You can't force yourself to be HAPPY.

[Flick_SnotGrass]

I know, I tried

Complicated thing HAPPY

Lots of moving parts, as it were

Sometimes UN-HAPPY is caused by old out of date software running in the back of your mind

It is as if we have been hypnotized by something horrid from the past and we can't seem to shake the trance off

Sometimes UN-HAPPY is caused by not enough hardware in your brain; where part of the physical makeup of your brain can't run Happy software very well

An unresolved concussion or TBI can cause this and it can also be caused by information not flowing well throughout the physical matrix of the brain

...this is becoming a more common complaint as the informational demands of our world speeds up and we ask our brains to do things that they weren't designed to deal with. Dyslexia is a case in point ADD, ADHD too

Sometimes, UN-HAPPY is due to lack of Sun, or nutrients, or lack of exercise, or whatever

Often software, hardware and wetwear all get clustered up into a big jumble together

Big salami HAPPY

Let's face it the pressures of modern living makes UN-HAPPY very common. "What is the point really?" is a common and understandable sentiment these days

but

maybe we CAN improve HAPPY a slice at a time.

Put a dent in misery, as it were.

A book I often get my clients to read is "The Brain's Way of Healing" by Norman Doidge.

This is a great primer on Brain Plasticity, the innate ability our brain's have for rewiring and rapidly healing themselves under the appropriate conditions. Post Traumatic Growth.

Another great book for you to read is "The Woman Who Changed Her Brain" by Barbara Arrowsmith-Young.

She was born with three neurological bottlenecks in her brain ~ her world was shattered from birth.

Her book is about her realization that

a) she could use modern neuroscience to pinpoint the specific locations within her head that were not working properly

b) she could use the Neuro Plastic properties of her brain to help fix her wiring

c) she designed specific exercises that drove traffic through her brain's bottlenecks which caused her brain to respond by adding more physical circuitry.

d) she cured herself

It's OK to say "WOW" at this point

Brain Plasticity is real.

Fortunately there is a growing cadre of "Brain Reprogramming Doctors" who now teach this neurostuff. These are experts in applying neuroscience and BRAIN PLASTICITY to helping people feel HAPPY quickly or sorting out many other emotional or cognitive complaints.

Google Neuroplasticity Scholarly Articles and dig in.

[Ggrand]

Hi Flick, Blondguy and everyone else

I cannot understand most of this. I want to re read again and try to understand it.

GG

[blondguy]

Hey GG

with respect to Flick I concur

Paul

[Ggrand]

Hi Blondguy,

yes with respect to Flick, it's always a challenge to read Flicks posts. Flick definitely gives my brain a workout have to really read and think, Kind of a few minutes of mindfulness, but unfortunately for me not understood, but enjoy reading them and trying to work them out

One day, I will understand

GG

[Flick_SnotGrass]

Sorry all,

I can get obtuse, I know...it's the Boffinization Process I've been through quite a bit. Sorry bout that. The twitching's almost gone tho'.

blondguy what I am getting at is a lot of the MH R&D I see has gotten itself so far down the rathole of ever more tiny disconnected bits of data and information, that the plot has gotten lost.

GG MH has been made so complicated that we 'the users' have become essentially disempowered....and to prove it, we are just not getting better fast enough.

We need much better everyday MH tools that wrok.

OK.

Let me start over.

I call my brain Brian.

It's funny.

We are all wearing Brians...well I've met some Esmeraldas and Samanthas too...but you get the picture.

Our Brians are unbelievably brilliant...they are capable of reprogramming and rewiring themselves using neuroplasticity, if you know how to tickle them right.

Simple case in point. Going to the loo.

We all go to the loo.

We all have showers too.

These are normal ways of getting the crap out of and off our bodies. Normal everyday bodily hygiene.

But what about normal everyday mental hygiene? did you know you can ask your Brian to flush the loo in your head from time to time too?

Yup, you can.

Shit builds up, its a natural byproduct of being alive, it can build up in our heads too.

So, next time you go to the loo, pause before you flush and remember this post...now imagine you are flushing the crap out of your head and watch it being flushed away....and feel a soothing sense of relief.

S'easy.

Flick SnotGrass

[Just Sara]

Hey Flick;

When it comes to MH research/development, advances are expressed as either ultra complex, or overly simplistic leaving sufferers scratching their heads.

I've been practicing neuroplasticity in one form or another for many yrs without knowing it had a name. That's due to trial and error on my part - experientially. Just because it has a name though, and is 'now' recognised as valuable, it doesn't mean the theory will catch on unless it shows practical 'applications', and not just theoretical validity.

People on here need step by step guidance along with medication, professional support and coping strategies, then maybe they'll have enough cognitive ability to understand NP. You only have to look at Paul's thread on Mindfulness. People struggle everyday with this very important aspect of recovery.

I'm not saying I don't comprehend what you're talking about because I do. But others need to make sense out of NP before they can learn to use it.

For those of us who're intellectually driven, NP can be a journey of wonder. But for most, it's just another word thrown around to confuse.

A few yrs ago I attended a lecture at CSU. 'Is happiness overrated?'

The biggest item to come out of that talk was 'Happy is Subjective'. What used to make me happy, now doesn't. Things I once took for granted, now make me smile.

I'd rather feel calm and peace than laugh at a joke. I don't mind laughing, but my values have changed since my MH declined. Living without 'noise' in my Brian makes me happy. And, very bloody grateful.

Maybe you could write about your interpretation of 'Happy'? Or have a baseline to work from. People suffering depression or chronic sadness as it's described sometimes might like to respond.

Just for myself though, I'm wondering why NP came up while discussing 'happiness'.

Sorry if I've challenged your thread Flick...

Sez

[Flick_SnotGrass]

Hey Sez,

Great to hear from you, and great points too.

Yes NEURO-PLASTICITY is not a new idea at all.

I am guessing you have practiced quite a bit of Yoga, where neuroplasticity or NEURO ELASTICITY, is old hat...been around for thousands of years.

NEURO PLASTICITY a handy rebranding and repositioning of an important idea that we are not stuck.

Even if we're secretly scared we are.

You mentioned healing yourself through trial and error...me too...very little useful guidance via the mainstream, have to explore the tributaries.

May fav introductory books on BRAIN PLASTICITY are:

"The Woman Who Changed Her Brain" by Barbara Arrowsmith-Young

"The Brain's Way of Healing" by Norman Doidge.

Have you read them?

Both very good reads.

What would you recommend we read Sez?

'Happy' ~ big word that.

Imprecise too.

I ask my clients to Bake a Cake of HAPPY and tell me what the ingredients would be ... then take one ingredient at a time....manage one slice at a time.....that makes HAPPY more achievable I find.

[Sez in my world HAPPY is a nominalization~a verb dressed up as a noun as if it was a thing~it's not, Happy is an ongoing process]

Enough SnotGrass enough!!!

The day is broodingly magnificent.

"ONWARDS!!"

'why?'

"BECAUSE!!"

'oh'

Flick SnotGrass

[Quercus]

Thank you Flick.

I knew I could count on your thread to distract my "Brian" (I do prefer Esmeralda though).

I like the idea listing the ingredients of a cake of Happy. What kind of responses do clients usually give?

Nat's 'happy' cake...

2 cup of faith and trust

2 cups of love in all it's forms

2 cups of purpose and meaning

Mix well and bake in a hot as hell oven. Hot and uncomfortable. Painfully hot. Let it sit and sweat.

Take it out to cool and rest and recover.

Enjoy slowly. Very slowly. Savour it. Let the faith and trust and love and meaning melt on your tongue.

But don't forget it took the heat of hell to taste so good. Everything is better when you are grateful for what you have.

Wash down with your favourite cup of tea preferably in the company of friends.

Thank you Flick.

[_Lana]

Hello

[Flick_SnotGrass]

Hey _Lana, Hello to you too....I'm Flick SnotGrass....yes I know it's a funny name but they could have called me SUE ... so I'm grateful for small mercies....what brings you to these parts _Lana? We're a very friendly bunch here, some of us a crazy but not me...oh no no no...I'm normal 🙂 Flick

[Flick_SnotGrass]

Hey Nat,

Great cake you baked, especially the bit about the oven!!!

There is much truth in your words, we do seem to need a crucible to refine ourselves within...the Alcheysts did that to produce gold within themselves....7x70 is the number they bandied about.

Glad you like my brand of nonsense Nat 🙂

Flick