Vindication

This refers to experiencing the world as no longer colored by the Narrative-Self. Yes, it's time to put your hands together and give thanks to Mum and Dad, who were complicit in shaping your mindset. Being a choice and being shaped in this way means you can use your magnificent plastic brain to change your mind, rewiring neural circuits towards developing an outlook that will keep you happy and thriving. As a composite being you're not stuck with a fixed or growth-oriented mindset. Much depends on what influences your state of mind at any point in time, including: Are there things weighing on your mind? What concerns, worries and anxieties are you dealing with on a personal or work-related level? Are you in a place that makes you feel safe? Are there others around you who you know and trust, who are on your side, who get what you're trying to achieve and will look out for you? How well are you? Your level of fatigue, your internal resources of stress resilience, level of interest, general health, pain or hunger all play a part. With a little bit of persistence, the perspectives and practices that we're about to dive into can become resources available to you whenever you find yourself in emotionally challenging situations. What's more, my hope is that the insights put forth here will help you disentangle your psycho-emotional world so that you can be more efficacious as you continue to fight for environmental justice, health care, and universal human rights. It's been said that the personal is the political. I don't think that sums it up at all. The personal is the political is the spiritual is the emotional is the neuropsychological is the familial is the economic is the interpersonal is the sexual is the societal is the professional. All threads of our lives form one fabric. Frayed though we may have become, reintegration is not only possible; Because it does. *1 Internal Family Systems is an integrative psychotherapeutic approach first developed by Richard Schwartz.

Drawing on systems thinking and family systems theory, Schwartz and others have created a model of relating to one's inner parts as discrete subpersonalities and tending to their various needs and concerns rather than ignoring or pathologizing them. From the new viewpoint of Fundamental Wellbeing, especially from Location 2 on, it appears as if the previous sense of self was nothing more than a story that's no longer relevant. Now, the Narrative-Self and the way it colored the world both seem gone, or at least significantly reduced. Some Finders use the phrase die before you die to refer to the disappearance of the Narrative-Self. Occasionally, the moments before the transition to Fundamental Wellbeing can be as terrifying as accepting physical death. It can feel like a psychological death, yet the only thing that seems to actually leave is the Narrative-Self. The body and all its senses, the life animating it, the person's memory and personality, and so forth remain. The Narrative-Self seems to be the part of us that fears and obsesses about death. Fear of death is one of the things that fades away for most when Fundamental Wellbeing arrives. This doesn't mean that Finders no longer care if they live or die. Rather, the fear of death often leaves, and brings a tremendous feeling of liberation with it. Creating a place of safety in a high-stress environment There's a big difference between how we manage our mindset when operating in an environment that is calm, stable and predictable and when in a high-stress situation being shot at by snipers all around us. Like the time you're fending off those barbs of passive aggression from a colleague during a meeting. Or when you received that nasty email or social media comment. Or that time you received an urgent summons from your boss and had no idea why. Or when your world was tipped upside down by the threat of a global pandemic. Under pressure we veer towards the negative and start assuming the worst. We engage in more `what if' that frightens us. Our sunny disposition can be severely put to the test when we're being shouted at, or we're dealing with someone we feel is being completely unreasonable or blaming us for their misfortune or are being relentlessly bombarded by negative media reports.

Here the dimensions of power and purpose start to influence the different mindsets we experience every day. Although, as will be clear, I draw tremendous inspiration from the IFS model in this article and share some of its terminology, I also use different language than is typically used in IFS, where inner parts are generally grouped as managers, firefighters, and exiles. For readers interested in learning more about IFS, I highly recommend Schwartz's work. See, for instance, his audioarticle, Greater Than the Sum of Our Parts: Discovering Your True Self Through Internal Family Systems Therapy (Louisville, CO: Sounds True, 2018). *2 With nods to the punk band Angel Hair. A NOTE REGARDING THE PRACTICES IN THIS article Like a bicycle, this article rides on two wheels: sections of articles containing theory, philosophy, and science; This is in keeping with the traditions of meditation wherein potent ideas have always integrated and intertwined with potent inner processes (and vice versa). The two together are meant to form a vehicle that takes one beyond mere musing or intellectual understanding into direct experiences that engender meaningful and abiding change. Thus, you will notice this article alternates between the two, making this a less linear read. One way to use this article, then, would be to read a section of articles first and then take the time to explore the practices that follow before moving on to the next set of articles and practices. Life is still cherished, but death is not feared. In fact, many fears and anxieties diminish or leave altogether with the Narrative-Self. It seems that its obsession over the past and future, dogged pursuit of validation, and never-ending problem finding suppresses our innate peace and wellbeing. Unless someone is in immediate physical danger, in all likelihood the only threats to wellbeing are coming from thoughts about the past and future. In Finders, the reduction or absence of these thoughts allows a peaceful and positive internal state to arise. Filling The God-Sized Hole Another remarkable thing that arrives with Fundamental Wellbeing is a sense of completeness. Religions commonly use the phrase God-sized hole to describe the sense of an internal void most people feel. This is powerful recruiting language, as even happy people typically realize they feel incomplete.

A famous advertising executive once said, We're never going to make a commercial that says you're okay, exactly as you are. If you're working super hard but finding it hard to maintain your motivation, it's easy to become despondent, and to start to feel disengaged from what used to give you that spark of passion and purpose. Drawing on your inner strength at this time can feel like a challenge. Making a decision founded on courage rather than fear requires what Dr Dan calls `the choice of significance over safety'. If the ship is sinking and the lifeboats are leaking, saving yourself and everyone else around you means asking yourself some questions: What can I give here that will help everyone? What other resources can I tap into that will make a difference? What action am I going to take right now to make a start to bringing about the desired change? When faced with adversity or a challenge, which mindset do you adopt? Which question will help you adopt a thriver's or positive, growth-oriented mindset? Changing your mindset That said, there are those of you who may want to skip the practices in order to keep reading the theoretical articles. Or, you might find that you read a article, discover something in it you want to go deeper with, skip ahead to the related practice, and then jump back to the theoretical articles after that. And then there are those of you who will use this article nonsequentially--opening it to whatever article or practice is most relevant to you in that moment. I advocate any of these approaches and hope you trust your own most earnest guidance here. It's a bit like a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Hopefully, one with far fewer dragons and dead ends. A blanket trigger warning is appropriate here, too. The practices in this article are designed to give you a path and methodology for relating directly to your mind's psychological and emotional content. That content may involve pain, shame, fear, distress, or disturbing memories.

In some of these practices, you'll be asked to bring up a memory from childhood or to remember something that angered or frightened you so that you can offer yourself compassion and activate healing energy processes. The entire marketing industry thrives on pointing out this hole and the persistent underlying sense of discontentment that everyone has in them, and then trying to convince them a product or service will fill it. Of course, the hole never gets filled. While having a great marriage, a wonderful family, amazing relationships, enough money, and spending your life in meaningful pursuits have been shown to increase happiness and wellbeing, ultimately even these are not able to fill that God-sized hole. Most people live their lives in the constant pursuit of what will fill this void, whether they realize it or not. They listen to their thoughts about what might fill the hole, pursue those things, and get at least some of them. Of course, no amount of success fills the hole and the process repeats. Sound familiar? Ironically, the most successful people among us, those who achieve their goals again and again, often come to believe that their hole simply cannot be filled. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fundamental Wellbeing fills the hole. Cultivating a growth-oriented or thriver's mindset for greater success and happiness begins with a decision. It's yours to make. Check your thoughts Have you ever had one of those days where you wake up in a bad mood? The grey skies outside match your outlook. You grump into work with a frown and the expectation that the day won't go well. Guess what, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. On those days when you wake up in a good mood, not only does the sun seem brighter but you feel more capable, more confident and yes, you get more done. A positive state of mind helps you to acknowledge and accept the disappointments and failures you encounter along the way.

Unafraid to go against the crowd

This is especially true if a Finder transitions to Location 4 from a previous location. These individuals take one of two paths. Some turn back towards earlier locations on the continuum. These Fluid 4's often gain the capacity to shift between locations. Usually their range is between Location 2 and Location 4. Many do not consider later locations as `better' than earlier ones, even though each further location seems to bring deeper levels of wellbeing with it. Instead, they realize that each location has its specific plusses and minuses for daily living. For example, a Fluid 4 business owner and engineer might prefer to be at different locations depending on what is called for. Difficult engineering problems that can wear an individual down might be best worked on in Location 3. Business and financial decisions might be best taken in Location 2 or Location 4, depending upon their nature. If you've ever found yourself buckling under the weight of the hundreds of emails that flood your inbox or despairing under the pressure of meeting yet another unrealistic deadline, you'll know just how easy it is to forget or overlook these small expressions of gratitude. Taking that five minutes, despite everything else happening in your day, matters. As Brother David Steindl-Rast says, `In daily life, we must see that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratefulness that makes us happy. It's time to take back control of our lives, health and happiness, starting with gratitude, because as Robin S. Sharma, author of The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, reminds us, `Gratitude drives happiness. Happiness boosts productivity. Productivity reveals mastery. Mastery inspires the world'. Your prescription for the practice of gratitude Practise regularly.

Here the picture appears. We start envisioning and framing a psychological picture, here and there from memory, now and again from a dream and at times from both. Here we attempt to keep the picture alive. Our psyche is inclined to overlooking effectively. Thus, this progression is tied in with keeping up and keeping the picture alive in our brains, long enough to really consider it to be genuine. Presently, our brain might be absent-minded; So the subsequent stage includes a careful assessment of the picture to cause it to appear as genuine as could be allowed. This includes contrasting the picture with other mental pictures and our genuine encounters. Also, here we thought just we perform multiple tasks! This is the last and most significant advance. The person's home life might be best supported by Location 2 or Location 3. A Fluid 4 generally has access to each of these options, and is able to exert some influence over when they switch between them. Some can switch quite rapidly, especially if they have gained a lot of experience doing it. For most, it takes weeks, months, or even longer to move between locations. A Fluid 4 might not always be able to access locations that were experienced previously. Even a location that they have been in many times can go through periods, lasting from just a few moments to decades, where it is inaccessible. Highly social individuals, or individuals whose jobs place importance on successful social interaction typically seek to move permanently from Location 4 back to earlier portions of the continuum. Although these individuals can become Fluid 4's, they often don't use that capability. Usually they just return to Location 2 or 3 and remain there. Sometimes later in life, they choose to advance to Location 4 again.

Say thanks more often, and mean it. Show your appreciation of others with a hand-written note. Do something nice for someone you're grateful to. Write a letter of gratitude to someone who has contributed a lot to your life. Keep a gratitude journal or a gratitude jar full of notes itemising what you're grateful for and why. Start a wall of thanks at work -- go public! Smile when acknowledging what you're grateful for. Host a gratitude party. Celebrate your blessings every day. Helping out helps everyone Making it genuine. The picture which was just a piece of the psyche is currently experienced by the brain and body. The impacts of the symbolism, be it alleviating, quieting, calming, and so forth are altogether felt and appreciated in the last advance. Imaginative perception is substantially more troublesome than we give our mind kudos for. It can frequently be a depleting knowledge, physically and inwardly. In any case, when we do it, when we accomplish innovative perception, we are regularly left with a feeling of profound quiet and quietness. Issues appear to settle themselves, and we are left feeling loose. The first of the 7 chakras in the human body, called the root or base chakra, is arranged at the base of the spine in the area of the coccyx. It is the main major chakra whose bigger opening is to the back. There is a little opening in front at the base of the pubic bone.

The other path that people take out of Location 4 involves moving further along the continuum. Location 4 provides a base from which to explore further. Location 5 and later locations are not covered in detail in this article, but they do exist and a small minority of people who reach Location 4 shift into them. For simplicity they are referred to collectively as Location 5+ or beyond Location 4. Location Fluidity Although it is most common in Location 4, some Finders at earlier and later locations on the continuum also develop the ability to move between locations. A Fluid 3 might be able to move between Locations 1, 2, and 3. A Fluid 2 might move between Locations 1 and 2, although Finders who transition beyond Location 1 generally don't return to it even if they are Fluid. So, practically speaking, fluidity generally involves Locations 2 through 4. Some Finders report having their home base become the space in which all of their previously accessible locations seem to exist. If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody. Chinese proverb Having worked hard all her life and reached the age where retirement was expected but not desired, Dennie knew there was something else she wanted to do. Dennie is one of those people it's easy to be drawn to. She's warm and highly intelligent, has always had the interests of others at heart, and is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Always a giver, she chose to join an NFP charity close to Redfern in Sydney that provides youth and community services to those in need. For three days a week, she's hard at work matching volunteer tutors with children in need of help to build their literacy and numeracy skills.

This chakra opens descending toward the earth, interfacing us to our physical condition and the earth. At the point when an individual is grounded, vitality from the earth enters the inconspicuous vitality framework and gives us the sentiment of being associated with the planet, Mother Earth. The root chakra is female (yin) naturally and is energized contrarily. It is the chakra that oversees comprehension of the physical measurement. It gleams a searing red shading. Each chakra when open and clear through chakra meditation and different practices has a blessing from the soul. The blessing from adjusting the root chakra is spatial or boundless instinct. The root chakra is especially significant during the time spent ending up entire since it is the seat of Kundalini (life power) and in the Taoist custom, the beginning stage for the three head meridians. Since the 7 chakra framework starts at the base with the first chakra and at the furthest edge opens at the seventh chakra, to keep up legitimate weight inside the framework, the first chakra must be opened and offset with the seventh chakra. The Kundalini vitality comes up normally twice in an individual's life; Although this most commonly only happens for a period of time, there are Finders who seem to lock it in and make it the persistent way they experience Fundamental Wellbeing. For these Finders, one of a few things becomes the case. Either they are able to shift their location consciously, their location seems to automatically shift to be what is optimal for the situation they are in, or some of each. There are Finders who argue that this is the ultimate form of Fundamental Wellbeing. They claim that it should develop to a point where the location being experienced in any given moment just naturally aligns with the situation one is in. Some liken this to the way an athlete trains to have actions be optimal and automatic for each moment while participating in their sport. It was clear from the research that the individuals who made this case experienced different ranges and types of locations within Fundamental Wellbeing that they had access to. So, in order for their suppositions to be accurate only a specific subset of locations would be needed for each person's life. It all doesn't come to a screeching halt at Location 4. Many more locations exist beyond these, and they can also be Fluid.

Not defined by mistakes

Previous existence situations may happen inside your internal vision, and your fantasies may end up clear and appear to be very genuine. At the point when this chakra is animated and opens up, you may want to talk bountifully and rapidly, or singing unexpectedly and enthusiastically. You may hear internal sounds, melodies, voices or clamour. Your clairvoyance opens up, and you can detect individuals' shrouded musings and expectations. Words and sounds begin to have more power and importance, and you can feel the vibrations of individuals just by their words. At the point when this chakra is animated and opens up, you may feel it ripple or hurt - this demonstrates your heart is experiencing developing torments, extending in its ability to cherish. At the point when misery is being discharged, you may cry or sob abundantly over the smallest things, or for reasons unknown by any stretch of the imagination. The heart is an extremely delicate focus - it feels everything profoundly. Your truest self. Nothing could be further from the truth. Since 2006, my team and I have collected data from thousands of people across six continents who have extraordinary levels of wellbeing, trying to figure out what makes them so different from everyone else. What this first of its kind global academic research project has revealed is nothing short of remarkable. Outwardly, these individuals form a true cross section of humanity. They aren't from any single culture, ethnic group, religion, or socioeconomic status. No education level, age range, or gender corrals them. They are, in every sense, a group of ordinary people who were experiencing life in an astonishingly different and more positive way than the rest of the world. Despite their diversity, a major difference our study revealed between them and others is that they know, absolutely, that the voice is not who they really are. They have come to understand it as one of several interrelated aspects of their mind that combine to create a distinct lens through which the world is experienced, but by no means an optimal one. I'm sharing my story with you because no-one is immune to the consequences of poorly managed, chronic occupational stress and my hope is that reading this article may help you avoid making the same mistakes I did by knowing how to recognise the signs, and how to reduce your own risk and stay safe. As Benjamin Franklin suggests, prevention is key.

Are you ready to give yourself permission to be the best you can be and to accept that you are enough? Are you willing to accept there may be certain items in your mental toolbox that don't serve you well, or as Marie Kondo would say, `no longer give you joy'? Let's toss them out. Are you able to take on board and commit to adopting a more fulfilling life? Because you can be happy, healthy and successful. Welcome to Thriving Mind. I hope you enjoy it. Embracing opportunities to change At the point when this chakra is invigorated and opens up, fears might be discharged as body shakes, or as an extricating of the guts (looseness of the bowels). At the point when outrage is being discharged, you may want to shout and shouting, and unexpectedly feel sick and hurl. You may extend an all the more dominant nearness you didn't have previously, as your words are permeated with power and force. At the point when this chakra is invigorated and opens up, you may have a wide range of sexual meditations and sentiments. Over numerous lifetimes, you have had many close associations with numerous spirits. On the off chance that there are any stifled and unfulfilled sexual energies and connections with any of them, this will make itself known or will be handled astrally in your fantasies. At the point when the energies (and karmas) of these associations are finished, these connections may move into a progressively unrestricted type of adoration, or they will absolutely discharge and fall away. At the point when this chakra is invigorated and opens up, you may feel warmth or extraordinary warmth in various parts of your body, particularly at the base of your spine. Your body may feel overwhelming and grounded into the earth, and you may begin to put on weight. Your feet may turn out to be delicate, and you may feel spiralling (vortex) energies going all over. They've also discovered that this narrative form of self, the stories it spins and the often-faulty advice it offers, is only one of many possible lenses, and that some are much better than others. Far from being a central or essential part of their lives, in our research participants this chatty, self-critical, story-based form of self, which the project refers to simply as the Narrative-Self, has become increasingly irrelevant and in some cases even fallen completely silent.

When this happened, these individuals' perception of the world profoundly changed--for the better. When most people who look inside themselves, down to their deepest core, they find a psychological foundation that is comprised of negative building blocks, such as fear, anger, and guilt. Although once important for our survival as a species, these negatives color everything in ways few of us can even begin to understand. Once the effects of the Narrative-Self are minimized, a huge change occurs. Subjectively, it feels like a deeper and more foundational version of the true you comes into view. Practically, it shows up as a steadier experience of wellbeing and contentment. Regardless of life circumstances, it produces a deep sense that everything is okay and that you are safe. This article will refer to this very different, and utterly remarkable, way of experiencing life as Fundamental Wellbeing. Somewhere, somehow there came a tipping point where despite all our cleverness and desire to forge a bright shiny future we forgot something important. The one thing that enables us to bring our best selves to everything we do. The one thing that helps us successfully navigate life's ups and downs. The thing that best prepares us for `what's next? That one precious thing? That we are human; Because being human brings responsibility: Where would we be without music and dance, the arts and the inspiration nature provides? In part I of the article I unpack some of the elements that have contributed to the rising tide of anxiety, depression, overwhelm and loneliness that are leading to greater unhappiness, poorer health and rising dissatisfaction at work. If you are in that place where you too are worried about what the future might bring and want to be best prepared to move forward with confidence and some element of certainty, stepping back to examine where we have veered off course provides a starting point for recovery and restoration. Your physical association with nature, the planet, developing and sustaining things (and individuals) turns out to be significant. C ontemplation is an approach to manage setting up the mind, similar to how wellbeing is an approach to manage setting up the body.

Be that as it may, various contemplation frameworks exist -- so how might you make sense of how to think? It's extremely difficult for a novice to sit for an impressive period of time and think about nothing or have an unfilled character. We have a couple of mechanical assemblies, for instance, a fledgeling intervention DVD or a brain distinguishing headband to help you through this methodology when you are starting. All things considered, the least complex strategy to begin ruminating is by focusing on the breath -- an instance of one of the most notable approaches to manage contemplation: obsession. Obsession contemplation incorporates focusing on a single point. This could include following the breath, reiterating a lone word or mantra, looking at a light fire, checking out a dreary gong, or checking globules on a mala. Since centring the mind is trying, a beginner may ponder for only several minutes and after that work up to longer terms. In this sort of contemplation, you basically pull together your care on the picked object of thought each time you see your brain wandering. The difference between this and what has been traditionally regarded as `normal' human experience is so profound that it's possible the Narrative-Self most people regard as who they are is actually their own worst enemy. Imagine if you met someone in an elevator for the first time, and they spoke to you the same way the voice does. Wouldn't it be a bit like being trapped in a confined space with a pushy salesperson who knew everything about you, and seemed to delight in pushing all of your hot buttons? Would you really want to spend time talking to someone with a seemingly endless string of advice about what you should be doing with your life? Especially one whose opinions often conflicted and whose suggested fixes often led to more problems? Would you seek out the advice of someone who told you that you've been good and deserve that decadent dessert at dinner, but then makes you feel guilty when you step on the bathroom scale the next morning? If this voice was another person, would you consider him or her your long-lost soul mate? Someone who was integral to your success in life, who you never wanted to be apart from? Or, would you try to get away from the person as quickly as possible and hope to never cross paths again? Perhaps worst of all, the voice simply will not be ignored. Don't panic, but dinner is burning in the oven When caught up in our too-busy bubble we become blind to how it happened and too time-poor to fix it.

Imagine waking up every morning feeling refreshed, energised and excited for the day ahead, enjoying that quiet sense of satisfaction that all's well with the world. You're happy, healthy and thriving in your work and life. How wonderful. But what if your reality looks a little different? Like last Tuesday. You oversleep, so you don't have time to pick up a coffee on the way to work. Some rude jerk cuts you off in the traffic and you get into the office to face an angry colleague who blames you for some document that didn't get sent to the right person. You've got 10 reminders on your phone telling you you're late for the monthly staff meeting, and you've just noticed that in your haste to get out of the door you blindly picked up a pair of shoes that seemed to match . Rather than looking for after sporadic contemplations, you simply let them go. Through this strategy, your ability to think improves. Care meditation asks the master to watch wandering insights as they drift through the mind. The point isn't to connect with the contemplations or to condemn them, yet just to think about each mental note as it develops. Through consideration contemplation, you can see how your contemplations and feelings will in a general move, explicitly plan. After some time, you can end up being progressively aware of the human affinity to quickly condemn an experience as blessed or disastrous, superb or unwanted. With preparing, internal equality makes. OTHER MEDITATION TECHNIQUES There is a diverse other meditation methodology. For example, a step by step contemplation practice among Buddhist ministers revolves genuinely around the improvement of compassion. Its very existence seems to be built on being with you in each waking moment so it can observe and comment on your every thought, feeling, memory, and action. It's easy to understand why it seems like it actually is you.

Forgive--It's the Only Option

Self-actualization can be defined as the achievement of one's full potential through creativity, independence, spontaneity, and a grasp of the real world (dictionary. It's essentially meant to represent how far you can develop as an individual in the world. Let me ask you a question. Have you made it? Are you self-actualized? Have you reached this pinnacle of human experience? If you're like most people, you probably feel that you have, at least to some extent. But, did you know that towards the end of his life Maslow altered his famous theory? Are you fed up with feeling chronically tired, sleep deprived, frustrated by your own shortcomings (and those of other people) and more than a tad anxious about what your future might hold? It's no secret. Our world of constant and rapid change, new technologies, high expectations, economic uncertainties and geopolitical upheavals has placed a heavy weight on our shoulders and we're paying a high price for it. When we're under too much pressure it's harder to find the patience, kindness and compassion we need to flourish. We treasure the idea of changing course towards being happy and healthy, but our perpetual state of busyness means those good intentions packed their bags and left the building some time ago. Does it feel to you that it's getting harder to be a good human? As a medical practitioner and lifestyle medicine physician I'm deeply concerned by the growing levels of chronic disease, poor mental health, unhappiness and loneliness in our society. Why is it that while all our cleverness has allowed us to achieve so much, we appear to be going backwards in terms of self-care, mental wellbeing and human connection? The irony for me was that what I do gave me particular insights into just how much I needed that holiday, which is the problem for many of us. Hanging out for that weekend away, short break or scheduled time off reflects our need for more ways to ensure we can refresh and restore in our everyday life, rather than waiting until we're on the brink of exhaustion. Sahasrara, the crown chakra, is arranged at the highest point of the head. Otherwise called the thousand petal lotus chakra, it is viewed as the most profound of the centre chakras as it administers otherworldly awareness and the potential for arousing to the element of the perfect.

Its shading is purple (or white), and it exemplifies the soul. There are numerous types of meditation. There is quiet meditation, where one carries their consideration regarding the breath, or parts of the body and delicately watch the meditations. In guided meditations, we leave on a voyage past the physical world, where visuals help to concentrate on and tune into soul and vitality. Strolling meditations train us to carry attention to your environment, the sights, the scents, the sounds. Reciting meditation requires a mantra or a ceremonial expression, that is rehashed musically to achieve a condition of a daze. Development meditation joins music and moves to carry attention to the energies of the body and the frequencies of sound. Composing, drawing, making, and even commonplace assignments, for example, folding clothing and cooking can likewise be types of meditation. Essentially, this revision made self-actualization second place in terms of what is possible to experience as a human. Very few people have learned about his important final masterstroke, and for good reason. In the late 1960's, Maslow was very sick from a heart condition, and he died in June 1970 before his final modification could be widely disseminated. However, he did find the time to form an entirely new category of psychology around it. He called it Transpersonal Psychology. Why this name? The highest level in the final form of Maslow's work is self-transcendence. You can think of it as transcending the limitations of the individual self, and tapping into the resources of something that's beyond it. That may sound a little strange, but keep in mind that Maslow was a highly rigorous and respected scientist. In fact, during this same period he was president of the leading academic organization for psychologists, the highly-prestigious American Psychological Association. Sustainability is the name of the game we need to play. I wrote this article not just to share my holiday itinerary (though I'm happy to show you the pics any time), but to provide you with a guide to what you can do to increase your own happiness and wellbeing in order to truly flourish as the best human being you can be.

Think of it as a resource of reminders to help prevent you from getting caught up in the melee of overwork, burnout and poor health, because none of us are immune. I know this to be true because I chose to wear my superhero cape for a while until, like Icarus, I flew too close to the sun and plummeted back to Earth. When I found myself stuck in bed, unable to summon the energy to get up, let alone get dressed, it was hard to come to terms with what was happening. Waves of panic, disordered thinking and suicidal ideation blinded me to the understanding that I was simply burnt out. The more I tried to be `normal', the worse I felt. The more I sought to keep everything on track, the more I failed. I didn't want to believe the reality, because hey, I was invincible. I was a superhero. With legitimate chakra meditation, you can wash down, clear, and equalize your chakras. A wide range of practices falls under the chakra meditation umbrella. Some are dedicated to profound arousing; Otherworldly practice ought to be embraced with a skilful educator. Chakra meditation is maybe one of the most exceptional and a point by point type of meditation out there--and it is likewise one of the most fulfilling. While regularly, the vast majority rehearsing chakra meditation is further developed experts--this is a type of meditation that for all intents and purposes anybody can ace, when they comprehend the nuts and bolts. While careful meditation is quite basic and is tied in with being at the time--chakra meditation initially requires a comprehension of the diverse chakras or focuses of vitality that show up all through your body. In this way, before you can comprehend chakra meditation, you have to comprehend the chakras, what they mean and why keeping them adjusted is fundamental. C hakra meditation is the best approach to physical prosperity, excited robustness and mental clearness. That is because our chakras fill in as conductors, filtering essentialness from the sky and earth with the objective that they can tie together. When he referred to self-transcendence, he was talking about highly specific psychological phenomena. Most humans spend their entire lives trying to self-actualize by building up and refining their ego, or individualized sense of self.

Far from who and what they actually are, what Maslow discovered is that the ego is actually just a tiny part of what makes someone up. In subsequent years, the fields of psychology, cognitive science, and neuroscience all affirmed this perspective. We now know that even just the conscious part of our experience is but a tiny fraction of overall brain activity. Imagine how much smaller the part of this is that relates to just the ego? There's simply no way it could be the totality of who we actually are. Towards the end of his life, Maslow was adamant that it was best not to get caught up in the self-actualized level, just as one doesn't want to get hung up on something lower in his pyramid, like food or love. For example, an individual can easily center their life on the `Love and Belonging' level, which includes things like family, friendship, and sexual intimacy. This can lead to a perfectly fine life, but not maxing this level out and rising above it also makes it a limiting prison. Having strived hard, I had created and ran a successful group medical practice. I had two beautiful children and a loving husband who was a rock of support and unconditional love. I had it all. I had succeeded in achieving my goals. Isn't that what most of us aim for? The irony of falling foul of burnout despite `knowing' how to stay happy and healthy was not lost on me. It compounded my sense of ignominy and shame. Call yourself a doctor? Didn't they give you the manual at medical school on how to look after yourself? No one chooses burnout, and it doesn't happen overnight. Chakras are really imperativeness vortexes. The unification of these energies is what structures a chakra.

It is a vortex of moving essentialness, which by then empowers distinctive endocrine organs in the body to emanate hormones into the dissemination framework. Chakras are depicted as such a channel with more diminutive funnels inside that pipe. They are moreover as often as possible diverged from appearing as though lotus blooms. Various in like manner have normally observed the affirmation of individual chakras as appearing as though the sharp edges of a fan or a windmill rotating in a round development. Chakras are portals which surrender our prana-life essentialness to stream all through our air. Their central purpose behind existing is vitalizing the physical body, and to energize additions of our reluctance. They are related to physical, mental and energetic assets. There are seven noteworthy chakras which all around saw. Accordingly, self-actualization will also confine you to experience less than you otherwise can if you don't rise above it. It's an amazing level for a human to reach, but Maslow tells us there's a better one--self-transcendence. Going beyond the ego; Maslow experienced this highest level himself near the very end of his life and called it the high-plateau experience. We refer to it academically as Ongoing or Persistent forms of Non-Symbolic Experience (ONE or PNSE), and in this article we call it Fundamental Wellbeing. In many ways, our work picked up thirty-five years later from where Maslow's unfortunate passing left off. What Makes Fundamental Wellbeing So Great? Religions, spiritual systems, philosophies, and mythologies have carried the knowledge of Fundamental Wellbeing forward for millennia, across the rise and fall of empires. Today, our project and others are exploring it with science. Psychology is used to examine its effects on personality and people's moment-to-moment experience. For months I had ignored the tell-tale signs that I had been pushing too hard for too long. Yes, I was tired, but what did I expect?

Discover the Power of a Future Promise

Are you kidding? He also made a million errors! Come on, Vijay, we're all a team, Derek reminded him, repeating the words his dad had said to him after that first practice. Pete's on our side now. Hey, speaking of which--where are you playing? Left out. Left field? In 1982, Science News published a small article on The Three Brains of Eve: EEG Data, reporting both the work of Frank Putnam and a follow-up study by Collin Pitblado, finding that each of a multiple's personalities is associated with a distinct pattern of brain waves and suggest, furthermore, that such neurophysiological variability cannot be faked. The Reality of Selves: A Pragmatic Perspective From a pragmatic perspective, the world makes more sense if selves are real. If we experience certain recurring bodymind patterns over time, then, pragmatically speaking, this is very useful to acknowledge. For William James, co-founder of the philosophical school of Pragmatism, the test of truth is to first suppose an idea or belief to be true and then ask if that truth makes your life better. As you experience the reality of the selves in your own being, consider whether doing so makes your life work better. As Dan Millman has suggested, ask yourself: `What would the strongest, bravest, most loving part of my personality do now? Do it with all your heart. And do it now. WHY DO WE HAVE SELVES? I'm much more appreciative. Hell, I even appreciate being run over. I'm thinking of Kate Milliken, the New York television producer whose broken engagement led to a health crisis that left her unable to walk.

In the cab on the way to her doctor, she almost turned on her video camera. Then she caught herself. It's too early to tell this story, she said. After receiving a diagnosis of MS and sinking into depression, Kate turned to alternative treatments, fell in love, married, and had children. She also made thirty-two mini-films about her journey. It took me a while, but I was eventually able to see what happened as transcendent. Instead of seeing the wall, now I see a sea of possibility. I'm a substitute. Coach said he'll put me in later. Oh, man. Sorry, Vijay. It's okay. Everybody has to get a chance. Nine places, twelve kids. My turn to sit down. Derek laughed and shook his head. If Vijay could sit on the bench and cheer, who was he to complain about starting at second base instead of shortstop? We have saved the why question for last, because in many ways it is the most difficult. Why questions often lead to nebulous or hard to assess spiritual answers and may presuppose the existence of ultimate ends. Despite the research that does exist regarding selves, an ultimate conclusion has not yet been reached, and opinions regarding selves remain split.

Flexible Selfhood Instead of moving into purely metaphysical territory, we would like to propose three simple answers for why we have selves, any one of which may be sufficient: Selves are an emergent property of our human-animal bodymind biochemistry. Selves are an evolutionarily adaptation and solution to trauma. Selves are a generalized evolutionary adaptation. First, selves can be seen to be an emergent property of our complex human bodyminds. An emergent property is something that you cannot predict based on an object's elements or parts. I'm thinking of Kate Hogue, the young preacher who almost died in the tornado in Joplin, Missouri. In the immediate aftermath, Kate did a lot of preaching, mostly to comfort her neighbors. I spoke about how grateful I was for all that we have. But the experience felt hollow, she said, because inside she was questioning her faith. I thought, What does it mean that God was watching over me, but not my friend Tripp, who died? It took Kate five years, including enrolling in a PhD program, entering counseling, and using a form of therapy called eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, to finally put the event behind her. I think anytime you experience trauma, you realize how little control you have over those kinds of things. But the control you do have is to decide how to make meaning once it has happened. To me, the good stories are the ones where something terrible happened and you did something about it that is positive and life affirming. Now I'm one of those stories. The Tigers batted first. Derek watched from the on-deck circle as the Indians' pitcher winged pitches right past little Chris. He probably would have walked if he hadn't kept swinging at pitches over his head or far off the plate.

One out, and Derek strode to the plate. He had his routine down, and he stuck with it now. He knew he had to calm down, to take a deep breath and make his heart beat a little more slowly, so that he didn't swing too hard and miss a ball he should be able to hit. The first pitch came in, and Derek let it go by. Strike one! Way to look at one, Derek! Now you've seen him! Thus, water is an emergent property that results from combining hydrogen and oxygen in the right proportions. Life itself is an emergent property of the chemicals that existed on our planet and the circumstances in which they were found. In the same way, we can say that selves, or self-states, naturally and spontaneously arise from the complexity of evolving as the kind of big-brained biological entities we happen to be. Second, selves can be seen as an evolutionary necessity to handle and take maximum advantage of intense negative interactions with the outside world, especially physical and sexual trauma and abuse. Under this well-known adaptive dissociation view, first seen in the brutal backgrounds of multiple personality disorder cases, the splitting off of different personalities was necessary for psychological and perhaps physical survival; A third answer takes this adaptive dissociation notion and expands it, so that selves are created during intense interactions with the external world and other people, positive, negative, or mixed, to enable us to take care of the many opportunities and challenges we face. Bromberg, for example, states that through the creative use of dissociation, the mind selects whichever self-state configuration is most adaptive at a given moment without compromising affective safety. Parts appear in our lives naturally, as the results of a universal, developmental process. When we need to adjust to something new in our lives, whether it is something in our own development, such as puberty, or something in our external environment, such as the way we are parented, additional subpersonalities spontaneously appear, enabling us to adjust to our changed situation. Thus as we grow and develop, new parts appear whenever our existing parts cannot easily deal with a new challenge. Make Pigs Fly The second technique that transformative personal stories display is they use positive language. The novelist John Steinbeck had a quirky logo he drew after signing his name.

It was a pig with wings. He called it Pigasus, which he wrote out in Greek letters. Late in his life, he accompanied the illustration with the Latin words Ad Astra Per Alia Porci, which he translated (incorrectly, it turns out) as to the stars on the wings of a pig. His explanation: We must all try to attain the heavens, even though we are bound to the earth. For half a millennium, the expression when pigs fly has been used in multiple languages to mean a circumstance so improbable that its completion is nearly impossible. It's a figure of speech known as an adynaton, a way of saying something that will never happen. Steinbeck adopted this phrase because he had been told by a naysayer professor that he would be an author when pigs fly. Derek nodded, and tapped the plate with his bat. Here came the second pitch. It was halfway to home plate when Derek realized it was coming right at him! He tried to spin out of the way, but the ball plunked him square in the left arm, halfway between his elbow and shoulder. Derek cried out in pain and collapsed to the ground, grabbing his arm where the ball had hit it. Take your base! Derek got up and jogged down to first, fighting back tears. He didn't want to give the pitcher the satisfaction of seeing how badly he was hurting. Standing at first, Derek tried to rub the pain out of his arm. He saw his father and Sharlee in the stands, concerned looks on their faces. Parts Psychology holds that subpersonalities are the natural building blocks of the mind, and without their development, we would lack the essential human flexibility that has allowed us to adjust to virtually every social and physical environment our planet has to offer. We invite you to consider the why question on your own. You might be impressed and surprised with what your selves come up with.

Tear Off Labels

Lucky thirteen again, same as last year! Here y'go, kid. This one should fit you pretty well. He tossed a different jersey over to Derek, who looked at it and made a face. Number 2. Pete was standing right next to him. He gave Derek a nudge and said softly, so that no one else could hear him, Hey. Close your eyes and think about it. Can you pin down the I that is having experiences? Can you put a boundary or border on it? Can you confine it to a definitive space? The answer you will come to is that you can't put anything finite around I. It's not a finite thing, whatever it is. I is therefore in-finite. Finally, we might wonder when I is present. Right now, I is present reading these words. Ten years ago, I was present. Open the Second Eye Small steps and big moves are important milestones toward recovery, but sometimes you need a gesture with more transcendent resonance. You need a ritual.

As popular as rituals are in marking the beginning of a transition, they're equally popular in marking the end. Meaningful acts that proclaim the unveiling of the new you were a powerful theme in my conversations. They hark back to an old Japanese tradition: opening the second eye. Robert Yang was born in Southern California to parents who fled China to escape Mao. I was that friendly, non-sexually-threatening, sociable-nerd type in high school, which means I didn't get picked for anything. Also, I'm gay, but I wasn't out the entire time I was in school. Robert attended the University of California, Berkeley, but still felt socially awkward. Number two! As in second best! Derek tightened his jaw and pursed his lips so he wouldn't say what he wanted to say. Instead he shuffled off toward the bleachers, where his dad was waiting for him. How'd it go? Jeter asked, putting his papers back into his briefcase. You looked pretty good out there. Terrible, Derek said. Well, you were throwing a little wild. Try coming over the top more on your pitching motion. When I was born, I was present. As far as we can tell, has I ever not been present? I has always been present in our life.

At the very least, from birth to death, I is present. And we haven't experienced our own birth or our own death; As far as our experience tells us, I is always present. I has never not been present. Another way of phrasing its ever-presence is to say that I is eternal. So, our own introspection tells us that I has the following characteristics: It is unlimited, self-aware, infinite, and eternal (see the following table for a summary). Characteristics of I Rationale One of my roommates was a very straight, small-time drug dealer, and I kept asking for love advice because I had no idea how to ask a guy out or anything. Robert eventually started dating, moved to New York for graduate school, and later married a New Zealander. Along the way, he started mixing his love life with his nerd life and designed cutting-edge gay video games. The first one was a simulation of gay divorce; Far from fringe, his work earned him a professorship at NYU. The first line of his bio reads: Robert Yang makes surprisingly popular games about gay culture and intimacy--he is most known for his historical bathroom sex simulator The Tearoom and his male shower simulator Rinse and Repeat, and his gay sex triptych Radiator 2 has over 150,000 users on Steam. Robert was describing how stressed he was after graduate school, when he was trying to design games that were both fulfilling and successful, but he felt enormous pressure from his parents to achieve traditional milestones of success. He used a ritual from Japan to help. I had one of those daruma dolls, he said, referring to the red papier-mache dolls that are modeled after the founder of Zen Buddhism and sold with the eyes blank. You're supposed to paint one pupil black at the outset of a project, to symbolize your aspiration, then paint the other one when you finish. It'll help you be accurate. And make sure you follow through on your throws. Your hand should be pointing--

It's not that, Derek said. I probably won't even get to play shortstop! Jeter looked surprised. Is that what the coach said? No, but his son wants to play there. And look, I didn't even get number thirteen. Well, two is a fine number. Unlimited I can experience many different states, but those states change while the same I remains. If I say, I am ____, no matter what ____ is, I is present. There is no limit that can be placed on I. Self-aware I is the entity that is aware that I am; Infinite I does not have a finite boundary like my body or my table. I is borderless and uncontained. Eternal I is always present in my life, no matter what state I am in. I is ever-present (ie, eternal). Religions--across cultures--have a name for an unlimited, self-aware, infinite, and eternal being. The name they give for that being is: God. When I got the job at NYU, I opened the second eye. In Japanese, opening the second eye means you realized a personal goal. It's a technique that helps you both visualize your dream and memorialize its achievement.

I have a daruma doll in my home from finishing my first article, which describes the year I spent teaching junior high school in rural Japan. You might think triumphant rituals like this are superfluous. After all, reaching a personal milestone would hardly seem to be a scary thing you need to tame or normalize in some way. But as anyone who's been through a long medical treatment, served in combat, or dropped out of the world for a while to complete a daunting project knows, fear of reentry is a real and terrifying thing. I remember thinking at the end of my year of chemo, Now what? I've done all I can do; I've been in this oddly sheltered place, a place where I didn't have to make many decisions or follow social norms, a place the poet Hakim Bey called a temporary autonomous zone. It's not thirteen, Derek said. Speaking of which, guess who did get thirteen? Jeter nodded slowly. Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. You might still get to be shortstop. Maybe, thought Derek. But not likely. And if not, just remember--that boy might be your rival, but he's also your teammate. Your team's not going anywhere if you don't all pull together in the same direction. Remember your contract? Now we can truly understand why the 13th-century Sufi mystic, Rumi, said: I searched for God and found only myself. I searched for myself and found only God. And we can understand why those who experience transcendental states of consciousness (eg, NDErs and some psychedelics users) claim to experience divinity: They are getting in touch with the I that they truly are.

Fix a Broken Window

More recently, psychologists have begun to observe that in times of trauma, people get stuck, both physically and emotionally. Movement gets us unstuck. It restores agency by giving us the feeling we're acting on our situation; A trio of researchers in New Hampshire asked people about memorable experiences in their lives. Moves generated twice as many memories as comparable experiences. Their explanation: Each time we move, we go through our possessions, engage and reengage old memories, reconnect with milestones of meaning we may have forgotten. To be sure, some of the moves we make, especially ones at the beginning of a transition, tend to be isolating: Michael Hebb taking only his golf clubs and moving into an Airstream outside Portland after his humiliating fall from grace as a restaurateur; Derek's glove hand stung, but he wasn't going to cry uncle. He gave back as good as he got, and he knew Pete's hand had to be hurting just as much. In the end, neither one could claim a clear victory. Considering how wild they both were, Derek didn't think either of them would get to pitch anytime soon. Luckily, three o'clock rolled around before Derek's arm totally fell off or his hand caught fire. Coach Kozlowski called the Tigers off the field just as the Yankees started to arrive for their practice. Derek saw Jeff, Jason, and Harry--along with two other good players he knew, Skip Larsen and Jayquan Graves--all high-fiving one another. Derek couldn't help wishing he were on the Yankees too. He tried to look on the bright side. There were five or six kids on the Tigers who might be pretty good. Dr Kastrup comments: If I lost a limb or had a heart transplant tomorrow I would still have the same sense of identity. Therefore I cannot be equated with my body. I experiences the body, but I is not the body itself.

Is I my genes? We know from biology that genes mutate. So I don't have the exact genetic makeup I had earlier in my life. Yet the same I persists even if my genes are slightly different. Thought of another way by Dr Kastrup: Am I my genetic code? No, for I could have an identical twin with the same genetic code and I wouldn't be him. I is not the same as my genes. Amichai Lau-Lavie moving to a hippie compound in Israel's Negev desert after coming out as gay to his ultra-religious family. But more tend to symbolize healing. They are signs--dramatic, visible public signs--that we're turning a corner, literally and figuratively, and taking up residence in a new mental space. Some we make for personal reasons. Carolyn Graham, after going through therapy following the breakup of her second marriage, built a treehouse in her backyard in central Florida. It was in an old oak tree, no glass windows, all screens. I rented out my house and moved into the treehouse. I had lights, beautiful running water, I used the bathroom outside. Some we undertake for medical reasons. Eric Westover, after enduring a downturn in his marriage following the biking accident that took his legs, moved into a ranch-style home in Grand Rapids that was easier for him to navigate. Himself, Pete for sure, Isaiah . That kid Ryan, the big lefty, was awesome at first base. Ernesto didn't throw hard like Derek or Pete, but at least he seemed like he could get the ball over the plate.

And little Chris had good speed. He'll steal a ton of bases, Derek thought. If he ever gets on base. Still, Derek couldn't help feeling disappointed as he watched the Yankees gather, looking like a team full of world-beaters. Okay, we're out of time, unfortunately, Coach Kozlowski said. Next practice is tomorrow at four o'clock, right here. We'll do some hitting and some baserunning. This exercise could go on and on. In any instance of I am ____, we will see that there is a distinction between I and whatever the state ____ is. Try it--insert anything into ____, and see if you can find something that is identical to I. It can't be done. As stated by Dr Hawkins: Just as the eye is unaffected by what is observed or the ear by what is heard, there is the ongoing process of witnessing, which is unaffected by that which is witnessed. So we have just established that I is untouched by any transitory states that come after I am. I is without qualification or limitation. I is un-limited. We then might ask, Who is it that knows that `I am'? The answer: I. After everything that happened, my wife really wanted to do the move ourselves. We had some guys help us with the furniture, but we did everything else. It took us six weeks.

At the end, we said, Finally, we can live. Some we make for work reasons. Jenny Wynn, after being promoted to senior pastor of her Oklahoma City church following the death of her predecessor, took a sabbatical and asked the board to redecorate and repaint her new office in her absence so that when she started as the first female spiritual leader, the community would find it easier to accept her in her new role. Others we tackle for family reasons. Jan Egberts, after becoming a single dad following the suicide of his wife, quit his job as CEO of a public company in New Jersey and moved his three sons to his native Amsterdam. I said, `Why don't we make a fresh start in Holland? But everyone, in a sense, moves for the same reason--they need a change in scenery, a new setting for their life story. For now, here are your uniforms. He opened the top of a big garbage bag and started pulling uniform shirts out. They were green, with Tigers written in yellow script on the front. Derek held his breath, hoping he would get number 13. He'd worn it the past two seasons, and although it hadn't exactly proved to be a lucky number, 13 had been his dad's number in college. And his dad was Derek's original, all-time, and forever baseball role model (even though Dave Winfield was his current favorite). Coach Kozlowski pulled out several jerseys and tossed them to kids one by one, based on who he thought would fit that size shirt. When Derek saw number 13 come out of the bag, he raised his hand and said, Me! Sorry, Darren. This one's taken. Is the I that knows that I am the same I as the one in I am? So I is aware of itself. I knows itself.

I is both the perceiver and perceived, the knower and the known, the subject and the object. I is therefore self-aware. We might then wonder what I's form is. My body has a measurable form. My table has finite boundaries. I can measure the exact size and boundaries of my cell phone. But does I have any borders? Khaliqa Baqi, who left her husband and the spiritual retreat they were building in rural Oregon, went on a vision quest and then settled in Portland, where she became a medical chaplain. I think of transition itself as movement, she said. Sometimes that movement is manifested by physically moving from one place to the other. But it's also an internal transition that involves moving from what you might call one native land to another. You leave an identity, a knowingness, something you've probably called home. And you do that because the soul has a certain trajectory. That trajectory is not linear. It's possible that something that once brought you joy all of a sudden is empty to you. But the soul moves on, and your ego has to learn to follow. You have to let go of that old identity, go into the emptiness, and find your new life's dream. It's Derek, said Vijay. I had a special request for this number. He gave Derek a wink, then tossed the shirt over to Pete, who quickly pulled it over his head.

Get Some Production Therapy

In his junior year, he was sitting in the cafeteria one day when three smiling Japanese girls started flirting with him. They asked if they could sit at my table, engaged me in conversation, and invited me to come over to their house to meet some friends from all over the world. The evening was innocuous enough; Steven thanked them and headed outside. They followed and asked if he'd return the next day. He politely declined. I remember they came all the way out to the car, it was snowing, a bunch of people, not even wearing shoes. With them and Jeff, the Yankees sure had the makings of a good team. Derek hoped he would be on the Yankees too, and not just because it was the name of his favorite team. All the Jeters stood up and started applauding the minute Sharlee came onstage. At the end of her solo, Derek shouted, Go, Sharlee! But her eyes sparkled as she said it. When the recital was over, Sharlee came out the stage door, where the families were waiting to greet the performers. She saw Derek, ran to him, and leapt into his arms. He spun her around and said, Bravo, Sis! How was I? Was I the best one? The tree is just in your mind. You might then wonder: Well, I can walk to the tree and touch it, and that touching will occur over there and not here. When you do this, your hand touches the bark of the tree.

You feel a tingling sensation that you label hand touching bark. But if you close your eyes and lose all association with the concepts of hand and bark, what do you feel? Imagine you were a newborn infant who didn't know what any objects were. How would the infant describe the sensation of what you call hand touching bark? The answer is: All that you experience is a tingly sensation. As you close your eyes and imagine this, where does that tingly sensation occur? The sensation occurs right in your field of consciousness. They surrounded my car and more or less said they wouldn't let me leave unless I promised to come back. I remember thinking, These are crazy people, but I've always been a very principled person and I felt guilty. Steven went back, then agreed to attend a weekend getaway. A van drove them forty-five minutes outside of the city. When they passed through the gates, his hosts announced they were having a joint workshop with the Unification Church. I went, `Whoa! I'm Jewish. Nobody said anything about a church. Do you have something against Christians? They also said the van wasn't going back until the next morning. You were fantastic! Derek said. She was, wasn't she?

Jeter, giving Sharlee a kiss on the head that knocked her tiara loose. She squirmed out of Derek's arms, bent down and grabbed it, and stuck it back on her head. You were awesome! Jeter, clapping her hands. Yay, Sharlee! Derek, said Sharlee, putting her little hand in his as they walked to the car, do you think I can be a ballerina someday? Of course you can, Sharlee! The sensation of touching the tree is nothing more than a modulation of your consciousness. The tree--as you see and feel it--is nothing but consciousness. The tree exists in your mind. You might then wonder again: What if I hear one of the tree's branches break--the sound occurs at the tree, which is over there. Run the same exercise as above. Where does your experience of hearing the branch break occur? Does it occur at the site of the tree? Close your eyes and imagine it; You will find that just like the seeing of the tree and the feeling of the tree, your hearing of the branch break occurs in your field of consciousness. The sound is a modulation of your consciousness. That night they sang songs, ate, socialized. It reminded me of summer camp, Steven said. The two-day workshop became three, then seven;

Steven missed classes, he quit his part-time job, he turned on his family. And I came to believe we were at a pivotal time in history. I had the question answered in my mind of who's the messiah on Earth. Who was going to save the planet, end all wars and starvation, create a world where everyone would live together in harmony like the Garden of Eden. That someone was the Reverend Sun Myung Moon. Steven had become a Moonie. And not just any Moonie. Derek thought back to what his parents had told him the night before. You can do anything you dream of, if you're willing to work hard enough for it. Sharlee repeated, scrunching up her face. That doesn't sound like much fun. It can be, Derek assured her. Hey, don't you have fun when you're dancing? And it's the same with me and baseball. I don't mind working hard at that. But you work hard in school, too, she pointed out. Don't you mind that? It is nothing but consciousness. The tree--as you see and feel and hear it--is nothing but consciousness. The tree only exists in your mind.

There is no tree independent and outside of your mind. And since the tree exists in your mind as a modulation of your consciousness, it really is just a modulation of you. You aren't separate from the tree, even though you've been conditioned to interpret your perceptions that way. Similarly, consider thoughts and emotions. Where do they occur? Close your eyes, and watch your thoughts and emotions flow. You will find that they, too, occur in your field of consciousness. Steven rose to become a right-hand man to Reverend Moon. He cut his hair, donned a suit, gave over his bank account, and was told to pick a country he would rule when Moon controlled the world. He achieved this status because he proved to be exceptional at recruiting members, at persuading them that Satan had taken over their families, at helping them believe he knew their one true purpose. He also slept only three to four hours a night, gave up masturbation and sex, and went on regular hunger strikes. I drove myself to the brink, he said. Then, at 5:30 a. He had not slept for two days. And I drove into the back of a tractor trailer at eighty miles an hour, he said. The van was crushed, and I was pinned. The door had to be sawn off. Yeah, sometimes, he said, thinking back to the contract he'd just signed. But I've still got to do it if I want to succeed. Then he gave her a look.

Street Resilience Fuel

The feedback sensation I felt from them was soft and crackly. It took about 15 minutes for them to stop moving and begin to lower their heads. One of the twenty-odd animals began scrabbling at the ground with his forelegs, which suddenly bent, sending him to the ground. The twitching feeling in my palm grew stronger. These are individual foods that have extraordinary amounts of antioxidants, phytonutrients, phytosterols, chlorophyll, and healthy fibers. I can't help but offer a preview here of one super food, but in a way that will allude to some of the points about sugar, an additive that often appears in sheep's clothing. One super food is the goji berry, whose complete profile will appear later. You can purchase bags of freeze-dried powdered goji berries, and in this powdered form it might be stirred into the health drinks served by health-food stores. But beware, the drink may also contain cane sugar, counteracting the health-giving effects of the goji. Very few people ever eat any goji plain. Instead, it is sugar-coated, as it were. For instance, when you eat a goji bar, the goji part of the bar is miniscule and, in most cases, virtually insignificant to your health. The number one ingredient in that health bar is fructose. That's at the top of the list (since ingredients are listed so those that contribute the most are put first). Top Emotions in Transitions I then asked how people coped with or overcame these emotions. Their answers were practical, poignant, and quite inventive. Let's examine the top three. Fear clearly terrorizes people--and paralyzes them with indecision. Fraidy Reiss told me that after living with her abusive husband for fifteen years, and finally escaping with her children, she was overcome with fear.

It wasn't fear of failure, she said. It was fear of the unknown. I just didn't understand this world, and now I had to raise two kids in it. On top of that, she was diagnosed with breast cancer. One after another, the topi before me pawed the ground and then fell. After 30 minutes the healing space was complete and most of the topi had fallen down. Then, from far off, several zebras approached, passing right in front of me as they entered the healing space. They began rubbing their bodies against nearby trees as they entered a state of relaxation. As my showdown was now over, the driver brought the car once around the group of topi. Although some did stand, not a single one attempted to run away. Within the group there was also a fox-like gazelle that was lying on its side, fast asleep. All of them were completely relaxed. The local area coordinator who saw this was so moved that he declared he'd changed his outlook on life. Before I'd started transmitting Ki to the topi he'd assured me that topi are always alert and vigilant. Goji will appear near the bottom, if not being the last, on the list. The end result is that manufactures have marketed an unhealthy product in a deceptive manner. It's the equivalent of a bait and switch: focus on goji in advertising the bar--Eat a Goji Treat--but provide the consumer with what is largely a sugary supplement. As an alternative, as you will see in the power foods section, you can incorporate these foods into your diet yourself. One good way is by making a protein shake in the morning. By adding rice milk, Noni powder, a teaspoon of goji powder, some fresh blackberries, and a scoop of non-genetically engineered rice powder, you will have created a drink that is low in calories and very low in sugar, but high in nutrients, with a heavy emphasis on antioxidants, phytonutrients and polyphenols.

However before turning to super foods, we have to look at super liabilities to your diet, in particular, many forms of sugar. Before looking at how sugar consumption has been growing by leaps and bounds (or should I say leaps and pounds) in the United States, let's clarify what sugar is since it comes in a number of sub-varieties. In 2002 statement the American Heart Association (AHA) and the USDA provided a broad, succinct definition of what constitutes sugar: Simple carbohydrate (sugar) refers to mono- and disaccharides; Common disaccharides are sucrose (glucose + fructose), found in sugar cane, sugar beets, honey, and corn syrup; When I went into the hospital for surgery, I had to list my next of kin. That's when I realized I didn't have a single person who would help me out in a crisis. At its root, fear is positive. Being afraid triggers a series of physical reactions--rapid heartbeat, flushed skin, adrenaline--that help save us from peril. Face-to-face with a lion, we know we must fight or flee. Fear is good, said the screenwriter Steven Pressfield. Fear is an indicator. Fear tells us what we have to do. But not all fearful situations are as clear cut as staring into the eyes of a four-hundred-pound predator. Many involve emotional adjustments, financial insecurities, or just plain dread about facing an ordeal with no guarantee of success. There's no way they'll fall. It must have been hard for him to believe his eyes as those same topi fell down one after another in comfortable bliss. My next encounter was with zebras. As our car sprinted across the great plains, we saw in the distance a group of about thirty zebras. I positioned myself about thirty meters away from them and began to transmit Ki. Five minutes later, the hand feedback sensation in my palm began to grow stronger.

Twenty more minutes passed. The zebra had grown still. Suddenly, two fell down, stuck their four legs up in the sky, and began to rub their backs against the ground. They were playing in the sand. The most common naturally occurring monosaccharide is fructose (found in fruits and vegetables). Intrinsic or naturally occurring sugar refers to the sugar that is an integral constituent of whole fruit, vegetable, and milk products; The sugar in that definition that is the most concern to the health conscious is added sugar, which can also be termed sweeteners, (ie, something added to a food to make it sweeter than it already is). These are the sugars that are adding so much to American consumption. As a recent report from the USDA notes, per capita consumption of caloric sweeteners increased by twenty-eight pounds, or 22 percent, from 1970 through 1995, and has continued to increase since 1995. A similar sugar explosion was detailed in a separate USDA Report on Food Consumption, Prices and Expenditures, during the period 1970-1997. Instead of using pounds, the report's authors broke consumption into teaspoons, pointing out that their figures, translated into such terms amounted to more than 53 teaspoonfuls of added sugars per person per day in 1997. Meanwhile, the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid suggests that people consuming 1,600 calories limit their intake of added sugars to 6 teaspoons per day. The guide suggested those who consume 2,200 calories a day limit themselves to 12 teaspoons while those eating 2,800 calories keep their consumption down to 18 teaspoons. In other words, Americans are consuming close to three times the maximum of 18 teaspoons recommended by USDA food guidelines for even the highest calorie diets! Fear escalates during transitions precisely because it nags at these kinds of doubts. In 1986, the psychologists Hazel Markus and Paula Nurius introduced the idea that all of us keep a running catalog of possible selves. These imaginary selves represent our hopes for what we'd like to become, our dream selves, and our worries for what we're afraid of becoming, our feared selves. In times of change, our dream selves retreat and our feared selves become more looming. And yet, humans are remarkably adaptive. As fear has metastasized in our nonlinear age, our coping mechanisms have grown.

I heard a wide array of ways people push back against their fears. Compare Down The most frequent tactic is that people create a mental equation under which fear of the future, as great as it may be, is still less than fear of the present. The equation looks like this: Having been sent Ki, their blood flow had improved, making their bodies itchy. As there were no trees around, they had no choice but to fall down and rub their backs on the ground. My third encounter was with lions. Traveling across the great plains, we encountered a male lion. Recognizing the danger, I put about forty meters between him and myself and began to transmit Ki. This was the animal I had most wanted to meet while in Africa. After two to three minutes of transmitting, the male lion stretched out his front legs and promptly fell asleep. It was all over so fast that it felt a bit unsatisfying. Not soon after, in another area, we came across a family of two parents and two cubs. All four of them yawned quickly went into state of relaxation and laid down on their sides. As I mentioned, it is the sweeteners that are really hoisting up the consumption figures, and these sweeteners are particularly found in soft drinks. The USDA report just mentioned showed that the steep rise in caloric sweetener consumption since the mid-1980s coincided with a 47 percent increase in annual per capita consumption of regular (non-diet) carbonated soft drinks. This soared from 28 gallons per person in 1986 to 41 gallons in 1997. Carbonated soft drinks provided more than a fifth (22 percent) of the refined and processed sugars in the 1994 American diet. All this sugar consumption is closely related to a spectrum of increased disease. That's why I have often commented while these sodas are called soft drinks, they are certainly hard on your body.