The Perception of Clear Waters

Imagine you have before you on a breathtakingly hot day ten clear glasses of ten clear liquids, only one of which you can drink safely. Imagine you are a child who cannot read or write, or a person from another culture who cannot understand the labels put beside each glass because they are in a language you cannot decipher. Finally imagine you know nothing of science and have no sense of taste or smell to warn you that nine out of ten of those clear liquids will kill you.

What do you do?

If you don't drink at all you will die but if you do drink the wrong liquid you will also die and in either case the death will be painful and distressing.

In no particular order and with the labels incorrectly placed in some cases, but not all that is what you perceive your challenge to be, The clear glasses contain substances ranging from household items such as white spirit, (used to clean paint brushes) to industrial chemicals like acids and of course pure, nourishing, life giving water itself. More commonly what you actually have before you are 8 or 9 glasses of pure nourishing water but this is where doubt and fear trick us into panic mode.

We can tap each glass to see if the liquids move like water and listen to ascertain if it might sound like it but with no sense of smell or taste there is little more we can do except to wait for another mammal to show us which is safe for us to drink. Even then we would be wise to watch the animal closely to check that they picked the right one.

Life on Earth has always been about fighting to survive and taking appropriate risks to enable survival. We have become so familiar with this process that risk taking itself is in danger of being perceived as being of no risk to us at all. Risks do not change. Only our perception of them does. So the real battle we all have is to be as accurate as we can be about our own perception of the world around us and everything we encounter in it. The good news is that most of the time the very people that everyone fears for being in control are actually helping us to survive.

Governments are like medical teams, they at times have to respond to what makes our societies unwell with sometimes drastic and alarming treatments, which of course none of us like having to swallow. The alternative is ever escalating fear, panic leading to chaos and eventually civil if not global war. Not very appealing and it defeats the primary object of our species which is the same as for any other species - to survive.

All nations want as many people as possible to survive but some seem to be better and sharing why that is the case in nicer ways than others. In effect some trust the intelligence and the self discipline of their nation more than others and with good reason. The more troubled any nation's history is the harder it is for it's leaders to safe guard against more rebellion, turmoil and brutal action and the more interference other nations enter into without consent the more it escalates too. So the solution is quite simple. Calm down and work things through by peaceful means and gain control of the situation together by taking time out when emotions are running high.


The risk of being ill
Many more people in the developed world are becoming ill through fear combined with all the natural normal responses to that fear that occur in every animal species on this planet. In the same breathe that we are wise to dangers and take due care we also end up becoming oblivious to other dangers no less serious to our physical well being.

We know we need comfort to calm us down, so seek it to excess by bombarding medical teams, friends, families, colleagues and strangers. We have also gone overboard with many distraction techniques to cheer us up - from modern gadgets to shopping and art and sport. When that is done we then compare our result with the results others are getting and if they are in receipt of more comfort, attention and reassurance than we are, all too often we sulk, become bad tempered, throw a tantrum and start to demand the same amount as we perceive everyone else is getting for conditions as mild as a grazed knee to truly life threatening conditions such as heart conditions and cancer. It perhaps explains why too, so many become seriously mentally ill when this vicious cycle of behaviour gets established. What really happens to establish all this mayhem though? Why do our perfectly capable brains keep misleading us this way?

The simple answer is that we are merely animals ourselves and that is our basic instincts that we can never counteract completely effectively. They will always seek to bring us back down to our most basic animal behaviours. The instinct to find a mate and breed is only second to finding food and shelter. We are prepared to fight and kill for both. What distinguishes us from other species is our ability to massacre ourselves to get what we want but also, rather more comfortingly, our ability to choose not to and work as a team instead so that everyone can get the basics of what they need to survive and continue our species as designed according to the master plan and blueprints. Where they stem from is also a matter of choice in perception and, as we know all too well a trigger point for many a bitter conflict.

The more complex answer involves not just one science but all sciences that we have today. Here we will focus on just three examples that have hit the news recently, with common reactions to those reports.

• Our hormones send signals to our brains telling it how to behave.
  (Hang on... brains tell hormones what to do, not the other way round... help!)
• Nutrition advise is all rubbish unless you know your own metabolism inside out.
  (Oh poo, I don't what do I do now? HELP!!)
• Strange things called synapses and neurons determine if we can think straight.
  (What are you telling me then... that I'm a waste of effort? HEEEELP!)

It's not that the scientific discoveries are inaccurate - the way they are shared though does get distorted because these things by their nature are extremely complex, so short-hand communication is often used. Hence the above statements are incomplete which leads us all to be curious and seek more information without ever knowing who is the boffin that knows the most on any subject. Bombard them with questions and they cannot do any more work to help us though, can they. When we are calm, we are patient and can wait for updates with ease. When we are distressed or panicking we all too often make matters ever worse for ourselves and the very people there to help us. Our perception of even the simplest scrap of information in highly tense times instantly get distorted precisely because our hormones work WITH our brains and switch to emergency procedure mode of fight or flight.

With regard to food, we are not doing that much wrong really. We can ween ourselves off the major culprits and in most cases that is what any medical team would advise the majority of people to do. Unfortunately too many people assume their metabolism is the rare exception to the rule than is actually the case. If you think about, why would your metabolism be that rare case. Doctors will soon tell you if it is and if it isn't then great, because it's easier to treat as a known problem with known cures is it not?

Some modern food production practices could certainly help us more once science has done it's research to find out which preservatives and flavourings are particularly dangerous and then work through the rest systematically. Many people live to be 100 years old eating all manner of things others say they shouldn't precisely because their bodies can cope remarkably well. Different is never a question of being better or worse; it is merely... different. Getting the right nutrition is only ever going to result in trial and error regardless of whether you see your doctor or not. So why panic?

Brain power
By far the best news of all comes from the mysterious region of research that deals with the understanding our own brains. Increasingly science is learning that we can take ever more control over curing our own thinking and controlling our emotional responses.

This is fabulous news because in essence it means that we can redirect our own synapses (which are like wires that transport signals), to the correct place in the brain. Even better we can also get better control of the neurons (which in essence is the message itself) so that we can all not only cope with fear and danger better but get ever smarter. Think of training neurons in the same way as you would improve your vocabulary or change it to communicate with different people and you're half way there already. We need to be too as we need absolutely everyone's best ideas to ensure we not only rescue our planet from being in danger of running out of resources but also continue to look after it for many centuries to come.

Perception of clear waters is easy when we have the right information and support from others who do know the difference between an acid, white spirit and water. We do not help ourselves by pampering to each others needs to excess nor in seeking such high levels of attention as we have been 24/7. We are far better off stopping and asking our brains this question "Is this situation life threatening this second, minute or in the next hour, week or year?" and "Can it wait just a little until I have rested to think more clearly." More often than not most things can wait. There is no doubt that we are all on high alert for dangers but being on the alert is NOT the same as being in imminent danger. Never confuse the two and all wonderful things are indeed possible.

We can shape our future by what we choose to believe through what we seek to achieve. We at Mindwalking recommend believing in happy outcomes and seeking ways to stay calm enough to never miss the opportunities that are all around us to ensure and secure that future for all.

Postscript:
If you are interested in more information about how our brains work or any part of our bodies, we recommend as a starting point looking for childrens books and websites on these subjects because even the greatest minds in the world often need to read them too to help clear their heads to think straight. We're not sure all boffins will approve of sharing that trade secret, but we know some will be thrilled with us for doing so too! LOL!

The Paradox of Paradoxes

Did you know that everyone enters into extreme behaviour of one sort or another as it is human nature to do so. It is the nature of every species on this planet in order to secure it's survival to at times be extreme. Mostly such behaviours are short lived flare ups to rectify a cock-up to bring things back into balance because of something else veering toward an extreme. If we look at what our extreme behaviours consist of things get rather interesting.

Most people reading this blog will have heard of OCD (Obsessive Compulsive Disorder), but the latest thinking is that we are all inclined to be obsessive over something or other at some point in our lives. It's quite fortunate that some are obsessive about health as without many doing so we wouldn't have the marvellous miracles that lead to treatments to help manage what is currently incurable as well as cures for what can be cured.

We all have our particular favourite things to turn to in our darkest hours, from sports and arts to studying all manner of subjects. We have our retail therapies too but here any of those can all too quickly and easily get out of hand. From alcohol and drugs to fashion and technological gadgetry and of course fame and fortune and political campaigning.

These last three have, in recent years arguably become some of the most dangerous obsession of all for they fuel motivations that lie behind globally dangerous obsessive behaviours. The paradox being that it is not actually fame, fortune or political powers that anyone really craves the most, it is acknowledgement and acceptance for just being human. Our achievements say something about what we can do, but do not in any real sense tell us much about who we actually are either as individuals or as a species.

The news headlines are awash with examples of obsessive behaviours. You don't have to be a compulsive abuser in the form or a rapist or terrorist to make the news. You just have to excel or be extreme at something, from finance to science, from making things to organising - the media tells us that to be successful requires us to be extreme - including reporting things!

Another angle to look at obsessive behaviour from is that of being dedicated, focussed and determined to become high achievers. It's an interesting question as to whether we are wise to encourage more people to become experts in their field as their journey is often a dangerous one. They often come from disturbing backgrounds and those that don't soon find the level of responsibility to be a genius 24/7 a pain in the neck with no time off. The result is often a serious and long-term if not life-long mental illness of some descriptive or another.

It is perhaps not surprising that given the primary purpose of any species is to reproduce that so much abuse comes in a sexual format as it is another coping strategy obsession. Most of us luckily know where to draw the line and respect other people's boundaries, sadly the damage caused by those who don't profoundly affects everyone in the world, our social structures and how laws are shaped by our governments. The same is true of financial abuse but as to psychological abuse, sadly as we are all guilty of it we'd have to lock ourselves in prison permanently to eradicate it from our planet and the universe beyond.

We cause psychological abuse daily by judging each other unfairly and by not reporting things that we know we should and we are very good at coming up with thousands of excuses for both avoiding doing the 'right thing'. Why do we do that though? The answer is because we have to in order to have a sense of order and structure to be able to function at all. We all have a limit on how much responsibility we can take on our shoulders at any given point and that limit continually varies as we journey through life. At no point in history has everyone reported every crime they have witnessed (the authorities haven't the man power to cope if we all did), but to fail to come forward once serious crimes have been reported is rapidly becoming too serious a matter to tolerate any more. Most petty crimes as a society we self-regulate on and that process starts at school by being told off for pulling someone's hair or for stealing sweets.

The most recent obsessions to emerge in the media are those concerning conspiracy theories and human rights. All governments are conspiratorial because they have to be to keep people safe from causing harm to themselves and the rest of their nation and the indeed the rest of the world. Human rights it seems have become confused with human needs.

Yes, we have a right to express ourselves, but is it right to do so when it causes pain and suffering to others? Human needs will always outrank freedom of speech in this regard but it would help if governments throughout the world would say "yes, we know what the problems are and these are our thoughts on how to fix things. If you have better ideas for a solution here's how to contact us." Cruel and abusive dictatorial regimes no doubt will be the first to invite people to 'open up' to stop them speaking at all. Such behaviour tends to be lead by unstable, dangerous mental ill dictators do they not, but in a world where there are too many voices to be heard and none of them agreeing and all of them angry, what should any government do to prevent things becoming so volatile as to lead to violence?

Luckily most nations in the 21st century favour a more helpful and inclusive approach as they are aware that things tend to work better when they are done by mutual agreement and consent.

Governments throughout the world need constant reminders of what needs to be fixed and fortunately that is where freedom of speech does really help. It shouldn't matter how something is expressed but it does because by taking into account the level of anger and bitterness we can begin to understand the motivation behind what is being said. A person who is not bitter nor resentful but merely passionate expresses themselves quite differently from those who mean no good. Therefore in democratic nations at least, if you are paranoid about officials, so long as you mean no harm you should worry little about what you express with regard to them. They may well put you in hospital to help you not to worry so much and to prevent you from harming yourself or others but that's about all they'll do against your will. Their objective is the same as yours, for all to be well in the world which includes you. Remember it is not only officials you might be upsetting, it's your loved ones too simply through not knowing enough, not understanding enough and not letting you head have a chance against your emotions and fears.

It's not just governments that need reminders, it is actually experts in every field for when we are sufficiently proficient in any profession we begin to lose objectivity and it is actually novices and outsiders that help keep boffins on track. Overall we do it rather well too. Just as a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing, so too can too much knowledge prove just as lethal, but both are equally and mutually helpful toward making progress in all things. Don't forget that those that rule us also have a duty of care and in times of national crisis our governments often need not only to remind us of our humanitarian principles but get us to take some nasty medicine to get us well or make us strong enough to cope with a crisis - rather like mental health teams do in a way.

Just as historically mental health treatments have needed improving (and still do), so too do governments. These are constants that will never change because, like all species we are always changing. We change our ideals, our goals, our aspirations, our dreams and most of all we are forever increasing our demands on what we will accept as... 'fair and reasonable'. We are right to do so as without those motivational elements in our psychologies we cannot evolve, nor can we learn from mistakes. We often learn best from our struggles, our pain, suffering and most of all from our losses the question is, can we learn to learn just as much from our successes to safeguard against the possibilities of dangers created by ourselves?

If you are stumped as to how to combat extremes then here are a few tips.

1. Switch off from thinking or feeling anything by concentrating on getting sleep, exercise and good food inside you.

2. Vary your chosen coping strategies by adding new ones and take control of yourself to do many things little but often as life becomes far more relaxed and fun that way which leads you to being happier and the world becoming more interesting to you.

Everything in moderation except...

The greatest thinkers and doers of all history ensured they had switch off time so that their brains were as much as possible in tip top condition the majority of the time. To be well and happy everything needs to be "in moderation" as one of our Mindwalking mental health professionals pointed out. He then added "including moderation itself". This then threw all of us and resulted in the title of this blog post.

We do sometimes need extremes to let out our pain in the right circles with the right people at the right time. Posting such things on the Internet to strangers can just as easily make matters worse as better which is why it is wiser to campaign for things once we've let go of all those confusing and conflicting emotions. Leave it to your friends to campaign for you to give yourself the break you need to work through just that.

We also need extremes  to share our joys and that is where each and everyone of us can help improve our health instantly. Which would you prefer - to live a life devoted to looking at all the pain and suffering in the world or to live a life that brings comfort, fun and joy to yourself and to others despite all the pain and suffering? Such activities can be as infectious as absorbing, as interesting as fear, terror, anxiety, stress and cruelty.

If we each did managed to get a better balance between helping others while looking after ourselves it would not eradicate suffering but it would help so many more people recover from it to live a happier life of quality - a life worth living. It would also help prevent the severity of suffering and the risk of burnt out medical and emergency service staff from the sheer volume of people in need of help. In effect we should each try to aim to become Unipolar with the difference of being dedicated to seeking solutions instead of problems and joys instead of sorrows. The result of that would be that we'd all be happier and the only criticism others could launch at us would be that we are naive - which we are at exactly the same time as we are the precise opposite.

The answer to the paradoxes of paradoxes is simply to recognise which response in appropriate for each event we encounter and act on it. It is impossible as none of us can know everything to do so, but perhaps then the answer is to just give each other and ourselves a little be more patience, consideration as well as support to work through these things?