GIGO and Laughter

Have you ever heard the term "garbage in - garbage out"?  This is often expressed as the acronym "GIGO".  It is commonly used to remind people that no matter how clever a computer program may be, if you feed the wrong or inappropriate information in, then it will probably come up with the wrong or an inappropriate answer.  That is not because there is anything wrong with the computer, but because the person trying to use it is not using it properly.  Computers can be wonderful things, but you cannot expect them to read your mind and do what you hoped they would do if you don't give them the right instructions!  To a certain extent, what is called "fuzzy logic" can sometimes seem to work miracles in this way, but there are still limits and you still need to understand what it is you want the computer to do before you start giving it instructions.

You have probably read somewhere that your unconscious or subconscious mind is like a powerful computer.  I truly believe this.  Just like any other computer, it relies on having the right programming, and receiving the right instructions.  Program it correctly, give it the right instructions, and it can indeed perform miracles for you.  But always remember that, just like a computer, it is subject to GIGO.  You must program it correctly and you must give it the right instructions.

Sometimes it can be difficult to know how to program your subconscious, and what instructions to give it.  But just because it can be difficult you must not give up.  Don't think that you can just ignore it and not "bother" to give it instructions.  You are giving it instructions all the time, whether or not you intend to do so.  So it is vital you look carefully at the instructions you are giving it and ensure you are not setting yourself up for massive failures.

One deliberate way of instructing your subconscious is by using what are called "affirmations".  Statements that show it what you want to achieve and that are expressed in a very positive way in order to use your subconscious to help you reach your goals.  You will find plenty of material online teaching you how to create affirmations properly, including articles in my own blog (check the label "affirmation"), so I am not going to repeat this here.  Any time you spend researching this will be time well spent.

But what I want to remind you is that whether or not you consciously create affirmations you are still giving your subconscious instructions all the time.  If you DO create an affirmation, but then continually give the opposite instruction to your subconscious you really should not expect that affirmation to have much, if any, effect.  In fact, I would suggest that the main reason so many people complain that affirmations don't work is not necessarily because they are not using them properly (although that can also be the case), but because they are constantly countermanding those affirmations.

A lot comes down to how you feel all the time.  Feel happy, and you will be sending a message to your subconscious that you WANT to be happy.  OK, I know it is a bit of a vicious circle.  Sometimes it can be quite difficult to maintain positive emotions.  But the vicious circle works in both directions.  Prime it in the right direction and it reinforces itself, making it easier and easier to maintain the positive emotion.

I have said this in previous articles, but I make no apology for repeating it here: adopt the right posture to go with the positive emotion and you will find it a lot easier to feel that emotion.  Do the things you would normally do when you had that emotion.  The more you act as though you are feeling that way, the more you WILL feel that way.

Many years ago I studied Aikido in the "Hombu Dojo", or world Aikido headquarters in Tokyo.  One of my teachers was a shinto priest.  He started every session by making us laugh.  I don't mean he did or said something funny.  Nor did he tell us to think of something funny.  He completely bypassed all of that and told us simply to make the noise of laughter.  We had to feel that laughter arising in the solar plexus and then radiating up the centerline of our bodies, erupting from our mouths as the sound we call laughter.  Let me tell you, it worked!  Soon we were all really laughing, not just making the sound.  At that point he stopped us and the lesson began.  It made a huge difference to the way we internalized the lessons he taught us and how positive we felt about those lessons.  It also set us up for a happier and more productive day.

You don't need a shinto priest or an Aikido instructor to tell you to do this.  Just know that you CAN do it.  Try it for yourself - preferably when you are alone, unless you want to get a rather odd reputation!  I can assure you it really does work.  And once you realize what a difference a simple action like this can make to your state of mind, your emotions, and your spirit, you will realize just how easy it can be to create positive emotions within you if you are only willing to try.  Create those positive emotions, and allow them to influence the workings of your inner computer, your subconscious mind, and you will find your life will soon begin to feel better!

Abundance Blocks

If you have been studying personal development for a while you have probably come across the term "abundance block".  But what exactly is it, and why is it important?

Your unconscious mind is very much like a computer.  Program it in the right way and it will give you the right answer.  But the term "gigo" (garbage in - garbage out) very much applies here.  It has no good way of testing the truth or otherwise of what it is told.  Again, just like a computer.  If you write a program instructing your computer to do certain things, and if you use the right syntax to write the program instructions, it will do exactly what you say.  It doesn't care whether or not there is any logic in what it is being told to do, even though it is an entirely logical machine.  It just does it because it has been told to do it.

On being told this, some people think all they need to do is give the right instructions to their unconscious mind and all will be well.  They prepare the right "affirmations", recite them every day, and then expect their unconscious mind to start creating opportunities which will lead them to their goal.  In theory this should work.  In practice it often doesn't, and it is then tempting to say "affirmations don't achieve anything - they are a complete waste of time and effort!"  But the reason it doesn't work is because there is some deep seated underlying "programming" which is taking us in a very different direction.  This underlying programming creates "abundance blocks".

Abundance blocks can be created at any time, but many of the more powerful blocks were created many years ago, often during very early childhood.

There are many different kinds of abundance blocks.  The way in which they block us differs, but the end result is the same.

A very common abundance block is the belief that we do not deserve abundance.  That abundance may be wealth, and it often is.  But it may be, for example, good relationships, a satisfying career, etc, etc.  Anything, in fact, that we would like to achieve.

So your unconscious mind may have been programmed to believe you do not deserve to be wealthy, or do not deserve to have love, or do not deserve to have a good job.  Often, it is so deeply buried that you don't even realize it is there.  You try to become wealthier, but your unconscious mind "knows" that you do not deserve to be wealthy, as that it what it was programmed to believe many years ago.  And so it refuses to let you become wealthy.  Or allows you to become wealthy for a brief period and then lose it all.

Or it may have been programmed to believe that whatever it is you want is evil.  Typically this will be wealth, although again it may be anything that you would regard as signalling success.  Perhaps it believes you cannot be spiritual if you are aiming for success in one way or another.  There is no conflict between a good, happy relationship and spirituality.  There is no conflict between a satisfying career and spirituality.  There is no conflict between being wealthy and being spiritual.  Did you react at all when you read any of those statements?  Did you feel some resistance inside you?  Perhaps when I said there is no conflict between being wealthy and being spiritual?  Did your unconscious mind feed you some phrases along the lines of "money is the root of all evil"?  This is a very common unconscious belief (sometimes a conscious belief too), which is completely untrue but which has created an abundance block that will prevent you becoming or remaining wealthy.

Sometimes these abundance blocks have arisen from a direct comment.  Perhaps your parents told you when you were a child that money is the root of all evil.  Or they may have told you that if you want to be successful you have to work hard.  On the surface that sounds a reasonable thing to say.  It is certainly good to work for success, to do things likely to lead you to success.  But if your unconscious believes you can only be successful if you work hard, then all the time you are not working hard (because, for example, you are getting the sleep you need, or eating the food you need to eat to stay alive!) it will decide you cannot become successful because you are not working hard.  It has a very simple program equating success with working hard and cannot recognize that sometimes you have to do something else.

Sometimes the abundance blocks have arisen indirectly.  For example, as a young child you may have heard your parents arguing about money.  Maybe not a very bitter, long argument, just the kind of "spat" most of us have from time to time.  But to your young child's mind there is now an association between money and unhappiness.  That will create a powerful abundance block.

Abundance blocks like these are usually buried very deep.  It may take some time to identify them.  One way to recognize you have them is to see how you react to words like "wealth", "money", "love", "success" etc.  Any feeling other than great joy and happiness suggests you have an abundance block you have to remove before you can receive the abundance the Universe wants you to receive.

Although it is possible to identify and remove these abundance blocks yourself, it is a lot easier to enlist help to do so.  Use a coach who specializes in this area.  Personally I have taken programs run by the excellent coach Christie Marie Sheldon.  You can attend one of her webinars free to identify and remove one of your abundance blocks, and then consider following one of her programs to deal with the many other blocks you almost certainly have.

The Power of the Unconscious

Just how powerful is your unconscious mind?

Perhaps before I try to answer this I should clarify what I mean by "unconscious".  It is everything in your mind of which you are not conscious.  Some people try to call this the subconscious mind, but that is not the true term.  "Subconscious" is a part of the mind which is accessible, but of which you are not aware at the time.  Another way of putting this is that it is the "non-mindfulness" part of your mind (if you are not familiar with this term, I will be producing an article about Mindfulness later this year).  For example you may be so used to walking from your home to your office that you do so automatically, without being aware of the journey at all.  This is the subconscious mind controlling your journey.  The unconscious mind includes this, but also includes parts of your mind that are not normally accessible at all.  You may be completely unaware of what is happening in your unconscious mind, but it is still happening.

To a degree, I tend to follow Jung's view of the unconscious mind.  That is, we have both a personal and a collective unconscious.  In our personal unconscious are our personal memories.  Things we have thought about and that are now permanently a part of us but of which we are no longer consciously aware.  In our collective unconscious are what you might think of as cultural "memories" and even memories going right back to the origin of mankind.

But the unconscious is more than just memories.  It is a real force.  Restricting it to just memories is missing the real power of the unconscious.  It includes what Hindus and some Buddhists refer to as "Atman", an absolute and essential "self".  The true self.  What Paul Brunton referred to in his works as the "Overself".  Almost God-like.  In fact, I believe it IS God expressing Himself through us.  When we sit in silence, listening for the voice of God, we hear that voice.  It comes from within, and yet it is all powerful and not really "within" at all.  It is not restricted to the "archetypes" of the collective unconscious, as Jung called them, but is really the power of the entire universe.

The Overself is the perfect being you are intended to be.  Somewhere along the road you lost that perfection, but it is still there within you waiting to be found again.  Hidden in your unconscious mind.  All the personal development work you do is really one small step in that journey to finding and releasing the Overself that is right there waiting to be released.

So how powerful is your unconscious mind?  The answer is, it is all-powerful!  There is absolutely no limit to its power - or rather the only limits are the limits you place on it yourself.  Keep going on your personal development journey, knowing that the power of the universe, or the power of God, is waiting for you and helping you to reach your goal!

Law of Attraction is as real as gravity

by

Joe Vitale

You’ve probably heard about and maybe even practiced the “Law of Attraction” to bring better things into your life. 

It’s one of our brain’s most natural and powerful talents. Countless people all over the world have used this “law” to attract wealth and abundance to themselves and the people they love.

So why have so many more tried and failed?

The #1 question we ask when it fails to work for us is...

“If Attraction is actually a ‘law,’ then why won’t it work for me as automatically and effortlessly as gravity does? Why would you have to do anything to make it work?”

Well, the truth is that just like gravity, the Law of Attraction IS always working. You don’t need to do anything to make it “work”…

You just have to do something if you want to harness it and make it work for you. 

It took Isaac Newton and an apple falling off a tree to make us “aware” of gravity, and look at it with awareness and intent. And then it still took a few hundred years until we figured out how to fly. 

Well, the Law of Attraction is similar. All along, it’s been a force in your life. 

So why do so many people struggle to attract money? Struggle to bring abundance and happiness into their lives, when the Law of Attraction is all around them?

The fact is, if the Law of Attraction works all the time, and your own results fall short… then the difference must be in you. 

If you state an intention, and it doesn’t work, there’s a part of you that’s fighting with another part of yourself. 

You’ve probably heard the saying that we only use a small fraction of our brains. Well, 80 to 90 percent of our thinking is unconscious. 

We are like conscious icebergs with most of our thoughts happening beneath the water line, out of our awareness.

What this means is that what you consciously think isn’t anywhere near as important as what your unconscious mind thinks.

So when your intentions fail to manifest, all too often it’s because there’s an unconscious conflict of beliefs deep down. A conflict that may have been buried there since childhood. 

Some experts call these “counter-intentions,” and until you get “clear” of these hidden mental snags attracting the things you want in life is going to be very difficult. 

It’s like trying to drive a car with one foot flooring the gas and the other foot pumping the brake pedal. 

However, when you discover the simple process of eliminating this blocked thinking from your mind, it’s as if the flood gates are flung wide open and all the abundance you’ve been concentrating on and waiting for is suddenly “cleared for landing”.

See exactly how it works in this just released video that explains the new research and how people are now using the Law of Attraction more powerfully than ever before. The video is free (of course), available at the link below.

Watch now!

Using Metaphors to Influence and Persuade

by

Linda Cattelan

Did you know that we use about six metaphors per minute in the English language? Are you aware that our unconscious mind thinks and responds best to symbolic language i.e. metaphors? Did you know that all learning and change occurs at the unconscious level?

A metaphor is a story told with a purpose which allows us to bypass conscious resistance in order to make connections at a deeper level. By telling stories you engage the other person's curiosity and thereby create the opportunity for direct dialogue with their unconscious mind.

Milton Erickson, a Psychiatrist and Psychotherapist who specialized in medical hypnosis and family therapy for over 60 years, was famous for his metaphorical approach through storytelling. He was renowned not only for his approach to the unconscious mind as creative and solution generating but also for making a large impact on the developers of NLP.

Milton was a master at using abstract and ambiguous language patterns to match his client's experience by assisting his client in accessing unconscious resources in order to pace and lead his client's behavior through a story.

Most of the time, an effective metaphor will result in the other person totally associating or connecting to the character or event in the story. In this sense, metaphors are effective for inducing and creating a trance-like state. When you induce trance, you are communicating directly to the unconscious mind.

Through the use of metaphors we have a huge opportunity to creatively affect change within others. Therefore becoming artistic in the use of metaphors can really make a difference in helping others to move forward. You are already using metaphors in your language and therefore unconsciously impacting others in ways you may not even be aware of. As previously stated, we use several metaphors per minute in our general language already. Becoming self-aware of the language we use and its impact on others is not only useful but important. NLP teaches us how to intentionally use metaphors and language patterns to create desired change and insights in others.

Language is the middle name in NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming). So in that sense, NLP is a linguistic way of communicating with others on a regular basis.

I have several metaphors I use with my coaching clients when I am trying to make a point. For example; I like to use the analogy of a hockey game in progress as a metaphor for perspectives work. The hockey player is in total fovial vision focused only on what is before him/her. The view is narrow and at this level, the game is fast moving, decisions are made quickly with no time to fully anticipate the impact. From a Coach's view from the bench, the Coach is able to see a much broader perspective of the game. The game actually appears slower from this standpoint. The Coach is able to anticipate not only the player's probable action but also the chain of reaction the play will cause. Now, imagine moving further out to high in the stands of the hockey arena. From this vantage you can really see what is going on in the bigger picture. The game really slows down and you can be much more objective than when you are right in the middle of the play as the player. Whenever I use this metaphor, clients can really remove themselves from a perspective they are holding when I ask them to become an observer in the stands.

In addition to having a toolkit of metaphors at the ready, designing a specific metaphor to address someone's specific problem or issue is ideal.

Here are 4 steps to consider when designing a metaphor to use with others:

1. Define the person's problem or issue 
2. Determine the person's desired outcome 
3. Ask yourself: "What is this an example of?" You are looking for a story or metaphor that will get the other person from where they are now to their desired outcome without their conscious connection or awareness 
4. Tell your metaphor

Milton Erickson was notorious for telling stories about his vegetable garden when working with weight loss clients. He would speak about how beautiful his tomatoes were and how the tomatoes knew exactly how to take in just the right amount of water, sun and nutrients from the soil in order to grow to just the right size and shape. His clients would hear these stories and sometimes become upset that Milton was using their therapy time to talk about his vegetable garden. However, over time the clients would start to lose weight and reach their goals.

If you are interested in learning more about the unconscious mind and the many ways you can successfully attract your goals, dreams and aspirations, you can join Linda's mailing list at http://www.resultscatalyst.ca/?page=newsletter to receive valuable information on these topics and regular updates about upcoming events and workshops.