PAIN, YOUR MIND AND HOW IT WORKS

     PAIN, YOUR MIND AND HOW IT WORKS 

                                                       © Chessie Roberts, 2012 all rights reserved

Many of you have aches and pains and a lot of people live with chronic, sometimes crippling pain. What is pain? The dictionary defines it as physical suffering or discomfort caused by illness or injury. As you grow from a child to an adult you learned that if your arm hurts, you treated your arm, your stomach or whatever body part that you felt was the problem. Please understand that yes, pain is real and there to let you know that something is wrong but that is not the pain I am referring to. This article is discussing chronic pains like the ones you have with any chronic issue, like arthritis, Crohn's, fibromyalgia ...that sort.

The truth is that, even though you are injured or ill, your pain signal is just that, a signal. It is sent to your mind and that is what gets your attention. This is not a new idea. It has been used for centuries and it works quite nicely. If you have tried pills and potions and found them unsatisfactory, finding what you need right inside your brain just may be quite helpful for you.

You have several levels of pain response; mental, emotional and physical. OK, you have an injury. It sends signals up your sensory path that will give you a physical sensation. You may tense up against that and “push against' the pain. The second path takes the information to the areas of your brain that process emotion. (amygdala and the anterior cingulate cortex) You feel upset and may cry, shake or have other emotional reactions. There you have it, you are having two reactions to your injury, one emotional and one physical. If you can calm both of these reactions your pain will diminish. Note I did NOT say go away completely. Just diminish.

The first technique to learn is to relax into the pain. As you consciously relax the area that is troubling you, the pain decreases. Take having an injection for example. If you tense the muscle the needle is to pierce, the added resistance will  create a denser wall to penetrate. If, however, you relax the area, there is less resistance. Same with any other pain. When you tense the affected area you create resistance and, like the Law of Attraction says, “what you resist persists” the same is true for pain.

The next thought to wrap your head around is that the pain is not where you think it is. It is being processed in your brain. If you can realize this, you will find that the pain diminishes rapidly. As you consider that you can choose to let go of the thought of pain, it will go down more or disappear completely.

All of you have your very own pharmacy that knows just what your body requires and what doses are perfect for you. A lot of the synthetic medicines on the market have a disruptive effect on you inner pharmacy so you will have to retrain it to work properly if you have been on one of these regimens. IF YOU ARE ON A MEDICATION UNDER A DOCTORS CARE, DO NOT STOP IN FAVOR OF THIS INFORMATION. You can use this information to get better results from your medication. As you take your medication just keep in mind how it works (research it if you don't already know and then you can make an informed choice about your own health care) and allow your body and mind to work with the medication to it's best affect.

Meditation is the best way (with these new thoughts to guide you) to calm and train your mind and get it to let go of the idea of pain. Research (at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center) has been done on this topic and has found from scans of brains while people meditated, at the end of their meditations, the pain centers were calmer and the persons pain had been reduced by 11 to 93%. Meditation showed a higher pain relief than some of the more powerful pain relieving medications.

Relax into the pain and remember that it is your mind creating sensations and you may be surprised how much better you handle it all. Bright Blessings, Chessie

“May the entire Universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light. May the light of Truth overcome all darkness! Victory to that Light! Jai!”


 

YOU ARE NOT SUPERMAN/WOMAN AND THAT'S OK

    

      YOU ARE NOT SUPPERMAN/WOMAN

                        AND THAT'S OK

                                                                                           © Chessie Roberts 2012, all rights reserved

     In the western culture we are taught to hurry and do everything perfectly, do it fast, do it better than the person next to you and better than you did yesterday, don't stop, don't ask, don't tell, be on call to work on your days off, put your health and your family last, if you do take a break make it a short one AND do all of this while being watched, evaluated, judged, followed...oh yes, smile and keep a great attitude. It is worse if you are a work from home person because you have the house, laundry and food to stretch yourself thinner and you do this to yourself.

     Stressed much? Let's break this down a bit. At work you are under a microscope most of the time so you do have to be aware of the judgment factor BUT, you do not have to put your self in competition with others (yes they say you do but you don't) Truth is you are your only competitor. Do you feel you are good at what you do? Yes, then great, keep your edge by researching new information about your field, devise a better flow that works for you, be present in your now as you work, do not concern yourself with the company drama, be the best you that you can. If your answer is no then look to see why you aren't good at what you do. Are you doing something you don't like? (this is the number one reason) Well if you don't like what you are doing, change it, do something else. If nothing is there at the moment then begin looking else where, knowing that there is something better on your horizon will make the icky stuff not so bad. Now don't go rushing off in all directions, ask yourself what do you really love to do then start looking in that direction. Then, while you are still where you don't want to be, by researching new information about your field, you may find a new direction that you would like to pursue. You may also be able to devise a better flow that works for you. Be present in your now as you work. Do not concern yourself with the company drama and be the best you that you can be.

     Don't be afraid to take breaks. The law says you are supposed to have 15 minutes of break time for every___ hours you work. Some do not take them, but you should. Really break when you do. Decide consciously that you are OFF WORK for those few minutes. Don't take your work with you on your break, it will be there when you get back. Go outside/leave the building for some fresh air, do a quick meditation. Drink a healthy drink, ground yourself, read an uplifting passage or two.

     If you are a work at home person, do the same thing. Take breaks. Work a little, clean a little, read a little, meditate a little. Find your flow and use it, timers are great for this. Make you a doable schedule that fits your day. Don't feel that every day must be the same schedule, be flexible. If you must do laundry on Tuesday, work around it. Since laundry is not an issue on Wednesday, your schedule will be different and that is OK.

     Take a day off and when you're off, be totally off. Don't use the time to grind on what went wrong that week or to anticipate worse in the week to come. Be in you now and ENJOY it! Allow yourself to  let the work thoughts go. Yes, you CAN do it, if you choose to. You are an awesome creator of your life. You just must decide how much stress, aggravation and negativity you truly want to endure. If you chose none, then get on that and make it happen. Superman/woman, sure! Just slow down and make it so. Bright Blessings, Chessie

 “May the entire Universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light. May the light of Truth overcome all darkness! Victory to that Light! Jai!”{Swami Satchidananda}

PLASTIC PEOPLE

                          PLASTIC PEOPLE 

                                                (c) C. S. Roberts 2012, all rights reserved

     The first plastic was created by Alexander Parkes in1862. He presented his invention at the Great International Exhibition in London. The substance was called  Parkesine. It was an organic material that came from cellulose could be heated, molded, shaped and would keep its shape after it cooled.

     In the 1950's plastics became an inexpensive substitute for many things: drinking glasses, tableware, vases, bowls, storage containers of all sorts and shapes. A cheap, shiny substitute for a more substantial and better quality thing.  Seeing the disappointment on some of the faces in the stores when they thought they had found a beautiful glass bowl at a great price only to find it was plastic gave me to believe that this was not a fashionable substance to own.

     In the 60s, plastic again reared its unfashionable head but with a new take. This time it referred to people. The cheap, shiny substitute for a more substantial and better quality person. You know the ones, those who are so self-absorbed to notice that there are others in the world. Those that care for “what they look like to others”, what shows on the outside with no regard for what is on the inside where it counts. The users, the fakers, those with no spiritual quality or core values.

     Now understand that we all must grow through this plastic part of life, and most do but there are those who never figure this out. When you tailor your persona to suit a perceived situation, you do yourself a disservice. You are hiding your true Self, not only from those around you but from yourself. This creates and internal dichotomy within your emotional and energetic self that is akin to lying. This will cause you to become ill on some level. If done long enough, you will suffer and not understand why.

     Dr Phil said, "The tip for today has to do with your feelings from the inside out. One of the problems that compromises our self-esteem is that we tend to make the mistake of comparing our personal reality with everyone else's social mask. Of course, they're putting their best foot forward. Of course, they are shielding from you their flaws and fallacies. It doesn't mean they don't have them. And if you make that comparison of your reality with their social mask, you're going to lose every time.”

     This is very good advice. People have the tenancy to forget that “things and people are not what they seem.” understand that EVERYONE'S life has ups and downs whether we see them or not. You cannot live your life according to what you think you see in others. Plastic people are always behind a mask, always showing only pretty, shiny, substitutes of themselves.

     Understand that I am speaking of a persona, not the true person. If you meet someone who is exactly what they appear to be; happy, filled with joy and love, caring, you will know because you will feel it. If they are putting up a facade, you will feel that too.

     To be plastic is, in actually, to lie, both to yourself and those around you. This will adversely affect you and your health. Studies have shown that all that fibbing can lead to headaches, sore throats, and feeling sad and stressed. Begin to notice the coloration between what you are projecting and how you feel, this can be a litmus test for you to know how truthful you really are.

     When you reach the time in your life where you can be the real you without shame, guilt or judgment, you will find that you can allow others to be who/what they are and life will shine...like sun through crystal. Bright Blessings, Chessie



“May the entire Universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light. May the light of Truth overcome all darkness! Victory to that Light! Jai!”

BELIEF COMES BEFORE THE MIRACLE

Having  faith first and then seeing the miracle after the event is a story older than time. In the bible we are told that Abraham was to sacrifice his child and was given a ram to kill at the last minute instead of his son. His faith had him ready to do as he was asked by God, the miracle of the ram came after. In the same vane, there were no clouds visible when Noah took up his ax to start work on the ark. There are miraculous happenings in all of the books of faith. You may have even seen a few yourself.

If you have seen or felt something of a miraculous nature, you know that before it happened you truly had belief in its ability to manifest. The truth of the matter is that faith and doubt cannot exist in the same mind at the same time, because one will cancel out the other sort of like one sound wave will cancel out another.

Faith is your confidence and trust in someone or something. It is not based on proof. Rather than fact, it is based on your intuition, feeling, and faith. This is a sixth chakra event. At this level your faith is based on intuition and inner knowing/feeling. This can encompass just about anything from a new found core value to what you feel as sacred. At this level you can allow others their faith in whatever they have faith in.

A miracle is something that surpasses all known/understood human events. And the truth of the matter is that if you do not have faith that it can happen, it will not occur for you.  Miracles are as mundane and everyday as your flower garden and as awesome as the birth of a child, as large as a life changing epiphany and as small as the smile on child's face. A miracle can be a scientific happening or just the intuitive feeling that something is about to happen. But, no matter the source of the event, your belief in the miraculousness of it creates your miracle. You can see them in the changes of the seasons, in the togetherness of friends, the ability to grow into unconditional love, they are all around you. All you need to do is believe.

Bright Blessings, Chessie
© Chessie Roberts 2012, All rights reserved

 “May the entire Universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light. May the light of Truth overcome all darkness! Victory to that Light! Jai!”

TOLERANCE, JUDGMENT, ACCEPTANCE OR LOVE

             TOLLERANCE, JUDGMENT, 

               ACCEPTANCE OR LOVE

                                            © Chessie Roberts 2012, all rights reserved

I seem to notice a lot of labeling and judgment swirling around lately. This person judges something or someone as not worthy of tolerance, and the next person must express their judgment over the first persons lack of tolerance and judge them on that perceived lack. 

Then the two argue about it until the third party decides to judge them both and it starts all over again. Shakespeare said it best in his play Macbeth “Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more: it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” what is the point in attempting to force someone to change a belief or feeling that is really none of your business in the first place?

One of the things I have learned from being on Facebook is that just because one CAN say something, it does not follow that one SHOULD say it. Just because it CAN be said it doesn’t follow that it SHOULD be heard. We get bad news all of the time. That does not mean we should add our energy to the more horrific actions of the perpetrator or the event.

The media likes to keep drama in front of us, the public. The news is full of it and the worse it is, the more times they rehash it, repeating all the ugliness until the entire nation is ill (the 9/11 reports for one) the “game” shows are full of it. The more hate-filled the people on the show are the higher the ratings. Everything is a competition, even the lowly cupcake is now at 'war'. Take the show “Survivor” for instance, in some parts of the world that is an everyday struggle, and we watch it for entertainment? There are shows with children acting out because they lost, brides being nasty to those helping them. Is this really what you want in your life?

Tolerance and acceptance are being bandied about a lot now but I am not sure they are being used in their proper context. Or if anyone truly cares about what the words mean. So I define them for you here.

Tolerance
1) a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own, freedom from bigotry.
2.) a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward opinions and practices that differ from one's own.
3.) interest in and concern for ideas, opinions, practices, etc., foreign to one's own; a liberal, not/un-dogmatic viewpoint.
4.) the act or capacity of enduring; endurance.

Acceptance
1.) the act of taking or receiving something offered.
2.) favorable reception; approval; favor.
3.) the act of assenting or believing: acceptance of a theory.
4.) the fact or state of being accepted or acceptable.

If you can tolerate and accept without;
Judgment
1.) an act or instance of judging.
2.) the ability to judge, make a decision, or form an opinion objectively, authoritatively, and wisely, especially in matters affecting action; good sense; discretion: a man of sound judgment.
3.) the demonstration or exercise of such ability or capacity: The major was decorated for the judgment he showed under fire.
4.) the forming of an opinion, estimate, notion, or conclusion, as from circumstances presented to the mind: Our judgment as to the cause of his failure must rest on the evidence.
5.) the opinion formed: He regretted his hasty judgment.

You can find;
Unconditional love
1) affection with no limits or conditions; complete love.
Notice it has only one definition? Isn't this what we all truly want? When we have so many other important things to spend our energy on; things such as family, love, positivity and grace. Don't you think it's time to do that? Look for goodness, spread tolerance and acceptance? If everyone would put their energy in those directions, I just know that the horrors would stop.

To that end, “May the entire Universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light. May the light of Truth overcome all darkness! Victory to that Light! Jai!” Bright Blessings, Chessie

How Do I Love Unconditionally?

      

        HOW DO I LOVE UNCONDITIONALY

                                            © Chessie Roberts 2012, all rights reserved

1) Change your way of thinking about love, see it as an action rather than a feeling. If you see love as an action, you are rewarded when you feel a certain way based on the way you acted. Because this an action that you choose to take, you can repeat it anytime you wish. You are depending on self, not someone else.

2) Realize that what is a loving act toward one person, may not be so for another. So pay attention to what your best course of action is for the person in front of you. Each person is different so, conversely, your action(s) will be too. For instance; the saying “Hope you're hungry.” can be a friendly invitation to a meal. But under different circumstances can be a very cruel taunt.

3) Sometimes, out of this love with no conditions, you will have to step out of your comfort zone in order to help the other person step out of theirs. We can not stave off discomfort and or pain always. Comfort and love are entirely two different things, one is not predicated upon the other so that we may evolve as human beings.

4) Because of the “un” prefix, you must give this love without expectation nor can you pick and chose to whom or what you extend your unconditional actions or affection. Because this is not a one size fits all kind of thing, you will have to step back and decide first what is best for you. You can't be in a space of love if you are out sync with your own core values.

5) Now here is the one that will make you think I have lost my mind...forgive. Forgive them, the event and yourself. Forgiveness is not something we do, it is something we are. I don't mean be a door mat, I mean not holding on to those black thoughts and feelings that will obscure you ability to love.

6) Last, wake up and pay attention to how you feel. The feeling of unconditional love will lift you to heights you never thought possible, it will never leave you feeling down, drained or upset. The more you practice all of this the easier it becomes and the longer it lasts. Remember it is an experiential process...you have to do it to experience it....to experience it is to desire to share it! Namaste, Chessie


“May the entire Universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light. May the light of Truth overcome all darkness! Victory to that Light! Jai!”

PRAY, WISH, MAGIC

                       PRAY, WISH, MAGIC
                                                © Chessie Roberts all rights reserved 2012

In my studies I have run into debates over what is more acceptable, to pray, wish or to use magic. I ask why do we need to choose? I feel that they are really all one and the same. I think this because we are told by sage and prophet alike that all is one, separation is an illusion.

Let's look at the semantics for just a moment.
We'll start with the word “Wish” meaning to “Feel or express a strong desire or hope for something that is not easily attainable; want something that cannot or probably will not happen. A desire or hope for something to happen. Request.

Next is Prayer, prayer A solemn request for help or expression of thanks addressed to God or an object of worship. An expectation of supernatural intervention by a deity.

Now, Magic; The power of apparently influencing the course of events by using mysterious or supernatural forces.
Last; Supernatural; of, pertaining to, characteristic of, or attributed to God or a deity. direct influence or action of a deity on earthly affairs.

Now let's examine the path; Wish= Request, Request=prayer, Prayer =supernatural intervention by a deity, Supernatural=direct influence or action of a deity on earthly affairs.

Therefore, I have to ask, why spend time, energy and judgment attempting to decide the “best or more correct” when all is one?

Bright Blessings Chessie


“May the entire Universe be filled with Peace and Joy, Love and Light. May the light of Truth overcome all darkness! Victory to that Light! Jai!”