Making Maximum Use of Your Brain

 

Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha ignited in me an interest in studies of the brain. Over a number of years these studies have led me to totally accept and celebrate the information that new neurons can be activated even in adult years. In contrast, my initial introduction to brain studies in nursing school 60 years ago led me to totally accept “hook, line and sinker” that the brain had virtually no ability to repair itself in adult life. Fortunately, it has been proven since those years gone by that amazing potential for healing and repairs exist in the brain.

It is mind boggling to attempt to visualize that there are about one hundred million nerve cells or neurons in every square inch of the cerebral cortex, the outer layer of the brain.
This vast number of neurons connect with each other through dendrites (branches on nerves cells) with the role of receiving information across synapses. Like tissues of other parts of the body, if connections are not regularly used, they atrophy. For nerve cells to stay healthy, they must communicate on a regular basis. Through a clear focus on my thoughts, I influence the connections I desire.

Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha reinforces the importance of each individual being consciously involved in creating the desired connections.

Again, it is truly mind boggling that our amazing brain processes 40 billion bits of information every second. It is easy to realize that many of these do not register in conscious thoughts. Generally, most people focus on 70,000 thoughts in a day. In fact, these thoughts redundantly focus on people, places, things, environment and time. In my years of study, I have come to realize that I can reduce this redundancy by feeding some
new information into my mind every day.

I have learned that this is a way of adding value to myself, and Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha reinforces that constantly. Science has shown that new information fed into my brain is associated with emotions. These emotions reinforce the ability to expand my thinking in new ways. Such an excellent and effective exercise in getting out of the proverbial “box”!

In contemplating the complexity of the brain leads us to consider some of the minute details of
the structure of the brain as well as the vast numbers of cells involved in the functioning of our brain. A tiny slice of brain tissue the size of a grain of sand contains 100,000 brain cells/neurons. The brain tissue is so compact that a chunk of tissue the size of a pebble contains about 2 miles of neurons. The brain as a whole contains 100 billion neurons. Each neuron is only a fraction of a millimeter in size. In spite of the miniscule size of a neuron, some actually extend up to three feet in length.

Another measurement to wrap your mind around is the space between neurons called the synapse is one-millionth of a centimeter in width or one thousandth of a millimeter wide. Yet in this minute space, information travels and is communicated.  

Another avenue to explore in the brain is the Redundant Cycle of Thinking and Feeling. It is suggested that a person can possibly argue about what comes first – a feeling or a thought. Whichever it is, it is common for it to become a redundant cycle that repeats itself so many times that a neural pathway becomes hardwired in the brain. Most people can pull forth a situation in their life when they were caught up in this cycle. The awareness of this redundant cycle is the first important step to making a different choice of thought and/or feeling.

Thoughts of Past Emotional Experiences involved discussions around hard-wiring of the brain networks. With any thoughts of highly charged emotional experiences, the brain fires in the exact sequences and patterns as when the actual experience occurred. When we cause our brains to fire and wire to the past, we reinforce those neural circuits to become more hardwired. The more often this cycle occurs, the more hardwired the networks become. Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha has led us in discussions of the importance of developing the ability to function at the level of coherent wave patterns. This principle can be applied to any activity we are involved in from surfing the ocean waves, to playing tennis, to baking pies, etc. It is a fact that when we get into a coherent rhythm and pattern in whatever activity we are doing, we resonate with the feel of it and the activity becomes effortless.
 
The role of Creativity triggered a “light bulb” going off for me. I realize that when a solution is needed for any project the process works when we start with an initial idea. It is exciting that once one idea has materialized others are spawned. It is a chain that moves quickly once the first idea is ignited. What is wonderful about this process is the exhilaration one feels as well as a revitalization!

We have explored with Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, how communication happens between the nerve cells in our brain and nervous system. Four functions occur in the different types of neurotransmitters. These functions are: 1. Excite the brain, 2. Slow the brain down, 3. Make the body sleepy, 4. Make the body be awake.

These messengers/neurotransmitters can stimulate a neuron to either disconnect from its current location or to reinforce the present connection. Most interesting to me is the fact these messengers can change/rewrite the message that is being delivered to the particular cells that are connected. I found myself very excited at the concept of having the neurotransmitters as a major asset in my life.

By getting very familiar with their actions, I believe drugs can have a lesser role in managing symptoms in our bodies. We can call on whatever neurotransmitter would assist in any given situation and bring balance to ourselves. It is easy to feel both relief and excitement at the potential for self-creation by rewiring our brains with new patterns of thinking and feeling. In our sessions with Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, we have learned
about different neurotransmitters and their role in our bodies.

One of these is serotonin. Serotonin is the calming neurotransmitter important to the maintenance of “good mood.” It promotes contentment and is responsible for normal sleep. In addition to the central nervous system, serotonin is also found in the walls of the intestine (the enteric nervous system) and in platelet cells that promote blood clotting. Serotonin plays
an important role in regulating memory, learning, and blood pressure, as well as appetite and body temperature. Low serotonin levels produce insomnia and depression,
aggressive behavior, increased sensitivity to pain, and is associated with obsessive-compulsive eating disorders. Serotonin is synthesized from tryptophan in the presence
of adequate vitamins B1, B3, B6, and folic acid. The best food sources of tryptophan include brown rice, cottage cheese, meat, peanuts, and sesame seeds.
 
“Knowing yourself is true wisdom.” ~Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha

By Joyce Mollenhauer BSN, RN, NC-BC

Deep Dive at the Seaside with Grandmother Pa'Ris'Ha

 

 

Imagine spending five nights on a quiet North Carolina beach in the deep of summer, sitting around a camp fire with a group of spiritual seekers who are on “silence” (not talking).  They're quite well occupied contemplating a single passage from an ancient text. Here, Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha is our Elder and coach as we take a deep dive into discovering who and what we truly are.  Or, to say it another way, to “know thyself” is our quest’s goal.  Quite an adventure!

  

Let me share the story as best as I can recall.  Imagine, perhaps, that you are there too, in the dark, feeding the fire. Staring into the flames. Sheltered on one side by grand dunes and soothed by the sound of the surf only yards away. We won't go back to our tents until dawn. We will spend the whole night in contemplation.

 

In the mornings, after a welcomed sleep of several hours, we rise to Grandmother's call to come to sit at a picnic table with our notebooks and share our thoughts and experiences. She will share her oh-so-loving Wisdom with us.  Then, maybe you’ll share a small meal she makes for you in her RV kitchen?

     

As the sun sinks, you and the seven others prepare for another night of contemplation by the fire, gathering firewood, notebooks, and Medicine blankets. You climb over the dune.  No talking. Seeking—What?  Understanding? An Awakening? Illumination? Peace of Mind? Empowerment? All of these and more, indeed! You look at a piece of paper Grandmother has given you and read quietly by the fire’s light:

 I AM, that is the natural life-giving force of all things, FE/MALE of all the elements, the initial progeny of Worlds.  Chief of the Divine Powers, Queen of All that are in Hell, the Principal of them that Dwell in Heaven, manifested alone and under one form of all the powers of the Principals.

 

At my will, the planets of the sky, the wholesome winds of the sea, and the lamentable silences of hell be disposed; my name, my Divinity is adorned throughout the Worlds, in diverse manners, in variable customs and by the many names.

Quite a mouthful! Quite a claim! Who is this mysterious being?

 

The font alone gives the quote an arcane air; as if it comes from some forgotten ancient document or tale of Gods and Goddesses? You have lots of questions!

    

Who is this bold speaker who appears to claim full Power over the universe itself? Where did Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha get this quotation? Or did she write it herself? Why had she chosen this particular quote for us to ponder?

 

Your forehead figuratively furrows in your brain and your eyes roll.  It’s a Mystery! A puzzle. The air is cooling down. We feed the fire and it rises up hot and delicious.

      

Grandmother has instructed us to take walks on the beach whenever we are moved to do so. She has set some boundaries so we do not wander too far.  But we are free to wade into the waves and stare out to sea, study the surf and the stars; walk back and forth from surf to fire as we please. We do not speak to strangers or each other.

 

We seekers know each other reasonably well.  We have traveled to other shores with Grandmother and are building a place called Friendship Village in Ohio, a ceremonial home, retreat and conference center.  We are family.

 

Sitting by the fire comes naturally to us so there is a silent camaraderie that blesses our shared excursion into inner space.

 

The message, the text, is obviously about Divinity. This is not an unfamiliar theme to any of us.

 

You start studying each and every word, starting with “I Am that is…!

           

You, personally know from your own previous studies how very significant the ability to say “I AM” is.  It demonstrates the power of the human consciousness to self-reflect and to KNOW THYSELF as an individual, self-contained living entity that has a memory and ability to imagine the future. A self-conscious human being can recognize their own existence over the passage of Time.  This is the tell-tale sign of being a human. We each are fundamentally “I Ams”.

 

In the Ten Commandments story in the Bible, Moses asks God who he should say spoke to him on the mountain and God says “I AM that I AM!” God gives no real name!

  

So, this ability to say, “I AM” is also a fundamental characteristic of Divinity as well as of Humanity! Self-consciousness, self-reflection and awareness of existence over Time are things that humanity has in common with the Gods and Goddesses of ancient worlds and cosmic realms. 

 

So, the quotation you are studying begins with “I AM that Is” … and goes from there. What a list! What a proclamation! This Entity that speaks is…

 

1—The natural life-giving force of all things

2- FE/MALE of all the elements

3- The initial progeny of Worlds. 

4-Chief of the Divine Powers.

5-Queen of All that are in Hell.

6- The Principal of them that Dwell in Heaven, manifested alone and under one form of all the powers of the Principals.

  

And she sums it up by saying “At My will, the planets of the sky, the wholesome winds of the sea, and the lamentable silences of hell are disposed.

My name, my Divinity is adorned throughout the Worlds, in diverse manners, in variable customs and by the many names.

 

What a proclamation!  Worth repeating. Worth contemplating. This is likely a Goddess speaking and she seems to believe she is the Creator/Source and perhaps the Destroyer as well. In any case, this is Divinity speaking.

 

Now…a still small voice inside you suggests, since the Speaker goddess is an ‘I AM’ and you are also an “I AM” being, then you are Divine too!  HHmmmmm. No small thought. Of course, because you are a Seeker, you are familiar with this assertion.  That each human is, in essence, an off-shoot of “the Divine One” that is in all Things.

   

But though you can grasp the notion that you are Divine intellectually, it is difficult to feel divine, or to accept that you have creative powers equal to a God’s. But at least you are on the right track.

 

As the nights pass, you consider each word and phrase of the quotation. For instance, you ponder what “FE/MALE” could actually mean. It is oddly written.  The speaker says she is a Queen.  You contemplate “FE” by itself and it occurs to you that that is the chemical symbol for Iron. And iron makes our blood red. Red is often associated with the primal force of life. So “FE, you can conclude, is a good prefix that expresses the life-giving character of a Mother goddess.

 

You find that you take particular pleasure in the phrase, “the many names.”  Go figure! Much later you learn of more of her names.

 

The weather has been beautiful until one night, Yunsai comes in.  You were prepared somewhat as Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha’ had said something earlier about a new weather front coming in.  And sure enough, that night the wind picks up…

 

Out on the beach, looking far North you see approaching a huge, dark cloud bank roiling like you have never seen before! The wind picks up slowly at first, then more fiercely. Thrilling it is! 


 

When it is almost directly above, you’re awe-struck! The cloud bank is so very sharp and clearly defined as it towers directly above you. Then the clouds burst and the rain pours. You are soaked by rain, refreshed and cleaned!  You feel so so close to the natural world.

 

Yunsai, the North Wind, the powerful Gatekeeper of our Mother Lodge, the White Buffalo, has visited us and blessed us.  We are electrified and re-generated!

 

Eventually, when we return to our tents, we find them flattened. But we are troopers and have a good laugh over it all.

 

Eventually the days on the beach come to an end.  We sit with Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha in circle and share our thoughts. One person named Minnie speaks up and tells us in a hesitant tone that she had seen a younger version of Grandmother on the beach!  We looking questioningly at each other. Grandmother nods and says “Yes.” She had visited each of us as a younger form of herself! But Minnie was the only one that saw her in that form!  We look at each other and are sad that we had not seen her!

 

It was a wonderful week but of course, it comes to an end. You truly had arrived at many conclusions!

 

Several years after this North Carolina vision quest (another name for what we were doing), I found a paragraph in a book by Joseph Campbell titled The Power of Myth in a chapter titled The Gift of the Goddess. He cites a source for the origin of the quotation that we had contemplated! I was so excited!!!

 

It comes from a second century A.D. novel (one of the first novels ever written) called The Golden Ass by Apuleius.  The speaker is the Goddess Isis.  The original is Latin so the translation is different from what I had become familiar with. But there is no mistaking it.  Isis speaks:

 

….I am Nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, queen also of the immortals, the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are.  My nod governs the shining heights of Heaven, the wholesome sea-breezes, the lamentable silences of the world below.  Though I am worshipped in many aspects, known by countless names, and propitiated with all manner of different rites, yet the whole round earth venerates me.  The primeval Phrygians call me Pessinuntica, Mother of the gods; the Athenians, sprung from their own soil, call me Cecropian Artemis; for the islanders of Cyprus, I am Paphian Aphrodite; for the archers of Crete, I am Dictynna; for the trilingual Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine; and for the Elusinians, their ancient Mother of the Corn.

 

Some know me as Juno, some as Bellona of the Battles; others as Hecate, others again as Rhamnubia, but both races of Aethiopians, whose lands the morning sun first shines upon, and the Egyptians who excel in ancient learning and worship me with ceremonies proper to my godhead, call me by my true name, namely Queen Isis.  

 

Ah!  So many names!  Yet paradoxically, we are ALL the “I Am” —the One that is in All Things! And each of us have our feminine/Mothering aspects as well as the powers and characteristics often associated with the masculine.

 

As I sit now in my home, re-reading and re-living by sharing this story, I am eternally grateful to the One called Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha who once took me for a Deep Dive into an ocean of Contemplation, so that I might better Know Myself.  As the Cherokee say:  "Wado! I appreciate"!

 

-Dusty (Elizabeth Richie)

Conversations with ‘Strangers’ on a Headland by a Stormy Sea

 

Traditional teachings from Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, of pushing through resistance and reciprocation, through to modern books of ‘Breaking the habit of being yourself’. Teachings weave in, out and through them all. Live, Love You.

Walking down towards the ocean pool after having chai tea on the Headland and watching the growing swell. Talking with and listening to wonderful humans, talking about the butterfly story and the influence of the butterfly in terms of allowing others to get through their own stuff and at the same time, to provide somewhat of a safe space for them while they go through. Plus, in our own lives, knowing that when we meet with resistance, it’s about pushing through and the pushing through gives us the strength to emerge a better version of ourself. Without pushing through, we enable ourselves to stay weaker. 

One of the lovely people also shared how she found some clay at one of the Headlands and how lovely it was to work with it. Her daughter was the first one to notice it tucked in the side of the track somewhat exposed by the rain and winds. They wanted to feel like what they were taking was okay. So they took a small amount each. Again, lovely discussion, just straight off about the word reciprocity or reciprocation – giving back to. From this can the recommendation of reading a book (or listening to the audio book) of “Braiding Sweetgrass” as in here are examples of how we can give back to the Earth. 

A most important teaching repeated from many Traditional peoples, including here (in what’s now known as Australia) an example from one of the Uncles in Durga Country (Western Sydney).

 

Uncle showed us a well carved and powerful looking wooden implement that had been made from Casuarina, that’s Sheoak. It was like rounded on one end and pointed on the other. I said, “Oh, it would make a fantastic digging stick, given the heaviness of the end and the point”. And he looked at me in absolute shock and said,

“No, this could never be used on the mother”.

“No because it was intended as a club, and you cannot put a club, and you cannot strike a club into the Earth”.

To know that what we intend when we start something, helps us in staying focused, and carries with it the intention of the original thought – the energy and thought and feeling put in as it is being made. This ‘vibe’ has a resonance, and that resonance / vibration has effect.­­­­­­

Reflected again in sharing’s from Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha, Cherokee Elder, in terms of basket making. Making and sitting together, when people are sitting around making the baskets and talking the talking flows as the hands are busy. It’s the stories that are woven into the baskets. Or the feeling of what’s in heart and mind of the weaver. All different, unique. Grandmother shared with us that hers where somewhat mis-sharpen and laughed at by others – however the elder wise one shared quietly how the Dragons were dancing and coming out through Grandmother’s Baskets.

From here as well in Sydney, when we’ve had wonderful workshops, through Susan Moylan Coombs and run by Aunty Karlene Green from the Torres Strait Islands with regard to weaving words of wisdom.

So as we weave, we can listen and chat intentionally, not of a negative.

From the First Peoples here, there is a beautiful practice, one may call it a ceremony, a ritual of one of the stories that goes with painting Ochre (fine wet clay) onto another person face. 

Again, it’s reciprocation (each person paints the other) and it’s done in a certain way. I won’t repeat it all here, but it’s done in a way that one of the dots is under the chin, and that dot reminds us, and we speak it back to the person who puts it there for us:

“Only words of kindness and wisdom pass through these lips”

It can be that in community people might be chatting, chatting, and then someone may start speaking bad of someone else and quite subtly, another person will put their finger to their chin. And gently look at the person who may have started speaking that way. This action is a reminder, their only words of kindness and wisdom pass through these lips. 

Now listening to Dr. Joe Dispenza’s book, Breaking the habit of being yourself, chapter 7 and 8 this morning’s listening taught how to continuously think and feel a certain way sets up the bio-chemistry that we can then get addicted too. Addicted in such a way that we then think a certain way to create the chemicals that are associated with. By following the First People’s reminder of:

‘only words and kindness and ….” 

We see now that in reminding a person, so they choose to stop going on and on about a negative until it becomes an addiction – helps not only them but all around who no longer need to be drawn into the tone-level of that conversation. 

That particular way of being, say, I’m speaking bad of somebody or I’m getting angry about something I’m frustrated or I’m blaming or whatever the lower emotions are, that in my own self I’m feeling that chemistry through my body. 

As I bathe my cells, as I bathe my precious cells in that chemistry, they are being ‘informed’ (that is provided with information that influences how they form). Changing what DNA is active in our cells IS influenced by what the cells are ‘floating in’ and that is influenced by our thoughts, feelings and foods!

From studies (can see references in Joes books or Bruce Lipton or the earlier Dr Candice Pert) that when I have a thought, it creates a substance, that substance is translated to one that can actually move through into my bloodstream and affect the different organs that creates different hormones that have influence on the cells. In short, when I think something and feel it, I am creating an internal chemistry that those cells then get addicted to.

So by the First People’s practice of remembering only words of kindness and wisdom through these lips, I can see that that also reminds us in caring deeply for ourselves is to minimize the times when we have a destructive thought created that chemistry bathing ourselves. Less ‘firing’ of the neurons (nerve cells) the less ‘wiring’ them together. This mean the thought/feeling to substance stays at a low level and reduces the likelihood of us becoming addicted to that particular chemistry and thus seeking and magnetizing to us, events that allow us to relive that anger, pain, suffering.

In the words of Grandmother, Pa’Ris’Ha,

ask who’s talking, 

Is it the body addicted to those chemicals that sending the message to your thoughts? 
Now, how do we undo the addiction – how do we quite the hunger of the cell’s receptor sites?

We observe, catch ourselves and be gentle on ourself. 

So, this morning and last night, or this week in particular, I’ve been looking at the final days in the last year “Organizer” or work diary.

Looking at the past year so many days ticked off, ticked off, ticked off, ticked off, ticked off, and I’m about to start a new diary. “Do I want July 2022 to be a series of mouse wheel successes of completed projects, or is there more?”, and of course there is more, which brings us back around to Uncle Greg Sims and intention and Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha and “Who’s Talking”.

 

Now asking “how will the next year be different?” getting this clear and intended before writing anything in the new one.

 

A big diary. One day to a page. Why so big? I’ve got so much to fit in on each page – really is there that much doingness to do.  Do you write what you “Be”?

 

“What do I intend? 
How does it look, feel, taste? 
How do I put that into my work?” 

So, when you’re doing a project ask: “I am doing a project is my internal chemistry one of:

“rush, I have to get this done” or “it’s late” etc. or is my internal chemistry saying:
“it’s so marvelous to be part of this project”. 

Up to us to actively choose to be living the ideal of how we want to see the World. If we want to see, or experience, or hear, about more Kindness – where are we doing this in each of our moments including in our thoughts and feelings? 

Know your list of heart fulfilling things and ask:
Am I painting? 
What I’m doing/thinking/being right now.

So from here sitting in an enclosing fold of a cave, looking out over the ocean, feeling the fine mist spay with the smell of salt, looking at the Headland that I love so much, a headland that is solid yet dynamic?

Yes in this moment all is handed over to you. 
So many tools to assist. 

How do we break the habit of being ourselves and create a new one? 

And those words “create a new one”, it’s being the pure essence of You without the layer. You as transparent. 

That’s when You are, as You are, not as mix of the societal expectations, parental ideas, and influences from the early ages. Seen the gap between You and how you show you’re self to be

Know you are enough, you are unique, you are in progress, your lessons can be your strengths. 

As Grandmother Pa’Ris’Ha has said “Do You, I Got Me Covered”

Be truly who you came in to be. 
With your unique fingerprint. 
Be the beingness you are in every moment.

 

-Geraldene Dalby-Ball,

Elaway