Bullying Behaviors

Bullying can be defined as a subcategory of aggressive behavior. It tends to be characterized by the following three minimum criteria:

•        Hostile intent to harm/humiliate someone

•        Imbalance of power (strength, popularity, position, embarrassing information, looks, perception about)

•        Repetition (has happened more than once or has the potential for happening again)

Values & Practices

Values & Practices

Beliefs form the basis for your values and practices.

•        Values include what you think is really important in life and for you personally (or for your family)

•        Practices include  behaviors you exhibit that are  based on your bias, beliefs, and values

Erroneous bias, beliefs, values, and practices form the basis for bullying and bigotry.

More tomorrow.

Belief, 8

Research has shown that once human beings commit to a belief, they tend to employ the confirmation bias, in which they look for and find confirming evidence in support of their belief, and ignore or rationalize away any disconfirming evidence.

In one experiment participants were presented with two types of evidence: one that contradicted a belief they held deeply and the other with evidence that supported those same beliefs. The results showed that the subjects recognized the validity of the confirming evidence but were skeptical of the value of the disconfirming evidence.

More tomorrow.

Belief, 7

Belief, 7

According to Dr. Bruce Lipton, arguably the foremost current living authority on epigenetics and cellular memory, says that beliefs act like camera filters. They color and impact and change the way you view the world.

You can change your mind about almost anything. Your beliefs can impact even your genetic potential. Studies have shown that your biology (body) adapts to your beliefs, which means that up to 70% of how long and how well you live is in your hands.

More tomorrow.

Belief, 6

Individuals within a culture that espouses specific or unique beliefs, especially in the presence of authoritarian or peer-group pressure, may find it extremely difficult to go against prevailing beliefs. These beliefs can range from clothing styles, what foods are acceptable to eat, what professions or careers are acceptable, to politics, and religions that promote the handling of poisonous snakes ... to name just a few.

There are consequences for bucking a “party line” (family, culture, politics, religion . . .) and those who do so may risk persecution, imprisonment, expulsion, and even death.  More tomorrow.

Belief, 5

The human brain – especially  the left frontal lobe or prioritizing division– is always trying to come up with reasons for everything and is very gullible and susceptible to deceptions and illusions, including magic tricks.

Studies have shown that neither child nor adult brains have a well-developed capacity to distinguish the accuracy of their beliefs.

Adults are particularly vulnerable in terms of maintaining self-deceptive beliefs.

More tomorrow.

Belief, 4

Your brain creates your beliefs from what you are taught and from what you learned. These are two different concepts because many times what you are "taught" is opposite from what you "observe" around you and consequently "learn" what you observe and not what you were taught.

This may include cellular memory from biologicala ncestors, role-modeling by adults around you, interactions with people you admire or don’t, your own life experiences, what you watch on TV and movies, what you read, what political or religious leaders tell you versus what you observe . . .

Who or what do you believe? Who or what do do you believe “in?” More tomorrow.

Belief, 3

There are likely endless examples of how "beliefs" are developed.

·       You get a low grade on your first science test, believe you are dumb, and drop out of school.

·       You get sick shortly after eating a sandwich, believe it was the peanut butter, and refuse to ever eat peanut butter  again

·       You pray for a friend to be healed and when that doesn’t happen you believe that prayer never works

·       A drunk driver (who is a member of a different culture) kills your child and you become angry and bitter and believe that all members of that culture are probably alcoholic

More tomorrow

Belief, 2

Metaphor: vehicles create traffic—then

traffic can impact (enhance or impede) the vehicles

The brain creates the mind—then the mind can

impact and direct the brain

In a similar way, once beliefs are firmly entrenched they can then impact your brain’s initial bias assessment . . .

Anger, hate, or fear for something that is “different” may surface when that might not otherwise have happened.

More tomorrow

Belief

Belief can be defined as a state of mind in which you perceive the likelihood of something being true with or without empirical evidence—observation or experience alone.

Since every brain is different, some say there are

a minimum of 7-plus billion beliefs on this planet

Humans develop beliefs about everything and once imbedded in your brain, a belief can take on a life of its own, with little thought given to how it started or where it came from or if it is still even valid or ever was valid …  

More tomorrow

Bias, 4

Healthy discrimination based on bias assessments can help you avoid danger. Unmanaged, it can run riot and turn into bullying and bigotry. How could that happen? Based on one frightening experience, an individual might jump to a global assumption. Or, a trusted adult could pass along a perception based on his/her own unfortunate experience. Or, a biological ancestor’s “bad” experience (mentally, emotionally, or physically) was epigenetically filed away in cellular memory—and passed down in family lines to the third and fourth generation. Fortunately, learned perspectives can be reevaluated and relearned, often by just getting to know someone different from you. Many have eventually decided that diversity can be enriching. Bottom line? Identify your own brain bias and alter what is erroneous. 

Bias, 3

I have tried to slow down this bias assessment to identify what my brain notices first:

•Human or non-human

•If human, male or female

•Size of the person and hair

•Skin color

•Tattoos

•Clothing - kempt or unkempt

•Unwell or injured

•Impaired (alcohol/drugs) or aggressive

Bias, 2

At nano-second speed the brain evaluates:

Have I seen this person (or creature, object, 

substance, food, environment, ideology…) 

before?

If it is a person, are they like me?

If no, how are they different and am I SAFE?

Your brain’s “bias” assessment prompts you to approach or withdraw—to “move forward toward” or “move back away”—from the person or thing. More tomorrow.

Bias

Bias can be defined as an inclination in favor of or against something (person, place, thing, creature, creepy-crawly, food, object, substance, food, odor, environment, music, race, culture, skin color, ideology…) The brain appears to have a “built-in bias” for or against another and typical feels “safer” and more comfortable around familiar people or things. When the brain sees something—especially for the first time—it goes on high alert and tends to makes  nano-second decisions about safety.

4 B’s (Brain, Bias, Bullying, Bigotry)

The brain appears to come equipped with a built-in “for-or-against” evaluation system. No surprise it tends to feel safer and more comfortable with what is “familiar” and can feel unsafe with unfamiliar people, places, and things. Almost anywhere on planet earth today one can hear about, if not actually see or experience personally, examples of what I term the 4 B’s. Studies have suggested some interesting aspects of how they interact with each other and ways in which they may be linked. The 4 B’s are:

• ·       Bias
• ·       Belief
• ·       Bullying
• ·       Bigotry

More tomorrow.

Overthinking & Depression, 5

Many people who have picked up the challenge to identify the number of negative versus positive thoughts they tend to have, are clearly amazed to realize that the checkmarks in the negative column clearly outweighed the checkmarks in the positive—sometimes by the proverbial old country mile. Once your negative thoughts outweigh your positive thoughts—you are likely on your way to depression. What can you do? First, every time you get a negative, hopeless, helpless thought, replace it with a positive, empowering thought. Look for one thing for which to be thankful, and then be thankful you could think of one thing. Seriously. Over time, this can become a positive habit (even as the negative rumination became a habit). It’s not necessarily simple to identify your stressors and, one by one, either let them go or figure out a solution for them. What is simple, is choosing to replace every single negative thought as it surfaces with something for which you are thankful.

Overthinking & Depression, 4

One of the problems with rumination is that the overthinking tends to be about something that happened in the past, something you wish had not happened at all or that you wish had happened differently. You may know cognitively that “it’s over and done with” and you may even have learned how to do something in a different way because of the situation, but that doesn’t always stop the negative thinking. How do you know if you’re reaching the tipping point toward depression? Well, for starters, keep track of your positive versus your negative thoughts. Think of it as doing your own personal research project. Take a sheet of paper, draw a vertical line down the center of the page, and then label one column Positive and one column Negative. Put it on a clipboard or your mobile phone. Every time you recognize a negative thought, put a checkmark in the negative column. Every time you recognize a positive thought—and for this part of the research you are just counting what is happening—put a checkmark in the positive column. Do this every day for 3-4 days, then sit down and count the checkmarks in each column. You will likely begin to see a pattern emerge. More tomorrow.

Overthinking & Depression, 3

Some have suggested that females may experience more traumatic events than do males—not that males get off scot-free by any means. Generally, however, females are likely to be assigned lower-paying jobs with lower levels of reward and recognition, as well as being responsible for child care (or for figuring out how to solve it) along with caregiving for elderly relatives. It is what it is. What females do have going for them is typically a larger support or social network and often a willingness to ask for help. However, it is vitally important to develop a positive, can-do mindset, live a balanced life to the best of your ability, and break the cycle of rumination. When you recognize a stressor, ask yourself: “Will this really matter 12 months from now?” If the answer is yes, then access your social network and ask for help brainstorming options. If the answer is no, consciously make a choice to let it go. More tomorrow.

Overthinking & Depression, 2

Nolen-Hoeksema, a pioneer in the study of women’s rumination and depression, is considered the go-to expert in the field. She describes rumination as a situation in which the mind goes round and round over negative events in the past, problems in the present or bad things you’re worried will happen in the future. This inability to release bad thoughts and memories can get you down. You rehash these events and analyze them, but you don’t do much of anything to solve the problems or feel more in control of your situation. These are negative thoughts, and negative thought breed hopelessness, despair, and low motivation and self-esteem. When you rehearse negative thoughts over and over, they grow even more powerful. Stresses seem bigger, and you’re more likely to react in an intense way, even thinking things are worse than they really are. And, if by chance, you are vulnerable to depression, you could end up seriously depressed. More tomorrow.

Overthinking & Depression

Have you ever found yourself ruminating over something you wish hadn’t happened or spent days (and nights) rehashing an unpleasant experience? Most humans have—and more than once! Miriam-Webster’s dictionary defines rumination as going over in the mind repeatedly. Reviewing a behavior or situation in order to evaluate what happened and be ready to make a different decision is one thing. Chewing over and over what happened and stewing about it, especially If you cannot go back and fix it, is a horse of a different color. This repetitively passive brooding can trigger depression. Yale University psychology professor Susan Nolen-Hoeksema, PhD, author of Women Who Think Too Much, has pointed out that females are more prone to rumination than are males. And females may be twice as prone to depression when compared with males, especially depression and posttraumatic stress disorder or PTSD. Rumination may play into that. More tomorrow.

Brain & Water, 2

Normally, more water exists inside your cells than in the spaces outside. Dehydration disrupts this balance as more water is in the spaces outside your brain cells than inside. Some of your energy comes from the movement of water in and out of the cells and since dehydration interrupts this, your energy levels can fall. A 1% level of dehydration can result in a 5% disruption of your cognitive function. The result? Memory problems, wrinkling of skin and body organs, concentration of body fluids, and inability to do simple math prolems like making change at the store. A loss of fluid within the cells can cause brain tissue to pull away from the skull. Bottom line? Shrinkage of brain tissue is now a known factor linked to dementia. Since thirst sensation tends to fall after age fifty, it becomes crucial to drink by design. Some physicians suggest drinking enough water to pee one or two pale urines every day. More Tomorrow.

Brain & Water

What would you guess is your most important nutrient? It’s WATER because your body cannot manufacture it! You can live much longer—maybe ten times longer—without food than without water. In general, the brain and body follow the same ratio as does planet Earth: 75% water, 25% solid matter. Muscle cells are 75% water, Overall the brain is 75% water but brain cells are 85% water. According to Mayo Clinic, the average adult loses more than 80 ounces (ten eight-ounce glasses of water every day through sweating, breathing, and waste elimination. The average adult drinks less than four eight-ounce glasses of water each day, which puts them six eight-ounce glasses in the hole. And that’s deady for your brain and body. When you are “in the hole” in terms of water intake, you risk the undesirable consequences of dehydration. More tomorrow.