Where Our Consciousness As A Species Is Going; Creating a Whole Education

As a species I believe half our education is missing. The funny thing is you can find both sides of this education, albeit slightly skewed, within our cultures and history. The interesting thing is how they have been kept on opposite sides of the spectrum, and ridiculed depending on which side you stand upon. On one we have science and on the other we have self-mastery, or in other words the outer world and the inner. All the religions of the world have tried illuminating the path to self-understanding and awareness. At the core they speak of our connection to the creative force inherent in all the forms of the diverse manifestation of energy within our known universe. In creating this force as external to us they unfortunately missed. Science in fact has begun to try to understand and illuminate this seemingly infinite and omnipresent force as well and sees the connection inherent in all including us but has missed the point of how this is valuable to self-mastery or our experience of ourselves. Where I believe we miss is in our compartmentalization of what is useful and important. In our history that has swung from survival, to religiousness, to science, to spirituality and now to, well in many cases, a freeing of mind to the unknown.

I believe since the moment that we compartmentalized ourselves there has been an imbalance leading to striving for power and control based on the first stage of survival. As the pendulum of our conscious growth swings it has been learning through these manifestations of survival, religiousness, to science, to spirituality. So where are these evolutions leading too for our global, and as Carl Jung coined it, collective consciousness? I believe that as a species we are on the cusp of being able to finally merge our education into a complete one; the merging of our outer understanding with a deeper understanding of our inner world. All of our previous manifestations of learning have been aimed at getting us there, however because they didn’t contain each other they were incomplete. You can’t compartmentalize education and teach but a few courses and hope that the rest of the subjects will become illuminated on their own.

            As we as a species have changed our form of education and in doing so our consciousness we have been creating and re-creating our social and world systems to suit our new awareness. I believe that in this external mirror we can see how complete or lacking our education has been. If the system is causing damage and isn’t working then it shows a lack in our education. This couldn’t be clearer right now as how can our education be complete while we hurt one another and destroy the very things we need to survive. This goes against the very first stage of our learning. So what does complete education look like? It is an education of both the inner and outer world. It is the study and deep understanding of self, of our motivations of our true experience. From this place understanding technology and social systems and the universe will allow us to expand our awareness and power in a healthy and beneficial way. To gain power and not understand our own drivers for using that power is insanity; so to is not teaching emotional intelligence to a species who’s basic driver in life is emotionally based.

The journey must start to focus the individual inwards; the greatest changes begin this way. This process is not without its growing pains. It can be very uncomfortable and dislocating to dissolve your definitions of self and society. What you realize once you do it is that you still exist without definitions and you begin to glimpse your own vastness. We are so much larger then our small-minded definitions allow. In this vastness it is incomprehensible to choose destruction and small-minded social constructs. You realize that things like fitting in, or proving your value have absolutely no meaning along with many other social pressures. It is a perspective change to one of inner freedom. Once the journey inward reaches its pinnacle it dissolves into an outward movement once more. We begin to experience the creative force that we continually outflow into our environment. It is at this point that we realize the true innate power that we possess. This is why so many voices say the most powerful shift for the world is the one that happens within an individual being, and it is true.

In conclusion, in our current stage of returning our minds back to a state of innocence, of possibility, to the unknown and breaking down the rigid and stagnant past limitations of all our compartmentalizing we need to begin to redefine our education in this life. We need to redefine ourselves and our place within the scheme of life on this planet and the universe. We need to let go of our definitions of consciousness and begin to expand through experience in both inner and outer directions to fully understand anything of value. The inner journey is trying to understand what exactly the human experience is; it is trying to learn about our multiple types of intelligences, not just the mental one. This inner exploration will allow us to grasp the significance of the information we learn about our external world, how to recreate better social systems, cultural systems. Bio and ecological systems can be protected and restored and we can try to deeply pursue the mysteries of the universe and life in a non-invasive way. Not only will it be non-invasive but also our search can be unlimited once we can transcend the bounds of safe science that we feel constricted to for fear of alienation. It is time for a holistic education and true freedom for mankind’s experience and growth. 

Cheers,

Charlotte Brammer

Psychotherapist . Hypnotherapist

Equine Assisted Therapist . Reiki Master

Living Clarity

One Woman’s Story in an Equine Facilitated Open Themed Workshop

It seemed to drizzle a cold clumpy rain the entire day during an open themed workshop with a group of women in the fall of 2014. Surprisingly the weather on this day acted as a trigger for one of the women (we will call her Jane to keep her privacy.) It took her back to her childhood, of being cold and wet while her mother dragged her from door to door trying to convert people. Her father once and a while would finally take her into the car and take her shoes off and try to get her feet warm by sticking them in front of the vents on full heat. In the beginning she would voice her needs but eventually after being ignored and never stood up for, she fell silent. Her mother’s choice to convert to JW influenced the rest of her life. On this day it came rushing back all at once while she worked with a young mare named Anunciada, Anna for short. Their work began before they got into the round pen together. Anna paced around the gate, throwing her head, stomping and showing frustration calling out to Jane. Every time Jane would approach she would leave. Jane would wander away and again Anna would stomp and clearly want to Jane to come over.

Once it was time to start her session Anna was brought into the round pen. When Jane approached, Anna would barely let her enter. The dance started anew once Jane was in the center of the pen, Anna would approach, embrace Jane then look away, wander off and come back. So I asked how Jane was feeling and she said she felt frustrated (Anna mirrored this by shaking her head and showing signs of frustration.) Jane just wanted to know what Anna wanted from her. I asked her what she wanted and she said she wanted connection, for people to be there when she needed them, to stop abandoning her. She said she felt angry, I asked her if she had ever voiced her anger before? She said no, I told her to start but she was fearful that Anna would get angry and run her over. We talked a little about how horses value congruency, that it is when we are being incongruent that they feel fear. If we are honest with our anger it is actually a safe space for them as long as we are not physically venting our anger at them. While she was doing this Anna moved around the outside of the ring giving her space and staying with her which she continued to do as Jane finally began to vent her rage. It started quietly at first, but as she gained momentum her voice grew louder and louder until she was screaming her rage at the world. At his point Anna stood watching and waiting, completely focused on Jane in the middle of the circle as she began to say the things she had never said before. Anna dropped her head and released a giant sigh as the woman finally found her voice.

She talked about how she was angry that her father didn’t stand up for his daughter against his crazy wife, how everything, Christmas the snow the cold stopped at the age of five, how it all became meaningless. How she just wanted to be a kid and watch her Saturday morning cartoons and not try to convert people because the world was coming to an end. She was angry that when she finally knew that there was no god and that she needed more then ever, her entire community treated her like she had died. How she had suffered abuse from an elder in that community. How she wants people and men to be with her through the darkness. She kept voicing her anger, until Anna came and nudged her. I told her I agreed with Anna that even though she was giving it a voice she still wasn’t fully engaged, I told her to get the body involved; what would the body do to voice the anger? She was stomping mad in the mud, and then she said I just want people to see me, to witness and be in the mud with me.

            As her anger came to a close she began to let the gates down and sorrow poured out as exhaustion took over. At this point Anna came to the gate and very clearly was trying to pull us into the pen. All of us, the two practitioners and the other women in the workshop followed Anna into the pen. Anna took each one of us, one at a time and placed us around the weeping woman. She re-arranged us until she was happy with where we all were. Anna walked a circle around us all as we laid our hands upon Jane supporting her and keeping her upright. Then Anna came in herself and gently laid her head against Jane’s heart and allowed her to collapse over Anna and hug her face. We all stayed that way until she was finished. When she was ready Anna pulled back and we all broke the connection. Anna came around to each of us to thank us all and then began to walk to the gate. Jane said she didn’t need to put her back as Anna knew where to go; she just wanted to go into the house to warm up as her feet were freezing. Anna did know where to go and she shook her entire body dislodging all the energy she had collected before we put her back with her herd.

            Jane had connected deeply to a need that had not been met; she realized that through her choices she was reliving the same story over and over. She knew she was ready to change the story and wanted to create relationships in her life that were healthy and didn’t mirror the old pain. She was ready to create different choices in her life. The mare that Jane chose to work with once had anger issues of her own, she often seems called to work with those who lack a voice and help them to connect to their inner power free from anger. She is often called to work with women who have suffered physical or sexual abuse and always has a powerfully healing affect especially for those suffering from PTSD. This mare is very powerful; I have posted two pictures of her. She seems to be able to warp energy as you can see in the second picture. She has done this many times to pictures. This is a DSLR Camera and it only ever happens on Anna. (I do know how to use Photoshop but I have not touched this photo, it still gives me Goosebumps when I see it.)

If you are interested in finding your own voice, or working on something that has been with you for a very long time to further your own success in life or in business then contact me directly via this blog or the contacts page at http://www.livingclarity.ca/contact.html 

• Walk in the footsteps of a horse and embrace a Limitless World

• Feel through the heartbeat of a horse and reclaim yourself

• See through the eyes of a horse and reclaim your vision

• Soar with the spirit of the horse and change the world

Cheers,

Charlotte BrammerPsychotherapist . HypnotherapistEquine Assisted Therapist . Reiki MasterLiving Clarity

Procrastination Based on Anxiety is a Whole Different Kettle of Fish

What is Anxiety?

There are only so many topics to speak about when it comes to behavioral patterns in humans including a few biggies that people love to come back to. Procrastination is one of them. There are so many tools, blogs, vlogs, books, shows and programs to help you stop procrastinating and start getting your work done; but rarely do we ever address the fear and anxiety that simmers underneath. Procrastination that is born from anxiety is a different kind of procrastination then just being to ‘lazy,’ or wanting to do something else rather then get to work. Anxiety is also very different from healthy fear, and very different from that intuitive feeling of something isn’t right here. Anxiety is one of the most pervasively felt emotions and yet it is also the emotion that we most often deny and avoid. For those of us who suffer from an anxiety disorder, or have had an acute case of anxiety at some point in out lives anxiety can no longer be pushed under the rug.

Anxiety is almost like the fear experience got stuck in the on position in the brain and NEVER GOES AWAY. Sure it can sometimes be manageable, you have good days but sometimes it is awful. Anxiety when intensified can lead to debilitating panic attacks. On the less severe side it can create a few outcomes. The first is creating a need for ‘busy making,’ this is when we are driven to continually fill our time with tasks to accomplish but we never actually seem to make headway in creating true change. The second is complete avoidance and paralysis of movement in life when the anxiety gets really bad. The third is isolation. Normally we swing back and forth between over activity and under activity when it comes to anxiety. This is in no way a complete list of how anxiety can manifest in behavior.

Anxiety, Depression, OCD and A Shrinking World of Experience

            We take part in these behaviors for different reasons. Busy making is safe; it keeps our minds busy and away from the discomfort of our anxiety and especially away from doing things that will create change. Change is extremely scary for anyone but with those who experience anxiety it is often terror inducing. Anxiety increases as you move into unknown territory and so busy making not only lets you ignore the sensations for a while but it also allows you to avoid escalation by stepping out of the safe zone. Complete avoidance and paralysis is when we can’t take it and so check out. This can be done in many ways, reading, TV, sleeping, videogames, drinking and other intoxicants. I used to vent my own anxiety doing many of these things including having a small addiction to Ebay. We isolate mostly because the idea of going out into public makes our anxiety huff and so we cancel plans, stay in, stay safe and don’t let others know why. We feel more and more alone as our isolating drives people to frustration; anger and eventually they fall away. The name of the game for anxiety is avoidance and control. Avoidance unfortunately doesn’t work in the long run, take it from me. Our worlds become smaller and smaller and smaller as we avoid, then trying to step outside of our shrinking worlds again creates more anxiety. This eventually leads to depression, a side affect of anxiety disorders that is deeply tied to the experience.

            We see other people, friends, and people in movies who are living their lives seemingly fearless or completely free of the continually shrinking isolation we find ourselves in, and we yearn for it! We yearn for the types of relationships that involve true vulnerability but in our anxiety we can’t be vulnerable because we already feel like an open wound. It is also a bit overwhelming to have to fulfill the needs of another while in this state. We desire so much to live the lives we dream of; but we have a hard time even admitting what we want because then we feel like we will need to create it which is out of the question. Often time’s pervasive anxiety and depression will be accompanied by varying levels of OCD. We develop OCD (obsessive compulsive disorder) in a bid to finally control what little world we have left to us. We do this in hopes that if we can control things, then how we feel will finally be over. All in all this paints a very bleak picture. For some anxiety is a part of their life experience from childhood, for others it begins at some point in their lives. There is an increasing trend of anxiety for those in their early to mid 20’s. You are not alone.

The Slow Climb Out, Reclaiming Your Life Experience

Learning how to slowly and safely increase your scope of experience will be a huge part in learning to overcome anxiety. It will never really be comfortable but feeling the anxiety and doing it anyway, to slightly change that famous catch phrase, will be the only way to take back your life. Finding a supportive group of people that is small that you can meet for at least twice a month, if not once a week in the beginning will be the greatest gift you can give yourself. In this group you can help each other to continually own and speak your desires and encourage and motivate each other to keep going. Finding a therapist or therapeutic service that can help you clear out the negative belief systems that feed into and contribute to your anxiety will also be extremely time saving and helpful. The more you can do to stack the odds in your favor the more success you are likely to have. Perseverance, courage and forgiveness along with mourning will all be required to finally move forward. Meditation practices and awareness exercises will also be helpful along with spending time in nature. All of these tools have an innate ability to drastically lessen anxiety when we are connected to something greater then ourselves and fully in the moment. That is why horses have such an amazing affect on anxiety disorders. They completely engage us in the moment. With each thing you take back, with each new thing you create you will feel better and better. The anxiety will not look so big and the more you challenge it the more you will be able to do.

Anxiety is a very deeply entrenched neural pathway that unfortunately has told us that 1. We will always feel this way and 2. That while we feel this way we will always be stuck. Neural pathways can be changed and we are only ever stuck when we make the choice to say no instead of yes. (As a side I mean to say yes to healthy situations, sometimes saying no is absolutely necessary to keep us safe.) The more you practice states free of anxiety the less entrenched the anxiety will be. For a lot of us we need to hit absolute rock bottom before we can find the courage to start climbing free of the suffocation we experience every day. For those who are just in the beginning stages of increasing anxiety, stop letting your world shrink now. The more you succumb the longer the climb out. Take it from me it can be done. The above tools all helped to save my life; you just have to find your own formula of success.

Check out http://www.livingclarity.ca to find services such as Psychotherapy Equine Facilitated Therapy and Equine Workshops for more information and tools to help you overcome your own anxiety.

Please share your own experiences or questions below

Cheers

Charlotte Brammer

Psychotherapist . Hypnotherapist

Equine Assisted Therapist . Reiki Master

Living Clarity