Amita Schmidt

Buddhist Meditation Teacher

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The Goddess of Excrement

The Goddess of Excrement,   Tlazolteotl (pronounced tla-sol-TAY-otl), is from Aztec mythology, and is the most revered and important of all goddesses. She has black around her mouth as she eats all pain, trauma, grief, anger, shame, and sins.  She transforms these into fecundity for the field of life.  She represents both death and birth, filth and purification, all at the same time.  She is all-inclusive.

She is the regeneration of things untouchable and shameful into something fertile. She makes what is difficult into a life-giving force.  She is bold.  She is fearless.  Next time you encounter something difficult in yourself or another, call upon the Goddess of Excrement to help you.  Eat the pain and problems and transform them into a new birth.

Thank you Myrna Martin for this photo and reminding us of this Goddess www.myrnamartin.net

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Talking to Yourself in the Third Person Can Lower Stress and Negative Emotions

by Paul Ratner

If you are feeling stressed, try talking to yourself silently in the third person. That can help you control difficult emotions, says the first-of-its kind study by psychology researchers at Michigan State University (MSU) and the University of Michigan.

What they found is that talking to yourself in the third person during stressful moments may work better than giving yourself a first-person talk. Let’s say your name is John and you are very upset. Asking “Why is John upset?” would cause less emotional reaction than “Why am I upset?” and allow you to start dealing with the underlying emotions.

Jason Moser, MSU associate professor of psychology, explained why this approach works:

“Essentially, we think referring to yourself in the third person leads people to think about themselves more similar to how they think about others, and you can see evidence for this in the brain,” pointed out Moser. “That helps people gain a tiny bit of psychological distance from their experiences, which can often be useful for regulating emotions.”

The study involved two experiments, with one requiring participants to react to neutral or disturbing images in both the first and third person. Their brain activity was monitored during that time by an electroencephalograph. When the subjects were shown disturbing photos like a man holding a gun to their heads, their emotional brain activity decreased quickly (within 1 second) if they they referred to themselves in the third person.

The researchers also found employing third-person speech is no more taxing on your brain than talking in first person. In comparison, other forms of emotional regulation, like mindfulness, require considerable mental effort, said Moser.

Another experiment had participants recounting painful experiences from their past, using first and third person language, while they were undergoing fMRI imaging.

Similarly, when talking in third person, participants had less activity in the brain region used for reflecting on painful emotional situations.

“What’s really exciting here is that the brain data from these two complimentary experiments suggest that third-person self-talk may constitute a relatively effortless form of emotion regulation, “ saidUniversity of Michigan psychology professor Ethan Kross. “If this ends up being true – we won’t know until more research is done – there are lots of important implications these findings have for our basic understanding of how self-control works, and for how to help people control their emotions in daily life.”

You can read the study here, published in Scientific Reports.

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Ancient Hawaiian Spirituality and Internal Family Systems Therapy

 

As part of his ancient Hawaiian spiritual training, Kahu (priest) Abraham Kawai’i taught about the internal family to his students in Hawaii in the 1960’s. This internal family understanding had been passed down from his elders, and his elder’s elders. This ancient Hawaiian spiritual teaching on internal family systems, is a reminder of the timeless power and interconnection of IFS (Internal Family Systems Therapy). Although Kahu might have different approaches with these ideas, we are all one family in bringing these truths and understandings to the world. The understanding of internal family crosses centuries, nationalities, and cultures. Bless us all, and thank you to Dick Schwartz and Kahu Kawai’i for this timeless work we are all doing together. The following is Abraham Kawai’i’s ancient offerings on understanding and adjusting the internal family as a way to freedom:

Internal family as the true source of our spiritual power

  • Family, your internal family, is the source of your spiritual and emotional power. It is where your mana (spiritual power) is generated and expressed from. You adjust the members of your family so you stand powerful in your place at the center of your universe.
  • You will never be alone—there is always a member of the family there.
  • Family is the internal universe of You, and it is where your wealth lies and your spirit resides… Refine it with compassion and your life will become a living prayer.
  • This work is to find the dignity of the universe of Yourself. It is also about bringing those who want it to a place of dignity and joy within themselves.

Components of the internal family

  • Family is everything that you are. What are you? Who are you? You are every thought, emotion, idea, longing. Family is everything in your existence. Everything you touch, everything you hear and speak, everything you walk to, come from, or stand upon, every moment of your life.
  • You need to be aware of your space of existence all the time. What is your space of existence? Your space of existence is everything you see, hear, smell, touch or feel. Everything you walk to, come from, or stand upon. Every longing, every thought, and every desire; everything you speak, every part of your body, every cell, every hair, every movement, every moment of your life. If you are aware of your space of existence and claim responsibility for it, you are at the center of your power. There is nothing you cannot achieve, in this existence or any other.
  • Everything you feel and everything that is here is a member of your family. In your mind if you are angry, that is a member of your family. If you are sad, that is a member of your family. Grief or anger can only be an obstacle when you don’t recognize it as a family member.
  • Fear is a child of yours. The pathway through fear is the pathway to being One with oneself.

How to adjust your internal family

  • In a loving and unassuming way, understand yourself totally and completely. Approach your family members with dignity. To build and manifest the depth of yourself, you need to adjust yourself in a way that affects your internal family.
  • Family is always there to support you and move you forward. A family member is never an obstacle.
  • All members of your family need to be given time to express themselves. You might express anger, or fear for a moment or two, and anger or fear will be satisfied. They are never an obstacle in your life. The good, the bad and the ugly are all family. Members of your family are a gift to yourself, one that when not judged or labeled will contribute to the quality and the harmony of your existence.
  • The members of your internal family are never a burden to be crushed or eradicated. The members of your family are to be cherished and given a task to do, so you will find wholeness and completeness on your path in this life.

The effect of this work with biological family and loved ones

  • If one member of the family makes a great step and changes, the whole family changes as well. If you make a quantum leap in your consciousness, you become the tip of the spear and the family gets the ride too.

 

Mahalo to Jody Mountain for her teachings of Abraham Kawai’i and Tamara-Hrehorczak-Stephens for her book “Abraham Kawai’i: A brief history of the man, the kahuna, and kahuna bodywork” (2012) the source of many of the quotations above.

 

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Prayer or Despair?

In difficult times, choose prayer instead of despair.  Despair and fear lead to a freeze response in the body. Prayer unfreezes the heart and moves us towards connected action.

The immediacy of the world problems are our teacher now.  Many years ago during a retreat, my teacher Matt Flickstein asked me to carry a knife 24/7 for a week. I had to carry it on the toilet, in the shower, meditating, making food, brushing my teeth, at the dinner table, talking to others, and in bed all night while sleeping.  He told me, “Death can come at any moment. The knife will make sure you do not forget this.”  Carrying the knife made it clear that each moment could be my last, and reminded me to pray, be mindful, and express gratitude constantly that week.

In the weeks after I put the knife down, I soon forgot the fierce necessity of prayer and mindfulness.  Now, with nuclear and environmental destruction so immediate, all of us have a knife by our side.  It is not something we can “put away.”  The knife is here while we are on the toilet, making love, at the dinner table, or in the shower.  Rather than creating fear or despair, this can create a fierce reminder to be mindful, love and connect 24/7.   Prayer or despair?

 

 

 

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Waiting for the tsunami

“What are you going to do with your one precious life?”

Rapture, peace, prayer;

or confusion, anger, fear?

Waiting for the tsunami

happens where I live every year.

The earthquake on the other side of the world,

and thousands of miles away

we evacuate for the mountains,

not sure if the harbors, airport, and power station will be left in the morning.

People wait for a long eight hours until the wave comes,

not knowing will it be big or small?

Will it wipe out my home or not?

The way people wait is it’s own education,

in the inevitable.

Some empty the stores of liquor and cigarettes for tailgate parties.

Others listen compulsively to the radio, fear mounting as they prepare supplies for some unknown number of days to live on.

Others chose to pray and meditate and say “I love you.”

No way is the right way.

All God.

Everyone chooses their last moment of grace,

from the bottle, the news, or their one true religion.

I love the differences and have my preference.

“God I offer myself to thee,”

will be my one true offering,

as the water claims her rightful place at the center of things.