Do you know where the 'on switch' to your brain is?

For a long time I didn't realize that my brain wasn't really turned on. I mean I could communicate, make a living and do all manner of things without hardly trying. So naturally I assumed that my brain was in gear and everything was working fine.

Then one day I discovered the 'on switch' and wow it was a whole new world. My first great discovery was that I wasn't really using my brain, I was simply operating on automatic.

The imput to my brain was coming from all sorts of sources; TV, Newspapers, radio, books and worst of all from other people. All these sources were merrily plugging their thoughts into my cranium and I was acting out the results they intended for me. They could make me feel good or bad depending on their whim. This is not good because I always thought I was smarter than the average bear!

However, I'm now glad to report that since I discovered the 'on switch' I have regained complete control. Now that I'm in control things are much better. I can push that happy button to my hearts delight (and trust me I do). I am understandably happier and I just keep having these great epiphanys. It feels so good I can't stop writing these articles. My brain is supercharged and I'm loving it.

I know what you're thinking! What is the boy on? How do I get some and what's this 'on switch' you keep raving about?

First let me say that I've found that the simpliest things can be the most profound. So hold onto your shorts here it is....Silence. Yep, that's it, silence. You see when you shut out all external interference (like the radio, TV and the kids) you get silence and when you get silence your brain suddenly wakes up and says...hey, no stimulous must be time to go to work. Once that happens all sorts of thoughts start pouring in to fill the vaccum. Remember what they told us in school and on Star Trek, nature abhors a vacuum.

Isn't that great! But wait, there's more. Your brain has two channels, one is positive and one is negative and the dang thing keeps flipping from one channel to the other. Until you take control of this wonderful machine it can drive you nuts. Who the heck wants to have their brain feeding them a bunch of negative crap. The way you know that its negative crap is in your stomach. Yeah, I kid you not, the brain is hard wired to your stomach. When you get that feeling in the pit of your stomach you know damn sure the brain is on the negative channel again. So the solution to good programming is to pay attention to your gut. As soon as you start feeling it there switch the channel to positive thoughts. Ahhh, that feels better!

With some attention you can get really good at keeping your channel on positive. And man does that feel good. Plus, amigos, the really great ideas start to flow. Suddenly, you feel in control of your life. This is good stuff!

There is a caveat here, you'll get hooked on the positive channel of your brain. You won't be too pleased when someone trys to change channels on you. Those people whose brain is stuck on negative will annoy you and you will start to find yourself wanting to get away from them. Try as you will, to get them to turn on their positive channel and they will try even harder to turn on your negative channel. Thing is you will know that they are trying to do it to you, so your brain will be saying to you, let's get the heck away from this person before they take away this good feeling I'm really loving. Anyone who really knows me will tell you that I'm not a happy camper if you try to turn off my 'happy button'.

It takes a little practice but after awhile it starts to come naturally. You'll start looking for more silence but remember to keep it in balance or you become a hermit living in a cave. And you can become a real master of this technique when you can keep the channel on positive even when there is lots of outside stimulus bombarding your brain.

So turn off the radio and TV and turn on your brain, its fun, easy and will bring you tons of abundance in your life. Glad I could be here for you!

Take a nap and get smarter

"Sleep not only rights the wrong of prolonged wakefullness, but at a neurological level, it moves beyond where you were before you took a nap"

Dr. Mathew Walker UC Berkely

Sometimes I wish those guys would say things in normal language. So here is my translation...

"a siesta a day keeps dumb away"

There, that was easy. What I really liked though in the Dr's statement was that he was saying that, a little daytime snooze, rights the wrong of staying awake too long. So it's counter productive to work too many hours in a row!

Isn't it great to know that researchers at University of California Berkely, have proven that the brain works better than a nap. This is just more proof of what I've been saying for years....hard and difficult is bull crap and fun and easy is the way to abundance!

I suggest you show this to your boss, if you have one. And because I'm here for you, I'm even going to give the narrative to go with it;

"Yeah boss, I'll be taking a 30 minute time out this afternoon for a little siesta. But don't worry your pointed little head, because I'll be more productive when I return. It's for the good of the company that I do this. No thanks are necessary. I just want to do the best job possible and of course by doing so, make you look good in the process. You're welcome"

Smile, life was meant to be fun, easy and abundant!

How to make better predictions

"Those who are comfortable trusting their feelings make the most accurate predictions"

That is the finding from a study done by Columbia Business School.   Their study was to determine if deliberate rational reasoning or trusting your gut feeling was better.   The finding.....those people that a higher trust in their feelings greatly outpredicted those that second guess their feelings.

Here is how they think it works...   

When you relying on your feelings for determining  what is right or wrong, you are actually using both your conscious and unconscious mind  to access knowledge and information.   Your gut feeling is actually the result of your cumulatinve knowledge. 

When it doesn't work to trust your feelings...

You must have knowledge on the subject first.   If you know nearly nothing about which your prediction or decision is based, then it is just a guess.   The more kowledge you have the better trusting your feelings works.  Makes sense, right?

I'm thinking this is much the same way intuition and those aha moments work.   It's accessing your conscious and subconscious knowledge.   The best ideas come when you a real depth of knowledge on the subject.

"You've trusted your head and where has that got you?   Maybe its time to trust your feelings"

And just to prove to you how good I am at this, I am going to make a bold prediction based on my gut feeling?   Tonight I'm going to sit down with a cold beer and watch the hockey game.    My team is going to kick some serious butt and go on to make the playoffs!   Nah, just kidding...those bums couldn't fight their way out of a wet paper bag!   (and I have a very strong feeling about that)

Relax....quit thinking so much and it will get better

"You would be a lot smarter if you didn't always think so much"

I just discovered the cure for procrastination! And lucky you because I'm going to share it with you. So lets the bells ring out and the banners fly, its too good to be true. The cure for procrastination is....quit thinking. That's it. And it gets even better....

"Stop thinking is also the solution for getting more productive."

I know just what you are thinking....you got some explaining to do Guru?

Ok, here is what causes us to procrastinate, we start thinking about what we are supposed to do. Then we start thinking why we don't need to do it right now. A whole avoidance senerio goes in our mind. And before we know it, we've talked ourselves out it. As some wise guy once said...'why put off until tomorrow what you can put off until next week'.

So the trick is to start as quick as you can. Don't think about it just start and voila procrastination is whipped in seconds. Too much thinking leads to delays, excuses and problems.

Now what about this increased productivity thing Mr. Guru?

Same thing too much planning of what you are going to do each day leads to inaction. Just get started and plan as you go. This way you will get more done. A rough guide is all you need, too much fine planning slows you down and sometimes even gets you discouraged. As that annoying Nike ad says...just do it (and do it now).

But wait it gets better..

Do you want get more courage? No problem...quit thinking so much. The reason courage fails us is mostly because we think to much about the consequences. Now sometimes that's a really good thing but sometimes it prevents us from going outside of our comfort zones. The great achievements in life usually happen outside your comfort zone and too much thinking can get in the way. Think about that?

So there you have it, a simple solution from a simple Guru!

The meek are already inheriting the world

NOTE; No alcohol was consumed during the formation of our thesis

This all started from a conversation with my amiga Daisy (aka Nancy P). During a walk down the beaches of Mazatlan we were discussing my fascination with paradox's. Daisy pointed out that the bible also had many paradox's. So I decided to at least examine one of them. The first that came to mind was...

"and the meek shall inherit the earth"

This had me mentally tied up in knots, because let's face it, it makes no sense. How the heck could the meek ever hope to inherit anything, much less the earth? And for that matter, who was the meek, Jesus was referring to. There being no biblical scholars on the beach that day, I turned to another friend, Yoda (aka Eric W). This warranted one more beach stroll and much discussion, and then Yoda had an epiphany.

Yoda rationalized that men are the stronger sex and women are the weaker sex. Therefore they would qualify as a meeker race. Now since meek means humble and patient, and I know of no men who qualify for that, I was speechless. The more we discussed it, the more damn sense it seemed to make. Good grief men....

One day women will inherit the earth...YIKES!

But come to think of it, we men haven't done a very good job of running the planet so far. We've polluted the world in the name of progress (which is code for greed). We've raped, pillaged, abused and killed each other and nature. We have been extremely poor stewards and that's being overly kind.

Women are the only humans in training

Think about this; women are the only one's who receive training in how to be a good human. They have been throughout history, the one's who raised the children. They are the people who nuture and protect the defenceless. They teach harmony and mandate sharing. They tend to manage the family resources and ensure everyone is fed. Damn good training for running the planet!

Note to men!

I know what you are thinking? Bull crap, it will never happen. Well buddies, I would like to find agreement with you however....

It is already happening..

The first seminal change was when women got the right to vote. It started in one country but spread like a prairie wild fire and it continues today. Now contemplate this?

There are more women than men on the planet

And they live longer as well. Political power for women is only, one more vote than a man away. Some countries have already had female leaders. More are on their way. Need more evidence? A few weeks ago my son told me that 60% of the students in his law class were women. I checked and this ratio continues throughout universities in the land. And we know how lawyers lust for power and make the laws!

The quiet takeover has begun

Quietly women are assuming more positions of authority (read power) and it is progressively increasing. My opinion is, that it is already past the tipping point. It is inevitable....

The meek are going to inherit the earth

And the meek (women) have been trained to share, nuture, protect the weak, and create harmony. Oh sure, as Robin Williams once said...if women ruled the world, every month we would have a few days of intense negotiations, but then we would all get along like a happy little family. And if a few countries started fighting, I could see them being told to take a time out until they could come out and apologize. Probably get their trading priveliges suspended for a week or two as punishment.

So now you know the truth

I was going to ask you to keep this secret but upon reflection, it sounds pretty damn appealing. So I say bring it on girls! And while you are at it, you can take over my job as well and I'll stay home with the kids. (ok, my son is at university, but I'm sure I could think of something else to occupy my time, you know like a cold beer on a hot beach)

I am a daydream achiever

Throughout my undistinquished and limited scholastic career there was always one constant I can remember. Every report card I carted home to my disappointed mother always seemed to be annotated with this....."Edward could do much better but he spends too much time in class daydreaming". Lucky for me, as Mark Twain said...'I never let my schooling interfere with my education'.

My teachers were in full agreement that the only thing that seperated me from doing my mother proud was my lack of discipline and interest. I'm sure if they could of, they would have advised mom to lower her expectations with this child. But little did they know that while I was daydreaming about riding my bike or that pretty little thing across the aisle, I was actually developing my creative muscle. I was growing more neuron connections for future use.

"our brains are much more activated when we daydream"

That is the findings of a recent study published by the prestigous Academy of Sciences. They discovered that the activity of numerous regions of our brains increases as our minds wander. Previously they had believed that our brains went dormant or at least in some kind of slow motion when we daydream. The common belief was that mind-wandering was associated with laziness.....FOOLS!

"We spend almost half of our waking hours mind wandering" (unless you are me, in which case it can be much longer)

Isn't that amazing? Half of our waking hours the light is on but no one is home? This can be both good and bad. We can be worrying about the future or ruminating about the past. That's what I call..'Mind Wandering Trouble'. No good can come from this. As some wise guy once said...worry is using your imagination to make things worse.

The there is 'Mind Wandering Neutral'. This is when you are listening to music or watching the idiot box. You are letting an outside influence do the thinking for you.

So what's good about mind wandering you ask? Good question grasshopper and fortunately for you I have an answer. I call it 'Mind Wandering Fun'. This when you are conjuring up good ideas, day dreaming about a beautiful future or planning some venture.

So the good or the bad depends on what type of mind wandering your are doing. Most folks let the mind wander in which ever direction it chooses. But I got the idea that if the mind wanders almost half of our waking hours, why not try and direct and harness its powers to my advantage? Brilliant, huh?

A mini course in 'Mind Wandering Fun'

1. I have discovered that the best way to direct your wandering thoughts is to give your mind a question. The answers to which will be to your benefit. So for instance, I started out with the question...How can I use my mind wandering to my advantage?

2. Write your question out on an index card. This is really important because without a visual reminder your mind might lose its way and end up in mind wandering trouble.

3. Jot down on the back of the card all the ideas or answers that come to you.

4. Put the card where you will see it often. I put one in the car, another by my computer and another on the bathroom mirror. (my son see's them and thinks I'm nuts but oh well it works) Without the constant visual reminder your mind will lose its way. Maybe that's why people have told me in the past....you've lost your mind Eduardo!

5. It's important that you take note of ALL your thoughts and ideas ASAP. It has been my experience that if you don't record ideas they are so easily forgotten. Also,  if don't immediately record your ideas you get cut off from the source they came from.

6. Stay with one question until you've either found what you were looking for or you get bored with it. If you get bored with it...change it to another question. You can always come back to the original question later with fresh eyes.

7. I sometimes end up with 4 or 5 cards full of ideas. I then review them to see which ideas I like the best (the evaluation step). However, most the time I'll come up with one idea that soars above the rest and I know it when I get it.

That's it 7 easy steps. I wrote my book using my simple 'Mind Wandering Fun' technique.  I wrote out the chapter name on a card and started collecting ideas for the chapter. From there it was easy to organize the thoughts and write the chapter.

I generate ideas for businesses using the same technique. It's fun, its easy and it works! I hope you try it because I wouldn't want you to let your mind wander....and lose it!

Persistance....it's not all it's cracked up to be

Sometimes I get annoyed with the 'warrior' types and their endless chants of...never ever, ever give up!  Not only is it annoying but at times it is downright foolish.  

Persistance is a valued trait if applied with thought and reason.  Blind persistance can take you so far down the wrong road you may never find your way back.   Sometimes what we are doing,  just is never going to work and we need to make changes.   So this makes more sense to me...

"If at first you don't succeed.....try, try again.   If it still doesn't work....try different"

Its all about....

*Knowing what you want

*Knowing what you are getting

*Making changes until you get what you want or

*Finding a new want

It's not so much about giving up your dreams and more about being open to changing the path  to the dream or finding a dream better suited to you.  As Darwin said...it isn't the strongest that survive...it's the most flexible (and adapatable).

So I've given up on my dream of being the next Dali Lama and settling down with Lady GaGa...Dang!

Life was meant to be fun, easy and abundant, so quit beating your head against the wall.   It's stupid and its making a mess of the drywall.