– Evaluation
  Always make an evaluation of what worked and what failed? How do I fix this? Through this evaluation we can know what is lacking while undergoing our planning. There is an evaluation weekly, monthly and annually.

– Keep it balance
  Discipline and planning consent to run. But do not forget to take time for yourself and also hanging out with my friends. Ka also too late if we do not refreshing.

– Failed
  Sometimes there are circumstances that we did not expect.Certainly many obstacles that confront us, but go ahead! Because failure to make us learn a lot and we can find a way out if you see a failure like that.

– Flexible
  Not one that we evaluate it after our interests shift. Includes making changes during the evaluation.

– Just Do it
  Never put off anything that we could actually do now. If we are lazy or feeling down because it failed, big dreams we remember that we want to achieve. There is nothing we can achieve without a struggle.

Strengths: 

-The Nullification Crisis: During the nullification crisis jackson held his ground and told south carolina that they couldn’t seceed from the nation or he would send troops.

-The Spoils System: Jackson created the spoils system which encouraged rotation in office in order to prevent any corruption in the government. 

-He had a super-sweet wig. That was his biggest strength. People would look at that wig and think; “man, that dude’s wig is righteous, i’d better do what he says”. His weakness was his legs. He had skinny little legs, and everyone called him Chicken man behind his back. Once, he kicked a peice of paper and broke an ankle. Everyone laughed so hard that he had to go out and get an even bigger wig to make up for it.

-He’s already on the $20 bill

Weaknesses:

-Indian removal: The Indian Removal Act was one of the most controversial things jackson did. The supreme court ruled that the Cherokee Indians could stay where they were. However, jackson countered the court and sent troops to move the cherokee indians out. This resulted in the ‘Trail of Tears’ which killed over 4,000 indians due to the harsh conditions of the move.

-National Bank Veto: during jackson’s presidency he vetoed the renewal of the national bank and divided up the US funds into state and local banks. This all led to his Specie Circular [required people to pay in gold and silver not paper money] and a depression which was taken on by van buren, the next president. 

• He was the first president to ride on a railroad train, the first to be born in a log cabin and the first president to be nominated by a political party.

• He survived the first attempt to assassinate a president.

• He is known historically for creating a strong executive branch.

• At age 13, while serving in the army, he was captured by the British. The British officer in charge ordered Jackson to clean his boots. Jackson refused; the officer struck him with his sword, leaving Jackson’s face and hand permanently scarred.

Additional Details:

Jackson was mostly known for his Indian Removal Act of 1830. He basically forced all the Indians to move westward, around Oklahoma and such. Read up on Trail of Tears and determine yourself if his presidency was a success or a failure.

One of the four candidates of the “corrupt Bargain” of 1824.

Had strong appeal in the West.

He had as many votes as his next two rivals combined, but didn’t win majority of electoral vote.

Jackson liked to be he heard and had people working for him in each state trying to pursuade people to vote for him.

I will use the example of ‘moving house’ for the purposes of my explanation but this applies to any decision that can and no doubt will alter life in one way or another. First of all I make a list of two columns on a sheet of paper (or in an excercise book) – column one is headed ‘Positives’ and the second column is headed ‘Negatives’. The rest is more or less self explanitory but for the purpose of demonstrating fully what I am talking about I will go through the procedure. Businessmen in particular can use this method too for better results – but I will also take the example laid a step further.

List all the positives for moving house

A better area

Nearer shops

Near schools

Nicer neighbours (in this case chats to prispective neighbours before actually moving will evaluate how your local prospective neighbourhood will be like if and when you move. Go back again at a later date and perhaps you will see the new neighbours true reactions and thoughts about you moving into their area.

Near garages for the cars

On good bus routes

For the negatives (this is ONLY an example)

No Schools around

No doctors or hospitals near by

the shops I will need are NOT nearby etc etc

people around appear to be snooty and not friendly – especially where children are concerned

You have to evaluate your needs in this case and your aversions – for instance you may NOT want to have children around so you would not in particular want to have schools near you. Count the positives and then count the negatives and see if one list outweighs the other. That will be able to take you on a further consideration – for example you may not like children around but you need a school to go to night school at or apply for some sort of a job. Compromise will be needed here in order to work out how much are you prepared to ‘put up with’ in order to take advantage of any other opportunities that may me around. The fact there are no shops you require are there but would it be too difficult to get the bus to town and later on see an opportunity within the area to open a needed shop or other profitable business that suits you and your family.

Many a time we have to ’swallow pride’ in order to advance in life. Being able to do this without bitterness is an ability to remain genuinly humble – again at times a failing of mine. I am reading a book by Lord Alan Sugar who has ignored the two letters I have written to him and being ignored is something I do not like being done to me and I find no excuse for not matter who the addressee is or what he is or not answering. Surely a quick letter could be written saying something like ‘Thank you for your letter and I will be replying to you in due course’ I put this down to his arrogance and ignorance. This will NOT stop me however reading his book because like it or not he is a successful businessman – business being a thing that interests me despite the fact work wise I am ‘passed it’ you could say I am interested in business matters. We all have something to offer other people somewhere.

Once we have studied the positive sides of our lists against the negative sides of our lists – evaluated what positives override the negative side of the decision we can then make a more accurate decision. We can also ‘practise’ this system of ‘made up’ scenarios and in time we will find that we can learn how to evaluate situatins far more effdiciently. I still enjoy the practise and scenarios of it.

Leslie lEWIS

How many times did you say “it was just a kiss? Nothing wrong, jumping U.S. researchers who come up with some interesting studies.

Kiss has been called “an important means for assessing the partners in order to reproduce “after U.S. doctors have found some chemical and biological processes” key “to the brain.

Hormones and evolution Kiss

They first analyzed samples of saliva and blood taken from couples after they have kissed 15 minutes while listening to music. They found significant changes in the concentration of oxytocin (a hormone responsible for milk production in mammary gland and acting on the desire to form a couple).

Changes were also in the concentration of cortisol (stress hormone). British naturalist Charles Darwin believe that kissing is a natural instinct. And this act has evolved into a biological mechanism capable of stimulating the three brain systems that control sex and reproduction.

The first of these is sexual desire , fueled by testosterone, the hormone that cause individuals to look for multiple partners. The second controls the passionate and obsessive love, focused on a single person, and seems to be linked to an increased level of dopamine.

The second controls the passionate and obsessive love, focused on a single person, and seems to be linked to an increased level of dopamine. The third system, which controls the attachment and which allows a couple to stay together long enough to raise children, is associated with increased levels of oxytocin.

“Saliva contains testosterone, and that men prefer to kiss with your mouth wide open makes us think they are trying instinctively hormone in the body to transfer the woman to unleash her sexual desire.”

“90% of prehistoric man practiced kissing like other mammals, such as chimpanzees or foxes, which lick their mouths.”

Visit MedLife for more articles and reviews about a healthy life, common diseases, treatments, symptoms and much more. Medlife is one of the most appreciated health blogs in the world written by the best students in medicine.

As a matter of fact, desertification in Africa especially in the Sahel is due to the plantation of peanuts in an abusive manner.  Peanuts contain oil and can cause diseases among women.  That is why we have to be careful with addiction which can harm our health.  There are programmes to fight against desertification and now the desert is not gaining more ground.  Senegal had the most important population in the past and most of them migrated to France.

So, friendship is important especially at the end of the year.  You need to stay calm at home and have a rest for once after a hard working and active year.  It is not often that you can rest but you really need to rest in order to prepare for the new year.  In the countries of the north the new year is an important feast where you can see many artefacts and people go to dance.  In Africa, it is more a family gathering where you share a meal and some drinks. 

Thus, a family is important and we must remember to protect one and another especially during this time of the year which is one of the coldest one.  There are people who just one you to keep you company without being warm so stay away from them.  The radio is there, the television is there and the books are there therefore take some time to think of yourself and be yourself and enjoy yourself because if you do not you might harm yourself and that is the greatest lesson of humanity that can ever exist in any democracy.

Frustration feeling often occurs because of many things that we want does not happen or if the result we get is deviated from our target. Frustration makes people feel that the world seems so horrible. Everything seems become a narrow thing and uncomfortable condition. Because there are many negative things in this life, frustration may occur in our lives, therefore, it is good for us to learning how to cope with frustration

Below are nine steps to cope with frustration:

1. Determine your action.
In every situation, you still can choose to act. When you are unsuccessful, you can choose to collapse, scream, or change old habits and find ways to solve the problem. Choose the last one.

2. Be flexible.
Life is not always beautiful like we expected. If you can adjust to the new situation, the tension will be reduced.

3. Develop creativity.
Ask yourself, “What  opportunity is available for me?” or ” Which road is opened for me?”
 
4. Conduct evaluation and reflection of every situation.
This step help us to always introspect all activities that have been done and set up actions to be taken. Think about everything before we act to obtain the best solution.
 
5. Increase interest and motivation in everything you encounter.
Exert all energy to one aspect of life will make you down if you fail. Diverse interests and involve in various activities will offset the problems that arise in other areas.

6. Try to see things from a positive side.
Failure is indeed a painful experience. However, instead of thinking about the loss you experienced, better focused on what we have learned.

7. Be responsible.
Do not blame anyone else if we fail, but give attention to the problem and try to understand it. Ask yourself, how could we overcome the problem?

8. Keeping a balance.
Failure can affect us emotionally. Failure also has impact in our actions. Therefore, before we are intercepted by a failure, start practising to help each other with friends.

9. Develop a sense of humor.
Humor and laughter do not immediately solve the problem, but these two things will help us to see problems in perspective. Laughing when we are sad is like a light in the darkness.

No one, who believes in the principle of sharing the wealth, can call them selves a moral person. No one who does all manner of things to pass a bill that the people they serve are obviously against can call them selves a moral person. No one who sits in a church were a person such as Reverend Wright pastors and states he was not aware of the black theology taught in that church can call them selves a moral person. No one who travels the country telling people that his policies have led to economic growth when he knows home foreclosures are up, home sales are down, home manufacturing is down, unemployment keeps increasing, banks are not lending, and businesses are not investing can call them selves a moral person.

I was watching Hannity interview Ms. Hasselbeck from the view. They were talking about distinguishing the person from the politics. In psychology, behavior is an indicator of morality. There is no way any one can say after watching all of Obama’s sleazy political moves that Obama is a good person.

I see Obama as a sleazy lying politician. He is capable of doing anything to have a political victory. He does not have any personal values. He just acts to achieve his political ambitions.

Mr. Barak Hussien Obama’s personality is so basic. He is person who has big political ambitions and will do anything to accomplish his goals. I have observed Obama lie. I have observed Obama care more about his radical leftist agenda then the American citizens.

After seeing the exchange between Hannity and his guest I felt compelled to write this article. Why do people want to see Obama as a nice person? It is almost as if behavior has no value.

Here is my test of integrity. Compare what a person does to what he or she says. Obama said he would pull out American troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan. My understanding is that the majority of US troops are supposed to leave Iraq by the end of the summer of 2010. This means that US troops should have been mobilizing a long time ago. I have not seen any news stories of troop withdrawals from Iraq.

Obama said he would close the American military prison in Cuba. It is still open and in operation.

Obama said that Bush violate the civil right of individuals with some of his actions, implying Bush was an immoral politician. Have we not seen behind the scenes arrangements in order to pass legislation? Today, as I was listening to Laura Ingraham, I became aware of a memo from the feds looking in to how through administrative functions they could make it possible for all the people who are illegally in the US could not be deported. In addition, has there been a more secretive administration since the Obama administration?

After he was elected Obama said he would be president of all Americans. However, in his agenda he has been working against American’s with business success and personal success.

Therefore, I see a lot of inconsistencies between what Obama says and what he does. All politicians betray their rhetoric once elected. Obama is no different.

However, can we pretend that Obama’s behaviors do not tell us what kind of person he is in life. Obama criticized TEA party members in a very vulgar manner. These members are citizens. There has to be something wrong with a president speaking about the citizens he is supposed to serve in this manner.

There are people who are defiant to authority. These people disrespect law enforcement officers. These people use violence and aggression to get what they want. We call them violent criminals.

When classifying their personality we look at behavior, thoughts, emotions, and sensations. Therefore, how would I classify Obama. I would say Obama is a person obsessed with his philosophy, is very in to him self, lies, practices deception, uses violence and aggression, ridicules, and does not respect the rule of law.

I know it is not that great of a personality assessment. Well I do not see depression. He does have a lot of anxiety.

I once scared a person because I told him that anxiety is due to being afraid of something. This person did not like the fact that I knew he was afraid of something.

What is Obama afraid of in his life? Well, he thinks he is always right. Therefore, he has to be afraid of failure. He has to be afraid of being seen as a liar and a violent person. In other words he is afraid of being negatively criticized. His quick reaction to criticism is an attempt to stop the criticism and he will even try to threaten with a raised voice and a mean scowl.

I have also seen Obama grin as he is about to give a speech he thinks is going to be great. I know he spends a lot of time planning his speech delivery and getting it to where he believes he will be able to convince people. It is also apparent that he knows he will be telling lies while he delivers his speech. With the internet all facts can be checked.

Now, the first behaviors I remember from Obama are his baseless criticism of George W. Bush. No court in the US found any evidence of torture. This fact can be checked. No court found any evidence of civil rights abuses. This is another fact that can be checked. When Obama spoke of supposed torture and civil rights violations by George W. Bush Mr. Obama knew that there was no evidence of either behavior. Therefore, he knowingly and willfully lied.

“Classic deviant” is the beginning mental health title I am going to give to Obama. Deviating from social norms means a person is a deviant. In American telling the truth is a personal and social value. Lying is the deviation.

Obama is also anti-social. Anti-social means to be against society and to attack members of a society. Obama has exhibited verbal aggression against people who disagree with him.

Therefore, Obama is a Anti-social-deviant-with violent and aggressive behaviors. Man, this is a very impressive psychological evaluation. Yes, I am patting myself on the back.

Let me see are there any other behaviors that could help me classify Obama? He has a sinister desire to turn the US in to a Socialist society. Obama, with his hidden agenda, is just like Hitler.

This will require more in depth analysis. Terrorist believe they are right. Their entire life they have been told to hate the infidel because of the infidels interference with their “god”. Therefore, their violent behavior is because of what they believe and less about what they feel.

Obama is about what he believes and about what he feels. I know he feels fear. I know he feels anger. I know he believes he is absolutely right. People who attack other people have hate for those people. Therefore, Obama hates every one he talks bad about and vulgarly criticizes.

I do not have to hit some one to be violence. Violence can be practiced through verbal abuse and aggressive body langauge.

He does believe he could make a better world and has the right to make this world. He never considers that he may be wrong. He has no respect or consideration for people who do not believe what he believes.

He is capable of any act to accomplish his goals. This means he has no morality. The means justify the end.

Okay, where would I put Obama on the developmental scale. Being that his world view is unrealistic, then he is immature. By immature I mean he has not developed emotional balance, he has not developed a grasp on reality, and he has no respect or consideration for people. A good developmental score is one where a person has emotional balance, intellectual balance, and social balance.

Obama obviously did not learn these skills during his developmental years. Obama is angered by people who disagree with him. Obama has a skewed perception of reality. Obama does not empathize or sympathizes with people who do not think like he thinks.

Obama is a Psychotic Anti-social-deviant with violent and aggressive behaviors. By psychotic I mean, Obama does not have a grasp on reality. All Obama knows is that mean companies and bad republicans have subjugated the poor. America is a more diverse culture then Obama’s narrow narrative.

Okay, I started out to prove that Obama is not a good person and that he is just as bad as his policies and his bad behaviors that he uses to effect his agenda. I think I have achieved this goal.

Now, for many of you many of my conclusions will not make sense. This may be because you are not trained in mental health. In addition, the language I used is the language of the “mental health science” community. This paper is a critical analysis of Obama’s behaviors and his psychology, not a petty criticism of Obama.

The word attitudes is pervasive in everyday life. For instance, one can say one has ‘an attitude’ if he’s not behaving properly. However, to social psychologists and other social scientists (see the ‘Social Psychology’ -article) ‘attitudes’ are more. It’s a psychological construct, its mental and emotional, it is in our minds. This does not mean, however, that it is not existing. It’s an active process going on in our heads, real as any other process of thought or feeling. In fact, as we shall see, attitudes are made out of thoughts and feelings.

Definition

Perloff (2003) gives the following definition: “a learned global (typically emotional) evaluation of an object (person, place or issue) that influences thought and action” (p. 59).

Attitudes are not behavior itself, nor are they an affect (also known as a feeling). It’s more or less a state of readiness to some issues, and less to others. If someone has a positive attitude towards, let’s say, nuclear power, than he/she is more or less in a ‘state of readiness’ to process and react to information concerning this. Given the definition of Perloff, we can distinguish 3 aspects, or ingredients, of attitudes.

1.       It’s a learned evaluation:

This means it is acquired by socialization. Socialization is the process of learning, from a baby until the end of your life, from your environment. Most socialization is done in the early years, usually by parents or direct family.

Some scientists are convinced that some attitudes are predisposed by genetics. This means that in our genes, some attitudes are already ‘in place’ when a person is born.

It is likely that some genes influence the relative ease or difficulty with which an attitude is formed, but genes cannot contain the attitudes themselves. Attitudes must always have an object to be about. Thus, someone who is genetically predisposed to hate butterflies, will still not have this attitude if he/she has never encountered a butterfly. Eagly and Chaiken (1998, p. 270) explain it better: “Individuals do not have an attitude until they first encounter the attitude object (or information about it) and respond evaluatively to it.” Thus, attitudes are always learned after experience with the object in question. This brings us to ingredient number 2.

2.       They are global, typically emotional, evaluations

We saw that apart from being learned, attitudes are also evaluations. They are never value-free or objective. An attitude does not only have an object (for example, the butterfly) but also an evaluation (in our example, hate and disgust).

They are usually partly emotional, but it can be that they are made intellectually. Usually though, some level of emotions is involved. Also, most attitudes are rather general, a large summary of evaluations on a topic. Thus, butterflies are: bad, disgusting, ugly, stinky et cetera. Sometimes, attitudes are not consistent. The butterfly-hating person can also think that butterflies are ‘colourful’ but still hate them because of all the other drawbacks.

3.       Finally, attitudes influence thought and action.

In order to grasp the vast world around us, we people categorize all information that is absorbed by our senses. Attitudes (and values, as you will soon see) shape and organize this perceived world. As Perloff calls them, they are like labels for categorizing all incoming information.

They can also influence behavior. When you have a negative butterfly-attitude, you’re likely not going to stick around a place where they are abundant. Or you might smack them with a newspaper (awww).

Finally, most people want to be consistent in attitudes and actions. Thus, actions should fit attitudes, and attitudes should fit action. Butterfly-fearing folk will avoid butterflies, they will not keep them as pets. This is inconsistent. In the article on ‘Attitude Consistency’ you’ll read more about this.

Values VS  Attitudes VS Beliefs

On a continuum from abstract to specific, we find Values more abstract and general, and beliefs more specific than attitudes.

Values are desirable states we want to be in. Values guide behavior. For instance, I value each being’s right to live. Even though I am not particularly fond of insects, including butterflies (my attitude), my value constrains me from killing all insects I encounter. Instead, I take good care in capturing and transporting insects outside, when they are in my home. The global value of beings rights to live overrule my attitudes, and they are also more global. The beings rights to live does not only overrule this attitude, it can also overrule others. Sometimes, however, attitudes overrule values. For instance, when being face to face with a hungry lion, I might forget about my values for a moment, and try to shoot it before it kills me. Right then, my attitude (being negative) about lions has the overhand!

Beliefs, on the other end of the continuum, are more specific and cognitive. They focus on an attribute. Most people confuse them, but beliefs are not absolute truth or facts. They may feel this way to people, but they are not. People may believe that butterflies are ‘smelly’ but this does not mean that the absolute truth is that they are.

Short introduction to the Expectancy-Value Approach

One of the most well known models about attitudes and behavior is the Theory of Reasoned Action, of Ajzen & Fishbein, followed up by the more elaborate Theory of planned behavior, (for more depth: ‘Theory of Reasoned Action and Planned Behavior’). Part of this model is about two antecedents of attitudes, namely the belief, and the evaluation of belief. Attitudes therefore are a summation of beliefs about an object, and its evaluation. Butterflies are smelly, and this is bad. They are colourful, this is good. They are disgusting, this is bad. Overall then, the attitude is probably bad (unless the one good aspect is really really really good). Most attitudes are summations of a lot of beliefs, not just three. These, of course, don’t need to be consciously available to us, some (a lot) of beliefs are subconscious.

Conclusion

Attitudes are learned, global and emotional evaluations that influence thought and action. They are  more specific than values, but more global than beliefs. In fact, they are made up out of several beliefs, and their evaluations (good/bad).

Other articles of mine on attitudes are: 1) ‘Attitude Consistency’, about getting your thoughts in line, 2) ‘Attitude Strengths’, that makes an attitude influential or not, and 3) ‘Fnctions of Attitudes’, 4) ‘Attitudes and Behavior’,  why attitudes lead to behavior.

Referrences

Perloff, R.M., The Dynamics of Persuasion, Communication and Attitudes in the 21st century (2nd edition), Mahwah, NJ/London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2003.

Eagly and Chaiken, Attitude structure and function. In D. T. Gilbert, S. T. Fiske and G. Lindzey (eds), The Handbook of Social Psychology (4th edn., Vol. 1, pp. 269-322). New York:McGraw-Hill, 1998

Fishbein and Ajzen ,Belief, attitude, intention and behavior: An introduction to theory and research. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley, 1975

When you have asked effective questions about your behavior, the answers you receive can be used as premises to make inferences about the origins of your various behaviors. Inferences depend on both the accurate observations of your behaviors and your individual accumulated knowledge of the environment. The available knowledge during the Renaissance was that the Sun orbited the Earth. I wasn’t until the use of empirical evidence followed by effective reasoning that the truth was revealed that the Earth orbited around the Sun. Empirical evidence are facts experienced from conducting an experiment. Reasoning seeks out the cause of observed facts.

If your knowledge of your environment (internal and external) is limited, your ability to effectively utilize reasoning is limited as well. For example, let’s go back to the apple analogy. The apple falls from the tree and hits the ground. Three people view this occurrence. The first says that a ghost plucked the apple from the tree and threw it to the ground. The second says that the stem of the apple gave way from the weight of the apple and it fell, but doesn’t understand why it fell. The third has repeatedly experienced the law of gravity and has seen its results through experience. He agrees with the observation of the second person but has more knowledge of his environment. An effective inference is one that follows from the observation of all of the evidence available and is combined with the existing knowledge of the observer.

If you infer that the reason you react negatively to people that chatter to much comes from your dislike of noise, that could be and emotional reaction to the sound of the chatter. If you have more knowledge about how your emotions are layered, you might begin to investigate the underlying layered emotions that aren’t readily apparent when you react to the noise. When you dig deeper you begin to understand the workings of your own mind. Many people are afraid to do this because they don’t have the knowledge of what they are doing or they are afraid of getting to know themselves better. If you truly want to develop a deeper understanding of yourself, you must educate yourself about the workings of the mind in general and employ techniques to minimize or remove your fears. Recognizing that you are not compelled to react to everything in your environment can help minimize the feelings of false fear. False fears are secondary fears. They are emotional reactions to situations, events or occurrences in your life that are based on what might happen (usually something negative).  To completely remove false fears from your life you must acknowledge and recognize why they are there; to protect you from possible harm. Real fears are initial (primary) fears such as the fear of getting burned. You won’t put your finger in an open flame because you know it will hurt.

A common acronym for fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. This should be correctly said as false conclusions about perceived evidence that create end results that appear real to you. Why does this occur? Because your ego is your survival mechanism and it automatically reacts to anything that possibly threatens its dominance and control over your survival. That’s its job! Your job is to rise above this reaction and reason out what could happen negatively and change your thought patterns to reflect positive outcomes instead of assuming that the negative will automatically happen. Assuming comes from taking too many things for granted and accepting past evidence as being static. If it happened in the past this way, it will always come to the same result. It presumes that if nothing can be perceived that exists to the contrary then it must be true. This universe is an ever-changing universe and to deny its dynamism is foolish at best.

Don’t automatically assume that the worst will happen. The awareness of this is good to allow you to prepare for what the worst possible outcomes could be. If you ultimately expect the best to happen, you will convert positive possibilities into successful probabilities through the Power of Expectation. Primary fears are good because they protect you from possible harm. Secondary fears are not so good because they cause you to second guess your abilities and slip into mediocrity.

Inferences about the origins of your behavior are only accurate when you educate yourself, remove false fears and truly seek to better yourself. Honesty in dealing with your behaviors is paramount to your success in designing a plan that will lift you out of the mire of emotional reaction into the light of mental pro-action. The results will be a better understanding of yourself, a clearer focus on your goals and a sheer determination that will lead to you expecting only the best in your life.

Cognitive states of consciousness are perception, memory retention, concentration, contemplation, evaluation and reasoning. In other words, observing an occurrence, comparing it to past experience, evaluating its relevance to one’s safety and comfort and deciding whether to move toward it or away from it. They are pro-active states where one anticipates an expected outcome and decides to take the steps necessary to intervene or control the situation to minimize a possible negative conclusion. Volitional states of consciousness occur when one judges another’s actions and chooses to take a survival based action to methodically move toward self-preservation. They involve sheer will power where the ego dominates the stage generally for self-protection. Emotional states are instantaneous reactions to situations manifesting as either fight or flight.

As your nervous system transmits electrical signals through a chemical sodium-potassium pump, your brain receives these signals and interprets where the signals will be routed to in your brain. The first stop is at the base of your brain. It is what is referred to as the reptilian complex. This part of our brain is responsible for survival and kicks into dominance when our supplies of air, water, food, sex, and individual security are threatened. It is our reactive brain. The next stop in our brain is our limbic system where our sympathetic (peripheral) nervous system, central nervous system and endocrine systems carry out the processes of fight or flight. It’s the volitional brain. Finally, when signals reach the neocortex, they translate electrical signals into sensory perception, generation of motor commands, spatial reasoning, conscious thought and language; our pro-active brain. Emotional reactions are the result of programmed stimulus-response behavior either experienced or inherited. Ever wonder why you run from a spider or a bee? Either you have been stung or bitten and remembered the unpleasant experience or you have inherited a chemical program from your forbears that causes the reaction.

When these signals enter your higher brain functions you have the choice to reprogram them or allow them to control your actions. If your higher brain functions are underdeveloped you will more than likely be a person who plods through life emotionally reacting to every occurrence in your life and every feeling that pops up in your mind. When one makes a decision to NOT react, but pro-act, a new neural program needs to be consistently repeated in order to forge a new neural pattern of behavior. The word decision in Latin means to cut off. This means that a decision to reprogram cuts off any other patterns of behavior and utilizes the new pattern of behavior consistently and repeatedly until the new neural pattern is embedded in the brain.

Our emotional aspect of humanity is very important to our survival, growth and expansion. It’s what keeps us alive while we actualize and become the desires that we possess within our neural programming. The word desire means of the father. Whether you believe in God or not, there are desires present within your being that you long for or strive to attain. Why are they there? Is it previous emotional programming from ancestral chemistry or is it a choice that you have made based on your experience? Do the answers to these questions really matter? Or should you just succumb to your innermost desires to be, do or have what you ultimately want? This is where our higher brain functions kick in and guide us to make informed decisions based on facts, not suppositions and opinions.

Emotions are our protection mechanism. They guide us to make decisions based on previous experiences and feelings. When we learn how to use them efficiently, we can transcend from being reactive to pro-active. Tempering your emotions with higher brain functions of logic and reasoning are a beginning to achieving balance and order in your life. The pathway to self-actualization cannot be traversed until you manage your emotions and cultivate your higher brain functions. There are many teachers, courses and life plans available to help you to manage your transition from a reactive state of mind to a pro-active one. May your journey to self-actualization.be filled with joy and accomplishment.