Meditation Dummies

Meditation Dummies

Got Too Much Happiness?

Got Too Much Happiness?

Speed Read

Don’t you hate when writers use maxims and proverbs you never heard of?
It makes me feel guilty for my ignorance, and forces me to Google it up for
details. So here goes.

"As a man imagines himself to be, so shall he be, and is that which he imagines." Paracelsus, 15th century physician.

So I look him up, and they refer me to a psychology website that explains what he means. Ah Ha. When we think of ourselves as smart, we begin act, think, and feel smarter. It was first doped out by Professor William James, in 1898 at Harvard Medical School, and is called the As-If theory.

If you act As-If you are smarter than you are, richer, happier, or better than you typically have been, for an entire day for 21 days (minimum), it becomes a habit
picked up by your subconscious mind, and becomes real for you.

After someone pays you a compliment for knowing or doing something special, you get a rush of brain endorphins (pleasure hormones). These brain chemicals make you strand straighter and taller, and walk with a bounce in your step (like my first pair of Keds sneakers).

There is more. Paint a mental image in your mind of you being the go-to-guy/gal,
and your complexion improves because you begin to breathe deeply, rushing blood
to your face and a smile to your face. People around you notice it, and want to crown you King of the office. Secret: Whatever is reinforced – improves.

Killer

Your skeletal structure, muscle tone, and facial expressions, and body language
almost immediately begin to reflect your new mental imagery. You look slimmer, move quicker, and even think sharper. How come?

Get this. Mental rehearsal is equal to physical practice. Your brain makes no distinction between what you practice in your three-pound coconut as mental
imagery, and live practice in the field for hours and hours. Huh?

Tiger Woods says he sits in a comfortable chair and meditates for 40 minutes before playing a round of golf, and mentally sees himself sinking the ball and winning each individual hole in his mind first.

Creepy

It applies to all sports, selling, and winning promotions at school or the workplace. How come you never heard of it? Americans do not know how to relax, and think
there is something creepy about closing your eyes when not in bed, and meditating.

What else? We are too busy watching mindless reality tv shows. It takes active effort, not gossiping about doing it to install As-If learning.

You must disrupt your comfort zone from the routine, status quo and homeostasis, to acting As-If you already are whatever you really desire to become. Hey, if it was
easy, everyone would be a millionaire and king of the mountain. Here is the key, you
open the lock.

When

Practice whatever you want to become mentally, before falling asleep (hypnagogic),
prior to waking (hypnopompic), when daydreaming, in your dreams, and during
meditating. As-If works only if you spend at least 30 minutes daily shifting your
mental image to winning, from your consciousness to your subconscious mind.

Google: Stephen Kosslyn, Harvard University. On mental imagery and perception

Using Your 3 Pound Coconut

They tested 2,832 folks, and followed up for one-year, and five-year intervals.
You know the cliché – use it or lose it, but you don’t really believe it, right?
We – you and me - consider exercise pushing away from the plate – and a walk
in the park, an intrusion on our patriotic duty to be lazy and not sweaty.

Personally I hate chess – wouldn’t learn the moves unless they held a revolver…
never saw a crossword puzzle that called my name, and still expect to live to age 93
with all my senses, just like my mom.

The Journal of Gerontology (aging), March, 2009 published some deep research out of the University of Iowa, lead author, Dr. Fred Wolinsky that contradicts your humble servant – me.

The original scientific research was to show that computer games (brain exercises)
would improve the smarts (cognitive abilities) of senior citizens. Surprise, age aint
got nothing to do with brain power; if you use your brain daily by practice these
computer games, you win the cognitive abilities contest.

Some brain specialists call it Cognitive Reserve, propping up your brain to avoid Alz, and maybe even live up to 10 years longer. Learning enhances your self-image and makes you feel better, which is important at all stages of your longevity, right?

Results

What were they measuring? Visual speed, accuracy, and improved processing
(comprehension). Did it improve beyond the expected and the control? By
a statistically significant margin, beyond expected results. Use it and you don’t
lose it, right?

Now the same scientific researchers come back to the same 2,036 folks to see if
improving your cognitive abilities by these fun and games computerized exercises,
did anything else worthwhile for the senior citizens.

Depression

Older folks are susceptible to depression more than when they were at 25-50. No Nobel Prize for that one, it is conventional wisdom. The reasons for the elderly to be
depressed include the state of their health, finances, relationships, and the weather .

Surprise – those who consistently used their brains on mental games were thirty (30%) percent less likely to be depressed that the tv watchers. Learning and thinking seem to make you happier as a side effect. Your mood is elevated, even
on the escalator.

The experts used all the specialized testing tools for depressive symptoms, and concluded these computer-based exercises offered protection after they finished
the 10 hour program.

The reasons may be that the participants felt good about themselves because they
aced the exercises (like a test). They had a new self-image as being a smarty-pants,
and wanted to keep living to lord it over the dummies.

Other scientists say the computer program excited their brain chemicals system.
All their efforts activated their Pre-Frontal Cortex, et al. and elevated their
mood. Anyway, it had long term results to date; and without drugs and their nasty side effects. Google: amygdala (emotions).

How much is improved quality of life worth to you? They got it as an unintended
consequence, so lifelong learning is a nice prescription for longevity without dementia, huh?

Endwords

If you want to grow up to be a big kid with all your marbles, and live to …maybe
one-hundred, be a lifelong learner. We think reading is the winner – twelve months
a year.

If you could read three (3) books, articles and reports in the time it presently
takes you to read one, would that be nice? And it might even improve your mood,
state of mind, and memory.

Ask us how to triple your reading speed with improve comprehension, and double
your long-term memory. Yes, we’re serious, and have been delivering the goods since 1959. It is baby-easy to learn at home, and is the gift that keeps on giving.

See ya,

Speed Read

copyright © 2009
H. Bernard Wechsler
www.speedlearning.org
hbw@speedlearning.org toll-free 1-877-567-2500

About the Author

Author of Speed Reading For Professionals, published by Barron's.
Business partner of Evelyn Wood, creator of speed reading, graduating
2 million, including the White House staffs of four U.S. Presidents.

Tagged as: health, howto, lifehacks, Meditation, spirituality