Vicious Cycle Disorders - Redirect Your Attention To Find Meaning In Life

Symptoms act as catalysts, hastening a desire to enter a path of practice, or to move to a different phase of your life journey. Symptoms may show you where you need to focus your attention. By seeing how much you are living in the past, you discover the importance of living in the present.

By understanding the targets of your greed, you can redirect your attention to that for which you are grateful. By noticing how cynical you have become, you recognize you're longing for meaning. Your symptoms equate to what you need to work on and what you desire. They are stepping stones directly into the virtual realm of your existence that houses the psychological and emotional aspects of your life experience.

However, they can also be stumbling blocks to success if you fall prey to the pandering of the false prophets of hope promising a quick solution to your problems and contributing to the unsuspected formation of a Vicious Cycle Disorder. With the unknown still ahead, one still has to wonder what is really known about what we experience as life.

People are getting sick and getting well all of the time. Mostly, no one knows why. Perhaps a part of the answer lies in the swamp of Vicious Cycle Disorders. Well, it has to be passed on the way to your new life, so why not take a quick look now?

How Did I Get Here?
Do you often wonder how you came to find yourself suffering from something you contributed to creating? It is not uncommon for patients to call me with concerns represented by an assortment of seemingly unrelated symptoms that constantly plague them. With no pre-established diagnosis assigned, I call these complex presentations Vicious Cycle Disorders.

A Vicious Cycle Disorder is a recurrent pattern of events that you have created. It is a continual occurrence that is experienced as some form of discontent. It is generally something that constantly nags you through the appearance of a physical or emotional complaint. It can be associated with depression, regret, remorse, unhappiness, anger, insecurity, or lack of fulfillment.

Ultimately it is created by the choices that you make. The choices that you make are based upon the thoughts that you routinely entertain. These thoughts are produced by your past experiences, fears, hopes, dreams, desires, beliefs, and exposure to external stimuli.

On a practical level, it's easy to see how this might be related to adopted behaviors accumulated during the course of a lifetime. Fundamentally, if something produces a pleasurable experience, we will want to repeat it. If it produces a painful or undesirable experience, we will seek to avoid it. In essence, something is derived in the form of a tangible experience from every thought we entertain. This, in effect, is the foundation for all repetitive behavior. Repetitive behaviors gone awry account for Vicious Cycle Disorders.

While the ultimate goal is to determine the cause of these unrelenting burdens, it is equally important to understand how they develop. One of the benefits and curses of "free will" is that we get to choose our actions.

Action creates memory and memory creates desire, which leads back again to action; thus, the designation of a Vicious Cycle Disorder. Oftentimes, these vague symptoms are related to lifestyle choices and behaviors. Frequently, it is forgotten that when a behavior is chosen, so too are the consequences.

As a result, self-created suffering is difficult to distinguish. Developing awareness becomes critical to resolving these types of complaints. Incorporating some type of daily practice to cultivate this awareness is as important as any other aspect of a well-rounded wellness program. Spiritual practices exist in all traditions and cultures.

The techniques are different, but the goal is the same: to calm the mind and facilitate
the integration of the realms. These practices can include any style of discipline that accomplishes these purposes. Examples of these rituals can include yoga, meditation, tai chi, postures, breathing exercises, chanting, prayers, exercise and diet. All too frequently, most problems are approached exclusively through the physical or biochemical realms, while neglecting the virtual realm altogether.

Quantum Insights
While highly technical at first glance, no discussion of the virtual would be complete without at least a passing mention of the interpretations offered by a bizarre world of organized chaos known as quantum physics. Aside from the disciplined structures used to communicate the essence of this seemingly unintelligible branch of science, quantum physics offers insight into the dynamics of Vicious Cycle Disorders. It does this through the eyes of a concept called wave-particle duality that forms the basis of modern thought relative to our existence and potential as human beings.

With one foot in the swamp of Vicious Cycle Disorders, the other is free to dip into the lake of subatomic particles comprising the virtual realm. To give you some perspective on this short course of quantum phenomenon and its relationship to the subject matter of this article, simply understand that physics is essentially concerned with the way matter interacts with other matter.

Quantum physics is just the physics of the incredibly small. It attempts to explain the behavior of these very, very small particles. The reason that quantum physics needs complex math to explain these behaviors and properties is because the world of subatomic particles is filled with probabilities and organized chaos.

While you don't have to understand these concepts to consciously change your life experience, it can be helpful to understand that there are some distinct principles that
govern activities, and which influence the results of the choices you make to create your life experiences. You can consciously employ these principles to achieve any desired result.

Physics, Meaning, and Consciousness
Although this makes for fascinating reading, it's a bit much for what we want to accomplish right now. You're probably wondering, what does any of this have to do with anything? Physics has in this century begun invading the realm of meaning and consciousness. Contemporary physics guru Gary Zukav, in a recent history of physics, explains that John Von Neumann's "discovery that our thought processes (the realm of symbols) project illusory restrictions onto the real world leads to essentially the same discovery that led Einstein to the general theory of relativity."

The general theory of relativity shows us that the human mind follows different rules than the real world does. A rational mind, with the impressions that it receives from its limited perspective, forms structures that thereafter determine what it further will and will not freely accept. From that point on, regardless of how the real world actually operates, this rational mind follows its own self-imposed rules and tries to superimpose on the real world its own version of what must be.

Taking a closer look at subatomic particles as a group, the behaviors known as Vicious Cycle Disorders can then be defined. Simply put, the best way to define the future is to create it. From the library of ancient Egypt's Alexandria comes this paraphrased reassurance. The universe is wholly connected. It includes us and responds to our every whim. It allows for us to define our vision and make adjustments as we collect data. Our thoughts define what is and what is to be, while our feelings and emotions provide the impetus for manifesting a desired reality.

In other articles dealing with the biochemical realm, you will see how small particles, such as neuropeptides, molecules, and receptors, participate in creating our life experiences as part of a second nervous system fluid enough to match the activities of the mind. Although these substances are not thoughts, they move like thoughts, serving as transformers between the mind and the body. These seemingly unconnected entities of thoughts and bodily reactions are intimately related.

Transformations of the nonmatter thoughts manifest themselves as our physical experiences. Similarly, the use and interpretation of language serves as a tangible expression of thought processes that mimic the effects illustrated by the shadows emerging on a wall from an invisible light source. These transformations are also within the conscious control of focused efforts we can learn to employ.

Tips for Changing Your Experience

• Understand the world you live in: Study and apply the concepts offered by quantum physics to actively engage the mechanisms within your control for consciously creating. Knowing the landscape will help you to map out an approach to change and establish goals.
  
  
• Acquire and implement the tools necessary to produce the changes you desire. This will require a reallocation of your energy and focus by selecting a compatible discipline and being consistent in its application.
  
  
• Monitor your progress. Make periodic adjustments to keep you focused and headed in the direction of correction. Don't be afraid to explore. Be receptive to change.

It's really about learning to live the journey of life. And it's cumulative. Once you've developed momentum, you're on your way to discovering who you really are and being where you want to be. An ancient Chinese proverb states that, "Unless we change direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed."

There are innumerable enticements that offer what you think you want in the form of something you don't really need. But as you continue to look at things differently, you can quickly distinguish what has the potential to bring you closer to the sense of self-sufficiency that you really desire and alter the experience of the vicious cycle disorder once and for all.

By Dr. Richard A. DiCenso