I've written about my box turtle who escaped a well made 'turtle condo' in Beverly Hills and is now living the good life. I like that story. I miss having those little creatures around and even in their absence I learn a great deal about myself.
Many of our self help books talk of this thing called the reptilian brain and it's negativity. We know how to survive, i.e.: make rent, bills, live just within our means and have a dreary day job that saps our energy and our complaints (our negativity which is supposedly reptilian) keeps us in that cage 'o comfort. We don't know how to thrive simply because thriving is out of our comfort zone so the reptilian brain tells us it's dangerous out there, we may not survive if we choose to really go for our dreams. We listen to that part of our brain that is just trying to help us out just as we listen to a fearful friend or family member who says "it's impossible, why bother trying?"
I call jive to this. Let's look at the reptile in a positive light. Let's take a look at intelligence and conditioning and see it for what it has done.
I've heard a heartbreaking story about Elephants in a circus. I love watching humans in the circus, but I haven't been to the circus since I was a boy. I simply hate the way animals are treated. When I lived in Germany I got to take a tour behind the scenes and see those poor creatures, the elephants. I'll never forget those enormous cages. I remember one was bleeding. I could swear they were all crying. I am certain they were depressed. From that moment on I hated the circus and it reinforced my bitter feelings about humans. The animals would be better off without our horrible ways.
Elephants like us, are highly intelligent. Circus elephants are highly trained. The story goes like this: To train elephants they tie the young ones up to things that are much heavier than they are so they form the habit they can't just run away. As they grow they get much bigger and stronger than whatever the object they are tied to yet, that illusion of not having enough strength is what keeps them tied down.
Once there was a fire. The elephants were tied to aluminum barriers that a child could easily move. They didn't believe they could overcome those barriers thanks to what some cruel, greedy, small minded humans exploiting them taught them. All of them perished.
Now my little turtle friends, they never accepted their captive circumstances. Ever. Glass walls, a box, they never bought it. They were relentless in the pursuit of getting beyond those walls. Brains the size of peas or smaller. I don't think there was a warm day when they didn't scratch and scale those walls. They never gave up. No, I wasn't a cruel person who punished them, I didn't reinforce their attempts with mean behavior, but even if I was so stupid they wouldn't have bought it.
I would rather think of that primitive "reptilian brain" in a positive light along with our highly intelligent "elephant brain". We know we are strong and capable. We know we can work towards bettering ourselves and our cruel conditioning doesn't need to dictate our lot in life. Those nasty friends, neighbors, teachers, family members who have done their best to project their fears on us don't need to influence us for one minute longer. We know we have a choice. If they are in the past, let them be with the past amongst the dead. If they still talk to us this way and try to keep us tied to an aluminum barrier, get new friends, join a support group and move on by any means necessary. Let your intelligent elephant mind work together with your intelligent reptile brain, the pea brain that never accepts the cage. The one that is always looking for something better and knows these walls are simply an illusion put there by someone else.
JB
Many of our self help books talk of this thing called the reptilian brain and it's negativity. We know how to survive, i.e.: make rent, bills, live just within our means and have a dreary day job that saps our energy and our complaints (our negativity which is supposedly reptilian) keeps us in that cage 'o comfort. We don't know how to thrive simply because thriving is out of our comfort zone so the reptilian brain tells us it's dangerous out there, we may not survive if we choose to really go for our dreams. We listen to that part of our brain that is just trying to help us out just as we listen to a fearful friend or family member who says "it's impossible, why bother trying?"
I call jive to this. Let's look at the reptile in a positive light. Let's take a look at intelligence and conditioning and see it for what it has done.
I've heard a heartbreaking story about Elephants in a circus. I love watching humans in the circus, but I haven't been to the circus since I was a boy. I simply hate the way animals are treated. When I lived in Germany I got to take a tour behind the scenes and see those poor creatures, the elephants. I'll never forget those enormous cages. I remember one was bleeding. I could swear they were all crying. I am certain they were depressed. From that moment on I hated the circus and it reinforced my bitter feelings about humans. The animals would be better off without our horrible ways.
Elephants like us, are highly intelligent. Circus elephants are highly trained. The story goes like this: To train elephants they tie the young ones up to things that are much heavier than they are so they form the habit they can't just run away. As they grow they get much bigger and stronger than whatever the object they are tied to yet, that illusion of not having enough strength is what keeps them tied down.
Once there was a fire. The elephants were tied to aluminum barriers that a child could easily move. They didn't believe they could overcome those barriers thanks to what some cruel, greedy, small minded humans exploiting them taught them. All of them perished.
Now my little turtle friends, they never accepted their captive circumstances. Ever. Glass walls, a box, they never bought it. They were relentless in the pursuit of getting beyond those walls. Brains the size of peas or smaller. I don't think there was a warm day when they didn't scratch and scale those walls. They never gave up. No, I wasn't a cruel person who punished them, I didn't reinforce their attempts with mean behavior, but even if I was so stupid they wouldn't have bought it.
I would rather think of that primitive "reptilian brain" in a positive light along with our highly intelligent "elephant brain". We know we are strong and capable. We know we can work towards bettering ourselves and our cruel conditioning doesn't need to dictate our lot in life. Those nasty friends, neighbors, teachers, family members who have done their best to project their fears on us don't need to influence us for one minute longer. We know we have a choice. If they are in the past, let them be with the past amongst the dead. If they still talk to us this way and try to keep us tied to an aluminum barrier, get new friends, join a support group and move on by any means necessary. Let your intelligent elephant mind work together with your intelligent reptile brain, the pea brain that never accepts the cage. The one that is always looking for something better and knows these walls are simply an illusion put there by someone else.
JB
No comments:
Post a Comment