How we decide

This week I have been reading Jonah Lehrer”s book “How We Decide” and has learned how to improve my bodytalk processes.  Jane Maestro-Scherer gave us this book.

I read page after page because  Jonah wrote about the different  mysteries like a movie  and linked them to brain issues. The brain has several features and of the many parts, Jonah stressed the prefrontal cortex – which he compares as the conductor, the CEO in our daily lives.

After finishing 3 chapters, I realized how important my modules one and two in BodyTalk are. Now I tap my crown, temples, tap around my forehead and ask myself “what’s the most important thing I should focus on today  as a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter?”  As a senior, I decide 5 hours for my  wellness chores and 7 hours to enjoy my life.

How?  I begin by  tapping  on the cortices,around the forehead and eyes and sternum . It is called in BodyTalk “tapping the cortices.” It helps to get me creative and the outcome is – meaningful and  joyful. my heart and mind literally sings rather than palpitates.

I tap  Ed and Ayen also and told them  to read  the book  because Jonah writes like Robert Ludlum.  The research cases he cites read like a novel. Jonah describes  the various parts of our brains in very graphic and persuasive case studies , eg.  in the Mischel study  of 1970 to 1985 – he explained why  four year old children who ate their marshmallows at once did not fare as well as those who waited – they did not  control their impulse.  The children who waited used reason to control their impulse to eat the  first marshmallow. This is evident in the development of children – the  growing ability to withstand emotional urges and use of their pre frontal cortex.

Now what is also useful in this book? Insights  on learning from mistakes. The physicist Niels Bohr defined an expert as “a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.” Citing Jonah, “from the perspective of the brain, expertise is simply the wisdom that emerges from cellular error. Mistakes arent things to be discouraged, they should be cultivated and carefully investigated.” Successful education is the “ability to learn from mistakes”  according to Carol Dweck, Stanford psychologist. This is relevant for families with children  with learning issues, who have ADHD, for  teenagers and adults with bipolar  issues,  and even with siblings  and partners  who cannot control their debt and financial  issues.We should look at their efforts, not discourage them, but praise and help these children for trying to learn from mistakes. And also learn from our own mistakes in treating these issues.

Mistakes will help you understand not only why but  how to solve emotional issues and how to make better decisions involving problems with family, with work, even with the larger society. Investigating mistakes will also allow you insights on how to deal with anger and rage, loss,sadness and grief.

Jonah wrote also why we make moral decisions as human beings and how our brains lead us to these moral issues. Relevant for the bishops, the clergy  and laity on why we need to do reproductive health education.

Thought for today – “Chance favors the prepared mind”. Louis Pasteur

How I communicate with persons in coma

People approached me to ask “”Can you help us with a loved one who is in coma?”

When I accept the request, a family member would usually inquire  “How do you communicate with people in coma states ?”When I give them a story, “the people dig deeper ” Can you talk to people  also who are diagnosed with ALS or severe autism?”

This blog is a photo story. It shares how I prepare for a request to help a family talk to their loved one who is in coma. First my name is given to the person whom I need to receive messages from. It is a request for permission to enter her/his inner mind and heart.

Then I do my meditation until I receive a message which gives me an image or a word to work on. I usually prefer not to know anything except the name and birthdate of the person. This allows me enough energy and space to interpret and validate if the images or words are coming from the requested person.

I take my origami paper and start folding while I wait for more messages. When I get at least 3 words correct that identifies the person, then I breath and go to the more relaxed state of consciousness . I send the messages in sms or email forms to a family or friend who has accepted the task of being my co-communicant. The conversations with the person can be short, can be in a phrase  or the person can travel and show me places where she/he is. It helps if am able to check immediately with the co-communicant where the person used to go so that my mind is not overloaded and the messages are sent clearly.

I may get a message for a deed to be done by the family and I stress  this deed as priority . After a  day, or a week , I usually inform the family to be more receptive so that they can continue talking to the person. If the family needs more time for the deed to be completed, I continue the service but this means more energy on my side. It is like being on 24/7 call from beyond and my senses are at its peak performing rate. It does affect my daily routine and I have to avoid crowds . I also have to stay at home and be quiet. On the other side,  when the family notice or sense a certain serenity in the house ,I can close the channel until another message comes. It is normal for the family to ask ” Please wake her up  ”  when I start receiving messages, in visual or a variable of sense forms. Gently I explain ” I cannot wake her up po. She answers in another state . It is not in my power to do so.”    I offer prayers so that the person can feel she/he is loved and is safe.

This is Aca’s painting of her sisters. She has been in coma for 10 months now but she has a beautiful mind and colours her messages with love. Love is the main source of the energy from where she communicates and from where I receive.

How seniors talk of love in the morning

This morning, I had the urge to ask Ed “What do you see when you wake up and look at me?” Ed” You look rested, sometimes troubled.” “Why naman troubled?” Ed, “Sigue, rested.” End of the conversation and  I go rotating my eyeballs and tapping my head and heart.  Then gently ,  I rise like a cat  and look at myself in the mirror. “Hmm, time to go to the beauty parlour and have myself treated to a luminous facial.”

Seniors like me feel it is important to know what your loving partner see upon waking up. The first thing I do is look at Ed when I open my eyes. “I see all the years in his cheeks and especially around his jawline.” “I say to myself :  mukhang dapat haplusin at himasin, yan ang unang salubong sa umaga namin.” So I wake him up with various strokes of haplos,himas, hagud,halik.  Of course this starts his morning and he wakes up speaking in tongues. This goes without saying that love is the talk of the day.