Wednesday, September 25, 2013

The Tetris Effect & The Power of Focus: What We Look For is What We See

I've been reading Sean Achor's, The Happiness Advantage and have been loving every bit of what I've been learning...
I wanted to share with you this interesting psychological phenomenon that Achor refers to in his book as "The Tetris Effect." It got it's name after a group of research participants played the addictive game "Tetris" for several hours for 3 days in a row. The results were somewhat startling, as the participants began seeing every aspect of their lives as one big Tetris game. Whether they were looking at the empty space in between sky scrapers, a brick wall, or the items in their grocery cart--every aspect of everyday living was a Tetris game to them. And the reason for this is because they had conditioned their minds to act a certain way while playing Tetris, and were inadvertently carrying out that same thought pattern in their normal lives as well.   
The participants had programmed their minds to fill in empty spaces, and were therefore seeing an opportunity to do so in every aspect of their lives. However, this principle of neural-programming applies to anything we choose to invest our time and focus on. 

You see, our brain acts as a neural “spam filter” constantly scanning the world to decide what information it should keep and process, and what information it should disregard or “delete” based on how we've “programmed” our brains. For example, if an individual has “programmed,” or trained, their brain to filter out the positive—just as our spam filter would automatically eliminate any junk e-mail, then the brain will act in the same way—automatically filtering out perceivable positive experiences because it has been trained or programmed to scan and search for only the negative.

 Sound a little weird? Well, try this:
In 10 seconds try to find as many brown-colored objects as possible. Ready? Go!

Finished?

Okay now, without looking around the room again, tell me all the blue things that you saw.
Chances are you’re not able to recollect seeing any blue objects, or at least not nearly as many brown objects that you saw.
And why is that? Because you saw what you looked for and the rest you dismissed.  

Achor writes, “Instead of creating a cognitive pattern that looks for negatives and blocks success, [we must] train our brains to scan the world for the opportunities and ideas that allow our success rate to grow.”

I hope you found that post interesting or inspiring, and as always I wish you all a wonderful week! 
If you’d like to see for yourself a demonstration on the power of 
selective attention then be sure to check out this video J



For more examples of the Power of Focus, and what you can do to shift your attention in the right direction, be sure to check out my post, "It's All About Focus!" 


Saturday, September 21, 2013

He Knows Your Heart

I learned a cool fact from watching the documentary “I AM” (one I HIGHLY recommend). The diastole (the pause in-between heartbeats) as shown in an EKG (electrocardiogram) reveals A LOT of information, even to the point of conveying what kind of emotional state we are in! (See pic).

This fact reminded me of the Psalm where David sang: “You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, Lord, know it completely. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:1-4, 13-19).

How wonderful it is that God knows us better than we know ourselves! That He understands us; our deepest thoughts, emotions, and feelings on a level that we don’t even understand! I just thought that was so cool to know that even in the pauses in-between my heart-beats, God knows what I am feeling and thinking—how awesome is that! :-)









Friday, September 20, 2013

Don’t Let Fear to Hold You Back: How Acknowledging Fear Could be the Key to Fulfilling your Dreams, Attaining Goals, and Living a Life That is Truly Fulfilling

Many people live their lives in constant fear, and more often than not, they do so unconsciously and unintentionally! They don’t even realize that it is fear that’s holding them back! Fear holds us back from doing what we love and what we are meant to do, and this post will help you discover what kinds of fear may be limiting you and what you can do to exterminate the fears and live your fullest, most satisfying life. Take a look at some of the most common fears and see if you’ve ever fallen victim to allowing them to have any control in your life:


Fears are limiting beliefs that inhibit us from taking action and reaching our fullest potential.

1.       Fear of Pain/ disappointment
Number one on the list is the fear of pain or disappointment. Sometimes we don’t pursue certain things in life because we’re too afraid that if we don’t get the results we want, hope, or expect, that we will be hurt or disappointed. Pain and disappointment happen in life regardless of whether we pursue our dreams or not, the only difference is that while pursuing your goals, the pain you experience teaches you how to get closer to that goal, rather than experiencing the pain and remorse of not having tried hard enough to accomplish them. The fear of pain is a common fear that prevents us from reaching our full potential. Sometimes we may distance ourselves from people, or avoid taking risks because we are afraid of being hurt by them.
2.       Fear of Rejection
Next on the list is fear of rejection, another common fear that occurs when we become worried that our ideas or our personality might be rejected by someone we admire, or even popular culture and society. When we think this way and become overly-concerned with what others may think of us—about whether or not they will reject us or accept us—we alter who we are to accommodate the needs and beliefs of what others think we should be, rather than just being ourselves. When this happens, we are allowing the fear of rejection to hold us back and prevent us from taking any real, authentic action, and we act in a way that is not true to who we really are.
3.       Fear Of Other People’s Opinions
Similar to the fear of being rejected, other times, people may allow the fear of what others might think of them to creep in, and as a result, they can’t even lift a finger without worrying what someone else is going to think about it. If that sounds like you, then you’ve allowed the fear of other’s opinion to paralyze you.  It’s important to recognize that you can’t please everyone. If you don’t have any opposition or people who disagree with you, then it means you’re probably trying very hard to please everyone and are therefore compromising who you really are to be a people-pleaser rather than your true and authentic self. What’s ironic is that people appreciate authenticity more than someone who tries to accommodate the needs of everyone yet is fake, inauthentic, or phony in their work, actions, and/or behavior.
4.       Fear Of “Standing Out,” Being Weird, Or “Different”
The fourth kind of fear occurs when we are afraid to “stand out” and be weird, different, or unique—when we become afraid to go against the status quo and not settle for conformity. When we become worried or preoccupied with the idea that we might be thought of as weird, we fear being out-casted and rejected (this links back to #2 and #3) and therefore are held back from being ourselves and living to be our true self. Fear is a form of self-centeredness and is ego-based, and this fear in particular is one of self-absorption because it is the misconception that we are so different and unique from everyone else that no one will be able to relate to us. The truth is that we have a lot more in common with others than we think, and when we are open and authentic with who we really are, people relate and connect with you. The truth is that there are groups of people just waiting for you to be authentic with the world, so that they can appreciate all the unique talents and gifts that you have to offer. If we are willing to break out of our shell and simply be ourselves, without the fear of being different, weird, or unaccepted, we will break this fearful mentality that holds us back and attract people and circumstances that are compatible and in-alignment with our unique individuality.
5.       Fear of Cost
When we have the fear of cost, we worry about things like, “How much time, energy, money, effort, and work is this going to cost me?” When we think these kinds of thoughts, we prevent ourselves from taking action out of fear that it will cost us something without realizing that the payoff in the end may be far greater than the temporary investment. This can apply to anything, like your health, relationships, or career. Any time you make an investment, it will cost you a certain amount of time, energy, or effort, but the thing to keep in mind is that any time you make an investment, if you invest wisely in things that are important to you and matter (like health, relationships, doing what you love, etc.) then there will be a pay-off on that investment.  
6.       Fear of Failure
The last kind of fear is the fear of failure. This one is huge because if you want to get anywhere in life, you’re going to have to realize
that there will be times that you will experience failure. This does not make you a failure; on the contrary you can use failure to your advantage. But many people succumb to the fear of failure and don’t make an effort to even try to attain their goals. Failure is actually how many of the greatest people came to be. Thomas Edison said, “I did not fail 1000 times at making a light bulb, I discovered 1000 ways not to make a light bulb.” Fear itself is ironic in the sense that it is the very things that we are fearful of that can end up being of most benefit to us when we make the conscious decision to use them to our advantage. We can use the very things we are afraid—like failure or rejection—and use that failure or rejection as fuel for reaching new heights and accomplishing new goals. We can channel our failures, rejections, pains, and losses use them for our benefit. I love what Sean Achor, author of The Happiness Advantage says: "The most successful people see adversity not as a stumbling block, but as a stepping-stone to greatness. Indeed, every failure is often the fuel for the very ideas that eventually transform industries, make record profits, and reinvent careers." 


Rather than allowing the things we are fearful of to hold us back, we can channel whatever it is that we are afraid of—failures, rejections, pains, and losses—and  use them to our advantage and good by using them as fuel to our fire and motivation to reach new heights.
As always, I hope you found this post interesting or encouraging, and I wish you all a wonderful week! J

Friday, September 13, 2013

Awakening Consciousness: How Transitioning Through Brain Waves Can Promote Creativity and Inspiration

I've been reading a book called Frequency: The Power of Personal Vibration by Penny Peirce and have been learning some really interesting things about brain waves and their correlation to your levels of awareness and how learning to transition through these waves can bring you into heightened states of consciousness, awareness, and inspiration.

If you want your brain to function at it's best, if you want to enhance creativity, ideas, and inspired thought-flow, then you'll want to read this! :-) 

1. Beta Waves- The first are Beta waves--associated with high mental activity and engagement, as well as highly charged emotions such as fear, anger, arousal, etc. Beta waves correspond with a very low level of consciousness and are usually associated with very shallow, ego-based thinking.

2. Alpha Waves- Alpha waves occur when the brain is in a more relaxed and tranquil state, such as when you meditate, reflect, daydream, visualize, rest, spend time in nature, and exercise. In this state your brain becomes less worried, more open, and more aware of subtle information and new insights. Your brain is able to recall memories and develop a greater understanding of nature and your "true self," letting your ego die and becoming aware of your soul. When you take the time for self-reflection and your mind turns inward, you move from a state of Beta waves to the deeper alpha and theta waves, especially when you cut out external distractions (like turning off your cell phone, and getting into a quiet space for some alone time).

3. Theta Waves- Theta waves are associated with drowsiness, dreaming, the first stage of sleep, deep meditation, inspired creativity and imagination, and much slower than the two waves previously mentioned. Theta waves can put you in a trance-like state, where you lose track of time like when driving on the freeway or taking a long shower. In this state, free flowing ideas and visions come to mind, you become aware of suppressed ideas stored in your subconscious mind while in this state.

4. Delta Waves- The final waves are Delta brain waves and occur during sleep.

The reason I wanted to share this is because I feel it can be so easy to get caught up with living pedal-to-the-metal, non-stop, always caught up with the tasks of everyday life without taking the time to just relax, clear the mind, pray or meditate, exercise, or spend some time in nature. For your brain's sake, it's a good idea to take some time out for reflection, and peace and quiet without any distractions. You'll feel more creative, more inspired, more at peace, and you will have a healthier brain too! :-)