I often relay the example of a pilot in flight when I am speaking to a group of fellow recovering alcoholics. It is one that I heard originally from my spiritual mentor and Elder of 25 years, Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, and it provides a way to better understand that even when we map out our course of action for our goals, or even the day’s activities, there are necessary adjustments to be made.

I have learned in association with Grandmother to embrace failure as the path to success. What I encounter from many in recovery is the unfortunate tendency to see failure as something that has to be wrapped in guilt. Guilt serves no purpose. In fact, I see the 12-Steps as a formula for releasing the past and any guilt associated with it, then moving on to living a productive life.

That’s why I love the pilot story. It revolves around two very important and immutable points:

1. The Earth is round.
2. If a pilot attempted to fly a straight line from point A to point B, the plane would end up in outer space.  (see point 1. “The Earth is Round.”)

So in order for a plane to reach its destination, the flight path must consist of a series of course corrections. If one were to study a flight plan, they would realize that it really consists of a series of zig-zags from the point of origin to the destination point. Sometimes further corrections are required once the plane is airborne due to weather conditions or other unforeseen developments. That’s where instrument readings within the cockpit and communication with air traffic control become vital.

When a pilot makes those corrections, there is no guilt involved. The “course correction” is merely an objective response to present circumstances. The correction is made so that the plane can stay “on course” to its final destination.

That’s it. No gnashing of teeth – no carrying it around for twenty years or more – just take care of business and MOVE ON!

So life is like that plane ride. We can plan, and should, because goal-setting and mapping out a course of action steps will determine our success. But we need to stay flexible enough to take variables in stride. As Grandmother reminds us, they are not “set-backs” necessarily.

Further, and perhaps most important to the healthy recovery of the alcoholic or addict, we have to be willing to LET GO of the past, as well as any guilt or anguish we have come to associate with it. What was done in the course of the active stages of our addiction is history. We can’t change it. We can, however, learn from it, make the necessary “course corrections” and create a healthier and happier life today.

Always, we must remember that we are part of the greater picture. We are loved. When we hold a vision of the Greater Good of the All, we can embrace the appearance of a momentary obstacle and look for the ultimate greater gift that lies just ahead.

“What God intended for you goes far beyond anything you can imagine.” –Oprah Winfrey

©2011 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. (NOTE: All quotes remain the sole property of the original authors.)

There are people of all Faiths and all Religions coming together to pray, and to focus/mediate on celebrating global peace and prosperity at this time. Join us in your places of worship and praising of all good things.

Note that this falls on different days in other countries and time zones, so check yours and how it aligns with Cairo, Egypt time.

There are focused points (Meaning religious orders and groups and organizations) all over the world who have validated their participation, so we are already millions strong, so if you cannot get with organized efforts other place, do your own, gather with family, neighbors, work, and in public places with those who are willing to take a moment and know You are, because God Is.

Serve the World with intent on peace and prosperity this season….Pray and Meditate with us!!!

It is time that intelligence rises to the call, and the Peoples of this world stand in the light of truth…truth is God by its many sacred names….

Historically we are living it again. There are the few that always controlled our health, wealth and happiness, by sending forth propaganda as statistics and reports from some dark usually unable to really name source, and it is so clever in placing fear of scarcity into our minds and then as always they leave it up to F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real) to do the rest, and so it all begins and the population follows and believes it!! This has been happening for eons. When is it enough?

It’s all a Mind Game. And its suppressive power playing their game and we are the pawns.

There is more than enough wealth for all and there is no need for scarcity. Organization is realization!!! People stand and govern yourselves, in your family, in your churches, your towns and Cities, your states and countries. Let us all be of One mind, let that be health, wealth and happiness for all Peoples. And if you can at least agree that prayer and meditation can help, join our global time to focus on praising Source in its many sacred names and celebrate the gifts of faith and love all have that has a heartbeat and is breathing. We are the difference and there is always a choice, God gave it as free will and no man can deny its reality….

PLEASE PASS THIS ON. THANK YOU! -Deborah Adler

In the traditional ways of Grandmother’s people, each day is celebrated as a New Life. Each “Life” is lived in completion, including productivity time, family time, service time (volunteering, assisting others), time for physical exercise and health maintenance, socializing, worship time, time for meditation and prayer. As Grandmother Parisha has often shared with us of her people’s ways, there is not one day set aside for worship – every day is a “Sun” Day – so every day that Nunda (the Sun) arises is a celebration of our Oneness with God-Creator-the Source.

Prayer times observe and honor the quadrants of the 24 hour period: Sunrise, High Sun, Sunset and Dreamtime (generally Midnight through pre-dawn). We take time at each quadrant to acknowledge God in our lives through prayer and ceremony.

When I first got sober, without knowing it I was working with the Quadrants. When I first got up I thanked the God of my understanding for the gift of a new day and prayed for help to stay sober through noon. At noon I would thank the God of my understanding for keeping me sober and pray for help to stay sober through 6 pm. At that time I thanked the God of my understanding for keeping me sober and prayed for help to stay sober through the evening. Before I went to bed, I once more thanked the God of my understanding for keeping me sober that day and prayed for the strength to stay sober the next.

Whereas that might sound redundant to some, it was how I needed to break down my early days of sobriety in order to keep building those “24-hours” towards the many that I have enjoyed continuously since.

So, instinctively I was working with the Quadrants as I took time to connect with God-Creator-The Source.

Another correlation is the practice of inventorying our actions and making amends where appropriate. Traditionally, Grandmother Parisha has taught us to take stock as we acknowledge the closure of the day with the setting sun to look at our interactions with others, especially anything with which we might feel incomplete. We have learned to take responsibility for our actions and thoughts, and therefore our interactions, rather than blame others. It is at this time, at the closure of today’s “Life” that if there are those we have not been able to speak with and clear directly, we hold them in thought and send our message on the winds. We don’t take ill feelings or anger or judgment into the creation of the next day with us. We leave it behind in our “former life.”

This is a very clean way to live. It is a full way to live. It allows us to clear away mental and emotional garbage rather than carry it around. The act of taking responsibility goes like this: “I wish to take responsibility for my part of our interaction. It’s my desire and intention to be better in our communication in the future.” There’s no blame, simply acknowledgment of the only thing I can control – me, my thoughts, my actions.

In the Serenity Prayer utilized by 12-Step programs we ask for acceptance of what we cannot change – i.e. people, events and circumstances – and the courage to change what we can – i.e. ourselves.

Grandmother Parisha has shared with us the value of taking time to vision our next day through journaling and other practices before going to bed. We take into the Dreamtime what we intend to create in our “next life.”

To be continued…:)

©2010 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved.

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And to my Family of the Yunsai Society and LCFHD, I am blessed and honored to know your love and commitment. You inspire me every day and I am strengthened by being a part of our great Circle. To all my FB friends, old and new, I appreciate you in my life! It is a great day! May we all celebrate each other as we move through this wonder-filled adventure called Life! – Deb

 
©2010 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved.

Listen in at

646-519-5860, pin no. 2930

Please mute your phone once you are “in” out of courtesy for all the participants.

More information:

www.parishaonline.com

©2009 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved

Where do you supposed they’re looking? In the 12-Step Programs? Good start.

In the “You don’t need anybody to get sober” alternatives to 12-Step Programs? (Speaking as one who has maintained nearly 29 years of continuous sobriety enjoying the fellowship of 12-Step communities, I can dismiss this as reactionary crap. Remember “no man/woman is an island?”)

Where else might people be looking for addictions recovery? The Church? Social Service agencies? TV? You-Tube? (You’re geting colder…..)

Well, okay, so maybe there might be some good things on YouTube…:-}

But seriously, one thing that I find totally refreshing about the 12-Step meetings is that wonderful code of conduct for the group collective, The 12 Traditions.

In this Election Year Frenzy, I especially appreciate the 10th Tradition, “A.A., as such, has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.”

Actually, that’s the short form. The “long form” which was the originaly language of the Founders states:

“No A.A. group or member should ever, in such a way as to implicate A.A., express any opinion on outside controversial issues—particularly those of politics, alcohol reform, or sectarian religion. The Alcoholics Anonymous groups oppose no one. Concerning such matters they can express no views whatever.”

Now, consider that the Traditions were written in order to help members of Alcholics Anonymous focus on their primary purpose, “to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.”

The topic of politics does tend to surface in 12-Step discussion meetings around election time. One fellow introduced a topic the other day asking how to deal with all the opinionated people surrounding him outside of the meetings.

The consensus was to practice “Live and Let Live” and not try to enter into a debate with anyone.

To the uninitiated, that might sound a bit “sissy.” But to the experienced, it is a true piece of wisdom.

See, the problem for this gentleman wasn’t that he was afraid to discuss politics, or hear others’ opinions. The problem was that those who held opinions contrary to his so infuriated him that he worked himself into a real rage over it. That’s a danger zone for an alcoholic/addict. (It’s a danger zone for anyone, if they’re prone to act out that rage in a way that leads to harm of ones’ self, or another).

Most alcoholics think like this: “You pissed me off. I’ll show you. I’ll go hurt me.” Well, isn’t that what they’re doing when they get angry and go off and get drunk?

So the danger, then, lies in engaging in behaviours that place the recovered alcoholic/addict back into old habits and patterns that can lead to a spontaneous breaking of sobriety – “going back out” as we say.

The danger of talking politics or any other controversial subject inside of a 12-Step meeting is that the focus of the meeting gets lost in a more trivial superficial issue, rather than staying with the “primary purpose” or “prime directive,” if you will, of helping other alcoholics to stay sober.

I choose my arenas carefully. I respect the Traditions inside the rooms of recovery, and I use them as guidelines for conduct with other outside of the rooms.

I blog. So I can vent my political opinions via the world wide web! And I have the “power” to approve those comments that agree with my opinions and delete those who do not.

I generally avoid talking politics with my family, because it leads to discord. We like harmony at home. Talking politics does not breed harmony!

I generally listen to others while they’re expressing their views, then politely smile and say “uh-huh.” Thus they feel a) listened to, and b) validated. I never say “I agree” with them if I don’t, nor most often do I say so even if I do.

I just give them audience and then exit the conversation. I Let Go of the need to control others.

So far it’s worked. I’m still sober! (And there’s alot this time around that I could get pretty angry about. But I just can’t afford that luxury). Now, it isn’t that I don’t care. I have a definite belief in what’s best for my country, and I will exercize my right to express that belief in the voting booth.

But argue it on the streets? Not today. Just for today I’m going to let go of the conviction that my opinion is more important than anyone else’s and that I have to pursuade everyone to my way of thinking or all is lost. Because, as long as I have my sobriety, I can cope with whatever goes on around me. If I relinquish my sobriety, then I have nothing.  -Deb Adler

©2008 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved.

This author has on more than one occasion had personal experience in applying the principles and ideas set forth in The Biochemicals of Emotions (see previous posts in 3 parts) through the process of “self-healing.” 

I recently came across a collection of drawings, which I used to assist with clearing the congestion in my upper respiratory system from years of allergies (aggravated from smoking).  The drawings had affirmations on them and crude pictures (I’m not an artist) of lungs and outlines of the upper chest with symbols to represent clear passageways; there were cells drawn with heart-shaped nuclei with accompanying words of self acceptance and self love. And perfection in Creator.

I was successful in getting free of medications and injections, which I had been saddled with for over 11 years! The images I held of my body in perfect health I know contributed to that transformation.  I had a similar experience in healing my body from needed supplemental thyroid medication several years after a partial thyroidectomy.

Ten years ago I experienced a severe knee injury.  I had studied the Medicine Path and worked with my Elder/Mentor, Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, in Spiritual Awareness for over ten years at that time.  When I came to her with my injury, Grandmother shared with me that the Alters had created circumstances to provide me an opportunity to come into right relationship with what I had been given as a Medicine Carrier and healer to help others, and yet had done nothing with. Through this injury I was forced to face my own weakness and disbelief and use the medicine I had learned to help myself.  Through this process and journey, I learned how to assist others.

The doctor insisted that arthroscopy was mandatory, yet at the same time he was somewhat intrigued by the beginnings of recovery that even he was willing to admit to by the time he saw me three weeks following the initial occurrence. I explained to him some of my experiences in working with a holistic approach to health and healing.  He was willing to give me some time to see if I could recover on my own, but still insisted that surgery would be required if I hadn’t made “satisfactory” progress by 6 months. He told me that because of my advancing age (44 years!) I was in danger of being permanently disabled.

I took a picture of a perfect knee from my anatomy book and made several copies. I kept in convenient locations and carried a copy with me.  Whenever I could, I would pull out that picture and focus on it, at the same time sending that picture to what I had come to identify as “cellular memory” – the body’s innate knowing of itself in the state of perfection. I believe this is the “innate intelligence” that Dr. Pert refers to in her book, Molecules of Emotion.  I spoke to that innate knowing – that intelligence – to work together with body’s natural ability to seek balance and wholeness. 

It took 9 months – and I credit a Tai Chi class for the final restoration of mobility and fluidity in that joint – but I returned to full utilization of my knee and leg and ten years later, at 55, I run and climb and hike and show no signs whatsoever of the traumatic injury that occurred and that was supposed to have been permanently debilitating.

I have been many times blessed by this event in my life, even to this day.  It has helped me to see how vital it is for each of us as Medicine Carriers to use what we have learned -to heal Creator’s children, all the beloved relations, and the Earth Mother herself.  I made a covenant with Creator that as I lift myself up, so shall I lift all others.  That means I agreed to “respond with the ability” (the definition of “responsibility”) to assist others with the application of the teachings I have received. We cannot hoard them. We can only renew them by giving them away.  -Deborah Adler

©2008 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved. 
 

“Emotions are a key element in self-care because they allow us to enter into the bodymind’s conversation. By getting in touch with our emotions, both by listening to them and by directing them through the psychosomatic network, we gain access to the healing wisdom that is everyone’s natural biological right.”

How do we achieve this? First we must acknowledge and claim all our feelings – not just the “so-called positive ones.” Anger, grief and fear are experiences that are actually vital for our survival.  Anger helps us define boundaries; grief helps us deal with losses; and fear protects us from danger.  These only become toxic when we deny these feelings, so that they cannot be easily and rapidly processed through the system to be released. Ultimately, the more we deny, the greater toxicity we allow, often setting up an explosive release that can be harmful to ourselves or others.

“The goal is to keep information flowing, feedback systems working, and natural balance maintained, all of which we can help to achieve by a conscious decision to enter into the bodymind’s conversation.”

Dr. Pert offers the following ways to use awareness and intention to tap into the psychosomatic network, “in order to prevent disease and maximize health.”  The real key is taking responsibility for the way we feel. It is time to recognize that our external world is simply a reflection of our beliefs and expectations.

ONE: Becoming Conscious

To be fully conscious involves awareness of our mental, emotional and even basic physical experiences. The more conscious we are, the more we can tune into the conversation going on at the autonomic or subconscious levels of our bodymind.  When we can enter into these levels where basic functions such as breathing, digestion, pain control, immunity and blood flow are carried out, then we can use our awareness to enhance the effectiveness of the autonomic system by dialoging with it. For it is in this system “where health and disease are being determined minute by minute.”

TWO: Accessing the Psychosomatic Network

It is possible to access the psychosomatic network and enter the bodymind’s conversation to redirect it. “By learning to bring your awareness to past experiences and conditioning – memories stored in the very receptors of your cells – you can release yourself from these blocks.” She suggests using assistance for long-term blockages including hypnotherapy, touch therapies, personal –growth seminars, meditation and prayer. The goal is to learn to respond to what is actually occurring in the present, which is “what consciousness is all about.”

THREE: Tapping Into Your Dreams

“Develop the daily habit of recalling and transcribing your dreams. Dreams are direct messages from your bodymind…Becoming aware of your dreams is a way of eavesdropping on the conversation that is going on between your psyche and soma, body and mind.”  This facilitates obtaining valuable information and also gives us the ability to intervene, if needed, in order to make appropriate changes in our behavior and psychology.

FOUR: Getting in Touch With Your Body

The skin, the spinal cord, the organs, are all nodal points of entry into the psychosomatic network.  Some great methods? Take a walk. Run. Get a massage, a spinal adjustment, or lots of good hugs! 

FIVE: Reducing Stress

Dr. Pert recommends meditation, “because it allows us, even without conscious awareness, to release emotions that are stuck in modes that subvert a healthy mind-body flow of biochemicals.

 SIX: Exercising

The value of exercise is not so much muscle building or burning calories, as it has to do with getting the heart to pump faster and more efficiently, thus increasing blood flow to nourish and cleanse the brain and all our organs.

Ways to help enhance the communication flow throughout bodymind while walking: “I let the opposite hand swing forward with each step as I walk, without music. Somehow this sets left-brain-right-brain information flowing, breaking up old patterns of worry and rumination.”

SEVEN: Eating Wisely

Because of its survival value, eating  “has been wisely designed by evolution to be a highly emotional event….There are at least twenty different emotion-laden peptides released by the pancreas to regulate the assimilation and storage of nutrients, all carrying information about satiety and hunger.”  Ignoring this information can lead to using food to bury emotions resulting in nervous eating, depression eating and other behaviors.

We can develop the ability to know what our body needs in the way of nourishment, and when, by tuning into our emotions as information about the digestive process.

Environment can influence the emotional experience of eating.   Dr. Pert recommends a peaceful stress-free environment.

Eating in full consciousness of the tastes and textures; acknowledging the gift of the food through a prayer or blessing is seen as an act of consciousness rather than a religious ritual.

(In many indigenous cultures people acknowledge and express appreciation and respect for the sacrifice that has been made by the food. Eating is regarded as nurturing and loving the physical body, or “altar,” which is also an act of appreciation.)

She advises to avoid Sugar, which Dr. Pert considers to be “a drug, a highly purified plant product that can become addictive.”  We need to look at sugar as a drug whose chronic effects rank right in there with more acknowledged “drugs of abuse.”  When sucrose is converted into glucose, “a key metabolic regulator of your bodymind,” it acts upon the glucose receptors which regulate the release of insulin and other neuropeptides from the pancreas. This chemical reaction can drastically alter how we feel as well as how we metabolize our food.

EIGHT: Avoiding Substance Abuse

All drugs can alter the natural flow of our body’s own “feel-good” peptides. “What causes people to consume legal and illegal drugs …I believe – is emotions that are unhealed, cut off, not processed and integrated or released.” Rather than process and heal the unwanted “stuck” feelings, we reach for a way to anesthetize ourselves.  Self-dialoging to find the source of the emotions, finding ways to process them, some form of exercise can shift our mood and give us time to make different choices.

Finally, we want to live in such as way that promotes a feeling of “belonging, loving kindness and forgiveness.”  In order for us to be healthy we have to cultivate the proper paradigm. We can achieve wellness by trusting our bodymind’s ability and desire to heal and be whole.

Today we recognize that receptor molecules respond to chemical and energy cues by vibrating. “They wiggle, shimmy, and even hum as they bend and change from one shape to another.”  They will dance back and forth between two or three different configurations or favored shapes. They are always found attached to a cell in the organism, either floating on the cell’s membrane or the oily outer membrane of the cell’s surface. 

Dr. Pert offers the analogy of lily pads floating on a pond’s surface. Receptors, like the lilies, have their roots “enmeshed in the fluid membrane snaking back and forth across it several times and reaching deep into the interior of the cell.”  There may be millions of receptors on a typical neuron (nerve cell). They function as sensors, or scanners – hovering in the cell’s membranes, dancing and vibrating, waiting to pick up messages from other vibrating amino acids diffusing through the fluids surrounding each cell.  They cluster in the cellular membrane waiting for the right chemical keys to swim up into their keyholes – a process known as binding. 

Ligands (“that which binds” in Latin) are the chemical keys that bind to the receptor, docking into their “keyholes,” then dancing and swaying they create a disturbance to “tickle” the molecule into changing its shape and rearranging itself until there is the proverbial “click” and information enters the cell. 

Ligands can be a “natural or manmade substance which binds selectively to its own specific receptor on the surface of the cell.” The dance between the ligand and receptor, in which the ligand bumps on and off, is the actual process of binding. It is through this process – which produces a vibration – that allows the ligand to transfer its message to the receptor by way of its molecular properties.  Once the receptor has received the message, it transmits it from the cell’s surface, deep into the cell’s interior. Here the state of the cell can change dramatically through a chain reaction of biochemical events. 

“The life of the cell, what it is up to at any moment, is determined by which receptors are on its surface, and whether those receptors are occupied by ligands or not….The process of binding is very selective…Binding occurs as a result of receptor specificity, meaning the receptor ignores all but the particular ligand that’s made to fit it…These minute physiological phenomena at the cellular level can translate to large changes in behavior, physical activity, even mood.” 

There are three kinds of ligands: neurotransmitters, which carry information across the gap, or synapse, between neurons; steroids, which are transformed into hormones through a series of biochemical steps, and peptides, which comprise 95% of all ligands.  Made up of strings of amino acids, they play a wide role in regulating practically all life processes. 

 To be continued…

©2008 Deborah Adler. All rights reserved.