The MRCP exercise, step 2

The Mental Response Control Panel stren provided labels to identify the eight (8) choices available to your thinking as it directs information to action outcomes.  Accurate identification and classification of these eight choices empowers you to freely and wisely direct your life’s experience, i.e. self-mastery.  This stren offers animation to your labeling ability.  It will enable you to see that, like elements in nature, they rarely appear in pure form; they are commonly present in combinations and continuously change. 

            Given eight choices to deal with an issue, each offering some short and/or long-term satisfaction (and cost), we can understand that our thinking would want what each has to offer.  The wisdom in this stren is to convey that the eight MRCP choices are not “either/or.”  Thinking does not choose “either this or that,” blaming-out or blaming-in or avoidance or problem-solving.  Rather, we process information “both/and,”  “this and that,” preferably a mixture of problem-solving and self-endorsement [Example: “This was sure a tough issue but I worked out a reasonable plan; congratulations to me.”] more so than some combination of blaming-in, helplessness/hopelessness, and a bit of mind/body response.  [Example: I screwed up again.  Why bother.  I’ve got such a headache.”]  

            You make an important step to a newer way of thinking (ANWOT) as you expand your native language from “either/or” to “both/and” thinking, emphasizing what has been described as analog more so than dichotomous processing of information.  The immature undeveloped mind of the child is most suited to be taught in clearly understood “yes/no,” “good/bad,” “right/wrong,” “O.K./not O.K.” terms.  After untold repetitions, such dichotomous thinking becomes habit.  As a mature adult, habitual “either/or” thinking distorts our perception of the world; it contributes to becoming our own worst enemy.  With eight mental response patterns, the combinations available to our thinking are virtually endless, especially when you recognize each of the  MRPs may be present in varying quantity from 0% to 100%.  Once you get the idea of the on-going drama and action in your mental “movie”, your enlightenment and its practical benefits will really pay off.  You will recognize common combinations of mental responses and redirect your mental energy to create the positive script you, as producer and director, can create. 

            We owe our capacity for self-mastery to a newer manner of thinking I call “reflective thinking.”  Here is an analogy that will help you understand why reflective thinking is your opportunity to add meaning to your life’s experience.  How much easier is it to have a mirror when you put on make-up, shave with a razor, or trim your eyebrows?  Seeing your reflection allows you to make adjustments to get what you prefer.  Reflective thinking is our mirror for self-mastery.  It provides us self-consciousness.  Literally, we are conscious of our consciousness.  We think about our thinking.  The complexity of the cortical area of the human brain and our use of symbols to create language empowers us to “see” our self, to manipulate our mind’s activity and direct its course to serve what we choose, more so than what nature and instinct demand and/or what our nurturer’s and habit urge.  Reflective thinking is our source of mental freedom!  I call the portion of our newest to evolve brain our “freedom organ.”  Just as organs like the kidneys and liver have evolved to their present level of specialized function, this portion of our brain that is most recent to evolve provides us reflective thinking.  It enables us to join nature and nurture as a partner in determining our destiny.  As we physically mature and our nurturers teach us language and the use of symbols, we become a junior partner to fate and circumstance.  The newer way of thinking (ANWOT) is the means that we may gradually become senior partner, “Chairman of the Board,” “C.E.O.”  Recognize your gift from nature, your “freedom cortex,” and your gift from your nurturers, language, and their alliance to provide reflective thinking.  Such enlightenment will surely arouse your passion for the opportunity of mental freedom.  Enthusiasm is the most important ingredient to success in becoming master of your self.   

            Until we develop these marvelous gifts from nature and our nurturers, our thinking remains a faithful servant to instinct and habit.  For nine months of our gestation period, we are clearly fated by actions totally unrelated to our doing.  Fate and our genes are “boss.”  Helpless and immature at birth, our nurturers impose their stamp on our destiny.  Circumstance, also beyond our control, adds its mark to what we inherit through fate.  Thinking begins early but recognize that it is servant to masters nature and nurture for many years.  With luck, and the gifts of nature and nurture, we are encouraged to seek mental freedom, to become what we choose to become.  But more commonly, the “establishment” directs us to blindly accept what it has determined is “good” and “right.”  Originality not in compliance with what our nurturers prescribe is often labeled “rebellion.”  It is likely to be ignored, criticized and/or result in punishment.  “Masters” are prone to resist releasing their slaves.  If you were unfortunate enough to be in the latter group, self-mastery, i.e. mental freedom, is yet available but at a greater investment of your will power.  Do you see that even if fate and circumstance were unkind, you have the resource, as other unfortunates have demonstrated, to make a difference! 

            If you are reading this stren, you have already reached the stage in your physical and mental development that you are capable of becoming your own person.  The Mental Response Control Panel (MRCP) is a powerful tool designed to assist your process of becoming master of your self. The MRCP stren provides the labels to identify the choices your mind makes available to you.  The exercise presented in this stren will develop your skill in wisely directing those choices.  Your mental strength and well-being will grow as you encourage the problem-solving and self-endorsement choices and diminish the six alternative choices that usually have negative outcomes.  In short, as you recognize and develop your mental muscles of problem-solving and self-endorsement, the flab gradually withers away from disuse.  Direct your mental muscles to work for you to provide wisdom, mastery, freedom, fulfillment, and enthusiasm for your life’s experience.

Exercise   

            This skill-building exercise is simple but it requires work, patience, and some direction.  It enlists your reflective-thinking-self to look at what your thinking is doing, i.e., to think about your thinking, to become more conscious of your consciousness.  Herewith are two copies of a MRCP chart.  It provides you eight scales, each labeled with one of the eight mental response patterns explained in the MRCP stren.  Rate yourself from 0 to 10 according to the degree you engage in each MRP.  Estimates are fine; the exercise will work if you are anywhere in the ballpark.  Use the first copy as a sample to get the idea.  Keep the second to make copies that you will use on a regular basis.      

            Here is a suggestion for rating the mental response patterns (MRPs).  Act as if you had a tape recording of your thinking.  Isolate segments and re-play them.  When you can, classify the segments.  Can you identify the mental response patterns you use?  Is your thinking Problem-solving?  Endorsing?  Blaming?  Worrying?  One of the other patterns?  It may be easier to begin by identifying the MRPs in others.  Observe their behavior.  Can you think of someone who is a blamer-outer? A blamer-inner?  A worrier?  Who illustrates a combination of several mental response choices?  Match yourself to others you observe and the examples soon to be provided.  Which patterns (MRPs) do you emphasize?

            Now use the scales to rate yourself on the degree you employ each of the choices.  Rate the intensity your thinking is engaged in each MRP, using a scale of 0-10.  You will soon recognize patterns that are characteristic of your thinking.  With labeling and recognition, your reflective self is in a position to change the pattern.  Reflective thinking is the source of will power directed by you, by self-mastery, more so than master instinct and/or master habit.  Substitute the problem-solving and endorsement pattern each time you recognize your thinking is engaged in a negative pattern.   Exercise your reflective thinking; watch and feel your mental freedom muscles grow.

            Do a new chart in intervals you determine, say each week or each month.  Keep your charts so that you can compare them.  Work to increase your problem-solving and endorsement toward “10.”  Intervene when you can to lower the numbers on the negative patterns towards “0.”  Over time, compare them.  Can you see a change in your MRCP?

            Keep in mind that much of the time your thinking may not be involved in any of the identified mental response action patterns.  Your thinking may simply be engaged in “pastimes,” in “neutral.”  Also realize that each person will rate differently.  That’s O.K.  You will attain a positive outcome by simply establishing a general pattern to prioritize your work.  Support the problem-solving and endorsement MRPs.  Attack the negative patterns.   Your destructive aggression and “murderous instinct” may find an appropriate outlet when directed at MRPs that no longer work, that get you what you don’t want in the short and/or long-term.  When engaging in the negative patterns, remember to attack the negative pattern, not your self!  And, of course, endorse yourself each time you support a positive MRP and each time you recognize and weaken a negative MRP.    

            Refer to the scoring chart provided.  Total the number you assign to problem-solving and self-endorsement.  Multiply by three.  This is your positive score.  Total the number you assign to blaming-out, blaming-in, avoidance, helplessness/hopelessness, worry, and the mind/body response.  This is your negative score.  Add the plus and minus to attain a “total” score.  Mark it on the “total score” scale.  Is your thinking “positive?”  Can you make the + grow?  If your thinking is in the negative range, you would be wise to really get to work.  If you’re already on the + side, wouldn’t you want to add a bit more? And enjoy the satisfaction of sharing your wealth?   
              
Examples of mental response patterns: see how they can change; how you can change:

1. For several years following a football injury that left him quadriplegic as a teenager, “A” was embittered, hopeless, depressed and preoccupied with dying.  He blamed others and himself.  One day he had an insight that changed his life.  He realized that as long as he focused on what he had lost, didn’t have now, or couldn’t attain, he’d stay miserable.  He began to focus on what he did have and what he could do.  He obtained help to attend school including an aide to literally “turn the pages.”  He earned a degree in higher education, married and adopted a child.  When I saw him, he was strikingly enthusiastic and happy.  Here is a mixture of the blaming, avoidance, helplessness/ hopelessness response dramatically changed by problem-solving and self-endorsement.   
2. “B’s” parents were quite demanding and her superior performance made her their favorite among her siblings.  “B” had what most persons want – smart, good looks, a good job, and recognition from her peers.  Yet her perfectionism kept her quite miserable.  She suffered from regular tension headaches.  Whatever she did was not quite good enough, not the way it should be.  She was what I would call a “love junkie,” dependent on other’s approval for her self-worth.  For example, even though she had beautiful teeth, she was preoccupied with a perceived “defect” which was unnoticeable to others.  She tried not to smile.  Here is a mixture of shoulding on herself, i.e. blaming-in, worry (“what if they don’t accept me”), and the mind/body response.  
3. “C” found that a bit of alcohol before a talk relieved his anxiety.  He felt (and perhaps) he did better.  Similarly, he found relief from marital stress.  In time alcohol was like a “best friend.”  It gave him immediate comfort, was uncritical and readily available.  You can imagine how the short-term gain brought increasing longer-term pain.  When those who cared urged him to abandon his “friend,” he became resentful and adamantly denied his growing dependence: “I can stop anytime I want!”  As his work and marriage deteriorated, he was given an ultimatum, “get help or else!”   While at first reluctant, his resistance to AA gradually changed to enthusiasm.  He acquired the wisdom others offered.  His newer manner of thinking led to one of his greatest satisfactions, helping others by doing 12th step work (mentoring others).  What MRP’s can you identify? 
4. “D” had such panic episodes she came to avoid most situations.  She could not take her graduate exams, refused to drive an automobile, and her “what if” thinking regularly pictured the worst of all outcomes.  With encouragement and support, she step-by-step confronted her fears, for example, slowly expanding her boundaries, including driving.  As the “what iffing” changed to “most likely” and she grew confident, she was able to take and pass her graduate exams.  She established a more wholesome life style.  Can you recognize the change in her mental response patterns?
5. “E” was adopted when her new dad wanted a daughter rather than his biologic son.  Her presence was a rose to dad, a thorn to mom.  Life for E became quite difficult when several years after her adoption, dad died.  The balance of “favored” (dad) and “reject” (mom) was suddenly “reject.”  E was no longer the prankish spoiled child; she quickly became a hellion.  All that goes with blaming-out, especially lack of consideration for others bloomed.  As she later expressed, “Better to be rejected for what you do than what you are.  You can always change what you do; you can’t change what you are.”  What MRP’s can you identify?  Could self-endorsement skills make a difference?

MENTAL RESPONSE ACTION CHOICE		BEHAVIORAL OR PHYSICAL OUTCOME
Blaming-out	→ ----- → ----- → ----- → →	Aggression (anger, resentment)
“He, she, they, it did what they shouldn’t have done and therefore they deserve punishment.”
Blaming-in	→ ----- → ----- → ----- → →	Depression (guilt,self-putdowns)
“I did what I shouldn’t have done and therefore I am guilty and deserve punishment.”
Avoidance	→ ----- → ----- → ----- → →	Short-term gain, long-term pain
Substance abuse, procrastination, withdrawal, mental self-deception (denial, lying, feigned illness, rationalization, and other means)
Problem-solving	→ ----- → ----- → ----- → →	Wise action, well-being
“Given this situation, what is most likely to get me what I want, now and in the future, for me and you. (us and them)”
Self-endorsement	→ ----- → ----- → ----- → →	Energy, willpower to problem-solve, and to create and offer love
“Attaboy!  Attagirl!  Congratulations to me for doing my reasonable best.”  [Congratulations to me when I recognize I’m not doing what I can.]
Helplessness/Hopelessness	→ ----- → ----- → ----- → →	Apathy, depression, in extreme - suicide
“I give up!”  “What’s the use.”  “To hell with it.” “Ferk it.”
Worry	→ ----- → ----- → ----- → →	Anxiety, phobias, panic, feelings of doom, physical symptoms
“What if …” and anticipating the worst outcome. “What is going to happen?” “I can’t stand it!”
Mind/Body	→ ----- → ----- → ----- → →	Head/neck/back pain, may involve any/every organ system
Mental response to stress leads to exaggerated response to physical system, viz. muscle tension, hormonal irregularity, blood pressure, etc.

When you do the exercise, don’t be too concerned with the score.  Instead focus on increasing your problem- solving and self-endorsement MRP and decreasing your use of the negative mental response choices.

THE MENTAL RESPONSE CONTROL PANEL

The eight (8) Mental Response Patterns (MRPs):

This “well-being” exercise will help you gradually increase your use of the helpful problem-solving and self-endorsement mental response patterns and decrease the six choices that are usually harmful.  Redo the exercise at intervals you choose in order to see a trend, for example weekly or monthly; exact numbers are not important!  Rate yourself using a scale of 0-10 for each of the 8 MRPs: “0” being no amount of that MRP, “10” meaning you use the maximum amount possible of that MRP.  

SCORE:	Add rating for #4 & #5	= _____ x 3	= _____ [column A]
	Add rating for #’s 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8.		= _____ [column B]
	Subtract B from A to get total score		= _____
	TOTAL SCORE = _____

Are you functioning in the “+” or “–“ range?
Do you recognize characteristic patterns in others?  In your self?
Are you willing to work to increase your “well-being” score?

Repeat this self-evaluation from time to time.  It can be a useful tool for you to increase your score.  

[Two copies of “The Mental Response Control Panel” scoring chart are to be included in this stren; they may be used instead of this page.]  

 

THE MENTAL RESPONSE CONTROL PANEL
SCORE SHEET [specimen]

We may arbitrarily label eight alternative actions available to our mind to direct information to action.  We may use each individually or combined, and in varying degrees and frequency.  Like our fingerprint, they form a pattern characteristic of our personality.  Unlike our fingerprint, we may reprogram our mental patterns to emphasize the manner of thinking that leads to feeling good and doing good.  In general, increasing (4) problem solving and (5) self-endorsement and reducing the others improves our well-being.    

The eight (8) Mental Response Patterns (MRPs):

		A	B
	1. Blaming-in		____
	2. Blaming-out		____
	3. Avoidance		____
	4. Problem-solving	____
	5. Self-endorsement	____
	6. Helplessness/Hopelessness		____
	7. Worry		____
	8. Mind/Body		____
	TOTAL	____	____

This “well-being” exercise will help you gradually increase your use of the helpful problem-solving and self-endorsement mental response patterns and decrease the six choices that are usually harmful.  Redo the exercise at intervals you choose in order to see a trend, for example weekly or monthly; exact numbers are not important!  Rate yourself using a scale of 0-10 for each of the MRPs: “0” being no amount of that MRP, “10” meaning you use the maximum amount possible of that MRP.  

SCORE:	Add rating for #4 & #5	= _____ x 3	= _____ [column A]
	Add rating for #’s 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8.		= _____ [column B]
	Subtract B from A to get total score		= _____
	TOTAL SCORE = _____	[range = -60 to +60]

Are you functioning in the “+” or “–“ range?
Do you recognize characteristic patterns in others?  In your self?
Are you willing to work to increase your “well-being” score?

Repeat this self-evaluation from time to time.  It can be a useful tool to improve your most important resource, your thinking. 

*Since 6 choices are generally negative and 2 are positive, multiple the positive score by three to make the positive and negative responses comparable. 

 

THE MENTAL RESPONSE CONTROL PANEL
SCORE SHEET [specimen to duplicate]

We may arbitrarily label eight alternative actions available to our mind to direct information to action.  We may use each individually or combined, and in varying degrees and frequency.  Like our fingerprint, they form a pattern characteristic of our personality.  Unlike our fingerprint, we may re-program our mental patterns to emphasize the manner of thinking that leads to feeling good and doing good.  In general, increasing (4) problem solving and (5) self-endorsement and reducing the others improves our well-being.   

The eight (8) Mental Response Patterns (MRPs):

		A	B
	1. Blaming-in		____
	2. Blaming-out		____
	3. Avoidance		____
	4. Problem-solving	____
	5. Self-endorsement	____
	6. Helplessness/Hopelessness		____
	7. Worry		____
	8. Mind/Body  [“psychosomatic”]		____
	TOTAL	____	____

This “well-being” exercise will help you gradually increase your use of the helpful problem-solving and self-endorsement mental response patterns and decrease the six choices that are usually harmful.  Redo the exercise at intervals you choose in order to see a trend, for example weekly or monthly; exact numbers are not important!  Rate yourself using a scale of 0-10 for each of the MRPs: “0” being no amount of that MRP, “10” meaning you use the maximum amount possible of that MRP. 

SCORE:	Add rating for #4 & #5	= _____ x 3	= _____ [column A]
	Add rating for #’s 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8.		= _____ [column B]
	Subtract B from A to get total score		= _____
	TOTAL SCORE = _____	[range = -60 to +60]

Are you functioning in the “+” or “–“ range?
Do you recognize characteristic patterns in others?  In your self?
Are you willing to work to increase your “well-being” score?

Repeat this self-evaluation from time to time.  Make it a useful tool to improve your most important resource, your mental freedom to wisely manage your life’s experience.   
 
*Since 6 choices are generally negative and 2 are positive, multiple the positive score by three to make the positive and negative responses comparable.