From Chaos to Clarity

The following is an account of a presentation to this group by Dr. Sunny Massad, written by its Recording Secretary, Barbara Clemens:

Susan then introduced guest speaker Dr. Sunny Massad, who spoke on the topic "From Chaos to Clarity: An East/West Approach to Creative Discipline."

Dr. Massad investigates the inner attitudes that affect burnout and melds eastern and western thought modalities. She studies how "techno-stress" can affect the creative right side of the brain. She feels that "talking at" someone disconnects from the heart. Instead, she has wanted to discover how to cultivate inspiration.

She has lived an unconventional life, to say the least. She has lived overseas, created a commune, traveled around the world three times, and spent an inordinate amount of time in secluded meditation, all the while searching outside of herself for peace. She found that, in isolation, she could meditate and, with a quiet mind, get to the essence of enlightenment. But she also found that when she returned to "the real world," the peace did not hold. She felt a huge need for a better way to quiet the mind while still remaining in society.

She set out to interview "enlightened" people, those who had had a transcendent exerience. In the course of her interviews, she learned that the creative side of the brain has to be indulged. We cannot just punch buttons all day; we must be creative in some way. The problem is that when increased time is available, we merely get longer To Do lists. But the unconscious can't keep up, producing stress, a product of the body wishing things are other than what they are.

The traditional definition of mental health is "no neurosis." But she feels this definition must go much further. How can we cultivate inspiration even though we're "damaged," always waiting for the next moment that never arrives. Saying "no" is never enough; you can't just stop wanting to take the next step once you are caught in the whirl of daily events.

If we do not care for ourselves, our hearts and minds will not be in alignment. We need to reprogram ourselves, and this starts by stating specifically what we want. This will help us begin to connect and integrate the mind with the heart.

To find what we want, we need time for self-reflection, contemplation, thinking, and strategizing. We can achieve this through active meditation, in the form of art, music, writing, any art form. Be around inspired people. Get quiet, allow time for a conversation with ourselves. Ask ourselves, "What are our values?"

When we learn what these values are, we must examine our lives to find what we are doing that go against them. To act against our values is a form of self neglect or self abuse. It becomes an "energy leak," like a fruit tree surrounded by plants that take its food and water.

We must examine our inner and outer environment and find activities that feed our energy, and drop the ones that leach our energy. We can reach that sense of peace that hospice patients only see towards the end of their lives--but we want to reach it now! Finally, we must celebrate our own uniqueness, not living by comparison. We should pay attention to our ego. And tune in a few times a day.

But the most important is to live with integrity--the practice of being true to the promise of the self. Tension is produced by resisting what is. Cultivate a sense of patience. Abandon the "I want" syndrome; break the addiction of immediate gratification. An awareness of our needs will help us reach our higher values and reach new heights of creativity.