This is a slightly reworked copy of a note I had written myself.
The complication is we are as we are. We may want to treat certain imbalances and better ourselves in certain ways, however the body we have now (and the mind we have now) is that very system, including those conditions.
This system, like anything else, seems to want to survive. So its very way may be not to treat certain things.
Even our plans of escape may be a subtle part of it, a door that is always floating ahead of us on the same circular ride. The world of the present self is all too round, and we may set sail, but it's the same old ride.
The current way of doing things occupies the present, and the new way is pushed to a future that we never seem to catch.
If there is a true desire for change, this sense of forward momentum the system tosses us, if satisfactory in itself, may keep us locked into a dysfunctional relationship (with the self). Furthermore, if our energy is low or we are scattered, there is an attraction to tomorrow all the more.
It's strange to think that our own intent to better ourselves may end up being part of the very thing we set out to fix.
We have that incentive to stay in the existing latticework. After all, we get rewarded for our maintaining everyday patterns and addictions (dietary habits, some lifestyle habits, phones/social media, emotional patterns, sleep-wake cycles) and we are eased when we hit the button. If we are exhausted, we may be dependent even more. Long term deficiencies, such as over-stressed adrenal issues, may take time and patience.
There's an additional catch, for if we exercise self control and stay away longer from that habitual pattern, we get an even bigger hit, an even bigger reward for coming back. This confuses the self that wants to change. That hit feels a lot better than the chemical withdraw of denying the body's desires. So we are tied an elastic band, ready to snap us back. (And we aren't even talking about "drugs" here, so imagine the level of self management required there. As someone said regarding opiate drugs, they may be more powerful than you.)
Candice Pert, author of Molecules Of Emotion, describes how cells become accustomed to a bombardment of certain peptides/neuropeptides. When we break patterns of eating or emotional reactivity, for example, the cell is denied, in the short term. New cells will have less receptor sites for those neuorpeptides, reducing the craving, however, in the short term, withdraw can happen. It gets worse before it gets better. How long is the withdraw period for the particular situation? In the case of sugar, the first 3 to 5 days may be the hardest as the body adapts. Relief will come if we revert to the old behavior.
This is why it feels better to indulge in old ways, but, speaking broadly, this may ensure that when the cell divides, we haven't changed the latticework (of the past self we seek to outgrow) much at all.
So perhaps to truly change and to treat those conditions, (that we have neglected so long they are chronic), we must act outside of these present condition, our present impulses, our present rewards, our present comfort system.
Even just thinking about this can float a person above a latticework that just moments before was so self defining. We simply recognize we are more.
(A nuance here is that sometimes, by our habitual behaviors, we are self-medicating. Certain habits, such as dietary choices and emotional responses, for example, act as buffers and protections in the short term, so a shift in environment may be necessary.)
Anyhow, because there is no strong compulsion or reward (or validation) from that system, in exchange for making deep changes, we may have to step into the shadows, without an internal authority figure essentially, and do things... just because.
If the current reward system is something we look to for validation, we may give up a certain safety we have found in it. We are leaving the tribe of our own minds---or something like that. A personal revolution.
Furthermore, the system (that is our current makeup in a sense) we may perceive those actions as a threat. We may feel alone in relation to ourselves.
Though leaving the island (of self belonging) may grant us access to an ocean (of a more expansive self) and grant us the ability to see the island from afar. (There are Sufi methods of healing that use something like this as a meditative healing approach to physical conditions.)
Again, there may not be an instant reward. There may not be a drive or a motivation. There may not be a remembrance of why we even set out to do this thing. That's the same old self, easily forgetting, as a part of its circular nature.
After all, nearly every creature has a certain nature, that generally fits well with its environment. We are usually born into patterns that serve ourselves and the general system.
However in modern times, these abilities may be turned against us, as we have to seek outside of this false ground we have rooted into. Inappropriate diets. Patterns that don't align with proper posture. Relative impurities built into synthetic environments. Readily available excesses that exceed the coping abilities of the body.
So to be free, we must simply do this new pattern, even though it may be pointless. That perceived pointlessness is the trap, the old self rooting into what it knows, while the new desire fades into intangibility.
So we may have to step into the shadows and reach outside of our selves. It is surprisingly easy. Therein lies the trap. In this ease is the difficulty. We may have to give the ease value and urgency, making it routine until we set ourselves free.
Of course, a lack physical energy may be anything but easy, so a little fake-it-till-you-make, though coarse, may be worth contemplating. Then, there's meditation.
Anyhow, ideally we would just "get it", do this thing enough to integrate it deep down. However until then, we may have to learn this stuff over and over again.
Also, ideally, we would follow through no matter what our environment. Yet, shifting environment, to whatever degree possible, may be a smart choice, especially if we find ourselves overstimulated, constantly in fight or flight, for example. Unless we have transcended the physical plane, we need oxygen to breathe after all.
Highly sensitive people or hypersensitive people know the benefits of cutting down the noise and the sharper aspects of conventional interactions.
The new age movement, like conventional culture, emphasizes personal responsibility, but things like sociology, biology, environment are aspects of self/life we generally have to dance around with. If not careful, this is just one more source of self judgement, in an individual based culture. It's easier to type a paper when not falling from a plane.
With that said, eventually, with proper attention, the mind can eventually solidify new latticeworks, while the old ones we were stuck in dissolve. And we can practice awareness, which is of aid in nearly every scenario.
This video by Joe Dispenza may be useful.
An interesting quotes from Joe Dispenza: "I don't care what is going on in my life (that's the environment.) I don't care how I feel (that's the body). I don't care how long it takes (that's time.) I'm going to do this. The body get's a very strong signal, and that type of signal begins to re-write these programs."
Cheers.
The complication is we are as we are. We may want to treat certain imbalances and better ourselves in certain ways, however the body we have now (and the mind we have now) is that very system, including those conditions.
This system, like anything else, seems to want to survive. So its very way may be not to treat certain things.
Even our plans of escape may be a subtle part of it, a door that is always floating ahead of us on the same circular ride. The world of the present self is all too round, and we may set sail, but it's the same old ride.
The current way of doing things occupies the present, and the new way is pushed to a future that we never seem to catch.
If there is a true desire for change, this sense of forward momentum the system tosses us, if satisfactory in itself, may keep us locked into a dysfunctional relationship (with the self). Furthermore, if our energy is low or we are scattered, there is an attraction to tomorrow all the more.
It's strange to think that our own intent to better ourselves may end up being part of the very thing we set out to fix.
We have that incentive to stay in the existing latticework. After all, we get rewarded for our maintaining everyday patterns and addictions (dietary habits, some lifestyle habits, phones/social media, emotional patterns, sleep-wake cycles) and we are eased when we hit the button. If we are exhausted, we may be dependent even more. Long term deficiencies, such as over-stressed adrenal issues, may take time and patience.
There's an additional catch, for if we exercise self control and stay away longer from that habitual pattern, we get an even bigger hit, an even bigger reward for coming back. This confuses the self that wants to change. That hit feels a lot better than the chemical withdraw of denying the body's desires. So we are tied an elastic band, ready to snap us back. (And we aren't even talking about "drugs" here, so imagine the level of self management required there. As someone said regarding opiate drugs, they may be more powerful than you.)
Candice Pert, author of Molecules Of Emotion, describes how cells become accustomed to a bombardment of certain peptides/neuropeptides. When we break patterns of eating or emotional reactivity, for example, the cell is denied, in the short term. New cells will have less receptor sites for those neuorpeptides, reducing the craving, however, in the short term, withdraw can happen. It gets worse before it gets better. How long is the withdraw period for the particular situation? In the case of sugar, the first 3 to 5 days may be the hardest as the body adapts. Relief will come if we revert to the old behavior.
This is why it feels better to indulge in old ways, but, speaking broadly, this may ensure that when the cell divides, we haven't changed the latticework (of the past self we seek to outgrow) much at all.
So perhaps to truly change and to treat those conditions, (that we have neglected so long they are chronic), we must act outside of these present condition, our present impulses, our present rewards, our present comfort system.
Even just thinking about this can float a person above a latticework that just moments before was so self defining. We simply recognize we are more.
(A nuance here is that sometimes, by our habitual behaviors, we are self-medicating. Certain habits, such as dietary choices and emotional responses, for example, act as buffers and protections in the short term, so a shift in environment may be necessary.)
Anyhow, because there is no strong compulsion or reward (or validation) from that system, in exchange for making deep changes, we may have to step into the shadows, without an internal authority figure essentially, and do things... just because.
If the current reward system is something we look to for validation, we may give up a certain safety we have found in it. We are leaving the tribe of our own minds---or something like that. A personal revolution.
Furthermore, the system (that is our current makeup in a sense) we may perceive those actions as a threat. We may feel alone in relation to ourselves.
Though leaving the island (of self belonging) may grant us access to an ocean (of a more expansive self) and grant us the ability to see the island from afar. (There are Sufi methods of healing that use something like this as a meditative healing approach to physical conditions.)
Again, there may not be an instant reward. There may not be a drive or a motivation. There may not be a remembrance of why we even set out to do this thing. That's the same old self, easily forgetting, as a part of its circular nature.
After all, nearly every creature has a certain nature, that generally fits well with its environment. We are usually born into patterns that serve ourselves and the general system.
However in modern times, these abilities may be turned against us, as we have to seek outside of this false ground we have rooted into. Inappropriate diets. Patterns that don't align with proper posture. Relative impurities built into synthetic environments. Readily available excesses that exceed the coping abilities of the body.
So to be free, we must simply do this new pattern, even though it may be pointless. That perceived pointlessness is the trap, the old self rooting into what it knows, while the new desire fades into intangibility.
So we may have to step into the shadows and reach outside of our selves. It is surprisingly easy. Therein lies the trap. In this ease is the difficulty. We may have to give the ease value and urgency, making it routine until we set ourselves free.
Of course, a lack physical energy may be anything but easy, so a little fake-it-till-you-make, though coarse, may be worth contemplating. Then, there's meditation.
Anyhow, ideally we would just "get it", do this thing enough to integrate it deep down. However until then, we may have to learn this stuff over and over again.
Also, ideally, we would follow through no matter what our environment. Yet, shifting environment, to whatever degree possible, may be a smart choice, especially if we find ourselves overstimulated, constantly in fight or flight, for example. Unless we have transcended the physical plane, we need oxygen to breathe after all.
Highly sensitive people or hypersensitive people know the benefits of cutting down the noise and the sharper aspects of conventional interactions.
The new age movement, like conventional culture, emphasizes personal responsibility, but things like sociology, biology, environment are aspects of self/life we generally have to dance around with. If not careful, this is just one more source of self judgement, in an individual based culture. It's easier to type a paper when not falling from a plane.
With that said, eventually, with proper attention, the mind can eventually solidify new latticeworks, while the old ones we were stuck in dissolve. And we can practice awareness, which is of aid in nearly every scenario.
This video by Joe Dispenza may be useful.
An interesting quotes from Joe Dispenza: "I don't care what is going on in my life (that's the environment.) I don't care how I feel (that's the body). I don't care how long it takes (that's time.) I'm going to do this. The body get's a very strong signal, and that type of signal begins to re-write these programs."
Cheers.
