Another Way to Function - An Alternate to Thinking

When issues occur with any aspect of daily life, the usual function or behaviour is to struggle in thinking up solutions or answers to our difficulties. This thinking is a reaction to our difficulties and is quite inadequate. Why?

When there is an inadequate understanding or approach within the contents and process of our thinking, we search within that for something which obviously isn't there. I say obviously, for if understanding were there in the first place, would these issues present difficulties and would we be searching at all.

Therefore if through thinking you cannot understand something, you must look beyond thinking. One must ask, is the disturbance anything other than the inadequacy in the approach or information that defines the limits of thinking. And as this is so, then to solve our problems there must be an alternative to thinking.

There is another way to function. Rather than trying to think your way out of a problem or through a challenge, have you ever just held it? Just held it, felt the sense of it without moving away from it, without trying to suppress it or transcend it, or do all the things we do with it. If you do nothing else but hold it, you will sense, (not think) the depth of it. The thing itself will show itself and all of its extraordinary subtleties. In the midst of such an approach, without you meaning to, a true understanding of yourself can occur.

You can only be receptive to all of this when you are living with the problem without any motive, without trying to do a thing about it, just watching it, just holding it, not separate from it.

This is the body-mind in its ultimate and most natural function. This is its brilliance. To perpetually respond to, absorb and unravel any living problem.

Preparation for living problems blinds us to them.

The major difference between mechanical and living problems is what it takes to solve them. Thought is sufficient for solving mechanical problems but there is no way we can use it to solve living human problems. That is why it has failed.

The philosopher and analyst have failed, the gurus have failed, the prophets have failed, our education and parents have failed, society has failed to help the individual live their life sanely and healthily. Social thought and action has failed in the attempt to solve living problems.

For the problem is not what we all think it is. The demand and the attempt to be prepared for any future situation is actually the cause of our problems. All education, training and prior preparation for living is a process of thought, and thought does not reach anything here inside the flesh of the living feeling person where it counts.

No matter how we prepare we cannot ever know what we would do in any given situation. Every situation, every person, every stage in life is so different, therefore any preparation to meet these living situations cannot help us. In fact we create the problems of living by preparing for them. For our preparation - our knowledge, beliefs and answers are our bias, and our bias prevents receptivity to anything new and therefore blocks the new facts available to us in each living situation. Thereby our prior preparations to meet life's problems prevent us from ever meeting life as it really is. Hence we create our own blindness by the very act of preparing.

One who does not prepare for living problems, does not because he understands you cannot, that all such preparation is useless, unnecessary and in fact causes disassociation from the eventual outer circumstance and your inner responses to it at the time if its unfolding.

The body does not know anything in advance. It functions moment to moment relying on the senses, the nervous system and other physical (chemical) responses to receive life and all the information contained within life as it unfolds.

In this our natural state of 'not knowing' (no prior knowing) we know what there is to know as we need to know it, and not before. Initially our 'knowing' is in all the above mentioned physical ways - which then expands into descriptive thought, if further expression is required.

So our problem with living problems is, we think and therefore try to know before there is something to know, and end up making something up before there is anything to know. Hence we live in the fear based and bias preparedness of the known, of the so called mind, trying to anticipate life - before the particular life event occurs to stimulate the only definite knowing we have - these variety of bodily responses, which are the pulsations of life responding to, and interconnected with life as it occurs.

© 2011 Matthew Meinck All rights reserved.

Disclaimer: The reader of this document acknowledges that they take full personal responsibility for their response to the contents of this document. The author and any related parties disclaim any liability whatsoever, to the extent allowed by law, from any liability for any consequence of the response that the reader has to the contents of this document.

Matthew Meinck is an original thinker, an explorative ground-breaking natural health practitioner and educator, published author, meditation mentor, problem solver.

After 7 years as a monk his attempts to expose the heir achy and hypocritical belief systems got him expelled. He went on to demystify enlightenment and meditation, enhancing its massive benefits and developed the most effective commonsense approach to meditation in existence today.

For over 25 years he has established his reputation by achieving unprecedented results as a natural health practitioner. He approaches mental and physical health as one integral condition and has successfully treated over 30,000 people.

New books by Matthew Meinck will be available on line 2012

Original article

How to Use Running to Relieve Your Stress

Stress is a silent but deadly epidemic mental disorder that is slowly sweeping through our community. Whilst stress itself is not defined as a disease, overwhelming stress impacts the body and allows diseases like cancer and viruses to easily attack what is normally a healthy body. Yet there are some simple solutions and exercises that will help you combat this silent killer.

One of the easiest ways to combat stress is to simply exercise. The more you exercise the more you are able to exercise that stress out of your body.

So why does exercise work?

When you exercise a number of key things occur in your body. The first is that your heart rate will increase as you exercise, your blood flows more effectively and will help you combat the stress. Normally, high levels of stress will have the opposite effect to your body and constrict the blood vessels.

Running is a powerful tool to combat stress and is much better than just simple exercise. It provides you with a number of key opportunities to release the stress and refocus your mind onto more positive outcomes.

When you run you are forced by the act of running to focus on something other than the stress. The act of running also allows your body to increase the blood flow around your body and release endorphins into your blood stream. These endorphins are very important in combating stress as we have often found that they help stimulate the creative element of your brain to create new and creative ways to deal with the stressful situations.

Doctors and psychologists do have differing opinions as to how often you should run to combat stress however my advice is that if you are working in a high stress environment then it would be worthwhile in at least taking the opportunity to undertake a run at the end of the day to ensure that before you come home to your family you are in a positive state of mind.

My own wife uses running as a regular stress reliever and she will often visit the gym before coming how from a busy day at work to release the built up stress and to come home in a positive frame of mind. This however is not the only time when you can use running as a stress reliever.

Whenever you get to a point where a stressful situation is not allowing you to deal with the experience in a positive manner then I recommend that you take a good 30 minute run to start getting the blood to circulate more effectively so that you will be able to come up with an appropriate outcome for the stressful situation.

Let us put it this way, even if you do come back and do not have any answers at this point, your act of running will keep your body in a positive mental state and also healthy at the same time. This has to result in you dealing with the situation in a positive manner.

Chris Le Roy is the Managing Director of the One-on-One Professional Business Training Centre. Our company provides a range of stress management training that will help you to learn to stress management skills, you career and more. Our company also provides first aid courses to help ensure you have that qualification when you apply for your next job.

Original article

Simple Remedies for Stress

Five days a week, 9 - 5, I sit in a chair at a desk by the window. I mostly talk to people; and write. Sometimes I talk to people while I write. At the end of the day, after I am finished with all this talking and writing, sitting and listening, I walk, briskly; at least four miles. I look forward to walking. Exercise helps to maintain my emotional and physical health - especially on days when I make myself emotionally unwell.

Like most of you, on occasion, I provoke myself into some measure of the stress response. Criticism, the ill-mannered, unfair treatment and disrespect are the perceptions I personally find most challenging. Of course, there is no such thing as criticism, the ill-mannered, unfair treatment or disrespect. These are my perceptions. Emotional events unto themselves are meaningless without my active interpretation of them.

If I can change my interpretation of events, I can change my response to events. Instead of perceiving my experiences as threats, I can perceive them as bothersome inconveniences, incommode, unfortunate events.

I know this.

Intellectual insight is not often enough. Combining knowledge with new behaviors, however, is essential to changing any habit - including how we emote. Simply knowing the right thing to do is not sufficient to make any kind of real change in how we perceive adversity. I often fail to make this connection. My sympathetic nervous system, on the other hand, never fails. My sympathetic nervous system does an excellent job of rapidly preparing me to deal with whatever I perceive as threatening.

I am sometimes my own worst enemy.

Within nanoseconds of nut-headed thinking, a corresponding metabolic process is begun, allowing us to cope with our perception of danger. Our adrenal glands release adrenaline (epinephrine); our breathing increases along with our heart rate and blood pressure, moving more oxygen-rich blood faster to our brains and the muscles - the fuel needed for fighting or fleeing. From a distance, while all of this is going on inside of me, I am just a guy sitting by the window in his chair behind his desk. In reality I am a time bomb of neuro-chemicals and hormones, fully prepared to lead a Spartan army into battle.

The Muzak overhead has no effect on me.

While in this stressed state, our unnecessary bodily functions shut down. Growth, reproduction and our ability to fight off disease (the immune system) are all temporarily put on hold for the sake of safety. Blood-flow to the skin is reduced. Over time, chronic stress can lead to obesity, heart disease, sexual dysfunction and various skin ailments. Mental illness (particularly depression and anxiety) can also result. Medical conditions that are influenced by a nervous system response such as chronic pain, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), digestive disorders or headaches are likely to become exacerbated by stress.

At some point, we have to make a commitment to take an active role in how we process our unhealthy, self-defeating and irrational thoughts. I have made a commitment to manage my automatic bio-psycho response. And I try to keep that pledge.

So I walk, briskly and stay focused on my physical and emotional health.

I cannot expect that the way I perceive events in my environment and how I think about them can change overnight. On the contrary, thinking differently is a demanding task, likely to last the rest of my life. I can, however, begin every day by reminding myself of my pledge. I have committed to being an active player in my emotional life - an aspect of my life that can never again be viewed as a passive process.

I have found two important, yet simple, steps I can take immediately to help interfere with my stress response. These steps work wonders for me. These steps motivate me to change my nutty thinking and help return my body and mind to balance.

I walk.

I breathe.

I pardon myself and others.

Especially, I pardon myself.

Moderate exercise and deep breathing can be emotionally and physically cleansing. Those harmful stress hormones that linger in the bloodstream can be processed and eliminated through exercise and breathing deeply. Breathing deeply, into the lower abdomen, stimulates the vagus nerves, the longest of the cranial nerves. The vagus nerves pass through the neck and thorax into the abdomen. We know that vagal nerve endings act as the heart's pacemaker by promoting the release of the transmitter acetylcholine. Acetylcholine helps reduce blood pressure and counterbalances the effects of stress. Deep breathing stimulates the vagus nerves and promotes a return to balance.

Finally, while walking and breathing, I process the day's stressful perceptions. Instead of looking for blame and damning others for their poor choices, I pardon myself for thinking so foolishly. I remind myself that everyone has a perfect right to behave as foolishly as they choose to behave. I forgive myself for thinking people have to behave according to my rules and I pardon others for making the choices they make.

I couldn't possibly believe that my own mistakes are more pardonable than those made by others.

So, I walk, briskly.

I breathe, deeply.

And I pardon, broadly.

It takes the force of will to do this.

Michael Cornwall, PhD, LPCC, CSW is an author, lecturer, clinical supervisor, educator and a therapist in private practice specializing in emotion intelligence / rational emotive behavior (EI / REBT) therapy. He is the author of Go Suck a Lemon: Strategies for Improving Your Emotional Intelligence; Using Articulated Disputation to Improve REBT Outcomes; The Boy in the Pink Coat, Ten Examples of Classical Conditioning; Humour and Others Causes of Death; and Sound Judgment - each of which is published by Prosequest / Travis Press and available on Amazon, Kindle, BooksOnBoard, Nook and Barnes and Noble. Dr. Cornwall's latest discussion of emotional intelligence Think Twice: A Guide to Improving Your Emotional Intelligence. Dr. Cornwall lives in Shelbyville, Kentucky.

Original article