Come to the calm of a well functioning brain.
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Most of our lives are filled with information about how to do this or that. I find it interesting to look at these assumptions.
How about sleep? We are supposed to get 8 hours. We are supposed to make the bedroom a place for sleep or sex. We are supposed to turn off the phones and the T.V. and just relax. This is what science tells us to do. I agree. However, how about the time in the night at about 3 a.m. when that internal wake-up happens and there is no way to turn it off. I call tossing and turning, the bed dance. We know that we need to get back to sleep but..... So after about 20 minutes of this awaking, what should we do. We need to get up and enjoy this time. We can read, talk to a loved one, have sex, whatever else seems enjoyable. We have programmed ourselves to look at the clock and say something is wrong with me. I can't sleep so there must be something wrong. These long winter nights are here for a reason. Lay down the sword and just allow the night (and day) to progress. Become aware of that inner feeling and say Hi. LENS neurofeedback can help the brain to relax and accept life.
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You must match time’s swiftness with your speed in using it, and you must drink quickly as though from a rapid stream that will not always flow… Just as travelers are beguiled by conversation or reading or some profound meditation, and find they have arrived at their destination before they knew they were approaching it; so it is with this unceasing and extremely fast-moving journey of life, which waking or sleeping we make at the same pace — the preoccupied become aware of it only when it is over. Seneca
So we find the words of wisdom from someone that lived 2,000 years ago. We hurry on preoccupied with our busyness and forget to leave a moment to ourselves. Watch how you use your life, it is precious. Stop and look at the ones you love, pause and consider how much you owe to this life. You will be gone and few will remember your name after about 20 years. Give yourself the gift of relaxation into this life with LENS neurofeedback. There is so much of this information on the internet. So I guess that I will add on to the words.
Getting outside is a good way to get some vitamin D and boost your morale. Cleaning up the clutter in the house will clear the way for feeling better. Reduce your time on social media. And get the phone out of the bedroom. Leave that space for sleep and the fun stuff. Journaling has been documented to help almost as much as therapy. It gets the thoughts out of your head. Get enough sleep. Keep the phone out of the bedroom. Also don't check the time every time that you wake up. Waking up is part of the sleep cycle. Mediate, take a few minutes to do nothing and check in with yourself. Take a breathe. Connect with others around you. Make some good food. Eat more vegetables. Cuddle with someone or a pet, it increases oxycodin, the feel good hormone. Say no to others if you want to step back. LENS helps to get the brain balanced. I can help to provide a clearer, stronger sense of self. What to give up? I keep clearing the space in my home. I wonder if I should sell it and move to a climate that is more forgiving. I just keep clearing it out. It has an accumulation of many years of things. My husband that has died. He left many things behind that have taken years to get cleaned out. His memory, his smell, his way of protecting me. I don't want to leave a mess behind. I look around at the familiar things and wish them to be gone. And then I hang on.
What do I do with this memory and knowledge? Do I give up and walk away from all of this and friends that have little time to give? This grief still hangs on. The many trials that have come with living in this house. The mountains that I have loved. hold little pull.. This grief brings me to my knees and tugs me with it's persistent voice. I want to get away but it takes me over and insists on holding on. I am not sure what life will have me do. I keep working with the life that I have. My teachers echo in my head and say persevere. This part of life will pass. I will go on. I will learn about all of these feelings and thoughts that want to have a voice. They are part of me. And then I let them go. LENS helps to balance the brain. We will still have emotions and challenges, they just get a little easier to handle. Here are some ideas for kicking the winter blues around the corner. Try burning some candles, and adding essential oils to the environment. Lavender and uplifting citrus essences help to get the mechanism running at a higher level. Taking a hot shower and rubbing olive, coconut or almond oil on your body and wrapping up in a bathrobe can help the cracked, dry skin to hydrate and the nerves to smooth out.
Find some activities that get you in a better state of mind. What are your favorites? Making cookies, playing with the dog....etc. Get off the social media that doesn't uplift you. Find the love of self with yourself. Some people like hot yoga to get warmed up. Others like a sauna to warm up. Can you get outside to get some of that sun or get a light that can help with the SAD that can be affecting your mood. Can you take notice of your thoughts and then get into your body to see what is going on, just a few breathes can change things around. This will help to relieve the mental trap of thoughts that keep going round and round. Get into the habit of being grateful for the wonderful things around you. LENS neurofeedback can get the brain working in a good way. It untangles the tangles and helps to boost the mood. The polarized mind or brain can be defined as a fixation on a single point of view to the exclusion of other points of view. This kind of thinking can cause torment and misery. Another word for this type of thinking is called mindlessness. It includes a narrow perception and reactivity. On the other hand there is mindfulness (I prefer the word presence, mindfulness implies a mind that is full). This mental state is related to a heightened state of awareness or a depolarized mind. This state of mind opens up the capacity for discovery, creativity and well being. It can also transform consciousness.
At the root of the closed mind is fear, anxiety and helplessness. Factors that can create this resistance to life can include family, cultural ideals, the availability of weapons. When people are made to feel small and insignificant then they can become violent and oppressive themselves. So how do we find our way out of this polarized mindset? We can create dialogue. And this dialogue should include someone that thinks the opposite way that you do. There is an organization called Better Angels that can help with getting the dialogue started. Finding a way to integrate different cultures is very important right now. We need to understand each other and not close the door. LENS neurofeedback can help the brain to be more receptive to the environment. Here is some news from the website called Neuroscience News. The researchers at Purdue University came up with an idea to measure the brains response to a difficult task. These researchers where interested in how the brain switches from one state to another. So the subjects were put into an MRI and asked to complete a stressful task. They measured how the brain reset itself in-between the task and the rest period. They call this the active and resting states. They found that the brains of the people who came from an alcoholic parent had a harder time with resetting between the tasks. Even if you do not drink or do so in moderation the brain has been impacted by the alcoholic parent.
If you also have impatience with getting rewards (standing in the Starbucks line), have depression and are male, then the chances of addiction increase. I have seen LENS help with the brains response to substances. This is why I started to work with this system. Here is a little bit of information that I found about guilt-proneness. Guilt-proneness is when you have a tendency to feel guilty. This can be measured by things such as; do you feel guilty when you run into an animal with a car or you missed lunch with a friend. This is different that feeling guilty. The concept revolves around transgression. If someone did something wrong then we label them with having a character flaw. However, if the person feels guilty about the transgression, this changes the story. The person is able to see that what they did is wrong. If the person is not feeling guilty, then the story changes again. This suggests a lack of remorse, with no intention to repair the transgression. This is information from the University of Chicago, Emma Levine. They have been studying this concept and doing research. One of the ideas that was brought forward was that employees have the responsibility to the right thing.
LENS neurofeedback helps the brain to work in a smoother, calmer way. Our society is geared towards the positive way of living. We push the negative thoughts to the background and say, "It's all good." But what happens to the wheels in the head that keep rolling on and on about what happened in the past. We want to resolve these problems and this can help us in the long run. We can have better health, both physical and mental. When we quit running away from the dark areas and shine the light of understanding on the places that make us unhappy, we can resolve the root cause of the problem.
Some of these areas might need help from a professional. LENS neurofeedback, helps with releasing the trauma from these old wounds. It helps the brain to smooth out and become able to manage the stressors that are in our life. I get to watch people, that have had very difficult situations in the past, become healed and able to process these old wounds. Some of the problems are non-verbal so the brain can just get functioning on a better level quickly. LENS works in a gentle, non-invasive way. I have been reading about this part of life, being and feeling alone. There is evidence that being on the couch and eating chips is not a good thing to do. It leads to depression. We are social creatures and need to be involved with other people.
Being on the screen a great deal can also lead to depression. We need that social interaction with others. I am a introvert. I get my energy from being by myself and reading or doing what ever else. I enjoy this part of my life. However, I need to get out and find ways to interact with others and enjoy them. I have not been able to interact with my family and some friends because of the use of drugs and alcohol. These are people that have a constant habit of use. When I do enter their life the interactions are tense. I prefer to stay away. This makes it hard during the holidays. I found a website from the U.K. that is called Stand Alone. It gives some ideas about how to handle this loneliness. I find that being alone is good. I have found that silence is nice to have around. LENS neurofeedback can help to create a sense of calm. |
AuthorHello, my name is Dana Lee Collins M.A.,L.P.C. 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
January 2020
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