"You Can't Handle The Truth!", Or Can You?

For years now I have been trying to explain to people in therapy how there is a part of my mind which believes it is being protective by hiding from me things which "it" has determined are too intense,  too painful, too scary, too anger producing, too overwhelming, etc.  It is as though this part of my mind, which is outside my own awareness, is consantly monitoring everything that happens around me, and my internal response to those events.  Whenever it feels that the outside event, or my response to that event is too much for me to handle it quickly and effectively hides it from me by pushing it into my unconscious.

The difficulty here is that it is my own mind energy which has been used to block my awareness of the event and my reaction to it.  It is also my own mind energy which has to be used to keep this event and my reaction to it, hidden from my conscious awareness.  Now, when I am young, and have lots of energy, and not very many events and reactions that "have to be hidden from me", I don't really notice the drain on my mental energy system, and the added weight of the unconscious material I am carrying around with me.  However, after I reach my third or fourth decade of using my mental energy to hide things from my awareness, and I accumulate more and more unconscious baggage to carry around with me, I begin to run low on resources.  I become more easily overwhelmed, tired, irritable, and inflexible because I have less energy to think through and respond to situations and events, and to process my emotional reactions to them.

It came to me the other day that I avoid looking at the material stored in my unconscious because "I" have placed it there following the conclusion reached by a "protective" part of my mind, saying, "You Can't Handle This!!!"  This reminded me of the movie, A Few Good Men, in which Tom Cruise plays an attorney in the military searching for the truth, while Jack Nicholson plays an officer who is hiding the truth.  In the most memorable scene in the movie Jack Nicholson's character shouts, "What Do You Want From Me?" to which Tom Cruise's character replies, "I Want The Truth!" and then it happens... Jack Nicholson's character replies "You Can't Handle The Truth!!!"

It dawned on me that each time I hide something in my unconscious, it is as though I create another Jack Nicholson character who will shout at me whenever I am about to look at that hidden material, "You Can't Handle The Truth of what I have hidden from you!!!"  "So turn around and look the other way!"  It is as though I have used my own mental energy to create a "guard" for each element I store in my unconscious and that "guard" is my own mental energy yelling at me to turn away from the Truth of my experience and memories and reactions.  It tells me to run toward some form of distraction or escape, or blaming of someone, or something else for what I am feeling.

The solution to this false dilemma is for me to begin to develop that part of my mind which can monitor this process and strengthen the part of my mind that Loves Truth.  Just as in the movie the character played by Tom Cruise decides to fight to uncover the Truth, despite the fact that no one wants him to do that.  He fights to uncover the truth despite the fact that he is threatened with the ending of his career as an attorney, and possibly the end of his career as a military officer.  I must Love Truth enough to face down that part of my own mind which screams at me that, "You Can't Handle The Truth!!!", and remind it that not only can I handle it, I have already lived through it!  I have also continued to function in life despite spending a considerable amount of my own mental energy to keep that Truth hidden from myself.

Contrary to what I have been taught by the culture and society, no one else can make me feel anything.  The Truth is that: "My reality is strictly internal, is unique to me, and is created out of my own thoughts."  I am causing my own pain and frustration, fatigue and overwhelm, by continuing to believe the false notion that "I can't handle the Truth" and that I must keep it hidden from  myself.  I would offer that there is a way to live life which is much lighter, and more energized if I can only teach myself to Love Truth and test the words of the man you said: "Know the Truth and the Truth shall set you Free."

"We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love.  Everything else is false."

Dr. Michael Ryce is Coming to Cary, IL - August 21st - 27th

Dr. Michael Ryce will be appearing at the Center for Spiritual Evolution:
The Center for Spiritual Evolution is located at 204 Spring St. in Cary, IL 60013

Sunday August 21st from noon until 3:00 PM he will be doing the workshop titled: "Why Is This Happening To Me Again?"

This will begin a series of Free workshops which will then move to Monday through Friday from 7:00 PM - 9:30 PM.

Monday night will be: "On Creating Consciously",
Tuesday night will be: "Healing Through Relationships",
Wednesday night will be: "Circle Of Life And How To Play It",
Thursday night will be Codependence To Interdependence", and
Friday night will be: "Naturopathic Keys To Health".

All these workshops are being offered for free. Donations will be accepted but are not required.

Saturday August 28th Dr. Ryce will offer an "Intensive on Mindshifters and StillPoint Breathing", if there are enough prepaid participants. There will be a $125.00 fee for this intensive experience which will run from 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM on Saturday.

Again the address is 204 Spring St., Cary, IL 60013

To get a sample of Dr. Ryce's work you can follow the link below.
http://www.youtube.com/user/PlanetaryHealing?blend=13&ob=5


Please email me if you have any questions. thayes@ch4cs.com

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

A New Audio That Will Help Give You Tools To Change Your Life

On Tuesday August 2, 2011 on the Mindshifters Radio Internet Show, a woman called the show and worked through a Reality Management Worksheet, with the host Dr. Michael Ryce. The audio from that show is available at www.whyagain.com/worksheets.php. This audio is a powerful example of how the worksheet process and several other tools offered by Dr. Ryce can work together to dismantle the roots of negative emotions and resentments that many of us carry for years, if not decades.

I highly recommend this audio and the worksheet which are both available for free download at the web page shown above. You can also listen in, and call in to the Internet show which airs five days a week at 1:00 PM Central Time, find more info at this location http://www.whyagain.com/mindshifterradio.php

In the audio file of this show you can hear an outstanding example of what can be accomplished in a very short time, if one has the proper tools and willingness to face things that seem unpleasant and emotionally intense. The results are beyond words. Listen in to hear for yourself.

Thanks again Lynne!

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

Blogging About Anger - Or - How To Really Stir Up Your Audience's Reaction

Just two days ago I wrote a blog entry about the purpose and usefulness of anger. Since then I have received more comments than any other blog entry I have ever written. It seems that just bringing up the topic of anger stirs anger and defensiveness in people. It truly amazes me how much emotion was stimulated by the words I wrote in my blog. It makes it much easier for me to see how people could go to war over money, property, religion or perceived physical threat, when simply typing some words about thoughts regarding the proper usefulness of anger can stir such intense emotion.

Thank you to all who read those words and responded. Thank you to those of you who disagreed with what was written, and thank you to those of you who agreed with it and were appreciative.

I would offer that it is instructive for all of us to realize just how much denied and suppressed energy of emotions we carry within our mind/body systems, which is just laying there waiting to be stimulated by a word, picture, action or event from the outside. I would also offer, once again, that the only way to deal with that energy constructively is to understand and accept that I have been carrying that energy within me and that it was not caused by the word, picture, action or event from the outside. I would refer here to another recent blog post regarding the chocolate syrup in the glass of white milk. http://ccandf.blogspot.com/2011/07/it-is-all-inside-job-or-hersheys.html

If I accept that I am the only one who can create the internal reality I experience, then I can begin to work with what I am experiencing and learn to create something more pleasant and loving. The tools offered by Dr. Michael Ryce and others like him are designed to be applied to my daily life to help me create a more loving and peaceful life for myself, regardless of the external situations and the choices of those around me. This is not a philosophical debate or theoretical exercise. This a set of tools for practical, effective change in the experience of life which I create for myself, day after day.

Thanks again to all those who have commented. I would offer that for anyone who has become aware of a strong emotional reaction to the words written in this, or any other, blog post or article it could be very useful to dismantle the thoughts, beliefs and traumas in your mind/body energy system which are creating that reaction within you. Dr. Ryce makes his reality management worksheet available for free on his website at the following location, for this very purpose. www.whyagain.com/worksheets.php The first three links on that page provide the tools you need to rid yourself of any negative emotional energy you are experiencing.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.

Emotions As Valuable Warning Signals

In the work we do in the Mindshifters group, we teach tools for dismantling the thoughts and beliefs which lead to negative emotions. There have been times when people visiting the group have been vehemently opposed to dismantling the thoughts which lead to their anger. They have made statements like, "I need my anger because it protects me.", or "I use my anger to fuel my creativity.", or "I don't want anyone judging me and telling me that my thoughts or feelings are wrong. If if is a part of me then it is not wrong and I don't want to get rid of it, I want to embrace my anger and pain."

Well, in some ways I have to agree with part of those protests. Emotions are a natural part of my experience and they serve a valuable function in my life, if I know what that function is, and how to use my thoughts and emotions to my advantage. The difficulty arises when people want to use their emotions to solve their problems, or to pressure someone else to do, or stop doing something. This is like using a perfectly good tool for the wrong job. I run the risk of ruining the tool and either failing to complete the job, or taking a lot longer than necessary, and creating other problems along the way.

I would offer that my negative emotions are a warning system to notify me that I am doing something wrong. As Dr. Michael Ryce teaches us, "If I am in pain, I am in error.". In this case, my anger, frustration, confusion, hurt, sadness, are like the alarm system for my mind/body energy system. They are telling me that I am in error, or I have 'missed the mark' with whatever I was trying to do. Often this warning system tells me that I have made the mistake of thinking that I can and should control things that I cannot control. At other times the warning system tells me that I have judged myself, someone or something as being wrong and thereby set up a belief that I am right and I need to fight whatever is happening.

Guy Finley offers that when I am angry at someone, the degree to which I am angry with them is an indication to me of how right I am and how wrong they are. How can my pain, prove that I am right? He goes on to say that, "My anger and pain does not prove that I am right. It only proves that I don't know what "rightness" is."

If I were right, wouldn't I be feeling happy and loving?

The following insight came to me last night while listening to Mindshifters Radio - the replay of the August 2, 2011 show -

"Anger is only as productive for resolving a situation I don't like, as a fire alarm is for putting out a fire. Clinging to my anger and raging at another person or situation is like blasting the alarm at the flames and expecting the fire to be extinguished."

This is not to say that a fire alarm is useless or should be eliminated. It is simply recognizing that the role of the alarm is to mobilize me to take corrective action to find the source of the problem and remedy it. The alarm is not the solution! It is only an indication of the presence of error and the need for a solution!

My negative emotions are very valuable, but only in their role as an indication to me that I am in pain because I am in error. When I become aware of my negative emotional states, I can then choose to apply the many tools which are available to dismantle the false realities in my mind which are causing my pain. By doing this, I restore my awareness to my original and constant source as the energy of Love, and temporarily end the dream of separation.

We come from Love, we are made of Love, we are Love. Everything else is false.