It can be the little things that matter… to the unconscious
What a great writer Arthur Connan Doyle was. I have recently being reading Sherlock Holmes again and came across a wonderful passage that made me stop and think about all the things that can impact by ability to live healthily, positively and be able to reach my performance goals. In the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, the hero says “It has long been an axiom of mine that little things are infinitely the most important”. Well what could these little things be, perhaps they are so little I may not be totally aware of them. Could they be so little that I have dismissed them but actually these things affect the way I work and live today? Is there something I can do to bring about the positive change I wish?
One way to find new understandings about these little things is the use of Cognitive Hypnotherapy and NLP. These could help provide just a different view or a perspective of something that I thought could be so little, but actually is the important information that my unconscious or emotional brain has used to set my perspective of the world. A different view through a different frame can then maybe just help provide those insights that bring a new understanding to living today, being positive and performing to my full potential.
Unconscious Perception, a resource for positive change
I read about an interesting scientific experiment recently that made me think about how even things we may not notice can affect our performance and positive change.
The article I read was concerned with just how the brain can register both conscious and unconscious perception. Apparently, only the conscious perception is linked to the brain activity being in synchrony. It is interesting that even though sometimes we may not register our perceptions consciously, we can still act on them.
Apparently there is accumulating evidence now of how various individuals with “Blindsight” or Sensory neglect can actually respond to sensory stimulation by activating higher brain centres. I had recently seen a report on the television about an individual with Blindsight that could navigate his way across a room full of obstacles successfully, without knocking any of them. I thought these separate items can be brought together with a key learning for me. To me, it helps support the notion that actually our unconscious can really look after us, without our conscious brain being ever aware.
As long as we can set goals and limits for our unconscious, when we need to find a way to perform, perhaps we should just let it go on and do it. Let go and just be in the moment, just like finding your way across a crowded room relying on what your unconscious can achieve. Do we really need our brain activity to synchronise to bring our senses to consciousness? Well of course we do, but we should also be able to let go when needed. Too much synchrony could be a bad thing? I always can find many issues and problems to put in my way performance and achieving my goals, but with the help of some simple techniques it is possible to build your skills and capabilities so that you can let go and perform in the moment, just living and being as positive as you can be and see how change can happen.
working together for performance
I was lucky enough to be able to drive a horse carriage for about a 20Km round trip over the last few days. Something I had never done before, I had ridden a horse twice before, but this was different. 2 Horses that needed to work together to pull me and a carriage along some dirt roads across the Portugese countryside.
After a 1-2 Km or so, under the expert tuition of Mani, I was able to get in the feel of driving my pair of excellent horses. Dennis was the lead and Ishi, although a little bit bigger fell into step with him. What I noticed after a little while was these 2 horses were working in a perfect team. They did not need to talk or signal to each other, but they somehow knew when one needed to take the lead and when one needed to rest. They were just living in the moment, being positive and focussed on their performance goals. You could tell by the harness who was working the most, when they were working together. Building the delivery and power a crescendo when needed, as the hills became higher they pulled together completely in the moment of performance.
I had a great day out, but I also could see so many things I could take away about working together in a team. Focus on a combined goal, just living and doing, being in the moment so that you can reach into your strengths and deliver whilst supporting each other through the trip and get home.
“Future History” a way to experience your future
Mohammad Ali is one of my all time sporting hero’s. As a Champion, he had raw talent in abundance and a mental strength that gave him ability and determination to reach his goals. One of my favourite quotes from him sum up his talent and ultimate focus “Don’t count the days, make the days count”. If we could all take something from this, what would it be?
How can we make every day count to find the positive change we desire? At this time of year many of us are thinking how we can stop smoking, lose weight or start improving our fitness. It is perhaps taking a moment to just think how one could make every day count, to make change in order to reach your goals. It could be by just being positive, make a change today and you might be surprised to notice that you can start to reach your objectives.
Ali had a tremendous mental resilience that allowed him to maintain his focus. He once mentioned that he would focus his mind on what he wanted. He would imagine being in the ring with his next opponent, feel the sensations and experience the sights sounds and even smells of the ring. He would rehearse in his mind so that he would experience the future as if it were true. A future history.
There are some simple lessons we can learn from the great Champion. Take some time to really imagine the experience what we want, stopping smoking, eating less or taking more exercise. Experience how that may feel or how others may see you. Make a change to make every day count. Be positive, no matter how small the change maybe. Cognitive Hypnotherapy, NLP and EFT can help provide you with some simple tools and techniques to make your own future history and find the positive change you are aiming for in 2010.
You can be happy, the 5 ways of wellbeing
You
can help yourself to be happy and be positive about your situation. Foresight’s Mental Capital and wellbeing Project has brought together some of the world’s most eminent Physicians and Scientists to tackle one of societies key issues. How is it possible to make a positive change and improve everyone’s mental wellbeing throughout their lives, to help them flourish, stay healthy and deal with the many “curve balls” that life can throw at us?
You can check out the full reports at
http://www.foresight.gov.uk/. Promoting our individual Wellbeing therefore can have truly dramatic effects on our ability to cope and change our expectations to set a positive direction for our lives. The New Economics Foundation certainly sees the value of improving people’s wellbeing from an economic perspective. They state that over the last 30-40 years the GDP or economic value of UK society has doubled but peoples satisfaction with life has hardly changed? Furthermore, apparently over 80% of the UK population believe creating happiness in more important that creating wealth (
http://www.neweconomics.org/) and have identified 5 key activities that promote wellbeing. These are;
- Connect with People. Take interest in Friends, family and colleagues
- Be active, go for a walk or play a game
- Take notice and be curious for what is around you
- Keep Learning
- Give, do something nice for a friend. Thank someone.
Research has shown that these very simple ways of being promote and improve your attitude to life and your wellbeing.
However, sometimes it is easy to say than do. Our everyday behaviours are a complex balance between our cognitive (thinking or rational) brain and the older emotional brain which can sometimes take control of our behaviours. I suggest that is why sometimes we do things that may not be the best for us. Cognitive Hypnotherapy and NLP provide a framework for finding a balance between or thinking and emotional parts of the brain which allows you to get back on track to make a positive change to improve your motivation reduce cravings and stop unwanted habits.
At this time of year, many people wish to stop smoking, shed a few Christmas pounds and set their mind to the coming year. Remember the 5 simple things you can do to help you be happy and improve your wellbeing and you may be surprised to notice that you can start to make other positive changes as well. Call or text Alexander and the Alexandrian Practice on 07854 029268 if you would like to learn more about how to improve your wellbeing and make other positive changes you wish to make.
Where can I find help to make a positive change?
Support each other! I know it sounds easy but it can be very difficult to find a level of support and advice when you have decided to make a change for the better. It could be in any area you choose to make a positive difference. For example, taking time to identity what is holding you back in your business or professional life can sometimes need a catalyst to start that chain reaction. Ultimately that change can be very beneficial and result in improved business performance. This is also true in other areas such as changing your mental attitude to sports training and goal setting. It can also be true for lifestyle changes that you desire, to find a way to recover from injury, set yourself free from anxieties and depressions or even find away to deal with compulsions and unwanted habits, such as smoking.
A number of people have recently been asking me where they can find help and resources. They have taken that first positive step and then need to consider many factors in finding the support they need. Their location and available funds are often just the initial consideration in spending it in the right way, to get the best advice.
I have suggested some different opportunities. As a Quest Institute trained Cognitive Hypnotherapist, the institute web page (
http://www.questinstitute.co.uk/) will give you access to a range of Professionals trained in this area. The Association for Meridian Energy Therapies (
http://www.theamt.com/) can provide access to Professional EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique) Therapists. A general repository of Professional Hypnotherapists can also be found within the Hypnotherapy Directory (
http://www.hypnotherapy-directory.org.uk/). Each hypnotherapist listed on the site is either a member of a recognised professional body or has submitted a copy of their insurance and qualification, once this can be verified a full profile will be created.
These sites can act as a quick way to connect with a number of Professional who can help you on the road to the changes you desire. These networks have a simple aim, to provide the public with an easy to use way of connecting you to a qualified therapist.
I am positive that you can find that Professional support that will be in the right place for you to make the changes you need.
How long is a piece of string? Maybe it depends on how positive you are about the change you are measuring?
Did anyone see the BBC Horizon programme on 17th November? It was one of those programmes that managed to capture my attention and provide a real positive challenge. It was able to reinforce my view that it is important to consider the world from different views, changing your perspective means that you can choose a path that is right for you. Make a choice, select the outcome you desire and see how that positive change occurs.
The actor and comedian, Alan Davies was attempting to measure a piece of string. It would be easy, one would think, to use a rule or some other simple yardstick. However, nothing seems quite so simple. It depends, so the friendly scientist said, on what you are trying to measure. The more accurate you wish to make your measurement the more problematic the issue became, especially as the accuracy approached the size of an atom. How can you measure the size of an individual particle when you cannot be sure if it’s there or somewhere else?
This was the general introduction into the wonderful world of Quantum Physics and the famous theoretical experiments of Prof Schroedinger. They outlined his thought experiment as follows. Imagine a cat in a closed box where it is next to a vial of poison. The poison is released in association with some event such as the absorption of a single photon, the smallest unit of light. However, the programme had nicely shown that light photons can simultaneously be in two places at once. They arrived at this conclusion from observing the interference patterns observed from a laser shinning through two slits of light.
How do you know if the cat is alive or dead within the box? Well if a single photon of light can be in two places at once, then there is a distinct possibility that the cat could be both alive and dead. It is difficult to imagine, but before one has opened the box, this duality is a distinct possibility. It is only when the observer opens the lid to make an assessment that the status of the cat can be confirmed. Therefore, the story went on, the effects of merely observing an event can modify its outcome. The status of the cat depends on what the observer can see when the box is open. In the infinite variety of all possible outcomes it would seem that there could be a separate universe where the cat is observed to be the opposite from your observations.
As Henry Ford had said “If you think you can or you can’t, you will”. A question struck me as I was watching the programme; could this age old statement from Henry Ford really be quantum mechanics in action? If you think about the idea of the observer choosing the fate of the cat in the box, choosing a positive outcome means that perhaps we can select the most positive change for ourselves, the choice that can bring the best for our self and those we care most about. To create the positive change we most desire we must believe in want we want and that we can find all the necessary resources we can to reach our goals. If we truly believe we can reach our targets, perhaps on a subconscious level our conscious and sub-conscious makes the most appropriate choices we need to get there. Some people may even suggest that the subconscious mind holds the majority vote in this debate which means, focus on our objectives and choose our state of mind. Focus on the positive to create the change we need. This will allow our subconscious mind to make the right decisions in a blink of an eye.
If there are really many parallel universes, with all possibilities existing in parallel universes, why not focus and choose where we want to be. Make the future happen for ourselves by being present in the moment and taking the right choice to reach our dreams. Our everyday lives sometimes produce many challenges that affect how we respond. They maybe touching on past experiences and memories on which we have built some reactionary patterns. Take a step back, focus on your goals. Being curious about your environment and your experiences and you may be amazed on how you can start to see the best choice that can bring the change that is most positive for you.
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