to get out of that place without help. I have had these things happen to me that I do not know how to grasp. They have taken my life and thrown me up against the wall, over and over. I used to say, bring it on. Now I wonder how much more I can take.
I know that some of you have come to this place. It is very personal and difficult. Here is something that I have found that can help. I give notebooks, to write things down, to people that I think could use the help. There is two ways to approach this subject. You can write down all of the crap that is going on. Or you can start to write about the good things, the things that your grateful for. Or here is the third thing that can happen, you can get the junk out and then replace it with the good. I sit here thinking about what I am grateful for. I need to turn the negative thoughts that have been invading me into the other place of freedom and view it from a higher perspective. I am so grateful for summer. I love the warm air and how it hugs me into comfort. I can get outside and get some of the area around my house cleaned up and cleaned out. I can get rid of some of the old junk. I can move on and create more space in my house and yard. This is a way of getting a breathe, without keeping myself stuck in the I should get this done mode. I am moving and creating a better environment. LENS helps to get the stuck, junk out of the brain. Give it a try, it is worth the time and effort. I hope that your independence day was fun. I hope that you did not damage your neurons in too significant of a way.
Shall we talk about the different ways that we accumulate knowledge? When you solve a new problem, that is called fluid intelligence. This facility starts declining at middle age. However, crystallized knowledge keeps it's upward climb, even into old age. To keep the fluid intelligence well oiled with Omega 3 fatty acids requires a different approach to eating, and not just with fish. Some scientists, from the University of Illinois, researched the brain and measured the frontoparietal network of healthy elderly people aged 65 to 75. They found that the nutritional levels of 3 Omega fatty acids correlate with the intake of seeds, walnuts (interesting that it looks like a brain), pumpkin seeds and flaxseed oil. This feeds the fornix in the brain. The fornix is white matter that sits between the hippocampus and the hypothalamus. This area is responsible for memory health. So feed your brain with the good things and see how things improve. LENS neurofeedback helps with the brains neurons. It gets the connections working in a smooth and easy way. We are hard wired to experience fear. It is a reaction that evolved to protect organisms against perceived threat. The chemicals in the brain that are involved in fight or flight are also involved in the positive states: such as happiness and excitement.
Fear is related to content. Some people get scared with the mention of a mouse and jump on the nearest chair. This would not affect other people but some other trigger could get them going. (How about a snake or rhinoceros in your yard) What happens is the amygdala sends out the reaction to the body and gets it into motion. When there is a fear reaction, the higher brain functions can also get involved. There is a place called the hippocampus that starts to access the problem and gets the prefrontal cortex involved. Oh, that was not a spider but just a piece of thread. If it is a real threat then the stress hormones and the sympathetic nervous system kick in and the brain goes into hyper-arousal. The body follows by increased heart rate, pupils dilate, the stomach shuts down and off we go. When there is a problem with the response and the brain and body don't shut down then this can lead to a serious mental health problem such as obsessive compulsive disorder. LENS neurofeedback can help to quiet the over anxious brain. One of the words that I include in my vocabulary about who I am and what kind of person I want to be surround with is, "Integrity." I have been in situations that I wish I would have had a better compass to navigate the climate. Here are a few of the ideas that I found in Psychology Today.
#1. Don't try to fix the person. I know that you want to help, but let it be. Accept them as they are. If you see that the person is trying to make an effort and they are asking for your opinion then that is your cue. #2. Be present and direct. This person could be ready for a conflict. Do you feel that your heart is racing and your breathing is faster, then calm down and be direct and assertive. If the conversation is getting heated, excuse yourself, the time is not right. #3. Encourage the person to express himself. Show respect for the person and just let them talk about their views. Do not try to interject. Do not include your personal story now, maybe later. How have they felt judged or criticized? Keep listening, maybe that is all that they need. #4. Watch for triggers or off-limits topics. Is there a history of topics that are leading to a dead end again? Then sometimes that subject needs to be left on the back burner until the timing is right. #5. It's not about you, usually. Be aware of taking things personally. When you feel attacked or blamed, step back and consider and observe what is going on with you and the other person that is involved. Many times in this kind of situation the other person is trying to get a response about something specific, can you find the subject that is in the background? If you feel attacked then the conversation can deteriorate quickly. It is good to leave the conversation if it is escalating. #6. Know your boundaries. If you do not want a person in your space, make that agreement with yourself. You do not have to keep the difficult person happy and satisfied. #7. Be prepared. If there is going to be a situation where you will be challenged, then find people that you can have around you that will be supportive. Find a way to avoid the one who incites and aggravates. LENS will not take the challenging people away from you. It can help to keep the brain in a relaxed and balanced state. The ideas that follow are from Dr. Andrew Weil and his book, "Spontaneous Healing".
The first concept is, "Do not take NO for an answer". Many people have found discouraging words coming from their health care practitioner. They are put on suppressive drugs that keep the symptoms at bay, but do not get to the root of the problem. They are told to keep up with this drug therapy that can actually send the problem deeper into the body and cause more problems. The second concept is, "Actively search for health". Become your own health advocate. Research other therapies, ask friends and neighbors, look into what can help. If your doctor does not agree, find someone that will help you to gain in your search for health. The third concept is, "Seek out others who have been healed". There are plenty of resources online to find out what other people have done with what is going on with you. Find what fits your needs and get busy with getting well. Number four is, "Form constructive partnerships with health professionals". Find practitioners that will support and empower you in your search for health. It can be someone who says that they do not know what your doing, but keep it up. Or someone that can give you ideas about where to search for help. Number five is, "Do not hesitate to make radical life changes". You might find yourself in a different relationship, job, moving to a different place, These changes can be difficult, but they can help to create the new you that is necessary for health. Number 6 is, "Regard illness as a gift". Do you need to search down into the dungeon to find that change, start digging. Find this as an opportunity and get on with your personal growth. Become alive and not asleep. Number 7 is, "Cultivate self-acceptance". To accept oneself with all of the imperfections, limitations and defects can help to resolve those deep conflicts with yourself. This will help you to surrender to a higher will. Learn to surrender to what is going on around you. If you keep fighting with what is going on then you will get that back. LENS neurofeedback will help to get the brain balanced and working in good order. We all crave approval and fear the truth. Critical feedback feels traumatic because it threatens two of our most fundamental psychological needs, safety and worth. Safety needs can be material, physical, and worth can be part of the self-repect, self-regard and self-confidence spectrum.
When we feel that our financial, relationship, or physical needs are being threaten, then there is fear. However, in most cases, except with abuse, it is our defensive, combative, or resentful response to feedback that puts us at risk, more than the feedback itself. So with our self-worth, learning the truth is beneficial. It can provoke shame, fear and anger. We live with an undercurrent of terror that we aren't worthy and feedback risks pointing this out. (Especially from our loved ones) Studies have shown that the feedback hurts worse when there is a malicious motive. But what gets us hooked in, is the craving of approval from people that we consider powerful in our lives. We want approval and positive endorsement so that we don't feel inadequate. The key to finding the truth, is to understand the negative feedback and how it affects us. It requires us to take responsibility for our own safety and worth. This means that learning is always beneficial. If the feedback is difficult, learn to take your time and step out if you need to. When people lash out and attack back then the wound only gets bigger. This article was written from the Harvard Business Review. They are taking people that have had life problems and using this strategy to help them to recover from major life problems. LENS neurofeedback can help with the reactivity that all of us have when our safety or self-worth is challenged. It smooths things out. There is a direct correlation between getting a good nights sleep and the use of technology. There are several factors that create this problem. When we have been misusing technology during the day (checking the phone constantly, instead of every 15 to 30 minutes). This can lead to poor executive functioning (especially with the lack of sleep, because the phone is by the bed and even being checked at night). This leads to an inability to pay attention, problem solve, control impulses and make decisions. The second by product of too much blue screen use in anxiety. People that get anxious about not having their phone near by and in direct contact can even have anxiety attacks. The blue wave length of the phone or other device increases the cortisol in the brain and makes us more alert. And this leads to a decrease in melatonin that helps us to sleep. We need to turn off the devices an hour before we go to sleep. We are becoming addicted to the beep of the notifications, try to leave it for awhile. Get the phone or other device out of the bedroom. Calm down, it can wait. We need sleep to help the brain to reset itself. It prunes and strengthens the neurons, just like when we defrag our computers.
Happy dreams! Give LENS a try it helps to defrag the brain to create a calmer, quiet response to the stressors in our life. There is a group that is called Artis International. I read about this group on a website that is called, The Conversation. This organization studies the brains of individuals that are involved in juhadi organizations. They have found that when the people start talking about the process of killing or being killed for the organization that there is a part of the brain that is in the prefrontal cortex that gets deactivated. These centers relate to the ideas of deliberate reasoning.
The research also points to the social influence that these organizations have on the individual. They have found that when people feel excluded for religious or political reasons, they do not have a voice, then the local extremist groups can gather them in. They exploit these individuals by finding the disenfranchised people and getting them to get on board with an organization the does care. An example would be the Sunni Arabs. They get the people on board by being against the established organizations. How can this be changed. By creating foreign and domestic policies that facilitate social inclusion to take the fire our of violent extremist groups. However, the sacred values that the people hold are individual. So in the long run, learning to foster a sense of purpose and belonging creates a power to effect social change. I keep working with the LENS neurofeedback system to create change on an individual level. We can become more discerning and understanding of others through our own self care. |
AuthorHello, I am a psychotherapist that has been trained in the art of neurofeedback. This science helps to heal the brain of trauma. I am dedicated to helping people heal. Archives
March 2019
Categories |
RSS Feed