Posts by Valerie Varan
Saving Normal: An Insider’s Revolt Against Out-of-Control Psychiatric Diagnosis, DSM-5, Big Pharma, and the Medicalization of Ordinary Life
Allen Frances
Learning to Love, and other Mother’s Wisdom
For those of you who are mothers, thank you for the key role you play in the evolution of love upon our planet, that of sharing your highest wisdom with your children. As you read about the qualities and characteristics of love in this blog, it will be up to you to teach and model what you learn to your children, and to help them embody the principles of such love throughout their lives.
My mother first passed along to me her own mother’s wisdom when I was still a teen. Though I don’t remember the circumstances that led to the conversation, I remember her words, and to this day, I reflect upon their profound significance. “My mom always told me that the kids who were the least lovable need the most love,” she said.
The Course of Our Development – In Consciousness, Motivation and Love
This is intended to serve as a very brief, simplified sketch of a consciousness-based model or map, which highlights our human development and psychology of values. It offers us a milestone by which we can pace our personal evolutionary growth, as well as that of others, that of nations, even that of humanity as a whole. Many of my clients have found the verbal version so insightful for understanding their inner sense of conflicting values and differences from others, that I am attempting here to put it into the written word. This model incorporates eastern psychology and the discussion of the chakras (i.e. spinning vortices/intersections of energy), which carry information into our human body. It also integrates western psychology’s contribution about the nature of our intelligence, and the science of happiness, as well as the experience of human desire, aspiration, motivation and love.
Neurons grown by scientists controlling our US power grid?
According to D News, Clemson University scientists have taken neurons from a human brain, and have trained the neural network to run the US power grid. What do you think? Check it out: http://video.us.msn.com/watch/video/is-the-human-brain-the-power-plant-of-the-future/plf7euw?from=en-us_msnhpvidmod&cpkey=f1cc9390-b00a-4cb3-bf3b-0a7edf2b67a2%257c%257c%257c%257c
Constellations of Emotion: How to Transform an Uncomfortable Emotion into a Pleasant One in Seconds
If you have severe trauma, panic, anxiety, depression, or other mental health issue, you may not want to read any further without professional assistance because it is possible for you to get triggered by what I discuss next. Anything I write in this blog is not a substitute for professional psychotherapy. On the other hand, if you feel safe enough to continue reading, I am going to describe what I mean by constellations of emotions, and how you can use this fact of consciousness to take yourself from a negative state to a positive one with the use of multimodal imagery.
Emotions come in constellations of sensory – sights, sceneries, colors; sounds; tastes; smells; physical sensations, actions, behaviors, environments, situations; thoughts; and secondary emotions. For each particular state, there is a corresponding constellation.
The Root Cause of Anger
The self naturally seeks expression. When it feels held back, it feels frustrated because that is literally what is happening. The core energies of the self are being inhibited or impeded in some way, physically, emotionally, mentally or spiritually. Self is trapped. If this happens with something for just a short while, we can usually cope, especially if it is something rather insignificant. But when it goes on chronically, over a long period of time, and particularly about core aspects of self, the frustration usually turns into resentment and anger (if not clinical depression). Healing comes when we look within and notice which aspects of self are not being expressed. It is our essential responsibility to express ourselves in our life…..not passively with little effect, not aggressively where we overwhelm or harm others, but appropriately and assertively. When we assert ourselves, we speak and live our truth. We say what we have to say, with gentleness, kindness, courtesy and respect. We live authentically, yet we don’t impose our ways on others. Some of us in the world are impeded by others in overt and cruel ways beyond our control. But in our western society, that is usually not the case.
For us, when we feel frustrated and irritated, it is then we are called to take notice of which parts of the self are feeling obstructed. Before it mounts toward anger or aggression. When we wait for anger to overtake us before we make changes, it is much harder to do. Contemplate each area of your life, physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually. Look for ways you are expressing your core self, and ways you are not. If you are already angry about something, then seek clues for how you are letting yourself or others hold you back from living an assertive lifestyle that is congruent with your highest values. Physically – Are you feeding your physical body with the nutrition, rest and activity that brings you physical balance and joy? Are your daily life and vocation aligned with your highest values? How do you spend your time and energy currency…..on what others want for you or on what you want for you?
How to be Successful at Managing Emotion
Managing emotion encompasses two main groups of strategies: prevention and intervention.
As a way of prevention, we fill our life with all that makes us feel calm, relaxed, at peace, energized, alive and whole. That way, when life stress comes our way, we are so resilient that it takes a lot to get us agitated, irritated, or overwhelmed. To take inventory of your prevention activities, make a list of all of the things you do that bring your body back to a state of relaxation, that bring you happiness or joy, that are fun and make you feel like a kid again. For some of you, it might be tubing, riding your bike, or playing at the ocean. For others, it might be meditating, engaging in a yoga class, or going on a retreat. Eating healthy foods, getting plenty of water and enjoying sufficient sunlight are essential prevention activities for all of us, as is getting some form of exercise or movement daily, even if simply stretching each half hour during our sedentary work day. Poor nutrition, lack of sunlight or vitamin D3, and too much sugar in the body sets up the body to have the same physical symptoms as anxiety, anger and depression, and all of the talk therapy in the world will not help that.
What is the Universe made of? 96% is still a mystery.
Stephanie Pappas, a science writer for LiveScience.com, quotes Thomas Koffas, a particle physicist at Canada’s Carleton University, as saying: “So far, physicists can only account for 4 percent of what the universe is made of. The remaining 96 percent, we have no idea.” And yet, most western scientists ridicule anyone who believes that energy fields are more fundamental than material particles. Go figure.
Self-Love or Selfishness?
Self-love is nurturing of growth and allowing oneself the conditions in which to thrive. Imagine you are a budding flower, perhaps a dandelion, a peace lily or a rose. As a flowering plant, you need an ideal amount of sunlight and water, a certain type of soil, and just the right mix of nutrients. To self-love is to allow yourself to be in your ideal garden spot, not too crowded or overly shaded, not burned by too much sun, drinking in enough water but not so much that you drown, receiving all of the nutrients that you need to be strong, resilient, and long-lasting. If a plant could be selfish, (and here the metaphor is a stretch but work with me!) it would be hoarding the sunlight and the shade, the water and the nutrients, taking more than it needs and much of what it doesn’t, just to have it all. It would not show its flower, nor share its seed. When you are being selfish, you are taking to the degree you are hurting others and causing them some form of harm.
Video on Dark Energy: The Mysterious and Unknown Force of the Cosmos.
Watch this short clip about dark energy from the field of physics. http://msnvideo.msn.com/?channelindex=1&from=en-us_msnhp#/video/1869e7a3-e3d4-467b-bbe2-2e663562b809