Considering a revisit

After nearly 4 months break from using meditation CDs of any kind I am considering going back to the Brain EV System to see if anything interesting arises that I can report on.

Whilst I have experienced some noticeable growth over the six-months of usage, especially in the area of my creativity I feel it is worth seeing if indeed it really is actively beneficial. I am in no hurry to get back to the Brain EV sessions and I may even wait a few more months before doing so. I think the biggest benefit I have had from the Brain EV System to be honest is the fact that it got me regularly meditating. I think unassisted meditation is good enough as long as you are not eager to see big changes overnight, but are content with integrating the practice of meditation into your life.

That’s the point really. I do rate the Brain EV System highly, but meditation is not a finite program, it is something that will only bring lasting benefit if you continue to do it as part of your life. After all the benefits of eating do not last if you stop eating! The benefits of meditation are the same, just like the benefits of regular sleep too.

Still, what I have to compare is where I am now with where I was when I started meditating, first with Holosync, which I stopped using in favor of the Brain EV System. There is no concrete proof that meditation changed my life, but any life change comes as a result of the sum of everything you adopt, apply, integrate, experience and act upon, so meditation has to have played a part.

What I can say is that these systems, especially Brain EV, provided an accelerated catharsis for certain "stuff" that needed to be eeked out into the open for me to deal with it. From that perspective I think it is superb. It may not be your cup of tea to have to "Deal with stuff", but on some level you are dealing with stuff all the time and it is far better to do it with more consciousness because that will give you the opportunity to choose the next step rather than just react to whatever step you feel you’ve been pushed into.

There’s the difference between adopting a meditation practice and not and why I am interested in revisiting a program I have already completed to see if it will provide more hidden benefits. Until I resume, it’s back to traditional meditation for me, which is what helps me with general mental discipline.

Why Do We Spend the Time Doing it?

Chances are if you were asked to say what the people in your life want, you may have to take some time thinking about it. On the other hand, if asked what they don’t want. You’d probably have an answer without having to think about it at all!

Why? Because too many people spend too much time explaining what they don’t want and all of us are guilty of it at one time or another.

I used to explain everything in terms of what I didn’t want and I faced disappointment more times than I care to remember. One day I decided to do something about it.

I kept telling myself: "Why not get clear about what you do want and talk about that instead”.

I think it’s clear what the consequences of this way of thinking is, but I’ll mention it just to make sure.

Spend most of your time focusing on what you don’t want and you’ll become an expert at getting what you don’t want.

If you had agreed to pay somebody to work for you, let’s say you’ve employed an architect to design your new home and you tell her all the things you don’t want built into the design. Where do you think the architect’s focus is going to be? No matter how professional or talented she is the focus on the undesirable is going to affect the design.

Far better to design your dream home from the perspective of the dream, not the nightmare!

It’s a habit, just like everything else in your mind that is causing your world around you. Get the ball rolling by purposefully canceling any statements you make that in the vein of what you don’t want, replace them with their opposite and deliberately talk about what you do want. If you feel silly doing that with certain people, don’t talk about either, but keep what you want in mind.

Keep exercising the mind’s muscle and enjoy getting on with whatever needs getting on with! It’s all you can do.

Mindset Tip to Help You Achieve Wealth and Happiness

Have you ever resented somebody who seems to ‘have it all’? That thing we all strive for – Success!

You know the type of person: A typically successful-looking guy gets out of his car – a very nice, new car. He looks cool, obviously has no money worries and just as you start to convince yourself that all that money is nothing if you don’t have someone special to share it with, out steps the most beautiful, elegant woman you’ve ever seen and it seems quite obvious that they have a very solid relationship that is not solely based on the contents of the guy’s wallet!

Don’t you just hate guys like that?

No! No, no no. That is the last thought that should be on your mind if your own success is important to you.

I used to think like that before I started living the life I wanted to live and I can tell you that it is one of the strongest barriers between you and your own success, whatever that is for you.

All too often people have this belief that the rich, so-called successful guy must either have inherited his money, be a spoilt brat or engaging in less than scrupulous business deals. If you hear any words to this effect by anyone or even by yourself, here’s a test to check just how ineffective such an outlook is:

The person making the comments (and if that’s you, take special note): Are they rich, successful and happy? Probably not and is it any surprise?

The meat of this Mindset Tip is:

If you have a belief that being wealthy means you have to be greedy, unscrupulous, selfish or just lucky and if your mindset dictates that the only way to have such an amazing partner by your side is to have the wealth first then you are going to have great difficulty in achieving any of those things, if those things are what you want.

If you have any destructive, envious thoughts the next time you see such a person, just tell yourself that you are being shown an example of what you can be, do and have if that is actually what you want. If what that guy has is not what you really want then there is no reason to judge him. Well in actual fact there is no reason to judge anyway.

Judging somebody based on what they have or appear to have is nothing more or less than a statement of what you don’t have and if that is something you want to have then you are in actual fact stating that you don’t want it, so you will never notice any opportunity that comes your way to have it.

Maintaining an Attractive Force

If you want to achieve something that means the world to you then you have to overcome limitations in your current thinking. I’m not talking about the thoughts you are conscious of, but the ones that are actually running the show. The ones that are sneaking around the back and doing the deals on your behalf.

If those thoughts are in sync with what you truly want then you are going to have no problem achieving what you want, seemingly effortlessly. However, most of the time, the reason we desire something so badly is because we haven’t achieved it before and most likely haven’t because our subconscious is acting on a different set of instructions to what we say we want; instructions that we are continuously giving it by the way when we say things like ‘I’ll never achieve that‘.

So how do you overcome something that appears out of your control? Well there is not one tip here that covers it all, so this is just another part of the equation, but in order to instill a new level of expectation, you have to feed your subconscious with ‘Evidence’ of it.

What this means is that if you want to increase your income, move to a bigger house, become a world champion or whatever then you have to think big. Much bigger than the current level you are at. If you increase your target by a so-called realistic amount then you aren’t really instilling any new level of belief and whilst you may achieve that small improvement, you will still find your overall experience of things as they were: In a nutshell, still longing for something.

This is not to say that life is only about big money, big trophies or big fame. Not at all – You may genuinely not desire money, fame or materialistic things, but desire an amazing relationship with your spouse for the rest of your life or the ability to help as many people as possible and there is nothing wrong with big love or big joy!

Going back to attachment to the outcome the more desperately you want something, the more likely you are to push it away, so it’s not a question of ‘trying to focus’ all day on your goal. Think big enough for it to feel a little uncomfortable. Those goals you may think about but then negate because they are just ‘too ambitious’. As long as it is humanly possible then it can be achieved.

The best way to get started on that is to make sure you are clear about it, set it, raise the bar and let it go. Get on with whatever is filling your life today and revisit your goal in the form of an affirmation.

Absolutely Always in Your Favour

Every time you experience a setback, you have the choice to view it as a tragic situation or an empowering one. I know that there are countless quotes and philosophies about this and that may be getting boring for you to hear if you have read or heard them often enough, but know this:

There are no problems, only opportunities

This may be an over-used term, blurted out by corporate managers who heard it in a management training course, but whether they truly live by that philosophy or not, it holds the truth. That’s why it’s a cliche, because it has been repeated so many times due to it’s truth.

It may not seem like getting sick, losing a loved one, losing your job or house etc. is very much in your favour, but again this comes down to attitude. Your view of things have more determination over what appears in your world than anything else, so if you choose to (annoying I know) be positive about any situation then you will find joy on the other side of it and much more quickly than if you allowed yourself to be consumed by it.

This is more than just `Looking on the bright side’. It is exercising intent, accepting that you have something to learn and that once you do you will be more ready for your intention to be realized.

It has nothing to do with not caring. Of course, if you lose a loved one then you must grieve, but wouldn’t it be better to remember everything you loved about that person and celebrate it? Again, like most other things it comes down to whether you choose to focus on what you have rather than what you don’t have.

Turning Problems into Opportunities

Here is a very simple example of how I personally turned a problem into an opportunity very recently.

I was suffering with some very severe heartburn, something I have never really experienced before, but since the beginning of 2010, it has occurred a few times. I don’t like it. Let me be straight about that. It’s nasty and it makes me want to just lie down and switch off until the pain is gone…

Except I can’t because the pain won’t let me sleep. There is no posture, position, location or exercise that I know of, which soothes the pain. It’s like a prison of pain and dysfunction, where life just has to be put on hold.

Wait a minute. This is ridiculous isn’t it. You see how that sounds like a real problem? Well out of desperation the other night I sat down in my studio and felt that making some music might help me, even though I couldn’t really focus on anything except this pain, but what came to me soon after transformed the situation.

I had an idea for a song and it seemed appropriate to entitle it ‘Heartburn‘. Within about 10 minutes I had the song written and whilst it isn’t about having acid indigestion, it was my condition that inspired a title, which in turn inspired a song about something else.

Once I had recorded a rough demo of the song I felt better. I felt physically better and much more connected to my life again. In this case I am very happy to say that I was able to turn a problem into an opportunity.

I posted the song soon on my Weekly Songcast if you are interested in listening to it. I sang it amidst the pain!

Attachment and Addiction – The Similarities

If there is something you want and not having it makes you feel bad in some way then you are attached to a particular outcome. This is akin to being addicted. Addiction isn’t healthy because of the stress of the feelings caused when without the object of addiction.

Attachment to a specific outcome is almost the same thing. It’s like saying:

I will only be happy if this specific set of circumstances exist

It’s not uncommon to be attached to certain things that you want to happen or achieve, but watch for any situation where wanting is making you feel ‘bad’. This is a sign that there is something else behind it. Why do you feel that way if you are thinking about your heart’s desire?

Most likely the feeling comes from the idea of what you will feel like if you don not realize your intention, which means there is a weakness in your belief that it can be achieved.

That’s progress! Find what it is and turn it around. It comes back to patience and a faith that it will take as long as it takes. You do your job and allow your subconscious to do its job. It is doing it’s job, which is following exactly what you give to it with your thoughts and feelings.

Addicted to being happy? Why not practice enjoying being happy instead of living in fear that you might one day not be happy?

You’ll find that there is no lack of happiness in your life, no matter what you have or have not achieved.

Mindset Tip – Patience

Patience is a virtue as the saying goes, but it’s not always easy to exercise patience is it? Or is it?

To succeed in any goal you must exercise patience and here’s how. Get clear about your goal, have it defined in your mind as something rather than just an idea, then get on with your life.

With your clear vision in mind (you put it there, remember?), you can go revisit it any time and tend to it. The more it takes root, the more you will find inspiring ideas pop into your head to move closer to the goal, but you still have to live your life. Patience isn’t about waiting. I don’t know anyone who can comfortable just wait and wait.

What do you do if you are waiting for something or someone? You occupy yourself, so there’s the answer. Stay occupied and enjoy your life with some faith that what you truly want is being taken care of.

There’s more to it of course, but it doesn’t all fit into this one tip.

Mindset Tip – Clarity

CRYSTAL! Clarity can make the difference between success and failure. You can experience what appears to be a failure, but if you’re still clear about the goal on the other side and still certain about it, it is not really a failure. It’s just evidence that it was not going to be realized in that particular way.

Failing to achieve a goal because you didn’t really have a clear idea about what the goal really was on the other hand is a failure. That’s not to say that makes you a failure, but to highlight the fact that you can only really achieve what you want if you know what it is. Without clarity, what are your actions for? Why are you taking them?

You can try many different angles to achieve what you want and each angle that doesn’t work out is the removal of another obstacle, which will eventually allow you to see the right way.

Rule number 1:

Get clear today. Know what it is you want and flesh out the details in your mind. If you want many things, just start by getting clear on what you feel is the most important one. No need to overdo it – baby steps and all that!

Mindset Tips to Keep You Focused

From now on, Mindset tips have a category of their own and appear as posts. Despite the image of the buddha, this is not really about buddhism, although much of the current self-development stuff you’ll read on the web draws largely from Buddhist philosophy amongst others.

So please remember that there is no religious significance here, so this won’t conflict with your faith, whatever it is. These are practical suggestions – some would say common-sense. There’s nothing weird about wanting to apply your mind in a better way. It doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you now, but you might just want to "Get in shape" in certain areas of your thinking.

All suggestions and tips here are just that: Suggestions. You can choose to apply them or ignore them. It’s up to you.

So quick tip number 1:

As mentioned above. Everything is up to you, so the clearer you are about what you want, the easier it is to make it happen.