Daniel Davis, LMFT

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What do you believe about the news you watch?

September 29, 2020 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

I loved reading about United States History and Politics, even as a young child. In 1982, I began studying Political Science as a student at West Valley College. I was excited to take my first college course in Political Science.

My professor was Bill Whitney. He was very excitable and interesting, lecturing about elections during the depression, political parties and spy satellites. I told him that he had very interesting ideas but I thought he would be more effective if he cited more research.

Professor Whitney then accused me of being a spy for Dr. Karamitsos who was a Marxist. I was surprised. I knew about Communism, but I was only taking World History with Dr. Karamitsos. I barely knew her. I was a political moderate, sensible. Communism in Russia and China seems extreme to me. I was shocked and did not know how to respond to him.

Professor Whitney assigned a project analyzing the news media. I recorded on my Video Tape Machine, the national news for ABC, NBC, and CBS. It was during the presidential election of 1984 between President Ronald Reagan and Vice President Walter Mondale. Due to my analysis, I began to see how the news media covered certain stories and yet ignored others.

Moreover, I learned how much fear and anger often gets stirred up when we discuss politics. Political discourse is designed to evoke powerful affect and certain behavior.

Filed Under: Becoming Aware (Consciousness), Blog

Where can we find accurate information?

September 7, 2020 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

In college, I was very interested in the politics of Central America – El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico. Because I took a Spanish language class at San Jose State University, I discussed with my fellow students the news from Spanish language stations from Latin America. I came to realize that Spanish language television news from Mexico covered many stories from Nicaragua and El Salvador that CBS, NBC, and ABC news did not cover.

I asked my pastor at church, Father Clemens, if he knew someone at Santa Clara University who was connected with Central America. He introduced me to Father James Torrens who connected me with a newsletter from Costa Rica about Central American Politics and life.

Upon receiving the newsletter monthly, I was shocked how dramatically different the United States television networks ignored news from Central America. At the time, Nicaragua and El Salvador were very important political stories, because they were debated by many US Congressmen. Yet many relevant facts about Latin America were not being covered by the US television networks.

I was reading a writer from Mexico describe the United States and he wrote that “Americans see the world like we have mirrors at our borders.” Americans see the rest of the world like we see the United States, even though the world is vastly different – social customs, poverty, infrastructure, media, and government. Americans do not seem to distinguish our own country from other countries which are vastly different. I think Americans find it very difficult to see the world accurately, because the news media is not presenting vital information about the world. Moreover, I do not think the news media objectively and fairly covers domestic issues in the United States. How objective are we as Americans?

Filed Under: Becoming Aware (Consciousness), Blog

The Blind Leading the Blind

July 20, 2020 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

What secrets are being kept by government from its own citizens?

 

Who does government serve, if not its citizens?  In 2002, my mom filed a lawsuit in another legal dispute.  My mom said her lawyer, Jean Starcevich, requested a recommendation for a doctor to do a psychiatric evaluation. I recommended Dr. Daniel Amen who is a neurologist and psychiatrist.  My mom flew to Orange County, California, USA and had a SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computer Tomography).  This is a type of brain scan of blood flow in the brain.

 

Upon returning from Southern California, my mom told me the Amen Clinic staff had informed her that she had poor overall blood flow in her brain and the appearance of bumps and waves in the surface area of her brain which is indicative of poor brain function.  Therefore, she was at risk for neurological problems later in life.

 

My mom was born in Omak, Washington, a small town in north central Washington State.  My dad was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Yet my parents were part of an experiment to determine how much radiation a human being could tolerate before getting sick.  (Please check the documentation below if you wish to evaluate the veracity of these claims.)

 

The Amen Clinic staff had told her that radiation was released in Hanford, Washington, USA (from 1944 to 1972).  My dad served during World War II in the Marshall Islands as a United States Marine.  Sometime after his honorable discharge from the Marine Corp, my dad began working at the General Electric plant which produced plutonium for the United States government.  My mom and dad were married in 1956 in the Hanford, Washington area.

 

In 1981, my father died of lymphatic cancer and its complications at 57 years old.  My mother had a stroke in 2006 and suffered terribly from seizures.  During the last ten years of her life, she was catatonic at times, starring off into space and unable to speak.  My mom was an gifted concert violinist in college and later became an executive administrator for high technology companies.  After her stroke in 2006, she bravely endured her unbearable suffering with dignity and humor until her death in 2018.  No one should have to endure such pain for such highly unethical secret research.

 

The staff experimenting with releasing radiation from 1944 to 1972 in Washington State was instructed to keep as few records as possible.

 

References

 

Wald, M. L., (1986, October 24), Northwest Plutonium Plant Had Big Radioactive Emissions in 40s and 50s, Section A, Page 20.

 

The Release of Radioactive Materials from Hanford: 1944-1972. (1997, January 24). Retrieved from http://www.doh.wa.gov/hanford/publication/history/release.html

Filed Under: Becoming Aware (Consciousness), Blog

Are You Awake?

July 12, 2020 By Daniel Davis, LMFT 2 Comments

This is how I can chose to wake up!  A meme is an idea.   A meme is like a virus; This is a metaphor.  We have learned a great deal about viruses in 2020.  Advertisers, politicians and religious leaders use memes to rapidly spread ideas.

Viruses can be highly contagious and even deadly.  Memes can be constructive or destructive.  These ideas can make our lives dramatically better or lead us to disease and death.

Memes affect our subconscious mind.  90-95 percent of our thinking is subconscious, below the level of conscious awareness.  When I tie my shoes, I do not think about it.  I just do it.  This is because after so many years, I have acquired the skills subconsciously.  I can think about other things when I tie my shoes.

The subconscious mind develops after a baby is conceived until its seventh birthday.  The subconscious mind is like a five year old’s thinking, very concrete and living in the present.  It is simple and prefers clarity.

Memes are designed with issues of sex and survival as well as protecting of those we love.  These are the forces that move our subconscious mind.

Many of us are manipulated without even realizing that we are being influenced.  Have your ever hear of subliminal advertising?  Why would successful corporations spend millions of dollars on such strategies, if they do not work?

When we have a bad habit, we have difficulty stopping a behavior.  I may do something over and over, even though I do not want to consciously.  I make a New Year’s Resolution to eat better.  Yet I find myself eating Panda Express Honey Walnut Shrimp.  We are programmed to make choices with memes.

Most importantly, we can rewrite our subconscious programming.  Memory Reconsolidation scientifically proves that we can change.  We can rewire our brain.  We can change our subconscious programming.  We have a choice.  We can wake up.  We can be objective and empowered.  This is exciting!

Please watch the following video I filmed about EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques):

Filed Under: Becoming Aware (Consciousness), Blog, Consciousness

Genius and Intelligence

November 21, 2017 By Daniel Davis, LMFT 1 Comment

What is your gift?  What can you do that no other human being can do just like you?”

“There is nothing special about me!” said the character, Jack Lucas, in the film, The Fisher King.  “I control my own destiny.”

Life is mysterious. Yet I believe that we all have a certain genius. The word genius comes from the root of gignere which was to ‘beget.’  We bring forth or give birth to something, according to this definition of genius.

In the late 16th century, the word genius had evolved to mean natural ability.  By the mid 17th century, genius came to mean ‘exceptional natural ability.”

The evolution of the word genius seems to reflect our cultural perception that we are not all gifted as individuals.  There are special people who are different than average humans, like you and me.

It is my experience that everyone has unique gifts.  School can be confusing, because of its emphasis on language and mathematical ability.  Often we see a person’s I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) as a number which defines whether she or he has genius or not.  Further, our I.Q. is too often seen as fixed and never changing.

Alfred Binet originally developed the intelligence test to identify which French students would have difficulty in school to assist them.  It is ironic that we now use the concept of IQ to label and shame others.  IQ scores have a long history of gender and cultural bias.

Fortunately, Howard Gardner developed the ideas of Multiple Intelligence.  He asserted that there are nine different types of intelligence:

1.  language (Verbal-Linguistic)
2.  mathematics (and logic)
3.  science (Naturalist)
4.  artistic (Visual-Spatial)
5.  athletic (Bodily/Kinesthetic)
6.  musical
7.  interpersonal (social)
8.  intrapersonal (self-awareness)
9.  existential (meaning of life)

Your IQ score will not reveal your creativity, your common sense, or your social skills.  The singer, Lady Gaga has high Musical Intelligence.  The tennis player, Serena Williams has great physical abilities.  The teacher, Thich Nhat Hahn has high intrapersonal Intelligence.

Yet one does not need to be famous to have genius.  I think each of us has unique gifts with which we are born.  It is our opportunity and privilege to develop these talents.  The saddest thing is when families and schools fail to recognize the uniqueness of each child, leaving one to feel insignificant, powerless, or unlovable.

If we work hard at developing our natural gifts, then we are able to experience the joy of expressing our gifts in sophisticated ways.  Richard Bolles writes, “where your great passion meets the great need of the world, that is where your work lies.”

May each of us have the courage to take the heroic journey of individuation.  May we work and struggle to develop the natural gifts with which we are born.

Charles Baudelaire writes that “genius is childhood recaptured.”  A healthy relationship with our inner child may assist us in developing our unique talents in love and work.  Please watch this video by Judith Peterson,M.A., on the Inner Child:

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Filed Under: Becoming Aware (Consciousness), Blog, Career Development, Dialogue Tagged With: “What Color is Your Parachute?, ability, Alfred Binet, artistic, athletic, average, Bodily, book, character, Charles Baudelaire, exceptional, existential, Fisher King, Genius, Howard Gardner, humans, I.Q., intelligence, Intelligence Quotient, interpersonal, intrapersonal, Jack Lucas, Kinesthetic, Lady Gaga, language, Linguistic, logic, mathematics, meaning of life, movie, Multiple, Musical, natural, Naturalist, Richard Bolles, school, Science, self-awareness, Serena Williams, social, Spatial, special people, The Fisher King, Thich Nhat Hahn, Verbal, Visual

Do You See What I See?

February 7, 2017 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

We assume we are so evolved in our modern world. We have amazing technology – iPhones, Tesla cars, Japanese trains that speed at 374 miles per hour. Yet as humans, we remain fragile. We are vulnerable to over-reaction and self-deception. “When I fall in love, it will be forever. And I’ll never fall in love again,” sings Nat King Cole.

Falling in love can feel like having my feet swept out from under me. I may see my beloved as flawless. All I want to talk about are the astonishing qualities of my beloved. As I talk about my beloved, I feel high – like I am on cocaine. Such is the power of projection.

Our self-deception can enable us to take on worthy challenges, like education, marriage, or parenting. Yet our ambitious decisions can also lead to chaos, disease, and even death.

We may believe in modern life that we are free of the superstitions of our ancestors, yet this 2 million year old archaic mind is present in each of us. It will operate unconsciously in our lives. If we fail to honor our archaic mind, the cost is very high. Yet if we do integrate the wisdom of our unconscious mind, our lives are enriched beyond measure.

Please watch this video by Manuel Costa on projection:

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Filed Under: Blog, Projection Tagged With: 2 million year old, 300 miles per hour, A Path to Life’s Fullness: A New Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus, ambitious, ancestors, archaic mind, cars, chaos, cocaine, death, decisions, disease, education, evolved, Falling in love, iPhones, Manuel Costa, marriage, modern world, Nat King Cole, objectivity, parenting, projection, self-deception, song, superstitions, technology, Tesla, trains, unconscious mind, When I fall in love

Synchronicity

January 24, 2017 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

What is real? Certainly not a dream. I was on a cruise ship on the 30th of December 2008 when I had a dream: a cat is walking down the street as it is carrying a dead animal in its teeth.

When I left the ship on the 2nd of January, I checked my messages. I learned that my dog, Abbie had died on December 30th of 2008. I loved my dog, Abbie. She was a wonderful companion during a difficult part of my life.

Many people tell me in confidence about having such experiences after a person or animal close to them passes away. Yet people rarely talk about such morbid matters in polite conversation.

It is just a coincidence, one might say in response to a tale such as mine. The science of Isaac Newton from the 17th century dominates biology and physics. From this point of view, the universe is assumed to be mechanical.  Human beings are viewed as separate from the universe as a whole.

It is our personal experiences of synchronicity that confirm that we are connected to the great web of the universe.  We are all part of the quantum field.

From the years 1909 until 1913 Albert Einstein was a dinner guest of Dr. Carl G. Jung on several occasions. At the time, Einstein was developing his theory of relativity. Jung was captivated by Einstein’s ideas that time as well as space are relative.   For years, Jung pondered that relationship between time and space to the human psyche. Dr. Jung also was trying to make sense of the baffling coincidences his clients reported to him in therapy. He also had the coincidences in his own life.

It was not until 1930, when Jung finally used the term “synchronicity” publicly. In a letter on Einstein and synchronicity, Jung wrote: “It was Einstein who first started me off thinking about a possible relativity of time as well as space, and their psychic synchronicity”.

Dr. Jung defines synchronicity as “the coincidence between an inner image or hunch breaking into one’s mind, and the occurrence of an outer event conveying the same meaning at approximately the same time.”

Please watch this video from Manuel Costa on synchronicity:

Blog 62

Filed Under: Blog, Synchronicity Tagged With: 17th century, Abbie, Albert Einstein, biology, Carl G. Jung, Coincidence, Dog, Dream, great web, human psyche, hunch, inner image, Isaac Newton, Laso Apso, Manuel Costa, mind, physics, quantum field, space, Synchronicity, Time, universe

Dreams

January 17, 2017 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

My dreams never cease to dazzle me with the insight, emotionality, and creativity that are hidden within them. I awake with such gold and jewels. My life is more beautiful, because of the time I take to examine my dream life. Our dreams are trying to convey inner truths to us. There is a reality to our psychic life that can be transformative when we embrace it.

Yet where I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, Virtual Reality is highly valued. Science is our religion and technology is our god. Sadly, our dreams are forgotten and discarded as useless trash. When we have the courage to explore our dreams with wisdom and respect, then valuable wisdom can be gained.

Carl Jung said at the end of his life, “I had to understand that I was unable to make the people see what I am after. I am practically alone. . . There are a few who understand this and that, but almost nobody sees the whole….I have failed in my foremost task: to open people’s eyes to the fact that man has a soul and there is a buried treasure in the field and that our religion and philosophy are in a lamentable state.”

Please watch this video by Manuel Costa about dreams:

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Filed Under: Blog, Dreams Tagged With: Carl Jung, creativity, dreams, emotionality, God, inner truths, insight, Manuel Costa, philosophy, religion, San Francisco Bay Area, Science, Silicon Valley, soul, technology, Virtual Reality, wisdom

The Self

January 10, 2017 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

“It is not the end of the world,” my dad would say. Often, the crises we perceive as so ominous are not the end of our life as we know it. Sometimes an event, such as disease, divorce, or death can deliver a blow so severe that our life changes. Life can then seem meaningless.

Yet amidst this devastation, we may find something of value. Carl Jung said, “There is nothing so bad that some good can’t come of it.”

That which breaks our hearts, makes it larger. In this breaking, we may find a mysterious wholeness or – in other words – The Self.

The Self is the whole or total personality. A whole personality embraces the unconscious part of our mind which includes our spiritual center. A connection between our self awareness (also called “ego”) and this spiritual (psychic) center is of vital importance for our health and well-being, asserts John Sanford.

Please watch this video by Manuel Costa about the Self and living with a sense of purpose:

Blog 60

Filed Under: Balancing Your Brain, Becoming Aware (Consciousness), Whole Brain State Tagged With: Carl Jung, death, devastation, disease, divorce, ego, Event, John Sanford, Manuel Costa, psychic center, Self, self-awareness, spiritual center, the Self, total personality, tragedy, value, whole personality

Merry Christmas

December 27, 2016 By Daniel Davis, LMFT Leave a Comment

What comes to mind when you hear, “Merry Christmas?”  I remember growing up in the Santa Clara Valley in Northern California, USA, and experiencing the wonder of Christmas as a young child.  I remember going to midnight Mass at Queen of Apostles Catholic Church in San Jose a five minutes’ walk from our family home.  I remember my dad’s voice singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah.  Upon returning home, my brother and sister and I, open a present from our mom and dad on Christmas Eve before we go to bed.  We awake early on a dark and cold Christmas morning to open more presents next to our Christmas tree under the bright lights of my father’s eight millimeter (8mm) camera.

What is Christmas?  Jesus being born in a stable in the small town of Bethlehem in the Middle Eastern part of the Roman Empire over two thousand years ago?  The angel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary and announces:  “Do not be afraid.  Mary, for you have found favor with God.  And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus.  He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High.”

What does this mean to you?  How do you feel when you hear these words?  They may be vibrant and meaningful.  Yet they also may be lifeless.  Moreover, these ancient words (translated into English) may bring up rage or fear.  As we encounter this story about the first Christmas, we have an opportunity to better understand ourselves as well as our world. There are over 2.2 billion people who are part of Christianity.  Yet religion is different from spirituality.  Our internal experience is a core part of our spirituality.  This is a vital part of what we find meaningful in our lives.  If we choose, it is possible to have a different sense of the meaning of Christmas by finding a new relationship to the story of the birth of Jesus.

Manuel Costa has been leading seminars about the teachings of Jesus for many decades with the Guild for Psychological Studies.  Please watch this video and learn more about how to possibly see from a new life giving perspective:

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Filed Under: Becoming Aware (Consciousness), Blog, Spirituality Tagged With: 8mm camera, A Path to Life’s Fullness: A New Perspective on the Teachings of Jesus, angel, bed, being, Bethlehem, book, born in a stable, California, Christianity, Christmas Eve, Christmas morning, eight millimeter, Gabriel, Hallelujah Chorus, Handel’s Messiah, Jesus, Manuel Costa, Merry Christmas, Middle Eastern, midnight Mass, music, presents, Queen of Apostles Catholic Church, religion, Roman Empire, San Jose, Santa Clara Valley, Silicon Valley, singing, spirituality, two thousand years ago, Virgin Mary, voice

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About Daniel Davis, LMFT

I create an environment where clients experience their unique significance, authentic empowerment, and profound acceptance and collaborate with clients to identify solutions to their current crises. For more information on how I can help you, contact me today by calling 408-249-0014 or emailing info@danieldavislmft.com. I look forward to speaking with you! Read More…

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Daniel Davis, M.A., LMFT
Counselor in Santa Clara, CA
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