DEC/JAN 2002
Thoughts
in the Presence of Fear
Wendell Berry
The
Prospect of Peace
Daisaku Ikeda
Reducing
Dependence On Oil Will Ensure America's National Security
US
Civil Rights in Serious Jeopardy
Michael Ratner
Engineering
Consent on the Domestic Front
Danny Schecter
The
Emperor is Naked
Don Kyhote
Green
View of Fundamentalism vs. Modernism
Kelpie Wilson
The
One Eternal Truth
John Darling
World
Trade Organization Continues to Fail
Danila Oder
McKenzie
River Gathering: Funding Change for 25 Years
Richard Seidman
Dreams
and Visions: The Fountain of Wisdom
Royal D. Alsup, Ph.D.
From
Survival to Serenity
Ianna Bredal, MBA
Environmental
Film Festival Coming to Ashland
Barry Snitkin
Herbal
Help for Winter Weather
Chanchal Cabrera, MNIMH, AHG
How
to Make the Most Out of Your Therapy
Julie Weber, MSW
Taking
Aim at Blame
Peter Moore, MFCC, CGP
Understanding
Problem Behaviors of Animals
Jocelyn Y. Whidden
The
Christmas Presence
Peter Melton
Cosmic
Calendar
Salina Rain
From Survival
to Serenity
Six
Steps to Peace in the Midst of Chaos
By Ianna Bredal, MBA
Here we are in the wake of a terrorist attack. Through our will and effort many of us are back to “business as usual” while others continue to feel the affects and are challenged to return to some semblance of normal. We must go on but not at the expense of our physical and emotional health.
Historically, we have learned well how to survive after traumatic experiences. Some of us are able to pick ourselves up and go on by burying ourselves in our work. Others choose to repress the emotional pain through drugs or alcohol. If we have not chosen to heal the trauma, it is still active in us. It is really pushed more deeply into the subconscious, into the cells of the body.
Denying and repressing feelings blocks our peace and joy. It creates disease in the body and separation from our Essence. There are many who support the recovery from traumatic life experiences. It is beneficial to seek help and support when we become aware of how trauma is affecting our life.
In truth, the fear, pain and related behaviors that have been so dramatically brought into our awareness recently have been with us for a very long time. To the extent we have not healed from being raised in dysfunctional families, broken homes, families affected by the disease of alcoholism, substance abuse or other traumatic life events, the survival patterns we learned from these experiences continue to affect our thoughts, feelings, physical health and behavior. Survival patterns are still active to the extent that the childhood needs were not fully met even for those who would consider they are from healthy families. We all have learned patterns to protect ourselves from being hurt again.
Nature teaches us about the law of attraction. For example, the vibrational essence of a flower organizes molecules to form a rose. A different vibration might form a daisy. This principle is also active in our life. We attract people and experiences based on our consciousness. Typically they reflect patterns of our past to help us come to resolution and to evolve into a more loving, compassionate being. A key is to become conscious of ineffective patterns as they arise with intention to evolve them.
It is easier to see our patterns when we react to the major dramas of our life. It is more difficult to see without the drama. Our survival patterns also show up whenever we struggle with anything and cannot achieve a successful resolution in a reasonable period of time. For example, the child who is in 5th grade and is reading at a 2nd grade level is stuck in a survival pattern anchored in the earlier years when he or she learned to read. The adult who is unable to find fulfillment at work or success in any activity is stepping into the pain of the past in the present challenging moment. When we choose to recover, this same law will reorganize our life into a more serene state.
I am an advocate for healing my survival patterns as much as possible without the need for crisis. As I embrace the path of recognizing and transmuting my limited patterns moment to moment, I am more present and at peace in my life. I can respond to crisis in choice rather than the old reactive ways. Or, the dramatic events are less because I have healed the pattern of needing crisis to create change in my life.
The door to shifting survival patterns is to go into the moment of your daily life activities and notice your thoughts, feelings, physical sensations and actions. If you are reading a book and notice a challenge focusing, or are listening to your child and notice impatience, or are afraid to speak your truth in a loving way to a co-worker, these behaviors are based in a survival pattern that has been learned through experience. It served to protect you then. However as adults, these patterns are ineffective. With awareness, these moments can be used to re-configure your daily life skills. It is a way you can help yourself between traditional therapies.
The physiological fear response is for the body to hold the breath, for muscles of the body to tighten, and for energy to be at the large muscle groups and not available for proper digestion. The body is chemically prepared to freeze, run or fight depending on conditioning. For some the eyes diffuse. They loose the natural function of centralized focus. For others the eyes and body become over-focused in the details. The physiological survival patterns can vary for each depending on childhood conditioning that anchored the survival behavior. For some, sensitivity to light and sound will become acute and for others a lessened sensitivity or numbness will result. Childhood developmental reflexes can reemerge controlling our ability to move, breathe, think and feel in a balanced way. Regardless of the pattern the mind/body system can reorganize itself into a balanced state through awareness, intention and movement. Here is how:
Step one: Awareness Become Aware of your pattern. Practicing meditation and other techniques of centering and balance lay the foundation to live in the moment in awareness.
Step two: Intention Stop! Do not reinforce the pattern. Create the intention to be balanced, centered, patient, at peace. Choose a clear intention that is the highest good of all.
Step three: Explore the Edge Make space to learn a new way. Revisit the experience that has triggered the pattern. Notice your thoughts, feelings and senses.
Step four:
Reconfigure the mind/body system Sit in Hook-ups. Cross your ankles. Cross
your wrists with thumbs down and interlink your fingers. Let your hands rest
on your heart. Put the tongue on the roof of your mouth and focus on slow,
relaxed, deep breathing.
Breathe into a relaxed belly the awareness of the pattern. As you breathe
out, the pattern is releasing, focus on your intention.
Do some lengthening activities especially the calf muscles and the neck muscles.
Hold the muscles long for a count of 8 while breathing.
Do some cross lateral movements like walking in place touching the opposite
knee then add focusing the eyes in all directions without moving the head
while moving the body.
Step five: Integrate Take a walk, meditate, focused on your breath for a few minutes.
Step Six: Expand the edge Begin to revisit the activity that triggered the pattern.
The more you do this the more aware you will become, the less fear will run your life and the more your light will shine. Celebrate your awareness for you have chosen the path of a warrior committed to preventing war and tragedy by healing the inner chaotic patterns that attract challenges and pain.
Survival is about living in fear—fear of death, fear of failure, fear of abandonment. This fear weighs heavy on our physical and emotional health and affects all we do. It can be scary to open the door to healing these core wounds. Sometimes it is easier to stay in the patterns because they are known. The unknown lies on the other side of letting go of the fear. It takes courage to take this step. Using daily life activities as the door is a gentle way to begin.
As a child, I was raised in an abusive, alcoholic environment. I learned survival patterns early on. The crisis in New York and, soon after, a crisis in my personal life brought me to feel the pain and terror of my childhood with greater intensity than ever before. I have embraced this time for healing my past wounds. I know this is why I attracted these experiences. Healing is learning to love ourselves and our life regardless of the circumstances. When we heal chaotic experiences happen less frequently, or we become like a rock in a river, grounded in our Essence in the midst of change. As the fear patterns release we come into our heart, where we can live in joy, compassion and love, the essence of who we are. As we choose serenity over survival, we affect the whole by virtue of the interconnectedness of all things. I invite you to join me in the journey to serenity in life.
Ianna Bredal, MBA, is an international facilitator of Inner Flight workshops and creator of the Inner Flight Center in Jacksonville, Oregon where individuals, families and other groups explore Holographic Healing and Life Skills Mastery©. Ianna facilitates Brain Gym®, Visioncircles™and Brain Organization Profiles from the Educational Kinesiology curriculum. She is also developer of The Way of Mastery in Business©, a course for career and business people seeking meaning through their work. Ianna can be reached at innerflight@qwest.net or 541-899-4447, (888) 885-8558.
