monomer/program_peace · Datasets at Hugging Face

line stringlengths 1 117
this up reporting that extended eye contact between a dog and its owner increases the
secretion of oxytocin a neuromodulator involved in social connection in both animals
Illustration Friends talking with eye contact B Eye iris and pupil C A couple making intimate eye contact
From kindergarten through college could not hold eye contact with my female
classmates Unbeknown to me this was likely the main reason why had so much trouble
talking to girls Most of the boys in my elementary classes had the same problem at least to
some extent There was one boy though who spent every recess with the girls They all adored
Chapter Hold a Steady Upward Gaze with Wide Eyes
him and never understood why also never understood why he would idiosyncratically roll
his eyes up into his head every few minutes get it now He would roll his eyes to engage the
muscles that widen the eyes The wide eyes are part of what allowed him to keep sustained eye
contact with the girls His eyes were as wide as or wider than theirs Because he looked neither
offensive nor defensive the girls welcomed his gaze There are reciprocal relationships
between having wide eyes looking up and making eye contact If you can widen your eyes and
make looking up comfortable using the exercises above you will find that others will seek out
eye contact from you
Use Sensory Deprivation to Unmask Neurotic Activity
Most of us are afraid that fixing our gaze on anything will make us look too calm We keep our
eyes busy to make others feel comfortable Take a minute now and observe yourself looking
around You should be able to sense pressure to keep glancing neurotically This comes froma
form of anxiety in the eye motor centers that act below the level of conscious awareness The
restlessness makes it difficult for you to maintain eye contact and to fixate on anything if other
people are watching you The best way to retrain this nervous habit is to become more
comfortable anchoring your gaze without worrying about how you may appear to others while
doing it
Eye Exercise Sustained Gaze
Spend two minutes staring at a single point Notice any impulses to glance away and gently
override them You might try to keep your eyes fixated on a single feature of the wall or
ceiling or you might try to keep your gaze limited to a circumscribed region of space like a
light fixture If youre having trouble cut out a picture of a face from a magazine and tape it
to your wall or ceiling to gaze at contentedly Allow yourself to feel free to space out like a
child absorbed in a daydream Dont be concerned about looking dazed or stupefied and
dont worry if this level of ocular relaxation causes your eyes to cross for a few moments
Sensory deprivation can help uncover baseline neurotic tendencies Lets start with sight
Tracking your ocular behavior in complete darkness will make it clear how much of your eye
movement is highstrung and unnecessary The best way to do this is to wait until nighttime
turn off all the lights in your home and lie down on the floor of a closet or bathroom Do
whatever you can to make this area completely dark You may need to put up curtains or drape
some towels over the cracks Being in pitch blackness makes it easier to feel absolutely certain
that no one can see your face expressions or eye movements Think back to the way your
submissive signaling diminished when you took that walk around the block while pretending to
be invisible Complete darkness allows you an even greater degree of invisibility and anonymity
No one and nothing can be offended by how relaxed you appear because you truly are invisible
Take the opportunity to relax fully and open your eyes very wide without compunction
In absolute darkness feel like a slimy gelatinous sea slug that has been removed from all
danger can feel the squinting contraction release in the same way that the sea slug we
discussed in Chapter releases its gill The complete vacancy of visual stimulus will desensitize
you and provide your eyes with the experience they need to grow wide This phenomenon is
PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body
also a bit like eyestalk extension in snails When you touch a snail its eyestalks retract The eyes
invert within the eyestalks and travel down toward the head This action blinds the snail but is
an essential defensive reflex meant to protect the eyes After several seconds when the snail
starts to feel safe again the eyes slowly evert the eyestalks reach full length and the eyes pop
out at the top Use the exercises above to develop fearless wide eyes and fully extend your
eayestalks
In absolute darkness you will also be able to see phosphenes which are colored shapes
that are produced by your visual system These may take the form of dots stars lines static
circles or various other shapes This visual activity will be accentuated if you lightly rub your
eyes The phosphenes represent a type of background noise that is usually not noticeable yet
always ongoing When the lights are on phosphene activity is put to work helping you make
perceptual distinctions When the lights are off that activity hits a stumbling block amounting
to a lowlevel form of hallucination
believe these phosphenes can play a role in driving anxious thought Notice when they
flash abruptly and calm your reaction to this You may notice that they flare when you look
straight keeping you from maintaining a fixed gaze You may also notice that they burst in the
corner of your eye When they flash like this in the periphery of your vision believe they may
be reminding you to scan for potential threats that are to the side of you or behind you When
first started doing this the phosphene activity appeared sinister and frightening even saw
flashes of scenes from horror movies This all contributed strongly to the feeling of being unsafe
in the dark
This may have also been the case for my cat Niko He cried like a kitten in the dark closet
the first few times but now he will join me of his own volition Notice your reactions and try to
bring peace to your conscious and unconscious responses to the phosphene activity by pairing
the experience with diaphragmatic breathing After doing Exercise twice for five minutes
never again saw any frightful apparitions strongly recommend that you use this technique to
free the background activity of your visual system from unnecessary negativity
Eye Exercise Vision in Complete Darkness
Lie down on the floor in a pitchblack room Keep your eyes as wide as possible and observe
your eye movements Practice looking in different directions and sustaining your gaze at
different points with the eyes wide and eyebrows relaxed You will notice your eyes dart
around in the dark They will display an intense agitated tendency to move quickly on their
own without any conscious deliberation Simply observing this and practicing sustained
gazing in utter blackness will allow you to reduce the intensity Nonjudgmentally monitor the
visual activity colored phosphenes the eye movement activity and the feelings that come
from being in utter darkness Use this method to dismantle your fear of the dark
recommend buying noisereducing earmuffs to use in your dark closet With the earmuffs
on you will be able to hear the background activity of your auditory system just as darkness
reveals the background activity of your visual system For most of us background auditory
function takes the form of a ringing or buzzing in the ears which is known as tinnitus When
first heard the hissing sound amplified by the earmuffs it was very upsetting abhorred it
Chapter Hold a Steady Upward Gaze with Wide Eyes
Many people feel this way which is unfortunate because some degree of tinnitus is always
there whether we are conscious of it or not found that the practice of breathing
diaphragmatically and listening to my tinnitus gradually reduced its volume and made it far less
emotionally disquieting Paced diaphragmatic breathing will quickly help you come to peace
with being alone in complete darkness with nothing but the background noise of your own
visual and auditory systems This will make it so that their default settings do not haunt you
during everyday life
Conclusion
The final exercise puts several of the routines from this chapter together into a single routine

this up reporting that extended eye contact between a dog and its owner increases the

secretion of oxytocin a neuromodulator involved in social connection in both animals

Illustration Friends talking with eye contact B Eye iris and pupil C A couple making intimate eye contact

From kindergarten through college could not hold eye contact with my female

classmates Unbeknown to me this was likely the main reason why had so much trouble

talking to girls Most of the boys in my elementary classes had the same problem at least to

some extent There was one boy though who spent every recess with the girls They all adored

Chapter Hold a Steady Upward Gaze with Wide Eyes

him and never understood why also never understood why he would idiosyncratically roll

his eyes up into his head every few minutes get it now He would roll his eyes to engage the

muscles that widen the eyes The wide eyes are part of what allowed him to keep sustained eye

contact with the girls His eyes were as wide as or wider than theirs Because he looked neither

offensive nor defensive the girls welcomed his gaze There are reciprocal relationships

between having wide eyes looking up and making eye contact If you can widen your eyes and

make looking up comfortable using the exercises above you will find that others will seek out

eye contact from you

Use Sensory Deprivation to Unmask Neurotic Activity

Most of us are afraid that fixing our gaze on anything will make us look too calm We keep our

eyes busy to make others feel comfortable Take a minute now and observe yourself looking

around You should be able to sense pressure to keep glancing neurotically This comes froma

form of anxiety in the eye motor centers that act below the level of conscious awareness The

restlessness makes it difficult for you to maintain eye contact and to fixate on anything if other

people are watching you The best way to retrain this nervous habit is to become more

comfortable anchoring your gaze without worrying about how you may appear to others while

doing it

Eye Exercise Sustained Gaze

Spend two minutes staring at a single point Notice any impulses to glance away and gently

override them You might try to keep your eyes fixated on a single feature of the wall or

ceiling or you might try to keep your gaze limited to a circumscribed region of space like a

light fixture If youre having trouble cut out a picture of a face from a magazine and tape it

to your wall or ceiling to gaze at contentedly Allow yourself to feel free to space out like a

child absorbed in a daydream Dont be concerned about looking dazed or stupefied and

dont worry if this level of ocular relaxation causes your eyes to cross for a few moments

Sensory deprivation can help uncover baseline neurotic tendencies Lets start with sight

Tracking your ocular behavior in complete darkness will make it clear how much of your eye

movement is highstrung and unnecessary The best way to do this is to wait until nighttime

turn off all the lights in your home and lie down on the floor of a closet or bathroom Do

whatever you can to make this area completely dark You may need to put up curtains or drape

some towels over the cracks Being in pitch blackness makes it easier to feel absolutely certain

that no one can see your face expressions or eye movements Think back to the way your

submissive signaling diminished when you took that walk around the block while pretending to

be invisible Complete darkness allows you an even greater degree of invisibility and anonymity

No one and nothing can be offended by how relaxed you appear because you truly are invisible

Take the opportunity to relax fully and open your eyes very wide without compunction

In absolute darkness feel like a slimy gelatinous sea slug that has been removed from all

danger can feel the squinting contraction release in the same way that the sea slug we

discussed in Chapter releases its gill The complete vacancy of visual stimulus will desensitize

you and provide your eyes with the experience they need to grow wide This phenomenon is

PROGRAM PEACE Self Care Exercises to Reprogram Your Mind and Body

also a bit like eyestalk extension in snails When you touch a snail its eyestalks retract The eyes

invert within the eyestalks and travel down toward the head This action blinds the snail but is

an essential defensive reflex meant to protect the eyes After several seconds when the snail

starts to feel safe again the eyes slowly evert the eyestalks reach full length and the eyes pop

out at the top Use the exercises above to develop fearless wide eyes and fully extend your

eayestalks

In absolute darkness you will also be able to see phosphenes which are colored shapes

that are produced by your visual system These may take the form of dots stars lines static

circles or various other shapes This visual activity will be accentuated if you lightly rub your

eyes The phosphenes represent a type of background noise that is usually not noticeable yet

always ongoing When the lights are on phosphene activity is put to work helping you make

perceptual distinctions When the lights are off that activity hits a stumbling block amounting

to a lowlevel form of hallucination

believe these phosphenes can play a role in driving anxious thought Notice when they

flash abruptly and calm your reaction to this You may notice that they flare when you look

straight keeping you from maintaining a fixed gaze You may also notice that they burst in the

corner of your eye When they flash like this in the periphery of your vision believe they may

be reminding you to scan for potential threats that are to the side of you or behind you When

first started doing this the phosphene activity appeared sinister and frightening even saw

flashes of scenes from horror movies This all contributed strongly to the feeling of being unsafe

in the dark

This may have also been the case for my cat Niko He cried like a kitten in the dark closet

the first few times but now he will join me of his own volition Notice your reactions and try to

bring peace to your conscious and unconscious responses to the phosphene activity by pairing

the experience with diaphragmatic breathing After doing Exercise twice for five minutes

never again saw any frightful apparitions strongly recommend that you use this technique to

free the background activity of your visual system from unnecessary negativity

Eye Exercise Vision in Complete Darkness

Lie down on the floor in a pitchblack room Keep your eyes as wide as possible and observe

your eye movements Practice looking in different directions and sustaining your gaze at

different points with the eyes wide and eyebrows relaxed You will notice your eyes dart

around in the dark They will display an intense agitated tendency to move quickly on their

own without any conscious deliberation Simply observing this and practicing sustained

gazing in utter blackness will allow you to reduce the intensity Nonjudgmentally monitor the

visual activity colored phosphenes the eye movement activity and the feelings that come

from being in utter darkness Use this method to dismantle your fear of the dark

recommend buying noisereducing earmuffs to use in your dark closet With the earmuffs

on you will be able to hear the background activity of your auditory system just as darkness

reveals the background activity of your visual system For most of us background auditory

function takes the form of a ringing or buzzing in the ears which is known as tinnitus When

first heard the hissing sound amplified by the earmuffs it was very upsetting abhorred it

Chapter Hold a Steady Upward Gaze with Wide Eyes

Many people feel this way which is unfortunate because some degree of tinnitus is always

there whether we are conscious of it or not found that the practice of breathing

diaphragmatically and listening to my tinnitus gradually reduced its volume and made it far less

emotionally disquieting Paced diaphragmatic breathing will quickly help you come to peace

with being alone in complete darkness with nothing but the background noise of your own

visual and auditory systems This will make it so that their default settings do not haunt you

during everyday life

Conclusion

The final exercise puts several of the routines from this chapter together into a single routine