Only 20% of college graduates know their 3-pound coconut is fueled by blood sugar (glucose) and oxygen. How many know about 25% of all the oxygen we inhale is required by our brain?
And when we study, learn and remember, our left-and right hemispheres must have an additional 10% fuel. Not eating breakfast causes early fatigue and a lowering of our cognitive skills; lousy grades on exams too.
What Helps
A glass of orange juice produces the glucose, and a quickie breathing exercise provides the extra oxygen. Research using fMRIs offers proof of an excitement (electrical activity) of our prefrontal lobes, (Broca and Wernicke areas) for learning, analysis and information processing by these supplemental doses of oxygen.
Alternate Nostril Breathing
Review: your left hemisphere controls the right-half of your body, and righty runs the left half of your corpus. It is reversed because of chiasma (crossing over), also known as decussation.
You got two-nostrils and breathing exclusively through your left-nostril accesses your right-hemisphere (brain), and exclusively breathing through your right-nostril awakens your left-hemisphere (brain).
Finally, your left-brain (right-half of body) specializes in verbal skills including language, speech, logic (math) and reason. Your right-brain (left-half of your body) runs your instincts and emotions, pattern-recognition and spatial skills.
Profound statement: electrical activity of the brain is greater on the side opposite the inhaling nostril.
Two-Minute Exercise
a) Please sit with your feet flat on the floor and relax.
b) Close your eyes and close off your right nostril using the side of your right thumb and inhale through your left nostril only.
c) Inhale slowly to a count of four and hold your breath until you switch hands and close off your left nostril (with your left thumb) and exhale (slowly) to a count of eight through your right nostril.
d) Now use your left thumb to close off your left nostril and inhale to a count of four through your right nostril. Hold your breath and switch hands to close your right nostril and exhale to a count of eight through your left nostril.
e) Open your eyes, stand up and repeat this exercise four more times for each nostril.
Repeat this exercise (left and right nostrils) a total of eight times for each nostril in order to oxygenate both hemispheres for synchronization (in sync). Balancing your two hemispheres produces deep relaxation and elimination of stress, and an alignment between cognitive functioning and optimal motivation (emotion).
When should you do the Alternate Nostril exercise?
Answer: before studying, prior to an exam, and ten-minutes before sitting for an interview or making a verbal presentation.
Does it work?
Feedback from thousands of graduates recommend the alternate nostril breathing exercise to their children, associates and Speedlearners. To install it as a habit spend two-minutes daily for 21 consecutive days; it is well-worth the effort.
Dopamine
In the brain is a neurotransmitter called dopamine; it is a chemical messenger similar to adrenaline exciting the Sympathetic Nervous System. So what?
It causes emotional responses, controls movement and the ability to experience pleasure. Dopamine is directly involved in our ability to become motivated and seek rewards. Want better learning and long term memory? Activate dopamine.
Humans have two core principles – seek pleasure and avoid pain; it is how we are hardwired. Studying, learning and memory occur because we are seeking a reward following our interests or curiosity, or to avoid punishment (failure).
Speedlearning students are interested in dopamine because we know that effort actually creates ability. We are not hardwired with an IQ at birth, it expands with experience.
It is our will power (effort) exhibited in determination and persistence toward a goal that decides our abilities. If you excite your brain to seek a learning goal, it must be motivated with a purpose (reward, pay-off) or it slacks off. Your abilities expand through effort and contracts with inactivity.
Expectation
In school your personal expectations control up to 34% of the final result. If you think you cannot, you will be proven right; those who come to learn with a powerful expectation will often experience it beyond the explainable.
Fifty years of research indicates the expectation of your instructor with regard to your learning success is emotionally transferred to your mind. Your own beliefs about your capabilities and the amount of your effort to succeed propel your grades and exam results.
Personal beliefs and expectations about your ability to excel, help produce up to 49% of your final result. It is not our opinion, but based on neuro-scientific studies beginning in the 1980s to date.
If you believe you supposed to offer your opinion and judgment, ask questions of the instructor, and be critical of generalizations, you will engage your brain in learning and not daydream.
Social proof is following the example of folks around you. We are more comfortable with conformity than being unique when in learning situations. Believing in the ability of your intelligence to expand (develop) based on the experience is not only a fact, but the prerequisite for personal IQ growth.
Endwords
Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. President said, We all require pig-headed persistence and determination in the face of stubborn resistance and adversity. We believe it is the power of your mental force (will power and effort) that permits you to triumph or fall under the ax.
Your innate intelligence may not kick in until you push hard and smash it in the slats a few times. Often we must fear the consequences to activate our Effort (volition). A business truism is the fear of loss is greater than the desire for profit.
Everyone needs his or her own toolkit of how to learn plus the ability and effort to succeed. Your ability is a brain filled with skills constantly expanding through use (use it or lose it). No effort, no improved abilities. Effort and ability are twins that must be equally nourished.
If you believe in UFOs it is not a sign of instability, but non-conformity. If you think UFOs are a parody from Saturday Night Live, based on your critical thinking (no evidence after sixty years), you are exercising your brain.
Both results indicate conscious analysis based on your abilities and effort. It is not what you think; it is that you expect answers you can produce. Remember the team of effort, ability and positive expectation. They form your beliefs and produce the results.
See ya,
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
copyright © 2007
H. Bernard Wechsler
http://www.speedlearning.org
hbw@speedlearning.org
Author of Speed Reading For Professionals, published by Barron's; partner of Evelyn Wood, creator of speed reading, graduating 2 million, including the White House staffs of four U.S. Presidents.
Interviewed by Wall Street Journal and Fortune Magazine
http://www.speedlearning.org
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=H._Bernard_Wechsler
Thursday, February 8, 2007
The Pursuit of Happyness
By Rick Cockrum
As many of you know, Lady Glynis and I own and operate a neighborhoodmovie theatre. This past weekend we showed The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith and his son, Jaden Christopher. This isn’t meant as a review of the movie. That isn’t what I do here. It is meant to encourage you to see the film as an illustration of beliefs in action.
The Pursuit of Happyness is based on the true life story of Chris Gardner and takes place in the early 1980s. Chris is selling bone density scanners, and not doing very well. His wife is working double shifts as a waitress. They have a five year old son. At the beginning of the movie Chris tells us he didn’t meet his father until he was 28 years old. He is determined that his son will have a father. Money problems are causing tensions between he and his wife.
One day Chris is watching people walk in and out of a stock agency. He is amazed that almost everyone he sees look happy. He decides selling stock is what he wants to do. He finds out that Dean Witter has a competitive internship program to train, and hire, new brokers. Only one person out of each class is hired. He applies for, and gets, a spot in the program.
As he goes through the program his finances steadily deteriorate. His wife leaves him. He loses his car. He loses his apartment. He loses the motel room to which he and his son move. They end up sleeping in a shelter. Some nights the shelter is full. They sleep on the subway. They sleep in bathrooms. He’s jailed for parking tickets he didn’t pay. TheIRS garnishes the money he owes for back taxes from his bank account. During the day he continues to learn life as a stock broker. On the weekends he tries to sell the scanners. He sells his blood. He makes just enough to keep food in their mouths, and his son in day care while he’s working.
Finally, at the end of the movie, Chris is chosen to become a broker at Dean Ritter. In an epilogue we learn he started his own firm, which he sold part of for several million dollars.
There are a lot of important things in this movie, none of which include Chris becoming rich. That isn’t his goal. Chris has two main goals - to be a father to his son, and to be happy. Everything he does is driven by these two goals.
In one scene that especially stands out Chris and his son are playing basketball. The little boy talks about becoming a professional ball player. Chris tells him he wasn’t very good playing basketball, so the boy shouldn’t count on being very good, since kids usually have similar talents to their parents. The boy is instantly deflated. Chris thinks about what he’s just done to his son and tells him
Don’t ever let somebody tell you you can’t do something… If you got a dream, you gotta protect it…People can’t do something themselves, they tell you you can’t do it. If you want something, go get it.
There aren’t any villains in this movie. It doesn’t tell a story of good guys and bad guys. Chris’ wife isn’t a villain for leaving. She wants security, and does what she thinks she has to do to get it. Her actions are as much a result of her beliefs as Chris’ are of his. What it tells is the story of how a man created his world.
The important point isn’t that Chris became rich. The point is that he held onto his dream and he pursued it. He didn’t just fantasize about it. When opportunities came to take him closer to his goal, he seized them. He realized that life speaks to us in nuances, and was aware enough of the nuances to act on them. At one point Chris’ son tells the old story about a man being stuck during a flood. He prays to god for help. A boat comes and the man refuses it, saying god will save him. Another boat comes. Again, the man refuses it. He dies in the flood. Angry, he berates god, asking why he didn’t save him. God says he tried to, sending boats to take him to safety. Chris pays attention to the boats.
A lot of bad things happen to Chris and his son. He deals with it and goes on. Life isn’t about everything you create being all hunky-dory (Does anyone know where that phrase came from?). Life is about owning yourself, owning your circumstances, and paying attention.
Do you own your life? Do you know what you want? Are you paying attention to the boats that come your way?
Update: Originally I had named the brokerage as Dean Ritter. It should actually by Dean Witter.
Source: http://www.shardsofconsciousness.com/2007/01/the-pursuit-of-happyiness/
As many of you know, Lady Glynis and I own and operate a neighborhoodmovie theatre. This past weekend we showed The Pursuit of Happyness, starring Will Smith and his son, Jaden Christopher. This isn’t meant as a review of the movie. That isn’t what I do here. It is meant to encourage you to see the film as an illustration of beliefs in action.
The Pursuit of Happyness is based on the true life story of Chris Gardner and takes place in the early 1980s. Chris is selling bone density scanners, and not doing very well. His wife is working double shifts as a waitress. They have a five year old son. At the beginning of the movie Chris tells us he didn’t meet his father until he was 28 years old. He is determined that his son will have a father. Money problems are causing tensions between he and his wife.
One day Chris is watching people walk in and out of a stock agency. He is amazed that almost everyone he sees look happy. He decides selling stock is what he wants to do. He finds out that Dean Witter has a competitive internship program to train, and hire, new brokers. Only one person out of each class is hired. He applies for, and gets, a spot in the program.
As he goes through the program his finances steadily deteriorate. His wife leaves him. He loses his car. He loses his apartment. He loses the motel room to which he and his son move. They end up sleeping in a shelter. Some nights the shelter is full. They sleep on the subway. They sleep in bathrooms. He’s jailed for parking tickets he didn’t pay. TheIRS garnishes the money he owes for back taxes from his bank account. During the day he continues to learn life as a stock broker. On the weekends he tries to sell the scanners. He sells his blood. He makes just enough to keep food in their mouths, and his son in day care while he’s working.
Finally, at the end of the movie, Chris is chosen to become a broker at Dean Ritter. In an epilogue we learn he started his own firm, which he sold part of for several million dollars.
There are a lot of important things in this movie, none of which include Chris becoming rich. That isn’t his goal. Chris has two main goals - to be a father to his son, and to be happy. Everything he does is driven by these two goals.
In one scene that especially stands out Chris and his son are playing basketball. The little boy talks about becoming a professional ball player. Chris tells him he wasn’t very good playing basketball, so the boy shouldn’t count on being very good, since kids usually have similar talents to their parents. The boy is instantly deflated. Chris thinks about what he’s just done to his son and tells him
Don’t ever let somebody tell you you can’t do something… If you got a dream, you gotta protect it…People can’t do something themselves, they tell you you can’t do it. If you want something, go get it.
There aren’t any villains in this movie. It doesn’t tell a story of good guys and bad guys. Chris’ wife isn’t a villain for leaving. She wants security, and does what she thinks she has to do to get it. Her actions are as much a result of her beliefs as Chris’ are of his. What it tells is the story of how a man created his world.
The important point isn’t that Chris became rich. The point is that he held onto his dream and he pursued it. He didn’t just fantasize about it. When opportunities came to take him closer to his goal, he seized them. He realized that life speaks to us in nuances, and was aware enough of the nuances to act on them. At one point Chris’ son tells the old story about a man being stuck during a flood. He prays to god for help. A boat comes and the man refuses it, saying god will save him. Another boat comes. Again, the man refuses it. He dies in the flood. Angry, he berates god, asking why he didn’t save him. God says he tried to, sending boats to take him to safety. Chris pays attention to the boats.
A lot of bad things happen to Chris and his son. He deals with it and goes on. Life isn’t about everything you create being all hunky-dory (Does anyone know where that phrase came from?). Life is about owning yourself, owning your circumstances, and paying attention.
Do you own your life? Do you know what you want? Are you paying attention to the boats that come your way?
Update: Originally I had named the brokerage as Dean Ritter. It should actually by Dean Witter.
Source: http://www.shardsofconsciousness.com/2007/01/the-pursuit-of-happyiness/
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
This is "conscious living"
Most people go through life accepting what comes their way. They believe that life just happens. John Lennon spoke for many people with his lyric, "Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans." Mighty disempowering thought. The thing is life is what you create it to be. Your belief system can be changed if you want to change it. The way to change your beliefs is to change your daily living patterns, i.e., your life style. One way to powerfully uncover your hidden beliefs about yourself and see your view of the world that keeps you stuck in monotony is to ask yourself questions. Health and happiness natually follow once you become the master asker in your life
Creating happiness does not involve a "how-to" system as much as it involves a "wake up and live" a conscious life style. Everything that exists in the world starts as thought. Every invention was first an idea in someone's imagination. Every action you take or fail to take was first something you thought about. Thought creates the world. Thought creates each person's individual world. What you think about events determines how you respond to events.
Imagine how differently you would experience each day with the knowledge you have control over how you respond to life events. What happens happens. Interestingly, in Japan there is one word that means both crisis and opportunity. The same event is a disaster to one person and an opportunity to another. How you choose to act or not act is up to you. Period. Life was never meant to be difficult. People, with their thoughts, make it hard or easy. How do you see life? Do you know that struggle is optional?
Ask yourself why you stay stuck in mediocrity or even worse?
Pay attention to your thoughts.. Stop and ask yourself what you were thinking when you experienced a certain emotion or reacted a certain way. You will uncover your unconscious way of life. When you experience the same events make a conscious choice to act differently. Ah! That is how simple it is to be in control and live on purpose. Life does not simply happen to us. Life happens to us exactly as we choose to experience it.
Source: http://greatselfesteem.blogspot.com/
Creating happiness does not involve a "how-to" system as much as it involves a "wake up and live" a conscious life style. Everything that exists in the world starts as thought. Every invention was first an idea in someone's imagination. Every action you take or fail to take was first something you thought about. Thought creates the world. Thought creates each person's individual world. What you think about events determines how you respond to events.
Imagine how differently you would experience each day with the knowledge you have control over how you respond to life events. What happens happens. Interestingly, in Japan there is one word that means both crisis and opportunity. The same event is a disaster to one person and an opportunity to another. How you choose to act or not act is up to you. Period. Life was never meant to be difficult. People, with their thoughts, make it hard or easy. How do you see life? Do you know that struggle is optional?
Ask yourself why you stay stuck in mediocrity or even worse?
Pay attention to your thoughts.. Stop and ask yourself what you were thinking when you experienced a certain emotion or reacted a certain way. You will uncover your unconscious way of life. When you experience the same events make a conscious choice to act differently. Ah! That is how simple it is to be in control and live on purpose. Life does not simply happen to us. Life happens to us exactly as we choose to experience it.
Source: http://greatselfesteem.blogspot.com/
Monday, February 5, 2007
How do you calm yourself?
Yesterday, I was Angry at something. And stressed.
I took some deep breaths and tried to calm myself. Let the anger flow away.
After some time, it just became a mild irritation but an irritation nonetheless.
So this got me thinking. I want me to be happy. Not only do I want to be happy but I want to be conscious of my thoughts and every action I take.
There are many times when I feel gloomy which I don't want. It is easy to think negative thoughts and as a result to be negative.
I need to consciously act on positive thoughts.
I took some deep breaths and tried to calm myself. Let the anger flow away.
After some time, it just became a mild irritation but an irritation nonetheless.
So this got me thinking. I want me to be happy. Not only do I want to be happy but I want to be conscious of my thoughts and every action I take.
There are many times when I feel gloomy which I don't want. It is easy to think negative thoughts and as a result to be negative.
I need to consciously act on positive thoughts.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Saturday, February 3, 2007
Lucid Dreaming as an Extension of Waking Consciousness
This one is an interesting piece..
Have you ever had a lucid dream? That is, have you ever become aware of the fact that you were dreaming while still in the midst of the dream and then taken control of the dream and done what you wished with it?
I’ve had lucid dreams periodically for years, but recently they’ve taken a marked turn in terms of my awareness of them. Rather than being occasional events, lucid dreams are becoming the norm for me. Actually, that’s not quite accurate. It is more accurate to say that my awareness during the sleep state has been changing.
In the past my experience of sleep was one of slipping into unconsciousness and awakening hours later. Upon awakening I may have retained memories of the occasional dream but I was largely oblivious to what had occurred during the time I was asleep. Lately I’ve grown increasingly aware of what I am doing during the time my eyes are closed and my head is resting on the pillow.
Increasingly during that time, I’m lucid dreaming or am otherwise aware of my dreams while I’m dreaming. I’m also aware of the thoughts going through my mind when I’m not dreaming. I’m aware of my mind reviewing yesterday’s events, planning for the future, wrestling with particular issues in my life, and exploring different possibilities. In other words, my awareness during sleep is becoming an extension of my waking consciousness.
My experiences last night provide a good example. Let me explain. Yesterday my family hosted some friends for an evening get together. Over coffee and dessert our two families decided to plan a joint trip to some hot springs in Wyoming that my family has never been to.
Then during the night I decided to visit the hot springs in my sleep. I flew off to Wyoming, checked out multiple hot pools, and eased myself into the steaming waters to sample the various temperatures. Then I inspected the cabins where we’ll be staying. I visited several of them, looking at the kitchen facilities and beds before choosing the one that I want to reserve. Finally, I flew over the town to get a sense of the lay of the land. All without ever seeing a brochure or website on the Internet.
Throughout the entire process I knew I was dreaming. I felt as aware and as in control as am in waking life, except that knowing I was in a dream state I operated as if the rules of dream-reality applied. That meant I could fly, walk through walls, change locations at will, etc.
But that was only the first event of the night. I also spent a good portion of the night leading a workshop on accessing spiritual states during everyday situations, which is something I’ve considered gearing up to do but have not yet started doing in my waking life.
For more than an hour I sat in a stiff-backed chair facing a circle of 16 people who’d joined me for a workshop on accessing altered states and using them in daily life. Unlike in my waking professional life, I had no podium, no PowerPoint slides, no prepared notes, or even a lesson plan. Yet I spoke comfortably and naturally on how we set our intentions, shift our awareness, and manifest our experiences on a continual basis.
I spoke for more than 10 minutes, setting the stage for the workshop. Then I began a group discussion during which the participants shared their own experiences and asked questions. I followed the conversation as clearly as I do in waking consciousness, paying attention to key points, drawing connections, and crafting examples and explanations on the fly. The entire engagement ran like a workshop I might currently teach on marketing strategy, but the subject matter involved spirituality and the participants had obviously come prepared for the workshop.
Throughout the workshop I watched as people shifted in their chairs, responded to each other, and even made occasional notes. When it was over I participated in several minutes of small talk, in which one woman told me that she really wanted her son to join our next discussion.
Then people began to leave. We said goodbye and I woke up. Except when I “woke up” I merely opened my eyes without any noticeable shift in awareness just as I do at the end of my meditation. All of my thoughts and adventures since falling asleep were as fresh in my consciousness, just as were the waking activities of the day before.
Here’s what I think may be going on. As I’ve begun exploring consciousness I’ve repeatedly sent my waking awareness (which tends to range from 14 to 27 Hertz) to brainwave frequencies normally associated with sleep (which range from approximately 0.5 to 8 Hertz). I think this has been the metaphorical equivalent to lowering the water level on an iceberg, exposing more of it to view. With sufficient practice I can now retain waking awareness at lower brainwave frequencies, which makes it possible to observe more of my thoughts, dreams and experiences during sleep.
For instance, when I travel to other realms I first shift into what I call Focus 10, a Monroe Institute term for the state of awareness in which your body is asleep but your mind is awake. From this state, your fully awake mind can literally listen to your own body snoring. When in this state some people say they feel paralyzed and unable to move. For me the experience feels more like being submerged in a deep mud bath. I can still move my body but it takes great effort to do so. Presumably the purpose of sleep paralysis is to prevent us from physically acting out our dreams. In any event, Focus 10 serves as an excellent spring board for progressing on to deeper meditative states or for journeying out of body.
After spending countless hours in Focus 10 and beyond I’ve grown quite accustomed to remaining awake while my body sleeps. I think this is freeing me up to use my sleep for other activities. Such as lucid dreaming, problem solving, visiting with my spirit guides, attending lectures, and now apparently leading workshops.
With all that running around it’s a good thing I still wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go in the morning.
I got this from http://higherselfguides.typepad.com/blog/2006/01/lucid_dreaming_.html#comment-28689893
Have you ever had a lucid dream? That is, have you ever become aware of the fact that you were dreaming while still in the midst of the dream and then taken control of the dream and done what you wished with it?
I’ve had lucid dreams periodically for years, but recently they’ve taken a marked turn in terms of my awareness of them. Rather than being occasional events, lucid dreams are becoming the norm for me. Actually, that’s not quite accurate. It is more accurate to say that my awareness during the sleep state has been changing.
In the past my experience of sleep was one of slipping into unconsciousness and awakening hours later. Upon awakening I may have retained memories of the occasional dream but I was largely oblivious to what had occurred during the time I was asleep. Lately I’ve grown increasingly aware of what I am doing during the time my eyes are closed and my head is resting on the pillow.
Increasingly during that time, I’m lucid dreaming or am otherwise aware of my dreams while I’m dreaming. I’m also aware of the thoughts going through my mind when I’m not dreaming. I’m aware of my mind reviewing yesterday’s events, planning for the future, wrestling with particular issues in my life, and exploring different possibilities. In other words, my awareness during sleep is becoming an extension of my waking consciousness.
My experiences last night provide a good example. Let me explain. Yesterday my family hosted some friends for an evening get together. Over coffee and dessert our two families decided to plan a joint trip to some hot springs in Wyoming that my family has never been to.
Then during the night I decided to visit the hot springs in my sleep. I flew off to Wyoming, checked out multiple hot pools, and eased myself into the steaming waters to sample the various temperatures. Then I inspected the cabins where we’ll be staying. I visited several of them, looking at the kitchen facilities and beds before choosing the one that I want to reserve. Finally, I flew over the town to get a sense of the lay of the land. All without ever seeing a brochure or website on the Internet.
Throughout the entire process I knew I was dreaming. I felt as aware and as in control as am in waking life, except that knowing I was in a dream state I operated as if the rules of dream-reality applied. That meant I could fly, walk through walls, change locations at will, etc.
But that was only the first event of the night. I also spent a good portion of the night leading a workshop on accessing spiritual states during everyday situations, which is something I’ve considered gearing up to do but have not yet started doing in my waking life.
For more than an hour I sat in a stiff-backed chair facing a circle of 16 people who’d joined me for a workshop on accessing altered states and using them in daily life. Unlike in my waking professional life, I had no podium, no PowerPoint slides, no prepared notes, or even a lesson plan. Yet I spoke comfortably and naturally on how we set our intentions, shift our awareness, and manifest our experiences on a continual basis.
I spoke for more than 10 minutes, setting the stage for the workshop. Then I began a group discussion during which the participants shared their own experiences and asked questions. I followed the conversation as clearly as I do in waking consciousness, paying attention to key points, drawing connections, and crafting examples and explanations on the fly. The entire engagement ran like a workshop I might currently teach on marketing strategy, but the subject matter involved spirituality and the participants had obviously come prepared for the workshop.
Throughout the workshop I watched as people shifted in their chairs, responded to each other, and even made occasional notes. When it was over I participated in several minutes of small talk, in which one woman told me that she really wanted her son to join our next discussion.
Then people began to leave. We said goodbye and I woke up. Except when I “woke up” I merely opened my eyes without any noticeable shift in awareness just as I do at the end of my meditation. All of my thoughts and adventures since falling asleep were as fresh in my consciousness, just as were the waking activities of the day before.
Here’s what I think may be going on. As I’ve begun exploring consciousness I’ve repeatedly sent my waking awareness (which tends to range from 14 to 27 Hertz) to brainwave frequencies normally associated with sleep (which range from approximately 0.5 to 8 Hertz). I think this has been the metaphorical equivalent to lowering the water level on an iceberg, exposing more of it to view. With sufficient practice I can now retain waking awareness at lower brainwave frequencies, which makes it possible to observe more of my thoughts, dreams and experiences during sleep.
For instance, when I travel to other realms I first shift into what I call Focus 10, a Monroe Institute term for the state of awareness in which your body is asleep but your mind is awake. From this state, your fully awake mind can literally listen to your own body snoring. When in this state some people say they feel paralyzed and unable to move. For me the experience feels more like being submerged in a deep mud bath. I can still move my body but it takes great effort to do so. Presumably the purpose of sleep paralysis is to prevent us from physically acting out our dreams. In any event, Focus 10 serves as an excellent spring board for progressing on to deeper meditative states or for journeying out of body.
After spending countless hours in Focus 10 and beyond I’ve grown quite accustomed to remaining awake while my body sleeps. I think this is freeing me up to use my sleep for other activities. Such as lucid dreaming, problem solving, visiting with my spirit guides, attending lectures, and now apparently leading workshops.
With all that running around it’s a good thing I still wake up feeling refreshed and ready to go in the morning.
I got this from http://higherselfguides.typepad.com/blog/2006/01/lucid_dreaming_.html#comment-28689893
Dealing with Anger
Anger is a tool. Anger is an emotional response to signal when things go against our ideals of how people could be and how the world functions. You can't see appalling things happen and be immune to the feelings of anger that will emerge - it's a useful emotion.
It's how you react to those situations that mark you out as someone who understands anger and knows the consequences of letting it get out of control. After all, allowing your response to become physical, so that you damage someone in the process of expressing your anger, shows no respect either for your own ability to live from your heart, or for the wellbeing of the person who is on the receiving end of it.
Violence and anger is not the same thing and they do not go hand in hand.
Remember the last time you had a blazing row with someone? Remember how you didn't hear what the other person was saying - you didn't want to hear and you sure as heck didn't think they might be right. You wanted to punish them. You wanted to put up barriers and withhold friendship and block out what they were saying.
Remember that we all have is the right to say how we feel. We all need to be heard, our feelings acknowledged, and to be understood. If you shout and yell, what chance is there to resolve anything?
Remind yourself - anger is an emotion like any other. Like fear, love, delight, grief. But you can learn how to express your anger in a constructive way. By learning how to channel your anger, you not only stay open hearted and loving, you also teach others how to manage their own anger.
Try something right now. Think back to the last person you felt really angry with. Take a moment to remember what made you so mad.
Now imagine yourself in their shoes. Try to put in words what you remember them saying and why they said the things they did, or did the things that you believed started off the row. And now imagine yourself back in that situation, but this time saying that because of what has been said or done, you feel angry. Own the anger. No blame, no judgments. No-one can make you angry - it's your emotional response and you can learn to choose how to respond in the future.
Isn't it easier to say that you're angry in a calm and loving way? Isn't it more likely that, had you used love to deal with the situation, you might have connected and found a healthy, loving way to resolve the problem?
Yes it's a challenge. But you have such power and inner strength in you that the further you go along that journey, you will eventually meet it. Believe that you will.
Neel Raman, is an author, keynote speaker and coach to many. He has written ‘Hoops and Freedom’, an informative and powerful self-improvement book, in the form of an entertaining fiction story, targeted at those who want and demand more from life. To find out more about this book and his FREE offers, visit: http://www.HoopsAndFreedom.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Neel_Raman
It's how you react to those situations that mark you out as someone who understands anger and knows the consequences of letting it get out of control. After all, allowing your response to become physical, so that you damage someone in the process of expressing your anger, shows no respect either for your own ability to live from your heart, or for the wellbeing of the person who is on the receiving end of it.
Violence and anger is not the same thing and they do not go hand in hand.
Remember the last time you had a blazing row with someone? Remember how you didn't hear what the other person was saying - you didn't want to hear and you sure as heck didn't think they might be right. You wanted to punish them. You wanted to put up barriers and withhold friendship and block out what they were saying.
Remember that we all have is the right to say how we feel. We all need to be heard, our feelings acknowledged, and to be understood. If you shout and yell, what chance is there to resolve anything?
Remind yourself - anger is an emotion like any other. Like fear, love, delight, grief. But you can learn how to express your anger in a constructive way. By learning how to channel your anger, you not only stay open hearted and loving, you also teach others how to manage their own anger.
Try something right now. Think back to the last person you felt really angry with. Take a moment to remember what made you so mad.
Now imagine yourself in their shoes. Try to put in words what you remember them saying and why they said the things they did, or did the things that you believed started off the row. And now imagine yourself back in that situation, but this time saying that because of what has been said or done, you feel angry. Own the anger. No blame, no judgments. No-one can make you angry - it's your emotional response and you can learn to choose how to respond in the future.
Isn't it easier to say that you're angry in a calm and loving way? Isn't it more likely that, had you used love to deal with the situation, you might have connected and found a healthy, loving way to resolve the problem?
Yes it's a challenge. But you have such power and inner strength in you that the further you go along that journey, you will eventually meet it. Believe that you will.
Neel Raman, is an author, keynote speaker and coach to many. He has written ‘Hoops and Freedom’, an informative and powerful self-improvement book, in the form of an entertaining fiction story, targeted at those who want and demand more from life. To find out more about this book and his FREE offers, visit: http://www.HoopsAndFreedom.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Neel_Raman
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