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Dear_one
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09 May 2019, 11:22 am

Whenever I have heard advice about controlling one's thoughts, I have been very sceptical, for how can a mind control a mind except by self-delusion? I have seen far too many "free thinkers" who merely average the news they happen to get, with occasional strong bias based on a personal experience.
However, it makes all kinds of sense to control the primitive brain with the neocortex, and to discount most of the signals from the amygdala. In a crisis, it only knows fight or flight. Our complex civilization needs a lot more nuance and creativity. Our ancient ancestors, facing an angry bear, would only focus on the claws and teeth to avoid them. A smarter thing to do is to use a chunk of wood to risk the damage and deal some out. To do that, we have to stay calm.



BTDT
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09 May 2019, 12:15 pm

Take Your Time: The Wisdom of Slowing Down Paperback – October 9, 2012
by Eknath Easwaran (Author)

If I understand your issue correctly, I am reading a book that addresses it.



jimmy m
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09 May 2019, 1:10 pm

I agree with your objective and it is doable. It is the process of mild dissociation. Under the threat of grave danger, it is possible to dissasociate the analytical and emotional parts of the brain and turn off the emotional part completely. You turn off all emotions including fear, hate, anger, rage. Then you spin up the analytical part of the brain and work on the solution. It works and is very effective. If you learn how to do this it will make you fearless.


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BTDT
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09 May 2019, 1:23 pm

My garden is useful for this. I'll see something on the Internet, and, rather than post, I'll think about it while working in my garden for an hour or two. I can often learn a lot about myself in that time.



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09 May 2019, 1:28 pm

When I think about being a “free thinker,” I think it’s more about approaching life from a place of curiosity, not taking anything for granted. Instead of going with the flow, you stop and consider the evidence to see whether whatever your considering or engaging in is the best path to take.

I come from a background where everything was either black or white, and it was wrong to have doubts or to be different. It was a very rigid outlook. It was sort of like being in Plato’s cave. Coming out of that cave has been so refreshing.

“Free thinking” is a term that’s not very well defined and seems to mean different things to different people. Perhaps it is most meaningful to people whose minds have been in captivity in some way.


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Dear_one
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09 May 2019, 1:29 pm

jimmy m wrote:
I agree with your objective and it is doable. It is the process of mild dissociation. Under the threat of grave danger, it is possible to dissasociate the analytical and emotional parts of the brain and turn off the emotional part completely. You turn off all emotions including fear, hate, anger, rage. Then you spin up the analytical part of the brain and work on the solution. It works and is very effective. If you learn how to do this it will make you fearless.

I used to do this, but then got overwhelmed one morning. How do you turn off the emotions once they have flooded your system?



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09 May 2019, 1:31 pm

I was a full time caregiver for someone with a terminal illness. That helped put a lot of things in context for me.



jimmy m
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09 May 2019, 3:03 pm

Dear_one wrote:
jimmy m wrote:
I agree with your objective and it is doable. It is the process of mild dissociation. Under the threat of grave danger, it is possible to dissasociate the analytical and emotional parts of the brain and turn off the emotional part completely. You turn off all emotions including fear, hate, anger, rage. Then you spin up the analytical part of the brain and work on the solution. It works and is very effective. If you learn how to do this it will make you fearless.

I used to do this, but then got overwhelmed one morning. How do you turn off the emotions once they have flooded your system?


It has become an automatic process. Once I detect a buildup of emotions, I insert a pause. it is automatic. I have done it so many times, I do not even think about it. In the pause, I separate my emotional and analytical part and shut down the emotional side and spin up the analytical side. But whatever solution the analytical side comes up with, I have to implement. If I fail to implement it, it can slide back into a panic shutdown or immobility. But generally my analytical brain always comes up with the best solution.


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jimmy m
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09 May 2019, 3:12 pm

This real story by Paul Ekman explains why the action must be acted on:

Sometimes there is nothing we can do when faced with great harm. However, something very interesting happens when we are able to cope with an immediate, severe threat. The unpleasant sensations and thoughts that characterize fear may not be experienced, but instead consciousness may focus us on the task at hand, coping with the threat.

For example, when I first went to Papua New Guinea in 1967, I had to charter a single-engine airplane to take me on the last leg of my journey to a missionary landing strip, from which I would walk to the village where I would be living. Although by then I had taken many flights to many different parts of the world, I remained a bit afraid of flying, enough not to be able to relax, let alone sleep, even on a long journey. I worried about having to take a single-engine plane, but there was no choice; there were no roads to where I was going. Once we were up in the air, the eighteen-year-old bush pilot, next to whom I was sitting in the two-seater plane, informed me that the ground people had radioed him that the wheels had fallen off the airplane on takeoff. We had to return, he said, and slide into the dirt on the side of the runway. Because the plane might catch fire on impact, he told me I should be prepared to jump. He instructed me to open the door slightly to prevent it from jamming on impact when we crash-landed, which might prevent me from getting out. He told me to be careful not to let the door swing completely open, for then I might be thrown out. Needless to say, there were no seat belts.

As we circled the airfield preparing to land, I felt no unpleasant sensations and had no frightening thoughts about my possible doom. Instead, I thought about how amazing it was to have come so far, to have traveled for more than two days, and now less than an hour from my destination not make it. It seemed ludicrous, not frightening, in the minutes before we crash-landed. I watched as the fire brigade pulled onto the landing strip to greet our return; as we tore into the dirt, I gripped the door handle tightly, keeping the door ajar but not fully open. Then it was over. No fire; death and injury were avoided. Within fifteen minutes we had unloaded my gear from the badly damaged plane, put it into another plane, and taken off. Suddenly, I felt worried that this scene would be replayed, literally, and this time I wouldn't make it.

Since my crash-landing experience, I have interviewed others who, though in extreme danger, did not experience unpleasant sensations and thoughts. What distinguishes their experiences and mine from dangerous situations in which fear was felt is whether or not anything could be done to cope with the danger. If so, then fear may not have been felt. If not, if there is nothing to do but wait to see if one survives, then people are likely to feel terror. If I had not had to concentrate on holding that airplane door slightly ajar, tensed, ready to jump, I think I would have been terrified during the crash landing. It is when we can't do anything that we are most likely to experience the most overwhelming fear, not when we are focused on dealing with an immediate threat.


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09 May 2019, 11:40 pm

Dear_one wrote:
Whenever I have heard advice about controlling one's thoughts, I have been very sceptical, for how can a mind control a mind except by self-delusion? I have seen far too many "free thinkers" who merely average the news they happen to get, with occasional strong bias based on a personal experience.
However, it makes all kinds of sense to control the primitive brain with the neocortex, and to discount most of the signals from the amygdala. In a crisis, it only knows fight or flight. Our complex civilization needs a lot more nuance and creativity. Our ancient ancestors, facing an angry bear, would only focus on the claws and teeth to avoid them. A smarter thing to do is to use a chunk of wood to risk the damage and deal some out. To do that, we have to stay calm.


We have, I think, far more social interactions to keep track of than our ancient ancestors did. We not only have to keep up with our family and local social life, but must keep track of news and information on a global scale. It's a big time sync. It's no wonder we don't have much time for independent thought. We're constantly being bombarded with other people's thoughts.

Personally, I like to take at least an hour of each day, and at least a week out of each year (if I can manage it, a month) being alone outside. This is what our ancestors had that we have lost: contact with nature outside of a social context. I can find a lot more original ideas that way.

Then again, I am a field biologist/ecologist/entomologist, so one would expect that I think of my new ideas in a field somewhere.



Dear_one
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10 May 2019, 12:32 am

jimmy m wrote:
It has become an automatic process. Once I detect a buildup of emotions, I insert a pause. it is automatic. I have done it so many times, I do not even think about it. In the pause, I separate my emotional and analytical part and shut down the emotional side and spin up the analytical side. But whatever solution the analytical side comes up with, I have to implement. If I fail to implement it, it can slide back into a panic shutdown or immobility. But generally my analytical brain always comes up with the best solution.


Thanks. I've been taking days to try for the most logical response, and getting further complications.