Have you heard the song, “Keep on Smiling Through The Pain?Concentrating on your smile muscles is the quickest way to release some dopamine into your system.
Go ahead, try it, I guarantee in two minutes you will be giggling yo’ m’fing ass off!
What If I Don’t Feel Like Smiling?
If you are in too much pain to smile, try growling at the pain instead. Primates, including us have this ability to bare our teeth to communicate happiness or anger and the reward to the brain is the same. Pleasure…
Yawning also triggers the release of your favorite natural pharmaceuticals, endorphins, dopamine and serotonin.
No Wonder it’s contagious!
I Am Just A Bundle Of Nerves
This network of small but strong muscles tissues is hard wired to the brain.
Stretching your jaw muscle releases pressure on the points where your nerves in your body communicate to your brain.
Do you remember when you first became you? My daughter described to me precisely the time when her inner narrator or consciousness appeared within their awareness.
I argue we were people with personalities long before we learned language to describe events. Often our thoughts can appear as pictures on the cavern walls of our minds.
In such a way, my cat could consciously deliberate his actions and wait until I left the room to gorge on the chicken bones I left in the trash.
For further reading on cats. Try this source from The Messy Beast
Are You The Same Person Throughout Life?
Now I am approaching my sixth decade and I laugh at myself for still thinking I am the same person.
I see older people on the tour busses in Europe and think, look at all those geezers riding the bus!
I stop laughing when I see my reflection rolling past and looking at me on the same bus!
I still feel like that twelve year old kid i was when my inner narrator appeared on the scene.
Freedom, Religion and Biology
Most of my cells have changed, I have learned a lot from reading the thoughts of others in libraries around the world..
I still remember family telling me I was exactly like my uncle. My uncle suicided the year I was born. I am not sure how he could pass so much along. I never met him.
Personality does persist throughout the ages.
My daughter started out stead, strong, almost stoic. From the moment she could walk and talk, We all wondered.
Adversity is a part of everyday life. Even if you are relaxing on the beaches of Northern Italy. Life always throws surprising challenges at you when you do not expect.
Be Your Own Best Friend
Remind yourself of other times you handled difficult situations and how far you have come since.
How did you cool yourself down in the past when your mind tried to tell you, “This is the worst day ever?” Or, ” I can’t handle this? ”
But you handled it and now looking back, maybe it was not the worst day ever. Maybe it’s not even in the top ten worst days ever?
Maybe this is the beginning of a new chapter in your life you could not even imagine with your previous limitations.
Take A Deep Breath And Count To Infinity
We have found the best choice when the mind and body want to panic is some times to chillax and decide if a meltdown is the best idea?
If you are comfortable focusing on your breath or the sounds you hear around you. This is a great time to try this exercise.
Focus on the part of your breath where you feel it the most. Either the inside of your nose or solar plexus. Notice how the “effort of moving your attention” can pull the panicked brain aside and you can talk some sense to yourself.
Breathe In, Breathe Out
Sometimes the mind will want to out think the problem or challenge facing you. This is great because you have a beautiful mind but often it will claim the thoughts are more important than breathing.
This is when you train the mind to watch the breath.
It is important here to notice how You can place your attention upon the breath without trying to change the breath.
Breathing in …
Breathing out…
Trust your body.
The body knows what to do.
Breathing in…
Breathing out…
Trust the body.
The body knows what to do.
Often a few minutes of noticing your breath will bring the mind some peace.
The breath will take care of itself, the mind will take care of itself.
Be sure you are in a safe space before you practice this mind melter. You will remain conscious but intensely focused enough to not notice other objects or people around you.
After enough practice and training yourself you will be aware of when and if you are in a good meditation space and the onset of the zone, so to speak, comes quickly as you have created and changed neural pathways in your brain..
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Focused Breathing
This is our favorite method for releasing your relaxation and feel good neurotransmitters such as serotonin, dopamine and GABA.
Another you may be familiar with is DMT or the Bliss chemical or God particle .The ever increased popularity of ayuhasca is again in the headlines.
The debate continues over the reality of it’s existence but we are living proof!
Target Those Neurons
Place the tongue against the roof of the mouth behind the teeth and pull in a slow breath you can feel behind and between the eyes to bath the prefrontal cortex in oxygen and love. This is your Third Eye.
Sense the air moving slowly over , under and around your prefontal cortex or Third Eye.
The Sensation You Seek In Meditation
Armchair scientists love to claim the brain feels no pain or anything at all for that matter.
We Sense our thoughts and sometimes they are painful. With practice you will be able to feel around inside your brain and sense the parts of the brain responsible for receiving sights, sounds, smells etc.
Deeper And Deeper
Notice how you can steer the breath around the inside of your brain.
Behind the prefrontal cortex, directly between your ears is the beginning of the limbic system. This is where meditation starts to become fun.
You communicate with your limbic system through the breath and here you can bath the hypothalamus and pituitary gland with oxygen and they will reward you with relaxation!
Going further behind the pituitary sits the amygdala and spend a few minutes massaging it with the softness of the breath.
The Moment That Lasts One Thousand Years
By this time you know your way around the inside of the brain and we will not leave you hanging here.
Finding the pineal gland for the first time is an intensely gratifying and rewardingly rich experience.
You will exclaim, where has this been my whole life? Then you will keep going back for another hit of the super natural , supernatural , DMT trip you created with your own brain! Isn’t that ecstatic?!?
Again, Make sure you are in a safe space before attempting This Experience. You will be focused in a state of relaxed concentration and will not wish to be disturbed.
If you are disturbed you will be able to switch your awareness and focus to anything needed your attention.
William turned his attention to his well worn paper maps for only minutes. That was more than enough time for the theif to snatch his bicycle from behind. Guess we do not need maps for Italy Tour of Bicycle anymore.
William wasted no time crying over spilt milk, as there was no time to spare and no water to be wasted as he was keeping his appointment with the Imperial forces of Italy.
Purgatory
William found his load much lighter, both mentally and physically as well.
The speed advantage of a bicycle can be lost in momentum as the Alps in Italy will not be outmatched by France!
Remember this in the 30 degree centigrade heat of early European summer.
Calling All Angels
The next day William found himself once again summoned to France having no bicycle, no communications and only the shoes on his feet!
He drew mightily on the power of silent prayer and meditation to increase his faith and intuition.
William also drew mightily on the water he sourced miraculously from anywhere it could be found during this 40 kilometer walk from Sanremo, Italy to Menton, France.
Paradise Found
William found his personal protector in Saint Michael and his ever loving provider of food and guidance in Saint Gabriel.
Remember to be forever grateful for every drop of water, breath of air and crust of bread that crosses your lips!
Thank you Angels!
Is This The End of William’s Journey?
William sits again on hallowed ground knowing he does not need the laws of man to tell him what he ought to do.
We will write more on this subject later as we respect the authority of the Italian government it may be necessary to return to America prematurely.
