I've been honored to sit with a few young adults, in the past couple of weeks, who are eager to study neuroscience. I can understand the fascination, I was there too back in 2004.
Photo taken from: http://www.lab.anhb.uwa.edu.au/anhb-2217/NSPict/014pSliceH.htm
My path went like this:
- I graduated from University in 2001 and got a high paying job as a business and technology consultant with Accenture. The work was fun, I got to travel, and make good money, but my Soul was starving and reaching out to try to find something that I felt was actually making a difference in people's lives. I asked around and no one could answer in what way the work I did was giving back to people, other than making them money and giving them jobs, and eventually I got too sick to continue.
- I tried volunteering for various agencies - Planned Parenthood, the Distress Center, a Learning Disability Support Center, and a Nursing Home. Each of these places fed a piece of me, but didn't give me all the answers. The Distress Center, in fact, put a nail in the coffin of my becoming a clinical psychologist. After I had spent a long time on the phone with someone, to understand their experience and offer hope and guidance, they called back on my next shift with the exact same issue! Clearly the methods available did not support people to move forward.
- I discovered Neuroscience a bit by accident. I think it was the book Scattered Minds - The Origins and Healing of ADHD that led me quickly to another book by the same author: When the Body says NO - The Cost of Hidden Stress. Finally, here was some evidence to show that people can't just keep letting life walk all over them, and if they do, they are going to get sick! Maybe if I found proof of this concept, I could motivate people to stop doing this to themselves?!
- So, I completed a second undergrad degree in psychology, which actually made me worse from a stress and health perspective. Because, as I read the research about what happens to people who had experiences like mine in childhood, I began to worry about who I would become.
- I still entered the Social Neuroscience - Stress and Health graduate program, and I learned a lot. I would have continued, but, ironically, the chronic stress was getting to me. Then I took a simple anti-malaria vaccine to go on vacation, and it triggered a major depressive episode, which stopped me dead in my tracks.
- I left school to conduct Social Health research for many of the top Hospitals, Mental Health institutes, and Child-related agencies in Toronto. I was honored to sit with people who were dying from AML, and their families, people in assisted housing, and people who were homeless. I thought "at least now I am getting their stories heard by people who can make changes to policy". But, just like at the Distress Center (and in my opinion, the current state of clinical psychology), I really wasn't able to provide any answers or guidance for the person in front of me. All I could do was hold space for them to tell their story, and maybe offer a small compensation for their time.
I think the main reason why psychology and neuroscience is so popular is: people want to understand themselves, their families, and their life experience, so they can try to save others from such experiences.
Really, I think people are searching for peace, to right what they felt went wrong, in any way that they can, so that they can heal and move forward from their experience.
Photo by Nadi Whatisdelirium on Unsplash
The truth is, we can not save other people, and the answers are not out there, in the average of what other people do or experience, but inside ourselves, in our own unique design.
If you look at your (and your family's) Human Design, Soul Contract, Astrology, and Gene Keys, the answers are there, the forgiveness is there. You can see precisely why each person reacts the way they do to certain experiences, why they have those experiences, and what they need to do to move forward in life.
I never found a cure by looking at the biological pathways from stress to illness, and it doesn't matter. Because the body actually heals itself when you start to treat yourself with more respect. The body only enters into a state of illness to send a message: Wake up and start respecting your unique needs!
Its very sad, to me, when people resign themselves to their illness(es) and start to use it as an excuse to stay the way they are. Like its a death sentence, or their cross to bare.
I do not believe any illness is permanent. Everything can be reversed if you engage with it and listen and start to follow your heart. The illness is a gift to show you the way out.
To try to save others is a distraction, to work on yourself gives you the tools and the knowledge to support others, if they want your support.
We are all on our own unique journeys. We find the way, or we don't. It is up to us.
Your path back to health and happiness is personal.
The first step is to know who you are.
Anything that you can find with science/research, guaranteed you will find people who do not fit that scientific/statistical model. And, if you were to look at their Human Design or Soul Contract you would probably see why pretty clearly!
Science does the best job that it can to explain, but when you try to put everyone in the same bucket, you can never explain what is going on, because we are all so unique, that there is no way to categorize us all in that way.
The only way, is from the ground up, using ancient wisdom, such as Human Design (based on the I Ching and the Chakra System), Soul Contract (based on the Kabbalah Tree of Life), Astrology (which is a lot more complex and rich than each of us being born with our Sun in 1 of 12 astrological signs), and Gene Keys (an extension of Human Design and an expansion of how to move through each of the lessons of the I Ching, from the shadow to the gift, and what specific lessons apply to us in this lifetime).
Our ancestors worked hard to uncover these patterns and lessons for life.
Many people toss this wisdom aside nowadays, saying its silly or superstitious. But, look at the elderly in our modern society and how sick and devalued they are. And then look at the elders in the more indigenous societies and how valued, well taken care of, and coveted they are for their knowledge. See here for more on this topic: Time is Art.
Here are some specific examples:
Using my Human Design chart (below), I can see clearly why I had so much social anxiety, how I can successfully navigate relationships and life, and why I can't do as much as other people may be able to do.
Using my Soul Contract (below), I can see why I was diagnosed with a learning disability, why I had such a hard time with my mother, why I became suicidal, why I felt so different as a child, and how to transform my experiences into gifts that finally make me feel fulfilled in life.
Understanding my Evolutionary Astrology and looking at where I am at in various Astrological Cycles (below), allowed me to forgive and accept myself as a work in progress. Astrology allowed me to recognize what I am naturally good at and who I am still trying to become, so that I can be kind to myself, as it takes time to integrate all parts of ourselves and to grow in this way.
And finally, knowing my Genetic Profile via Gene Keys (below), allowed me to see what my strengths are, how I operate and appear to others when I am in my shadow states, and how I can grow from my shadows to my gifts and beyond. I can also identify what lessons are mine to tackle in this lifetime, which shadows are likely to be triggered in certain situations, and what gifts I need to use to attain meaningful success in this life.
When you see how you (and your loved ones) are built, you can understand and forgive pretty much anything that you have experienced. You will see that we are each on our own unique path of healing and growth, and you can love and accept your loved ones for who they are and where they are at, and move forward on your own unique journey, regardless.
Here's an example of the limits of science:
Photo taken from: http://akamankesh.com/?p=233
Freud (on the left in the photo above) concentrated a lot of his work on our shadows and paints us to be quite terrible people, who were badly messed up by our dysfunctional parents/families (the birth of psychoanalysis). Jung (on the right in the photo above), studied with Freud, but also believed in Astrology, spirituality/God, and saw us as people who are trying to integrate different parts of our selves, so we can come back to health and wholeness.
According to the work by David R Hawkins MD Phd, Freud scores 499 on the Scale of Consciousness (the highest you can get, if you limit yourself to Science and Reason), while Jung scores 540 (the level of Unconditional Love). You can feel this difference clearly, on many levels.
If you want to cling to science, that is fine. The brain is super cool to look at and to try to understand. But it's a distraction. The brain is an organ like any other organ in your body. If people want to study the brain, or medicine, or DNA, or psychology, that is fine. I am sure they will make a valuable contribution to our understanding of how these things work.
But, if you are trying to understand your unique self and your family, you will never find the answers you are looking for using this type of science.
The reason you have your life experience is so unique, and the systems that will allow you to understand your life are available.
You just have to take a leap of faith and book a free, no obligation, 15min consultation here to see if the answers you are looking for can be found through the methods I offer.
There are many levels to self development. The further you go, the more you enjoy and understand life, the deeper the lessons, the greater the skills that you will develop, and the more you have to offer others.
For me, it is an honor to do this work. To finally have something that I know is of value to everyone that I meet, no matter where life takes me, even if they don't let me in to provide support and guidance, I can support them from afar, by simply respecting where they are at in their journey.
Photo by Tiago Felipe Ferreira on Unsplash
And to those who do let me in, I am so grateful, as working with them allows me to see how much this ancient wisdom can heal others. And this I continue to pay forward, to every client and person that I meet. It is an honor, and a gift, and I am grateful.
Wishing you love, health, and that you find your answers. Also wishing you the courage to follow your path, to heal, and to give back to others. Everything else is just a distraction.
Love and Bless,
Alahnnaa Campbell
Photo by Sylwia Bartyzel on Unsplash