Our social engagement system

A Harvard study, nearly 80 years old, has proved that embracing community helps us live longer and be happier. Robert Waldinger*, the director of the study said: “The surprising finding is that our relationships and how happy we are in our relationships has a powerful influence on our health". 

I don't know why this is surprising. We all know, and feel, when we don't have connection, community or love in our lives. It is one of the greatest poverties and traumas we can endure. We only have to look around the world to see the devastating effects of traumatic ruptures in families and communities.

Stephen Porges' Polyvagal Theory has shown us just how important social engagement is for our health. The social engagement system is the newest evolution of nervous system. It enables us to connect, engage and feel loved in ways that have helped us evolve, live longer and stay healthy. The soft warm gaze of a mother, face to face with her baby, using soothing sounds is a perfect example of what social engagement can accomplish: secure attachment.

We cannot do without social engagement and the powers that be know this. Solitary confinement is one of the worst punishments doled out in prisons because they know it brings a person to their knees. Their mental and physical health suffers terribly which is exactly why it is used.

What's the difference between that and world governments forcing lockdowns, social distancing and mask wearing for a virus with a survival rate of 99.99%? There have been more suicides, cases of anxiety, depression and trauma because of this strategy. Not to mention the effects it has on our physical health and immune systems. 

We need to ask, are lockdowns and social distancing being used in the same way that solitary confinement is used? Are they being used to bring us to our knees? We cannot say we live in democracies if we cannot have an open discussion about how such a huge, forced change has affected the way we live our lives.

As Ali Zeck said in her post today: "You cannot be in the arena of mental health today and affect change or truly help people without discussing the psychological abuse and gaslighting that humans on this planet are currently undergoing, otherwise you’re participating in the gaslighting by not talking about the elephant in the room, so large that he’s cutting off everyone’s oxygen".

“Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism" ~ Robert Waldinger

*Robert Waldinger is a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School.

The trauma of covid19

During the lockdown, I have seen many mental health professionals question the mental health of those who question authority. I think this is appalling and anything but professional or trauma informed.

There is a big difference between being authoritative and authoritarian and all governments are being tyrannical and authoritarian, except Sweden, in their handling of the corona virus as far as I can see. 

According to mercola.com, "Based on deaths per capita, the global average death rate for COVID-19 is 0.009%. The average person’s chance of surviving this disease is 99.991%".

How on earth can lockdown, mandatory mask wearing, suicide, depression, trauma, people dying alone, people losing their jobs, houses and who don't have enough money to feed themselves be justified if 99.991% of us are surviving covid19? It cannot be justified. 

We need to protect our vulnerable, not just from covid19, but from anything that can harm them and the same goes for all 7.8 billion of us. The PR spin we are being subjected to, is just that, as the cases of disgraceful nursing home deaths all over the world shows.

We have locked down for covid19, why haven't we locked down for the flu? The flu kills more people than covid19, as revised statistics are showing. If we heard the fatality statistics for any infection or disease, day after day after day, non-stop, we would be afraid of getting it. This fear mongering for covid19 cannot be justified in any way, except to control people.

This is one of the most traumatic times that human beings have ever faced. This affects the entire world, all 7.8 billion of us. Our basic human rights to informed consent, bodily sovereignty and medical freedom are being seriously infringed and taken away, bit by bit. Death by a thousand cuts, unless we take a stand.

It is my view that to question authority is in fact a really healthy thing to do and is part of the individuation process that Carl Jung talks about. 

My heart breaks for the children having to wear masks all day in school, have their temperatures taken and to socially distance. This is no way for children to grow up. The war on viruses, like the war on terror, drugs, cancer, will not work. These 'wars' are ludicrous. Humans have evolved over millions of years with viruses, bacteria and so on. Governments (and corporations) are teaching our children to be afraid of their own and others' bodies, and I am just appalled at this. It is criminal.

As far as I'm concerned, there are no experts, only people with expertise. People who refer to themselves as experts have put themselves on a pedestal as if to say they know it all. No one knows it all. People with expertise realise they are always learning, the learning journey never ends. 

The people with expertise who I am learning from on this issue are Jack Kruse, Kelly Brogan, Zach Bush, Ben Lynch, Joseph Mercola, Joseph Yi, Dolores Cahill, Christiane Northrup, Andrew Kaufman, Robert F. Jennedy Jr and amazing politicians taking a stand for truth like Sara Cunial in Italy, to name a few. Watch her address the Italian parliament, it is inspiring https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_9InUJC2VOo&frags=pl%2Cwn

Legal exemptions for not wearing face masks in Ireland

Please watch this video by barrister, Tracey O'Mahony, on reasonable excuses you can legally avail of not to wear a mask in Ireland. You can download the forms she provides, under the video. You will not get this information from gov.ie, though they do give reasons why some people don't have to wear a mask. I'm sharing this because I believe that it can be very traumatic for some people to have to wear masks and also because I am an advocate for bodily sovereignty and medical freedom in all cases.