[gDGwm8BC]

she’s baaacck….. hey folks! well… i am just sharing… it may be of usefulness… maybe not. maybe folks will have commentary.

it is all well and good to say, “don’t worry, be happy”… but how do you do that? are folks into the concept of changing your state of mind? if you believe that is possible, how do you do that and how does it work?

introduce new theory… ha! ...well who knows if its new… but i did just think it up, but it could be somewhere else. your processing power for directing and creating your reality is like your “car” for getting from one place to another. your emotions are like the gears of that car. (btw, my “car”, in this example, has an automatic transmission.)

rightly or wrongly, i feel all the emotions have a proper and functioning place in moving through the “gears” to get your car moving and to a final destination. some emotions seem better for speed and movement (say maybe joy, passion, contentment).

some seem to be for pause or change of direction like neutral or reverse (say doubt or fear/ caution)

some seem better for uphill power climbs; a lower gear, but that, i feel does not make them “bad” emotions. deep sadness, for example, is one i will often willingly choose to go into if i have some “big” issue i am not getting movement on with the “higher” gears: i need to go deeper and slower (this is a processing “power” gear… not speed) to really find, locate/ get to the blockage/ forgotten info.

sooo. how’s that transmission looking? are you changing gears to fit the situation you find yourself in? we all know every gear has a proper place… you don’t go down highways in 2nd gear, nor up mountains at 60 mph with a tow load. and life has mountains. i am sorry i find it hard to judge the emotions good/bad by looking at one and picking it out in particular and separate from the others (ex. anger)… it is just a gear in my transmission… maybe one i don’t use or travel along in very often, but it is a gear nonetheless.

[how many times do you shift through neutral to get to all the action gears like reverse or drive? it does not mean you have a love of neutral. to harp on this… i feel anger is just focused intensity misaligned (or misperceived). how many times have you just been passionate about something and someone thought you were “angry” and personally attacking them?]

your overall “average speed” (emotional state) is probably what people look at when they say, “you are happy” or “you seem down”. no one takes an average from the fact that you did go in reverse for a few minutes to get out of that parking space…

anyhow this is my latest “emotions” theory…. now how do we change our gears? how do we upshift and downshift as necessary to accomidate the changing landscape of our life and reality? anyone got any ideas? of course, i have a theory on that too! but i’ll see if there is any interest in this concept and/or if others feel any usefulness from this idea. (i mustn’t make overly lengthy posts!)

peace and love

darlyne

[scewLacysmazy]

my car is herbie the love bug!

[Nmoitmzr]

i love it! more, more!

one thing i like about your theory is that it fits so nicely with all the wisdom i have been blessed to learn from native american elders. from that viewpoint, even the earth goes through emotions. the earth goes through periods of deep silence when there is little activity in nature, and most plants and trees sleep for months on end. we call it “winter,” and i am told by native american wisdom that it is a time of rest and turning inward for contemplation. during that “depression” of winter seeds lie in the soil, resting and gathering strength for their explosive new growth come springtime. emotions are natural

two facts are clear about all emotions.

(1) they are part of our most basic bio-engineering equipment, put there to deliberately help us survive in our natural environment.

(2) human civilization is an artificial environment, so different from our natural environment that our emotions are often a misfit with today’s environment. that means, in short, our emotions can easily become a problem, either to us or to someone else. but the problem is not with emotions, per se. the problem is with the misfit with the civilization we have created together.

one way our human emotions can become a problem to us happens when we sit in harsh judgment on them. if we criticize ourselves (or others) for being angry, for instance, we are missing the point. if anger is a deep habit and gets in our way, there is a time and place when we learned that habit of anger, and we are best served by figuring it out and "un-learning" it.

in a nutshell, we are most apt to come down on one side of the fence or another: we see our emotions as our enemy, or we see our emotions are our friend. in the fundamentalist christian community where i grew up, we were all taught that anger is a "sin" and will send you straight to hell. nonsense. in fact, anger is the natural product of brain chemicals called "norepinephrine" and chemicals produced by the adrenal glands. if there is a person somewhere without *any* anger at all, the creator must have forgotten to give them adrenal glands and to put norepinephrine in the brain.

of course anger can become a problem. that's obvious. what is not so obvious, in modern civilization, is that anger can also be a solution. i have a sheet of paper taped to my wall with a quote by someone named neese (i have only a partial citation, since i got it in a book on famous quotes), with the date 1991. it says in big, bold, letters:

"anger prevents exploitation."

what does that tell us? i urge anyone to think carefully when someone tells you that you must not be angry. what is that person’s agenda? in the fundamentalist church where i grew up, the agenda was plain and obvious – “control.” the problem is, the instant you begin to think you have control over another person, in that same instant you become that person’s slave. it is that much of a delusion.

one thing that has always deeply puzzled me in "new age" circles is the extreme discontinuity i see between the two common statements: "don't judge," and "anger is a ba-a--a-ad emotion."

i would like for someone who knows to tell us what the loo says about judging, because i am new to it and i do not know. what i do know is that my studies of qabala tell me that the entire purpose of being in the 3d physical plane is to learn “judgment.” that is an old term, and my understanding of it is, to learn how correctly to make distinctions between one thing and another. the key is to make distinctions “correctly.” deciding that x person or y group of people are the cause of all my problems is not a correct distinction. rather, it is paranoia, of the type that david describes on his site (don’t have the citation, sorry). if you don’t judge at all, how then do you figure out the difference between northbound and southbound when you get on the freeway? anyone who says, “ah, it doesn’t matter, because all freeways are one anyway – i’ll just go this way!” will learn very quickly – and probably in the next dimension - that it does matter!

sorry for going on so long, darlyne, but good clear thinking gets me excited. yes, is an emotion. no, i shall not let it control me - or i might never stop writing.

great post – thanks!

[TeemFilla]

yep that helped, from both of you

[gDGwm8BC]

one thing that has always deeply puzzled me in "new age" circles is the extreme discontinuity i see between the two common statements: "don't judge," and "anger is a ba-a--a-ad emotion."

oooohhh! :d *snap* (crackle and pop!)

yeah there is a lot of stuff bout the "new age" that always had me blinking in disbelief. yes, native/ indigenous peoples are very grounded and connected to the earth. from watching balance and healthy nature i do feel we can learn many things.

hugs to “herbie the love bug”

[gDGwm8BC]

let me just say as a clarity, i am not interested in "convincing" anyone of the useful or non usefulness of my mere ideas. i had written or conceptualized most of this post and the top post, 2 weeks ago and had dropped it. it did not seem to be useful. i got a dream day or so ago about how "i was late". so, to cover my bases, i decided to complete what was started and let universe cast me where it will.

the transmission fluid is love. the oil for your engine (will) is love. the clearer, the more balanced your internal self love pressure levels, the better, smoother and faster your shifting. others who have taken “shortcuts”, cannot compensate for this. you, with love, will not strip you gears, and be locked in only certain ones. (stripped gears are repairable with work and love.) if you love and respect (and forgive) yourself, you will naturally understand to love and respect (and forgive) others… therefore your gear shifts will be appropriate and full access to all gears allowed.

so what is the first question?

why are you doing this? is it to heal yourself? is it to put yourself in a better place to be of service or healing to someone else? good questions that raise the fluid levels to the proper pressure level.

next, what emotion are you stuck in: identify it…. clearly. if it is several, pick one emotion for each one particular aspect of a situation.

now, where do you want to go? sometimes, i have used a scale to determine where i want to go when i have tough, repeating, cyclical thoughts that keep reinforcing an emotional pattern that i need to break, usually pertaining to a particular problem. everyone has an idea of where emotions fall on a “scale”… pull up this internal understanding (or web search for “emotional scale” if you need help)

note: scales are linear (which i always had a bit of a problem with but it’s a place to start), whereas emotional landscapes are, i feel, more like territories. this is why, in my experience, it is possible to go from any gear to any gear as they all touch at a central point. (perhaps present). is time a line or a flat plane? or a full 3d landscape (expanding sphere)? i put forth emotions are the same way… however, it is useful to start with lines in the beginning.
---------------------------------------------------------

so, let’s pick something for examples’ sake. let’s say hate to boredom. they seem to be close on the line: an easy “shift”.

say one feels very hateful about a situation or person. what one can do is this… catch whatever thought is about to trigger another “hateful” wave…. now, this is important: what thought or question can you ask yourself about that exact thought that will make you bored about the thought instead of hateful?

example: hateful thought: “this place/ person is so confining, controlling!”
new bored thought “wow, this place/ person really has a need to show off… and it’s the same show everyday.”

that is the work
-you notice the thought that proceeds the emotion. log it.
-determine (ask yourself questions) what the thought would be if the emotion to come were different (say boredom). log that.
- when the old emotion thought comes up before or right as you start to feel hate, ask yourself your newly discovered questions that lead to thoughts that produce boredom and commit to it! you have just shifted gears!

you may have to do this several times but eventually you will be “stabilized” in boredom with that issue. then pick a new topic or stay with that one and choose a new emotion that has more usefulness to you now. the mind can get stuck shifting into certain gears on things and this is a nice gentle way of retraining it consciously.

well… this is long but mostly complete. a few other things i would have added… i will allow the good spirit to flow in any other pieces that may be useful as each needs. perhaps some of you others have additions or observations that may also be of use to all? do share! thank you for your presence,

peace and love

darlyne

[Nmoitmzr]

darlyne, you are on a solid track. your theory happens to fit very nicely with something therapists call rational emotive behavior therapy, which *also* focuses on the thought that causes the emotional upset.

the difference is that you include the spiritual aspect, love.

i like it for its practical application. any thoughts about publishing it?

i also agree with you about native americans and being grounded.

[hereiamguy]

hate or boredom

there seems to be a clear distinction between hate and boredom in this case. hate implies that something or someone has you interested enough for you to have this emotion in the first place and therefore direct your energy towards it.

boredom is a lack of interest and implies the non-existance of an object so who or what would you be directing the energy to? can you shift from hate to boredom or would you have to stop and go into neutral or into the centre somewhere along the line?

is boredom an emotion or a state of no emotion?

i've been thinking about taking up driving again recently but reading all this has made me change my mind as i always speed and am a menace on the road. thanks for reminding me!

love to all
ds

[hereiamguy]

i wanted to add that the only time i drive well is in my dreams. they always start off with me driving like a maniac, going too fast or too slow, tearing round corners or going up and down mountains as if i'm on a rollercoaster. at some point i give up, take my hands off the steering wheel and my feet off all the pedals and just allow myself to be driven to wherever i'm going by the car. it's great! a relaxing way to observe and enjoy the landscape.

love to all
ds

[gDGwm8BC]

hate or boredom
boredom is a lack of interest and implies the non-existance of an object so who or what would you be directing the energy to? can you shift from hate to boredom or would you have to stop and go into neutral or into the centre somewhere along the line?

you are directing the thought to yourself. you are directing thought to yourself to help change the way you feel. the point is being able to change the way you feel, to get unstuck. boredom may not be the goal, but once you see you can get out of hate for a person you "see" through your filter differently. if boredom is not really an emotion you personally connect to... pick a different one to shift to.

the choice of emotions (hate to boredom) was random. it seems to be recomended to start with emotions that are close to each other since it could seem hard to just jump to "unconditional love". if you are really feeling hate about a job or a person, it is hard sometimes to "just feel love" and stay in that space and stablilize.

hello, deerclan. your thoughts are very considerate. if i really felt that info like this would actually be helpful... i am sure i would get my stuff together and do something with it. i am not lazy. however, there is a part of me that does not believe that many people want such ideas...there is a great value placed on the inability to go from one emotion to the other. it appearently means the emotion is "real". so the timing seems off. i admit, perhaps it is just me that is "off"!

back to ds. see next post.

what a beautiful image of a hands off car driven by spirit! it just seems like so many people have their gears shifted by life... external circumstance... there is little room for god to get in there and do any driving. i think i will try to have your dream too! i do that when i turn something over to god because i feel there is nothing i can do in a situation.... it is beyond me.... and it is one of the most freeing feelings in the world. but i don't do it very often... maybe i should.

well... blessings to everyone,

darlyne

edit added: well that was a whiny post from me! “no one really wants/ likes this info (boo hoo)”

… really, i can be very upfront, hard hitting and pull no punch. i am intense and i just need to learn to be more relaxed and gentle. i … i’ve just got a drill sergeant habit with spirit stuff sometimes. i’ve seen too many friends trying to “tap out” of the final round of this good fight and i haven’t had time to do anything but yell “get up!” or they were going to be out, permanently. alas, lower intensity is a skill i am working on.

[gDGwm8BC]

so back to our gear shifting example. automatic shfiting

many folks shift “automatically” w/o awareness.

situation “a” means i feel emotion “x”… (which leads to a certain specific outcome). if you do not have the option to make anything other then pre-programmed shifts, your options (outcomes) may be limited.

what if there were a moment before we shifted where we could choose with spirit the best gear (emotion) to process in-- at this moment? a chance to tune in and ask, “ i am trying to go here (the place we ultimate want to arrive), what gear do a flow into for that?”

here, could be, “i need to understand or be at peace with ____.”
“i need to be of service.” or “i need to keep going!” etc.

sometimes you will just be still and you will be told what you need. but how will you do that if you cannot create a space of be still first?

many gears (emotions) may be clamoring for your attention, but… do we always by default let anger go when we first feel it? sometimes you will know you need to slow down, go deep, other times you will feel you can just choose to feel ok about whatever, no deep processing necessary… that, that is just your mind (subconscious program?) telling you that you need to process it another way.

once you know how to shift your own gears you can choose to be open to that intuition and flow. when spirit says, “let it go.” (or visa versa) you can. that becomes an option for you and a totally doable one.

that is more the point of learning to shift your own gears so you are more available to spirit's requests. when god says, "please let your anger towards that person go", you can. when god says, "you have cried enough now, stop that." you can. when god says, "that was painful for you, stop, rest, go deep and be still for a while and i will watch things".... you can.

it is a gift, a blessing to me.... i just wondered if it might be useful for anyone else, too. i hope if others have anything to add... their thoughts or feelings or information, that they feel free to share it as well. together, we can create a full picture... i surely do not have all the information... but i am willing to share what i do know and have experienced.

love to you all,

darlyne

[Liskaspexia]

an evocative analogy! but my mind gravitated immediately to the clutch. in the automatic transmission, the powertrain control module computer (modern cars, of course) contains software algorithms that control shift points and many other aspects of operation, like the degree of "slip" of the fluid clutch, most notably torque converter lock-up where slip is eliminated (commonly called, overdrive). high-performance trannies utilize differently tuned algorithms to maximize torque conversion and power transfer, especially in concert with engine control algorithms.

then there's the older style manual trans. you pushed on a pedal that operated a spring-loaded lever system that pressed together or separated spinning disks, some attached to the motor shaft, and others attached to the gearbox. letting the pedal spring back by taking your foot off of it brought the two sets of disks together, which connected the motor shaft disks to the gearbox disks; let off a little and only a little power gets through; let off too fast at too low an engine speed and you'd stall the engine. let off the pedal too little (i.e. ride the clutch) at high enough engine speed and you'd burn up the clutch.

the analogy is evocative, though i'm not sure how to flesh it out according to the example you've set. i like the automatic trans because you can program it to a great degree, because i like the idea that you can program/train your self/psyche to function automatically while you steer, brake, and open/close throttle--which are perhaps most important to driving.

however, for me the analogy breaks down where will (the engine) drives the emotional nature (trans). i thought of the clutch when someone mentioned about being aware of a rising emotion and seemed to suggest letting it rise, where i immediately thought of disengaging the clutch to starve the rising emotion of the power it would use to disturb consciousness.

like you, though, i don't consider any of the emotions dispensable. what i consider generally unnecessary is the disturbance they can cause at high power levels, i guess because i'm usually thinking. i get useful information from their coming and going. the higher intensity emotional states are certainly useful at times. and, yes, i can raise and lower them at will (it's the same kind of thing that actors do, right?). i prefer to coax them into low to medium intensity ranges, but i can spur them to maximum levels, too--but it makes me uncomfortable to lose my mind like that.

i did stumble upon a practical application, though. i very much dislike the dentist's needle (any needle poke, really). i found that if i raised a moderate level of anger beforehand that the shock/pain of the needle was greatly lessened! it made me consider that "angry people" may have unconsciously happened upon the same realization that i had in the dentist's chair: anger mitigates pain. and, therefore, therapies meant to make people less angry may well increase the intensity of their experience of pain. i don't like to use the word, "suffering", in this context because by my understanding of the language "suffering" is a generic term; that is, we can suffer joy as well as sorrow. "suffering" is simply "experiencing", or "allowing".

another gem from the dentist's chair, if i might. at 18 years of age i was fairly adept at self-hypnosis. they were going to charge me almost $100 for the two syringes of novacain they thought would be necessary to drill an eyetooth for filling. i was on my own and didn't want to spend the bucks, so i asked for five minutes by myself in the chair to prepare the requisite trance state. it was a fascinating experience! vivid color patterns danced about in my mind as the drilling proceeded. there was sensation, but no pain whatsoever--unless i began to lose my concentration on my relaxation. as soon as my facial muscles began to tense pain began quickly to rise. then i'd re-relax the muscles and i was back to the light show in my head. a few times, when the sensation was particularly strong, i'd see a bolt of red shoot from the area of the tooth over the top of my head and down the back of my head to my neck. when it was over and i opened my eyes, a young dental assistant, who had been sitting at my feet the whole time, was looking at me like she'd seen a ghost. ah, memories...

[gDGwm8BC]

however, for me the analogy breaks down where will (the engine) drives the emotional nature (trans). i thought of the clutch when someone mentioned about being aware of a rising emotion and seemed to suggest letting it rise, where i immediately thought of disengaging the clutch to starve the rising emotion of the power it would use to disturb consciousness.

and, yes, i can raise and lower them at will (it's the same kind of thing that actors do, right?)

hey cool jimbo! nice thoughtful commentary. you are right, i do feel the analogy breaks down w/ manual tranny; that is why in the 2nd post i mention for my comparison, my "car" was an auntomatic. to further the point:

in the automatic transmission, the powertrain control module computer (modern cars, of course) contains software algorithms that control shift points and many other aspects of operation, like the degree of "slip" of the fluid clutch, most notably torque converter lock-up where slip is eliminated (commonly called, overdrive). high-performance trannies utilize differently tuned algorithms to maximize torque conversion and power transfer, especially in concert with engine control algorithms.

those software algorithms and internal efficiencies bulit into the automatic are to me, the dna/ natural spiritual emotional programing that wants to play as you "drive" around situations.

problem is lots of people have changed the manufacter's original programing (look at young children fresh off the assembly line form a good idea of the original prog.) they are still on automatic shift, but the programmings been spiked or hacked!

i looked at manual shifts a bit for this analogy and decided i didn't know enough about manuals to speak on it. what i feel is, folks doing manual tranny shfiting are perhaps, trying to learn or work on a particular something w/ awareness (for a faster result?). my guess (and this is not fleshed out) when they get a certain proficiency of gear/emotional shifting to the point that they don't even have to think about it.... viola!... that set of gears becomes automatic, until it is time to work on it conciously again.

hopefully the "program" of shifting that they just created, that has now become automatic shifting, is... uhumf, how should we say, within the original manufactuers recommendations..... so, in otherwords, it can go back and forth from auto to manual as your attention wanes and increases. honestly, i don't know manuals well enough to flesh further then that. however, clearly the clutch has to do with mastering timing and control between gears (emotions) to create smooth transitions that are not jarring to self or others.... ok well, i could go on, but i think people get the idea... the two types of trannies go hand n hand w/ each other.

ps. i agree... that is what some actors do; depends on thier training and how much they feel they are in control of it independent of thier surroundings (ie staging, proprs, the other actors etc.)

peace and love, (and thanks for the great thoughts everyone!)

darlyne