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How To Get Addicted To Being Numb

It starts like anything else. We do something once and like it. Then we continue to do the same thing until it becomes ingrained in us like the etchings in a grade school table.

If you are familiar with classical conditioning, then you understand the saliva-bell scenario.

Essentially, by linking a bell to food, you can get a dog to salivate simply from ringing the bell (as the bell comes before the food.)

Humans are phenomenal at conditioning themselves. Rather than having some external force ring the bell that makes us salivate, we take our perceptions of others perceiving us to be the bell, ultimately making us salivate.

Yes, there is a complicated instrument at work, but for good reason.

We control everything about our thoughts, our feelings, our emotions, and how we think we come across to others.

Which can be frightening to some and empowering to others.

In a world where we do have total control of who we are, it becomes much harder to differ personal responsibility... Or is it?

Now, the popularized truth has become the exact opposite. If you think you control your thoughts, emotions, and actions, then YOU are Crazy.

And that's all thanks to those little pills that make us happy and the advertising behind them.

I'm going to come back to this addiction shortly, but for the time being, we need to look at what is actually making us numb.

Pharmaceuticals Save The Day

Imagine a superhero that doesn't actually help anyone, but makes everyone feel "okay."

"Help there's a fire over there" you hear someone yells. Pharma man comes in, and everything just seems okay. No, the fire wasn't put out, but you don't really care anymore.

The crackling sound of wood, shrieks from the inhabitants, and the roar of the fire becomes the noise of reality.

That is our hero all mighty, the pharmaceutical.

Now, before I continue, there will always be two opposing viewpoints to what I am saying.

Some believe that by taking the pharmaceuticals, you get to the point of functioning so that you can then take on the day and become yourself.

I fall into the other camp.

That is a pipe dream. We are addicted to routines. Wake up. Take Pill. Feel neutral. Exist throughout life.

The opposite of what I want. And while it is nice to think that pharmaceuticals can heal this thought, emotion, action-based discrepancies - they can't.

Instead of bringing us to baseline and allowing us to better ourselves, eat a diet conducive to better thoughts, learn to manage our thoughts effectively, and take personal responsibility for everything in our life, we just take the pill.

Pharma man simply put a band-aid over the wound, while the knife continues to stab over and over again. It looks pretty for a minute until our, "I" falls apart without the pills.

Counter to what you may believe, this is a much larger issue.

Self-love is a movement unlike one we've ever seen because while specific actions may be unhealthy, it is at the least allowing people to accept and love themselves.

Leaving the question... When did we become so afraid of our self?

Why You Are So Afraid of Being Yoursel

Whether you believe in nature, nurture or a combination of the two, this is one of the hardest things to understand.

Most of us are afraid of ourselves in an unhealthy way.

From using antidepressants to feel happy, to taking something to calm down, we like to use outside forces instead of the most powerful one.

Our mind.

Although, when we feel like our mind isn't ours, and that we can't control those thoughts inside of our head, we become afraid.

Anyone who has ever experienced this knows that feeling of paranoia.

When I was about 15, I watched way too many detective shows.

The problem with these shows is who the focal point of the story is about. Instead of caring about the detectives and what they've got going, the episode typically illustrates the bad guy, their life, and characteristics.

Now, like browsing web MD, most diagnoses are a lot of pretty common issues tied together.

And so, like anyone with mirror neurons (neurons which help you act and feel the way you see people acting and feeling), you begin to think you are like the highlight of the show. In this case the criminal.

That's where my mind went and I found myself afraid of my own thoughts and actions.

Will I become like one of those criminals? Will I end up the murderer seen in these shows?

Thoughts like that can take over a mind.

Until you realize that you have the power.

In the moment that you don't know that your thoughts are just yours, and nothing becomes an action until you do it, anxiety can enwrap your life.

It did mine, and I've seen it be done to others.

Earlier I highlighted the self-love movement or a movement of people accepting their thoughts, actions, reality and doing something better with themselves.

We see it everywhere now.

My question is, how many people that we see online are actually afraid of themselves?

Advertising, Media, and Our Fake Happiness

Do you ever find yourself doing something because some snazzy ad said it would be good to do?

How about trying to look like your favorite character from X, Y, or Z?

That is the media at play. When we talk about power, besides the pharmaceutical industry, the media holds incredible amounts of power.

When you get all of your news from a little screen and end up missing the world, a lot can seem wrong.

The problem is that even our friends, family, and lovers only post what looks like happy photos on their social media.

We all know someone who is not happy with themself, but continue to post good looking photos so everyone thinks they have an amazing life.

And we don't even know who's looking.

Who do we want to see the photo and have a reaction to it? Our friends, our family, cool people, celebrities?

It doesn't make much sense. We've created a virtual world (well, many of them) where looking like you have the best life ever and ignoring your problems is encourage.

Namely, the problem of a corrupt mind.

What is Happiness Anyway?

One of the most fleeting things (and I use thing because it's hard to define) is happiness.

Ask one person and another, and you can have two counter opinions on what happiness is. Yes, opinions, because happiness, and it's definition, is completely definable to your human experience.

We often think happiness comes after we make more money, we get a new job, we find that person we fall in love with... But it doesn't.

It is nothing of the sort. Happiness isn't a reward for being able to achieve something, but instead, happiness is a mentality and attitude which you can actively choose to live in.

From the beach bum following his dream to the company CEO who knows he wants to get to Mars, happiness is relative to the person having it.

Meaning that when we try to drug someone to be happy, normally what we do is just remove sad, and let them go on their marry way.

If you've never tried a mind-altering substance, it is something that you need to do (albeit please be safe).

From Caffeine to Nicotine, humans love to use them daily. All the while, we modulate and change our neurochemistry to make us feel a certain way. Although, while we have stimulants, opiates, uppers, downers, and anti-depressant (not pro happy), we lack anything that makes us happy.

Besides our mind and the present moment.

Be Present or Go Crazy | Reframing Our Biggest Fears

Ahh the present moment...

Quickly look around at your surroundings. Isn't it weird? We are humans, reading, looking, creating objects out of natural materials and acting like this is just normal life.

A few thousand years ago, nothing was like it is today. Work, FOMO, and a host of other factors flood our mind. We think that these are the most important things to ever happen in the world.

But they aren't.

Yes, maybe they are the most important thing to happen in your world at this very moment, but it won't even be that important to you in the next few months/years/etc.

On the other hand, if we return to the present moment. We feel ourselves now, our awareness shifts from the mind to the present, then we notice anxiety, discontent, depression, and everything else leave.

Why?

Because in the present moment you have everything you need.

You are reading this, without a lion chasing you, without the threat of something external, and here now.

That is the mind and that is the power that we have.

You can control your thoughts; you just need to start by actively practicing your presence muscle.

Returning To The Present - Your New Favorite Exercise

To learn to be present, get rid of anxiety/depression, and live the best life possible, we have to train a muscle.

That muscle is your mind.

In this case, we are learning to utilize the mind in a way where it grounds us.

Like that feeling you get when you walk outside in the winter, no cars are there, and all you can hear is the squish of snow beneath your feet as the stillness of the cold echoes in your ears.

That is the present moment.

Everyday, from now on, practice becoming present.

Here's how to do it:

Take a long inhale
Follow it by a pause and then a long exhale.
Pause.
Look around.
Start to actively feel around you.
- How do your feet feel.
- Your butt against the chair.
- The wind moving around your face.
- What can you feel inside of your body?
Now relax into this for a moment.

That's it. Easy as lemon pie (I think that's a saying).

Return to the present every day as many times as it feel comfortable to you.

In due time, nothing will be able to stop you, because, at the very least, you can come back to now, forget about the past or future, and live life on your terms.

Stay present,

Austin

P.S. Join the community here -> The Heightened Living Community

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