Category Archives: Era of Peace

by

Turn stress into peace and calm!

     

THE CALM, CONNECT AND COORDINATE SYSTEM       

  You’ve heard of the “fight, flight or freeze syndrome,” haven’t you? That system is turned on by stress, or by reaction to stressors which makes you distressed. Well, the calm, connect and coordinate system is what turns it off, restoring you to a state of calm wherein you can sink back into your skin and reconnect with your body as well as your environment instead of fleeing from them. It also gets the cells of your body functioning as a well-coordinated whole once again rather than galvanized, or frozen, in an isolated state of self-defense. This syndrome is turned on by a rarely talked about and scarcely understood hormone: Oxytocin.      

 Produced in the hypothalamus–a part of the brain that coordinates pituitary hormone production with the central nervous system and with what’s occurring around you–and stored in the posterior pituitary where it is released as a hormone to circulate through the body, oxytocin functions by altering or modulating the activities in other major body systems. It can have very long-lasting effects as these major systems work in a feedback loop and stimulate more oxytocin production. New discoveries are showing oxytocin is produced in many different places, including the heart and blood vessel walls, ovaries, and testes.       

 The hormone, Vasopressin–which stimulates the stress syndrome–is also produced in the hypothalamus and is stored and released by the posterior pituitary gland. Also known as an anti-diuretic hormone (ADH), it functions to maintain the body’s fluid volume and balance. In addition, vasopressin acts to increase aggression, hyper-vigilance, and other fight or flight type reactions.    Our understanding of oxytocin and the calm and connection system is in its infancy. Almost all study has been directed to the fight or flight or distress handling system. Most textbooks still state that oxytocin’s only functions are to simulate uterine contraction and facilitate lactation in females (along with prolactin).     

 In oxytocin producing cells the electric impulses do not occur one by one, but in a cluster. When the cells are powerfully stimulated, as in breast-feeding, (or other oxytocin stimulating behavior) the electrical activity becomes coordinated and the cells act in concert. This is part of the reason large amounts of oxytocin can be released in nursing women.  Estrogen can activate the oxytocin system and prolong its effects. Therefore, at certain times oxytocin affects females more potently than males. Testosterone can activate vasopressin and sustain its effects. Therefore, at certain times, vasopressin affects males more potently than females. Neurons that contain serotonin stimulate the release of oxytocin. This may be part of the mechanism of action of SSRI drugs that affect mood and anxiety levels. (Dopamine and noradrenalin also stimulate oxytocin release.) As you can see by the following list, there are many ways we can foster the calm, connect and coordinate system.     

So, next time you find yourself stressed out over something, start producing oxytocin!      

What stimulates Oxytocin release?  

 Giving thanks, being thankful and grateful, coming into the present moment with unconditional acceptance of things the way they are as being perfect; feelings of security, sensation and pleasure; touch, stroking, rhythmic touch; friendship, closeness, bonding experiences; sexual behavior, sex and intimacy, childbirth (uterine contractions), nursing and sucking (thumb-sucking); thoughts, memories, feelings of all the above; and probably such things as . . .   

 Some types of massage, chiropractic spinal adjustments, acupuncture, and other body-mind-spirit based techniques; energy work, attunement healing (Reiki); laughter and random happiness, deep sleep (delta), deep rhythmic breathing, Yoga, tai chi, and other related practices; rocking, singing, meditation, certain types of music, dance, art, literature, poetry; giving and receiving unconditional love; interaction with animals; a job or activity well done, especially if it benefits many; play and other positive and meaningful experiences. 
 
Isn’t it wonderful how our bodies look after us and respond to our every wish and intention!  The body never makes a mistake.  Everything it does is perfect.  We have every reason to trust it.  
 
 To your health,  
 
 Dr. Tony Palombo  
 References:   Dr. Janet Lang’s Nutritional Seminars, HealthLight Newsletter, Fall 2004   
 

 

by

Era of Peace

 
     
     Reading the pulse of public forums like Facebook, there appears to be a rising divisive wave of hatred globally. President Obama is a convenient target because he represents government, and people are frustrated with government. He’s also offering solutions to age-old problems facing us all, individually and globally. Half the population like the solutions; half don’t. The fact is, any solutions to our problems only create more problems, as we are witnessing. Makes one wonder about the real meaning of “problems.” Perhaps they are simply lessons that need to remain until we change what caused them: our behavior. 
 
PURIFICATION  UNDERWAY
 
      The hate wave arising in the world gives evidence of a deep purification process underway of the collective unconscious. Just as clean water flowing into a dirty cistern pushes out the filthy water as it replaces it, so is the in-filling current of love in the heart of humanity from within pushing out the hate. Behind it is the cool, clear water of the truth of life, which is oneness born of love. Love is striking at the feet of the biblical “great image” in King Nebuchadnezzar’s dream, made of a mixture of iron and clay, I speak of in my book, Sacred Anatomy.” — the great imagination we have about government and its “promise” to solve our problems. Why? So that we might survive our not-so-promising harvest?   Here’s the excerpt from my book:  

      The dream itself was of a great image that was fashioned of various ores. His head was made of fine gold, his breast and his arms of silver, his belly and his thighs of brass, his legs of iron and his feet, interestingly enough, were made with a mixture of iron and clay. What likely troubled king Nebuchadnezzar so was what happened in his dream to this image when a stone, “cut out without hands,” smote the image upon its feet. The feet mixed with iron and clay crumbled and the whole image came tumbling down and all that the image was made of: the gold, ther silver –the brass and the iron mixed with clay–was blown away by the wind so that nothing was left of it anywhere.  But the stone becamne a great mountain which filled the whole earth[Babylon, as you may recall, is now Iraq, and Persia is Iran.]  

 The Feet represent understanding, and iron and clay are two substances that do not bond or fuse. The image we hold in consciousness of government, of our economy, of our way of life, is crumpling, and it is manifesting as a last-ditch effort on the part of the collective human ego to survive, or at least stave off, its inevitable demise. The story as I use and interpret it in my book is, as I said, remarkably pertinent to the times and very worth reading. It’s a bit of a read, but a most engaging and captivating one.

Daniel interpreted the dream as a prophetical outworking that would see the rise ad fall of several empires, including Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylonian empire, which Daniel said was represented by the head of gold. There would be other empires to come after the Babylonian empire, such as the Persian, the Grecian and Roman empires. All would rise and fall. The stone represented the kingdom of Daniel’s “God of heaven” which would be established during the reign of these kings and would remain to fill the whole earth after these other kingdoms had passed away. This, of course, related to the Nation of Israel which came up largely right under the noses of the rulers of these empires. .

This may also be seen as relating to any spiritual body of people who are drawn together by love to give collective presence of and expression to the Spirit of God. Such gatherings start out very small and, to the extent they are consistently true to their purpose in spirit, bring a powerful focus of spirit to bear in human consciousness that has the ability to bring about change in the collective body of humanity and in the natural world.

[If you want to read a fascinating story with a remarkable parallel to current events, click on this link:  Story of Daniel  Cut out without hands, an excerpt of Sacred Anatomy.]

The Spirit of Purification at work

This could be a gathering in virtual space, such as on Facebook.   Hate and love do not bond together in any forum.  Such a forum will eventually crumble if it doesn’t clarify so that only love – or hate – remains.  I note an effort on the part of many on Facebook to negate and obliterate the presence of those who bring the wave of hate to the forum.  This gives evidence of the natural working of the spirit of purification.  When something is being purified out to clarify any substance, it pubbles to the surface where it can easily be skimmed off and thrown out, the energy that gave it substance having been resorbed into the whole.   

Historically, when something is passing away it is being replaced by something else. In this case true divine ego, or identity, emerging in quiet waters through the hearts and consciousness of increasingly greater numbers, is replacing false human ego. The false ego wants a confrontation, because that’s what it knows and does best: fight for its “rights”. We are wise to take our leave of confrontational forums and rise to a higher level.  As Albert Einstein reminded us, problems are not solved at the same level as the problem but at levels above. There are those who have the following and voice to offer salve and wisdom into the pool of conflict. 

The wave comes, the collective unconscious is purified of all that hate and fear, and the wave collapses, but not without taking out vast numbers who are caught up in the confrontation. I’m reading in “Three Cups of Tea” of the horrors innocent women and children have suffered at the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan . . . and the horrors of war continue. Take heart, for this too shall pass. Believe it or not, we have entered an Era of Peace. Peace is replacing war and those who war are simply resisting peace. Those who hate are resisting love.

Find attunement with Love

The coarser and destructive vibrations do not feel the influence of the finer vibrations. But they will be resolved by them into Oneness, simply by reason of the fact that the finer essences penetrate the coarser substance, but the coarser cannot rise to hurt or nullify the finer.  Attunement with love is the only thing left for us. How blessed we are to know that we have the freedom and awareness to find attunement with love and then let love radiate into the mix of mounting chaos and dissonance without concern for results, knowing that love renews that which it touches.

I rather suspect that those who conduct social programs such as Facebook gain some satisfaction from the warring factors and hate waves that arise in the participants. There’s a great deal of force in hate, albeit destructive. There’s no real power to be gained in it however. There is only one power on the move, and it’s love. Or is it rather that the power of love is misinterpreted as hate? What is love, then?  I have to keep revisiting this mystery myself . . . daily.

Peace be in your heart . . . and in your mind,

Anthony