August 10, 2008
I Think — So I Say
written by Steven Barrymore

I was thinking about the mental and emotional path that is followed in life. A winding path of thoughts and feelings that take us down a road of responses and experiences. I think so I say. I think so I am.

From the moment we are born. Our parents and the society around us program our thinking. They are our culture, and culture is shaping our lives. Visual, Auditory and Tactile experiences program our relationship to the world around us. The sensory experiences of Seeing, Hearing and Touching send training messages to our brains.

These messages wire the connections in our brains programming how we think and what feelings we associate with those thoughts in our body. Depending upon this programming, life can be thought and felt as a pleasant experience, or an awful experience.

Is a deaf or blind person immune from this programming? I would think not. Life is based on the totality of the experience. A loving touch or a slap on the hand defines our relationship to that experience. Our sensory input defines our lives.

Sensory Deprivation

During the 1970′s American psychologist Harry Harlow [1] performed experiments on baby rhesus monkeys. These baby monkeys were placed in isolation boxes soon after birth and kept there for various amounts of time ranging from 30-days to a year. The general findings after these time periods elapsed was that the isolated monkeys became socially withdrawn, showed signs of depression and were unable to interact successfully with other rhesus monkeys.

Social programming experiences early on in life are beneficial in preparing for our integration into the world around us. Yet it is this social programming that we received that determines how we interact with our world and, importantly, how we view ourselves as individuals within our world.

I Think — So I Am

You are older. Your programming is pretty much complete at the base level for your integration into the culture. You have learned about the good and bad things in life as defined by culture. You have become socially acceptable at home, work and in the world around you. You are a citizen of life.

But you are not happy. Your programming has left you with thinking that is self-demeaning, critical of others around you, and a feeling of helplessness. You now question your thoughts. Your thinking has become confused with over-lapping cultural messages. Can you break free of all this chatter in your head? Yes you can. By reprogramming your thoughts.

I Affirm

Earlier this year I had heard that the author Louise Hay had created a video movie titled You Can Heal Your Life. We all can benefit from a good life healing, so I visited Louise Hay’s web site www.louisehay.com to find this video movie. I found a pay per view streaming version which I opted for (the DVD version is also available). For approximately 90 minutes I watched various well known authors, public motivational/spiritual speakers, and persons in the general public talk about their life experiences and the healing that took place when they changed their thoughts. These thought change actions are called – Affirmations. Most of us have heard of affirmations. Single statements repeated over and over again.

I am not a big fan of affirmations. Simply because I forget to do them. Old programming I guess. But after a few days of practicing some of the examples given in You Can Heal Your Life, I found these affirmations to be beneficial. The affirmations I was doing calmed old non-beneficial thought patterns and opened my thought process to a new more harmonious way of thinking.

Will I continue to do affirmations? Sure I will. I found them to be fun, and at times difficult as I had to face what limiting statements I received from the culture that I made ‘true’ for myself. I encourage you to visit Louise Hay’s web site. You may also find affirmation statements to start your practice on the internet. Best to you and what you now affirm to be true for your life.

1. Wikipedia contributors, “Harry Harlow,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Harry_Harlow&oldid=231040986

Copyright 2008 Steven Barrymore. Being of Life — the Blog. All rights reserved worldwide. This article and /or pictures may not be reproduced in whole or in part without the written permission from the author Steven Barrymore. View the magical photographic print collection from Steven Barrymore at Images Magical http://www.imagesmagical.com/