It’s impossible to talk about projection without incorporating a discussion about Sigmund Freud and Donald Trump. In this article I will skip Donald but throw in a little Carl Jung. Freud, of course, named several distinctive defense measures – reality distorting strategies to keep us safe. Two of the big ones are displacement and projection. First, a definition of projection: This is evident when an individual attributes their own unacceptable impulses onto others. For example, a person might accuse others of engaging in thievery when, in fact, they are swindling money from their employer. Some of the behaviors and thoughts we are most ashamed of could be called shadows. We can see them first in other people before we can “call them out” in ourselves. We are defending against humiliation and mortification lest we be exposed.

My spirits were lifted when I came across the book, Against Happiness, by a professor of English at Wake Forest University, Eric Wilson. This is an examination on how we, as individuals and as a culture, relentlessly chase happiness – what Buddhists would call a desire problem, an attachment, or an addiction. We have a lopsided view of positive moods when matched against sadness. Wilson points out that happiness gives blues a bad name by suggesting it is an aberrant mental state. Having this presumed need for eternal bliss appears to entertain a craven disregard for the value of sadness. Hellbent only for happiness, as a country we have become afraid of sadness. Our American dream may be a nightmare, Wilson argues. What passes for bliss might well be a dystopia of lifeless and sagging grins.

According to author Anna Lemke, M.D., author of Dopamine Nation, “The reason we’re all so miserable may be because we’re working so hard to avoid being miserable.” In a culture with pleasure opportunities at every turn, she contends, “too much pleasure leads to pain.” Then there is this thing called anhedonia, when we no longer can feel enjoyment doing things that were once quite enjoyable. Lemke goes on, “The paradox is that hedonism, the pursuit of pleasure for its own sake, leads to anhedonia, which is the inability to enjoy pleasure of any kind.” I’m reminded of Aldous Huxley who wrote Brave New World Revisited. In it he noted our almost infinite appetite for distraction from life. It appears as though persistent efforts to insulate ourselves from pain seem only to have made our pain worse. The trick may be to stop avoiding painful emotions, to sit a spell and notice them until they naturally subside and, in the process, get acquainted with that side of life -- with us.

Geral defines the meaning of the clinical term "resistance" and defines the healthy or unhealthy nature of resistance.

Passages in this handout are taken from Words Can Change Your Brain (2016) by Andrew Newberg, M.D., who has written many other highly acclaimed books on the brain. This work incorporates mindfulness (thinking about your thinking) and analyzes communication patterns in yourself and with others. He writes: The moment a person expresses even the slightest degree of negativity, it increases negativity in both the speaker’s and the listener’s brain. Instead of getting rid of anger by voicing it [as counselors often recommend], we actually increase it, and this can, over time, cause irreparable damage, not only to relationships, but to the brain as well. It can interfere with memory storage and cognitive accuracy. What makes anger particularly dangerous is that it blinds you even to the fact that you’re angry; thus it gives you a false sense of certainty, confidence, and optimism.

Many food and medicinal products are given an estimated shelf life. After a certain date we are to throw them out. Even sour cream is to be discarded lest it becomes even more sour. But it seems like some human missteps that have given us shame seem to have no end date assigned. So we unwittingly hang on to our shame indefinitely. It can become increasingly sour. Shame can be like an unending penance and a repeated internal announcement of our unfitness to be on this planet with others. Externally, we apologize for ourselves and apologize for apologizing – that’s how deep its roots can be. Today, if shame’s inherent benefits – its nutritional value to our mind – is finally being questioned, it may be the time to seriously consider cleaning out the refrigerator of our soul.

Nootropics can be defined as cognitive-enhancing substances that can improve efficiency of thinking and mood. Some of them are called smart drugs (as seen on TV) which are often used to treat individuals suffering from neurological disorders or frustrated with their brain’s performance. Attempts at pharmacological enhancement of cognition – improved mental performance, heightened alertness, better memory, and increased motivation – are experiencing growing popularity, but they do have a downside. Smart drugs (including most psychotropic antidepressants) adjust and diminish the way the brain naturally produces and processes neurotransmitters. In response the brain does its job which is to compensate for synthetically stimulated changes in neurotransmitter activity, attempting to correct the unnatural state and return operations to normal. It is as if our amazing brain endeavors to outsmart our attempts to pharmacologically outsmart it! The brain is always trying to recalibrate itself.

Sometimes we get so busy diagnosing, labeling, and categorizing patients who make us uncomfortable that we don’t have time to look into the mirror and self-examine. While physicians talk about disease categories – like hardening of the arteries – psychiatrists and psychologists have stopped short of acknowledging their longstanding habit that I call hardening of the categories. One evening in Montana, just before entering an Ojibwa sweat lodge, a Native American made reference to Lakota heyokas. He told me these were men who spoke and moved in opposite fashion to those around them. Often they were referred to as sacred clowns who used satire and outlandish humor to call attention to important matters – often issues of community ethics and morality. There unique approach stood out from the norm and, in contrarian fashion, challenged even the most sacred members and activities in the tribe. Sacred ceremonies were often ensconced in laughter, and even profanity, always designed to wake people up.

Painful life events can cause us to either breakdown or breakthrough. That is one of the messages of the ancient Japanese art of kintsugi (golden joinery). It is the skill of repairing broken ceramic vessels with gold to make then stronger and more beautiful, especially at the cracks where they were visibly broken open. Those part are accentuated. The art of kintsugi symbolizes how renewal is possible. And once a piece of pottery is repaired – much like a fractured bone – it can become stronger at the broken places. Kintsugi epitomizes the importance of embracing our perceived flaws. And this art form further suggests that instead of restoring something or someone to its past form, it actually highlights the recent scars. The scarring actually becomes part of a new design, something beautiful and very unique. Seeing a piece of pottery restored with golden veins filling in the cracks serves as a lasting reminder of perseverance and resilience.