From dreaded to desirable

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeing new landscapes but in having new eyes."

– Marcel Proust

Due to a few events of this last quarter year or so I have tended toward feeling more sad than glad, and toward resisting rather than accepting.

So when I read a little blurb about the dreaded (presence of insects) being desirable (increasing plant health, taste, yields), it caught my attention. In brief: “According to a study out of Cornell University, in spite of their pesky attributes, without insects, plants could quickly lose their defense mechanisms along with desired traits like good taste and high yields.” [For more, see *“Fiends with benefits” below.]

This month’s 1^st Wednesday wellness email is a reminder – to me foremost, and to you too, if desired – to reframe what is most immediately dreaded, to possibly more desirable or welcome.

Consider these words in support:

“…the same action, has different consequences depending on whether it is done to move toward something we welcome (activating the brain’s approach system) or to avoid something negative (activating the brain’s avoidance system). In the maze experiment (see ** Maze below) aversion was triggered by something as minor as the sight of a cartoon owl. It led to reductions in exploratory, creative behaviors. This is dramatic evidence that the avoidance system can narrow the focus of our lives, even when triggered by a purely symbolic threat.” -from “The Mindful Way Through Depression”

 

I’ve talked of similar ideas before (on positivity –last month’s blog post and “Experience Expansive”; and on gratitude “Enjoy and influence”).

It seems I need reminders often, and a most recent opportunity to practice is around accepting this broken leg of mine. I find myself slipping into dreading: of the discomfort, of despising my body (bones aren’t supposed to break, in my little world) and of my “you’re so stupid” internal mantras. 

So I keep reading on mindfulness:

“If we can infuse our attention to our bodily experience with the approach qualities of interest, curiosity, warmth, and goodwill, then not only will we be in greater touch with sensations and feeling in each moment, we also will be directly countering any effects of aversion and avoidance that may be present...

As with so much of what we are learning to do, cultivating wholesome and kind intention and motivation is just as much a part of meditation practice as learning how to focus our attention in particular ways.” -from “The Mindful Way Through Depression”

It’s truly amazing that we have bodies that heal, right? So, I can thank God for mending bones (and even maybe cooperate by visualizing the fibers of collagen and fibrocartilage forming until new bone cells take over) and wear the walking boot as long as the ortho doc says (wearing a splint for a broken bone has been likened to engaging in spiritual disciplines: it is our small part in aiding the healing or transformation that God accomplishes).

If I let myself lean into wonder, I can conclude that it’s amazing that we even have life – with all of its sensations, thoughts, feelings, meanings. And for many of us, life includes much variety and privilege, so much.

In this month, with the thanksgiving holiday, may I suggest that it is a good time to approach, rather than avoid, whatever bit of life you can?

And on this day after the election, might I also offer a gentle call out to let fall away what is dreaded, and instead  dwell on whatever has the possibility of desirable, whatever is worth pursuing, whatever has the feel of hope, openness, or care in these moments?

As always, I wish for you goodness and all things desirable.  

“In everything give thanks…” - I Thessalonians 5:18

"What is to give light must endure burning."

-Viktor Frankl, author, neurologist and psychiatrist, Holocaust survivor (1905-1997)

 “I love the man that can smile in trouble, that can gather strength from distress, 

and grow brave by reflection.” 

- Thomas Paine

--
*Fiends with benefits  

From "The discovery files" - brief write-ups of projects funded by the national science foundation (NSF).

"Hug a bug? According to a study out ofCornell University, in spite of their pesky attributes, without insects, plants could quickly lose their defense mechanisms along with desired traits like good taste and high yields…

We usually think of evolution as an extremely slow process. This study of the evening primrose dramatically demonstrates how fast plants can evolve (in just three or four generations) when grown in insecticide-treated plots. With no moths bugging them, the plants stopped investing energy in their anti-insect defenses and the defenses disappeared within about five years.

Scientists think many plant traits originally evolved to battle against bugs. Some of these anti-insect defenses…are desirable to us humans and we wouldn't want to see those traits lost."

**Maze

Study overviewed in “The Mindful Way Through Depression” p 124.  

A cartoon mouse was shown trapped inside a picture of a maze, and the task for the college student subjects was to help the mouse find the way out. There were two versions of the task: 1) a positive, approach-oriented approach (a piece of Swiss cheese was lying outside the maze), the other was negative or avoidance-oriented (an owl hovered above the maze, ready to swoop down and capture the mouse in its talons).

The maze takes less than two minutes to complete, and all the students who took part in the experiment solved their maze. But the contrast in the aftereffects of working on different versions of the maze was striking. When the participants later took a test of creativity, those who had helped their mouse avoid the owl turned in scores that were 50% lower than the scores of students who had helped their mouse find the cheese. The state of mind elicited by attending to the owl had resulted in a lingering sense of caution, avoidance, and vigilance for things going wrong. This mind-state in turn weakened creativity, closed down options, and reduced the student’s flexibility in responding to the next task.

Friedmanand Forster, 2001  and see also an interesting blog post on ‘Mindfulness and Creativity”