Your brain is wired for negative thoughts. Here’s how to change it.
Change Your Breath, Change Your Life || Lucas Rockwood
How stress is killing us (and how you can stop it).
When the Body Says No -- Caring for ourselves while caring for others. Dr. Gabor Maté
Intro to Stress & the Polyvagal Theory
How to Stimulate Your Vagus Nerve for Better Health
Adapted from – January 21 , 2017 — Jordan Fallis
“By developing an understanding of the workings of your vagus nerve, you may find it possible to work with your nervous system rather than feel trapped when it works against you.”
— Dr. Arielle Schwartz, Clinical Psychologist
Stimulating my vagus nerve has played a key role in the management of my health over the years.
What exactly is the vagus nerve?
The vagus nerve is the longest nerve in your body.
It connects your brain to many important organs throughout the body, including the gut (intestines, stomach), heart and lungs.
In fact, the word “vagus” means “wanderer” in Latin, which accurately represents how the nerve wanders all over the body and reaches various organs.
The vagus nerve is also a key part of your parasympathetic “rest and digest” nervous system. It influences your breathing, digestive function and heart rate, all of which can have a huge impact on your mental health.
But what you really need to pay special attention to is the “tone” of your vagus nerve.
Vagal tone is an internal biological process that represents the activity of the vagus nerve.
Increasing your vagal tone activates the parasympathetic nervous system, and having higher vagal tone means that your body can relax faster after stress.
In 2010, researchers discovered a positive feedback loop between high vagal tone, positive emotions, and good physical health. In other words, the more you increase your vagal tone, the more your physical and mental health will improve, and vice versa (5).
“The vagal response reduces stress. It reduces our heart rate and blood pressure. It changes the function of certain parts of the brain, stimulates digestion, all those things that happen when we are relaxed.”
— Dr. Mladen Golubic, MD, Medical Director of the Cleveland Clinic
What’s interesting is that studies have even shown that vagal tone is passed on from mother to child. Mothers who are depressed, anxious and angry during their pregnancy have lower vagal activity. And once they give birth to their child, the newborn also has low vagal activity and low dopamine and serotonin levels (1-3).
Your vagal tone can be measured by tracking certain biological processes such as your heart rate, your breathing rate, and your heart rate variability (HRV).
When your heart rate variability (HRV) is high, your vagal tone is also high. They are correlated with each other (53-55).
If you’re vagal tone is low, don’t worry – you can take steps to increase it by stimulating your vagus nerve.
This will allow you to more effectively respond to the emotional and physiological symptoms of your brain and mental illness.
For people with treatment-resistant depression, the FDA has even approved a surgically-implanted device that periodically stimulates the vagus nerve. (6-9).
But you don’t need to go down that route.
You can enjoy the benefits of vagus nerve stimulation naturally by following these steps.
1. Cold Exposure
Acute cold exposure has been shown to activate the vagus nerve and activate cholinergic neurons through vagus nerve pathways (10).
Researchers have also found that exposing yourself to cold on a regular basis can lower your sympathetic “fight or flight” response and increase parasympathetic activity through the vagus nerve (11).
I often take cold showers and go outside in cold temperatures with minimal clothing.
Try finishing your next shower with at least 30 seconds of cold water and see how you feel. Then work your way up to longer periods of time.
You can also ease yourself into it by simply sticking your face in ice-cold water.
2. Deep and Slow Breathing
Deep and slow breathing is another way to stimulate your vagus nerve.
It’s been shown to reduce anxiety and increase the parasympathetic system by activating the vagus nerve (51-52).
Most people take about 10 to 14 breaths each minute. Taking about 6 breaths over the course of a minute is a great way to relieve stress. You should breathe in deeply from your diaphragm. When you do this, your stomach should expand outward. Your exhale should be long and slow. This is key to stimulating the vagus nerve and reaching a state of relaxation.
3. Singing, Humming, Chanting and Gargling
The vagus nerve is connected to your vocal cords and the muscles at the back of your throat.
Singing, humming, chanting and gargling can activate these muscles and stimulate your vagus nerve.
And this has been shown to increase heart-rate variability and vagal tone (12).
I often gargle water before swallowing it. This is discussed more in Dr. Datis Kharrazian’s book, Why Isn’t My Brain Working?
4. Probiotics
It’s becoming increasingly clear to researchers that gut bacteria improve brain function by affecting the vagus nerve (27).
In one study, animals were given the probiotic Lactobacillus Rhamnosus, and researchers found positive changes to the GABA receptors in their brain, a reduction in stress hormones, and less depression and anxiety-like behaviour.
The researchers also concluded that these beneficial changes between the gut and the brain were facilitated by the vagus nerve. When the vagus nerve was removed in other mice, the addition of Lactobacillus Rhamnosus to their digestive systems failed to reduce anxiety, stress, and improve mood (25).
Another study found that the probiotic Bifidobacterium Longum normalized anxiety-like behavior in mice by acting through the vagus nerve (26).
5. Meditation
Meditation is my favorite relaxation technique and it can stimulate the vagus nerve and increase vagal tone.
Research shows that meditation increases vagal tone and positive emotions, and promotes feelings of goodwill towards yourself (22, 23). Another study found that meditation reduces sympathetic “fight or flight” activity and increases vagal modulation (21).
6. Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Omega-3 fatty acids are essential fats that your body cannot produce itself. They are found primarily in fish and are necessary for the normal electrical functioning of your brain and nervous system.
They often appear in most of my posts because they are so critical for brain and mental health and affect so many aspects of wellness. They have been shown to help people overcome addiction, repair a “leaky brain”, and even reverse cognitive decline.
But researchers have also discovered that omega-3 fatty acids increase vagal tone and vagal activity (35-37, 40). Studies shown that they reduce heart rate and increase heart rate variability, which means they likely stimulate the vagus nerve (34, 38, 39).
And high fish consumption is also associated with “enhanced vagal activity and parasympathetic
predominance” (35).
7. Exercise
I’ve already discussed how exercise increases your brain’s growth hormone, supports your brain’s
mitochondria, and helps reverse cognitive decline.
But it’s also been shown to stimulate the vagus nerve, which may explain its beneficial brain and mental health effects (28).
Many brain health experts recommend exercise as their number one piece of advice for optimal brain health.
This is my exercise routine:
- Lift heavy weights 1-4 times per week
- High-intensity interval sprinting 1-2 times per week
- Walk as much as I can (ideally 30-60 minutes every day)
Walking, weightlifting and sprinting are the best forms of exercise, but you should choose a sport or exercise routine that you enjoy, so that you will stick with it consistently.
8. Massage
Research shows that massages can stimulate the vagus nerve, and increase vagal activity and vagal tone (31-32).
The vagus nerve can also be stimulated by massaging several specific areas of the body.
Foot massages (reflexology) have been shown to increase vagal modulation and heart rate variability, and decrease the “fight or flight” sympathetic response (29). Massaging the carotid sinus, an area located near the right side of your throat, can also stimulate the vagus nerve to reduce seizures (30).
I personally get a massage from a registered massage therapist every couple of months.
9. Socializing and Laughing
I’ve already discussed how socializing and laughing can reduce your body’s main stress hormone. And now I know that they are likely doing this by stimulating the vagus nerve.
Researchers have discovered that reflecting on positive social connections improves vagal tone and increases positive emotions (47, 48).
Laughter has been shown to increase heart-rate variability and improve mood (49). And vagus nerve stimulation often leads to laughter as a side effect, suggesting that they are connected and influence one another (50).
So my advice is to hang out and laugh with your friends as much as possible. Although I should probably be taking my own advice here, as I’m an introvert and often avoid socializing too much.
Conclusion You don’t have to be controlled by your body and mind. You have the power to tell them what to do.
By stimulating the vagus nerve, you can send a message to your body that it’s time to relax and de-stress, which leads to long-term improvements in mood, wellbeing and resilience.
Increasing my vagal tone has allowed me to overcome anxiety and depression, and better manage them when they arise.
Overall, I hope you implement some of the above steps into your daily life, and they allow you to live more optimally.
https://sass.uottawa.ca/sites/sass.uottawa.ca/files/how_to_stimulate_your_vagus_nerve_for_better_mental_health_1.pdf
Guided Group Meditations
⚪ Guided meditation can be applied to assist with creative visualization, relieving stress, escaping the endless ramblings of the “monkey mind”, experiencing your own true nature, as well as for endless therapeutic applications such as to provide relief from insomnia, anxiety, PTSD, chronic fatigue, chronic pain such as fibromyalgia, and so much more. ⚪ Yoga Nidra meditation returns you to your own inner Self, giving you a chance to experience that perfect peace and Self-born bliss that is beyond the mind and body. The benefits of experiencing that state while awake are truly beyond description; it re-energizes you on the deepest level possible. Encountering your own higher Self truly is the greatest form of Self-empowerment”. Sri. Devidas, — “Yoga Nidra” ⚪ MiamiNetwork.org coordinates online guided meditations and small group sharing of Adyashanti’s practical guide-book, “The Way Of Liberation”. Additional holistic practices such as “empathic listening” related to Carl Rogers, Edwin Rutsch, Marshall Rosenberg’s NVC work, and ACIM are also fostered and encouraged. Participation is open to everyone and donations are not required for attendance and of course, they are always welcome for our sustainability. ⚪ Online meditations are scheduled here: https://empathymatters.org/now/contact/ ⚪ Notes related to Adyashanti’s teachings: https://empathymatters.org/now/way-of-liberation-notes/ ⚪ Introduction to NVC: https://empathymatters.org/now/nvc-info/
“One of the most important things in life is to be able to find a sense of “inner stability,” because it’s this foundation that allows us to look into the nature of our experience in a clear and objective way. Unless we can find this inner stability in our lives, we’ll always be pushed around by the next experience, by the next thing that happens to us, by the next person or situation that we encounter that is difficult or challenging. Yet, for many of us, a real inner stability—on an emotional and an intellectual level—is very hard to come by.
A helpful analogy for this stability is that it is like the ballast of a boat. Deep in the bottom of every boat is a ballast, which helps prevent the boat from tipping over in the face of the wind. It keeps the boat tracking straight. For a human being, this kind of ballast, or inner stability, comes from our capacity to be open to an interior silence. It’s through this inner silence—this inner stillness—that we find a certain stability, so that we’re not always pushed around by our minds, by the conditioning that we’ve all inherited and acquired.
In order to come upon this stability, we have to be able to listen in a new way. It is then that we can experience this deep inner silence. This silence is not merely a quiet mind, where the mind rests and you’re not experiencing emotion or feeling, or where you’re not hearing or connected with the exterior world. Rather, it’s a space within where all our experience naturally occurs. This is a different kind of silence. Usually when we hear about silence, we immediately think of a still mind, a mind that thinks only good thoughts or preferably no thoughts at all. But this is a relative stillness, and all forms of relative stillness are fleeting. Your mind might be still for a short period of time, but then it starts to move again. Your emotions might feel quite balanced and steady in a state of peace for a while, but sooner or later they’re going to change.
Every experience—whether inner or outer—changes. The nature of experience itself is change and movement, and this is why so many of us find that we’re to one degree or another being knocked off balance and losing our sense of equanimity. The entire world seems to be shifting, and it seems to be happening very, very quickly. So if we’re looking for a relative stillness, if we’re looking for all of this change and movement to stop, we’re always going to be frustrated, because this kind of stillness is elusive, very hard to maintain, and it can slip away in any given moment.
-ADYASHANTI – Falling Into Grace
Hey everyone 🙂 … I’m in Ormand by the Sea… Just north of Daytona Florida… And we still have no electricity… Not complaining, just saying 🙂…
Florida power and light company… estimates power to be restored by 10/17 at 11:45 PM… so I might not be able to attend zoom sessions until electricity and Internet are working again.
Empathy Circles and Open Source Empathy Café
Would you like to speak and feel fully heard? Would you like to connect to yourself and others more deeply? Do you want to work on developing your empathy skills?
An empathy circle is a simple but powerful way for people to connect through structured dialogue, speaking and active listening in small groups. It takes about 15 minutes to understand.
You don’t need any special skills or training to be involved.
It is primarily designed to offer an environment for active listening and creates a space where you can talk and feel heard to your satisfaction about a set topic or whatever is alive for you in the moment.
You will each have a role in the circle and take turns switching roles throughout the circle.
One role is the speaker who will speak to an active listener.
Everyone else takes the role of a silent listener during each turn and there is also a facilitator role who will also participate, keep time and help keep everyone in the process.
Link: Ground Rules / Guidelines (NYC–PTSD)
The two main criteria in practicing Marshall Rosenberg’s NVC:
1. Are you speaking and acting from your own experience?
aka: It’s not about “fixing” someone else.
2. Is your practice contributing to well-being? aka: Do No Harm (“Ahimsa”) When harm occurs accidentally, NVC can be used for repair work and healing.
________________________
QUESTION: “When should NVC not be applied for a reason of impaired physical or mental health?
ANSWER: ” I cannot think of a situation in which self-compassion, self-empathy, and self-connection is not appropriate. ~Marshall Rosenberg
Carl Rogers 3 core conditions:
Empathy, Congruence and Unconditional positive regard.
1) Empathic understanding: the counsellor trying to understand the client’s point of view.
2) Congruence: the counsellor being a genuine person.
3) Unconditional positive regard: the counsellor being non-judgmental.
[Listening]
… means entering the private perceptual world of the other and becoming thoroughly at home in it… It involves being sensitive, moment by moment, to the changing felt meanings which flow in this other person…. To be with another in this ways means that for the time being, you lay aside your own views and values in order to enter anothers world without prejudice… In some sense it means that you lay aside yourself …. ~Carl Rogers
Empathy is saying to someone:
“I’m trying to be a companion to you in your search and your exploration. I want to know, am I with you? Is this the way it seems to you? Is this the thing you’re trying to express? Is this the meaning it has for you?”
So in a sense I’m saying, “I’m walking with you step by step, and I want to make sure I am with you. Am I with you? So that’s a little bit of my understanding about empathy.”
~ Carl Rogers
Carl Rogers and Leta Hollingworth
…::”Empathy is the listener’s effort to hear the other person deeply, accurately, and non-judgmentally. Empathy involves skillful reflective listening that clarifies and amplifies the person’s own experiencing and meaning, without imposing the listener’s own material.’ ~ Carl Rogers (1902–1987)https://www.facebook.com/the.holistic.psychologist/posts/pfbid02p1hT3ae8mpmmpCXNuKsSmHY8Qsreb4RjT8Ez2VtAo6BPFYPixibPDW7nNEhxec7cl
Feelings
Big Hint – Watch out for “non-feeling” words…
It is important to choose words that really are feelings. That’s the reason for the list. If you use words like “abandoned” or “misled” or “shunned” we can prevent ourselves from getting to the “REAL” feelings. These “non-feeling” words are more like accusations or judgments than feelings. SOURCE: https://www.nycnvc.org/feelings
Guidelines:
“Trauma is when your reality is neither seen nor acknowledged”
~Bessel van der Kolk
To us, post-traumatic stress is when the shame, isolation, and pain of past trauma are too intense for us to face and process. As a result, the past trauma ‘lives’ in a sense, and continues to affect our health, relationships, jobs, bodies, and day-to-day lives.
Sharing our traumas in a supportive environment is one avenue for lessening that shame and isolation. Ideally, we can continue to lessen the impact of our past traumas on our present-day lives. Lifestyle changes can lengthen telomeres.
Group details:
Peer support groups for helping in recovering from traumatic experience(s).
All are welcome, and the safety of the group takes priority. Formal diagnosis of PTSD is not required. People with “non-traditional” causes of PTSD and/or “Complex PTSD” are also encouraged to join. The use of “I statements” is encouraged.
Please note that neither the organizers nor the other members are acting as “therapists”. This is not a substitute for therapy, and the group is intended to support one’s recovery, not serve as its sole venue. No one will force or push you to “dig deeper” into your story. The use of “I statements” is encouraged.
We ask that all members abide by these guidelines/code of conduct, linked below. Please note that these guidelines apply to meetups as well as to social media etiquette on the meetup websites:
https://empathymatters.org/now/carl-rogers#NYC-PTSD
“One must revisit the trauma but one need not relive it.”
Friends and visitors are welcome but their presence is subject to a majority of members present agreeing to it.
Through updating our outdated beliefs about reality we can alter the behaviors that derive from these old beliefs and achieve deep and lasting change. https://empathymatters.org/now/transformation/
Our current (online technology) :: website, “Zoom hosting”, and “Meetup hosting” costs are over $700 per year, covered personally by Larry. Gratitude coffee is always appreciated: 🙂 https://buymeacoffee.com/Cup.of.Empathy
Current “trigger warning” research:
“Trigger Warning” critics argue that warnings both contribute to a culture of avoidance at odds with evidence-based treatment practices and instill fear about upcoming content. Recently, a body of psychological research has begun to investigate these claims empirically. We present the results of a meta-analysis of all empirical studies on the effects of these warnings. https://osf.io/qav9m/
Past research has indicated that trigger warnings are unhelpful in reducing anxiety. The results of this study are consistent with that conclusion. This study was the first to focus on how trigger warnings function in a sample of people who had survived Criterion A trauma as defined by the DSM–5 (APA, 2013). Trigger warnings did not reduce anxiety for this sample broadly. Trigger warnings also did not reduce anxiety among people who met a clinical cutoff for PTSD symptoms, reported a diagnosis of PTSD, or reported that the stimuli matched the content of their past trauma. Trigger warnings showed trivially small effects on response anxiety overall. When effects did emerge, they tended toward small increases in anxiety rather than decreases.
Bellet et al. (2018) previously found that trigger warnings increased individuals’ projections of their own vulnerability to future trauma as well as the vulnerability of others. Our results suggested substantial evidence that these effects did not replicate. Bellet et al. also reported that individuals who endorsed the belief that words are emotionally harmful showed greater anxiety in response to trigger warnings compared with individuals who did not endorse that belief. Again, we found substantial evidence that this effect did not replicate. One possibility is that these effects were unique to the trigger-warning-naïve (trauma-naïve), crowd-sourced, older sample used by Bellet et al. However, given that these effects originally had a small effect size and did not replicate in larger samples of college students (Bellet et al., 2020) or trauma survivors (present study), the original results may have been a false positive.
We found substantial evidence that giving trigger warnings to trauma survivors caused them to view trauma as more central to their life narrative. This effect is a reason for worry. Some trigger warnings explicitly suggest that trauma survivors are uniquely vulnerable (e.g., “ . . . especially in those with a history of trauma”). Even when trigger warnings mention content only, the implicit message that trauma survivors are vulnerable remains (Why else provide a warning?). These messages may reinforce the notion that trauma is invariably a watershed event that causes permanent psychological change. In reality, a majority of trauma survivors are resilient, experiencing little if any lasting psychological changes as a result of their experience (Bonanno, 2004; Bonanno & Mancini, 2008). Aggregated across various types of trauma, just 4% of potentially traumatic events result in PTSD (Liu et al., 2017).2 However, trauma survivors who view their traumatic experience as central to their life have elevated PTSD symptoms (Berntsen & Rubin, 2006; Brown et., 2010; Robinaugh & McNally, 2011). Trauma centrality prospectively predicts elevated PTSD symptoms, whereas the reverse is not true (Boals & Ruggero, 2016). Decreases in trauma centrality mediated therapy outcomes (Boals & Murrell, 2016). This suggests that increasing trauma centrality is directly countertherapeutic. In other words, trigger warnings may harm survivors by increasing trauma centrality.
We tested whether the severity of PTSD symptoms in our sample moderated any of our tested hypotheses. In most cases, we found either evidence for no moderation or ambiguous evidence. However, we did find substantial evidence that PTSD symptoms moderated the effect of trigger warnings on response anxiety. For individuals who had more severe PTSD, trigger warnings increased anxiety. This effect is ironic in the sense that trigger warnings may be most harmful for the individuals they were designed to protect. We found no evidence that individuals’ prior exposure to trigger warnings moderated any of the previous effects.
A limitation of past research was that trigger warnings were primarily tested among individuals who were trauma-naïve or in mixed samples. That is, the possibility remained that despite being unhelpful for most who view them, trigger warnings may have been helpful for trauma survivors or individuals with PTSD. In this study, we find no evidence supporting this possibility. Trigger warnings were not helpful for trauma survivors. For individuals who met a clinical cutoff for severity of PTSD symptoms, trigger warnings slightly increased anxiety. Trigger warnings were not helpful for individuals who self-reported a diagnosis of PTSD. Perhaps most convincingly, trigger warnings were not helpful even when they warned about content that closely matched survivors’ traumas. That is, when considering only the passages that participants reported as reminding them of past trauma, trigger warnings were still unhelpful.
Although the research base on trigger warnings has grown quickly, several constraints on generality regarding trigger warnings still remain. For example, experiments thus far have tested trigger warnings before short-term stimuli, such as literature passages, film clips, and photos. Studies have tested only a limited range of negative psychological outcomes (e.g., self-report anxiety, negative affect, intrusive memory). Our study provides important information about individuals who have suffered from trauma, many of whom met the clinical threshold for PTSD symptoms. However, it does not provide information about individuals diagnosed with PTSD via clinical interview. It is unclear whether our findings (especially concerning evidence of potential harms) would apply to extended classroom discussions or other situations of greater temporal duration. In addition, whether the potentially negative effects of trigger warnings found thus far have more than short-term adverse effects remains uncertain. Nevertheless, these potential constraints on generality do not imply that trigger warnings are helpful. Rather, they imply that potential moderators remain untested.
Public arguments regarding trigger warnings have been politically charged, complex, and data-poor. Recent research on trigger warnings can importantly inform or perhaps even settle some of these debates. The research suggests that trigger warnings are unhelpful for trauma survivors, college students, trauma-naïve individuals, and mixed groups of participants (Bellet et al., 2018, 2020; Bridgland et al., 2019; Sanson et al., 2019). Given this consistent conclusion, we find no evidence-based reason for educators, administrators, or clinicians to use trigger warnings.
Whether trigger warnings are explicitly harmful is less clear. We found evidence that trigger warnings increase the narrative centrality of trauma among survivors, which is countertherapeutic (Boals & Murrell, 2016). We also found that trigger warnings increase anxiety for those with more severe symptoms of PTSD. Although these effects were preregistered and found in a large sample, the sizes of the effects were small and have not yet been rigorously tested across multiple studies. However, such knowledge is unnecessary to adjudicate whether to use trigger warnings—if there is no good reason to deploy them in the first place, we need not require strong evidence of harm before abandoning them. Trigger warnings should serve as an important caution to both clinical and nonclinical professionals who use interventions aimed to improve well-being among trauma survivors. Such practices should be thoroughly vetted via appropriate scientific techniques before they are adopted. Using unvetted interventions is irresponsible to victims of trauma.
https://empathymatters.org/now#research
REF:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2167702620921341
The clinical notion of triggering dates back far as 1918, when psychologists tried to make sense of “war neurosis” in World War I, and later World War II, veterans. The term “post-traumatic stress disorder” came into use after the Vietnam War, but was not recognized as a diagnosable affliction until 1980. Then, psychologists started to work with clients to identify possible PTSD “triggers,” or a sensory input that somehow resembles the original trauma. But anticipating them is notoriously difficult. They assume disparate and unpredictable forms. An essay, or film, or other piece of media might trigger a person, as could a sound or a smell, a physical space, a specific object, or a person. https://bit.ly/3wNHxgf
“Triggers” prime the body for a physiological response of fight/flight or freeze, a response similar to the circumstances of the original distressing event. Some flashbacks are visual, as well as auditory and physical, so the person will see, hear, and feel the past abuse experience as if it was happening in the present. Sometimes the memories last a few seconds, sometimes minutes, and for one of my clients who had severe PTSD, flashbacks lasted more than an hour.
Trauma can have a long-term debilitating impact on our functioning. However, it is impossible to live a full and engaged life while simultaneously avoiding experiences that may potentially trigger flashbacks. https://psychologytoday.com/us/blog/breaking-the-silence/201910/post-traumatic-stress-disorder
https://www.andrew-kae.com/survivorresources
Psychology
Trigger warnings are ineffective for trauma survivors & those who meet the clinical cutoff for PTSD, and increase the degree to which survivors view their trauma as central to their identity (preregistered, n = 451)
REF:
RE: “Content warning” vs “trigger warning” … We probably understand the reason for using the softer term “content warning”, and current scientific research / literature, will always more accurately use the term “Trigger Warning”.
re: (“content”) … i think we might agree that at any present moment, any sensory input (content), can become a source of stimulation that becomes an opportunity to experience the present moment as awareness (observation), or as an interpretation (judgment) of that sensory input (content) as neutral, pleasant, or a potential threat to an individual’s physical or psychological egoic survival, potentially triggering an amygdala hijack, survival reflex mechanism, which is a “trigger like”, (“all or none law”) neurological reflex, resulting from a fear-based interpretation of the (content).
“Learning to ‘drop an anchor’ in the midst of an ‘emotional storm’ can help to hold us steady in the present moment whilst the storm buffets around. An anchor is anything that is a part of the present moment other than the storm itself. A simple grounding exercise can be: Notice 5 things you can see, 4 things that you can hear, 3 things that you can feel, 2 things that you can smell or taste, and end with noticing what you’re doing right now, in the present moment. https://www.greenpeace.org/international/story/54937/coping-with-climate-grief-advice-from-an-environmental-psychologist/
“It’s not psychological safety if people can only voice what you want to hear. The goal is not to be comfortable. It’s to create a climate where people can speak up without fear. Psychological safety begins with admitting our own mistakes and welcoming criticism from others.” ~Adam Grant, psychologist, #1 NYT bestselling author https://www.linkedin.com/in/adammgrant/
Creating a future you really want… starting at 1:07
Please Listen Carefully from minute 27 to minute 42 …. https://youtu.be/QnsUif-CzOg?t=1799
Listening for the needs, behind a thousand no’s…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hovCrw-fD-g
Education, education, education, before it’s too late. https://empathymatters.org/now/education-before-its-too-late/
Getting well, well, well, educated 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyvi8AmxQZk
The term “Trigger Warning” became well known in the late 1990s on feminist Internet message boards, where it referred to site-sponsored cautions to readers regarding graphic depictions of rape.
A short history of Trigger Warnings”:
https://psychlopaedia.org/society/republished/whats-the-difference-between-traumatic-fear-and-moral-anger-trigger-warnings-wont-tell-you/
..::” In self-empathy, you love and accept yourself, but not because of your strengths. You feel compassion for yourself in your weaknesses. You admit where you’ve been wounded and how you’ve hurt others. You embrace the hard truth that you have failed and lost. By facing the pain of your character defects and mistakes, you honor yourself.
~Kristin Neff, Ph.D
https://www.pointloma.edu/resources/counseling-psychology/how-empathy-can-change-your-life-career
Kristin Neff Interviewed by Edwin Rutsch https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5hchn9KMRNM
Contrast: “Cancel Culture“:: The emergence of a new “cancel culture” where digital mobs police our speech, invade our rights, and even put our physical safety at risk. They argue that cancel culture has created a society ruled by online censorship and eroded our public discourse. Cancel Culture Is Toxic.
Contrast: “micromanagement” : “Micromanagement is generally considered to have a negative connotation, mainly because it shows a lack of freedom and trust. Micro-management refers to anyone in a leadership position who uses manipulation, intrusive observation, or exhaustive amounts of communication to control others. A micromanager is a person who probably has a poor self-image, so he or she doesn’t believe they deserve to be where they are, and so thinks the same about the people they supervise,” … “So the constant checking and looking over employees’ shoulders are really checks on their own ability to do the job.”
“It is not psychological safety if people can only voice what you want to hear. ~Adam Grant
Trigger Warnings Fail to Help and May Even Harm
New research suggests that trigger warnings have little or no benefit in cushioning the blow of potentially disturbing content and, in some cases, may make things worse.
Researchers discovered that trigger warnings seem to increase the extent to which people see trauma as central to their identity, which can worsen the impact of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the long run.
https://www.psychologicalscience.org/news/releases/trigger-warnings-fail-to-help.html
“Federal law does not specifically address “Trigger Warnings”. Warnings are often reserved for common triggers such as images of violence. Opponents of trigger warnings claim trigger warnings promote censorship.
Trigger warnings are useful in some cases. But avoiding one’s triggers will not treat the underlying mental health concerns. If triggers interfere with someone’s daily life, the person may wish to see a therapist.
In therapy, people can process emotions concerning their pasts. Some may learn relaxation techniques to cope with panic attacks. Others may learn how to avoid unhealthy behaviors. With time and work, a person can face their triggers with much less distress.
Perhaps what is called for is a more neutral and humble stance. We could accept uncertainty about the psyches of individuals, disclaim the conceit of exerting control over triggers, and avoid confident assumptions about anyone’s trauma. That might help to move in a direction that attempts first to do no harm.
The results of around a dozen psychological studies, published between 2018 and 2021, are remarkably consistent, and they differ from conventional wisdom: they find that trigger warnings do not seem to lessen negative reactions to disturbing material in students, trauma survivors, or those diagnosed with P.T.S.D. Indeed, some studies suggest that the opposite may be true.
In other respects, trigger warnings seem to have less impact than their critics have feared. Some opponents of trigger warnings seem to suppose that they are a way for students to demand that they not encounter ideas that challenge their beliefs, particularly on social-justice issues. That opposition is part of broader worries about teachers “coddling” students, cultivating their fragility, or shielding them from discussions that might expand their minds.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/what-if-trigger-warnings-dont-work
“We found substantial evidence that giving trigger warnings to trauma survivors caused them to view trauma as more central to their life narrative. This effect is a reason for worry. Some trigger warnings explicitly suggest that trauma survivors are uniquely vulnerable (e.g., “especially in those with a history of trauma”). Even when trigger warnings mention content only, the implicit message that trauma survivors are vulnerable remains (Why else provide a warning?)
NYC “Content Warning” Poll and Feedback.
Please read options A-F, then click: POLL and Feedback (below)
Suggested “Content Warning” (A)
“To keep the group safe, we ask folk to include “content warnings” before and during shares and responses.
“So, if you plan to talk about a topic that could be a likely trigger to someone else, such as physical abuse or assault with a deadly weapon, you’d say, “Content warning, I’m going to talk about physical assault,” and leave a pause for folk to mute their audio or turn off their camera. We suggest singing the first line of a nursery rhyme such as “row, row, row your boat”.
We also ask folk not to go in too much detail, for example about what kind of weapon was used.”
“Depending on who is in attendance, “we” may also remind people that some topics which are not totally obvious may be triggers to people–such as discussing food.
Suggested “Content Warning” (B)
“We ask participants in the empathy circle to include content warnings before and during shares and responses.
“So, if you plan to talk about a topic that could be a likely trigger to someone else, you’d say, “Content warning, I’m going to talk about ______________ and leave a pause for folk to mute their audio or turn off their camera.
We also ask folk not to go into too much detail with possible trigger content.”
Suggested “Content Warning” (C)
“Anyone honestly sharing their feelings about traumatic experiences, may be perceived as triggering” to anyone listening to them. Please responsibly announce any “content warnings”, then pause 5 seconds… and refrain from any overly graphic details.
Speak for yourself, and intend no harm to self or others.
Suggested “Content Warning” (D)
” If you feel your topic may be a trigger for someone else, please voice a content warning.
Suggested “Content Warning” (E)
” We ask participants in the Empathy Circle to include Content Warnings before and during shares and to refrain from overly graphic details.”
Suggested “Content Warning” (F)
” There may be mentions of abuse. If you feel triggered at any point, please take a self-care break and return to the session as it may have moved on from the topic, or attend a different session. Kindly note that each participant is responsible for their own triggers. Please refrain from overly graphic details.”
https://empathymatters.org/now#POLL
________________________________
Please select feedback / poll link below
Poll Ended in Mutuality
Potentially humorous 5-minute “trigger break” after all that thinking 🙂
“Carl Jung speaks to the necessity of withdrawing our projections from a historical or external (“chosen one”) figure (Jesus, in this case) if we are to discover experientially the “Christ within,” or the Self. Carl Jung writes, “The Self (or Christ) is present in everybody a priori, but as a rule in an unconscious condition to begin with. But it is a definite experience of later life, when this fact becomes conscious within (Sef-Empathy). It is only real when it happens, and it can happen only when you withdraw your projections from an ( extrensic ) outward historical or metaphysical Christ and thus wake up Christ within.” (CW:18:par.1638) If Christ remains outside us, either as an example of an ideal or as an external object of worship only, the deeper levels of the soul are never engaged. The result is that religion and religious practice may deteriorate into adherence to rational dogma and trying to follow a set of external rules.
Question to AI: What are “The laws of Chaos” about in ACIM?
AI: You are right to point out that while A Course in Miracles does not specifically talk about concrete “laws of chaos” in the way we might traditionally think of them, it does describe a system of principles (belief systems) that tend to promote and govern the experience of illusions.
Here’s how you could think about it:
The Illusion of Separation:
This is the foundational illusion, the bedrock upon which all other illusions are built. It’s the belief that we are separate individuals, distinct from each other and from God. This separation leads to fear, guilt, and a constant struggle for survival and validation.
ACIM emphasizes that we are all part of a unified, loving God. However, we experience a “sense of separation” due to our belief in a separate self. This “separation creates the illusion” of chaos, pain, and conflict.
The Ego’s Role: The ego, the part of us that identifies with the separate self, uses fear, judgment, and guilt to maintain the illusion of separation. This can lead to chaotic experiences in our lives.
The Process of Healing:
The process of healing involves letting go of the ego’s false beliefs and returning to the awareness of our true, loving nature. This process can feel chaotic at times, as we release old patterns and embrace new ways of being.
The Power of Forgiveness: Forgiveness is central to healing and transcending chaos. By forgiving ourselves and others, we release the anger, resentment, and fear that perpetuate the illusion of separation.
While it may seem like chaos and uncertainty are constant, ACIM offers a different perspective. It suggests that these experiences are opportunities for spiritual growth and a chance to choose love over fear.
The Laws of Perception:
The ego, which thrives on separation, operates through a system of distorted perceptions. It interprets everything through the lens of fear and judgment, creating a world of scarcity, competition, and conflict. This distorted perception is what makes the world seem chaotic and unpredictable.
The Law of Attraction:
This isn’t the “law of attraction” as you might find in New Age teachings. In ACIM, it operates on a more subtle level. The ego attracts experiences that reinforce its belief in separation. So, if you believe you’re unworthy, you’ll attract experiences that confirm that belief.
The Law of Projection:
We project our own fears and insecurities onto others, and this creates a mirror image of our own inner chaos. This is why we often see in others what we don’t want to see in ourselves.
The Law of Karma:
While ACIM doesn’t directly use the term karma, it speaks of a cyclical nature to our experiences. We create our own suffering through our choices and beliefs, which then lead to more suffering. This creates a cycle that can feel like inescapable chaos.
The “laws of chaos” (illusions of projection)
In ACIM, then, are not laws in the sense of fixed rules, but rather principles (mistaken beliefs) that describe the way our minds create and maintain the illusion of a chaotic world.
Here’s a way to think about it:
Imagine a projector showing a distorted image on a screen. The projector represents the ego, and the distorted image represents the chaotic world we experience. The “laws of chaos” are the principles that govern how the projector works, creating the illusion of a chaotic reality.
The good news is that we can choose to shift our perception and break free from these illusory “laws.” By learning to forgive ourselves and others, by letting go of the ego’s grip, and by choosing love over fear, we can experience the true nature of reality, which is one of peace, harmony, and unity.
Do you want to explore any of these “laws” in more detail? For example, we could look at how the law of projection leads to conflict and how forgiveness can break that cycle.
..::” Many years ago, someone I consider a good friend tried to corner me on this issue. Referring to the far-right in Israel I had used the term “Nazi”. He violently disagreed with the use of the term, even though he conceded that these particular people were genocidal – they were calling for the extermination of Palestinians. “The term “Nazi” should be a synonym for “Jew killer”” was what his argument boiled down to (in fact I think that’s a direct quote from that discussion). –
The problem here is one of history as well as theory. From a historical perspective it’s not clear to me that the killing of as many as 7 million people (mostly, but not exclusively, of the Jewish faith) is more worthy of recognition than the killing of 10 million people in the Congo or the killing of 100 million people in India. The common thread is that all of these atrocities were committed by Europeans – Germans, Belgians and British Europeans to be precise. The Holocaust is one of many terrible atrocities that one could cite by way of analogy when faced with a current example of a militarised population murdering civilians. –
Out of all of these examples, only the Holocaust has been universally recognised in our culture as an act of unspeakable evil. If I write a science fiction book about a guy who comes to power and starts killing people, I don’t compare my character to King Leopold or Winston Churchill (though those would be perfectly reasonable analogies). If I want to explain to someone in an instant that my character is a very bad person, I compare him to Hitler. –
If you ask anyone – even someone as thick as Konstantin Kisin seems to be in this interview – what was bad about the Nazis, they’ll have the right answer. The Nazi engaged in the systemic oppression and murder of entire categories of people (Jews, Socialists, Romani, queer people, etc). They not only committed those atrocities, they declared their intent to “rid Europe of its Jews” to paraphrase some of the language of the “Final Solution”. So when we have similar language from Israeli officials – “We will eliminate everything”, “Erase them, their families, mothers and children. These animals can no longer live.” – not to mention the killing of tens of thousands of women and children, is it not time to make the obvious analogy without fear? –
Ultimately those who argue for the sacrosanct status of the Holocaust are guilty of creating the circumstances by which the Holocaust can be repeated. Is the lesson from the Holocaust a particular lesson or a universal one? Does it only apply to European Jews who were living in Europe in the 1930s and 40s? If so, then there is no lesson of the Holocaust. The exact circumstances of 1930s Europe will never be repeated; therefore there’s nothing to learn from the holocaust if you believe that all of those circumstances must be in place in order to justify an analogy. –
The only way in which there is anything to learn from the Holocaust is if we take it as a universal principle – no group should be targeted and killed just because they are members of that group. The universality of the Holocaust underlies the entire human rights framework (which was largely written in response to the Holocaust). The group in question doesn’t matter – those who have devoted their lives to human rights often cite atrocities committed against Armenians and people from East Timor as some of the worst atrocities ever. Both of those groups happen to be Christians who were persecuted by Muslims. So the cries of antisemitism make no sense either – those who are fighting against genocide fight against all of them, especially those that their own government is complicit in. –
..::” If we do not universalise the lessons from the Holocaust, if we accept that there’s something that’s sacrosanct about it, what is that thing that is sacrosanct? It’s not the number of people killed – those numbers have been exceeded in Africa and in Asia. Is it the religion of those who were murdered? Given the long history of antisemitism in Europe that seems unlikely. So what is it that gives the Holocaust this unique status? –
I don’t have an answer to this question, but I do have a guess. I fear that what makes the Holocaust against European Jews sacrosanct is the fact that they were European. African and Asian genocides don’t have the right sort of victims. Black people dying we can live with, but white people dying? Never Again (repeated over and over, and repeated by the exact same people who are simultaneously justifying the murder of thousands of Palestinian children). –
The preoccupation with one particular genocide above all others may or may not be due to racism. But it is a preoccupation that does exist. We make (mediocre) movies about escaping the Nazis, we write (and read) novels about the Nazis, and so on. It’s the one example of genocide that firmly ensconced in the public imagination. Those of us who are actually in favour of universal human rights have an obligation to use this example – the only example that the public really gets – as part of our effort to end the current genocide. –
Bassem Youssef was essentially asked what he would do if he was put in the situation of being in charge of an ongoing genocidal occupation. His answer is absolutely the right one – he would end that occupation and the genocide. But in order to get this point through the thick heads of those who seem intent on insisting that this war is like any other, we should not shy away from historical analogies, including the analogy to World War 2 when appropriate. ***
Sameer Dossani is co-director of Peace Vigil, an organisation dedicated to Peace Education. They are online at: PeaceVigil.net
..::” What is the meaning of the ACIM quote: “Every accusation is a confession”
AI Answer:
The phrase “every accusation is a confession” is a powerful statement from A Course in Miracles (ACIM). It speaks to the underlying dynamics of projection, judgment, and the nature of our true Self. Here’s a breakdown of its meaning within the framework of ACIM.
Key Concepts:
The Illusion of Separation: ACIM teaches that the perceived separation between the Self and the world, including other people, is an illusion. We are all part of a unified field of consciousness, and any perceived differences are merely projections of our own minds.
Projection:
When we judge or accuse others, we are actually projecting our own unacknowledged thoughts, feelings, and beliefs onto them. We see in others what we are unwilling to see in ourselves.
The Ego’s Defense Mechanism:
The ego, ACIM’s term for the part of our mind that operates from fear and separation, uses projection as a defense mechanism to protect itself from facing its own darkness. By blaming others, we avoid taking responsibility for our own shortcomings.
How “Every Accusation is a Confession”Applies:
Self-Knowledge:
When we accuse someone, we are unwittingly revealing a hidden aspect of ourselves. The accusation is a confession of our own internal state.
Example:
If we accuse someone of being selfish, we might be unconsciously projecting our own sense of selfishness onto them. Deep down, we may be afraid of being seen as selfish ourselves, so we project it onto others.
Shifting Perspective:
Recognizing this principle can be a powerful catalyst for self-awareness. Instead of focusing on the perceived faults of others, we can use accusations as an opportunity to look inward and examine our own beliefs and motivations.
The Path to Healing:
ACIM encourages us to move beyond the ego’s defenses and embrace the truth of our unity with all beings. By recognizing the projections we make, we can begin to heal our own wounds and release the judgments that keep us trapped in the illusion of separation.
In essence, “every accusation is a confession” is a call to self-reflection and self-awareness. It reminds us that the path to true peace and understanding lies in confronting our own darkness and extending forgiveness to ourselves and others.
