Incoming Shift 2012 and Beyond.

There has been alot of stipulation about the 2012 “Shift” regarding our plantary evolution. From the poles shifting axis, to the socio-economic and religious collapse, to the three days of descending darkness, to the infusion of light from the photon belt, the return of Christ Consciousness, peace on Earth, moving into the 5th dimensdion and Ascension.

It is said that the longest and most ardous journey we need to make is the short distance from the head to the heart. Dropping from the myriad dualities of the monkey mind of this and that, of right and wrong, of you and I, of this is good and this is bad, that are at a constant tug of war in our psyche. To the landing place of calm, peace, knowingness, and centeredness of the heart, that stands still in the center, at the fulcrum point of the see-saw of our reality.

This sounds easy enough, a simple shift from head to heart and yet this journey is relentless.......and challenges us at every turn....no matter how many times we tell ourselves how to behave in challenging situations or how “evolved” we think we have become, we more often that not, retaliate, retort, recoil and react unconsdiously to what our brain deems as a threat to our survival....threats that were seeded in our ancient past and from our early childhood.

Before we embark on this journey from head to heart, threre is one more step we could take in order to make a stride in our human evolution. That step is shifting our axis point from the Cerebellum: The animal reactionary brain to the Neo-Cortex: The human actionary brain. Both are needed in our entirety of function, we absolutely need to react quickly with our intstincts in dangerous situations that threaten our existence and we need to tame the Animal sruvival intstinct within us in order to evolve into the Neo-Human. The animal/reptilian brain in the cerebellum, is the most ancient of the three brain parts of human evolution as it first appeared in fish nearly 500 million years ago and reached its most advanced stage in reptiles nearly 250 million years ago.

This part of the brain is programmed with the animal behaviourism to survive the onslaught of attack from predatoric animals, defense from warring tribes and severe climate. It controls the body’s vital functions such as heart rate, breathing, body temperature and balance and is the seat of our survival instincts of hunger, attack, defence, sexual behaviour and sensory input. It is the great recorder of memories of behaviours both agreeable and disagreeable that has been programmed from our ancient primate selves and our early childhood and hence is the seat of our value judgements that we often make unconsciously, rigidly and compulsively. Repeat our unconscious self that lies in the recesses of our history and our shadow selves!

Today, particularly in the western world, we no longer have to look over our shoulders to protect ourselves at every turn, and have evolved through external circumstances that challenge our very survival. For the most part, we are protected from the elements in our homes, we control our temperature at a click of a button and we have tamed and caged our animals, so that they are no longer a threat to us.

Our reptilian brain stands in the light of our reasoning, doing its job in order to survive our better judgement......Today we have translated our survival needs of attack and defense into our interpersonal relationships, within our workplace, our families and loved ones and our finances.... it takes only a slip of the tongue, or a mispercieved glance before we automatically flip into the default of our “animal mode” and percieve attack! We now fight back and attack with words, and flee from “emotional confrontations that can destabilize us” by disonnecting to protect ourselves.

We need to tame this part of our brain, pat it gently and stroke the dinasauor/reptile that is on guard and let it know it is doing its job well but need not go into survival mode of defence and attack! We need to make it feel safe so we can get on with bigger and better things......and move into the Neo-Cortex brain and into the Neo-Human.

The Neo-Cortex brain that is situated on the other side of the brain in the frontal lobe, first assumed importance in primates/mamals fairly recently around 2-3 million years ago, which culminated in the human brain. It is a recently evolved structure with its two large cerebral hemispheres that are associated with “higher” information processing and have been responsible for the development of human language, abstract thought, imagination, and consciousness and development of human culture. This is the reasoning brain, of higher thought and action that assists our evolution in consciousness.

How do we make this shift?

According to Scott Catamas, Master Relationship Coach and Teacher of Compassionate Communication, we must firstly......SLOW DOWN! When we are challenged, our heart rate speeds up, our chemisty afires, our mind races and becomes uncontrollable, and our brain registers and perceives we are being attacked. Our brain then flips into the reptilian brain where we have three choices.....fight (attack), flight (defense) and fright (freeze.)  When we are running on the fast track like a hampster on a wheel, we don’t have the time to truly consider the truth of what is happening and therefore cannot access our reasoning, understanding and compassion for the situation at hand.

Secondly......take care of the simple needs of life, to eat when you are hungry, rest when you are tired and take time for yourself to rebalance in your busy schedule.

Thirdly, take care of your family and the ones you love, excercise human empathy and compassion for your self and others. For when our needs are met, our stability can rest on the foundation of security.....and from there we can move forward in ease and grace......

It is very simple step which would behoove us greatly and yet we insist on racing into our future which inevitably leaves us slipping back in time into the dinasaouric behaviour of competition, fear and suspicion at every turn of our interpersonal relationships.

Scott Catamas also invites us to stand at the witness point when we are emotionally challenged and say to ourselves “I am in a story about myself that.......”, and “I’m telling myself that I am.........” this leads to a sense of detachment of the situation, which leads to more empathy for the other and more compassion for the self. The old adage of “put yourself in the shoes of the other person” is old fashioned and never more needed!

Along with excercising a witness stand point, and taking time to take care of your and your loved ones needs, meditation is a very effective practice that assists on a cumulative level that assists in the watching, the listening and the slowing down the mental reactionary mind. Even 5mins per day is enough to start making the change from the reptilian reactionary brain to the frontal lactionary brain,  from animal behaviour to the Neo-human.