Mind-Body Connection

Go to the refrigerator.

Pull out your produce drawer (called “the freshener,” although sometimes it’s “the rotter”). There among your produce, no matter what shape it’s in, you will find a wonderfully fresh, brilliant yellow lemon.

Take out the lemon and place it on the cutting board. Now cut the lemon in half.

Hold the half-lemon to your nose. Ah.

Stick out your tongue and lick it.

 What happened?

Did your saliva glands respond to the make-believe sour taste of the lemon?

That’s a mind-body connection.

We only talked about the lemon; we didn’t actually taste it. Remember Pavlov’s experiment with dogs? (Way back) He would ring a bell immediately before feeding them. After a few rings followed by feedings, the dogs would salivate simply upon hearing the bell ringing.

That’s a body-mind connection.

The fact that the body will respond to a suggestion is considered by some to be metaphysical. (Metaphysics simply means beyond physics. In other words, we don’t know the explanation yet—thus it is beyond the scope of physics.) Placebo’s work because the brain believes that the substance given them will help the body.  Metaphysical people try to use this fact consciously. That is to deliberately place a suggestion into the mind that something wonderful will come to them. The trouble is we’re smart enough to know we’re trying to fool ourselves.

The old gatekeeper of the brain says, “What?! You think you can be a rock star? Don’t be ridiculous. You a rock star? Ha. You aren’t talented enough, young enough, or good-looking enough.” (When did that stop some people? However, they probably had to get past their gatekeeper too.)

The gatekeeper tends to be a curmudgeon. You throw a suggestion toward the brain; the gatekeeper throws it out. 

Although some suggestions get in.

Why?

Other times it’s as though he has built a cement wall around your brain.

Sometimes we affirm that we can get that job, that raise, that house we want, that relationship we so desire, and it doesn’t happen. Why is that?

 “Ha.” It bounces off the wall. “You think you can do that? You want to be an artist? You don’t have the talent or ability. Artists starve. Get a real job.”

Remember the old cartoon of a devil on one shoulder and an angel on the other? This is a perfect model. Not that I think there is an angel there or a devil; it merely states the point.  Conflicting thoughts are rallying for our attention. How in the world can we believe we can have what we want when the gatekeeper is screaming at us that we can’t?

We must find a way around the wall with its gatekeeper.

Meditate. Meditation calms the chaptering mind for a time, so some of the good thoughts can get in. Perhaps it puts the gatekeeper to sleep. 

Surround yourself with people who believe in you.

Bombard the gatekeeper with so many positive thoughts, he gets tired of resisting them and gives up the struggle.

Ask for more stuff.

Get happy. A tired, dejected, depressed mind will defeat you every time.

Write down all the reasons whatever you want won’t work and write “Bullshit,” beside each item.

Next, go through your list and turn all your negatives into positives.

This week I learned this: Over and over, I have heard that we ought to use the present tense when we affirm for something we want and write it as though it is already done.

I’m not offering pie in the sky. I know that some work is needed. If you want to be a pianist, practice.

However, affirm that you see yourself performing before a congregation, and you hear the applause, and you are grateful for the opportunity. You say, “Thank you.”

Somewhere I read this: before Luciano Pavarotti, the famed Italian operatic singer, had ever performed at the Hollywood Bowl, he rented it, or used it, I don’t know which, and stood on stage singing to an an audience of one—himself. He wanted to create a space where he could believe he could perform there, and, too, it allowed his body to become accustomed to that space.

 As a young man, Pavarotti’s father, knowing the limited possibilities of becoming a singer, reluctantly gave Pavarotti’s consent to study music. Dreamers are often met with resistance. That is one reason it is so hard for them to believe their dream is possible. Pavarotti beat the odds and became one of the world’s most acclaimed operatic singers, later to move into popular music. He and two others, “The Three Tenors” changed classical music forever.

I see the physical reason behind the idea of telling oneself that the thing you want is already here. Our bodies are used to hearing or saying “Thank you” after a deed is accomplished. We say “Thank you,” after someone gives us a compliment or offers food or good times.  We are grateful when something good happens to us. So, be grateful and say, “Thank you,” before it happens.

It will make a connection between the mind and the body.

 

I am now thinking of all the people who have told me they find value in what I have written. We’re having a cup of coffee together. We’re talking happy-talk. The cares of the world are far away. We’re noticing how the leaves of the Magnolia tree are fluttering like a wave of people at a sports event. The Pink Mandevilla alongside it is flourishing and spectacular.The ground cover is succulent, dotted with light sparking off the water droplets. The coffee is warm and slides down our throats, erasing all evidence of morning hoarseness. “What are you going to do today?” I ask.

“Anything I want,” you say.

                                           Pink Mandevilla. I'm keeping this baby watered.

 

 

 

When do THEY decide you are a throw-away person?

Before the recent (yesterday’s) medication, the patient could stand up, walk around, take herself to the bathroom, have dinner, look out the window, and on occasion, visit with somebody.

Daughter dear is caring for an Alzheimer patient, who pops in and out of lucidity. Now the patient had been placed on hospice care, has been given mood-altering medication, and is whacked-out on morphine.

From managing (with help) one day to unconscious the next. 

I’ve had high regard for hospice people for I had heard such good comments from family members. And I knew they could prescribe morphine that could be a god-send for people in pain.

But this person was not complaining of pain. And, I’m shocked that morphine is prescribed as a matter of course.

Is that a good idea?

 

Did the patient ask for it?

Well, at least our culture sedates an old person before setting them on an ice flow. (Oh, oh, I’m slipping into sarcasm.)

I once read a story about a young man who lived in the cold North who decided it was time for his father to die. However, in a moment of compassion the son gave the father a blanket, but the father cut the blanket in two and only took half. 

“Father, why are you taking only half a blanket when I gave you a whole one?” asked the son.

“Because I’m saving the other half for you.”

The old man lived out his days in the warmth of the igloo.

I don’t know the Alzheimer patient’s history. I know she is elderly, lives still with her husband who is uncommonly kind to her given he has a temper. When he shows his temper, she ships out. (That tells you something, doesn’t it? When did she learn that shipping-out behavior?)

We must not wait until Hospice comes sweeping in the door to lose control of our bodies, our minds, our environment, and our peace of mind. You know what they say, “If you don’t choose for yourself, somebody will choose for you.”

Before I had my babies, I read a book called “Awake and Aware,” that followed Dr. Fernand Lamaze’s principals of natural childbirth. 

Lamaze was encouraging women to be awake and present during the birth of their child. He was giving them tools to manage what can be a frightful and painful event. There in the hallowed halls of a hospital, you could follow protocol, use your techniques, and experience pain, joy, whatever. (But, don’t embarrass the personnel.)

How about the outside world? Are we sedated?

A sedated person is easy to manage. Many a shut-in who watches television all day is sedated without chemicals, and probably angry to boot. No wonder the old man husband wanders around complaining about the state of the world, about blacks, about women. He’s angry. And he needs someone to blame. 

Not good for our society.

I once read that in an extremely crowded Oriental country where the streets are crowded, the shops are crowded, and families live together in a small space, that finding one moment of privacy is almost impossible.

However, there is still one place you can go where you are free. 

That is your mind.

Perhaps that is the reason the use of meditation is so prevalent in the East. Go to a quiet place where your mind can become still. Go where you can experience the silence. “Prayer,” so I’ve heard, “is talking to God. Meditation is God talking to you.”

I think one’s awareness should be the last thing to go.

But then, that’s only my idea.

Any input?

P.S. Thursday I’ll talk about something more pleasant—that is, if it presents itself.