Real rough notes are included, for polishing up later. This is a major distinction, one that is necessary in order to achieve happiness. Without it, we are operating based on hope and not intentional creating of it.
OUR VOCABULARY
Sanity - Healthy thinking, rationally choosing what is in one's life and what one
does.
Highsanity - High, healthy thinking
Unsanity - Lacking sanity, but not at the level of insanity; mild insanity?
Lowsanity - Where there is more unsanity than sanity going on in one's life
Insanity - An extreme condition of being disordered, having illusionary thinking and unrealistic beliefs, having a perspective of lack of control of one's life with outside forces dwarfing oneself and having power over one; a lack of rational control; run by emotions, with much misinterpreation and the failure to differentiate and evaluate what is occurring, where all things seem huge; includes the failure to control oneself and set intentions that are carried out; defective function of mental processes such as reasoning (or lack of the use of). (This distintion must be clear, so that we can spot its components and indicators and avoid it.)
Spectrum of sanity - We all have the capability of highsanity and the times where unsanity is in our lives, so we exist on a spectrum going to toward more highsanity and correspondingly less unsanity.
THE SPRECTRUM OF SANITY
Glance at the spectrum and its components and then follow the instructions:
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Insanity Highsanity
Unsanity 100% 90 80 70 60 50 40 30 20 10 0
Sanity 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Good Feelings 0% 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Circle where you are on how good your feelings are (or the lack of feeling bad) as a percentage of your life. This indicates where you are on the spectrum.
Since highsanity and lowsanity are functions of learning and doing, the level one has of each is readily determined by the individual - his/her choice. The level one attains is, of course, directed related to one investing the time in learning and doing what produces highsanity. And the decision to do so depends both on the expected outcome or attainability of results and on how great one believes the benefits can be on one's life.
WE FEAR, WE WORRY, WE PANIC - NEEDLESSLY, USELESSLY
We spend a great portion of our lives being "concerned" about what might happen and how bad of an experience it will be.
We are often very wrong on how bad it will be. So there is some "lack of reality" going on there, and normally a lot of (unintended) exaggeration.
But the greater problem is that we use these tools (fear, worry, panic, etc.) totally inappopriately and with great harm to ourselves (from the stress we induce and from the body reactions we cause over and over that cause things to get "out of whack" in our operating system).
Yes, it is absolutely true that something really bad and/or really extreme could happen. Something "pretty bad" will happen in most people's lives. We do survive most of them and most become a mere memory. But there are some things that could happen that we can't minimize. No question.
The question that is important here, however, is whether we should bother at all to feel bad now about something that could/might happen.
The solution to this all important problem lies in addressing the script that has some people panicking while others have virtually no concern and the same odds of something bad occurring.
Although addressed later in more detail, we write a play that ends in the middle at an erroneous, dysfunctional way of thinking, whereas we could complete a new script and have a new play with a new ending that is close to worry free, ending inappropriate fear and panic forever. (You'll link later into the playscript procedure we are talking about, but first you've got to see what it is, why the current version is causing what it causes, of course, and how to not continue doing that same thing. You might not like the conclusion on what to do, but it will work!)
But first we need to lay out some groundwork and make sure there are certain understandings, without which we could not reach the solution stage.
WHAT IS BUILT INTO OUR DNA (AND WHAT IS NOT)
Yes, it is built into our human DNA to be able to anticipate what could happen (so that we can prevent the event from happening so that we can then survive and procreate). And, when there is a real threat, it is built into our DNA to react to handle it, to fight, to flee or to freeze.
And it is built into our DNA to have our mind react to pictures of what could happen, to evaluate them as being threats or not or being a source of living. You give it a picture, it reacts. (That sounds so simple and maybe inane or unimportant. However, it is a vital realization, without which one can not move forward in life to "highsanity".)
And, further, it is built into our DNA to have a higher brain that can use rational thinking to screen things out and to logically determine what to do. The failure of our training is that we do not employ this higher brain as intentionally and as often or as deeply as we should or could.
WE, THEN, HAVE THE ABILITY TO NOT LIVE "UNSANELY"
If we don't apply higher thinking to what is irrational (= not rational) thinking we end up living life "unsanely."
If we live life "unsanely", we do not live it sanely - although we have the thinking ability, we do not rationally choose what is in our lives and what to do in alignment with what is for our best interest. Therefore, we suffer consequences we do not need to suffer.
It is important to make the distinction that "unsanely" does not refer to what the body does that is outside of what our conscious thought can control. That part is just the nonconscious part of our operating system and, for what it is designed, it is operating appropriately and effectively, essentially sanely. But it is not sophisticated enough to handle the more complex decisions. "Unsanely" does, however, apply to the thought process that is based on bad BS (irrational thinking, irrational and/or untrue beliefs). BS in this context refers to "belief systems", but it is true that we often believe in a bad belief without examining it and correcting it, which leaves one with the equivalent of unrefined bull excrement.
It is a pity that people still allow themselves to believe anything that has not been proven true. Here is some wisdom from the BuddhaKahuna:
"He who cannot see the difference between what is true and what is akin to bull excrement will not live the quality of life above that of a fool - for who but a fool would keep choosing to believe the bull excrement? It is my opinion, after much careful thought, that one should look at all unproven beliefs (especially those related to bad results) as potential bull excrement and proclaim 'I shall not be fool enough to believe that potential bull excrement is true, as the alternative is to be a fool.' Choose well - as your life is at stake."
The BuddhaKahuna
WHAT IS BUILT INTO OUR DNA (AND WHAT IS NOT)
Yes, it is built into our human DNA to be able to anticipate (and predict) what could happen, so that we can prevent any harmful event from happening so that we can then survive and procreate. And, when there is a real threat, it is built into our DNA to react to handle it, to fight, to flee or to freeze. (However, we have to use our higher brain to determine what really is a threat, as the primitive brain is just mechanistic about it, not using judgment, just implementing the recordings it has on what to do.)
And it is built into our DNA to have our mind react to pictures of what could happen, to evaluate them as being threats or not or being a source of living. You give it a picture, it reacts. (That sounds so simple and maybe inane or unimportant. However, it is a vital realization, without which one can not move forward in life to "highsanity".)
And, further, it is built into our DNA to have a higher brain that can use rational thinking to screen things out and to logically determine what to do. The failure of our training is that we do not employ this higher brain as intentionally and as often or as deeply as we should or could.
WHAT WE CAN CONTROL
Highsanity includes that ability to control what is controllable. Lowsanity is the realm where we are victims of circumstances and other people, essentially seeing ourselves as being controlled by what happens and what other people do (such as approve of us).
It is important to make a distinction between what we can control and what we cannot control, and then to choose to control what we can control - and choose to not spend any effort trying to control the uncontrollable (or looking for mystical, magical methods to do so. This is a major distinction of life and what that, if properly used, adds much power to one's life. See Control.
When someone says something like "I am giving away my power to what I eat" (or drink or...), they are being inaccurate. Physiologically, we have no choice but to eat; this is an unconscious process. However, what I choose to eat is a conscious process. Since power is the ability to choose and to cause something, it is never true that one can give one's power to an inanimate or unconscious process.
Our dominion is over that which we can control and that which we can choose. We can't choose to not have our heart respond to threats, for that is built into our DNA. We can't choose to not feel fear when there is a threat. We can't choose our bodily and primitive mind reactions.
However, we can choost to change the part that aren't wired in!
To help understand this more deeply, let's explore an age old question...
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Where do we draw the line between body and brain?
This is a definitional, distinction item that one can skip over if one chooses, but which one should know:
Note that it is difficult to draw the line between where the body leaves off and the brain starts, especially since they are all in one unit.
We can, however, differentiate them on a common spectrum of functionlaity level on which they each perform, with lower cells at the bottom.
Note that the body does make decisions of sorts - if this, then that - if x happens, then it does y.
That is "wired in", like the hardware in a computer, but it is something that also could be programmed into software if we were smart enough to do so. Somehow evolution already did the "programming".
The brain stem is very primitive, but it sorts things out in a bit more sophisticated manner than the body below it. The "mammalian" mid brain we share with animals is even more sophisticated but still primitive.
Based on this, a convenient line to draw is one similar to the line drawn for years in "mind management":
I. Lower noncontrollable: Not directly consciously controllable is on this side of the line, unconscious, consisting of built-in wiring.
II. Higher, controllable: Conscious, able to think creatively and rationally far beyond the simplicity of the primitive minds, mostly what we call the "higher
brain" and the "subhigher brain".
The "subhigher brain" is conscious, notices things in the body, and one that can take over some higher brain functions that are trained into habits.
For instance, a person who meditates will find that his/her "sorting" part of the brain works much better - that is that part which sorts between irrational signals not worth noting [i.e. "complete nonsense"] and signals that should or should not be forwarded to the lower or the higher brain. A result of this is that those people are "calmer", naturally and automatically, because there are fewer potentially alarming signals allowed to go through to the automatic wiring of the reactivity system.
(End of this insert.)
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As discussed above, there are things that we can't choose. However, we must choose to understand how those things operate if we want to be able to make the best choices of strategies employ and actions to take. We must learn what the wiring is, in sufficient detail, so that we can operate the system. It is totally illogical to not choose to learn how to operate the system, though many people seem to advocate "just living life and learning all one needs naturally as we go" - respectfully, I must say that that is, truly, "bull excrement".
So, logically, the power to affect our life lies in where we can control things. (Duh!)
So that is where we will focus all of our energy - on things we can control once we identify that they are controllable.
An example of one of the things we can control is our behavior with regard to meditating. So, we should control it. But is it sufficient unto itself to have us attain peace of mind?
No. Meditation helps the wiring, but poor content still overrules. Using meditation as the solution to anxiety or lack of peace is like using a hammer to build a house - it is useful, but we need to add other tools to do the whole job.
Note that meditation helped the screening process for non-sensical signals. It is non-sensical signals and our not correcting them that are at the core of the entire worry-fear-anxiety syndrome that we experience so excessively often.
Meditation deals with the "symptoms" (bad thoughts) and does teach one to discriminate and alter a bad thought to some extent, but it does not go to the core of the problem.
THE CORE OF THE PROBLEM
The core of the problem lies in the recordings/patterns that are built into the memory system in the brain. Old "rote" recordings are all that the primitive brain has to offer to help us solve problems and try to live. If the recordings/patterns are erroneous, then it is a bad idea to keep them, to tolerate them - tolerating them is as nonsensical as keeping your foot on the brake pedal just in case there is a potential accident and then trying to proceed smoothly and rapidly through life - we've got to discriminate on when to use the brake pedal and when not to keep using it - or we'll just be stopped in life, making little progress and living a poor quality "start and stop" life, one with unnecessary ups and downs!!!!!
(OK, you've heard this before and can see where it is heading, to something you've heard over and over - but somethng you've never fully heeded. It is my intention to make a complete clear case for why you should be doing what follows - andto have you do it!)
THERE IS MORE TO IT
Now, for a bit of what might seem like an aside but which is extremely relevant and useful.
Whenever we state that something is out of our control, we need to be careful about what we are assuming and saying. Whenever we don't notice what is going on, we need to stop assuming that we cannot notice or learn to distinguish what is going on.
"I was just talking to this person and I started to hyperventilate. There was nothing in between that occurred."
This is as if the event caused the reaction, which is an impossibility. Basic logic clearly would note that there must be something occurring between the event and the reaction, as different people have different reactions to the same event. There must have been some thinking that occurred that created such a seeming threat that the body and the primitive mind responded to it as if it was an extreme emergency.
(If we study the basics of the body and the primitive mind, we would quickly understand how there is different "programming" for each level of threat. And if there is a big reaction, there, therefore, MUST be a "big seeming" threat. It is an absolute necessity for being able to create a better life that you see that this is true! We cannot proceed to your being effective in life without your knowing this fact is an absolute truth, something wired into the body.)
I bring up all this in order to hype the fact that we must notice and/or derive each bit of what is going on, as if we were using The Playscript Procedure that is used to find solutions to consulting problems in business and any area of life - the basic idea is that, until there are sufficient details, one cannot distinguish what is going on.
If we use techniques to get a complete enough picture of reality, we will see that there is no need to have fear of extremes happening, even though they could happen. Yes, it is true that they could happen. But what is not true is the belief that it is necessary to fear something in order to have one do something to cause it not to happen, to prevent it.
If there is something extreme that we can do something about, we would, of course, do it. (Duh!) Dying early from smoking, living a shorter and lower quality of life from poor diet and no exercise and/or overstressing oneself and wreaking havoc on our bodies and psyches, lacking earning power, etc. - surely even a fool would not do something about those! (Oops, alot of people aren't doing anything about those, but that is a part of what we are dealing with on the site in the health areas - motivation and seeing clearly that the bad end result is something we want to avoid and that the good end result is what we want to bring about. We deal on this site with working with one's moods, chemicals, etc., and motivation. Put the subject you are interested in, into the Search Engine on the main pages.)
