Tuesday, August 5, 2014

It's Bigger on the Inside...

The Japanese & other Asian cultures believe in invisible forces that shape our lives. They aren't wrong. It was this belief that let them realize the Moon created the tides, thousands of years before Western cultures. And I, too, strongly believed in the power of far away forces and their ability to affect my life. Now that I have a real name for those forces, and recognize their comings and goings, it's not so romantic. When I had to find out why winds of change suddenly became gale force winds slamming me to the ground, it became far less dreamy. And when I discovered that, indeed, these forces that now disturb me are the same forces that moved me and everyone around me, and that it's not some juju in the wind, but the wind itself, then it became far less mystical. If you want to hold on to your wonderment, don't try to figure out how the magic trick works. For me, wonder became quickly overrated, as I discovered my internal world could be so much larger than the external world, and not in a good way. Our minds can create Heaven, but then again, they can also create Hell.

For me, it's pretty simple that oncoming storms and barometric changes are going to distrupt my mood and thinking. I know to take my brain and heart with more than a grain of salt. Other people don't, so they assume, as I once did, that their emotions are the real responses to what's really going on. They know about th invisible forces, but they don't know about their true effects, and assume only when wonder is right in front of them that there is a miracle occuring. They jever think those invisible forces sneek into every waking moment of their lives. They don't realize, as I once didn't that We are all Riders on the backs of Elephants, and those Elephants are our unconscious mineds, or (in scientific speak) they are our limbic and hormonal systems, responding to the changes in the world around us, and altering how we perceive things.

When the barometric pressure changes, our bodies must adjust to those changes. When our activity level changes, or our body's needs change, different chemicals signal the systems in our body to flow with those changes. Similarly, when we injest something, our bodies react to it as well, even if there is no "chemically active" componanents in it. It's a change to the body. The body will change in response.

What's not so clear is how all the physical stuff affects the emotional and mental stuff, because those changes are usually very subtle. It's only when the body has extreme responses to small stimuli that we notice them. And boy, do I have big reactions to small stimuli... It was this way that I noticed *everyone* in my neighborhood goes through the exact same changes, only their changes didn't result in pain, so why investigate mood changes further?

Because, like the Orient knows, it's ALL connected.

Here's how it works.

Serotonin & dopamine (our happy chemicals) also regulate blood pressure. Barometric changes effect the air around us, which in turn effects how our bodies must respond. To ensure proper continued function, as the weather changes, so must the pressure inside our bodies change to adjust to the new exterior conditions. This is why many people get sad when it rains. Not because it's gloomy, but because their mood drops due to a drop in dopamine and serotonin, as it's used by the body to regulate internal systems. The effect on mood is small, but profound enough to start fights, make children hyper, and others weepy. Unconsciously, we seek sunny days, not because of the bright light (though that too, helps mood because of chemical responses), but because high-pressure days, when our bodies have excess of serotonin and dopamine, means they're not used to regulate internal pressure, and we have excess to elevate our mood.

For me, the invisible forces aren't outside of me in some grand universe.... They're INside me, in a grand internalverse, that is far larger, and far more influential on my life. The storms within are far more devastating than any storm without. And subtle changes, like how much oxygen I get in my sleep has profound influence on my hypersensitivity and pain. Invisible forces don't have to be as big as the moon to sway our tides. They only need be as small as an atom, and our entire being can be thrown into flux.

The invisible forces are very real. Pay attention and you'll see them. But don't look too closely if you don't want to see the trick.

(P.S. My apologies to Doctor Who fans for the lack of Time Lord references after a title like that ;)

No comments:

Post a Comment