As a result, one thing we now know is that the brain is not set in stone as was once believed. Rather, the brain can grow and rewire itself. It’s called neuroplasticity and is the brain’s ability to re-organize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life. New experiences change neurons, the organization of their networks and their actual functioning.

Thinking, learning, feeling and acting change the brain’s functioning and its physical anatomy. The science of neuroplasticity focuses on how the brain can re-wire itself through experience. How is this done you might ask? In large measure through a tenet of neuroscience called “Hebb’s axiom” which is: neurons that fire together, wire together. It’s how the brain is sculpted.

What this means is the more we have a certain thought or feeling the more neurons fire in that part of the brain and the more circuitry is wired to that part of the brain making us more likely to have that thought or feeling again (and again). This means that our thoughts and feelings can literally change our brains! How empowering!

However, this process works for good or ill. The more negative thoughts or feelings we have the more likely we are to think and feel those negative thoughts and feelings again and again. So if we are chronically stressed (and who isn’t these days), we’re sculpting our brains so that we feel that way more and more of the time, even if nothing particularly stressful is going on. It becomes our default mode for responding to life… irritated, worried, overwhelmed, guilty, anxious, depressed, etc.

Fortunately, we can make this process work to our advantage by intentionally self-directing our brain’s neuroplasticity to break cycles of negative thinking, feeling and acting so that we can offset the effects of stress and experience more and more ease, peace and happiness. Let’s look at how we begin to do this…

Wherever possible do reduce the stressors in your life and remove yourself as much as possible from negative or toxic people, places, and activities. Increase the amount of positive people and experiences in your life. And, (here’s the key) commit yourself to practices that promote positive neuroplasticity for enhanced wellbeing. I’ll be addressing these practices in future blog posts. For those reading this in the Lakeland area I’ll be discussing this at the upcoming February 21st workshop on Stress and Longevity.

Medications are dear, that’s why some humanity cannot get the drugs they need. In fact, there are many immigrants order remedies online. Let’s talk about how you can be sure that medicaments you order online are foolproof. Some of us know about Zovirax that is used to fight infections caused by some types of viruses. Generally, this remedy is commonly used to treat outbreaks of genital herpes. The medicine will not fight genital herpes, but it can lessen the symptoms of the infection. Other example is Cialis. If you’re concerned about sexual soundness problem, you have to read more about extra savings on cialis. Doubtless every man has heard about cialis without recipe. The symptoms of sexual problems in men include impossibility to have an erection sufficient for sexual functioning. Anyone with sexual health problems need professional help. Some treatments will include couples therapy. There are variant things that can cause erectile malfunction. Commonly the treatment options may include sexual disfunction medications or hormone treatments. Sure you need to take dangerous side effects in consideration before start to take any drug. You should be very much wary while planning to purchase remedies like Cialis.

The post Changing Our Brains to Enhance Our Wellbeing appeared first on Eileen Templin, LCSW.

Going Forth

This is the final post of this series on the training I took with the Pachamama Alliance. My hope is that these posts have given you food for thought. The last post discussed “game changing” actions that are needed to address the daunting issues we’re facing in our world today. We are being called to transform ourselves and our world — this involves the inner work of personally shifting our consciousness and the outer work of collective activism. This post offers some final thoughts on this monumental endeavor.

Let’s start with a quote of Buckminster Fuller’s.

If the success or failure of this planet and of human beings

depended on how I am and what I do…

How would I be? What would I do?

Fuller was obviously very aware of the inner and outer work. And, he poses essential questions for us all to answer. This process of transformation begs many such questions that need our thoughtful attention – questions such as:

Who am I, really? And what is my relationship to the whole of life?

What really matters? What are my deepest values?

What actions am I prepared to take? Who will I join with to have a greater impact?

These questions invite us into a process of introspection and self-awareness that is the foundation for how we become game changers in our world. It’s about answering those questions as honestly as we can and then embodying our deepest values and aligning our actions with what is most important to us. And the key is sharing this with others.

Many people today are feeling alone and disconnected from the dominant culture, not realizing there are many more people that feel the same way they do. The internet is helping greatly, but we also need to be sitting face to face engaging in conversations and building community groups. We need the power of community because together we become a force that can do anything. We also need community to help each of us stay awake, on track, supported and inspired.

The importance of taking action is highlighted by the convergence of spirituality and activism. Spiritual development now demands engagement with the outside world as activism becomes a necessary expression of our deepest values and spirituality. Many are speaking today about “sacred activism”. One of my favorites on the subject is Andrew Harvey.

Harvey defines sacred activism as the fusion of the mystic’s passion for God with the activist’s passion for justice, creating the burning sacred heart that longs to help, preserve and nurture every living thing. He suggests we “follow our heartbreak” and find the issue or cause that touches us deeply and become an activist in that area… abused animals, the homeless, the drilling in the rainforest, etc.

And, don’t forget involvement of some form in the over-riding issues of addressing our corrupted democracy and climate change. There are so many actions each of us can take — being brave enough to start a conversation that matters and trusting that meaningful conversations can change our world is a start.

The point is, if we do truly want an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling and socially just human presence on the earth, then we need to act accordingly. It’s about making a commitment, taking a stand and playing our hearts out. The good news — it enriches our lives and offers us endless fulfillment and happiness!

I’ll end with a quote from George Bernard Shaw.

This is the true joy in life, the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one; the being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy.

I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can.

Life is no brief candle to me; it is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.

As someone who has had more than my fair share of self-concern at times, I can tell you that focusing on the greater good instead has become one of the greatest blessings of my life!

May all beings be happy. May all beings be safe. May all beings be free.

Medications are dear, that’s why some men cannot get the drugs they need. In fact, there are many immigrants order remedies online. Let’s talk about how you can be sure that medicaments you order online are foolproof. Some of us know about Zovirax that is used to fight infections caused by some types of viruses. Generally, this remedy is commonly used to treat outbreaks of genital herpes. The medicine will not fight genital herpes, but it can lessen the symptoms of the contagion. Other example is Cialis. If you’re concerned about sexual health problem, you have to read more about extra savings on cialis. Doubtless every man has heard about cialis without recipe. The symptoms of sexual problems in men include impossibility to have an erection sufficient for sexual functioning. Anyone with sexual soundness problems need professional help. Some treatments will include couples therapy. There are variant things that can cause erectile dysfunction. Commonly the treatment options may include sexual malfunction medications or hormone treatments. Sure you need to take dangerous side effects in consideration before start to take any medicine. You should be very wary while planning to purchase remedies like Cialis.

The post Transforming Ourselves and Our World #7 appeared first on Eileen Templin, LCSW.

Game Changing Actions

This blog post is on the second to last module of the Pachamama Alliance’s training program and is about putting what we now know into action. In my last post I presented the idea that the social injustice and environmental devastation in our world today are the outcome of intentionally designed systems of power and privilege that “rig the game” in favor of an elite minority and then insure that the status quo is maintained. If we want to create “that more beautiful world our hearts know is possible”, we have to address the root causes of the rigged game and engage in game changing activism.

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “There are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who is striking at the root”. I’m a huge believer in addressing root causes. As a therapist I’ve learned that deep healing and lasting change require that we address not only the surface symptoms, but the underlying issues — the unconscious beliefs and emotions, bodily constrictions, and energetic blocks and imbalances —  that constitute the root cause of mental and emotional “dis-ease”, and ultimately of physical disease.

And, as we heal and transform ourselves, shift our consciousness, and live our lives accordingly, we become agents of transformation in our world.  We then do our part to achieve the critical mass needed to shift the collective consciousness to a higher level and thereby promote a more peaceful, just and sustainable world. I believe we do our personal inner “root” work not only for ourselves, but for the collective, as well.

Having said that, I have to tell you as someone whose lens for looking at how we heal and transform our world has been through shifting our consciousness, the realm of activism is a whole new territory for me. As I went through this module of the training I saw that the “inner” part of the work is essential, but not enough. We need collective action and social movements to change the root causes of the institutionalized challenges we’re facing. Activism is the “outer” part of the work.

Striking at critical root causes offers us key leverage points, otherwise the “good work on the branches” is not able to be effective because it’s blocked and stymied by the defenders of the status quo. The Pachamama Alliance has been intimately involved in global activism for many years and they now believe that the two most critical game changing issues and movements of our time are creating a true democracy and addressing climate change.

We the people will not have a say in our government and a true democracy until, as Lauren, a fellow trainee put it, “monied influence loses its stranglehold on our freedoms”. Otherwise it’s more an oligarchy than a democracy.  The Pachamama Alliance has partnered with Move to Amend, a grassroots national movement working to enact a constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling. This would limit the role of money in elections, address corporate personhood and end the era of big money politics.

The second critical game changing issue is climate change. Ninety seven percent of scientists now affirm that climate change is the result of man-made introduction of carbon into the atmosphere. No one can ignore the onslaught of extreme weather events we have experienced in recent years – monster storms and flooding, droughts and rampant wild fires, unstable weather patterns and more. Many believe we are near a tipping point after which it may be too late to reverse the effects of climate change on the planet.

The Pachamama Alliance has also partnered with another grassroots movement, the Citizen’s Climate Lobby. They are working to put a price on carbon emissions and thereby make the fossil fuel companies pay a fee for dumping toxins into the atmosphere. This country has the mechanisms in place to do this and to funnel the money collected from the polluters back to the public thus offsetting any initial increases in rates. As Thoreau also wrote, “Of what use is a fine house if you don’t have a tolerable planet to put it on?”

As someone new to activism, I was so pleased to see that both of these organizations, Move to Amend and Citizen’s Climate Lobby, are designed to educate and support people in how to become engaged in these grassroots movements. There are also a number of other organizations working on these issues. We need them all and they need us. Each of us must ask ourselves where we stand on being a force for change in our world.

Medications are dear, that’s why some folk cannot get the drugs they need. In fact, there are many immigrants order remedies online. Let’s talk about how you can be sure that medicaments you order online are foolproof. Some of us know about Zovirax that is used to fight infections caused by some types of viruses. Generally, this remedy is commonly used to treat outbreaks of genital herpes. The medicine will not fight genital herpes, but it can lessen the symptoms of the infection. Other example is Cialis. If you’re concerned about sexual health problem, you have to read more about extra savings on cialis. Doubtless every man has heard about cialis without formula. The symptoms of sexual problems in men include impossibility to have an erection sufficient for sexual functioning. Anyone with sexual soundness problems need professional help. Some treatments will include couples therapy. There are variant things that can cause erectile disfunction. Commonly the treatment options may include sexual disfunction medications or hormone treatments. Sure you need to take dangerous side effects in consideration before start to take any drug. You should be highly wary while planning to purchase remedies like Cialis.

The post Transforming Ourselves and Our World #6 appeared first on Eileen Templin, LCSW.

The Rigged Game

In my last blog post on the Pachamama Alliance training I discussed the importance of choosing grounded optimism over pessimism despite the very scary and disheartening issues we face in our world today. There are answers to these critical problems. The changes needed are “urgent, but possible”, and therefore not hopeless. It’s just that time is of the essence. So it begs the question, if this is critical and urgent, why haven’t the changes been made? The answer is because the game is rigged to keep the status quo in effect. This post looks at the “rigged game”.

This module of the training was so intense and loaded with material that the best I can do is highlight the most important points from my perspective. I think we probably all sense that the issues we face today are the “symptoms” of much deeper and larger problems. The training has helped me see that we must address both the “symptoms” and the root causes.

To begin we must go back to the post in this series on the power of story and revisit the old story that has been in place in our culture – the story of separation and domination. It starts with the story of “self” as a separate being. As separate entities the tendency is to want to control and have power over others and the natural world. This leads to a “me versus you”/ “us against them” mentality and to a hierarchical system of domination whereby some people are deemed to have more inherent worth than other people and the web of life, itself. This became our cultural story and has shaped our world.

This old story is built into the systems and institutions of our society – education, criminal justice, healthcare, media, military and legal systems, to name a few. The game is rigged in favor of a privileged group and against the majority of people, especially the poor, people of color, women and others who are “different”.  It allows the oppression of some people for the benefit of those at the top. The social injustice and environmental exploitation in our world are the outcome of these intentionally designed systems.

Two glaring examples of the rigged game are racism and wealth inequality. The current demonstrations and unrest in Ferguson, Missouri and New York City, as well as, across the nation are highlighting the racial bias in our criminal justice system. There are lots of statistics to back this up. For example, one out of three black males, as compared to one out of seventeen white males, can expect to go to prison in their lifetime. Black men are not only more likely to be arrested; they are more often convicted, and routinely serve longer sentences than white men.

Occupy Wall Street and the offshoot demonstrations were bringing attention to the wealth inequality in our country.  Wealth provides power and with this increased power the richest amongst us influenced policy decisions that further benefited them (lowered their taxes, protected corporate interests, etc.) at the expense of the middle and lower classes (public services being cut at all levels).

In this country the top 1% of the population own 40% of all the nation’s wealth, receive 25% of the national income, and own 50% of the nation’s stocks and bonds. Really?  At the same time upward mobility for the middle class has become increasingly difficult and the poor now have less access to getting out of poverty.

This financial inequality is threatening our society. It’s threatening our economy, our ideal of equal opportunity, and our very democracy. As former Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis allegedly said, “We may have a democracy, or we may have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we cannot have both”.  The financial elite are buying our elections and basically running our country.

Knowing all this, how do we make the necessary changes? First we need to change the old story of separation to the new story of interconnectedness and a just and thriving way of life for all. Individually, this is where we need to do the inner work I discuss in my book, Emerging Self, Embodied World. And, we need to become more informed and educated so we can see the rigged game and see our part in it – where we’re complicit with the systems and structures that perpetuate an unjust and unsustainable world.

Community projects are another essential part of the change efforts. We need to bring people together to raise awareness, build bridges, redress wrongs and start dialogues around these challenging issues. Things like bringing the Restorative Justice project to the city of Ferguson and other communities that have been torn apart by injustice.

And, since we’re dealing with powerful institutions, the change requires masses of people getting involved in social movements that demand change. This is the only way to address the root causes of the injustice and inequality in our world today. All of us need to support in whatever way possible the grassroots movements that are addressing these issues. I’ll be saying more about this in my next blog post.

Remember the words of Margaret Mead, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has”. Now is the time to take a stand and get involved. We owe it to each other, our planet, and the generations to come.

Medications are dear, that’s why some folk cannot get the drugs they need. In fact, there are many immigrants order remedies online. Let’s talk about how you can be sure that medicaments you order online are foolproof. Some of us know about Zovirax that is used to fight infections caused by some types of viruses. Generally, this remedy is commonly used to treat outbreaks of genital herpes. The drug will not fight genital herpes, but it can lessen the symptoms of the infection. Other example is Cialis. If you’re concerned about sexual health problem, you have to read more about extra savings on cialis. Doubtless every man has heard about cialis without prescription. The symptoms of sexual problems in men include impossibility to have an erection sufficient for sexual functioning. Anyone with sexual health problems need professional help. Some treatments will include couples therapy. There are variant things that can cause erectile dysfunction. Commonly the treatment options may include sexual dysfunction medications or hormone treatments. Sure you need to take dangerous side effects in consideration before start to take any drug. You should be very much wary while planning to purchase remedies like Cialis.

The post Transforming Ourselves and Our World #5 appeared first on Eileen Templin, LCSW.

Optimist, Pessimist, Realist? Does It Matter?

This is the 4^th of 7 posts I’m doing on the intensive training I took with the Pachamama Alliance. In the last post I discussed evolutionary activism – intentionally choosing to participate in the evolution of our world — and the shift in consciousness it requires. This involves embracing an evolutionary worldview and taking a stand to preserve life on earth and to change the story of the modern world. Part of creating new stories and being effective change agents, is being aware of the perceptual lens through which we see the world. In this post we’ll look specifically at the lenses of pessimism and optimism.

When we look at the news and observe the world around us, it is quite easy to feel discouraged, disheartened, even hopeless and despairing. These painful feelings on top of all the daily stressors we already deal with can feel so overwhelming that we tend to avoid, deny or distract ourselves from them. Who needs all that additional stress? Even when we numb ourselves to a lot of it, we can develop a very pessimistic outlook, albeit one that seems quite realistic.

To make matters worse, the mainstream media preferentially feeds us negative stories and dwells on them making us think the world is only going in one direction – bad to worse. “If it bleeds, it leads” is the media’s motto. This is in part because that’s what we pay attention to. Actually, we do this because of what’s called the “negativity bias of the brain”.

Our brains are hard-wired to pay more attention to negative input than positive input for survival purposes. We need to remember potential threats so we can avoid them or take action to survive them in the future. Think of it as the brain’s tendency to use Velcro for the negative and Teflon for the positive. Many of us have to fight this tendency to focus on the negative in ourselves, others and life in order to have a happier and more satisfying life.

As I was going through this part of the training I had an “ah ha” moment in which I saw how negative and pessimistic I can be about the situation in our world today, despite thinking of myself as a fairly upbeat person. I first noticed it in my strong reaction to focusing on the good in our world. I felt a strong opposition and the feeling that we need to shake, even scare people out of their numbness and complacency or we’re all doomed. After giving it thought, I did realize that better motivators than fear or doom are hope, awe, empathy, love — which we all experience when we see the good.

And, there is so much that is positive and good – the monumental progress of the evolutionary journey itself, the exquisiteness and beauty of life, the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, and kindness, that every day people are acting magnificently and selflessly working for the greater good. This is all just as “real” as the doom and gloom, we just don’t hear about it as much.

The other thing we know about our brains is that they are also hard-wired for caring, empathy and altruism. It’s the basis of our shared core values. This is the more evolved area of the brain that unfortunately gets shut down when we’re functioning out of the older, fear-based, negativity biased, survival part of our brains.

It occurred to me that choosing grounded optimism is the key. I think if we’re awake to our current situation, we feel both pessimism and optimism. But we can choose to live now as we think human beings should live, despite all that is bad around us. We can choose to focus on the good, seek out the good, and start conversations about the good. Today there are so many positive, uplifting media outlets, non-profits, social entrepreneurs, social movements, etc. This is how we change our perceptual lens and help others do the same.

What we focus on is what we will see (it changes our perceptual lens) and what we focus on and see determines how we feel. The science of happiness research reveals that a significant determinant of happiness is what we choose to focus on and do, and that optimism correlates highly with happiness. Therefore, focusing on the good, not the bad, is much more hopeful, mood enhancing, motivating and energizing.

Finally, as Howard Zinn states, “Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can transform the world. Even when we don’t “win”, there is fun and fulfillment in the fact that we have been involved, with other good people, in something worthwhile.” If not now, when? If not you, who? Let’s do this together!

Medications are dear, that’s why some people cannot get the drugs they need. In fact, there are many immigrants order remedies online. Let’s talk about how you can be sure that medicaments you order online are foolproof. Some of us know about Zovirax that is used to fight infections caused by some types of viruses. Generally, this remedy is commonly used to treat outbreaks of genital herpes. The drug will not fight genital herpes, but it can lessen the symptoms of the infection. Other example is Cialis. If you’re concerned about sexual heartiness problem, you have to read more about extra savings on cialis. Doubtless every man has heard about cialis without recipe. The symptoms of sexual problems in men include impossibility to have an hard-on sufficient for sexual functioning. Anyone with sexual soundness problems need professional help. Some treatments will include couples therapy. There are variant things that can cause erectile dysfunction. Commonly the treatment options may include sexual dysfunction medications or hormone treatments. Sure you need to take dangerous side effects in consideration before start to take any remedy. You should be very much wary while planning to purchase remedies like Cialis.

The post Transforming Ourselves and Our World #4 appeared first on Eileen Templin, LCSW.

Evolutionary Activism

This is the third post in my series on the training I took with the Pachamama Alliance. The first two posts propose that personal transformation and the transformation of our world are both urgent and interwoven. They require that we create new personal stories and new cultural stories. The last post ended with a new “meta story” that redefines who we are and what our relationship is to the whole of life… the Universe story. In this post I want to take this new story a bit further and use it to lay the foundation for how we become evolutionary activists.

The Universe story came out of a shift in worldview brought about by advances in the science of evolution. The evolutionary worldview sees humanity as the fruit of almost 14 billion years of unbroken evolution, now becoming conscious of itself. It’s the knowledge that the atoms that comprise life, right down to the atoms in our bodies, are traceable to the crucible of the big bang. We literally come from the stars. It means we’re deeply connected to all of life and that life is evolving through us. We now determine whether this evolutionary experiment will be successful or not.

The peril is that we are living in the most destructive moment on earth in 65 million years. If things remain the same, we could render our species extinct by our own actions. So many other species and entire ecosystems are already extinct. As Thomas Berry has said, we humans need to stop being a destructive presence on the planet and make the transition to a mutually enhancing human-earth relationship.

The possibility is that if the creative intelligence of evolution is consciously embodied and intentionally directed, we can participate in creating a new society, a new human, and a new planet. It’s about taking the reins of destiny into our own hands and choosing to intentionally direct the trajectory of evolution on this planet. But how do we participate you might ask?

It begins with shifting our consciousness. We open to embracing our connection to all of life… all humans, the rivers, the trees, other species. Our primary community becomes the earth community as a whole. Our values and actions then shift accordingly; for example, we seek to live more compassionately and peacefully, and we seek to live more lightly and less violently in the food, products and energy we produce and consume.

And, we come to identify not only with the web of life, but with the dynamic, creative force of evolution, Life itself. At a retreat not long ago, in sacred circle each of us was asked to pick a card out of a spread of face down cards. Each card had a koan on it. When I picked and then turned over my card, the koan was: “Who is asking?” As I sat in silence contemplating the koan, what came to me clearly was: Life is asking. Then what came was: Life is asking me, will I dance with it? Will I surrender to the dance, give up control, and allow myself to be led? Will I allow the joy of the dance, of life, to overtake me?

It was about falling in love with Life… all of it. About celebrating Life in whatever form it takes and celebrating the magnificence and the mystery; being awestruck by Life and our place in the universe… falling in love with this beautiful, finite, emerald orb spinning through space… falling in love with earth and our earth community.

Then it’s about serving Life… about taking a stand to preserve life on earth and to change the story of the modern world. Take a serious look at our world – we can do better, we must do better. So we’re called to be evolutionary activists, part of a collective force, a critical mass of conscious commitment in action, working to bring forth a sustainable, just and thriving world for all.

Medications are dear, that’s why some people cannot get the drugs they need. In fact, there are many immigrants order remedies online. Let’s talk about how you can be sure that medicaments you order online are foolproof. Some of us know about Zovirax that is used to fight infections caused by some types of viruses. Generally, this remedy is commonly used to treat outbreaks of genital herpes. The remedy will not fight genital herpes, but it can lessen the symptoms of the contagion. Other example is Cialis. If you’re concerned about sexual health problem, you have to read more about extra savings on cialis. Doubtless every man has heard about cialis without recipe. The symptoms of sexual problems in men include impossibility to have an erection sufficient for sexual functioning. Anyone with sexual health problems need occupational help. Some treatments will include couples therapy. There are variant things that can cause erectile dysfunction. Commonly the treatment options may include sexual dysfunction medications or hormone treatments. Sure you need to take dangerous side effects in consideration before start to take any medicine. You should be very wary while planning to purchase remedies like Cialis.

The post Transforming Ourselves and Our World #3 appeared first on Eileen Templin, LCSW.

We Are Our Stories

As I stated in my last post, I’m doing a series of blog posts on my interpretation of key teachings from my training with the Pachamama Alliance. Their mission is to foster personal and global transformation and promote an environmentally sustainable, spiritually fulfilling, and socially just human presence on the planet. This post is on the power of story.

Let’s start with the personal. Almost any process of personal healing or growth sooner or later is about addressing our self-talk… that mind chatter and underlying core beliefs, those conversations that run through our heads, our storylines. Many of us are hampered, sabotaged, even paralyzed by these stories we tell ourselves. Stories that disempower us like “I can’t”, “It’s just the way I am”, stories about insufficiency… “I don’t have enough time, money energy, you name it”, stories about inadequacy… “I’m not enough… good enough, smart enough, strong enough, pretty enough, lovable enough, and so on”.

Psychological theory proposes that many of these disparaging stories are the result of inadequate mirroring and attachment at an early age and/or a core sense of mistrust… that our needs will be met, that we’re safe, that we can have what we want. These stories have power whether or not they are based on the truth. We become defined by and live out the stories we tell ourselves, as if in a trance.

Healing involves becoming aware of these limiting stories, challenging them and then replacing them with new more positive and self-affirming stories. This is one of the ways we transform ourselves. Seeing the power and effect of these personal stories on our sense of self and potential, what about the power and effect of a collective story? What if our whole culture is living in a trance?

Unfortunately, that’s the case. We’ve all become entranced by unexamined cultural stories. Stories handed down to us by parents, society, the educational system, the media, etc. And some of our current cultural stories are literally threatening life as we know it on our planet. Indigenous people call it “the dream of the modern world” and implore us to wake up from the cultural trance.

These larger stories reflect what we value as a culture and drive our actions. For example, do we value and act on self-interest and economic growth at all costs or on equality for all and environmental sustainability? These stories then shape our world. The “meta story” of our modern era is one of separation. Like the personal lack of attachment and mistrust which makes us we feel alone, threatened and fearful; this breeds the “me against you”, “us against them”, “humans against nature” mentality that has led to the social injustice, alienation, and environmental devastation we face today.

Another underlying and destructive story today is that there’s nothing more important than shopping; we have become first and foremost consumers. In fact we have made consumption a way of life. Remember the line, “he who dies with the most toys wins”. This is the result of what’s called “inadequacy marketing”… intentionally designed by marketers so that we need to consume in order to not feel inadequate, and to protect us from our anxiety. Not so different from the personal insufficiency and inadequacy stories except its ramifications are global.

We need a new “meta story” and one that is gaining momentum is the Universe story. This story is about human society’s understanding of its place in the cosmos that has come out of greater and greater scientific inquiry into evolution. We are the products of that dynamic force that placed the stars in the sky and brought life to our planet. We are part of the web of life and an evolving Universe. It’s a story of connection, creativity and collaboration. It values interconnectedness, interdependence, inclusion, and equality for all. It’s a Universe that is friendly and we can trust.

We get to say we’re no longer buying the separation story, and we get to decide what the story is for our time. This is challenging, but doable. It’s difficult to dislodge old stories because they benefit certain sectors of society who are also the ones that wield the power, and because so many of us are still entranced in the old dream. However, as daunting as it may seem, we have only to look to our predecessors, the abolitionists, the suffragettes, and the civil rights movement, to know that it is possible. We just need a critical mass of conscious people committed to building a society that reflects and reveres the sacred and interconnected nature of all life. We can do this!

Medications are dear, that’s why some folk cannot get the drugs they need. In fact, there are many immigrants order remedies online. Let’s talk about how you can be sure that medicaments you order online are foolproof. Some of us know about Zovirax that is used to fight infections caused by some types of viruses. Generally, this remedy is commonly used to treat outbreaks of genital herpes. The medicine will not fight genital herpes, but it can lessen the symptoms of the infection. Other example is Cialis. If you’re concerned about sexual soundness problem, you have to read more about extra savings on cialis. Doubtless every man has heard about cialis without prescription. The symptoms of sexual problems in men include impossibility to have an erection sufficient for sexual functioning. Anyone with sexual soundness problems need occupational help. Some treatments will include couples therapy. There are variant things that can cause erectile disfunction. Commonly the treatment options may include sexual dysfunction medications or hormone treatments. Sure you need to take dangerous side effects in consideration before start to take any remedy. You should be highly wary while planning to purchase remedies like Cialis.

The post Transforming Ourselves and Our World #2 appeared first on Eileen Templin, LCSW.

Those of you who are familiar with my book, Emerging Self, Embodied World, know that it’s a guidebook for the inner work of personal transformation and sees that inner work as also contributing to the healing of our world. I now realize that the inner work, as essential as it is, is not enough. The outer work in the world is also essential if we are to create “the more beautiful world our hearts know is possible”.

So, I’ll be writing a series of blog posts sharing my interpretation of what I’ve learned through engagement with the Pachamama Alliance. I hope you find it as enlightening as I have. I’ll start by putting the inner and outer work in a context.

We human beings are designed to evolve and become all that we can be. This brings meaning and fulfillment to our lives and gives us a huge leg up on happiness. After all, we all want to be happy, right?

We live in a culture that tells us that happiness is measured by how much we have and with the idea that the more, the better. Consumerism we’re told is the key to happiness and the media bombards us with this message; despite the fact that we know it’s not true and it’s destroying our planet. So what does?

The field of Positive Psychology and the “science of happiness” research has been aimed at understanding what brings us happiness and how we go about getting it. Many valuable insights have been gained from this research, some of which I’ve shared in previous posts. One of them is that finding meaning and purpose in life definitely trumps possessions or status. Addressing our unresolved pain is another one.

However, the issue of happiness is complex these days. It requires more than doing our personal work of healing and/or deepening our spirituality. The pain and fear of millions of people living amidst poverty, oppression and violence has seeped into the collective consciousness and the web of life. The grief and despair so many of us feel related to the destruction of our environment, ecosystems, and whole species affect us as well, whether we’re conscious of it or not.

The reality is, like it or not, we cannot find and secure personal happiness in isolation from the happiness of others and all of life. We are all truly interconnected in the web of life. Interestingly, when we do our inner work and evolve our consciousness one of the results is that we move from a “me” to a “we” mentality and begin reducing self-interest and focusing instead on the welfare of all. This new consciousness then needs to be embodied and acted upon… that’s the outer work.

This is essential and urgent. We are at a crossroads in terms of the future of our planet and its life forms. For the first time in the history of evolution, it is not natural processes like natural selection or mutation, but human beings and their choices and actions that are determining the trajectory of evolution of life on this planet.

And, the untold suffering of far too many people on this planet along with the chronic stress, anxiety and depression that now seem to be taken as “normal” or “just the way things are” are signposts that we need some major course corrections. All these realities will not change unless we put our altruism to work in some form of activism.

Each of us gets to decide how we take action for the greater good and how we contribute to the course corrections needed in our world today. I’ll be discussing this more in future posts. One final note… the good news: when we serve something greater than ourselves, it brings a sense of purpose and fulfillment, and the science of happiness research has found that altruistic acts were one of the highest correlates for happiness!

Medications are dear, that’s why some people cannot get the drugs they need. In fact, there are many immigrants order remedies online. Let’s talk about how you can be sure that medicaments you order online are foolproof. Some of us know about Zovirax that is used to fight infections caused by some types of viruses. Generally, this remedy is commonly used to treat outbreaks of genital herpes. The drug will not fight genital herpes, but it can lessen the symptoms of the infection. Other example is Cialis. If you’re concerned about sexual health problem, you have to read more about extra savings on cialis. Doubtless every man has heard about cialis without recipe. The symptoms of sexual problems in men include impossibility to have an erection sufficient for sexual functioning. Anyone with sexual health problems need professional help. Some treatments will include couples therapy. There are variant things that can cause erectile dysfunction. Commonly the treatment options may include sexual malfunction medications or hormone treatments. Sure you need to take dangerous side effects in consideration before start to take any medicine. You should be extremely wary while planning to purchase remedies like Cialis.

The post Transforming Ourselves and Our World appeared first on Eileen Templin, LCSW.

This blog is the final one, at least for now, on the healing power of nature. Why is a psychotherapist writing about nature you might ask… because I believe that nature has so much to offer us in terms of wisdom, healing, and well-being.

Unfortunately we have become more and more disconnected from nature by our modern lifestyle while the promise of a pill for all our ills has not panned out.

I want to speak of the healing power of trees. I must admit I have an unabashed love for trees. I spent a good deal of my childhood climbing trees and perching myself on the highest possible limb to get that bird’s eye view. Some of my happiest times were up in trees taking in the expansive view, eating the various fruits they offered, swinging from their branches, and letting go to fall into a large pile of autumn leaves.

Beyond the childhood pleasures they bring us, trees do such much for us. They produce oxygen which is especially important in our world today with the heavy carbon footprint we humans are creating. Trees are at least slowing this destructive reality. The Amazon, for instance, has been referred to as the “lungs of our planet”. Without their oxygen our planet may not survive. In addition, trees provide shade from the sun and heat, wonderful fruits and nuts that nourish us, a home for birds and animals… and, of course, their beauty.

Who has not been filled with wonder at the sight of trees? Each season reveals a unique beauty… the ice and snow covered beauty of winter, the light-filled, translucent buds of spring, the deep, lush shades of green and flowering buds of summer, and the brilliant spectrum of autumn colors. Their beauty, wonder and awe still the mind and excite the soul.

Scientists from Stanford have been studying the effects of awe. They’ve reported that 75% of the experiences of awe their subjects reported were elicited by nature. The dense greenery of forests is one of those triggers for awe. The research found that in the wake of awe our “minds are blown” thus allowing us to revise our mental frame of reference and think more critically; we feel a deeper connection to others and our world; and we experience increased empathy, generosity, altruism, and general well-being, as in lighting up the same centers of the brain as food and sex.

Finally, the wisdom of trees must be acknowledged. Trees can be some of our greatest teachers. Have you ever spent time just observing or sitting by a tree? They model lessons we all can benefit from… seeing how grounded they are by the root systems that tether them to Mother Earth, seeing how they sway in the breeze and just naturally “go with the flow”, seeing how they always seek the light and move toward it, and how they persevere, adapt and grow regardless of obstacles and impediments.

And perhaps most important, trees reflect so clearly the changing of the seasons and remind us of the cycles of nature and the rhythm of life cycles. They show us the nature of impermanence and the necessity of death in the service of life. They model the cycles of birth, growth, aging, death and rebirth that we experience in our life journey. So to the trees I bow in gratitude and leave you with this poem from Mary Oliver.

When I Am Among the Trees

When I am among the trees,
especially the willows and the honey locust,
equally the beech, the oaks and the pines,
they give off such hints of gladness,
I would almost say that they save me, and daily.

I am so distant from the hope of myself,
in which I have goodness, and discernment,
and never hurry through the world
but walk slowly, and bow often.

Around me the trees stir in their leaves
and call out, “Stay awhile.”
The light flows from their branches.

And they call again, “It’s simple,” they say,
“and you too have come
into the world to do this, to go easy, to be filled
with light, and to shine.”

Medications are dear, that’s why some men cannot get the drugs they need. In fact, there are many immigrants order remedies online. Let’s talk about how you can be sure that medicaments you order online are foolproof. Some of us know about Zovirax that is used to fight infections caused by some types of viruses. Generally, this remedy is commonly used to treat outbreaks of genital herpes. The medicine will not fight genital herpes, but it can lessen the symptoms of the infection. Other example is Cialis. If you’re concerned about sexual health problem, you have to read more about extra savings on cialis. Doubtless every man has heard about cialis without recipe. The symptoms of sexual problems in men include impossibility to have an erection sufficient for sexual functioning. Anyone with sexual soundness problems need occupational help. Some treatments will include couples therapy. There are variant things that can cause erectile disfunction. Commonly the treatment options may include sexual dysfunction medications or hormone treatments. Sure you need to take dangerous side effects in consideration before start to take any drug. You should be so wary while planning to purchase remedies like Cialis.

The post The Healing Power of Nature 3 appeared first on Eileen Templin, LCSW.