Insanity
Extreme foolishness or irrationality
synonyms: folly, foolishness, madness, idiocy, stupidity, lunacy, silliness


To control your emotional state you must first understand the nature of emotions.
Controlling is not the act of allowing or denying the emotion.
It is allowing the emotion to manifest, exist and dissipate naturally.
Emotions are not supposed to be a standard operating state.
Insanity occurs when we try to hang on to the emotions past their expiration.

Joy is the emotion. "Being Happy" is attempting to hang onto the emotion of Joy.
Anger is the emotion. "Being Mad" is attempting to hang onto the emotion of Anger.
Sadness is the emotion. "Being Depressed" is attempting to hang onto the emotion of Sadness.

Fear is not an emotion.

Fear is a reaction.

Fear of "Being Afraid" dictates actions.


Contentment is a state of being in which emotions are mundane.

It is the "centering position" for all your emotional states.

Contentment frees up the mind so rational thoughts can drive rational actions.

You can be content but still have fears.


Self-Imposed Media Insanity

Defining Media Insanity

Media is used to convince you of ideas and ideals which are not of your own accord.
It is a method employed to change your behavior with or without your conscious decision.
Our society is full of media that many never recognize.
Some examples:

Social Networking

Social networking sites use society ideals to tell you which behaviors fit in with society.

Human beings are social animals. We want to 'fit in' with a society.

(A Society is a group of two or more people sharing ideas and methods for a common goal)

Social networking changes our instincts by changing how we consider the world around us.

This creates patterns of thoughts and actions that interrupt our state of contentment because we force ourselves to think and do something that is not inherently natural for us.


Visual Media

Visual media is the moving images that we see on television, websites and phones.

It also involves product advertising, logo design and printed material.

Years ago I attended a class over the summer for commercial advertising and graphics.

Many visual structures are known to illicit certain responses when viewed.

Part of the exercise of the class was to illicit a planned response from the people viewing your work.

Make someone feel anger, happiness, hungry, tired, etc...

Learning about this lets me see things that others do not.

Visual media manipulates you in many ways you are completely unaware of.


Audio Media

Audio media is the sounds that drive your ideas and ideals thru exposure.

Certain sounds illicit certain attitudes and can purposely change your mood or state of being.

Sounds can be used to make you feel ill, cringe, cry or feel joy.

The art of using sounds to change the state of being in another is called Foley Art.

You are probably aware that movies use Foley Artists to assign sounds to the moving pictures in a movie.

What you are probably not aware of is that Foley Art is used in commercials and NEWS broadcasts to illicit responses too.

The Dangers of Media Insanity

Human beings exist in a perpetual flow of moments that we perceive as the flow of time.

That flow of time is constructed by the experiences of reality that we sense around us.

We survive by adjusting to those realities constantly.

Media exposure changes how we perceive those realities.

We get confused between what we are told and what we experience.

That confusion increases conflict in our minds.

The conflict causes stress.

Typical Conflicts:

~ Drink this, eat that, buy this, do that and it will result in this.

~ You should be concerned about this because of that.

~ If you live this way you will be happy all the time.

~ You should agree with this guy because everyone else does.

What happens is the reality of your existence doesn't match up with what you have been told.

Reality doesn't care what you believe it just is.

Reality doesn't change to accommodate you.

Conflict happens when what you thought was true is not.

Conflict causes stress.


Inner Peace and Tranquility


How can Contentment and Serenity be Achieved?

Since everyone is different it works differently for everyone.
Here is what works for me...

I stopped watching TV. I stopped listening to radio. I curbed my curiosity online and stopped reading ads. I stopped buying newspapers and magazines. I ended my social networking sites like FaceBook and Twitter. I put down my phone and use it only for phone calls. I stopped trying to control things that I had no control over. I stopped getting involved with other people's drama, allowing them to live their own lives as they want. I started looking for and then embracing my immediate reality. I removed fantasy associations from inanimate objects and conditions. I stopped looking for the reason why and started dealing with the reality of.
I started wearing what I want to wear, eating what I want to eat and buying what I want to buy. I allow my emotions to have their duration and no longer try to hold onto them. I stopped concerning myself with events that have no direct affect on my existence. I prepare for adversity with knowledge and persist to surround myself with objects that can be useful in any situation. I stopped worrying.
I self-scrutinized myself to better understand myself and the reality in which I exist. I realized that I can only be me. I stopped trying to live up to others impressions of who I should be. I realized that I like myself and that without me, I cannot exist. I remove my bad habits and fore-go negative thinking. It is an on-going persistence I call life.
I realized that I can't make anyone feel any emotion and nobody can make me feel my emotions. Emotions are personal not social. I dialed down my empathy and curiosity and replaced it with actions and knowledge. I understand the reasons for things often do not hinge on my acceptance.

What works for you is your reality or insanity.

That's just crazy.

Why step back?...I just swim in it.

I don't suffer from insanity. Instead, I enjoy every minute of it.

s

s

s

s

s