Sleepy Phoenix

I'm a student of the Kaballah and this piece from Sacred Geometry site really intrigues me. A future mosaic perhaps?

BIPOLAR ALMANAC — What’s it all about?
Note: The book is currently available at the Amazon Kindle Store.
It will be published in paperback next month.
Bipolar Almanac: Create a life worth living is an up-beat memoir and quick-start guide that focuses on how to survive and thrive in your new bipolar reality. This is not a gloom and doom book about mental illness. Nor is it a chirpy self-help book written by somebody who has not suffered from mental illness.

Author Ann Christensen experienced wild manic and depressive episodes for several years before learning to manage her stress and mood swings. Episode-free for over 30 years, she describes her path to mental health and provides a step-by-step approach for bipolar persons and their families.

Almanac means “God’s Puzzle.” In Bipolar Almanac, the puzzle is YOU.
This book provides steps in each chapter for creating your own almanac to document
triggers, symptoms and to discover which tools work best.

What’s happening to me and what can I do?
The first thing to know about bipolar disorder is that it is treatable and even the worst symptoms can be managed. We begin with a description of how it feels to be in a confused state of mind, definitions of bipolar disorder phrases and a detailed symptoms checklist for mania and depression.

This book contains information for friends and family who find themselves trying to help a person in a bipolar crisis.
• Helps families understand what it's like at various phases of an episode.
Provides action plans.
Conveys important “do’s and don’ts” for dealing with a person in a mental crisis.

How can I manage my mood (energy) swings?
Bipolar Almanac teaches you how to create your own almanac and how to assess and document mood swings (sometimes referred to as energy swings).
• Explore your triggers.
Recognize your symptoms.
Learn new tools to help manage the bipolar energies.

Develop support teams
Bipolar Almanac provides steps towards developing safety nets to help the bipolar person survive and thrive.
Family and friends team: Learn how to make amends with family and friends and develop a support network.
Medical team: Learn how to manage the crisis, build a medical team and explore various therapies.
• Work team: Understand workplace implications and when to disclose your bipolar disorder.

When can I return to work?
Finding a job that provides productive work and meaning is an important step in the recovery process. Bipolar Almanac helps bipolar workers:
Analyze whether they are well enough to return to work.
Explore what jobs and work environment to look for.
Understand legal rights in the workplace.
Determine how and when to disclose bipolar disorder.

About the Author
Ann Christensen experienced manic and depressive episodes for several years before learning to manage her stress and energy swings. Episode-free for over 30 years, she describes her path to mental health in Bipolar Almanac: Create a life worth living.

Ann has traveled from being one of the walking wounded to mental health advocate.
She edited and marketed over 50 books. and managed an electronic-design firm for 12 years. Her PR efforts led to features on CNN, The National Geographic and Entrepreneur Magazine. Despite these accomplishments, Ann still sees herself as one of the “walking wounded” and uses a variety of methods to manage her energy swings.

Ann now speaks and writes about bipolar, artistic temperament and creative issues as the next step in her recovery journey. She is the Development Officer at The Wellness Center in Stockton, California and a speaker for NAMI and Stop Stigma in Sacramento.

Bipolar Almanac is the first in the Sleepy Phoenix Mental Health series. This upbeat memoir and guide provides an action plan for bipolar persons and their families. It is an important addition to your bipolar disorder and mental health library.

Discover the puzzle that is you! Purchase Bipolar Almanac and begin the journey through your own labyrinth. Learn that:
• You are not alone.
• You can heal.
• You deserve a life worth living.

Buy Bipolar Almanac: Create a life worth living. Do it today!

I'm busy this month writing with the NaNoWriMo folks (write a book in a month). I'm fleshing out the second in the mental health toolkit series. I have 30,000 words now! (50K is considered a book). See you on the other side!

CREATIVITY — OPENING RITUAL

I was asked to write about my opening ritual by the IEATA (International Expressive Arts Therapy Association):
“What is an opening ritual I use when working in a group?”
I was inspired by the opening ritual from my beloved mentor, Judith Cornell in her 2006 mandala workshops and book, “Mandala Healing Workbook” and use this shorter version.

1. Set up a sacred space
This might be an altar with a candle, picture of a spiritual master, such as Jesus, Buddha, a beautiful crystal or picture of a natural setting.

2. Healing intention
Write your healing intention, fold it up, and place it on your sacred space. This is not a goal, but a healing intention, such as “clarity,””play,” “devotion,” “living in the present.”

3. Prepare your materials
Everything that you need to complete your art project is gathered together. This includes your workbook, pencils, pens, stencils, paper, scissors, tape, a CD that inspires you. You don’t want to be leaping up and down during your art session. This simple step helps maintain focus.

4. Seek Higher Guidance
Visualize an enlightened master or a guide with whom you would like to be in deeper connection.

5. Light a candle
Let this light represent the higher power and soul light within you—the source of all healing and knowledge.

6. Hand over your Intentions
Visualize in your heart all of the healing intentions you have written out.

7. Bless your materials
Visualize a white light flowing from your heart to your hands to your materials. Bathe the materials with white light and focus on your intentions.

8. Visualize the “light wand”
Make your pen, pencil or paint brush a sacred instrument by visualizing your instrument as a “light wand.” This wand represents the tool you use to make visible your invisible light of spirit.

9. Direct light from your heart through your “light wand”
Visualize inner light radiating from your heart center, through the “light wand” and onto the paper.

10. Visualize the paper as the vast spaciousness of the universe within you, the silent source of your being.

11. Do a short “practice” art to help focus your concentration.
Then continue the sacred practice of bringing your inner creation to the outer world of being.

Namaste

CREATIVITY — OPENING RITUAL

I was asked to write about my opening ritual by the IEATA (International Expressive Arts Therapy Association):
“What is an opening ritual I use when working in a group?”
I was inspired by the opening ritual from my beloved mentor, Judith Cornell in her 2006 mandala workshops and book, “Mandala Healing Workbook” and use this shorter version.

1. Set up a sacred space
This might be an altar with a candle, picture of a spiritual master, such as Jesus, Buddha, a beautiful crystal or picture of a natural setting.

2. Healing intention
Write your healing intention, fold it up, and place it on your sacred space. This is not a goal, but a healing intention, such as “clarity,””play,” “devotion,” “living in the present.”

3. Prepare your materials
Everything that you need to complete your art project is gathered together. This includes your workbook, pencils, pens, stencils, paper, scissors, tape, a CD that inspires you. You don’t want to be leaping up and down during your art session. This simple step helps maintain focus.

4. Seek Higher Guidance
Visualize an enlightened master or a guide with whom you would like to be in deeper connection.

5. Light a candle
Let this light represent the higher power and soul light within you—the source of all healing and knowledge.

6. Hand over your Intentions
Visualize in your heart all of the healing intentions you have written out.

7. Bless your materials
Visualize a white light flowing from your heart to your hands to your materials. Bathe the materials with white light and focus on your intentions.

8. Visualize the “light wand”
Make your pen, pencil or paint brush a sacred instrument by visualizing your instrument as a “light wand.” This wand represents the tool you use to make visible your invisible light of spirit.

9. Direct light from your heart through your “light wand”
Visualize inner light radiating from your heart center, through the “light wand” and onto the paper.

10. Visualize the paper as the vast spaciousness of the universe within you, the silent source of your being.

11. Do a short “practice” art to help focus your concentration.
Then continue the sacred practice of bringing your inner creation to the outer world of being.

Namaste

US Navy SEALs conquer fear using four simple steps
By Cristi VladJuly 12, 2015

Reuters/Joe Skipper
US Navy SEALs approach fear practically, almost scientifically.

In stressful situations when our life is threatened, we have a very powerful mechanism of protection. It is an automated system within our brain that acts even before we are able to take conscious action.
This system has protected us during the millions of years of evolution from predators and imminent danger. Even though it is very sophisticated, it can have flaws.

Say “hello” to the amygdala
The amygdala is well hidden in the depths of the human brain and it developed prior to our neocortex (the thinking brain). It is part of the limbic system, and its purpose is to regulate emotional reactions such as fear and aggression.

Since the limbic system and the amygdala are older than the neocortex (in terms of evolution), it has priority (in response) whenever dealing with very dangerous situations. A tragic example that shows how we can act prior to being conscious is the story of Matilda Crabtree.
Back in 1994, Matilda was a 14-year-old girl who wanted to pull a prank on her parents. As Bobby Crabtree and his wife returned home late at night, they thought Matilda was at one of her friends’ houses. However, as they entered home, Bobby heard some noise coming from upstairs. Matilda hid in the closet wanting to scare her parents. Bobby went upstairs, took his gun and went to Matilda’s bedroom. When she jumped out of the closet, Bobby pulled the trigger. Matilda died 12 hours later.

Bobby’s fear kicked in and his body took action way before he could be conscious of what he was doing. We are talking about milliseconds here, the bits of time that can really make a difference. Bobby Crabtree was not prosecuted because what happened was an accident. However, you can imagine the pain this father had to live with throughout his life.

The mechanism of fear
1. The frontal lobes (part of the neocortex) are responsible with conscious and rational decision making processes.
2. The amygdala is twice as fast in response than the frontal lobes and this sometimes can be misleading. The purpose of the amygdala is to protect, no matter what.
There are some fears that are pre-programmed in the human brain. This means that we are born with them. Fear of choking, drowning, heights, and even the fear of public speaking are examples of such.

Whenever in peril, the amygdala kicks in as the first commander; it sends signals to the hippocampus (another part of the limbic system) which in turn releases stress hormones, such as cortisol and adrenaline. They prepare our body for the fight or flight response.
Thus, all the energy available is hijacked and directed to the feet for running from, or to the hands for fighting against imminent danger.

The “Big Four”
Members of the US Navy Sea, Air, and Land Teams (SEALs) are often confronted with such life-threatening situations, and to succeed, they have to effectively conquer their fears. It has been shown that humans can minimize the time before the fear stimulus reaches the frontal cortex so that the decision is more conscious. It basically means that the response from the frontal cortex should be as close as possible to the response from the amygdala.

Navy SEALS are trained to increase their mental toughness with the ultimate purpose of controlling their fears and being able to appropriately respond in panicky situations. The technique is called the Big Four and (as you guessed) it has four parts:

1. Goal setting

When you are in a stressful situation, your amygdala is firing like crazy. Emotions, fear, stress, you name it; it’s a total chaos. The frontal lobes can bring structure to this inferno through goal setting. They can keep the amygdala at ease. SEALs often think about their friends, family, religious beliefs, and other important things from their lives. The key point is to see something positive in the future (in the near future, if possible) that serves as an anchor to your inner balance.

2. Mental rehearsal

Mental rehearsal is also known as “visualization,” and it refers to continuously running an activity in your mind. When a real situation occurs, you are better prepared to fight it. Take, for example, Michael Phelps: Few people know that his training is insane. I have learned from Charles Duhigg’s book, The Power of Habit, that throughout his years of training, Michael Phelps followed the same routine over and over again, with the preciseness of an atom clock. From getting closer to the Olympic pool, to fixing his goggles, to stepping onto the diving board, then the jump, the first contact with water, each hand movement, and so on—all of these coordinated so accurately that he knew them by heart. They were part of him. Phelps’s coach used to name this routine “the track.” Now, in this track, Michael basically confronted all the scenarios that can possibly occur.
It was the day of the finals for the 200-meter butterfly swim at the Beijing Olympic games. Phelps was prepared. When his coach saw him enter the arena, he shouted at him to plug-in the “track.” Michael was already plugged-in. He was a winner even before getting into the pool. Everything in place, the way he knew it by heart: the diving board, the water, hand movements. But wait—something was wrong. Water started to enter into his goggles. He could not see.
When I first heard the story, I thought that it had a sad ending. However, Phelps was trained for this. He already had a scenario in mind when this would happen. Sight would not be a problem for him because he knew by heart how many hand movements he needed to make until reaching the wall. He played “the track,” and amazingly he won the gold medal, finishing 0.66 seconds faster than Laszlo Cseh, coming in second place. This is the power of mental rehearsal. Confront the bad situation in your mind over and over again, and it will come naturally when you face it for real. This is what many public speakers do. Even psychologists treat phobic patients by exposure to the stimuli causing the phobia.
3. Self-talk


We know from research (here or here) that the average person speaks to himself more than 400 words per minute. Logic guides me to say that it would pay much of a difference if these words are predominantly positive. These guys say that positive self-talk can override the signals from the amygdala. I’ve personally learned about positive self-talk from Brian Tracy’s book The Power of Self-Confidence.
4. Arousal control
This is more of a physical exercise. It focuses on breathing, and it requires to deliberately breathe slower as it helps counteract some of the effects of panic. Long exhales mimic the process of relaxation within the body. Long inhales provide much more oxygen to the brain which results in better cognition processes. Each of these techniques may not work when used individually due to the powerful signaling coming from the amygdala, but they can definitely kick-ass when used together.
These techniques can be applied in different contexts, such as when your life is threatened, or when the sweets aisle at the supermarket is threatening your waistline.
Ideas, science, brain, behavior, fear
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