#illu procrastinates on writing by writing | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

peraliavia · 4 years

Photo

Ꞅ·ıꝺ͛ċo-Ꞅŧıɩ̣̀ıɾ̈ıc͛!

Sɑıḋceo-Stıùırıċ

My exploration of the science of cybernetics convinced me that the so-called "subconscious mind" is not a mind ~t all, but a goal-striv- ing servo-mechanism consisting of the brain and nervous system, which is used and directed by the mind. The most usable concept is that man does not have two minds, but rather a mind (or consciousness), which operates an automatic, goal-striving machine. This automatic, goal- striving machine functions in much the same way as electronic servo- mechanisms function, but it is much more marvelous, much more complex, than any electronic brain, computer, or guided missile ever conceived by man. Pg15

PRESCRIPTION Begin collecting scrapbooks on persons, past or present, who exhibit both the qualities of character and personality and the life achievements to which you aspire. Select a different representative for each characteristic, each aspiration. Become the reigning expert in these peoples' lives by collecting and reading their biographies, autobiographies, articles about them, speeches made by them, others' analyses of them that can be found in books like Dr. Lundrum's, Napoleon Hill's, and others. Discover the almost uni- versal absence of predisposition (from genetics and often from their early environment and upbringing) for the personality they developed and the accomplishments of their lives. Ferret out the forces, thoughts, and influ- ences that actually shaped them. By making this your hobby, you will feed your imagination with valuable raw material that it can utilize to build the stronger, more goal-oriented self-image you require to achieve your life aspirations. Pg23 [Э·̈ꞇ͛· Жıꞇꞇ⸷ Ꞇılꝺ· Ꞅƿıııꞇoıı⸷ Ɑ̤ɒ̇̈ Ж͛ɑn⸷ Ᵹɹ̈·ċ Ꝿoṅꭇ⸷ Ꝿɩ̇·ıı Cocꞇ̣̇·

MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISE Pick someone to thoroughly study for a month, to get so intimately famil- . iar with the way he or she thinks that you can sit down and have a conver- sation with the person and solicit advice and coaching in your imagination. Pg24

You, As Creator of Your Own life Experiences (1) Consciqus Mind Decision + (2) Imagination Communicates Goal/Target to (3) Self-Image = (4) "Work Order"lnstructions to Servo-Mechanism pg27

Of course, many people waste much of their imagination power, frittering it away on aimless daydreaming and fantasy, with no real appreciation for what it might do if applied purposefully. The sun's light, diffused, is gentle warmth; directed ' through a magnifying glass in a certain way, it is incendiary. pg28

Many writers and speakers, for example, tell me of giving their subconscious instructions about their need for a good anecdote, story, joke, or forgotten details of a story for a writing task or speech, then taking a nap, to awake with exactly the material they wanted "on their minds." pg33

You can give problem-solving or idea-getting tasks to your servo-mechanism, send it off on a search while you do other things, even while you sleep, and have it return with useful material you didn't know you knew and might never have obtained through conscious thought or worry. This becomes a common experience and great benefit for those of us who regularly rely on Psycho-Cybernetics. It occurs because the servo-mechanism has access to a much more expansive storehouse of information than the conscious mind. The famous composer Schubert is 'said to have told a friend that his own creative process consisted in "remembering a melody" that neither he nor anyone else had ever thought of before. Many creative artists, as well as psychologists who have made a study of the creative process, have been impressed by the similarity between creative inspi ration, sudden revelation, or intuition, and ordinary human memory. pg36

My own analysis of everything I've read about Albert Einstein is that he was a great practitioner of Psycho-Cybernetics. He acted as if a theoretical idea was a factual conclusion, then turned the "figuring out" over to his own servo-mechanism as well as to other "worker bees." I am convinced he connected with intelligence outside the realm of his own . stored data through his imagination. He was a brilliant target setter. His accomplishments stand as testament to an individual's opportunity to rise above and beyond his or her stored knowledge, education, experience or skill through the power of imagination. You can too. pg37

So What Exactly Is Psycho-Cybernetics? You might think of Psycho-Cybernetics as a collection of insights, principles, and practical methods that enable you to do all of the following: 1. Conduct an accurate inventory and analysis of the contents of your self-image. 2. Identify erroneous and restrictive programming imbedded in your self-image and systematically alter it to better suit your purposes. 3. Use your imagination to reprogram and manage your self-image. 4. Use your imagination in concert with your self-image to effectively communicate with your servo-mechanism, so that it acts as an Automatic Success Mechanism, moving you steadily toward your goals, including getting back on course when confronted with obstacles. 5. Effectively use your servo-mechanism as something like a giant search engine, to provide precisely the idea, information, or solution you need for any particular purpose-even reaching beyond your own stored data to obtain it. In a way, Psycho-Cybernetics is a communication system, for effectively communicating with yourself. pg39

PRESCRIPTION Read this chapter through at least three times per week for the first 21 days. Study it and digest it. Look for examples, in your experiences and in the experiences of your friends, that illustrate the creative mechanism in action. Think about limiting ideas about yourself that may be held firmly in the self-image, that may be the "cause" of "effects" you no longer desire. pg40

MENTAL·TRAINING EXERCISE Memorize the following basic principles by which your Success Mechanism operates. You do not need to be a computer genius or a neurophysicist to operate your own servo-mechanism, anymore than you 'have to be able to engineer an automobile in order to drive one or become an electrical engineer in order to turn on the light in your room. You do need to be familiar with the following, however, because, having memorized them, they will throw "new light" on what is to follow: 1. = AIM Your built-in success mechanism must have a goal or "target." This goal, or target, must be conceived of as "already in existence now," either in actual or pote!ltial form. It operates either (1) by steering you to a goal already in existence or (2) by "discovering" something already in existence. 2. = TRUST The automatic mechanism is tele-Iogical; that is, it operates on, or must be oriented to, "end results," goals. Do not be discouraged because the means may not be apparent. It is the function of the automatic mechanism to supply the means when you supply the goal. Think in terms of the end result, and the means will often take care of themselves. 3. = RELAX Do not be afraid of making mistakes or of temporary failures. Ail servo-mechanisms achieve a goal by negative feedback, or by going forward, making mistakes, and immediately correcting course. Automatic course correction is one of the many benefits of PsychoCybernetics. 4. = LEARN Skill learning of any kind is accomplished by trial and error, mentally correcting your aim after an error, until you achieve a "successful" motion, movement, or performance. After that, further learning and continued success are -accomplished by forgetting the past errors, and remembering the successful response, so that it can be "imitated." 5. = DO You must learn to trust your creative mechanism to do its work and not "jam it" by becoming too concerned or too anxious as to whether it will work or not, or by attempting to force it by too much conscious effort. You must let it work, rather than make it work. This trust is necessary because your creative mechanism operates below the level of consciousness, and you cannot "know" what is going on beneath the surface. Moreover, its nature is to operate spontaneously according to th,e present need. Therefore, you have no guarantees in 42 Chapter Twa advance. It comes into operation as you act and as you place a demand on it by your actions. You must not wait to act until you have proof. You must act as if it is there, and it will come through. "Do the thing and you will have the power," said Emerson. With all this in mind, select a "target"-whether that is a thinner, healthier you; a more confident, persuasive you; a you free of constant worry; a sales professional free of procrastination who begins each day with an organized to-do list and ends each day with it completed; or a golfer who hits perfectly . straight drives. Devote just ten or fifteen minutes every day to taking that mental picture from a vague idea to a good sketch to a finely detailed, fully fleshed out and colored vision that occurs to you exactly the same way whenever called upon. If it helps to write out descriptions, or to draw illus- . trations on paper, or to collect relevant pictures from magazines, do so. Just stick to ten- or fifteen-minute sessions, when you close your eyes to the outer world and open them only to this picture's continuing development. Try this little experiment for 21 days, and see what happens. pg41

Your nervous system cannot tell the difference between an imagined experience and a "real" one. Your nervous system reacts appropriately to what you think or imagine to be true. This phenomenon that can be produced as a practical joke or by a hypnotist on stage for entertainment is actually identical to, or illustrative of, the basic process that governs much of our behavior, and that can be taken ahold of and deliberately used to advantage. pg46

Dear Dr. Maltz, ... since I had the luxury of several weeks to prepare for our first meet ing that would take place behind closed doors, I immersed myself in prepara tion by studying everything I could obtain about this man. I read a book he had written, books and articles about him, watched video tapes of interviews with him from TV networks and programs, analyzed his biography, and ultimately produced a walking, talking replica of him in my imagination, so that I could carry on conversations with him. I did not have means to have someone else ably act as this person in actual role-play, as politicians do when preparing for debates, so instead I created an imaginary clone. Frankly I chose not to let any of my associates know exactly what I was doing, for fear of having the men in white coats called! My client might have had second thoughts about entrusting this high-wire negotiation to a someone who had an "imaginary man" he was talking with for hours each day. instru~tions Anyway, I followed the I found in your book, Psycho Cybernetics, as inspiration for my approach. After constructing this imaginary person, I then spent hours in what you call "The Theater of the Mind" actually playing out the meeting and dialogue we would have, myself the scriptwriter, director, lead actor and observer, which I found difficult at first, but less diffi cult as I stayed with it. Soon I found my imagined clone actively raising issues, questions and arguments on his own. Once I recall sitting in my easy chair, eyes closed, immersed in this imaginary meeting, catching myself losing my temper and pounding my fist on the arm of the chair! As this evolved into a 'mental movie' with a successful outcome, I transi tioned into re-playing that identical movie repeatedly. I even went so far, after many viewings, to write it out word for word, as if a courtroom transcriptionist was there to accurately record our conversation word for word. Here is what is remarkable: when the actual meeting took place, not only did it follow my script in order and flow, and not only did I voice things exactly as I had many times in the mental movie as you might expect, but he also per formed as if working from the very same script! pg56

Use Mental Pictures to Get a Better Job The late William Moulton Marston, well-known psychologist, recommended what he called "rehearsal practice" to men and women . who came to him for help in job advancement. If you have an important interview coming up, such as making an application for a job, his advice was: plan for the interview in advance. Go over in your mind all the various questions that are likely to be asked. Think about the answers you are going to give. Then rehearse the interview in your mind. Even if none of the questions you have rehearsed come up, the rehearsal practice will still work wonders. It gives you confidence. And even though real life has no set lines to be recited like a stage play, rehearsal practice will help you to ad lib and react spontaneously to whatever situation you find yourself in, because you have practiced reacting spontaneously. Pg57

The Final Word on Imagination Practice It doesn't matter what religious, spiritual, or philosophical background or viewpoint you come from. It doesn't matter how you describe it: imagination practice, visualization, mental picturing, or using my ter minology, Theater of your Mind. "What's important is that you do it! If you will choose a target to apply this to, and give it a solid, honest 21-day trial, you will be so gratified with the results that you will cer tainly choose to continue using this tool for the rest of your life, and benefit enormously by doing so, just as countless athletes, entertain ers, doctors, lawyers, business leaders, and· others have before you. Here are a few exercises to get you started: MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISE Your present self-image was built on your own imagination pictures of yourself in the past, which grew out of interpretations and evaluations you placed on experience. Now you are to use the same method to build an adequate self-image that you previously used build an inadequate one. Set aside a period of 30 minutes each day where you can be alone and undisturbed. Relax and make yourself as comfortable as possible. Now close your eyes and exercise your imagination. Many people find they get better results if they imagine themselves sitting before a large motion picture screen and imagine that they are seeing a motion picture of themselves. The important thing is to make these pictures as vivid and as detailed as possible. You want your mental pictures to approximate actual experience as much as possible. The way to do this is to pay attention to small details, sights, sounds, objects, in your imagined environment. Details of the imagined environment are all-important in this exercise because, for all practical purposes, you are creating a practice experience. And if the imagination is vivid enough and detailed enough, your imagination practice is equivalent to an actual experience, insofar as your nervous system is concerned. The next important thing to remember is that during these 30 minutes you see yourself acting and reacting appropriately, successfully, ideally. It doesn't matter how you acted yesterday. You do not need to try to have faith you will act in the ideal way tomorrow. Your nervous system will take care of that in time-if you continue to practice. See yourself acting, feeling, being as you want to be. Do not say to yourself, "I am going to act this way tomorrow." Just say to yourself, "I am going to imagine myself acting this way now-for 30 minutes today." Imagine how you would feel if you were already the sort of personality you want to be. If you have been shy and timid, see yourself moving among people with ease and poise and feeling good because of it. If you have been fearful and anxious in certain situations, see yourself acting calmly and deliberately, acting with confidence and courage', and feeling expansive and confident because you are. This exercise builds new "memories" or stored data into your midbrain and central nervous system. It builds a new image of self. After practicing it for a time, you will be surprised to find yourself "acting differently," more or less automatically and spontaneously, without trying. This is as it should be. You do not need to take thought, or try, or make an effort now in order to feel ineffective and act inadequately. Your present inadequate feeling and doing are automatic and spontaneous, because of the memories, real and imagined you have built into your automatic mechanism. You will find it will work just as automatically upon positive thoughts and experiences as upon negative ones. Step One: Take pad and pen and write out a outline or description of the mental movie you intend to construct, experiement with, develop, and view in the Theater in the Mind. Step Two: Set aside 30 minutes a day, preferably at the same time each day, to find a quiet, private place, relax, close your eyes, enter your Theater, and begin playing, editing, replaying your movie. Step Three: Gradually "massage" your movie so that its ''star'' (you) performs exactly as you desire, and achieves the experience and results you desire. Strive to arrive at this point within the first 10 days. Step Four: For the remaining 11 days, play and enjoy that movie repeatedly without change. Pg66

MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISE (To be practiced for at least 30 minutes daily) Seat yourself comfortably in an easy chair or lie down on your back. Consciously "let go" the various muscle groups as much as possible without making too much of an effort of it. Just consciously pay attention to the various parts of your body and let go a little. You will find that you can always voluntarily relax to a certain degree. You can stop frowning and let your forehead relax. You can ease up a little on the tension in your jaws. You can let your hands, your arms, your shoulders, your legs become a little more relaxed than they are, Spend about five minutes on this and then stop paying any attention to your muscles. This is as far as you are going to try to go by conscious control. From here on you will relax more and more by using your creative mechanism to automatically bring about a relaxed condition. In short, you are going to use "goal pictures," held in your imagination and let your automatic mechanism realize those goals for you. Mental Picture 1 In your mind's eye see yourself lying stretched out upon the bed. Form a picture of your legs as they would look if made of concrete. See yourself lying there with two very heavy concrete legs. See these very heavy concrete legs sinking far down into the mattress from their sheer weight. Now picture your arms and hands as made of concrete. They alsp are very heavy and are sinking down into the bed and exerting tremendous pressure against the bed. In your mind's eye see a friend come into the room and attempt to lift your heavy concrete legs. He takes hold of your feet and attempts to lift them. But they are too heavy for him. He cannot do it. Repeat this process with your arms, neck, etc. How to Dehypnotize Yourself from False Beliefs 81 Mental Picture 2 Your body is a big marionette doll. Your hands are tied loosely to your wrists by strings. Your forearm is connected loosely by a string to your upper arm. Your upper arm is connected very loosely by a string to your shoulder. Your feet, calves, thighs are also connected together with a single string. Your neck consists of one very limp string. The strings that control your jaw and hold your lips together have slackened and stretched to such an extent that your chin has dropped down loosely against your chest. All the various strings connecting the various parts of your body are loose and limp, and your body is just sprawled loosely across the bed. Mental Picture 3 Many people will find this the most relaxing of all. Just go back in memory to some relaxing and pleasant scene from your past. There is always some time in every one's life when he felt relaxed, at ease, and at peace with the world. Pick out your own relaxing picture from your past and call up detailed memory images. Yours may be a peaceful scene at a mountain lake where you went fishing. If so, pay particular attention to the little incidental things in the environment. Remember the quiet ripples on the water. What sounds were present? Did you hear the quiet rustling of the leaves? Maybe you remember sitting perfectly relaxed and somewhat drowsy before an open fireplace long ago. Did the logs crackle and spark? What other sights and sounds were present? Maybe you choose to remember relaxing in the sun on a beach. How did the sand feel against your body? Could you feel the warm relaxing sun, touching your body, almost as a physical thing? Was there a breeze blowing? Were there gulls on the beach? The more of these incidental details you can remember and picture to yourself, the more successful you will be. Daily practice will bring these mental pictures or memories clearer and clearer. The effect of learning will also be cumulative. Practice will strengthen the tie-in between mental image and physical sensation. You will become more and more proficient in relaxation, and this in itself will be "remembered" in future practice sessions. pg81

Then ask yourself these four questions: 1. Is there any rational reason for such a belief? 2. Could it be that I am mistaken in this belief? 3. Would I come to the same conclusion about some other person in a similar situation? 4. Why should I continue to act and feel as if this were true if there is no good reason to believe it? Don't just pass these questions by casually. Wrestle with them. Think on them. Get emotional about them. Can you see that you hard have cheated yourself and sold yourself short, not because of a "fact," but only because of an irrational and erroneous belief? If so, to try arouse some indignation or even anger. Indignation and anger can sometimes act as liberators from false ideas. Alfred Adler "got mad" at himself and at his teacher, and was enabled to throw off a negative definition of himself. This experience is not uncommon. Pg92

MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISES: 1. Have a heart-to-heart talk with yourself and honestly assess whether you have any problems you're no longer attempting to resolve only because you have accepted as "fact" that they cannot be solved, whether you are living out circumstances in your life that are unfulfilling or even demeaning to you because you have accepted as fact that you cannot alter them. Reconsider! Apply current rational thought to challenge these beliefs and then use your imagination to "shop around" and try out new and different possibilities. Consider the questions I suggested in this chapter about each of these "facts" you uncover in your heart-to-heart: "Why do I believe that I can't?" Then ask yourself, "Is this belief based on an actual fact or on an assump tion or false conclusion?"· "Is there any rational reason for such a belief?" "Could it be that I am mistaken in this belief?" "Would I come to the same conclusion about some other person in a simi lar situation?" "Why should I continue to act and feel as if this were true if there is no good reason to believe it?" 2. Out of all this rational thought, you may identify a new target (goal) to assign to your Automatic Success Mechanism. If so, review the exercises provided at the end of each of the prior chapters as means of getting started. Chapter Five Summary Checklist of The Uses of Rational Thought 1. It is the job of rational, conscious thought to examine and analyze incoming messages, to accept those that are true and reject those that are untrue. 2. It is the job of the conscious rational mind to form logical and correct conclusions. 3. It is the job of conscious rational thought to decide what you want, select the goals you wish to achieve, and concentrate on these rather than on what you do not want. 4. It is the job of your conscious mind to pay strict attention to the task at hand, to what you are doing and what is going on around you, so that these incoming sensory mes sages can keep your automatic mechanism currently advised of the environment and allow it to respond spontaneously pg99

He has made a point of mastering the application of Psycho-Cybernetics for this purpose, so that he can go to sleep at night, then awake and instantly sit at his computer keyboard and "pour out" the writing work that has been done "for him" as he slept. While others tell of writing being enormously stressful and difficult, for him is virtually free of stress. ~t Dan Kennedy says he was first inspired to attempt this by my writing about Bertrand Russell's experience in the original edition of this book. Bertrand Russell said: I have found, for example, that, if I have to write upon some rather diffi cult topic, the best plan is to think about it with very great intensity-the greatest intensity of which I am capable---':for a few hours or days, and at the end of that time give orders, so to speak, that the work is proceed to underground. After some months I return consciously the topic and to find that the work has been done. Before I had discovered this technique, I used to spend the intervening months worrying because I was making no progress; I arrived at the solution none the sooner for this worry, and the 'intervening months were wasted, whereas now I can devote them to other pursuits." (Bertrand Russell, The Conquest of Happiness) pg104

Five Prescriptions for Freeing Your Creative Machinery 1. Once a decision is made, focus on supporting it, not second guessing it. In the original book, I told of the business executive with a pen chant for gambling on roulette, who gave me the idea: "Do your wor rying before you place your bet, not after the wheel starts turning. " I happened to quote to him the advice of William James, men tioned earlier, to the effect that emotions of anxiety have their place in planning and deciding on a course of action, but that, "When once a decision is reached and execution is the order of the day, dismiss absolutely all responsibility and care about the outcome. Unclamp, in a word, your intellectual and practical machinery, and let it run free." Several weeks later he burst into my office to report, "It hit me all of a sudden," he said, "during a visit to Las Vegas. I've been trying it and it works." "What hit you and what works?" I asked. That advice of William James. It didn't make too much of an impression when you told me, but while I was playing roulette it came back to me. I noticed any number of people who appeared not worry at all before to placing their bets. Apparently odds meant nothing to them. But once the wheel started turning, they froze up, and began to worry whether their number would come up or not. How silly, I thought. If they want to worry or be concerned or figure odds, the time to do that is before the decision is made to place a bet. There is something you can do about it then, by thinking about it. You can figure out the best odds possible, or decide not to take the risk at all. But after the bets are placed and the wheel starts turning, you might as well relax and enjoy it. Thinking about it is not going to do one bit of good, andis wasted energy. Then I got to thinking that I myself had been doing exactly the same thing in my business and in my personal life. I Qften made decisions or embarked on courses of action, without adequate preparation, without considering all the risks involved and the best possible alternative. But after I had set the wheels in motion, so to speak, I continually worried over how it would come out, whether I had done the right thing. I made a decision right then that in the future I would do all my worrying, all my conscious thinking, before a decision was made, and that after making a decision, and setting the wheels in motion, I would "dismiss absolutely all care or responsibility about the outcome." Believe it or not, it works. I not only feel better, sleep better, and work better, but my business is run ning much smoother. I also discovered that the same principle works in a hundred different lit tle personal ways. For example, I used to worry and fume about having to go to the dentist and other unpleasant tasks. Then I said to myself, "This is silly. You know the unpleasantness involved before you make the deci sion go. If the unpleasantness is all that important to cause so much to concern, and not worth the worry involved, you can simply decide not to go. But, if the decision is that the trip is worth a little unpleasantness, and a definite decision is made to go-then forget about it. Consider the risk before the wheel starts turning." I used to worry the night before I had to make a speech at a board meeting. Then I said to myself, "I'm either going to make the speech or I'm not. If the decision is to make it, then there's no need in considering not making it-or trying to mentally run away from it." I have discovered that much nervousness and anxiety is caused by mentally trying to escape or run away from something that you have decided to go through with physically. If the decision is made to go through with it-not to run away physically-why mentally keep consid ering or hoping for escape. I used to detest social gatherings and go along only to please my wife, or for business reasons. I went, but mentally I resisted it, and was usually pretty grumpy and uncommunicative. Then I decided that if the decision was to go along physically, I might as well go along mentally-and dismiss all thoughts of resistance. Last night I not ' only went to what I would formerly have called a stupid social gathering, but I was surprised to find myself thoroughly enjoying it. One of the many conversations I had with business leaders after the publication of Psycho-Cybernetics focused on this story. I was con ducting a seminar for the giant insurance corporation, Metropolitan How to Relax and Let Your Automatic Success Mechanism Work for You Life, and on a break, one of the top executives mentioned the story of the man who worried too much after his decisions to me, and he said something I believe to be profoundly liberating: "Dr. Maltz, the truth is that there are few inherently right deci sions or wrong decisions. Inst6ad, we make decisions, then make them right. That's what leadership is all about." The chairman of the world's largest ad agency, McCann Erickson, Nina DiSesa, was named by Fortune Magazine (in 2000) as one of the 50 most powerful women in American business. "You can always correct a poor decision, but if you do nothing, you can never get the time back," she says. PRESCRIPTION Strive for greater decisiveness and finality in small matters, to build the evi dence shown to your self-image that you are the kind of person who makes If a firm decision, then ceases to worry over it. in a restaurant with friends, do not be the person who agonizes over choices, even changes his mind after If ordering. Pick something and close the menu. shopping, pick and buy. MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISE Consider creating a useful little mental picture or mental movie to use, immediately after reaching a decision, whether an important business or personal decision, choosing the golf club to use, or picking a tie to wear with your tan sports jacket. In the 2000 Presidential elections, in a differ ent context, Vice-President AI Gore became so famous for overusing the word "lock box" that television comedy programs and imitators had weeks of fun with it. "Lock box" is a good visualization for this: As soon as you make a decision, see yourself taking all the information, concerns, and pros and cons you sifted through to make it in a big pile into a storage room, putting it alUnto a large box or container of some kind and locking it shut. Then see yourself taking a sheet of paper on which the decision is written, sealing it in an envelope, marking "Done" with today's date and time, then putting the envelope in the "Done" file cabinet drawer and locking it away as well. Finally, see yourself brushing your hands off like a man does after doing some kind of satisfying manual labor, turning out the light in the storage room, and walking out of the dark room into sunlight, like the ship sailing from dark into light in the painting given to me by Salvador Dali. After viewing this movie a few times, for the sake of speed, you can cut it up into stills or slides and view them quickly-click, click, click, click. 2. The secret of focusing only on the here and now. There is a need to consciously consider goals, evaluate progress; and construct plans, but such thinking needs to occur at appropriate times and places, set just for such purposes, The rest of the time, con sciously practice the habit of "taking no anxious thought for tomor row" by giving all your attention to the present moment. Your creative mechanism cannot function or work tomorrow-or even a minute from now. Only right now. It can only function in the present-today, the present moment. Make plans for tomorrow. But don't try to live in tomorrow or in the past. Creative living means responding and reacting to environment spontaneously. Your creative mechanism can respond appropriately and successfully to present environment only if you have your full attention upon present environment and give it information concerning what is happening now. Plan all you want to for the future. Prepare for it. But don't worry about how you will react tomorrow or even five minutes from now. Your creative mechanism will react appropriately in the now if you pay attention to what is happening now. It will do the same tomorrow. It cannot react successfully to what may happen, only to what is happening. 1 once dined with a president of a large corporation in a very pricey gourmet restaurant, He wolfed his dinner down quickly and still had a plate full of food. When 1 asked him about it he said, "I never taste food. I'm too busy thinking about other, more important things." Well, he might as well get his nutrients from a pill. Someday 1 imagine it may come to that. But there are two troubling things about Mr. Dynamo's approach: First, he is denying himself the great pleasure of a fine dining experience, of sipping the wine, tasting each morsel, relishing how perfectly prepared is the cut of meat, how crisp and fresh the tomato. One can assume he misses out on many other sensual enjoyments of life as well. Second, his preoccupation is a con ceit, not a" genuine display of superior commitment, executive discipline, entrepreneurial zeal, or time efficiency. People cannot function at their best if moving at the fastest possible speed aU the time, with out relief or recovery. It is a safe wager that he rarely is in the moment, fully focused and involved with only one thing or one person, and while that may impress others with his busy-ness, it will not lead to maximum utilization of his wisdom and capability. The following morning, based on my diagnosis, I called my broker and sold the shares of stock I held in the company captained by this fellow. You will have a far more enjoyable life and be a far more effective individual if you learn to mentally s-l-o-w yourself down enough to savor your expenences. MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISE After you have left a place, such as a restaurant or shop, stop and see how much of it you can recall and describe in copious, exacting detail. In order to sharpen your powers of observation for this challenge, you will auto matically slow yourself down and be more "there" (wherever you are). If you have read the accounts of the fictional (yet fact-based) detective Sherlock Holmes, you know that he demonstrated remarkable observatory powers, recalling and analyzing the minutest details. In one of these stories, the author, Arthur Conan Doyle, has the Dr. Watson character say to Holmes: "It seems obvious your faculty of observation and your peculiar facility for deduction are due to your own systematic training." Doyle knew that the ' person he modeled Holmes after, his pathology professor at Edinburgh University, was well-known for his extraordinary powers of observation and had taken great pains to train his mind to capture all the minute detail of a scene, an experience, or a person. 3. Try to do only one thing at a time. Another cause of confusion, as well as the resulting feelings of nervousness, hurry, and anxiety, is the absurd habit of trying to do many things at one time. The student studies and watches TV simul taneously. The businessperson, instead of concentrating on and only trying to "do" the one letter that he is presently dictating, is thinking in the back of his mind of all the things he should accomplish today, or perhaps this week, and unconsciously trying mentally to accomplish them all at once. The habit is particularly insidious because it is seldom recog nized for what it is. When we feel jittery, worried, or anxious in think ing of the great amount of work that lies before us, the jittery feelings are not caused by the work, but by our mental attitude, which is, "I ought to be able to do this all at once." We become nervous because we are trying to do the impossible, and thereby making futility and frustration inevitable. The truth is that we can only do one thing at a time. Realizing this, fully convincing ourselves of this simple and obvious truth, enables us to mentally stop trying to do the things that lie next and to concentrate all our awareness, all our responsiveness, on this one thing we are doing now. When we work with this attitude, we are relaxed, we are free from the feelings of hurry and anxiety, and we are able to concentrate and think at our best . . If you watch much football on television, you have seen receivers drop balls that pass right through their hands, and hear the commen tators explain that "he was running before he caught the ball" or "he must have heard footsteps." In other words, instead of being totally focused on catching and securing the ball, he was worrying about other players converging on him, where he would go once he had the ball, even prematurely moving his body away from the ball. There's a relatively new word for this in the occupational world-"multitasking" -and for most people, most of the time, it is an empty conceit. Be careful whom you emulate, the herd or the leader. Top performers stick with focus rather than multitasking. While many run-of-the-mill sales professionals talk with their clients on their cell . phones while driving through traffic or even walking down a busy, noisy street, you will not catch the top sales pro doing that; you will find that when she has to make such a call, she does so in a place and at a time where she can give it 1 00% of her attention. While many run-of-the-mill executives permit continuous interruptions by phone, intercom, or walk-ins while they are meeting with someone or review ing important information, the most successful executives I know tol erate no such chaos. The Lesson of the Hourglass Dr. James Gordon 9ilkey preached a sermon in 1944 called "Gaining Emotional Poise," which was reprinted in Reader's Digest and became a classic almost overnight. He had found, through many years of counseling, that one of the main causes of breakdown, worry, and all sorts of other personal problems was the bad mental habit of feeling that you should be doing many things now. Looking at the hourglass on his desk, he had an inspiration. Just as only one grain of sand could pass through the hourglass at a time, so could we only do one thing at a time. It is not the job, but the way we insist on thinking of the job that causes the · trouble. Most of us feel hurried and harried, said Dr. Gilkey, because we form a false mental picture of our duties, obligations, and responsibilities. There seem to be a dozen different things pressing in on us at any given moment; a dozen different things to do; a dozen different problems to solve; a dozen different strains to endure. No matter how hurried or harried our . existence may be, said Dr. Gilkey, this mental picture is entirely false. Even on the busiest day the crowded hours come to us one moment at a time; no matter how many problems, tasks, or strains we face, they always come to us in single file, which is . the only way they can come. To get a true mental picture, he suggested visualizing an hourglass, with the many grains of sand dropping one by one. This mental picture will bring emotional poise, just as the false mental picture will bring emotional unrest. Another similar mental device that I have found very helpful to my patients is telling them: Your success mechanism can heIp you do any jo.b, perform any task, solve any problem. Think of yourself as "feeding" jobs and problems to your success mechanism as a scientist "feeds" a prob.lem to an electronic brain. The "hopper" to your success mechanism can handle only one job at a time. Just as an electronic brain cannot give the right answer if three different problems are mixed up and fed in at the same time, neither can your own success mechanism. Ease off on the pressure. Stop trying to cram into the machinery more than one job at a time. PRESCRIPTION Purchase an hourglass and place it where you work most of the time, where it will catch your . eye often. Place a small placard on it or next to it, on which you have written "One Grain at a Time." 4. Sleep on it. If you have been wrestling with a problem all day without making any apparent progress, try dismissing it from your mind and putting off making a decision until you've had a chance to "sleep on it." Remember that your creative mechanism works best when there is not too much interference from your conscious "I." In sleep, the creative mechanism has an ideal opportunity to work independently of conscious interference, if you have previously started the wheels turning. Remember the fairy story about the Shoemaker and the Elves? The shoemaker found that if he cut out the leather, and laid out the patterns before retiring, little elves came and actually put the shoes together for him while he was sleeping. Many creative workers have used a very similar technique. Mrs. Thomas A. Edison has said that each evening her husband would go over in his mind those things which he hoped to accomplish the next day. Sometimes, he would make a list of the jobs he wanted to do and problems he hoped to solve. Edison's well-known "cat-naps" were far more than mere respites . from fatigue. Joseph Rossman, in the Psychology of Invention, says, "\Vhen stumped by something, he would stretch out in his Menlo workshop and, half-dozing, get an idea from his dream mind to help him around the difficulty." Henry Ward Beecher once preached every day for 18 months. His method? He kept a number of ideas "hatching" and each night before retiring would select an "incubating idea" and "stir it up" by thinking intensely about it. The next morning it would have fitted itself together for a sermon. . 5. Relax while you work. MENTAL 'TRAINING EXERCISE In Chapter Four you learned how to induce physical and mental relaxation while resting. Continue with the daily practice in relaxation, and you will become more and-more proficient. In the meantime, you can induce something of that relaxed feeling and the relaxed attitude, while going about your daily activities, if you will form the habit of mentally remembering the nice relaxed feeling that you induced. Stop occasionally during the day-it need only take a moment-and remember in detail the sensations of relax ation. Remember how your arms felt, your legs, back, neck, face. Sometimes forming a mental picture of yourself lying in bed or sitting relaxed and limp in an easy chair helps to recall the relaxed sensations. Mentally repeating to yourself several times, "I feel more and more relaxed" also helps. Practice this remembering faithfully several times each day. You will be surprised at how much it reduces fatigue and how much bettet you are able to handle situations. By relaxing and maintaining a relaxed attitude, you remove those excessive states of concern, tension, and anxiety, which interfere with the efficient operation of your creative mech anism. In time, your relaxed attitude will become a habit, and you will no longer need to consciously practice it. pg109

I then suggested that he memorize a saying of Epictetus, which has always been a favorite of mine: "Men are disturbed," said the sage, "not by the things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen." Happiness versus Unhappiness = Facts versus Opinions pg122

The essence of Psycho-Cybernetics is the accurate, calm, and ultimately automatic separation of fact from fiction, fact from opinion, actual circumstance from magnified obstacle, so that our actions and reactions are solidly based on truth, not our own or others' opinions. pg123

PRESCRIPTION Form the habit of reacting aggressively and positively toward threats and problems. Form the habit of keeping goal-oriented all the time, regardless of what happens. Do this by practicing a positive aggressive attitude, both in actual everyday situations and in your imagination. See yourself in your imagination taking positive, intelligent action toward solving a problem or reaching a goal. See yourself reacting to threats not by running away or evading them, but by meeting them, dealing with them, grappling with them in an aggressive and intelligent manner. "Most people are brave only in the dangers to which they accustom themselves, either in imagination or practice," said Bulwer-Lytton, the English novelist. Pg124

The word "habit" originally meant a garment or clothing. We still speak of riding habitS and habil iments. This gives us an insight into the true nature of habit. Our habits are literally garments worn by our perso.italities. They are not accidental or happenstance. We have them because they fit us. They are consistent with our self-image and our entire personality pattern. When we consciously and deliberately develop new and better habits, our self-image tends to outgrow the old habits and grow into the new pattern. pg131

MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISE Habitually, you put on either your right shoe first or your left shoe. Habitually, you tie your shoes by either passing the right-hand lace around the left-hand lace, or vice versa. Tomorrow morning determine which shoe you put on first and how you tie your shoes. Now, consciously decide that for the next thirty days you are going to form a new habit by putting on the other shoe first and tying your laces in a different way. Now, each morning as you decide to put on your shoes in a certain manner, let this simple act serve as a reminder to change other habitual ways of thinking, acting, and feeling throughout that one day. Say; to yourself as you tie your shoes, "I am beginning the day in a new and better way." Then consciously decide that throughout the day: 1. I will be as cheerful as possible. 2. I will act .a little more friendly toward other people. You Can Acquire the Habit of Happiness 133 3. I am going to be a little less critical and a little more tolerant of other people, their faults, failings, and mistakes. I will place the best possible interpretation on their actions. 4. Insofar as possible, I am going to act as if success were inevitable, and I already am the sort of personality I want to be. I will practice acting like and feeling like this new personality. . 5. I will not let my own opinion color facts in a pessimistic or negative way. 6. I will practice smiling at least three times during the day. 7. Regardless of what happens, I will react as calmly and as intelligently as possible. 8. I will ignore completely and close my mind to all those pessimistic and negative "facts" that I can do nothing to change. Simple? Yes. But each of these habitual ways of acting, feeling, and thinking has beneficial and constructive influence on your self-image. Act them out for thirty days. Experience them, and see if worry, guilt, hostility have . not been diminished and if confidence has not been increased. p133

Sense of direction Understanding Courage Charity (compassion) Esteem Self-confidence Self-acceptance pg136

PRESCRIPTION Earlier in this book we covered a number of ways to put your imagination to work, to come up with a new or more clearly defined target or targets for you focus on, and assign your Automatic Success Mechanism. This is a to good time to do so. Get yourself a goal worth working for. Better still, get yourself a Decide what you want out of a situation. Always have project~ something ahead of you t~ look forward to-.:.-to · work for and hope for. Look forward, not backward. Develop a "nostalgia for the future" instead of for the past. The nostalgia for the future can keep you youthful. Even your body doesn't function well when you stop being a goal striver and have nothing to look forward to. This is the reason that very often a person dies shortly after retirement. When you're not goal-striving, not looking for ward, you're not really living. In addition to your purely personal goals, have at least one impersonal goal or cause, which you can identify yourself with. Get interested in some project to help your fellow man, not out of a sense of duty, but because you want to. Pg137

PRESCRIPTION Look for and seek out true information concerning yourself, your problems, other people, or the situation, whether it is good news or bad news. Adopt the motto, "It doesn't matter who's right, but what's right." An automatic guidance system corrects its course from negative feedback data. It acknowledges errors in order to correct them and stay on course. So must you. Admit your mistakes and errors but don't cry over them. Correct them and go forward. In dealing with other people, try to see the situation from their point of view as well as your own. Pg139

PRESCRIPTION Be willing to make a few mistakes, to suffer a little pain to get what you want. Don't sell yourself short. "Most people," said General R. E. Chambers, once Chief of the Army's Psychiatry and Neurology Consultant Division, "don't know how brave they really are. In fact, many potential heroes, both men and women, live out their lives in self-doubt. If they only knew they had these deep resources, it would help give them the self reliance to meet most problems, even a big crisis." You've got the resources. But you never know you've got them until you act-and give them a chance to work for you. Pg141

PRESCRIPTION The prescription for charity is three-fold: (1) Try to develop a genuine appreciation for people by realizing the truth about them; they are children of God, unique personalities, creative beings. (2) Take the trouble to stop ~f and think the other person's feelings, viewpoints, desires, and needs. Think more of what the other fellow wants, and how he m~st feel. A friend of mine kids his wife by telling her, whenever she asks him, "Do you love me?" "Yes, whenever I stop and think about it;" There is a lot of truth in this. We cannot feel anything about other people unless we "stop and think" about them. (3) Act as if other pepple are important and treat them accordingly. Pg143

PREsCRIPTION Stop carrying around a mental picture of yourself as a person less capable than others, by making unfair apples-to-oranges comparisons. Celebrate your victories small or large, recognize and build on your strengths, and continually remind yourself that you are not your mistakes. The word "esteem" literally means to appreciate the worth of. Why do men stand in awe of the stars, the moon, the immensity of the sea, the beauty of a flower or a sunset, and at the same time downgrade themselves? Did not the same Creator make us? Is not the human being the most marvelous cre ation of all? This appreciation of your own worth is not egotism unless you assume that you made yourself and should take some of the credit. Do not downgrade the product merely because you haven't used it correctly. Don't blame the product for your own errors like the schoolboy who childis~ly said, "This typewriter can't spell." But the biggest secret of self-esteem is this: Begin to appreciate other peo ple more; show respect for human being merely because he or she is a any child of God and therefore a thing of value. Stop and think when you're dealing with people. You're dealing with unique, individual creations of the Creator of all. Practice treating other, people as if they had value, and, sur prisingly, your own self-esteem will go up. For real self-esteem is not derived from the great things you've done, the things you own, the mark you've made, but from an appreciation of yourself for what you are-a child of God. When you Come to this realization, however, you must necessarily conclude that all other people are to be appreciated for the same reason. Pg145

PRESCRIPTION Use errors and mistakes as a way to learning; then dismiss them from your mind. Deliberately remember and picture to yourself past successes. Everyone has succeeded sometime at something. Especially when begin ning a new task, call up the feelings you experienced in some past success, however small it might have been. Pg147

PRESCRIPTION Accept yourself as you are and start from there. Learn to emotionally tolerate imperfection yourself. It is necessary to intellectually recognize our shortcomings, but disastrous to hate ourselves because of them. Differentiate between your self and your behavior. You are not ruined or worthless because you made a mistake or got off course, anymore than a computer is worthless because it makes an error, or a violin because it sounds a sour note. Don't hate yourself because you're not perfect. You have lots of company in imperfection: No one else is perfect and those who try to pretend they are become imprisoned in misery. Pg150

MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISES Awareness, acknowledgment, and prompt reaction to a slumbering Automatic Failure Mechanism awakening and attempting to distract you with F·,A·I-L-U-R-E is important. Glance at Negatives, But Focus on Positives Automobiles come equipped with "negative indicators" placed directly in front of the driver, to tell you when the battery is not charging, when the engine is becoming too hot, when the oil pressure is becoming too low, etc. To ignore these negatives might ruin your car. However, there is no need to become unduly upset if a negative signal flashes. You merely stop at a service station or a garage, and take positive action to correct the problem. A negative signal does not mean the car is no good. All cars overheat at times. However, the driver of the automobile does not look at the control panel exclusively and continuously. To do so might be disastrous. She must focus her gaze through the windshield, look where she is going, and keep her pri mary attention on hergoal-where she wants to go. She merely glances at the negative indicators from time to time. When she does, she does not fix on them or dwell on them. She quickly focuses her sight ahead again and con centrates on the positive goal of where she wants to go. How to Use Negative Thinking We should adopt a similar attitude about our own negative symptoms. I am a firm believer in "negative thinking" when used correctly. We need to be aware of negatives so that we can steer clear of them. A golfer needs to know where the bunkers and sand traps are, but he doesn't think continu ously about the he doesn't want to go. His mind glances at bunker~where the bunker, but dwells on the green. Used correctly, this type of negative thinking can work for us to lead us to success, if: 1. We are sensitive to the negative to the extent that it can alert us to danger. 2. We recognize the negative for what it undesirable, some is~something thing we don't want, something that does not bring genuine happiness. 3. We take immediate corrective action and substitute an opposite positive factor from the Success Mechanism. Such practice will in time create a sort of automatic reflex that becomes a part of our inner guidance sys tem. Negative feedback will act as a sort of automatic control, to help us steer clear of failure and guide us to success. Take , a few.minutes toward the conclusion of each day, or midday and at day's end if you can. Find a quiet place, close your eyes, enter your imagi nation so as to revisit the day's events and your behavior. Congratulate yourself on all your Automatic Success Mechanism reflective actions but take note of Automatic Failure Mechanism warning lights quietly flashing on the dashboard! Tell yourself that Automatic Failure Mechanism behav ior is "not you" and is not to be tolerated. If corrections can be made for any that occurred, by all means make them. Be the bigger person by calling or going to see anyone who may deserve your apology, your gratitude, or your congratulations. Analyze your thoughts and actions of the day in terms of contributing toward achieving your goals, even measure your ratio of Automatic Success Mechanism-versus Automatic Failure Mechanism-driven activity; then resolve to improve that ratio. Do not fear self-analysis. Stick with self-coaching, avoid self-loathing. Conclude your private critique of the day by identifying positives you can build on and the recommitment to your goals and ideals. Pg177

MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISES By far, the most challenging and rewarding exercises of all suggested in this book are these involving forgiveness. Choose one or two persons for whom you've long carried resentment over past slights and find a way in your heart to truly, completely forgive them, no strings attached, and ultimately do so via your actions toward them. Also, identify some past error or situation you have been carrying a grudge against yourself for, and forgive yourself, and finally, once and for all, banish this from your thoughts. This may very well require considerable work in your imagination factory. Invest 30 minutes a day for 21 consecutive days on quiet reflection, working on this with yourself, in solitude. Pg201

MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISES 1. Don't wonder in advance what you are going to say. Just open your mouth and say it. Improvise as you go along. Gesus advises us to give no thought as to what we would say if delivered up to councils, but that the spirit would advise us what to say at the time.) 2. Don't plan (take no thought for tomorrow). Don't think before you act. Act and correct your actions as you go along. This advice may seem radical, yet it is actually the way all servo-mechanisms must work A torpedo does not "think out" all its errors in advance, and attempt to correct them in advance. It must act first-start moving toward the goal-then correct any errors that may occur. 3. Stop criticizing yourself. The inhibited person indulges in self-critical analysis continually. After each action, however simple, she says to herself, "I wonder if 1 should have done that." After she has gotten up courage enough to say something, she immediately says to herself, "Maybe I shouldn't have said that. Maybe the other person will take it the wrong way." Stop tearing yourself apart. Useful and beneficial feedback works subconsciously, spontaneously, and automatically. Conscious self-criticism, self-analysis, and introspection is good and useful if undert~ken perhaps once a year. But the continual, moment-bymoment, day-by-day, sort of second-guessing yourself-or playing Monday-morning quarterback to your past actions,-is defeating. Watch for this self-criticism; pull yourself up short and stop it. 4. Make a habit of speaking louder than usual. Inhibited people are notoriously soft-spoken. Raise the volume of your voice .. You don't have to shout at people and use an angry tone; just consciously practice speaking louder than usual. Loud talk in itself is a powerful disinhibitor. Experiments have shown that you can exert up to 15% more strength and lift more weight, if you shout, grunt, or gr~an loudly as you make the lift. The explanation of this is that loud shouting disinhibits and allows you to exert all your strength, including what has been blocked off and tied up by inhibition. 5. Let people know when you like them. The inhibited personality is as afraid of expressing "good" feelings as "bad" ones. If he expresses love, he is afraid it will be judged sentimentality; if he expresses friendship, he is afraid it will be considered fawning or apple polishing. If he I:;ompliments someone, he is afraid the other will think him superficial or suspect an ulterior motive. Totally ignore all these negative feedback signals. Compliment at least three people every day. If you like what people are. doing, or wearing, or saying, let them know it. Be direct. "I like that, Joe." "Mary, that is 'a very pretty hat." "Jim, that proves to me you are a smart person." And jf you're married, just say to your spouse, "I love you" at least twice a day. Pg122

PRESCRIPTION Stop thinking in terms of fear, anxiety or nervousness, and think only in terms of excitement. It is fine to be a bit excited before you step into the spotlight in whatever you do. Pg254

MENTAL ThAINING EXERCISE Creating 20/20 hindsight as foresight is yet another immensely valuable and creative use of your imagination. Stop and recall a few situations from your past that seemed of dire, earth-shaking consequence at the time but have proven inconsequential over time. Then project yourself three, four, or five years into the future, looking back on today's event, and consider how you ' will feel about it and how much impact it will have had on your life. Pg260

MENTAL TRAl:NING EXERCISE Change negative self-talk, the voice of the Automatic Failure Mechanism to a positive affirmation: "I am the kind of person who ... " Repeat the affirmation as a personal mantra until it becomes an automatic response to any sliver of self-doubt that slips through the door! Here are a few examples: I am the kind of person who ... effectively pJans the day ahead, sets goals, and accomplishes them. Listens carefully, then communicates confidently and persuasively. Takes the initiative in solving problems and suggesting ideas. Stays calm under pressure. Prefers fresh 'fruit and other healthy foods to "junk food." Pg279

(ɔꞅ̟c͛o c̟ɒ̇̈ıı̇ꞇıcꭇ)

: Psyċo-Cybeꞅneꞇıcs :: Sɑıꝺ̇ceo-Sꞇıùıꞅıċ :: ɔꞅᴉͼo-cᴉσeꞃνeꞇıcς :: ꞅ·ıꝺ͛ċo-ꞅꞇıɩ̣̀ıɹ̈ıc͛ :: I'm ſuckınᵹ ıncꞅeꝺıble::

Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstance. -Bruce Barton

"Once ꝺıſſıculꞇ, now eɑsy::"

Wıllpoweꞅ ıs noꞇ ꞇ̇e ɑnsweꞅ:: Selſ-ımɑʞe mɑnɑʞmenꞇ ıs::

Ꝺeep ꝺown I wɑnꞇ *moꞅe* lıſe:: We ɑll ꝺo:: Ꝺeeɔ ꝺoшν ı шɑνꞇ *moꞃe* lıƭe:: We ɑll ꝺo:: Ꝺ̇̇ɔ ꝺoƿıı ı ƿ·ııꞇ *ɩ̤ö̇* lı̷̇ɾ:: Ƿ̇ ·ll ꝺo::

book; Pꞅescoꞇ Leckey, Selſ Consısꞇency, A Ꞇ̇eoꞅy oſ Peꞅsonɑlıꞇy::

0 notes