Auto-Immunization

Serotonin is not just for depression–it’s potent for pain relief as well. Here’s a drug-free way you may be able to increase your supply of this natural painkiller.

If you’re taking the depression meds known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors) to increase the serotonin available in your brain, you already know that more serotonin can mean less pain. That’s because it improves your mood, making pain less noticeable.

Fortunately the above is only the first of four positive effects of serotonin on pain. The other three are as follows:

• Serotonin blocks the perception of pain in the brain. It is dispatched to the area of the spinal cord where substance P is being released, helping to counteract it. This goes beyond mood–it’s a physical suppressing of the pain signal.

• Serotonin increases the flexibility of veins, arteries and capillaries. The more flexible they are, the less likely they are to generate pain.

• Serotonin is linked in some way to sleep. Science isn’t sure whether serotonin facilitates sleep, or whether sleep restores serotonin. Regardless of which is accurate, both sleep and serotonin have a positive impact on pain.

The beneficial impact of serotonin could possibly help back pain or pain in the neck or other extremities, arthritis pain, fibromyalgia pain, or neuropathic pain (nerve pain).

The Visualization Connection

Through visualization statements it may be possible to focus your subconscious on increasing the impact of serotonin on the pain process.

Visualization statements represent the specific language that your subconscious wants you to read back to it to help ease your pain. They’re simple and are targeted directly at the main factors that could bring you relief.

You can obtain these statements by learning how to communicate directly with your own subconscious mind. The process is straightforward and can be done at home by working with a facilitator over the telephone. You you need no special skills and no previous experience in working with the subconscious.

Serotonin Without Drugs

In our work we’ve seen that the subconscious seems willing and able to identify whether serotonin needs to be increased to relieve pain, and to identify the visualization statements helpful to bring about that increase. Visualizing more serotonin may give you an additional way to realize its benefits without taking more drugs.

Ben Plumb is CEO and President of The Visualization Group, Inc. The company’s service is delivered by people like himself who personally suffered from years of chronic pain, and used the visualization method described in this article to obtain relief when nothing else worked. For more information, please visit http://www.thevisualizationgroup.com.

(c) 2005 The Visualization Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved. The methodology and program disclosed in this article are Patent Pending.

The ability to effectively communicate with employees is key to the success of the manager and the organization. Clear, concise communication, delivered with understanding, honesty and often empathy, can make the difference between whether the manager’s message is received or not. When dealing with a difficult situation with an employee, whether it is a coaching session or a performance appraisal interview, the words the manager chooses and the manner in which the message is delivered make a tremendous difference.

Beyond the delivery of the message, it is equally important that the manager listen carefully to the employee’s response. The manager must understand exactly what the employee means, looking beyond the mere words. The true meaning of the messages is not always found in the spoken words. It is often found in the intonation of the message, the body language or the tone.

As an example, in the two conversations outlined below, the manager, Tom, made very inappropriate responses to the situation presented. He “heard” the words that the employees were saying but never “listened” for their meaning.

In the first situation, Tom had to address a missed deadline with Mary, a good employee who was generally prompt about meeting all customer demands. Mary’s response to Tom’s inquiry about the problem went as follows:

Mary: “Well, you know, Tom, things are always hectic around here. We keep getting changes all the time.”

Tom: “But some of these changes are predictable. You just don’t plan well.”

In the second situation, Tom had to follow-up with another employee, Larry, who was supposed to take care of a customer complaint about a quality issue. Tom was upset because he thought the issue had been resolved earlier.

Tom: “Didn’t we talk about this before?”

Larry: “Yes, but this is a little different.”

Tom: “Frankly, I’m surprised that I had to call you in again. I assumed you took care of this problem months ago.”

After both exchanges, the employees walked away very upset and angry. Tom felt that he had properly addressed the problems, but wondered why the conversations were so one sided, abrupt, and lacked real, open dialogue.

In Tom’s exchange with Mary, Tom quickly made her very defensive. His statement that she did not plan very well was judgmental and failed to determine the real problem. It would have been better if Tom reflected upon the content of Mary’s statement and was more empathetic to her feelings. He might have said “It’s all the changes, then, that you feel are causing the missed deadlines.” By stating this, Mary would not have been so defensive and a discussion about the problem would have ensued.

In the second exchange with Larry, Tom again was being judgmental and was impatient with his statement “Frankly, I’m a bit surprised….” Tom could have improved the situation by finding out why Larry felt this case was a little different. He could have stated simply “Different? In what way?”

Though you can never exactly plan what you are going to say in advance, some basic coaching guidelines should be followed:

Approach the situation with a positive, helpful attitude

Avoid being judgmental

Be aware of your tone

Focus on the employee’s behavior, not their personality

Always maintain your objectivity

Listen carefully to what the employee is saying

Demonstrate to the employee that your goal is to help

Reach a consensus

Get commitment from the employee to a specific action plan

Tom was correct in addressing the issues with both Mary and Larry. His problems began with his approach and attitude. He did not listen for the true meaning of their message and simply reacted. If done differently, incorporating the basic coaching guidelines, Tom would have experienced better results.

Rick Dacri is an organizational development consultant, coach and featured speaker at regional and national conferences. Since 1995 his firm, Dacri & Associates (http://www.dacri.com) has focused on improving the performance of individuals and organizations. Rick publishes a monthly newsletter, the Dacri Report (http://www.dacri.com/enewsletter.htm) with the intent to provide clients and friends critical information on issues that impact them, their organization and their employees. Rick can be reached at 1-800-892-9828, or rick@dacri.com.

If your computer is infected with a virus you might have to restore your data at one moment in time. This is like going back in time. Time you could have spend on production. There are other incidents that require you to go back from where you came from. A nuisance if your time is limited.

There are so many activities to organize and so little time to finish them. It is like a Formula One race: speed is all that counts.

When the pressure to perform is high and when many teams of different disciplines engage in assembling different pieces of the overall cake, you might forget something down the road.

Moving is a very natural behaviour and to continue to produce, to design and to create is what finally counts; productivity.
But this productivity could end up in “non-productivity” if the various parts do not match when finishing the job. And one of the causes could be that somewhere between the teams shows up this inadequate assumption.

Organizations become more and more complex, not in the last place because of an internet trend, where activities are increasingly interlaced. Creating a product is done by assembling different parts designed by a variation of disciplines. Business services are not less complex and the probability of a mismatch increases with the number of disciplines involved.

To increase productivity you need an additional role that is concerned with managing these assumptions that are made during the process.

On an interpersonal level, an assumption could produce an interference. “I thought that you thought that..,” don’t we all experience this once in a while?

But in organization and team interactions the tacit assumptions will do more harm. If you run to the supermarket but you forget to bring money with you, you need to go back…

You can reduce these times where you need to go back, by introducing an broker role. Someone, somewhere how is involved in managing assumptions; what have we agreed, what is uncertain but assumed to be like this or that — just for the moment. You can even set an indicator for this, measuring the number of assumptions that are communicated and solved agreed later.

Managing these assumptions in this way will increase the real productivity and you will notice this, because you do not need to restore as much as before…

© 2006 Hans Bool

Hans Bool is the founder of Astor White a traditional management consulting company that offers online management advice. Astor Online solves issues in hours what normally would take days.
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Open Systems

At the worst of times companies can look and act like badly functioning families: dictatorial, patriarchal, rigid and uncooperative. The staff are de-motivated, communication is poor, growth is slowed and team-spirit is non-existent.

Like the Patriarch in a family who says, “Something needs to be done around here”, someone in the company usually calls for a “Culture Change” or some similar course of action in order to address a potential or actual decline. Structures are shaken up, mission statements are issued, new communication avenues are created. It gets frantically busy for a while, people are energised, sent on courses, empowered; and then they are expected to behave differently. So far so good…. but pretty soon it all goes back to the way it always was, if not worse, and no one quite understands why.

“Culture Change” cannot be imposed. It must grow organically out of the current needs of both the company’s needs and the needs of the individuals in it. We see this as moving from a “closed” or poorly functioning system to an “open” or well-functioning system. A closed system has stuck, negative and unchanging modes of communication; an open system has flexible, evolving and positive forms of communication.

Systems

What do we mean by “system” in this particular context? A system is any self-contained entity or unit made up of interconnected elements or parts, e.g.: a company made up of many departments is a system; each department is a subsystem; and the company itself is a subsystem of all similar companies and the economy in which it resides; which in turn is a subsystem of society.

In a system the whole is greater than the sum of its parts and a system functions through the interaction of each part to each other part. No one can really act in isolation without it affecting the whole.

The concept of systems was originally developed by studying systems in nature, but approximately 40 years ago biologists began to make the connection that families operated as systems as well. It was seen that any one member of the family who had a major problem that wasn’t being dealt with (such as alcoholism) would negatively impact on how the entire family functioned no one in such a family would be unaffected. Through our experiences in the corporate world, we have become more and more aware that the whole concept of systems work is directly related to companies and how they operate.

What is of importance in looking at this from a corporate point of view is that all systems must stay in balance and will do anything to stay in balance. If a system is closed, everyone in the system will consciously or unconsciously collude in keeping it that way (just like ignoring or colluding with the alcoholic in the family). If anyone comes along who tries to break the mould they won’t last very long or they will eventually capitulate (albeit resentfully) to the status quo.

The Closed System

A closed system operates out of inflexible, stuck, negative rules designed to maintain an unchanging status quo. It is dictatorial, controlling, perfectionistic.

In a closed system people don’t talk to each other. They second-guess each other and make assumptions. They gossip, take sides and keep secrets. They are quick to blame other people and slow to take responsibility for mistakes, so there is minimal accountability. People argue without getting anywhere. Conflict of any kind is usually avoided and people will not confront a problem even when it is glaringly obvious. On those rare occasions when there is open conflict it usually doesn’t get resolved to everyone’s satisfaction because people get stuck in having to win while making the other person wrong and needing them to lose.

As in a family, people get stuck in having the same arguments over and over and never getting anywhere. Individuals stay entrenched in their intractable positions and the most people are willing to budge, if at all, is by agreeing to disagree. While that may look reasonable on the outside it doesn’t actually move things forward and it keeps problems at arms length.

That’s why problems can fester away for years beneath the surface, with suppressed angers and resentments never being voiced or addressed. But because a system must always be in balance, whether its functional or dysfunctional, those angers and resentments will be expressed covertly. This might take the form of undermining other people’s positions, backstabbing, spreading gossip, not passing on information, being obstructive.

Senior management are inaccessible: phone calls aren’t returned, e-mails aren’t answered; people are in meetings all the time. Personal needs are, for the most part, sacrificed to the needs of the system, which usually means that everyone operates with a degree of low-grade anger and frustration. Stress levels increase enormously.

The Open System

An open system functions in a flexible, honest and fluid way. Therefore, it is always changing as the needs of the company and the people in it change. The company functions through good communication which means being direct and clear, giving people information, setting up structures which involve the consulting process both up and down the hierarchy and most importantly, accountability.

Differences are acknowledged and accepted rather than trying to get everyone to fit in. Feedback is positive and actively “feeds” the person receiving it. People are encouraging, supportive and motivating to each other through recognition, affirmation and stimulation.

For a system to deal with change as it occurs, it must be open, stable and secure without being fixed and rigid in its structures. There is a balance between autonomy and efficiency. There are good boundaries where people express their needs, expectations and requirements so that everyone knows where s/he stands.

The workplace can become an enjoyable, creative place to be, rather than feeling like a prison. People can have fun and can feel as though they are contributing to the well-being of the company and their own well-being.

Focusing on seemingly intractable problems from a systems point of view can reduce many problems to manageable size and provide simple yet highly effective solutions.

Jo Ellen and Robin run Impact Factory a training company who provide Organisational Working, Public Speaking, Presentation Skills, Communications Training, Leadership Development and Executive Coaching for Individuals.

The worn yellow lines on Highway 17 were coming too swiftly, as each line indicated we were closer to seeing my little girl’s grave.

Charlie, a thirty year old man who can no longer pretend to be a dumb kid is driving his pick-up truck, given to us by my brother, Johnny. The trip to Othello from Moses Lake is steeped in restless apprehension and agonizing about how we feel. How will it be a year after she died to see Stephanie’s plot.

Is it the apprehension lingering under the numbness which somehow keeps us going or is the apprehension a tangible presence like a Magpie gnawing at our hearts as if they were in pieces, road-kill along side the path of life we continually have to face with one third of our life gone? To stand staring at a piece of land covered with the brown tattered grass of winter, stark and lifeless.

We will stand there knowing no matter how many people tell us she isn’t really there, it’s a lie. The part of Stephanie we could hold, touch, feel and smell was in the small Urn buried in a shallow grave.

I see the cemetery from Highway 17, fir trees jutting from the barren area as if drawing those who have sadness in their hearts to the restful nature of the green trees, the only green in Eastern Washington during March. The icy wind blows cold and bitter, penetrating a person’s bones. My heart started pounding as though a bull was in my chest trying to escape confinement when I saw the trees. Charlie told me later his heart did the same thing.

We pull in at the exact time they had called Stephanie’s time of death a year prior. One pushes such things down as happenstance, but I knew it wasn’t happenstance. It wasn’t planned. I hadn’t planned to go to Othello at all, but I had court regarding the ongoing problems with the accident I had March 6, 2005 when I thought I was driving to save my little girl’s life and had a terrible accident. I looked at the summons to appear daily and saw March 6th each time, until I came home after later to see it was for March 16th, not March 6th.

I forgot Charlie didn’t know where his sister was buried, so he parked a distance from her plot of earth in Othello. I always look for the Eppich’s gravestone. It is easy to see and she is west of the Eppich’s.

I move closer as Charlie was searching and when I said, “She’s over here.” We are greeted by a single red rose placed on her grave. Seeing the single red rose, my heart broke all over again. Days later her 12 year old son told me he had placed the rose there on his way to middle school. Her grave is marked with a green framed 3 x 4 inch plastic index card holder, where it simply reads, ‘In Loving Memory – Stephanie Rose Pierre.’

It was like watching her dying all over again. So many things unsaid, so many things she will never see. Silent tears fell over the rims of my lower eyelids onto the ground. I sprinkled my metallic confetti all around her grave and especially near her name marker. I felt ashamed because I haven’t gotten her a stone grave marker. There were promises and misunderstandings and if not for Nathanael’s other Grandma, Stephanie’s plot would be barren with no name at all. She deserves better.

Charlie brought over some silken orange flowers that were stuck in the fence around the cemetery. No doubt they were victims of high winds which have been hitting the area lately. He puts them on her grave and mutters, “No reason to let them go to waste.”

Charlie and I both know her soul is not there, though she is with us so much. She is always on our minds, even when we aren’t aware of it. Charlie often hears her voice, I sense her near me when I close my eyes and now I feel her so close to us as we arrive.

When Charlie brought the flowers we both stood there in silence. Charlie left me alone with her as he went to the truck. I couldn’t think of anything to say as the hollowness of my heart gave me no words. Charlie returned and I stayed until I couldn’t stand anymore and decided to go to the truck. The old truck is ugly but runs like it hasn’t seen a day of abuse, though covered with paint drippings from when Johnny was painting signs and spray paint on different parts of the body done by my four year old granddaughter Alibama in a moment of artistic flair. The beastly pick-up was also a very good wind break from the chilly breath of nature.

As I sit writing this in the truck, my eyes are drawn over to Charlie who is still with his sister at her grave. He is sitting on the ground, a man remembering a lifetime with his sister and looking so lost without her.

He was dressed in a fitted, thick, olive green sweater, black slacks and wearing his new glasses sporting nicely cropped hair. He sat on the ground with one leg extended, the other bent at the knee. His fingers are interlaced and cupping his knee and his chin is sitting on his fingers.

The sun was shining in such a usual way. I thought back to the sunny day we buried her. I just stared at my son from the truck as he sobbed and talked to his sister for a lengthy time. I thought had I brought my camera or could paint such a scene it would be intensely poignant yet gently calming at the same time. The sun was shining under clouds giving the wintry air a warm glow.

As I looked on, all I could see was a soul missing another, sobbing alone, half of a unique pair. They were brother and sister, never feeling separated by the lack of a common paternal lineage. Our three lives are still interwoven even though we can’t hug her or touch her anymore, unless we see her in our dreams or our memories. She was Charlie’s sister and his closest friend. Stephanie was my only daughter who died unexpectedly when she was only 32 years old.

Charlie rose up and slowly returns to the truck. I hear the truck door open. Upon opening Charlie gets in, his usually dancing light blue eyes now a dark green color from crying.

As we drove away from the cemetery it ended a year of missing and wanting. Just one year ended of many more to endure with no less heartache.

Submitted by Connie Rose Pierre

Connie Rose Pierre has lived her life in Washington state. She has written many short stories for friends and relatives and started college late in life by some years at age 50 and plans on getting her degree in English and Pyschology.

Connie is currently living outside the small town of Selah WA next door to her son. She is continuing her education in Yakima then will transfer to graduate school.