One morning, during in bed morning meditation, impersonal thought turned to contemplating the impersonality of the universe. And to the impermanence and end of all created things.

And as it likes to do, somewhere in the not conscious mind a neural net had a thought.

And it popped into this mind that “The price of death is life!”

Still smiling.. !!

In the category of informed speculation based on practice experiences:

There appears to be no sensation in the unconscious mind itself. Literally, doctors can do surgery in the brain without anesthesia because the interior of the brain does not feel sensations. If they touch a neural bundle it can trigger a memory.

Without sensation, there can be no creation of the experience of time in the unconscious mind itself. A stasis chamber in science fiction holds human beings but stops time. It appears that the unconscious acts like a stasis chamber for human memories and perhaps thought streams too

An interesting meditation is to focus attention on the center of the brain where there is no sensation. How? By body scanning for sensations, then withdrawing inwards, focusing inwards, to the ‘space without sensations.’

A corollary is that individual word or image thoughts arising in the space of conscious awareness have no sensations at all–all the sensation connected to the individual thought or image appear to be arising elsewhere in the body, not in the mental space where the conscious mind notices them.

When the attention is completely focused inward on the space without sensations, there is a disconnect from regular bodily and selfing awareness. This could be the physical basis for the experiences reported by many of ‘primordial awareness.’ The stasis chamber of the unconscious mind is physical and therefore the effects produced within it are not permanent, even if they appear to be that way.

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There appears to be a  ‘buffer’ in the unconscious mind that holds open issues or memories for further conscious processing.

It is very apparent during the waking up process from sleep.  A stream of ‘thought and image bundles’ arise without effort, and very distinctly.

After these thought bundles have been processed–either by mindfully observing without intervention or by practice interventions such as the four voices–then the body settles down without effort into an awake and natural restful stillness.

Most of the current content in the buffer is memories or unresolved tasks from the previous day, or recurring issues or tasks.

During the day the buffer can get filled up too.  A dependable indicator is muscle tension or restless energy.  Always a good signal for the conscious mind to have some more communication with the unconscious!

The internal language pattern is “what is Larry [ or your name or this body] experiencing?” I just used it to identify a pattern I was stuck in and to get ideas for a change. It may work because the language pattern creates some dissociation from the ongoing flow of feeling, while allowing impersonal and analytic thought to continue working. It is important to pause after asking the question, then experience what responses the mind sends up. Often unexpected!

“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I can not change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.”

Yes, I’m realizing that I have used this almost daily for decades. The art is finding the wisdom to know what you can’t change and what you can. Using the four voices to explore those issues is very helpful for me. When stuck, sometimes I just leap right to the action version, “Do something you can do something about!”

Yes, simplified. Stretch, deep breath, hold breath, release. Vary the pattern to vary the effects. Very good to energize…or relax…or break out of a stuck state.

Not formally. Yes, informally, by modeling their use.

Most successfully thus far with the committee metaphor and use of the we voice. I know a person gets it when they reflect the technique back.

My physician now often asks me what the committee or “Dr. Larry” thinks about a medical issue.

When discussing a difficult decision I faced with a friend, she said, “Well, I think you need to have a committee meeting on that!”

Met an acquaintance struggling with a personal life choice. Said to him, “It’s sort of like you have a committee of parts that make up the whole of you. Hold a committee meeting. Let each part or view have a voice. Work it out as a group.” Sometime later he approached me a let me know hat he had reached a decision and all the ‘committee members’ were on board.

This also illustrates how you can be helpful to someone by offering a practice, not a content solution.

If you want to contact me, use surfer100 at hotmail dot com, or leave a comment.

Short answer: identify the cue, routine, and reward and change the routine.

Several days ago I was mindfully reviewing my daily life patterns while in the we voice. Clearly one of my patterns, let’s him News Guy, was dominating a large part of the day incessantly checking Internet news, but without any actual benefit to the whole of us, of me.

The change procedure was to mentally rehearse a new routine. And when the internal urge hit again I went straight to the Internet…but spent a couple of hours instead studying some meditation texts. Lovely switch of routine. Now News Guy is still a part do “we” and “I” and but perhaps not so dominant.

Google Charles Duhigg’s new book The Power of Habit for all the details. Very helpful for self directed personal change, and another one for the toolkit!

The set up phrase for Faster EFT is “I release and let go of….[insert negative memories, feelings, beliefs etc].” Accompanied by tapping, or mental tapping, or no tapping.

I used it last night on uncomfortable sensations in the mid core area and after a few short rounds got a state of warmth and peace. So much so that the non dual state of bare sensory awareness emerged from the background with no effort or conscious intent. Sweet, indeed.

Of course I modified the set up phrase to include all four voices. “I release….we release…this body releases…impersonal thought and mind releases…” Then devoted one or more rounds to each.

Robert Smith is the creator of this specific technique, an NLP variation as I understand it. See http://www.fastereft.com and his many videos on YouTube for much more detail.

This set up phrase is a definite addition to the pragmatic practitioner’s toolkit of self-directed personal change techniques!

UPDATE: For even faster EFT, I now may use the set up phrase without pronouns. Just say “Releasing and letting go of ….etc.”

UDATE 2: Add in rapid eye movement while saying “releasing…letting go….” while keeping mindful attention on the uncomfortable sensations. I just did that and got even quicker releases followed by new, conscious, creative thoughts. Another great combo technique for the toolkit!

At the airport I saw a very short person in front of me in the security line.  My instant gut feeling was one of difference, slight fear, and ‘not me.’  As an experiment I then switched the internal dialogue to the we voice.  Still gazing on the same person in front of me, it became: “We are all human beings and we really do come in all sizes and shapes.  Wonderful and amazing fact!”  An immediate and significant shift in perspective and feeling tone from a simple pronoun shift in the internal dialogue. 

On the plane the flight attendant started into her safety riff and my eyelids started drooping and I almost fell instantly asleep.  An idea popped into awareness.  Start moving those eyeballs in rapid eye movement (REM), left and right, up and down, round and round. Almost instantly free attention perked up and I was able to listen to the same presentation I have heard a thousand times, as if it were fresh.   A good speculation is that the conscious addition of rapid eye movements forces the usual neural circuits that process the incoming auditory and visuals to operate differently.  Interestingly, the moment I stopped the REM the drooping eyelids and boredom resumed.  A temporary but not permanent pattern shift in this case.

No conclusions, but shifting internal dialogue and using REM can be implemented anywhere and anytime to get fresh perspectives and new takes on habitual responses.  

I am holding the creative intention that this brain will find each day even more unexpected and delightful ways to change patterns for kinder, more effective, and happier living.