By Dr. Victor Schueller | Brain and mind
“According to ongoing research, we separate the wheat from the chaff by shutting down some memories, at least temporarily, to allow that one chosen treasure to resurface. In short, we forget, so we can remember.”
Read more here:
Human Brain Has Built in ‘Web Browser’ to Handle Sensory Overload, Says Research – ABC News.
By Dr. Victor Schueller | Brain and mind
I was recently researching the impact of stress on people in the workplace, and I stumbled upon this very interesting statistic: According to the CCH 2007 Unscheduled Absence Survey, “Two-thirds of U.S. workers who call in sick at the last minute do so for reasons other than physical illness,” and thirteen percent of those who call in sick at the last minute call in because of stress!
No doubt, this thirteen percent is costing companies a lot of money, and people are still sitting at home and still stressed. Nothing improves. What is it about us that causes us to be so incapacitated by stress that we feel we can’t go on, and that we need those “mental health days” off from work to try to cope? Our stress response itself is the body’s way of coping with stress. But, what is stress?
“Stress” is a shortened version of the word “distress.” Stress is essentially “distress.” What is causing the distress? In my humble opinion, I believe the distress is caused by a person’s fear…A person is experiencing fear day after day, hour after hour, and this prolonged fearful state causes distress. So, in other words, our fear is causing our distress!
In his book, The Emotional Brain, Joseph LeDoux talks about two different types of fear. One type of fear is the “real” fear — the fear that causes you to soil yourself because a bear is chasing you and your life is indeed in peril. This type of fear is that true fear that is necessary for self preservation. However, there is another type of fear, which LeDoux refers to as a “red herring,” because although it is fear, it is not a fear caused by a possible loss of life. It’s caused by fear of a loss of a job, money, power, control, or some other non-life-threatening factor. Even though one’s life isn’t in peril, the body still acts as if it were. The result of this non-life-threatening factor is the same short-term stress response.
So what does this fear do? It serves the ego. The ego thrives on attachments to “things.” It loves to have possessions, because then it can convince the body to fight to preserve the attachment to whatever it is it fears losing. To live out of this automatic, hard-wired, reflexive operational state of being is to live life through the ego, continually responding to fear, and continually throwing the body into an emotional reaction to the fear the person experiences. To live through the ego is to cause suffering due to what Eckart Tolle calls a “pain body.” This “pain body” is a shadow of the ego — it is the suffering which is caused due to living through the ego.
So how do we come full circle? Let’s give it a shot — Get rid of the ego, and you’ll get rid of the attachment to “things;” get rid of the attachment, and you’ll eliminate the fear of losing those “things.” Once you eliminate your fear and the ego, the “pain body” will go away, and so will the stress response.
This seems to make sense, but then again, what can someone do to eliminate the fear and the ego? Here are some of my recommendations. First off, look at the source of the fear. Is the fear caused by something that is life threatening? Just building a conscious awareness of your feelings is huge. I know that when I start feeling my body’s reaction to my stress hormones, which usually is sensing that my heart is racing and I feel that twinge of resentment, envy, or anger, I step back and think about what is causing this reaction. I ask myself, “Am I going to die as a result of these circumstances?”
If the answer is “no,” then I start talking myself down, reminding myself that I am physically responding to my emotions, and I tell myself there is nothing to fear; everything is okay. I also ask myself if I am attached to something, which is causing this reaction. Am I attached to some sort of sense of power or control? Am I fearful of losing control over a situation? Again, just building that conscious awareness of my thoughts and feelings makes a big difference.
If you’re one of that thirteen percent that is letting stress get the better of you, maybe you could take some time to analyze what is causing your stress. Is it a perpetual fear of something? More accurately, is it a perpetual fear of losing something, or fear of losing an attachment to something? Is your ego getting the best of you? By getting in touch with the source of your emotions, you may discover the source of your stress, and then perhaps you’ll be in a better position to handle and then eliminate it. Just a thought… 🙂
If you want more tips and strategies for quieting the ego, I highly recommend checking out my free publication, “Mediocre No More,” which provides insight on the fear mechanism and its relation to the ego, as well as my “Antidote to the Mediocre Mind,” which is aimed at subsiding the fear caused by attachments and the ego. Just fill in the information at the top of the screen, and it will be yours! 🙂
Photo source: freedigitalphotos.net
By Dr. Victor Schueller | belief systems
I was at a conference in California last year, and I was talking with a group of people after the first day of the conference had come to an end. We were hanging out in the hotel bar…I can’t remember what I had said to one of the people in the group, but it had to do with her willingness to physically do something that I would have categorized as rather “silly” in front of the other members of the group. Perhaps alcohol had something to do with it. 🙂
Her response to me was this: “You’re from the Midwest, aren’t you?” Shocked that she was dead on (I live in Wisconsin), I responded with, “Yes…How did you know?”
She responded by saying, “Because you care about what other people think.”
Now, whether she button-holed me into a stereotype or not, she was right — I did care about what other people thought of me. There is no way I would have done anything “silly” like that in front of people I didn’t know. No way.
I still struggle with this…Do you? I still have that little voice in the back of my mind, saying something like, “Yes, but what will other people think?” I have gotten a lot better at quieting that little voice over the past year, and I have gotten much better at saying some not so pleasant things to it, to get it to stay quiet!
Regardless of where we live, the fact remains the same: sometimes we worry about what other people think. Sometimes we worry about whether people will approve of us or not, and our worries about garnering this approval from others sometimes suppresses our true selves from being revealed. Simply put, sometimes we worry more about loving other people rather than loving ourselves.
Why do we seek validation from others? Our brains are designed to make us want to be part of the group. It’s actually painful to be isolated from others! That’s a big reason why. The other reason? I think it’s because to be accepted boosts our self esteem and morale. However, to rely on outside validation to boost our self esteem, according to Vipin Mehta, is to rely on what is called “false” self esteem. It’s self esteem that comes from outside sources, rather than “true” self esteem, which stems from self validation and self love.
If we simply spend more time working on excavating new treasures within us, rather than seeking approval from others, we’ll have a lifetime of lessons to learn. It sure it takes a lot of work, but the rewards are substantial — just like an archaeologist has to work hard to dig and find the buried treasures in the earth, we have to work hard to uncover the subconscious glory that resides within each of us — the greatness that lies buried and covered with all the conscious beliefs and perceptions we have laid over the top.
So it’s time to get started — it’s time to focus on loving ourselves. If we love ourselves and continue to unearth the hidden treasures buried within us, we won’t have to worry about what other people say or do. It just doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that we learn how to love ourselves and love how great we really are inside. We just need to take the time to find the greatness that lies within each of us.
It’s time to seek validation from within! It’s time to dig out those treasures that reside within us, ready to enrich our lives with the love and greatness that is inside! It’s there — we just have to keep digging. Love yourself, and the rest doesn’t matter.
P.S. Have you signed up for the “Coming Back To Life” e-Course? Click on the link below to find out more, as well as how you can save $30 when you sign up today!
Photo source: freedigitalphotos.net
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By Dr. Victor Schueller | belief systems
E=mc² — Ask almost anyone who is an adult and they will recognize this equation. We attribute that equation to the great Albert Einstein, and when we think of this equation, we usually think of an application related to physics. Did you know that this equation can also be used as a determinant of whether you live a life of continual suffering, complaining, worrying, anger, frustration, and resentment, or whether you live a life of continual love, abundance, compassion, empathy, fulfillment, happiness, and gratitude? Well, it’s true!
Take some time to look at what activities in which you find yourself engaged. Do you spend your time complaining about things which with you do not agree? Do you stand back and look at all the bad things that are happening to you, completely powerless to the circumstances in which you find yourself?
There was a time where I didn’t see the world as I do now. There was a time when it felt good to tease other people. There was a time when it felt good to judge and criticize others. There was a time when I got myself so stressed out about thinking about the past, and worrying about the future. There was also a time when my life was just miserable, with much suffering and unhappiness, and I wondered why other people seemed to have “everything” just fall into place, while I couldn’t enjoy those same things. I wondered why some people enjoyed so much abundance, while I just scraped by with very little. I wondered, “How could other people find so much happiness?”
Now, having the benefit of hindsight and perspective, I realize that the reason why I was not finding happiness in my life was because my life was a reflection of the activities in which I was invested. I’m not proud of how I spent my time complaining, criticizing, judging, and teasing others. Not at all. “Things” would happen to me all the time — unfortunate “things,” and then I got angry about it…I complained about those “things,” feeling powerless to change anything. I was a victim of circumstance, and I was a complaining, criticizing, judging, and miserable soul.
My life was a product of my investment of energy…
E=mc²
When you look at this equation, the “E” stands for “energy;” the “m” stands for “mass;” the “c” stands for “the speed of light.” When balancing an equation, when a value increases on the left side of the “equals” sign, you need to increase the value on the right side by the same amount. Because the speed of light is considered a constant, we only can play with the values of the “energy” and the “mass.”
We are energy at our most fundamental level. Our bodies are energy, and our thoughts are energy. By investing increasing the energy related to complaining, criticizing and judging, I was increasing the “E” on the left side of the equation. This means that the “m” has to increase on the right side. When I invested my energy in these types of behaviors, I was growing them (in mass)! It’s no wonder why my life was reflecting back to me all the negativity and “dark” energy!
If we invest in complaining and criticizing and judging, we grow that. If we invest in being loving, compassionate, generous, and empathic, we will grow that.
It’s time to look at your emotional investment portfolio…When you look at what you have been “investing,” is it consistent with what you have been “getting?” Remember, we were meant to be loving, compassionate, and empathic. The easiest way to make those positive qualities grow is to “invest” in them by modeling what you want to come back to you!
Invest wisely! Invest positively! It surely is a worthy investment.
P.S. Thanks to Dianne Collins, Author of Do You Quantum Think, for teaching me this wonderful fundamental concept! 🙂
Photo source: freedigitalphotos.net
By Dr. Victor Schueller | Brain and mind
Caffeinated subjects were able to spot positive words, such as “happy,” more accurately than negative or neutral words by seven percent. Read more by clicking the link below:
By Dr. Victor Schueller | Brain and mind
My younger daughter is three and a half years old now…How time absolutely flies! One of the things I enjoy most about my time with her is her youthful enthusiasm and vigor. Like I often say, “Everything she says is a ‘proclamation.'” She wears her heart on her sleeves, and she is a passionate young girl. I just love that about her — the passion in her eyes and in her voice.
One thing I have also noticed about this sensitive soul is that she cares a great deal about what other people think. It’s not unusual for her to remark as we get her dressed in the morning about how people are going to think the clothes she wears are going to “look funny” or how “people are going to laugh” at her outfit. For the life of me, I don’t get where this comes from, because we certainly don’t discuss those things or encourage that type of thinking in our home. From such a young age she has shown this concern about the future.
To me, the most remarkable part of it all is the early stage in which the ego takes hold — she had to have been showing this side at around the time she turned three years old. I just never would have thought that it would manifest itself that early. It just goes to show that the conscious mind starts to take hold at an early age, and unless we awaken to what it does within us, it may never surrender its control over us!
As I had mentioned in a previous post, the ego loves time travel. The ego loves to live in the past and the future. After all, it is only in the past and the future that the ego can survive in the first place. The ego loves to rub our noses in our mistakes and difficulties of the past — it loves to remind us of our insufficiencies and shortcomings. It loves to make us feel uncomfortable about our inadequacies, doesn’t it? The ego also loves to “scare” us about our future…Even if the future looks bright, we have that nagging voice somewhere inside, reminding us that it’s only when things are going great that we are hit with an unexpected setback or unfortunate incident. “We can’t be happy for long,” it reminds us.
So, now that we’ve developed some great reasons for why the ego doesn’t do us any good, let’s look at what we can do to keep it a bit quieter, or to just shut it up for once. One of the easiest ways to shut the ego down is to stop living out the past and stop obsessing and worrying about the future. Remember, the ego doesn’t exist in the present.
The focus in quieting the ego is to live in the present — to enjoy the now, and let the now rule your daily activities. Don’t worry about what happened in the past or what may happen in the future. Give your full attention to the now.
Now, you may be thinking, “Sure, Victor, this sounds so great, but it’s not that easy, especially for me, who needs a little guidance in how to make this happen.” I understand, and even more, I can help provide you with the guidance you seek! 🙂 It’s a nifty little trick, and it’s easy to do! It’s all about what I call “prayers.”
Many times, when we “pray,” we throw out a “hope” for something to happen (or not happen) in the future, right? We “pray” by saying something like, “Please give me the strength to stand up to people when they are negative.” This is a great “hope,” but let me ask you this — by asking for something to occur in the future, are you staying in the present, or are you providing your ego with the chance to step in and sabotage your hope and prayer, simply by suggesting how the negativity will get to you eventually? In case you hadn’t figured it out, of course this is playing into the ego’s hands.
That’s the “problem,” if you want to call it that, with praying for something to happen in the future. It serves the ego. Instead of praying for something to (or not to) happen, may I suggest an alternative that quiets the ego and lets it know it is not welcome anymore…
Try one of these:
“I love it when I feel confident in myself even though I am surrounded by negativity.”
“I am so grateful I can pass along love and compassion to others who seem to need it from me.”
“I enjoy the opportunity to find solutions to problems and let my true greatness shine though.”
“I love how I feel when I allow my inner greatness to rise to the surface and shine out toward others.”
“I feel confident in myself and I love myself, and I love how it feels when I love myself and believe in myself.”
They don’t sound like “prayers,” but they are — they are prayers that help you stay in the present, and avoid feeding the ego. The last thing the ego wants is for you to dissolve it or render it useless. It’s going to kick and scream until you give it attention — it wants you to beat yourself up over mistakes of the past, or obsess and worry about what may happen in the future.
Stay in the present; love the present; love who you are in the present. Continue to let the greatness that resides within you come through! You are great, and by remaining present in your prayer, you will have the opportunity to bask in the love you have for yourself. Love who you are first, and the rest of the world around you doesn’t matter.
Let your greatness shine through! You are great, so remind yourself in the present how great you are! Let your light shine!
By Dr. Victor Schueller | Brain and mind
A very interesting article/interview with Deepak Chopra — Chopra shares some insights on new research on the brain and how we can use the power of the brain to change and reinvent ourselves. The article is below:
Chopra: Reinventing the brain is closer than you think – CNN.com.
By Dr. Victor Schueller | Brain and mind
As a rule, there are two topics I don’t discuss publicly, especially on my Facebook page, or my website — I don’t talk religion or politics (and many of you would say that’s probably a good thing). Don’t worry, because while I will mention the election, I am just using it to set the stage for my post today. 🙂
On Tuesday, I was waiting in line to cast my vote. I was sandwiched between two people who apparently knew each other, and I heard this exchange:
Person 1 to Person 2: “Hey, how are you doing?”
Person 2 to Person 1: “Oh, hi! I’m doing alright. How about you?”
Person 1 to Person 2: “Alright…Another day…”
Person 2 to Person 1: “That’s right…Another day…”
It was just a quick snapshot, but as the conversation sunk in, I couldn’t help but think to myself, “Just another day?”
Every day is a gift…Cherish it…
Every day is an opportunity to learn something new…Grow from it…
Every day is a new beginning…Write your life story…
Every day is a challenge…Be victorious…
Every day is an opportunity to change someone else’s life…Be loving and compassionate…
Every day is a blessing…Every day contains opportunity…
What are you going to do with your day today? Is it going to just be “another day?”
I know I am going to make the most out of my day, and every day to come. How about you?
By Dr. Victor Schueller | belief systems
One of the things I love about watching my children (and other children too) is their lack of inhibition. They love to sing, dance, draw, color, laugh, tease, and experiment. I love the innocence of young children — how everything is new and exciting. It’s such a treat to be able to have a conversation with my younger daughter, because I can witness first hand the life, vigor, and enthusiasm she shares for so many experiences in her life! I just love it!
Children are so absolutely awesome — without realizing. Their naivete and newness to the ways of the world reveals a pure image of their subconscious. It’s like looking through clear water at the bottom of a river. You can see what lies below, free of any murky sediment or overgrown vegetation. We can learn so much from children, yet many times we simply laugh about how credulous they can be at times, or simply humor their enthusiasm for newly-made life discoveries, because we just plain know better, or have seen it all already. I’ve been guilty of both, and I could stand to take another look at the pureness of the innocence of youth, as I attempt to discover some of that same awesomeness that resides inside of me.
We all are truly awesome, deep within. At our most basic and most fundamental level, there is a true awesomeness that resides in all of us, just waiting to be rediscovered. Within us all is someone who is loving, compassionate, truthful, empathetic and generous. Within us all is an aspect of the divine — that absolutely perfect model of a person we would love to be.
It’s there, just waiting to be discovered — within me; within you; within all of us. The problem is that years of conditioning have led us to believe that we are something else besides awesome. We have been led to believe that our egos run the show. Our self image and attachments define who we are, along with how we have chosen to react to life’s circumstances. Our trials and tribulations have “hardened” us and have taught us valuable lessons. We have suffered through heartache and disappointment, only to come out of these difficult times believing that we are better because of it.
Are we really better because of the adversity we have faced? Would we be just as strong and resilient if we had not suffered through difficulties? It’s hard to say, because we can’t create alternative universes to test whether or not that would be the case. All we are left to do is realize that our life experiences have shaped our beliefs and how we feel about the circumstances we have faced, we currently face, and will face in the future.
Unlike children, whose subconscious lies clearly below the water, our subconscious lies buried beneath years of debris and dirt; beneath overgrown vegetation and murky water. Our conscious minds along with the ego have assumed control, telling us about how we either are above average when compared to others or not worthy of being around some other people. The result? We end up hurting other people and hurting ourselves, simply because we desire to give the ego what it wants. The problem is the ego is never happy — it’s never satisfied!
Our conscious minds create clutter for us — a distraction from our true and authentic selves. We deserve better. After all, we are better!
What reality are we creating for ourselves? What are we leading ourselves to believe? What are you telling yourself about yourself? Are you telling yourself that there is pure awesomeness inside of you, or are you telling yourself that your days of being awesome are over, just like your childhood?
What beliefs that were handed to you during your childhood are you still carrying with you today? Are you saying and doing the same things that your parents and other adult role models did? Are those words and deeds productive and beneficial? Are they bringing out the awesomeness within you, or are they feeding your ego, helping it muddy up the waters?
What are you saying to yourself? What are you believing? Is it time to re-write the script of your life with more productive and positive reminders of the greatness that lies within you? Is it time to believe that you can do anything you choose to accept as true?
It’s time to clean up the water — it’s time to believe in yourself again. It’s time to find the awesomeness that lies within you, just waiting to be rediscovered — and uncovered! It’s easy to get started. All you need to do is believe that there is greatness within you, and start finding it by practicing love and compassion, directed at anyone who is going through the human experience.
Be loving — be compassionate. Walk a mile in another person’s shoes…Practice gratitude for the blessings you have come to experience in your life. Make the shift to positivity and contemplating what’s possible. You can get what you want in life when you are your awesome self.
It’s time to again be awesome — without realizing. It’s time to uncover the great you! It’s your time! Go and be awesome!
P.S. My guest on last week’s radio show, Melody Fletcher, wrote an article about what we say to ourselves. I invite and encourage you to check it out. It’s a great piece! You can access it by clicking HERE!
By Dr. Victor Schueller | Brain and mind
This is a great article in the Huffington Post about how exercise can really benefit your brain, especially in the long haul.
The link is below:
Exercise Could Improve Your Brain Functioning, Study Suggests.