Moments of Insight, Volume 1, Issue 19
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Moments of Insight • Vol. 1 Issue 19 • December 4, 2020 A Note from Anna, our Program Director & Founder Send us a Letter We know we cannot be there in person Hi all, with you, but wanted to encourage you to I hope you had a warm hearted and peaceful Thanksgiving. Mine was quiet, check-in with us like we do when we are chilling with Charles and Ruby, our dog. Nice to have a few days off. together. You know how Anna usually asks us to state how the week has been I was reading an article in the newspaper over the holidays and it really struck and share something we've learned? We'd me. It was in the New York Times and was called - ‘Your Brain Is Not for love for you to write it down and send us a Thinking’, By Lisa Feldman Barrett: note. “…Your brain’s most important job isn’t thinking; it’s running the systems of your body to keep you alive and well…. Much of your brain’s activity happens Send us a poem or artwork outside your awareness. In every moment, your brain must figure out your We would also love for you to share any body’s needs for the next moment and execute a plan to fill those needs in poems, artwork or insights you've had advance. For example, each morning as you wake, your brain anticipates the that we can include in one of our next energy you’ll need to drag your sorry body out of bed and start your day. It volumes of 'Moments of Insight'. Feel free proactively floods your bloodstream with the hormone cortisol, which helps to share ideas of what you'd like us to make glucose available for quick energy. include in this newsletter as well. ‘Your brain runs your body using something like a budget. A financial budget All letters, art and ideas can be sent to: tracks money as it’s earned and spent. The budget for your body tracks The Insight Alliance resources like water, salt, and glucose as you gain and lose them. Each action PO Box 820214 that spends resources, such as standing up, running, and learning, is like a Portland, OR 97282 withdrawal from your account. Actions that replenish your resources, such as eating and sleeping, are like deposits.” My first thought when someone explains how we work is - WOW! How unbelievably intelligent is this system of ours which we by and large take for granted - until it doesn’t work properly. And then we either feel sorry for ourselves or realize just how much we take for granted this genius machine we inhabit. In our Insight to Wellbeing groups, when we first start talking about our natural intelligence - (our wellbeing / our resilience), we often reference the body as it’s such a tangible example of just how brilliant we actually are. It’s hard to ignore the fact that the systems of our bodies continue to work and keep us alive even without our awareness. THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 01 CONTINUED FROM PG 1. DAME LA MANO/GIVE ME It can be harder to see that our minds are brilliant too. Often when we get YOUR HAND caught up in our heads, we find it challenging to see our mental resilience. Or BY GABRIELA MISTRAL recognize our capacity to find solutions to our problems, bounce back from challenging circumstances, navigate the ups and downs of life and despite the Dame la mano y danzaremos worst feelings we’ve ever had we’re still OK - all ways that our natural dame la mano y me amarás. Como una intelligence shows up. sola flor seremos, como una flor, y nada más… El mismo verso cantaremos, al The author goes on to say that every thought we have, every feeling of happiness mismo paso bailarás. Como una espiga or anger or awe we experience, every kindness we extend and every insult we ondularemos, como una espiga, y nada bear or sling is part of our brain creating our moment to moment experience: más. Te llama Rosa y yo Esperanza: pero tu nombre olvidarás, porque seremos una “This view of the brain has many implications for understanding human beings. danza en la colina, y nada más. So often, for example, we conceive of ourselves in mental terms, separate from the physical. A bad stomachache that follows an indulgent meal may send us to Give me your hand and give me your the gastroenterologist, but if we experience that same ache during a messy love, give me your hand and dance with divorce, we may head to a psychotherapist instead. At the gastroenterologist’s me. A single flower, and nothing more, office, we experience our discomfort as an underlying physical problem; at the a single flower is all we’ll be. therapist’s office, we experience the same discomfort as anxiety — a Keeping time in the dance together, psychological disturbance, physically manifested. you’ll be singing the song with me. ‘In body-budgeting terms, however, this distinction between mental and physical Grass in the wind, and nothing more, is not meaningful. Anxiety does not cause stomach aches; rather, feelings of grass in the wind is all we’ll be. anxiety and stomach aches are both ways that human brains make sense of I’m called Hope and you’re called Rose: physical discomfort… There is no such thing as a purely mental cause but losing our names we’ll both go free, a because every mental experience has roots in the physical budgeting of your dance on the hills, and nothing more, a body. This is one reason physical actions like taking a deep breath, or getting dance on the hills is all we’ll be. more sleep, can be surprisingly helpful in addressing problems we traditionally view as psychological.” ART BY CHARLIE MACKESY One example for me is there were times I’d come to group in prison with a bad stomachache and think that I may have to excuse myself early as I’m in a lot of pain. Then two hours go by and I’m not thinking about my stomachache, so I don’t feel it - until of course I walk out the gate and start thinking about it again! To me, understanding that the physical and psychological are two sides of the same coin allows me to realize my body is just experiencing my mind and my mind is experiencing my body. It’s an inside job. When it comes to my mind, my thoughts, and my feelings I see no reason to look outside of me to fix something that isn’t broken. The natural intelligence of the system has our back. Stay safe and breathe deeply…. THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 02 A Note from Folsom50 Hello from Folsom50! “A single act of kindness throws out roots in all Thanks to The Insight Alliance for inviting us to reach out. We are glad to directions, and the roots support the work they do. In 2018-19, Luther’s Boots performed concerts inside Oregon prisons. The first two years, we focused on the music, legacy, spring up and make new trees. and activism of Johnny Cash. We recorded the album “Darkened Road Ahead” The greatest work that and in March 2020 we geared up to debut it in a third prison tour. Things kindness does to went a different way. others is that it makes them In June, we recorded the concert. The video has aired at OSCI, CRCI, WCCF kind themselves” and is scheduled for OSP, PRCF and CCCF. Since we can’t perform in person, we want to reach out to folks inside with the music and a playbill that tells its story. The concert is mostly comprised of original songs written by Danny - Frederick William Faber Wilson, and released on the record. A few songs are about events in Cash’s life. “Jack’s Song” was inspired by the story of Johnny Cash’s childhood hero and older brother. Jack was killed in a sawmill accident at age 14 — the tragedy devastated the Cash family and left young John with a lasting scar. Cash said that brother Jack would visit him in visions and offer him comfort and advice. Some of the song’s lyrics are borrowed from words Jack said to his mother on his deathbed, and some are inscribed on his headstone in Bassett, AR. To make “Darkened Road Ahead,” Danny Wilson traveled to Lakeview to record the WCCF chapel singing back up on “Jack’s Song” for the record. JACK’S SONG by Danny Wilson How am I supposed to carry on? Ain’t no better soul to show me the way. Only 14 and so much more than I will ever be, on your death bed, I listened to you say. Can you hear the angels singing? Listen, can you hear them? Can you hear the angels singing? I’m going to the light. Will you meet me in heaven? I’ll look for you there. Can you hear the angels singing, mama? I’m going to the light. Won’t you comfort me and always be my North Star? Be my guiding light throughout my life. I’ll keep my promise to our mama and sing God’s melodies and I’ll find you when I reach the other side. THE INSIGHT ALLIANCE PAGE 03 How Being Grateful Over Greedy Is Changing My Life LIFE IN EXILE BY BARB PATTERSON, INSIGHT ALLIANCE BOARD MEMBER BY ISABEL ALLENDE A couple of weekends ago, I was with a friend on the coast.