Cycles of addiction
Why are so many people addicted to anger, fear, worry and malicious thoughts?
It often seems to be the main ingredient in the media today … how many television programs are about violence … in its many forms? How many films focus on power-over … anger and fear?
Why is fear the first experience? We have to take a look at the way we perceive things in this 3-D space in order to answer these questions. We live in the 3-D … we see diversity all around us, all the time.
Our minds sort everything we see into categories of polarity when we are “seeing” from the 3-D mind. The diversity of opinions, actions, choices, appearances, expressions, and perceptions are immediately sorted into “good/bad, right/wrong, dark/light” etc.
Once sorted, the newly “named” experiences are filed with other things associated with their category, so that when the current thing is being experienced, it is also lighting up the entire file of other experiences, and the emotional response may be exponentially greater than the actual experience.
And even those adept at clearing and releasing old memories and programs, will be surprised how quickly the empty files fill up again. The reason for this is that the perception is still anchored in the 3-D, so the mind is replicating the categories and sorting all over again … like a continuous feedback loop.
The danger in 3-D perception is that when we encounter diversity of belief or opinion … someone has to be “right” and someone else has to be “wrong”. This is the old “praise/blame” model of human behavior.
Think about it: if things must be categorized into polarities, there can never be a “win-win” situation. There can be compromise and negotiation, and in those, people move from what they are aligned with in order to meet each other in the middle … so both are moving away from alignment to align together … that seems like an oxymoron. That is why so many compromises don’t last … they are like treaties … tenuous and temporary.
This 3-D mind model only allows one to be “right” if everyone else agrees, or differing opinions are determined to be “wrong”. Did you know that the Fight or Flight response in human physiology is activated by the perception of threat? Not an actual threat, just the perception of one … and the threat can be simply the existence of a differing opinion … because it has been categorized by the mind as “wrong”.
There is a way out of this quagmire of discomfort … well, you have to want to lose the addiction to conflict … to explore the possibility that you can actually feel good most days, and that you can attain a state of grace in the face of diversity. Pay attention to how you feel. Are you feeling agitated and angry? Are you feeling hurt or full of despair?
Do you really want to feel that way most of the time?
If you want some relief … to get off the merry-go-round, the first thing to do is detach from the drama. This is best done by participating in something that de-stresses you.
It might be taking a walk … getting a massage … meditation, or watching a movie. It could be talking with a friend (one who holds a positive outlook). It might be taking a warm bath or playing with a beloved pet or child. Anything you know to be relaxing … do it … and then do some more of it. In other words, find your personal relaxers and use them. As you begin to relax, you also begin to realize that you have just made a choice that changed the way you are experiencing your life in the present moment.
When you realize that you have a choice to feel better and that you already know about some things you can do to get to that more relaxed state … begin to understand that in some ways you are creating reality in that moment.
This is 4-D perception. You still see the diversity as polarities … and because you still see it that way, there is still the sorting going on … the good/bad, right/wrong cycle, but your understanding of how trapped you are in reaction begins to change. With the tools for relaxation in your hand … you can respond rather than react …
Practice this for a bit … see the difference it can make in your life … just choosing relief instead of distress … seeking some relaxation rather than continuing to be a player in the drama … see how it feels to have a measure of control over how you experience it all … and next time I will tell you how to expand even more into 5-D perception ,,, into the safety and power of inclusiveness, where “rights and wrongs” fall away … along with the need to prove anything to anyone …
Have fun relaxing.
