Friday, October 24, 2014

Documentation: Anti-Virus Software for the Mind


               Delete Infected Programs Utilizing Your Resources

    Anti-Virus Software for Your Mind

           (Including Mental Pop-Up Stopper and Spam Eliminator)

                    Installation Procedures and Documentation

                                          Patrick F. McGivern, Ph.D.


Traditional psychotherapy can be very helpful in identifying the negative programs in our minds, discovering the experiences that may have installed these programs in our hardware (brain and nervous system) and gaining insight into how these programs get started.  Insight gained in psychotherapy can enable the user to recognize the challenges such programs create and reduce to some extent the impact of the negative programs.

Since the advent of the personal computer (PC) which uncannily resembles the human brain in so many respects, we are increasing our understanding about how our own brain works -- our most personal computers (MPC).  Because our PCs are so similar to our own brains – or more accurately, our brains are so similar to our PCs -- it seems that our understanding of PCs may help us to see possibilities for programming and deprogramming our own MPCs.  It is becoming increasingly clear that the adverse effects of negative programming can be deleted from an MPC just like a file can be deleted from a PC.  Who knew it could ever be so simple, so direct and so effective when done correctly?

We demand our PCs to do the work that we require of them.  We may become impatient with viruses, pop-up ads or “spam” because these events impede completion of the task at hand.  Computer viruses are especially troublesome because they have a circular life of their own, utilize system resources causing the PC to process slowly, lock up or crash.  When our MPC resources are spread too thin, we may also experience running slow, locking up or crashing in our own way, e.g., irritability, tension headaches, stomachaches, nervous breakdowns, panic attacks, clinical depression, etc.

Our subconscious minds are analogous to the read-only memory (ROM) of a computer, whereas the conscious mind (our everyday awareness) seems to closely parallel the cybernetic random access memory (RAM).  A computer virus that has infected the ROM impairs the speed and effectiveness of the RAM to do the tasks at hand just as unresolved conflicts arising from memories of traumatic incidents    unnecessarily reduce our everyday awareness, utilize our system resources and impair our conscious abilities to function at our full potential.

Anti-virus software can be very effective in restoring a PC to its maximum speed which enables the user to complete work more quickly, effectively and efficiently.   Since our brains are vastly more powerful and efficient than any computer invented by man, what reason would there be for our not being able to do the same for our own onboard MPCs?

We allow our minds to be programmed constantly with unwanted programs that are nuisances, e.g., advertisement jingles that stick in the head, and negative self-talk that practically casts a spell on us.   Some programs may seem harmless, but occupy our conscious and/or unconscious system resources to such an extent that they may crowd out our awareness of important details in the present moment.  Because we haven’t collected all of the important information about a problem which we have in present time, we’re not fully aware of how flawed our decisions may be inadequate solutions which don’t take into consideration all of the facts about a problem,  This is likely to result in more challenges for ourselves which consume even more of our awareness.  The vicious cycle gains momentum.

Meditation has long been regarded as the ultimate form of self-control.  When we are truly meditating in the fullest sense, we have achieved a true state of “not-doing.”  We are not thinking, planning, desiring, needing, worrying or entertaining random thoughts which intrude into our conscious awareness as if they had lives of their own,  When we meditate, we turn off all the chatter from the frontal lobes and enjoy the exquisite experience of the quiet mind, the rise and fall of respiration, the heartbeat, the circulation of blood.  Of course, there are those who would remind us that if we are consciously experiencing those things, we may not be really meditating.  Still, most people find that the most desirable goal of just tuning out the frontal lobe chatter is way too difficult to achieve.  Many become frustrated and give up trying to master this supreme act of self-control.

Negative programming from intrusive thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations may emerge into our awareness from memories of unresolved or traumatic experiences which extend all the way back to early childhood.  Although memories of traumatic experiences when we were two or three years old are generally inaccessible, undesirable parts of those memories may still be readily available, e.g., negative thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations.   The negative thoughts may include such statements to oneself such as, “I can’t handle, I’m out of control, I’m no good, I’m not good enough.”  The negative feelings can span the full range of emotions, such as sadness, fear, anger, etc.  The negative body sensations often surface as heaviness in the chest, lump in the throat, churning stomach, tension in the scalp, shoulders, neck, jaw, arms, legs, or perhaps as a sinking feeling all over the body.

For instance, the feelings of hurt and rejection which grow out of the experience of a playmate who refused to play with us one day during preschool recess may still be stirred up by the unconscious mind and amplified by a similar kind of situation many years later.  We may even be surprised at how we overreact to an imagined slight which we interpret as rejection, abandonment or betrayal – even when we understand that no slight was intended.  Furthermore, we may not even consciously recall that unresolved preschool conflict which nevertheless continues to intrude upon our present lives.  Therefore that deepest root cause for an everyday experience would not ever come up for discussion in traditional “talking cure” psychotherapy.

Sometimes we can catch these viruses in action as they emerge from the ROM (subconscious) and start to utilize the RAM (conscious awareness).  An effective psychotherapist can also point out these viruses for us and caution us to beware of their effects, but may not be fully equipped with the means to disinfect the ROM so that the virus ceases to disrupt the RAM.

Despite the fact that our conscious minds cannot access the early childhood memory at preschool recess, the impact created by this rejection is stored with the memory in the subconscious mind (ROM)  and can surface in the form of negative thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations – just as a computer virus in your PC’s memory downloaded a long time ago can continue to create major challenges for you in present time.

Traditional psychotherapy, sometimes referred to as “the talking cure,” has been compared to re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.  In other words, the patient tries to adjust to how he consciously feels about what is bothering him in the subconscious mind -- at a much deeper level below the deck that he cannot access and where he cannot effectively intervene.  He may gain some temporary relief from talking to a good listener who understands and provides some supportive feedback about the challenges that keep coming up for him.  Some more adaptive perception may take place about the conflict situation and insight as to how and why it has affected one’s own thoughts, feelings and behaviors.  It may also become clear how to resolve the conflict situation.   

However, the insight gained in traditional psychotherapy as to how and why these viruses exist may not be enough to eliminate the viruses “down below the deck” in the subconscious mind which can cause our MPCs to “crash or lock-up” and prevent them from “resurfacing” at a later date.  Also, traditional psychotherapy requires being able to recall the actual details of a conflict in order to work on it, whereas the technique outlined here utilizes the MPC’s abilities to delete files that you may not even be able to recall, e.g., the preschool incident.

Traditional Chinese medicine provides a very different view of pain and discomfort by maintaining that these feelings arise from blockage or a constricted flow of energy through one or more of the thousands of  bands of energy which run through the body, each of which is associated with various organs of the body.  Each of the bands of energy has a kind of window through which fresh energy (chi) can be introduced which can flush out the blockage or constriction of the full flow of energy.  These windows are commonly referred to as energy meridians or “pressure points” – the particular sites selected by the acupuncturist to stimulate with needles or heat.  The use of acupressure techniques entails simply holding or tapping on these body locations to introduce the fresh energy into the blocked or constricted band of energy.

To return to our analogy with the computer, tapping on the discrete energy meridians associated with certain emotions is analogous to clicking on the word processing icon on your desktop. With a single click of the mouse on a PC, one can bring about the execution of hundreds of commands, e.g., to establish margins, font, pitch, spellchecker, thesaurus, etc. which allows you access to your powerful word processing software.

The tapping done with an acupressure technique can be seen as analogous to typing on a keyboard to enter data or to delete unwanted files which constitute blockages producing pain, distress or discomfort and which waste our resources.  Although this anti-virus software may not erase traumatic or other painful memories, it does release the power exerted by the negative thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations associated with them which may motivate unwanted behaviors.  Painful memories lose their impact and cease to be so painful.  The blocked energy or juice that causes those memories to intrude upon our consciousness gets drained off.

Although the memory may remain accessible, the software deletes the pain and discomfort associated with these memories, thus preventing these memories from intruding into present time when they can disrupt our ongoing experiences and drain system resources and computing power.  The memories remain as mere matters of fact no more distressful than recalling what you had for breakfast this morning, rather than excess baggage that must be lugged around and sorted through every day.  In addition, the once problematic memory, when viewed objectively without the blockage, may provide some needed information or lesson which may be helpful in the process of problem-solving or decision-making in the future.

This anti-virus program for your mind can free your fabulous 100 billion neuron MPC of all the unnecessary chatter which may seem to have a life of its own, like pop-up advertisements which can intrude non-stop in the random access memory (RAM).  Such “pop-ups” distract us from bringing all our attention to bear to life in the present moment.  Such distractions frequently result in poor decision-making which create further challenges to occupy the RAM.  This anti-virus program can also be easily applied to preventing the self-limiting, virus-infected chatter which prevents us from quieting our minds, setting and achieving our goals.

We know how important it is to let go of hurt, fear, shame, anger and the grudges that we hold against one another.   However, it seems to be easier said than done.  The conscious thought that we are letting these negative feelings go just doesn’t seem to do the job well enough.  The feelings appear to be stuck in the body, as evidenced by the physical body sensations that we get when we are somehow reminded of the persons, places or incidents involved.  Telling yourself to let go of those feelings is just a thought which seems to stay pretty much in the conscious mind.  It doesn’t penetrate sufficiently into the deeper subconscious which harbors those unwanted thoughts, feelings and body sensations associated with the unresolved conflicts in our lives.  The thoughts may be located somewhere in the head from the eyebrows on up, but the blockage is frequently stuck in the lower part of the brain and physical body and must be released from the physical body.

It appears that nothing is really more important than our present state of consciousness, regardless of whether we have physical health, wealth, wisdom, etc.  It can be argued that our usual states of consciousness have determined to a large degree the extent to which we are healthy, wealthy, or wise.  It turns out that our mental health is something that we can control, increase and fine tune by focusing on the present moment and dispelling anything that gets in the way of our maintaining that state of awareness, e.g., thoughts that we need, desire or must have certain things in our lives.

The goal here is to achieve total control over our own hardware (MPC) so that we can bring all of our consciousness to bear on the present moment.  Does this seem like too much to ask?  It may seem too simple, too easy, but once you get used to this technique, it seems perfectly logical that we should be able to control our own MPCs and delete the trash that prevents it from running optimally.

Actually, it’s easier done than said.  After having experimented with several different protocols for psychological acupressure, the following technique has emerged which has proven to be very successful with a wide range of mental health challenges. 

The following procedures will enable you to delete non-productive, self-defeating programs that seem to have been installed without your permission in the highly sophisticated cybernetic hardware sitting on top of your neck and between your shoulders.  These programs infect our day-to-day lives with negative thoughts, feelings and body sensations, color our present experiences with the “paint programs” of the past and utilize our system resources with redundant, circular, unending, worrisome programming.  These programs slow down our ability to focus, concentrate, solve challenges and prevent additional challenges from taking place.

In deciding which side of the body to tap on, experiment with tapping on your non-dominant side, i.e., if you’re right-handed, tap on the left side.  If one side feels better than the other, however, use that side by all means.  For example, you may even find that eyebrow meridian on the left feels better than the right when tapped, while the meridian under the right eye is more responsive.  Others may find tapping alternately – one side then the other – to be most effective. Experimentation is encouraged to determine which energy meridians respond best by noticing how good they feel when tapped. 

If some other wording feels more comfortable to you (the computer language that works best in your MPC), feel free to modify the following language in this algorithm accordingly.   For example, some may prefer to say “back of my mind” instead of “my subconscious mind,” of “feel better” instead of “alleviate.”  It is more effective to use present tense here since the subconscious mind does not compute the concepts of past and future very well.

This tool can work as simply as a hammer and nail, but one can fail to get results if the wrong end of the nail is used.  The amount of intention brought to this task is analogous to the amount of force used to strike a blow on the head of the nail.  The precise wording is not as important as the amount of intention one can muster and bring into the present moment when issuing the following commands to your subconscious mind:


Anti-Virus Program for the Mind

1.  State the challenges or problem(s) that you want to work on, i.e., negative thoughts, feelings, behaviors, body sensations.  List them on paper if your list is extensive.

2.  Tapping one inch below the collarbone and one inch on either side of the sternum (breastbone), recite the following with full intention:

          “Even though I think I have (state challenges you’re working
           on), I accept myself deeply and completely.”  
     
          “Even though I feel I have these challenges, I accept myself
           deeply and completely.”
      
          “Even though I believe I have these challenges, I accept
           myself deeply and completely.” 

          “Even though I may not fully understand these challenges, I
           accept myself deeply and completely.”
                   
           “I am eliminating anything that could prevent this procedure
           from being just as effective as it could possibly be”

           Take a deep, cleansing breath.

3.  Tapping on the ridge of either eye socket just where the eyebrow begins (close to bridge of the nose), recite the following with full intention:

          “I am releasing all of the sadness and depression in all of
           these challenges at their deepest root causes.”

 4.  Tapping below the eye on the bottom edge and center of either one of the eye sockets, recite the following once with full intention:

          “I am releasing all of the fear and anxiety in all of these
           challenges at their deepest root causes.”

5.  Tapping under the nose and lower lip simultaneously, recite the following once with full intention:

          “I am releasing all of the shame, regret and embarrassment
           in all of these these challenges at their deepest root causes.”

6.  Tapping on the inside tip of the little finger (the side nearest the thumb) alongside the fingernail, recite the following once with full intention:

          “I am releasing all of the anger and resentment in all of these
           challenges at their deepest root causes.”

     Take a deep, cleansing breath.
     
7.  Tapping on the side of the hand below the first knuckle of the little finger, recite the following once with full intention:

          “I am now releasing all of the confusion & misunderstanding  
          in all of these challenges at their deepest root causes.”

      Take a deep, cleansing breath.

8.   Tapping on the inside tip of the index finger (the side nearest the
thumb) alongside the fingernail, recite the following once with full intention:

           “I forgive myself and I know that I am doing the best that I
            can.”

            “I am releasing all the blame I feel toward all those who
            may have caused these challenges, did not prevent,
            understand, help or made these challenges worse – even
            if I feel they don’t deserve to be forgiven.”

         Complete the following sentences as best you can:
     
            “I am releasing the blame I feel towards ________________.
   
            “I also forgive myself for judging __________ as _________.”  

         Take a deep, cleansing breath.

9.   Again tapping one inch below the collarbone and one inch on either side of the sternum, recite the following once with full intention:

        “I am now deleting all emotional energy blockages, negative
         thoughts and body sensations associated with these challenges
         and all similar challenges at their deepest root causes.”
   
        “I am deleting anything else that would make me keep
         these challenges, or allow them to come back, consciously or
         unconsciously, in any way, shape or form.”

        “I accept myself and all things as they are.”

     Take a deep, cleansing breath.
         
10.  Check yourself internally after each treatment to see if you still feel any distress.  If you do, identify those challenges and continue treatments (#1-9 above) until you feel completely relaxed and at peace. 

11.  In order to replace the blocked energy released from the deleted files by this process with effective programming, program the following statements (along with any others which seem logical to you) which are most applicable to the successful resolution of the challenges while tapping the temporal skull bone behind and around the right ear with full intention:

            It’s all over now and I’m OK.
            I can handle.  I am strong.
            I control my own thoughts and feelings.
            I’m doing the best I can. Others do the best they can.
            I’m improving all areas of my life.         
            Every day in every way I’m getting better and better
            I learn from my experiences so that I can respond better to  
               similar situations in the future.

12.  After using the above process on a daily basis for a week, you may install the following upgraded software which will enable the above steps #2-11 to take place automatically in your subconscious mind just by using a single keyword that you can program yourself. 

      Choose any keyword that you like, e.g., breathe, peace, love, light,
      calm, accept, now, relax, etc.  The word “breathe” is especially
      helpful because it also cues the conscious mind to breathe in
      times of stress when we are inclined to gasp or hold our breath.

      While tapping the temporal bone of the skull all the way around
      the right ear, recite the following with full intention:

            Every time I say, think, hear or see the word (insert your
            Keyword, e.g., “Breathe”), the following tapping procedure
            takes place in my subconscious mind, thereby eliminating any
            challenges I may be experiencing at the time.

      Perform steps #2-9 above in a generic way by just stating
      “challenges” in the first statement in step #2 and omitting the
      second statement in step #8.

      Take a deep, cleansing breath.

      Resume tapping the temporal bone and conclude this procedure
      by reciting the following:

            The tapping procedure that I just completed takes place in my
            subconscious mind every time I say, think, hear or see the
            word (insert your keyword), and every half hour on the half
            hour, and whenever I experience tension, stress, anxiety,
            sadness, fear, anger, shame, blame, regret, embarrassment,
            or negative thoughts about myself or others.

Now your software is installed.  Use your keyword with full intention to alleviate any level of discomfort that you might experience at any time – even when briefly surfacing to consciousness in the middle of the night.  Some people find it helpful to post their keyword on small pieces of paper around their house to remind them to use it more frequently, e.g., TV, clocks, kitchen, etc.  Many people keep a copy of this procedure in the bathroom and use it to eliminate “excess psychological baggage” while using the bathroom.  You cannot use the keyword too much because you are eliminating a layer of blockage each time you say, think, hear or see the keyword or use the full procedure with full intention.  It is such a simple and easy procedure to use that it can be used dozens of times per day.

Since the keyword is programmed to activate every half hour on the half hour, e.g., 7:00, 7:30, 8:00, etc., you may find that certain symptoms of stress you might have been feeling lately will noticeably decrease in frequency, intensity or duration with no conscious effort on your part.  This is similar to the unconscious mechanism which wakes us up just before the alarm clock is set to go off.  You may also notice now and then that you spontaneously take a deep breath right on the half hour.  Still, you may find it more helpful to use your keyword with intention whenever you notice a negative thought, feeling or body sensation.  Whenever stress is at a moderate or severe level, there is no substitute for using the full AVSM procedure several times an hour until you experience complete relief.

This shortcut may also be the key you need to enable you to relax or meditate more deeply as well because it enables you to dispel the busy chatter which disrupts the “not doing” necessary to meditate.   Rather than making a conscious effort to block out the chatter, the use of the keyword can drain the juice out of these random thoughts so that they lose their power to distract you from just being there.  Not only does it increase your ability to control your mind in the present moment, it is also deleting unwanted, destructive files which can disrupt your future.

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