Happiness - or Stinkin Thinkin

There's two ways to think, Stinkin thinkin or other. One way causes you to die young, the other doesn't. And what's amazing, you get to choose as long as you apply some consciousness.

There's two ways to think, Stinkin thinkin or other. One way causes you to die young, the other doesn't. And what's amazing, you get to choose as long as you apply some consciousness.

Multi layered thinking is essential. There are many compartments of the brain (mind) and therefore – given certain triggers they function at different levels. The lowest of these, the basal ganglia is designed to fend off threat. We can say that this is the primal part of our brain and therefore, not meant to be functioning in this modern society – all that often.

It doesn't go away however, and if someone blasts a horn at you, it kicks in and gives you one of two options kill the horn blower or jump out of your skin and run for dear life.

So we explain the road rage, the violent pub scene the domestic violence and, at a more subtle level, relationship and workplace anger. This mind is a bummer, because sustained use of it, kills us. The chemicals it produces are toxic to the immune system and we die very young.

This explains many cancer attacks, heart attacks, depressions and mental disorder. Too much time spent in yaya land, reacting to perceived threat.

Competition is another trigger for this level of the brain and for some athletes, at the starting gate, this sudden flight response or kill response produces a huge surge of adrenalin which seems to help at the beginning of any event.

The triggers for this part of the brain do not have to be real. Grandma sitting at home knitting might see something on TV about a product recall. She's not got allot to worry about so, immediately her mind starts to think about the grand children and the possibility that they got exposed to the problem. Now, she's killing herself with chemical warfare internally, when nothing happened yet.

On an even more subtle level meet the new age save the planet, organic food eating, yoga class attending, money to the poor donating individual who, believes that global warming is a serious problem and they should work to fend it off. Here, depending on the degree of perceived danger, the individual might just trigger this anger response and start the same life killing chemistry in their own body. Ironic really, because if the global warming doesn't kill them, their thoughts will. This is rather strange – somebody killing themselves trying to live longer.

But the irony is not lost here. I have a friend who is in perpetual stress. They have a nice house, good car, no mortgage and plenty of money in the bank. However, it's not enough. We all understand this habit that keeps us driving for more, I suspect it's a fundamental part of the human ego. Maybe even the soul. This is not unusual, yet, we find my friend on any given day, not feeling 100% well. Either tired or sore or both. Why, because they are still functioning in a life a death mode of thinking instead of a "who gives a shit" mode of thinking.

Now, it may seem to some that this rather crass "who gives a shit" mode of thinking is not going to help my friend make more money, but this is where we need to look differently. There are other parts of the brain that can motivate her in her day that don't cause so much violent self destruction as the panic brain.

For example there's the "who gives a shit brain" this brain area, the corpus callosum is often called the human heart brain. It's really happy as long as the individual who is wearing it, feels comfortable. Of course, comfort for some might be a plastic sheet in the rain, and for others a new carpet in a $20 million dollar home. We're not to judge what people call home, but we can become aware of the cost of panic.

That's the most common report I get taking people in Nepal. They see poor people and say "oh, look how happy they are and they have nothing" There's a certain awe at this, because those poor people are in the "I don't give a shit mode" as long as the plastic doesn't tear. This whole topic is about perspective.

Take another great example. My girlfriend left me. I was a bit sad for a few days but really, there was no panic. This is in stark contrast to the experience I had when my wife left me 20 years ago. I was in panic mode and therefore quite unhealthy for nearly 3 years. Same potential trigger, but what changed is my perspective. Now, I think differently and have a plastic sheet to cover my head that I know won't tear.

We can explain addictions with this awareness too. Say you're in an aeroplane, and the announcement comes over, "please take up crash positions" your heart begins to race, your sweat glands prepare for exertion, your mind starts to run, palms sweat. Nothing actually happened but you can see, our body prepares for the worst. So now the bloke next door hands you a stiff gin and tonic. You skull it and there you are, "who gives a shit" and the plane starts to plummet and you simply push the flight attendant button for another drink. Most addictions to substance achieve this end, they shift our consciousness from the basil ganglia to the corpus callosum or some where.

Vallum, beta blockers, anti depressants, alcohol, tobacco, adrenalin, sex, heroin, cocaine, glue, petrol you name it, the real ambition is not to get high, it's to change the state of mind from "Oh Shit" to "don't give a shit"

This panic thinking is a bad habit just like flatulence in church. It's far better to save it for outside, and panic thinking is better to be saved for when you need it. In the meantime we need a means to shift our way of thinking from panic to picnic.

Another friend of mine works for a large corporation. He is always exhausted and tells me how he travels here, and travels there, and does meetings back to back, 24/7, to get results. The strange thing is that I do this too. But the way I describe it is different. I feel lucky to travel and by having meetings I get to do my work allot, which I love, and I don't find it tiring or exhausting.

Anyway I guess the point is that we can operate in the "Panic zone" or we can operate in the "don't give a shit" zone and that really is a personal choice. We choose to have the habit of seeing everything as a "desperate bid for freedom" or we can see things as "a nice way to spend our day"

Of course, if you are an African child, or a Nepali orphan with no food, such choices might seem less obvious, although I have had less resistance teaching this work on human consciousness to African and Nepali refugees than wealthy entrepreneurial adults. Go figure eh.

So, the real question for those who got this far is HOW. If I am in self imposed stress mode, feeling exhausted and totally under pressure, how do I swing this around and to a less death causing state of mind. The answer is quite simple.

In nature there's two sides to everything. The more you see one side, either good or bad, the more the Panic button gets hit, the more the basil ganglia functions and the more your body thinks it's under attack. Therefore the solution is to THINK DIFFERENT.

So you think I am simplifying things. Well its true. We have a habit of thinking badly. It's called conditioning and we sometimes think that to deviate from this conditioning we'd loose our identity. Let me give you one example. There was a guy who wanted me to help him think different. He had all these ideas about global warming, ice caps melting, ozone holes, pesticides, and bla bla. He'd been thoroughly indoctrinated into believing that he needed to save the earth. That's fine.

But to think different, he needed to = THINK DIFFERENT. What he wanted actually was to think the same, but feel different. And of course, that's just not possible. I tried hard to show him that there's two sides to everything, but he argued and argued and agued – I finally went to bed and left him arguing with himself in the conference room. The fact of the matter is IF NOTHING CHANGES, NOTHING CHANGES. His identity was so tied up in the idea that he could hold this anti establishment pro environment stance that there was little his mind could do. He couldn't even think that his thinking was stinking. Every time he tried to imagine a good and a bad side to something, his emotional body would leap into action and he'd freak.

So, breaking the habit of self pity, half truth thinking is hard. It means liking those people you don't like. Not liking those people you do like. So actually everything's starts to take on a neutral affect on you. This is called enlightenment. When actually you don't react to the world around you because you see the two sides of it. Then, your actions become authentic. And if, like my client above you choose to go save the planet, you do it authentically, non violently, compassionately and therefore, sustainably.

1.71 Life


Out here in the bush life is quite simple. Eat, sleep, pee and poo. Remember these and you will live long. In between these four smile allot, and that's a good life. Sometimes the work is hard and people give you the shits, but really, theres nothing on earth you can't smile about, eventually.

I think this is where city folk get it wrong. They think there's some magic pill or miracle that makes annoying people go away. But we in the countryside know it different. There's some bad eggs in the basket and the rest, which is most, are fine.

I find myself reacting to different people who are not bad people at all. Like some who are too bloody friendly and others who think they know everything. I don't know why I'd react to people who are like this. Really, they aren't doing anything wrong. So I have to confess, somethings I have to own. I need to cut myself a bit of slack in the rope sometimes. You know, take a breather, go paddle a canoe or have a beer at the pub. Can't let myself get wound up.

The hardest thing to deal with are the bad eggs. Like those terrorists who bombed the World Trade Center. Bastards, out here the solution is simple, shoot em. But In the city, there's a few too many to do that, and the idea that we're going to get rid of them all is just not how nature planned it. I think the first step is not to let them ruffle your feathers, I mean a bad egg is trying to get a lift out of you somehow so, the best trick is not to give it to them.

Sometimes they want to argue or fight with me. Mostly, out here, they have to have a belly full of beer to do it, but they do. Some of those mongrels abuse their wife. We have a solution for that too. A sharp knife and nacker them.

When I go to town I marvel at the people who get dressed every day in dark suits and go to offices. Bloody air that's filtered and pumped, a million feet off the ground, taking in computer language all day. It's a miracle they can do it, and stay healthy. I think we aught to have a Office people celebration day. To honor those brave people. I can't understand how big companies think they are going to get a good days work out of people when they aren't treating them as people. We got chickens who have a better life in their cages.

Anyway, this is not what I came to talk about is it? I came to talk about nature.

Mate, there's a few things you can learn from nature that are going to help you in your life so much. So it's a great treat for me, to come here from the bush and share this stuff. I know you are all much more eductated than me and probably smarter, but you can't learn everything in life from books and schools. So, that's my uni degree, natures classroom.

Now the first thing I want to share is that country people are usually more happy than city people. That's changing a bit because now we've all got bloody TV and so we're kinda city people too. But, if you get out far enough where life is still simple, you'll agree, country people are more happy. Why?

Basically because they don't work in offices all day, or get stuck indoors a lot. But there's more than that. When you live around nature you don't get too far away from reality. Eat, sleep, pee and poo and everything else is about keeping a smile on your dial. So we don't go after fancy cars, and read all these new age books so we don't set ourselves up for failure. By that I don't mean we don't have hopes. Sure we do, but I think we have a firmer grip on reality. We accept our lot and try to be thankful for it. Even when the proverbial hits the fan, you'll always find someone trying to cheer you up.

The second thing about country people is that they know that there's two sides to everything. Once you've been kicked in the nose a few times by your favorite horse you get to realize that no matter how sweet something is, it has another side. So, we keep our feet on the ground by being honest with each other. I mean there's nice ladies and there's mean ones in our town. What we all know, that you city folk don't is that the nice ladies have a mean side and the mean ones have a nice side. You just got to get to know someone and you see it.

So, I think we're a lot more honest about life. That means we don't put people on horses till they're ready. Nobody in the countryside wants to be put on a pedastal, like a tall horse, it's a long way to fall if you don't really deserve to be there.

Finally, before I close this talk, I want to chat about power. Now, we had some preachers come through here a while back and try to talk to us about bibles and gods and stuff. But we told them we already have a god and a bible. Nature keeps us humble. Man, you only have to ride through a few fires and floods and draughts to learn that there's something greater than you out there, and you better not forget it. We think that we'd better be thankful just because we've got a pulse. Old Bob got hit by lightening, he was minding his own bloody business. Truly, he was a good hard working block and wham, gone. Poor bastard. Nature's cruel sometimes, but what can you do? That's life, get used to it.

I think we're the luckiest bastards around. We got time to look at the stars, to sit under a tree, to enjoy a beer with some mates, a good lady in our life, and we don't get too carried away with being someone we're not. I have dreams for the future, me kids and the land I want to build a better farm and that costs money keeping up with the times. But if I forget to Eat sleep, pee and poo, or the smile goes off my face because of it, well, what bloody use am I to anyone?

Thanks