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“Mission control centre’
The location of information within the psychological space of a person defines its status and its influence on this person’s life. There are places with more degree of influence, or “prestige.”
The vault for most significant information is usually in our stomach. It is like a town hall. This place keeps the essential information about what one should strive for and what one has to avoid. This is the place, we will usher the information that will help us take a creative approach to life and will eliminate everything that has a harmful effect on it.
Core competence
Information can be stored at the level of the head, but this is not its final destination. Our head and brain can be easily “disturbed’ by the stress. Experience shows that a much more secure place is our body, for instance, at the level of the solar plexus. Deeper levels of the nervous system are much more stress resistant, and they keep the information even in extreme situations. It is similar to oceanic depths because they are always quiet, even if there is a storm on the surface. Having such core competence, a person maintains the ability to adapt creatively to different circumstances, even when reason seems to fail to do it efficiently, and when the brain is intoxicated by stress. Nevertheless, only information that is useful and appropriate for life should be stored there.
In order to “relocate knowledge’ and rearrange everything, good and bad can be done with the help of the phenomenon as mentioned above; that is: by way of observing these processes at the level of sensations.
Unexpected answers to strange questions
Concerning the question of “the future of one’s knowledge’, then it turns out to be quite possible to receive coherent answers to the questions that may seem odd at first sight: “Where is the knowledge I already have? What does it feel like?” As an answer to these questions, you can hear the following, for example: “It’s a ball in my stomach.” – “And where are the sensations connected with the new knowledge?” – “It’s a fog above my head.”
The difference of emotions can give us quite a lot! To discover it and benefit from it, all you need to do is to concentrate a little.
The experience of internal work of many people shows that one can trace how new information enters the body, the way it exists, develops, the way it is used when it’s necessary, and the way it serves to solve problems. Flows of information that come our way and flows of information that we give away can be tangible! The ability to reconnect with our sensations through our attention gives us the keys to take an active part in the distribution and use of knowledge. This allows us to “sort through’ useful and unnecessary information and reinvents ourselves.
Moving towards refreshing self-awareness is what we are striving for.
Question attack using a three-step method
This is how it is done. Our mind is attacked by questions about the immediate sensations like “Where?” “What?” and “What does it look like?” We have to stress the fact that we are talking about revealing what it is actually like, so this process does not mean “fantasizing’ or “making things up.” As soon as the characteristics of the spontaneously formed state begin to surface, one can move from the diagnostic stage to the stage of therapy: from the evaluation of the state and solution to the observation of the changes, and from analysis to “meditation’.
Here are the major questions for the different stages of work:
– Where and what do you have in your initial state?
– Can you define where it is useful or not, and what kind of solutions do you see in connection with what you have discovered? You can discover the factors that trigger certain sensations and the way your body reacts to these sensations.
– Where are the obstacles that inhibit the natural flow? What do they look like? What happens to your sensations because of it?
Then, in three steps, we resolve the following questions: where do we take what will help us update our contour/profile and help us mature? How will it come?
This algorithm follows the principle where a bigger task of updating one’s state is divided into smaller steps that are much easier to make.
As soon as traumatic contour dissolves, excessive tensions disappear, and the good knowledge becomes a part of the body and keeps your life project blossoming.
Conscious choice
With the help of methodology of psychocatalysis, we will find a solution to a series of questions:
– Is there a reason to learn a new foreign language? If there is, what channel should be used for this purpose? Will you make it look like you’re learning it or will you invest yourself in the process so that you could understand the language, speak it, and taste the fruits of your effort?
– What should one do to make way for this knowledge to your body and have easy access to it?
– How can I feel free and relaxed when I use this language?
– Are there some useful tips and tricks to learn efficiently? Is there a better way to learn?
There will be three levels of our work:
– reason and intellect (head);
– feelings and soul (chest);
– willpower and self-actualization (stomach and solar plexus).
We will strive to keep our mind clear, our soul firm, and our willpower strong. Let’s start with focusing our attention.
There are two phases: the first one is preparatory, and it is similar to preparing the ground for sowing; then comes the main phase of sowing the seeds that will bring the harvest. Yet, we will begin with some general work that is not directly connected directly with the learning process.
LET’S FREE OUR ATTENTION
There is a Chinese saying that the one who has a lot of chi (energy) is rich. This is how we are going to rephrase this saying: “The one whose attention is free can learn a lot and do a lot.” Our attention can be called the currency of our mind, its “gold reserve.” Paying attention wisely defines the success and fate of a person, and when attention is wasted, it brings problems along. Our freedom is in the way we manage our attention, and rational use of it is the key to success.
What usually happens to our attention? Its existence is far from being trouble-free. Unfinished tasks, unresolved issues, failed exams, unrealistic dreams, meaningless attachments, and unhealthy worries hold our attention hostage. It is high time we said goodbye to many of these elements that gobble the energy of our mind and soul and keep going solely due to inertia. However, we never find time for that. When such elements pile up, normal functioning of the mind becomes impossible.
There are two ways to resolve this issue: either you work through each episode, which “casts shadow’ in our mind, or you try to get rid of them in one go. I prefer the second option and then additionally work through anything that is left. This strategy I choose for my everyday psychotherapeutic practice, and it works.
Whatever holds our attention can be perceived as something remote, or it can be close to you, but in the majority of cases, this information manages to “creep into our mind’ and sometimes even “fall into our stomach.” From my experience, I would recommend beginning with setting free deeper layers, which are at the level of our stomach and solar plexus; however, one can also start with more superficial layers of our mind, that is the head, and then make his/her way to the depth.
The body can recognise such “retractions’ causing tension as greyness, darkness, blackness. Even if the topic is worthy of attention, it should not be in the stomach. There is an optimal distance for it.
If you feel surrounded by problems
Exercise 1: Total immediate reinvention of the mind
In order to maintain better concentration, close your eyes. You can open and close them anytime you wish. Your concentration is much more important than the fact whether your eyes are open or closed.
Stage 1
– Your problems can find themselves in your head as if they are in a saucepan with a lid on it. Then it makes sense removing the lid and let the tissues of the brain smooth. Everything unnecessary will fly away as darkness and trash out of your head.
– It can be dust, smoke, or soot. It may leave your body as plumes of smoke from the chimney; it can be a whirlpool or a tornado. Sometimes, it leaves as smoke rings: the shape is not important, what really matters is the direction of the movement.
– Let this flow work. Let it carry out everything superfluous and unnecessary.
– As a powerful vacuum cleaner, it will drain everything grey and dark out of your head, and then from every corner of your body.
– It includes the zone of solar plexus, which often stores the consequences of frights.
6. It often happens that everything that used to cause worry, tension, and even fear leaves the body as black or slate-grey smoke.
7. Your body is being cleansed. Intuitively, you can feel how much of this process has been complete.
8. Stay there. Observe the process as long as you need to bring it to 100% completion. Your attention is the catalyst of this process.
9. When you feel your body cleansed, you will feel it closing; and that is the time
to open your eyes.
To make sure that everything is “clean,” have another go.
If unpleasant signals “managed to reach’ your solar plexus, guide your attention to the extreme point when they settled, and then say: “Stop! Go back!” – and then observe the way that substance, which may look like black smoke or something similar to it, leaves your body in the reverse trajectory (it will leave the same way it came in).
It usually leaves the body through the top of the head. The “lid,” or the “hatch’ opens up for a short period of time, and everything that wounded us at a moment of temporary instability will go away. Signals, which caused the tension, leave the body as dark energy and some fine suspended matter. Sometimes, it can even look like trash or stones. Sometimes, it can be some abstract objects like red and yellow triangles, for example. Not all these associations are that important as they are not our goal. What matters here is the process of letting go of everything that we do not really need in life.
Sometimes, darkness goes away through our eyes, ears, or our mouth.
It happens so that once one has restored his or her peace, a black dot or something similar to it moves away from the stomach through the feet. This can mean that some ancestral fright brought by the family has left the body.
That black dot which went out through the feet
Tatiana is a successful businesswoman. The tension she feels in her stomach, sometimes, brings her physical pain. As she calms down, the tension drops, and she feels how some black dot leaves her body through her feet. Her stomach feels liberated, then her legs gain strength, they seem to come to life again, and she is rubbing her hands. Then she remembers that she is a granddaughter of former political prisoners both on mother’s and on father’s side of the family. She has become an entrepreneur. The understanding of the fact that the risk of danger is not as high as it used to be for her ancestors gives her pleasant feeling. The day after the session during our seminar, she discovers some residue feeling in her chest in the form of red worms, and this sensation quickly disappeared. Tatiana felt peaceful, and her attention was free20.
If you feel that this process is completed, you can move on to the second stage of the reinvention.
Stage 2
1. When you feel that your internal space has been cleansed, that the membrane of the entrance has skinned over, that the hatch has closed, then observe how reasonable solutions, experience, and competence that surround your head pour into your body and fill in the space, especially where you have previously experienced tension.
2. This is when the flow of light, water, some mass, lava or even something free-flowing is moving down from the surrounding space or your head into your. In some cases, new knowledge is born and is unfolded directly in a place, which has been cleared of unhelpful information.
3. Everything, that makes us more mature and more confident, flows into the tension-free body and find its right place, thus forming the core of the competence.
4. It usually flows down to the level of the solar plexus (in the stomach, at the level of the elbows)
5. This will help you feel calm and maintain your strength, even in stressful situations. This will help you act precisely and creatively.
6. You may feel how light your head has become and your body has this pleasant feeling of saturation, which makes it more stable and calm. The sensation of pleasant heaviness can reach your fingers and toes. Remain in this state as long as you find necessary. Gradually, this heaviness and warmth will be absorbed, and then you will experience lightness and freshness.
7. A part of your strength can come from your feet, “from your roots’.
8. This feeling of new fullness will support you and protect you in the future.
9. Along with cleansing from the old and filling in with the new, this process can be seen as some sort of initiation into maturity. Now, you will be able to solve any problem like an adult.
10. When you feel that the process is complete, open your eyes.
What you have just done is the most efficient and significant practice for restoring your potential. You might find it useful to repeat this procedure.
What kind of “snake’ am I cherishing in my bosom?
Our attention can be disturbed not only by problems, but also by some useless wishes, empty hopes, and some unfortunate attachments. This is what we can find in the chest, in our “soul’.
Exercise 2: Getting rid of pipe dreams
Stage 1
1. Define what has “sunk deep into your heart’ and what exactly is it that you are cherishing?
2. Decide if it is something useful and has any perspective and if you should really keep nurturing it.
3. Whichever useless object or attachment you discover in your chest will fly away your energy will be released.
Stop cherishing snakes
In this part of the work, you let go of every “snake’ you have been cherishing so far in the depths of your body, and by snake, we mean everything that has been harmful. Letting go in this case is connected with calming down and finding peace, without any fight. There is nothing to fight with. If you have made your mind, you will find your peace. Under such circumstances, “snakes’ dry out and vanish as dust or simply disappear.
These emotions can be connected with some unfortunate infatuation with a person in a relationship or when you are not single. It can also be alcohol addiction: then those bottles of liquor are let go from your internal space which peace of mind fills instead.
In my book “Objects in the Body,” I mentioned observations of the Orthodox monks on how “wicked thoughts’ settle in our mind and how desires unfold: it never happens quickly. Fortunately, the reverse development of the events for these unwelcome conditions is also possible. As a result, “sobering up’ helps a person return from the unnatural state to its natural condition and reconnection with God.
Stage 2
– If you realize that your wishes are natural, and the unnatural part was tying them to the object that you have just let go, then take this thought a little further. Are there better or “legal’ ways of satisfying these wishes? Is not there someone or something on the horizon that would bring you that long-awaited satisfaction without causing you any trouble?
– If you experience something like that, then let this feeling come closer to you.
3. If not, then prepare yourself for attentive scanning of the space around you so that as soon as this realization appears, you will react to it. Meanwhile, you have to be patient.
4. Ability to stay strong through difficult times is a trait of a mature person.
Where am I?
In one of our classes, there was a woman, who, judging by her facial features, was a very gifted person. Such people tend to have very bright awakening moments. All of a sudden, she says: “I have complete silence; there are no images at all.”
Here is a part of our conversation with her:
Surrounded by fir-trees
“Where are you? Are you here or somewhere else?”
She finds herself in the country. Even her picture had something of this sort (the test drawing which you must have already tried doing): in her picture, there was a person surrounded by triangles, which stood for fir-trees. What did we discover in our conversation? 70% of her attention was there, in the woods, and only 30% was present at the seminar.
“While you are there, does that place give you anything?”
People usually gain strength in places like this. However, she didn’t respond, but having spent some time there and gotten what she wanted, she “returned’ to the seminar.
Then she received the image of tranquillity: she was sitting with a butterfly on her hand.
It was highly interesting to observe our work with her. Sometime later, she realized that she was blooming. Her internal sensations revealed themselves. Everything went very well.
In the case of this participant of the seminar, it turned out that “she herself,” or a bigger part of her soul was in a quiet place, far away from the class. In this situation, the question: “Where is my attention? Where am I?” turned out to be very useful. These questions helped her get what she needed “there,” close the Gestalt of rest and return to the working environment21.
Exercise 3: Spend some time in a happy place and then return
– Define where you are.
– Stay there for some time so that you could get what you need: it could be some peace and quiet or emotional support. It can easily be something else.
– Return to “here and now’.
Similar kind of technique is used in such schools of psychotherapy as Ericksonian therapy guided by affective imagery and several other movements: patients are asked to think of something pleasant and spend some time reminiscing. You need to find your happy place where you can recharge.
A little cave
A person might remember that when he or she was a child and went to the seaside to spend holidays, they would dig a little cave in the sand, which felt like a very comfortable and safe place. Everyone has its own unique image of a happy place, which functions as a vitamin in adult life.
In psychocatalysis, this method is used only in specific cases when a patient expresses a certain need for that.
In general, setting one’s attention free, calling it back and “dragging it away from something’ is a big job, which we will successfully complete along the course. For now, let’s ask ourselves the questions where our intelligence and soul are? This can be seen as a useful complement to the work you have already done.
Fig. 10. Location of the information in the space of consciousness that causes the reaction of the body of different strength and quality.
This task is based on the following observation: the things that “steal’ our attention can be inside our body as well as outside. We began by letting go of the tension-causing sensations in the depths of our body, and as a result, we have decreased the overall level of tension. Nevertheless, we also need to deal with what is at a distance and drains our energy, attention, and a part of the resources of the nervous system.
Topics, which disturb our mind, can be allocated along the vertical and horizontal axes. The most harmful are those worries, which have managed to creep into the core of the body and reach the solar plexus.
However, we need to work through everything that is “on the way’ to the core.
Where is my intellect?
Exercise 4: Paying attention to the problems and sorting them out: if they are dead-end, go away from them, and find the solutions to the problems that have something promising!
Stage 1: Going away from dead-end problems
1. Diagnostic phase
Ask yourself a question: “Where is my intellect? What is my attention focused on? What is it busy with? What is it aimed at?”
At the level of sensations, there might appear an image of your intellect, being an octopus with its tentacles (or an amoeba with its pseudopodia). This “creature’ has spread in different directions and left them there.
Things that keep our attention are often found above our head, in front of it, or above it.
In our mind, choose the fattest “tentacle’ and walk on it to find out what is hiding at its end. You will see that it is holding your attention with your internal vision. Either it will be an image, that reflects the essence of the problem, or you will somehow realize what draws your attention.
2. Phase of evaluating spontaneously formed conditions and finding a solution to them
As far as each direction is concerned, you decide whether to keep it and invest your effort in it or whether it is enough and it is time you got your energy back.
Different tactics
It is quite likely that once your eyes are closed, you will find out that some part of your attention is filled with mental notes and post-its: these are the reminders about the things that require your attention, and you should not forget about that because they are important. Moreover, you have no right to rest until they were resolved.
Perhaps, some of these errands do not deserve the high priority you have given them, and their importance was ascribed spontaneously.
Some part of your attention can also be lost in the errands, which have long lost their importance, and you simply need to walk away from them.
3. The phase of changes: the solutions to set your energy free!
A) As far as investing your attention in something that has no future, stop yourself right away and simply observe how your energy, which you have given to this, goes back to your body (as light, warmth, a stream of water, or something else that is pleasant). The “tentacles’ are being pulled in, and the surface of the “ball’ is getting smooth.
Meanwhile, the things, that are not of your concern, or which have lost their relevance, should return to where they came from in the first place.
These actions will give you an opportunity to focus on what is important and relevant right now.
B) If there are justified reasons that require your attention, but they can wait, then you make a note in your agenda and realize that you will return to this issue in own time; until that moment, you don’t have to worry about these issues.
Energy comes back to you, as well as that chronic, but inactive “bulging’ in this direction will smooth.
C) When it comes to urgent issues, make your decisions right now: in what order are you going to do it, and how are you going to do it? Then you have to do it.
If you need ideas to help you find the solution, there is an additional exercise for this purpose.
While mentally remaining on the issue, use the “tentacle of your attention’ to scan the space for necessary solutions. Are they near or far? Most likely, they are already on their way. And it is also likely that they are in the same direction where the problem is.
From feeling preoccupied to working
Within your mental space, there is a trajectory of ideas, which help you solve this or that problem: this trajectory is an arc. From afar, that is: at the front, and from above, it moves towards you, to the upper frontal part of your head. Then it goes into your body. Your task now is to give way to these bright ideas. Let them flow into your head, and then spread over your body. They come at the level of the chest, making your soul calmer and firmer, making your willpower stronger at the level of solar plexus: let your confidence of success grow and turn into determination.
Along with growing determination, tension will be decreasing, and you will be able to move into action.
These exercises reduce empty worries preventing your body from spending your intellectual energy twice on the same issue. You remember about the issue, you act and solve it, and then you forget about it! You do not need tensions, all you need is to solve and act according to the principle “One thought, one action.”
When you give way to your sensible ideas, something like light, water, a little cloud, or another kind of something positive pours into your body. You begin to feel calmer.
This is a step-by-step algorithm according to which you work.
Stage 2: Finding solutions and confidence
– Where is the knowledge useful for solving these problems? Is it near or far? In what direction is it located?
– What does it look like? Is it a cloud, a sun or something else?
– Should you let them come closer to you and enter your body?
– Observe the way it is happening: a ray of light, a cloud or a stream of water “settles’ in your body.
– Explore what it feels like to be filled with useful information. How much of that necessary knowledge do you have now?
– If you think there is enough of it, then think what issue could be successfully resolved using the knowledge you possess? How quickly can you resolve it? What will you do first?
A lump turns into a path
What used to be a stumbling block for you, what created an obstacle in front of you, is spreading in front of you like a bolt and turning into a band you can move along step-by-step, and gradually solve the problem. What used to seem like a big problem turns into a much smaller issue.
Every given moment in time, you just should make a single step, and this is how you can work your way to the solution! You do what you should do, but without any tension. As soon as your tasks are completed, those mental notes pinned to the surface of your attention disappear and sink in your body, and then you experience the sense of completion and composure.
– If you need to complement your knowledge or get more information to come closer to the solution of your problem, think and plan where and how you can get it. If you might find it useful asking for a consult with an expert or study the question yourself, and thus, bring your knowledge to the necessary level.
Make sure you are wishing for the right thing
Recently, it has become quite a trend to make New Year resolutions more down-to-earth, and instead of saying “I want to own a castle on the beach!” you go for a more goal-oriented “I want to learn to promote my online services efficiently, and I would like to make progress in learning a foreign language!” etc. I think this tendency is very positive! If you have new skills, you will have an increase in your income. Your dreams will get support!
