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The Attention Spanner
After a long and patient wait in queue, you reached the post office counter. Just then, the peasant sauntered over and plunked himself in front of you. Your reaction was natural. Paul Ekman, the world famous emotions scientist, dedicated his career to the study of emotional reactions. "We become aware a quarter, or half second after the emotion begins. I do not choose .... to become angry. I am suddenly angry. I can usually figure out later what someone did that caused the emotion." The transit of that compelling emotion was insidious. If only you could manage its impact! You were but an actor in a vast, automatic and intelligent process. Over a hundred billion neurons saw, recognized, interpreted and acted. Myriad processes converted light, sound, touch and smell instantly into your nerve impulses. A special region recognized those impulses as objects and events. The limbic system, another region, interpreted those events to generate emotions. A fourth region responded to those emotions with actions. And, you watched it happen. Normally, such emotions triggered physical responses. For animals, it was instant. If fear was generated, a deer bounded away. A bird took flight. A fish swam off. Even though it happened in the blink of an eye, these were profoundly considered actions. Escape was hardly possible by heading into the predator. Multiple escape routes were instantly evaluated and a single decision made. Intelligent search processes delivered responses to emotions within a reported 20 milliseconds. Animals responded instantly. Unfortunately, most social situations precluded such instant action. The guy pushing ahead was bigger. The neighborhood was shady. Immediate action was hardly an option. Still... So, the search for a fitting response did not end in half a second. It continued. So, outside your ken, each negative emotion set up a search. Fear triggered a search to escape. Jealousy, to improve one's competitive position. Anger, to destroy. Everywhere, society precluded animal responses, setting obstacles to those searches. As the day wore on, new emotions added new searches. So, many parallel searches went on and on, like birds flailing in a cage, searching the bars for an absent exit. Each emotion returned with renewed vigor with each failed search. A restless mind leaped from fear to anxiety and from disgust to anger. Acting below conscious levels, these searches created unhappy turbulences. Most people remained unaware of their inner searches, thrashing against vexing obstacles. They believed the ensuing emotions to be normal. For them, anger, or dismay were natural responses to situations. But, this was not true. Emotions were a needless burden. For centuries, sages had proclaimed their freedom from cruel emotions. Their victories were recorded across civilizations. They had enjoyed a tranquil mind, not dominated by anger, pain, envy, or hatred. They had proclaimed their success. But, sadly, their paths to peace were arduous and often far too idealistic. A common thread to their journey to bliss was an abandonment of a desire for material comforts. With few needs, most emotions drifted away. But, for most of us, this was hardly acceptable. After all, life was all about living. About enjoying good things. Purely spiritual living was hardly a charming option. On another route, most psychologists suggested acceptance. They recommended an acceptance of life and its cruel foibles. For example, one could play out the worse case scenario. What was the worse that could happen? Could you live with that? Could you wait a few more minutes to reach the counter? Invariably, acceptance stilled the search process. An untenable situation was emotionally accepted. Acceptance brought a measure of peace. But, more often than not, visualizing the worst case led to morbid thoughts. They added new, needless turmoils. After all, most feared things never happened anyway. Why drag them into consciousness, setting off new search processes and new anxieties? Could there be an easier route to harmony? Peace could follow from a grasp of our role in this relentless cycle - perception, recognition, interpretation and action. Consciousness had a small role in those immense systems. You were alone in this vast programmed power plant with just a little joystick. That joystick controlled attention. All the rest was mechanical. Attention could focus your mind anywhere. Feel the pinch of a shoe, the caress of of a breeze, or a word on this page. While the system could snatch it away, attention remained your sole weapon. You could pitch attention in, like a spanner into a machine, to stall its relentless pace. Directed attention stilled most activities. Like a child diverted. Just as a parent diverted a child, diverted attention stalled the system. It inhibited the turmoil of emotions. This was a noble purpose. And, you could begin anytime. Spend a few of your free moments to ponder "What am I thinking now?" Pay attention. The followers of Buddha focused their attention inwards in their practice of meditation. They became aware of their thoughts. Of voices that spoke, of felt pain and anger. Over time, your thoughts would become as familiar as friends. Memories of packed lunches and train stations. But recalled memories were not the key. You needed to catalog those odious search processes. "Oh, oh, there I go on that track again!" Searches were managed by emotions. There was a valuable clue to locating those emotions. Scientists reported that emotional regions were closely mapped to regions which triggered physical sensations. So, each emotion and its search process had associated physical symptoms. Once those symptoms were identified, the search process became familiar. Identification instantly stilled it. It stopped battering against the cage. That gave you an exhilarating "Aha" experience. Here was a noble voyage into the incredible spaces of your mind. As time passed, more and more negative emotions became subdued. A deeper creative balance took over. Without the limitations of partisan emotions, answers came more easily. It did not matter a twit, whether you lost your position in the queue. Free of emotions, you could even deal with the peasant. You could achieve all this without lofty actions. Without abandoning material comforts. Without accepting worst case scenarios. The "attention spanner" could bring you peace. Abraham Thomas is the author of The Intuitive Algorithm, a book, which suggests that intuition is a pattern recognition algorithm. This leads to an understanding of the powerful forces that control your mind. The ebook version is available at http://www.intuition.co.in. The book may be purchased only in India. The website, provides a free movie and a walk through to explain the ideas.
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Alternative Medicine On Dis-ease We are all terminally ill. It is a matter of time before we all die. Aging and death remain almost as mysterious as ever. We feel awed and uncomfortable when we contemplate these twin afflictions. Indeed, the very word denoting illness contains its own best definition: dis-ease. A mental component of lack of well being must exist SUBJECTIVELY. The person must FEEL bad, must experience discomfiture for his condition to qualify as a disease. To this extent, we are justified in classifying all diseases as "spiritual" or "mental". Short Story: The Next Level of Humanity "Hey Mac, have you ever been thinking of someone and then-bang! - The telephone rings and it's them on the phone?" Hypnotic Myths Even though hypnosis has been around officially since the 1700s (Franz Anton Mesmer), there are still questions as to its validity and benefits. For the most part, these questions stem from fear and ignorance. Regarding this subject, it is generally assumed that what you don't know can hurt you. People's viewpoints on hypnosis vary according to what their experiences have been and what they've heard. The Undeniable Power of Suggestion How exactly is the Human Psyche effected by the trivial "power of suggestion?" When a thought or seed is planted into the human mind, the psyche responsively triggers a lingering product of that thought. For example, urban legends have been circulated throughout history; in doing so, a mindset is incorporated into the psyche, creating a deceitful illusion that cannot distinguish fact from fiction. Self Hypnosis or Shelf Hypnosis? Self hypnosis is usually thought of as a person listening to an audio tape, mp3, or other mass-produced media, intended to induce a willingness to absorb suggestions centered around a specific topic such as weight loss, stop smoking, etc. Unfortunately, this kind of hypnosis is generally prepared by someone who has never met the person being hypnotized, often presenting unwanted, even unpleasant imagery and suggestions. For example, if you sunburn easily, that last thing you want to hear about is a slow walk on a sunny beach. In this case, the "self" in self hypnosis simply means that you listen to it by yourself! Animal Cruelty: The Key to Serial Minds What makes a common person a Serial Killer? According to research, serial killers exhibit what is known as the 'Triad of Warning Signs in Childhood.'1 Panic Attacks: Effective Ways to Cope Jill is a 21 y/o college student who used to do well until about a few months ago when she started to experience "weird" attacks almost daily. She described her experience as "horrible." When she has the attack, she feels that she's about to die or develop a stroke. Key Solution Focus Interviewing Skills There are several key Solution Focus interviewing skills that are indispensable in moving individuals from problem focus to solution focus. A Look at The Brain The endless, immeasurable brain. It does seem like more we discover about it, the more mystery we create. Perhaps the most intriguing of all is the child's brain. In certain ways, children are the most brilliant people in the world. They have the ability to absorb more information than we can conceive of as adults. Treatment Modalities and Therapies Narcissism constitutes the entire personality. It is all-pervasive. Being a narcissist is akin to being an alcoholic but much more so. Alcoholism is an impulsive behaviour. Narcissists exhibit dozens of similarly reckless behaviours, some of them uncontrollable (like their rage, the outcome of their wounded grandiosity). Narcissism is not a vocation. Narcissism resembles depression or other disorders and cannot be changed at will. Eating Disorders and the Narcissist Patients suffering from eating disorders binge on food and sometimes are both anorectic and bulimic. This is an impulsive behaviour as defined by the DSM (particularly in the case of BPD and to a lesser extent of Cluster B disorders in general). Some patients develop these disorders as a way to self-mutilate. It is a convergence of two pathological behaviours: self-mutilation and an impulsive (rather, compulsive or ritualistic) behaviour. Lesson Plans that Reach the Multiple Intelligences American schools have traditionally favored those students who excel in the linguistic and analytical arenas because these skills are highly valued in our culture. Unfortunately, this traditional approach leaves certain students behind to stumble blindly through an educational system which ignores their unique abilities. This is not to say that the development of linguistic and analytical skills should be abandoned in favor of nontraditional approaches to education. Rather, traditional and nontraditional approaches should be combined to formulate a method of education that is best suited to the students who populate our classrooms. Rediscovering the Mind From the viewpoint of a modern microbiologist, we hear the call for integration and common sense in sciences that are all too often devising separate stakes and battlements to pontificate from, on high. The 'experts' thus proving their ignorance because the result inevitably is specious ego and puffery. Truth did not divide herself up for prissy 'nerds' to prevail upon, with their massive convolutions and devious attempts to practice buffoonery upon her. The Psychology of Torture There is one place in which one's privacy, intimacy, integrity and inviolability are guaranteed - one's body, a unique temple and a familiar territory of sensa and personal history. The torturer invades, defiles and desecrates this shrine. He does so publicly, deliberately, repeatedly and, often, sadistically and sexually, with undisguised pleasure. Hence the all-pervasive, long-lasting, and, frequently, irreversible effects and outcomes of torture. Right Brain, Left Brain The right brain controls the left side of the body and the left brain controls the right side of the body. The right brain is the more creative or emotional hemisphere and the left brain is the analytical and judgmental hemisphere. Anything that is new or not familiar to an individual is right brain dominant. Anything that is familiar is left brain dominant. Ericksons Theory of Human Development I'm sure you've heard the term "Identity Crisis" before. It's thought of as a conflict of self and society and its introduction came from one of the most famous psychoanalyst of the 20th century. On Empathy The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1999 edition) defines empathy as: Four Cognitive Skills for Successful Learning The word "cognition" is defined as "the act of knowing" or "knowledge." Cognitive skills therefore refer to those skills that make it possible for us to know. Emotion is a Reaction to the Influence Each one of us is linked to the emotions whether by protecting self values or deep affectionate involvement to the objective. The "sense" is a gift to us to analyze the values of the personality and behave in accordance. Sense creates sentiment that helps to avoid harm to the values possessed deep in the personality. We avoid action or reaction to what is not related to our values. Our Endeavour is to retain our values unharmed is a method to maintain the identity intact but when lost, we loose emotionally means lost everything. Emotion is a reaction to the influence of attraction that contacts our personality. Unknowingly we get attached to others and their objectives; the attachment is due to the influence of the attraction. We become affectionate, friendly, begin involving deeply and etc; are the reactions called emotional attachment but when hurts that becomes emotional breakup. Our social action and reaction relates of our emotional attitude. The emotional attitude is the reflection of the values possessed deep in the personality and the reaction is in accordance. Our sense works on the basis of the quality we possess that reflects the attitude. I sense emotion in three philosophical features; one is Identity emotion is the Endeavour to protect self values secondly sentimental emotion is submission that involves acting in affection and thirdly Effectual Emotion leaves effect of impression on our personality: Why Other Children are Rejecting Your Child Introduction
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