Us? We rewire brains around here, ya hear?
The 30-Free Tool Creative Deconstruction August Giveaway goes marvelously! I will add more videos as soon as the technology to do so arrives on my doorstep. For today, I am giving you tools 7 and 8 in a single post. To recap, the first 6 tools, in order of posting, are as follows:
1. Face stretches. The importance and power of this seemingly innocuous technique cannot be overstated. Whenever you feel a little off, try 5 minutes of face stretching and notice the difference it can make. Remember to breathe deeply while doing so.
2. The Gag Reflex. Another very powerful exercise to alleviate tension and return your wandering mind back into your body where it belongs (for now). This one seems to run up against more than a few cultural taboos. This is great, for it allows deconstruction on both micro and macro levels. Remember, it’s your body after all, so why not experiment with it in as many ways as you can dream of?
3. Staring into your own eyes in the mirror/ Blinking at your own eyes in the mirror. These two exercises are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg of techniques and experiments to enliven the eyes. A hint: without moving any part of your face, see if you can express emotions through your eyes alone. Try each emotion for 30 seconds or so, and then move on. It may not be evident right away, but over time, your eyes will both communicate more, and pick up more communication from other people.
4. Super Slow Neck Turning. An amazing and simple way to alleviate tension, cancel out headaches, slow down time, and achieve deep relaxation in moments. You might also notice, once the thoughts cascade back in again, that they stopped for a few moments. What a treat!
5. Shrug it off. Shoulders to ears. This exercise can help you to remember to shrug off most anything that gets in between you and your enjoyment of the best possible life you can create for yourself. Shrug it all off and go about creating the moods, ambiences, entertainments, and enjoyments you really want to experience!
6. The Flop. The Flop may make a hell of a lot more sense once I make a video for it. I will include the video as soon as it becomes possible for me to make another one. PS: check out my amazon wishlist for the camera that will make it all possible!
Finally, this brings me deeper into my tool kit to bring you exercises/experiments 7 and 8.
7. Holding Your Breath. This exercise can bring you a quick bout of awareness if you get too caught up in your head. Of course, if you want to stay caught up in your head, you will find a way to do so. But, if all you need is a quick break from all the thoughting to get your bearings and remember what you truly want to do with your moment, this technique will do that for you.
All this involves is catching yourself in a whirlwind of thought, any whirlwind of thought will do. Then, hold your breath for a full minute. If you cannot hold it for a full minute, that is fine. Hold it until you cannot hold it any longer. Be sure not to hurt yourself. Hold your breath, inhaled, long enough for your thoughts to cease. Before you inhale fully, take a moment to envision yourself having the best time of your life. Feel it fully and then inhale. Simple and beautiful! Take some small action toward your vision, whatever it is.
8. Appreciation. This technique unlocks more doors for me than almost anything else I have ever tried. Hordes of techniques have been developed to cut through the crap to allow humans to appreciate, even momentarily, their own clear consciousness. Whenever I can stir up in myself a deep appreciation for All and Everything, a deep silence emerges to demolish all illusionary edifices of hurt, offense, preference, good, evil, right, wrong, should, shouldn’t, can, can’t, and other such walls and jail cells. This simple technique may prove easy, or it may prove more difficult than anything else you can imagine. I will tell you this: to appreciate All and Everything is the most taxing work a human can accomplish. It is both the fastest and most difficult path to nowhere you will ever find.
Aleister Crowley wrote,
What are some ways you have found to appreciate consciousness, or all and everything? Leave a comment by clicking on the comment section at the bottom right hand side of this post. I have found that appreciation can transform extremely tough experiences into learning experiences, at least, or experiences of joyous rapture, at best.
A few years ago at my mother’s funeral, many of my friends gathered around me and we walked to the Rum River. After sharing some smokes together by the snowy riverside, the dark approach of loneliness about to begin, my friends were about to depart. One of them leaned over to me and said, “Hey man. Happy Birthday!” He said it with such profound authenticity that it set loose a cascade of joy and awakening in my mind and body.
I don’t know whether or not he even meant to say something so profound, or if he was just trying to cheer me up. His words helped me to feel the new beginning in my life without my mother around. In many ways I was forced to accept the profound liberation of moving on from my parents and their teachings into my own life journey, independent of them.
In taking that journey, I also found that it is impossible to leave one’s parents behind forever. They helped to sculpt us into the creatures we have become. They helped to lay the foundations. Even if I undo everything about myself, I will always be thankful for those first 20 years of assistance from my parents in this crazy world. They took the time out from their insane quests to help me get started on my own.
It is with great reverence that I share this technique of appreciation with you, dear readers. If you find yourself here at this moment, take some time to appreciate everything you have ever experienced, the people, animals, and plants who have shared those experiences with you, the landscapes, homes, pains, miseries, joys, orgasms, tears, laughter, and everything else. Watch how it makes your past and future buzz with the joy of life. Feel how that joy courses into your present. Appreciate it all, and appreciate that you have the tools with which to feel, think, and appreciate!
What a wonderful and glorious ride!
This post is dedicated to my favorite woman in all the land, She.
Enjoy,
-GTD
Yeah, for sure! You inspire me, so why not?