Halloween. A Previous Post. Familiarity. A Sociology Professor. Silkscreen Class.
These five things came up in the past week, reminding me how truly involved our minds are in creating our worlds.
So, it’s obvious, we all live on a planet. The same planet. We can be in the same place and see the same event. Or do we see the same event? Is it possible our mind sees an event the way our mind wants us to see the event? And that same event is seen in a completely different way by another? Sure, the facts are there. Yellow shirt. Monkey feet. Upside down torch. But how we see those things…. could they be skewed by our minds?
Halloween
I finally watched the Halloween episode of Modern Family last week this week. In it, my fav character Phil, is in a house that gives all the signs of being haunted, but he can’t be bothered with it… until things start happening, and his brain shifts into frightened mode. The house was still the same house, weird things started happening and the brain took over. The emotion of being frightened truly is cerebral. It is all in your head! According to WKMG in Orlando, there’s science behind it:
Dr. Robert Cohen is a Neuropsychologist for Orlando Health, says some people are just wired for scares. And there’s a science behind that personality. When your brain senses a stressful situation, certain parts of it take action. In the center are the emotional controls: the Amygdala and the hypothalamus which is what creates our fight or flight response, then you have the Cingulate or that frontal lobe which keeps those emotions in check. When you see something that scares you, the center of the brain kicks into gear. Your blood flows faster and you begin to sweat. Then the frontal lobe says slow down.
Familiarity
When you think of something familiar… what do you think of? Probably nothing, because you are so relaxed and familiar by it. You could walk past a ‘scary’ alley and not think twice because you know everyone who lives on that alley. You could live in an area strewn with litter and never really ‘notice’ it because you’ve been living there for so long. You could feel comfortable with someone you’ve known forever, or known before, and it doesn’t seem odd or weird because you know them. Familiarity changes the mind set. Imagine all of those scenarios if you weren’t familiar with them. Would they feel the same way? Would you have a different emotion? Would you make a different choice? Maybe something that isn’t familiar takes on the characteristics of something from your past that is familiar… what then… is your mind creating a faux familiarity and comfort level?
A Previous Post
I had written a post on an intimacy topic a little while back. The entire post was based on one thing – and one thing alone- your brain. The mental awareness and focus required for a certain level of achievement. How vital is your mind (for a girl) for that to happen? That is a creation in your mind. Think about a dream you’ve had where nothing is happening to the physical body, yet, you can still accomplish your end result? It is all mental!!
A Sociology Professor
One of my gloriously wonderful, talented and beautiful girlfriends is a sociology professor in SoCal. I’ve blogged about her a couple of times- she is known on LLAY as simply, “The Professor”. The Professor posted a book link on my Facebook this week that goes right along with this theme. The book is entitled, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck, PhD. The tag line reads, How We Can Learn to Fulfill Our Potential in Parenting, Business, School and Relationships. Of course, in true Gemini fashion, I ordered it.
The premise of the book is how your success is a direct function of your mindset. Aha! That thing again… your mind. Creating a ‘growth mindset’ that is fluid and open to evolution and learning can allow you to have a new perspective on challenges and opportunities.
Silkscreen Class
Well, I completed my Silkscreen class this week. And yes, I finally made a goat-tee. Pic to come (it’s actually a goat-tank). Anyway, I came into class tonight, with my screen ready to go- and the print turned out horrible. The teacher said that I should just redo it- and I looked at her as if she was crazy… the amount of prep required would take the entire class to start over from scratch! But she believed in me.
So low and behold… not only did I redo my screen, I added a second screen and printed two goat shirts along with twelve prints and a Barcelona chair shirt, cleaned up, and was ready to leave ten minutes early. I was about to give up, but thanks to the nudging of my teacher, I reset my mind on finishing everything before my last class. The power of the mind!
Think about that the next time you’re in a situation. Someone cuts you off. A beer gets spilled into your lap. Someone is being rude. How is this being viewed from their angle- or another person’s view? Maybe we are missing out on the full picture by just zeroing in on our own perspectives. The truth of the matter is, our minds create our reality. Perhaps we should try altering that reality a bit, just to see what it’s like!
Life, Love and Yoga 