ramblings from my readings

I have been reading, what else can I do when I am sick on the couch?
I read a book about the brain....
and it talked about the connection between the ancient brain, the limbic system responsible for emotions...it seems that the amygdala acts as a gatekeeper of sorts...it is activated by fear and rage and then sends the brain into survival mode...if the amydala is calm then we can learn.

I think that, as children, we were trained and indoctrinated into life through fear and rage.

I think that now, as adults, we have to retrain our circuits to allow the limbic system to connect to the hippocampus which stores memory and learning...but it is a conscious effort to choose to not react with fear...and the nervous system reacts more quickly than we process the information so we are eacting and then registering conscious thought.

The catastrophisizing- or worrying about the worst case scenario- maintains that closed circuitry...keeps us constantly on guard...but precludes learning and growth. I wonder if I were able to bypass that amygdala's short circuit and train myself to trust the world if I could unlock my emotions and open my full potential. Think about it...that silly game may be enough to keep the doors closed.

Back to your dream/wake images...what differences have you noticed? Is delivering through the heart chakra enough to open the solar plexus? I am intrigued by the images... as I am unable to create or open to anything like them at this time. The swamp has been metaphorical to me, but it has become a place for you to experiment and grow. I need to enter into that space. Your observation that the tears may be the trickle of water necessary to clear the swamp hit me hard...right in the gut...I think you identified something real when you wrote that. Tears are so very difficult for me. And yet my greatest moments have involved tears. So what is the answer? Do I start crying until there's nothing left to cry? I know that I need to trust the world enough to feel...I am working on that. Slowly identifying emotions as I notice them...almost like teaching a child how to call each one. It seems silly, but it's the only way that I know.

I am also reading a book called The Quantum and the Lotus...comparing modern science to Buddhism...and there was a passage that struck me about suffering... the Buddhist monk stated, " The unique value of human existence is that it leads to suffering so great that we try to free ourselves from our condition, but not so crushing as to make it impossible to follow the spiritual path." He also wrote," we can either learn to see through the veils formed- by hatred, pride, and greed, or else be blinded by them...They deprive us of our faculty of judgement and destroy our mind's natural serenity."

Maybe those veils are the circuits that activate the amygdala...and send us into survival mode...instead of consciously learning from each experience.

Sorry this is quite disjointed...I hope that my ramblings aren't too off the path.
I will try to find my way to the swamp...perhaps we will meet there.
Maggie