"THE TOOL KIT"

from the desk of Douglas McKee, "The Mental Mechanic"

Mental Mechanics: A Repair Manual is the beginning of a new Mental Health Paradigm for mankind. Because it is based on studying mentally healthy and greatly successful examples of what humans can be, Mental Mechanics avoids many of the pitfalls and incorrect conclusions that form the basis of the current paradigm of mental health treatment.

Studying successful people gives us tools we can use for most of them, if not all, encountered the same obstacles and problems in their lives that we do in ours. Many of them had really dark periods in their lives but that darkness within was dealt with, a solution was found, and they moved forward to become shining examples of what we all can be.

Drawing on current science, instead of history, we are able to understand there are great physical and psychological benefits to be gained from positive thinking. We can also document the actual as well as the potentially disastrous effects negative thinking has on the physical and mental health of individuals and groups.

The fundamental difference between Mental Mechanics and current psychotherapy is that Mental Mechanics teaches, not only that we can learn to control our thoughts and emotions, but how to do it. All successful people DID and do. If they could and do, there is no reason we can not.

Demystifying the human thought processes into sound bite explanations of the mechanical nature of the processes almost always offers immediate and obvious solutions for handling most of the problems we encounter.

It may sound obvious, and I sincerely hope it does, but if we allow our thoughts and emotions to be automatic and uncontrollable, our life becomes so as well. To the exact extent we believe our thoughts are correct and absolutes do we become less and less able to respond appropriately to life's habit of presenting us with an always changing script.

As a species, we must understand that 'knowledge" is a uniquely personal collection of experiences and emotions and, as such, can not be globally accurate. From higher and higher perspectives, events are seen and interpreted differently. For example, the "truth" of a first grader is very different than that of a sixth grader, and to the sixth grader the first grader's truth has become irrelevant.

Currently we ask patients to explain the conclusion to which they have somehow mentally arrived that is basically rendering them unable to progress. Mental Mechanics is much more interested in how to help them move forward. If a person is having difficulty functioning harmoniously in a specific area Mental Mechanics axiomatically looks for a "what to do next" scenario that is solution oriented rather than seek to understand the problem.

We each gather mental and emotional "tools" we use daily in meeting our needs and desires. "Are there better tools available to us for handling our knowledge in a valid and productive way, and how can we share them with everyone, our children especially," should be the quest of a true Mental Health system.

Mental Mechanics distinguishes "mind" from "brain" as there is now a huge body of scientific evidence supporting such a conclusion. That the philosophers, saints and mystics have always tried to teach us that same fact will not be overlooked. By accepting the distinction we are individually empowered to keep our knowledge in perspective.

It has become evident that humans think exclusively in metaphors. We actually perceive events in real time but filter according to our own experience and apply the meanings found in our own personal collection of metaphors. Mental Mechanics employs functional metaphors to assist in framing experiences and solutions in functional, non-damaging scenarios. All the best examples of humankind, including Krishna, Abraham, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Jesus and Mohammed were masters of the metaphor and used them extensively in their teachings, so we are in good company.

Most, if not all, of the metaphors employed will be to enhance a person's awareness of their empowered state. Even the choice to be disempowered is an expression of the capacity to make that choice. Our brains and bodies respond to that choice and express it to the best of their ability. Mental Mechanics seeks to explain that fact in a way that empowers one to take individual responsibility for their current situation and in doing so, accept and realize their innate authority to change the direction their life is headed.

Life is an expression of what we choose to do and we are the one who decides. 

Thoughts are only tools.

You are the Mechanic.

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