Alchemica Posted April 4, 2018 (edited) I'd call myself pretty uncreative, until recently a vacuumous sponge for info and stuff. That does your head in. You strengthen heavy analytical and linguistic frameworks that might not serve you properly. Still I can try to strengthen an undeveloped aspect. Here's some simple writing, it's not top level but that's where I'm at: From root to crown, The Heart field magnifies, a pulse of life The energetics of doing, growth needs brewing, causes some internal stewing What was suffering and misery through right action give rise to progressive flight Night transmutes through strife, being positive and engaging new life In purging the energetics of never become new feathers. What happens when you creatively re-write the narrative of you in a larger context beyond yourself? It's very different taking an analytical stance/given of you and writing creatively to a broader divergent You. We've been given a socio-cultural narrative, you can accept that and play their game, or creatively re-write it and play a new one. For some of us that given narrative encompasses illness and suffering. I'm not an expert creative writer but creatively re-writing illness narratives engages a different part of you. A new Self. A new You. I noticed for myself, things changed somewhat when I moved from consumptive rituals (tea rituals, medicine rituals, listening to music, reading, even photography is fairly consumptive etc) to engaging creative rituals. It's like being the caterpillar only having consumptive rituals, when you overcome that required activation energy and imprint your worthiness of creative existing into the matrix of the universe in your own creative way, you start to build the transition state to metamorphosis Today I started my day with more quasi-drumming. It just brings me connection to myself and tapping into and synchronising with something aliveish that's not me. Then off for my run etc Creative Cognition and Brain Network Dynamics Creative thought may benefit from dynamic interactions of the default and control networks. Such processes typically involve the top-down modulation of self-generated information: "creative thought, particularly creative idea generation and evaluation, may also involve goal-directed, self-generated cognition". Engaging that creative you causes increased right-hemispheric connectivity during rest. There is right prefrontal areas that get activated as well as the anterior cingulate cortex associated with creative versus uncreative story generation. Something as simple as evaluating and revising self-generated poetry involves relatively increased cooperation of the default and control systems. Idea generation was associated with widespread activity of default regions, whereas idea evaluation was associated with both default (e.g., MPFC and PCC) and control network activity (e.g., DLPFC and ACC). Using conceptual expansion via Verbal creativity, during "creative writing" is associated with verbal and semantic memory as well as semantic integration. Expanding a concept causes activation in a semantic and conceptual integration network comprising the frontopolar cortex, anterior inferior frontal gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex and the temporal poles. Creative achievement has been connected to decreased cortical arousal, as demonstrated by an increased EEG alpha power Higher creativity scores were associated with an increased functional connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the posterior cingulate cortex causing a stronger interaction within the default mode network - the 'You' http://scholar.harvard.edu/files/schacterlab/files/beatybenedecksilviaschacter2016.pdf The Western mind often falls into consumption, language, control, ego, analysis, power. Heavily strengthened through domination and socio-cultural influences is the 'Left Brain'. We pack info in, learn, absorb, take in negative schemas that probably don't serve us well. In this frame of mind we are stuck in stagnant past. We undertake this absorption to information and analysis over-load. Prefrontal function becomes knocked out through stress and over-reliance on this mode. We slip into being ruled by subcortical processes with no top-down executive control and goal-oriented activity.When we reverse that mode, strenthen the undeveloped emotional and social, the spiritual, surrender to Right Brain, we restore some balance. Catharsis, stress responses normaliseYin and Yang dance to equilibriumHigher prefrontal functions start to normalise. Edited April 4, 2018 by Alchemica 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alchemica Posted April 4, 2018 (edited) Whereas before I would have said ECT/medicine those inner demons out of you, these days I say dance/drum them out of you in your own crazy way. "Dance is a pleasurable and captivating activity that involves motor, cognitive, visuospatial, social, and emotional engagement. Although practiced for thousands of years in rituals and as a leisure activity, the long-term effects of systematic dance training on cognition, and brain structure and function are not well understood." I see the power in engaging music with movement to restore control over aberrant subcortical processes. For me, it's still unco quasi drumming but I'm getting better synchronising and matching beats. Cortico-basal ganglia loops are essential in dance training and execution as they control body posture, movement, and action selection With some good high voltage music and noone watching the craziness, I work up to a crazy little enjoyable drumming dance. Brain regions involved in mediating the aesthetic response shift from subcortical regions associated with dopaminergic reward processing to posterior temporal regions involved in processing multisensory integration, emotion, and biological motion. [1] Currently, there is increasing interest in dance as a therapeutic intervention for various clinical groups, ranging from developmental disorders such as Down syndrome (Lifshitz-Vahav et al., 2016), to neurological disorders such as schizophrenia (Martin et al., 2016) and mood disorder (depression; Meekums et al., 2015), neuromotor disorders such as Parkinson’s disease (McNeely et al., 2015), to dementia prevention and management (Ballesteros et al., 2015; Adam et al., 2016).[2] [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4402020/ [2] https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/…/fnhum.2017.00566/full It's really nice when you become more of a master of your consciousness and learn to reach those highs and healingly modify consciousness endogenously and through music etc. I've moved through many interesting altered states recently [1]: Sensory: An altered experience of space, time, and other sensory phenomena. Recollective-analytic: An experience in which individuals develop novel ideas and revelations about themselves, the world, and their role within the world. Symbolic: Identification with a historical figure or famous person accompanied by mystical symbols such as having a vision of a crucifix or an angel. Integral: A religious and/or mystical experience usually involving God or some other supernatural being or force. The person usually feels merged with or at one with the universe. This state has sometimes been called cosmic consciousness. Krippner and other experts believe that very few people are actually capable of attaining this level of consciousness. Tapped into a bit of Trance states: An alert but very suggestible state. An individual in a trance is focused on a single stimulus and oblivious to much of everything else going on around them: “induction of an empty trance matrix reduces the noise of thought and more or less suspends the normal and pathological frame of beliefs and references” I'm learning the power to induce ASCs through dance, quasi-drumming, music etc. Music functions in many different contexts to alter consciousness. Concepts of trance and ecstasy are linked to the amount of body movement to music. The activation pattern (blood flow) of brain regions (increased: ventral striatum, dorsomedial midbrain, insula, orbitofrontal cortex; decreased: amygdala, left hippocampus, ventromedial prefrontal cortex) shows a surprising similarity to activity patterns induced by drugs with a primarily euphoric effect Time Is the Key: Music and Altered States of Consciousness Starting from the auditory centers, the cascade of activation initializes changes in parts of the frontal cortex, the mesolimbic reward centers, and finally the nucleus accumbens, releasing waves of dopamine. As expected, the cerebellum and the basal ganglia, regions of the brain involved in dopamine, motor, and timing processes analyzing rhythm and meter in music, became active as well. Phasic increases in dopamine release happen when meaningful objects are in the focus of attention; the higher the personal meaning and valence of the object in focus, the more dopamine is released. One may organize the sounds and rhythms to culminate at a certain important point in the ritual and trigger endogenous processes Edited April 4, 2018 by Alchemica Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alchemica Posted April 5, 2018 Nice day of incremental embodied positive action with a creative edge, a connecting to others edge. Today I'm embodying deeper creative action, started to Feng shui (ie clean) areas of the house more. Just got enough momentum to engage another task-orientated task in the world. Got for my run and enjoyed the rainbow lorikeets. Did the dishes. Posted a galangal to someone. Made Divine the Mundane. On a background of rusty technological progress, in melted plastic signifying 'progress' - is that the real process? We get stuck, we build walls, get lost... Disconnect from our Hearts Today I see the Heavenly potential in All Some of us are returning to the World with Rekindled Love for Nature, The World, You, Me Today I choose to not see fences between You and Me. I choose not to build walls between You and Me. Today I see universes in universes. The Heavenly Sky bursts forth in a show of flowers Each one of us is divine potentiality I bring my Yang to the day with a run and a gift The Yin flows in alignment Transcendence, Immanence and Mental Health "...transcendence provides evidence and insight that being human means being dependent, and that the life space we inhabit is one of interdependence, not independence. It also shows us that self- protectiveness, isolation, and the ubiquitous human desire for omnipotence produce great suffering." We discover sense of connectedness, a belief in the unitive nature of life, fulfilment found in encounters with a transcendent reality, tolerance of paradoxes, non-judgementalness, a desire to live in the moment, and gratitude. We also find peace in the immanence of life. The journey of transcendence, to break free from ruled by suffering You can foolishly chase spiritual bypass heights, or grow through incremental action From Mundane to Sacred. A spiritual journey can make you grow Inner demons can become friends, or turn on you and make you fend Sometimes it takes mind-blowing to see the Light, when is you see it, you know your feel a deeper role, to seek and embody that in a balanced way It's hard to forget, you don't want to stay stuck in the Dark Night of the Soul You never forget your shadow but life becomes about transcending struggles, sometimes it just takes a mere hello Everything takes on a lively glow Your heart fills with passion, life becomes construed with deeper meaning not following the mainstream fashions But it easily turns ungrounded You start taking on things too unfounded That's where creativity becomes stabilising, There's space for you and me, You regain balance in creating your voice, your music, your song, your dance, your art You find healing in joining with others It affirms your life as unique and worthy, of meaning and depth, other's as being worth it as they are As you affirm you compassionately with grounded action Head and Heart heal You begin to have deeper loving feels. The sacred, then, is manifest in a continuous spectrum of modalities, ranging from the mundane to the divine, from the completely immanent to the completely transcendent. In mental health generally, it is often a transcendent relationship (i.e. with God) that is understood as being at the heart of whatever it is that appears to many to be beneficial about spirituality in conferring resilience towards and improved recovery from mental disorders. For example, Ellermann and Reed refer to spirituality as ‘a self-transcendence whereby personal boundaries are expanded transpersonally to connect one to a higher power or purpose greater than the self’ (Ellermann and Reed 2001). It has been suggested that transcendence may in fact be concerned with the transcendence of suffering (Craigie 2008). Similarly, in Howden’s Spirituality Assessment Scale, transcendence is understood as ‘The ability to reach or go beyond the limits of usual experience; the capacity, willingness, or experience of rising above or overcoming body or psychic conditions; or the capacity for achieving wellness or self-healing’ ‘Letting go’, acceptance, mindfulness, non-attachment, serenity, spiritual surrender, gratitude and forgiveness. Of these approaches, it seems to me, only spiritual surrender more or less requires some kind of understanding of the transcendent as God or a Higher Power. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alchemica Posted April 6, 2018 (edited) Tonight's session was creatively designing a more formal ritual, and re-write 'I am' The language of Mental Health - I think it needs a shake up. This is what I find the ground up basics to re-empower yourself include, changing your pathological self-talk to Self talk. Who are you today? Today I am a runner, I am a shopper for family's needs, I am a house hunter, I am a gardener. I am continuing some Feng shui. I am an amateur creative person. I am a learning lover. I am finding some Presence in the moment Words like "I am" a very powerful. If you think, feel, believe, embody 'I am depressed'/'I am anxious'/'I am an addict'/'I am autistic', even 'I am schizophrenic' etc you easily write self-fulfilling prophecies. To undo those narratives is quite a task. That is the most disempowering you can be to yourself, to use self-language like that. Or to use that language towards others. It's important to have a level of radical non-judging acceptance of struggle, I am struggling with my mood, I am struggling with the socio-emotional, I am struggling with my intake of..., I am struggling with reality issues etc. When you create a space between you and your struggles, you leave room for growth. You have opportunity to engage with that struggle through actioned growth. It's kind of a mindfulness thing at it's simplistic level In creating spaces, you create healing opportunities. You create space for other individuals, too You start to allow for a more detached and less judgmental stance toward potentially distressing thoughts and emotions, too. If your 'I am' is a stance of pathology, that's exactly what you experience. I don't think it's healthy to say I am God. Unless that is unconditional love. Any concept of Power probably shouldn't be an I am concept, use empowering self-talk but not Power. I am Divine Potentiality, I am of God, a co-creator with God etc is OK if that helps you maybe? But I don't think it's overly healthy to centre yourself around power. There's growth vs power. While I struggle each day with all my might, I'm slowly learning to love with less short-sight I'm making some progress but I want to totally let go of the Dark Night Blessed by the Sky, Cradled by the Mother, All of us to reach toward Divine is a birthright, that's no lie. I thank them for their presence and aim to reach each day towards the Sky It's not right to daily have to fight your mind with such effort just to embody Heart and be Self, Love and a Work of evolving Art. Calling the spirits of Mansoa (Ajo Sacha) and Vine. I walk through this world battling an entity not serving mine. For a long time, ruling my brain and fighting my mind. It holds me in a hell of a battle, I lovingly seek light and with an invisible rattle I ask the medicine to unlatch it's grasp Gently help me continue each day forward with ease and stay In health and expanding compassionate action for All. With deep gratitude I ask: cleanse my spirit, mind and heart, So I can continue my healing task May all dark spirits return to their land, never to return May I continue to evolve in Love and Light, to bring a touch of Heaven to help me burn away the Dark = The purpose of ritual is to bring about the appropriate physical and mental conditions which will allow an individual a union with a heightened state of consciousness. The union with the deity is nothing more than a union with, what may be termed, the Higher Self or the Real Self. A well-constructed rite will dissolve this separateness and opposition, hence, the possibility of an emotional experience - While the the archetypes of the rite have no meaning to the left hemisphere consciousness, the right-hemisphere understands the archetypes and the metaphors contained in the rite. The symbolic language of the archetype is linked to ideas in the psyche within the unconscious. - The aim is often to keep the left-hemisphere occupied. "For when the left-hemisphere is busy it tends not to block the right hemispheric processes. The right hemisphere, it will be remembered, works on a totally different system and uses a completely different language. It is the right-hemisphere where metaphors and archetypes can cause change.We see is that there is a higher, middle, and lower mind. The higher mind, when a concrete union is made, is direct and to the point. One must take care in what is thought while in this state of awareness and union. For at this point things tend to reflect rather precisely from one dimension to another. The use of the name of the deity is nothing but a mantra to contact this part of the mind through the attunement to a particular part of the brain. Possibly this attunement could be to the right frontal cortex which tends to be a more synthetic part of the brain.The middle portion of the mind is a bit slower and needs some encouragement in order to be reached. This is why the name of the deity is used. You will notice that what apparently is being done is the attunement to two particular portions of the brain. In other words, a higher portion empowers a lower portion. It may be that the inner portions of the brain, possibly the limbic system, will become vibrated with the name of power and this in turn will vibrate an outer portion of the brain, possibly the left frontal cortex.The lower area of the mind is very sluggish and must be forced into operation. Consequently there is the use of external archetypes and methods of external control and/or manipulation. There may be a connection with the lower brain centers (referred to as the “reptilian brain”) here and consequently the necessity of using the name of the deity along with mention of the names of those powers whom the deity presumably controls. This would then be a mantra system which would bring out the more primal responses which could go in either direction; positive or negative." The rite, if well-trained, will be able to produce mood effects. It has been found that several things are occurring when phenomena are produced: 1) the temporal lobe of the brain appears to be most active; 2) phenomena appear to be relatively right-hemispherical brain phenomena, seems to be facilitated by decreases sympathetic nervous system activity and arousal of the autonomic nervous system activity level and cause an improved healing altered state of consciousness. Modified from: www.body-mind-unlimited.com/PDF/ReligiousRitual.pdf Edited April 6, 2018 by Alchemica Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alchemica Posted April 9, 2018 (edited) As for how tapping into creativity is going, it's improving my relationship with Self and the universe around me. Bringing me to a deeper empathetic place of Heart. It's like you can channel a Creative Self impulse then embody that through embodied action in the world to lift your vibration beyond states of pathology... Empathizers and systemizers process social information differently. Systemising (being interested in physical things and processes) can be pathological - can you solve et coagula it through kindling the creative you? You have to undo the systemising... systemisers engage in social information processing differently: systemisers in more cognitive terms and empathisers with stronger automatic emotional reactions. Multiple studies have suggested an association between prosocial traits and creativity, indicating the possible association between empathising and creativity. Creativity measured by divergent thinking (CDT) was significantly associated with the the individual degree of empathising (empathising quotient, EQ) in ASD [1] During guided emotional and cognitive empathy tasks, these differences between empathisers and systemisers disappeared. What happens if you ingrain this as much as you can? I can attest, it totally changes your social outlook and emotional state, seemingly quite quickly and robustly with reasonably long term effects if you embody the creative insights with embodied action in the world. [1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25191299 The wings of biopsychosocial-spiritual medicine Worlds lovingly colliding gives way to positive striving whereas Patient and Professionals are stuck by dividing parts from the whole, psychiatry really lacks soul Is that real medicine when professional worlds aren't building Hearts?Medicine should be a mutually creative balance of healing science and art. Not always throwing scripts of often ineffective pharmaceuticals that can be more like darts In allowing such division and externalising power to others, one sells their soul Patient loses their internal locus of healing and becomes unwhole, Rather than embodying and reaching intrinsic holistic healing goals What happens when mutual respect develops and professionals seek not power roles? But become mutually loving friendly encouraging souls? Let there be a natural hearty unfolding in mutually respecting equal roles? There becomes a dance, lives of worth shine One exits hazy rigid stances and builds worth that makes pathology benign Medicine can be done right, Divine Power struggles of a world of You and I give way to We Pathology dissolves like a drop in the sea In a world of rational analytic pathologising, One stays shrunk without rising Suspending cognitive frameworks for listening and acceptance causes a freeing space Making room for considering the biopsychosocial-spiritual non-pathologically, Normalises odd to a creative art form of individual worth, not tarry DSM-5 paste. Slow inner healing medicine overtakes ineffective pharmacological brute force haste Is a much better taste, one finds their place Friends chat freely, strengthened is the aspects of feeling One loses the forces that kept one fried to feel measly ends, healing Acceptance and non-judgement puts emphasis on restoring inner balanced health, Internal power returns, no longer a patient or consumer but an active embodied agent of inner self-healing wealth What bound to Earthly realms becomes Heavenly reaching, The goal for us to to learn and be teaching Old friends who'd been struck with similar challenge collide, Provide encouragement for the journey of finding hearts the wider world, we're each finding our own healthy stride With growing love Struggles become a peaceful spirited dove One continues the quest to Rise Above Edited April 9, 2018 by Alchemica Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Alchemica Posted April 12, 2018 Spin that positive Self-narrative over illness... Personality Traits, Ego Development, and the Redemptive Self. People high in neuroticism tend to construct life stories with a more negative emotional tone, compared with individuals lower in neuroticism. You have to make a movement from a demonstrably negative situation, typically involving fear, anxiety, sadness, or anger, to a positive outcome. You reshape ego function, through the stages to greater health, slowly. You go and re-shape your life a bit but in a greater way that's embracing greater tolerance for cognitive complexity, more advanced perspective taking, and more nuanced understandings You tap into sensitivity to suffering, improve in morals, adopt prosociality Adults at midlife whose autobiographical narrative accounts more closely approximate the redemptive self exhibit higher levels of positive societal engagement and enjoy better psychological well-being, compared with adults whose life-narrative protocols show fewer instances of the themes of the redemptive self. Psychologically healthy and socially engaged adults generally narrate their lives in a prototypical fashion labeled the redemptive self, consisting of five themes: (a) a sense of childhood advantage, ( empathy for others' sufferings, © moral steadfastness, (d) turning of negative events into positive outcomes (redemption sequences), and (e) prosocial goals. The redemptive self was positively associated with four of the Big Five traits: extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and emotional stability http://sci-hub.tw/10.1177/0146167216665093 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
