Peace Theory
What Is It?
Peace Theory is another theory of my own making that's in its infancy but has shown promising results thus far. This theory is basically the opposite of RAT in that it says that our emotions create our belief systems, not the other way around. In terms of brain development, the logical part of our brain is the last part to develop, fully developing around age 25. This means that in our infancy/ childhood our brain isn't really equipped to make logical deductions about what we are feeling, we just know that we are feeling something distressing. As our ability to reason develops, we assign negative beliefs to ourselves, or others, based on the emotions that we experience. This theory seeks to help alleviate distress by focusing on a specific emotion and releasing that emotion from a person's past and future thereby eliminating all negative thoughts and beliefs about the self.
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How Does It Work?
This method is primarily done as a guided meditation with foundations in Mental and Emotional Release (MER) which you can read about here, enhanced with bilateral stimulation (discussed in the tab on RAT), where a client visualizes their life timeline and floats back into the past to their first experience with the emotion they seek to release. The first experience of that emotion is theorized to set a pattern for how that emotion is experienced in the future in addition to causing the biggest initial imprint on the subconscious as a child, so if the emotions from that first experience can be released, then theoretically all other times the client has experienced that same emotion will be easier to release kind of like falling dominoes. In order to help release the specified emotion the client is taken even further back into their past timeline, before that experience ever happened, under the theory that since the "future" has never happened the emotions will be easier to release. While that concept may seem a little wonky, it has consistently helped people release stuck emotions. Once the emotions from that first experience are released subconsciously they are replaced with feelings of peace. The client then is guided to release all of the chosen emotion from their entire past timeline and replace it with peace and the same is done for their future. This process is repeated with relevant core emotional categories (of which there are 14) and then any specific residual emotions that weren't resolved (I created a list of around 250 different negative emotions).
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This theory also uses purposeful disassociation as one of its methods for healing. Disassociation is a subconscious distancing from an emotion that can be used consciously to allow for emotional processing without becoming overwhelmed. Disassociation is used in the meditation by use of physical distance, going back further in the past or flying up high above the timeline which allows for faster processing. Other visualization techniques can also be used to overcome stuck points or enhance positive feelings of peace.
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The idea of replacing any given emotion with peace was an idea derived from many different sources but for simplicity's sake it was chosen because it's a catch-all emotion. If you feel at peace, you can feel basically any other positive emotion. While at first glance feeling at peace with your past may seem impossible or even counterintuitive, but not being at peace with your past does you absolutely no benefit and actually holds you back from attaining peace in your present. Peace doesn't mean being grateful for a difficult past, condoning or approving negative behavior from others, or anything of the sort, it simply means that you accept your past and are ready to move on and not feel stuck in the past.
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What Does A Session Look Like?
At the start of the session we would decide what emotion you'd like to release and then follow the MER meditation which is described in the link in the first paragraph of this webpage. I will guide you through the meditation process for your first couple times and then you will be doing it on your own so that you feel confident in it and become self-sufficient in using it. Once an emotion is worked through we move on to the next chosen emotion. Homework will be given in between sessions to increase self-efficacy and get you feeling better faster!
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What Results Have People Had?
As mentioned at the start of this webpage, this theory is in its infancy. I am currently testing its efficacy as a healing technique but preliminary results continue to be positive. Nearly everyone I've done peace theory with has enjoyed the experience and has felt an emotional weight lifted off of them in addition to feeling more at peace with themselves. I've had a couple larger scale results including alleviation of depression, body dysmorphia, and much improved self esteem.
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