Can you please remove my erotic nose-brain?

I'm having trouble committing to HP. Yes...we've been together for a long time, and don't get me wrong, it's been a good run, but just recently, I was given the opportunity to rekindle our passion for one another with the release of the 6th chronicle of his life as a adolescent boy at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (adolescent boys are my weak spot...mmmm). But alas...I picked up the book at midnight on the day of it's release in my grandiose nerdiness and then, boom...its like one thing after another this past week and, welp, I haven't even really touched the book. :( I can't seem to do it! Between interviews, emotional luuuuuuv turmoil, family drama, chores, job trauma and the fact that it's been 5000 degrees everyday (this takes a toll on thelauralee) by the time this weekend rolled around, I didn't even have the energy I felt Harry deserved in order to delve in. I'm starting to think its mental. I have a tendency, at times of chaos in my life, to take control over VERY odd aspects and hold out or become very stubborn about them. Its like a form of procrastination retardation. ;) Anyway...I need motivation! You'd think after the 40 phone calls, emails and failed attempts to tell me what happened in the book, I would have gotten moving. For shame.

But the reason I share this minor setback with you is so I can guiltlessly tell you a bit about the book I AM reading sporadically that I found in the bathroom. haha I think its Nikkis. It's called, "Learn to Relax; A Practical Guide to Easing Tension & Conquering Stress". It's interesting! I've just reached a very imperative point (or rather I skipped right to it) regarding passion, relationships and relaxation.

The book says: "Surely passion, with its connotations of turbulence and compulsion, is far from relaxing? But if we build a wall against passion, relaxation is impossible. Scientists have demonstrated that if the amygdala (the biological "seat" of passion) is removed from the brain, we lose our ability to function on any emotional level, preferring to be solitary, than to interact. We become indifferent to the people for whom we once felt love, and uninterested in the activities that once inspired us."

WOW! This really caught my interest! I've read about the wonders of the amygdala and its influence over our most powerful emotions such as love, passion, fear, sadness and the memories associated with those emotions, that even produce physical symptoms such as increased heart rate, sweating, heavy breathing, and maybe a little stirring down below the waist (wink wink). Or maybe a LOT. ;) I remember a scene in one of my most favorite movies, "Someone Like You", where Ashley Judd's character Jane Goodall is heart-broken over her recent breakup with Ray (Greg Kinear). She basically goes off the deep end in her thirst for knowledge and emotional self-awareness where love, passion and loss are concerned and in that journey, learns about the amygdala (aka the erotic-nose-brain). The scene shows her in a crowded elevator with Ray (on the way to their office), a few people behind him (after they've broken up) and she kind of slinks up behind him (unbeknownst to him), closes her eyes and inhales his scent. The scene quickly cuts to to her imagining visiting a neurologist, asking to have her amygdala removed ASAP (the part that stores smell memories) because she can't seem to not have an all out break-down that stirs up all her emotions for him, when she smells fresh laundry and sweet vanilla in any combination. haha Who can't relate to THAT?! One little memory will send you off the deep end some days. Takes a long time before you can see something that reminds you of your lost love, and genuinely smile.

So this was just SO interesting to me, I decided to do a little bit of research on the amygdala. Here's some of what I came up with:

The seat of emotion in the human brain is referred to as the amygdala (pronounced a-mig-da-la). It is a small mass near the center of the brain shaped something like a chestnut. It is responsible for our 'base' emotions. By 'base' emotions I mean fear, excitement, passion and so on. However, the complexity of our emotions are not well understood. For instance, fear is a general response; heart rate increases, oxygen consumption increases, beta-endorphins are often released to reduce fatigue and pain - this is called the 'fight-or-flight' response. The body prepares to run or do battle. This response can be triggered by an arousal, such as a 600 pound angry meat eating gorilla foaming at the mouth (rabid) charging to attack you - would probably generate such a response in your body. However, some people experience these symptoms for no apparent reason - we call that a panic attack, and it is a condition that is generated for unknown reasons in the amygdala. We do know, however, that certain traits go along with people who experience panic attacks, or the worse form, general anxiety disorder, which is something like a 6 month long panic attack. These people exhibit a decrease in alpha production in the brain. Alpha waves are medium-slow waves that the brain produces a lot of as you are just falling to sleep. Healthy brains produce a certain amount of alpha waves while you are awake. An uptight brain produces very little. Often, anxiety is treated by 'teaching' a person's brain how to produce alpha waves.

Passion is a basic emotion also seated in the amygdala. Passion is necessary for reproduction. Our DNA just loves to replicate, thus, the amygdala makes boys chase girls and girls taunt boys so that our DNA can carry on. It is, after all, the DNA that lives forever, merely changing its 'body-coat' every generation.

In looking for info on the amygdala I read about another contradicting theory on the explanation of the emotions. Dan Winter of San Graal Multimedia, invented a device called "The Heartlink Interface." Simply put, it's a gizmo that locates your "soul". He did ten years of research to discover that the heart, rather than the brain is the "primary harmonic oscillator" of the body and he found that at the moment when a person feels deep "Compassionate Love," the heart is vibrating or "singing" at a specific harmonic frequency (.618hz). He then created Heartlink to teach you how to locate that frequency in the heart, and to learn how to sustain that vibration or "note" for prolonged periods of time. So, with practice, you can begin to feel oneness emerging from within. (As Penn and Teller say...WHAT THE F*CK?!)

Heartlink can be used by up to two people at a time so lovers can align their hearts in sustained interactive oneness, and it is also "shareable" on the internet (oh thank God...whew), making global interactive meditation possible for the first time. So you can imagine a time in the not too distant future, when millions of these "grok boxes" are in use and hearts around the world will be "singing" in unison, in deep Compassion like a global vibration (bzzzzzzzzzzz!)

So bloggies, the point in all this rambling, other than to actually blog (something ELSE Id been avoiding or putting off) is to share with you some of the neat things I found about how much connectedness (as well as bizarre theories) there really are between the physical and the emotional things we homosapiens experience. Your feelings and emotions can indeed be broken down into physical, scientific explanations, but that doesn't help you much in understanding sometimes, now does it? When it comes down to it though, I think Id rather take the pain in order to have the pleasure too. :) Too many times we wish our experiences and memories away, but look at what a big blob of wasted space you'd be without your amygdala! Hard to imagine a little nubbin in your brain, no bigger than a quarter, can cause alllllll this craziness we call life, love and the pursuit of happiness.

Now...on that note...anyone interested in hooking up the old "Heartlink" with thelauralee and feeling some oneness? You know...good, good GOOD, good vibrations!!! I'm talkin 'bout good vibrations! ;)