Experiment - for what it's worth

[sKePTiKal]

Hey tt, me too - interest in the paranormal, that is. And hairdresser, too... then I sort of grew out of it; saw a lot of it for the wishful thinking that it was. But then, there's the broad subject of "magic" and "mystery"... I guess the mystical, in a nutshell. I'm still drawn toward it. The invisible, unseen, undefinable aspects of life... the stuff we don't talk about because we haven't decided what words "fit" or "explain" or "describe"... stuff that's always "like" something else...

Stuff like the "IMP" - the ironic monitoring process. This is so close to my own inner description of a phenomena I've experienced, I'm just fascinated and curious to know more about it. And it fits so nicely, with my new year's resolution this year: to be funny again... silly... to use that sensitivity and awareness of cognitive dissonance to make people laugh. There hasn't been enough laughter for awhile; the pee your pants kind of laughing... that resolves two mutually exclusive realities (dissonance)... and sands down the sharp shards of pain. Like the Mother Goose nursery rhyme I "twisted" to make fun of a friends' N-mom...

'course now... that means I have to open my mouth, throw the tenets of political correctness to the winds, allow my inner smart ass a soapbox to declaim from....

water balloons, indeed!! 

[Meh]

I've been considering this some more. I want to practice this I just haven't gotten geared up to do it yet. How is it working for you P?

[sKePTiKal]

I didn't notice a thing - except I seem to be sliding into the mid-winter doldrums; in other words the opposite effect it's supposed to have. That could just be the weird way my brain is wired. Same/similar thing happens with medication - if it's supposed make people nervous, I can't stay awake... and vice versa.

[Meh]

Maybe one could imagine pouring some hot chocolate into the brain.

[sKePTiKal]

Hmmm.... chocolate. That's close to what I picked...

I ended up with sea salt scrub... body butter... and I plan to soak my body in all this stuff and maybe it'll soak into my brain at the same time. It's pretty silly - but I've feeling totally pooky; like I'm "sick"... but no real symptoms except the usual sinus-barometer effect with our up/down weather.

That's an old pattern; how I express emotional needs... and since I'm also dreaming about being in situations where I feel I have to yell HELP... I'm just going to spoil myself physically for a little while. I could be fighting off some bug... but with everything else I've been thinking about... it's more than likely a combination of things.

[Meh]

He he hee...giggle...a spa day sounds good.

[sKePTiKal]

10 hours of sleep didn't hurt either. It's like my brain & motivation completely clocked out - going on a week now - so maybe I did pick up a bug. Took a kid's benedryl last night - asleep on the couch by 7:30/8... woke up and crawled in bed (leaving hubs & the dog)... didn't move again until about 6 this morning.

Read something yesterday that has me going "huh".

Apparently there something known as the "gut brain" - a separate system from our head brain. The article said that this gut brain produces 95% of the neurotransmitters that race around the body and make their way to the head brain. Also responsible for serotonin... which helps us regulate our sleep patterns. This is an important "dot" in my "connect the dots" way of concocting my wild theories...

because of the mind-body-psychosomatic implications
because of "what does your gut tell you?"
because of "my body has a mind of it's own"...

because of "you are what you eat" + the "reset your body clock diet" + an article somewhere else on "mood foods" (chocolate really does trigger pleasure hormones to diffuse through the brain & body...)

and the spa day - even the short version I indulged in - helps so much with my nerve-endings... so much of what my body is going through right now is like fibromyalgia... except it's not... so it's coming from some other process I'm going through - probably unconsciously. There is no stress in my life right now... except living 24/7 with hubs... and that isn't even as stressful as my complaining & whining would suggest.

I feel like a total little kid - a whiny baby - because I don't know what I want; what I really need; but "nothing's right" right now. I don't make sense when I talk and I'm misunderstanding other people and I don't even make sense to myself, right now.

[Meh]

Revisiting the idea of brain-rewiring. So I guess the term is "Interpersonal neurobiology"

I'm wondering in what ways would a person need to restructure the brain to counter act the Narcissistic influence.

Brain MRI scans show the physical formation of PTSD. Post Traumatic Stress.

Post Traumatic stress is closely linked with borderline personality. In the hippocampus areas some say the size is reduced some say the size in not reduced.  

I'm wondering about those who have been influenced by narcissism or other forms of abuse...what is the shape of the brains.

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-204_162-5600285.html

Do we know enough about the brain yet to be able to say YES we can rewire it?

Issues that Show up on MRI's
STRESS--
Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
Borderline Personality Disorder
PTSD
Psychopaths
Maybe Body Dysmorphic disorder
Maybe bulimia nervosa


There is a study that shows the brains of depressed people's (hatefulness circuitry) has been screwed up.
----Is this related to people NOT defending themselves? Not standing up for themselves I wonder?

You know maybe in some circumstances the natural response WOULD be to attack a person and then when that doesn't happen the brain suffers...

So do Narcissists have a hate circuit for us? I wonder. And if someone grows up with an adult that has a hate circuit for the child what does the child's brain look like?

Seems like the most common sense answer to changing the brain is just to hang out with nice, normal people.

Anybody can start out with a healthy brain right--have an on-going stressful event and then the brain changes?


Here is some info about curing spider phobia. I know it's off topic but I'm all of a sudden interested in what the recent work has been done with what we can now see in the brain (MRI) and mental conditions. Says one person would leave a room for days if she even thought a spider might be in it. How did they fix that?
http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/news/20120521/spider-phobia-brain-scan-shows-cure-in-1-session

Do we have narcissism phobia? narcissism ocd? Can we be cured in 2 hours? Why not?

Can we reorganize our brains permanently or will any little thing make the brain go back to it's most traveled rutted path?

[sKePTiKal]

Well. When one learns something like tai chi... one is re-wiring the brain. It requires repetition... it's not like getting an oil change: 20 minutes and you're good as new! LOL...

When one finds oneself in a brand-new situation without a lot of previous experience that could apply (or referential contexts)... sometimes one accidentally re-wires the brain (let's say in an incorrect way)... and then as one gains more experience in that new situation... one gradually adapts to it and learns the contexts, the subtexts, the nuances. A more correct way... or one that simply works better & smoother.

Usually the first response one makes to that new, unique situation, is with what one already KNOWS... and what has worked in the past... EVEN when that response is a complete non-sequitor. "Take me to your leader", the alien demands. "Hi. Are you an alien? Can you read my mind? Why aren't you green?" Bzzzzt! The alien has no patience or experience with a challenge to an order.... but he STILL doesn't know where the "leader" is. [THAT worked well, huh?]

Neuroscience, or more properly, Neuropsychology... has come a long, long way from simply "looking at pictures" of the brain or feeling bumps on someone's head, or comparing weights and sizes... in fact, just the idea that the physical attributes of one's brain somehow "predicts" or "limits" or "controls" personality, imagination, emotional well-being.... well, that's kinda old hat. It seems there's a trend now, to believe that even if the scientists can create a technology that reveals the most elusive secret physical workings of the brain -- it's still not going to answer or explain or point the path to a solution - to "cure" the human condition.

One thing that has jumped up to bite my pompous, over-intellectual behind recently... is that a.) all the caring for and about someone in the world, even a mom's unconditional love... and b.) all the delicate, cautious care in choosing one words... doesn't mean that someone is going to hear you until they're READY to hear you... and they have a "context" that the topic makes sense in. It doesn't apply to them and they don't know what you're talking about... [long, personal story... sigh]

[Meh]

Long-term physical discipline just wasn't the answer for me, a couple of old therapists I had thought I was too disciplined, too uptight...that I was working almost too hard to fix myself.      And it didn't work anyways.

But we all have different issues anyhow.

Maybe issues can resolve quickly. Maybe it doesn't have to be a life-long struggle.

A person may have been impacted by repetitive abuse but that may not mean that the solution is repetitive dependence on pills and lifelong therapy. Just thinking out loud.

Sigh.

Well I would prefer to know about cutting edge technology even if I can't afford it. Maybe I could volunteer to be a guinea pig one day. I guess what the MRI are telling us is what part of the brain is impacted by something. Also that the brain can change QUICKLY. To me just knowing that is encouraging.

Technology has grown in leaps and bounds in my life time. We know how to force people to have OBE's via brain stimulation. Out of body experiences. That means we know what part of the brain the consciousness in theory is associated with. Science has located the mind. Or at least they are getting closer to it.

My nephews and nieces don't even know what a rotary telephone is when they see one.

Anywho, I'm getting off topic.

[sKePTiKal]

I agree. Think I was just rehashing what I think I know.

There is something about those "sudden changes"... and I'm speculating here... while on the surface it appears that one day a person simply breaks old habits and even, in some cases, completely changes their life... usually a closer look reveals a trail backwards from that point and various subtle, small, numerous things that built up over time until enough (let's call it...) "change energy" is produced to seemingly instantaneously evoke the necessary change. I don't know whether a change like that has enough substance (or ass) behind it to sustain itself without reinforcement, or if... over time... things gradually return to a previous state of existence. I think there has to be repetition of the "new"... until it becomes automatic and the old behavior (or state of being) loses it's comfortable feel.

Repetition, here... includes things like positive new experiences that accumulate because of the change and new perspectives on life, self, relationships... even the concept of yin/yang is subject to entropy... what the buddhists point out about life: everything changes, constantly whether we can observe it or not.

I just don't know Salsa. This theory applies to enough things, often enough, that it's going to "do" for me, for now. It's far from perfect and there are, I think, some leaps of faith in it in places. Assumptions even, that I probably can't defend well. I am very interested in the bio-neurological research going on, too. The more pieces of the puzzle we can put on the puzzle, the sooner the picture will become clear. Then we can decide if "that's enough"... or if it only creates more questions! LOL...

[Meh]

That's okay, we don't have to agree. I like taichi and I'm sure we can all benefit from anything that is stress reducing.

Like I said, we all have different personal issues.

[Meh]

P: I did read that a Harvard study did MRI to determine what effect exercises such as tai chi have on the brain and yes they do seem to think that it makes stronger connections in the brain. Compassion, memory and self-awareness were increased. Also the connections in the amygdala density decreased. I've got to read the whole study when I'm awake.

[sKePTiKal]

For what it's worth - the parietal temporal stuff that Silver Lining mentioned over on the HPD thread - is also useful, if the studies hold up about the connection between relating to others with that section of brain. The whole topic of neuro-  anything, I find myself looking at details, up close & personal.... just one bit... and then, having to see how that fits into the whole understanding (I think there's more than one) of how brain & body function together.

You're right, that it's ok if we disagree - especially on this topic - because I think the more different viewpoints, ideas, perspectives and even beliefs that we can collect together about it, creates a better understanding - a richer, more detailed picture. I know I don't have all the answers and some days I even change my mind about what I think or believe... but that's also kinda based on how I feel and what's going on around me, too! LOL...

I absolutely enjoy that kind of discussion, brainstorming, speculation... what if? It's part of the creative play instinct, maybe.

[Meh]

I guess I'm thinking about how I have had panic attacks after I practiced Taichi. Not during the time I was doing it though. Read that panic attack is more or less the result and progression of untreated anxiety. When I'm incredibly stressed out I also can not start a practice like that- I get too anxious to relax enough to do it. I don't know, seems like I could benefit from it in very small ways BUT it feels like if there were any change in my brain that my brain goes backwards to what it knows best. Also if my so called "hate connection"  (depression) is "decoupled" then I don't think tai chi is the right approach for me. I don't think becoming more compassionate is good for me personally.

Maybe it's exactly what you need though.

I actually experienced the agoraphobia thing a handful of times as an adult AND after years of these meditative type practices. It started when I was a child. So as always I'm still searching and exploring.