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Namaste. "Say it again."

2/5/2014

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Here's a fabulous video explaining the meaning of Namaste from maybe an unlikely figure: Click

Not only does Bobby have some God in him, so do you. And so too does the person nearest to you, as well as the person farthest from you. We all do. We usually just don't realize it. 

As an aside: by God I mean something that truly can't be expressed adequately in words, but never the less is that which is infinite, eternal and inherently perfect. God is the non-physical essence that permeates all things. It is the absolute Truth, as compared to the relative truth. 

What would make you happier than to know that you've gotta a little God in you? 

And I don't mean "know it" in an intellectual sense. I mean it in a "feel it resonate so deeply that you have less than no doubt." 

That'd be some pretty good stuff, wouldn't it?

You can feel exhilaration beyond words, completeness so profound effort and desire dissolve into joy. 

And this experience can be yours at any moment, like right now. That would be through grace. Maybe it's your time, you're fated to become illumined right about now. Wouldn't that be cool? Hey, just don't rule it out. 

You can also pursue it. All upward paths lead to the same mountain top. I'll tell you about one, which is not by any means to exclude others. 

If I told you that the God in you, the inherent perfection, the bliss and indescribably awesome aspect of existence comes as a whisper from your heart and all you have to do is quiet your shouting mind, could you do it?

Just because you can't do it now, at the drop of a hat, summon it any moment you choose, doesn't mean you can't learn to do it systematically. Enter: Raja Yoga. 

Raja Yoga is an 8 step system for realizing that you've got a little God in you and for realizing that Bobby does, too. It's so old you'd have to agree that it's a discovery, not an invention. Like gravity. It works. It just does. 

Here's a link to an explanation of Raja Yoga from one of the indisputable masters of recent times: Click. 

One read through is definitely not enough. But suffice it to say, it'll put you in the ball park. Just do that, follow the 8 steps, one by one, in order. Don't stop at 3 or 7. Try to reach all the way to 8. 

All I can say it that I've dipped my toes in step 7 by following steps 1 thru 6 and not even to the letter. That has been sufficient to remove all of my doubts, to know the real Truth, apart from the relative truth about myself, and you and this experience. I can only imagine what the rest of step 7 and any part of step 8 are like. Holy cow! 

I'm really looking forward to very old age when perhaps my body won't want to move around quite so much. Because with the body still, all there is left to still is the mind. And I'm pretty sure I've been taught how to do that. If you'd like to come over to Bhakti Yoga Lounge for my 3, 4, 7 Intro to Meditation class, or the new 3, 4, 7, Deeper class, it'd be my pleasure to show you what I've been shown that has been so beneficial to me. 

Yoga chitta vritti nirodha

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How to make happier memories

7/1/2013

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Memories are what we get to keep from our experiences, but they're far from exact replicas. 

Psychologists have discovered that if you stop someone in the middle of an experience and ask them how they’re doing they’ll respond differently than they will if you ask them about the same experience after it’s over.

A memory quirk called the peak/end rule is responsible for this phenomenon. The rule states that during the process of converting experiences to memories the peak, or most intense moment, and the end especially are over-exaggerated, whereas almost the entire remainder of the experience is not used. It doesn’t matter how long or short the experience was, memory will still cherry pick the peak and end and discard the rest.

There are four possible combinations of the peak/end rule: (1) a good peak and a good end – this is ideal; (2) a bad peak and a good end – still pretty good because for memory’s sake, all’s well that ends well; (3) a good peak and bad end – the end might ruin everything, but it could be worse; and (4) a bad peak and a bad end, which can haunt you forever. 

Since we’re all trying to attain greater levels of happiness in life, let’s be thankful for the first and second scenarios when they occur and focus on what we can do to improve the third and fourth scenarios.

The good news is that with awareness of how the peak/end rule operates we can consciously shape our experiences so they're more likely to be preserved as good memories. We’re pretty fortunate to have this power, since memories fill the pages of the stories of our lives.

Before we get into it, let me explain that an experience has no predetermined duration. You can choose when it begins and ends. You’ll want to officially start an experience with something positive. For instance, you can tell yourself that your day hasn’t really started until you’re feeling that nice coffee buzz or your significant other says, “I love you.” Likewise, you get the final say in when an experience ends. You set the parameters of your experience and your mind's memory-making machinery will abide.

Above all else, try to end your experience on a good note. If you can, quit while you’re ahead. Stop quizzing yourself after you give a correct answer. Choose to end the experience when enjoyment is at a high level. Walk away from the roulette wheel after you’ve won, even if you still feel hot. For a fantastic memory, try merging the peak and the end. If only Michael Jordan would have called it a career after hitting the final shot to win the championship against the Utah Jazz. 

Alrighty then, in scenario three, you’ve so far had a good experience that is nearing its end when things take a bad turn. But you can fix it. For example, you’ve had a great vacation. But the flight home was terrible. After a long delay you got a middle seat next to a crying baby and upon arrival you found out that your checked bag was misrouted. No sweat. Don’t officially end the experience, yet. Instead, on the way home from the airport stop at one of your favorite restaurants or swing by a friend’s house for a drink and a laugh. Then tell yourself the vacation is officially over.

Have you ever heard the expression, “If you’re going through hell, keep going”? Sage wisdom. Some of the most cherished memories we humans have are our triumphs over adversity. If things are bad right now, the worst thing you can do is quit. That would put you in scenario four territory. Think of getting a large and particularly painful tattoo. Once you are in the chair you have to stick it out; otherwise, you’ll live to regret it. In other situations, try to make light of your bad luck with humor; broaden your perspective, note that there are a lot of people who still have it way worse than you do (run a Google image search for poverty), then express a little gratitude; find a silver lining, even if you have to fabricate it; and try for an 11th hour reconciliation. Even if you don’t succeed, you can always end a bad experience with an attempt to improve it.

Daniel Kahneman is considered the greatest living psychologist. He’s the only non-economist to win the Nobel Prize for Economics. If you’re interested in how we evaluate happiness in the present versus the past, why intuition sometimes works and sometimes fails miserably and why we take irrational risks check out his TED talks and other works. 


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Connect with your mind-body connection

6/25/2013

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The mind and body share a strong connection, like Siamese twins. 

Each can't exist independent of the other. The mind takes form through the body by way of the brain and the central nervous system. The body needs the mind to animate it and to experience it.   

All of our experiences in life involve some influence from both. 

The good news is that we can use our understanding of the mind-body connection to achieve greater health, performance and overall quality of life. 

* * * * * 

Mind-body medicine focuses on the interactions among the brain, mind, body and behavior, as well as the powerful ways in which emotional, mental, social, spiritual and behavioral factors can affect health.[1]

Our knowledge of the mind-body connection suggests that physical sickness and health have corresponding states of mind. We know that thoughts alone can make the body sick, as in the case of psychosomatic illness. We also know that through the Placebo Effect thoughts can heal the body. 

To the extent that we can control the nature of our thoughts about our health, we should try to keep them focused on thriving, consider health and vitality as part of our bodies' usual, enduring condition and view sickness as a temporary abnormality that will soon subside. 

The mind's capacity to influence the body's health and healing is vast. It should not be underestimated. Rather, we'd be well served to use it as a viable remedy that compliments drugs and surgery.  

* * * * * 

Success comes from doing the right things at the right times. We can prepare ourselves to make the most of our opportunities by repeatedly rehearsing perfect performances in our minds. 

We know that thoughts create the same mental instructions as actions.[2] So, we can use them to train our brains for actual performance. Top competitors and performers of all kinds have used visualization techniques to simulate perfect performances and have achieved corresponding results.  

Use your creative imagination in preparation for your perfect performance. Compose a mental movie depicting yourself in top form. Charge your story with strong emotions and vivid details and replay it often. Later, try not to act surprised when you have déjà vu because what you think may well foreshadow what you do.

* * * * * 

Chronic psychological stress is the undoing of wellbeing. 

Modern stressors abuse the fight-or-flight response we developed to protect ourselves from true threats to life and limb. Our minds interpret such stressors, like mail from collection agencies, in the same way that our ancestor's minds viewed a hungry bear arriving in their camp. To make matters worse, there is a lot more collection agency mail around today than there were hungry bears back then. 

Our perception of being under continual duress triggers the fight-or-flight response far more frequently than it was intended. Consequently, our bodies malfunction and/or break down. Stress is a major risk factor in numerous illnesses from impotence to heart disease. 

We may not be able to avoid some of the causes of stress. We can, however, respond to them better. This begins with our attitudes. If we can find a silver lining in a cloud of stress or laugh when it rains on our parade we will circumvent the stress response. Failing that, we can use deep belly inhalations combined with elongated exhalations to activate our nervous system's stress countermeasure, the relaxation response. And as our safety net, cultivating habits of regular nutrition, exercise and rest will fortify our physical defense mechanisms. 

* * * * * 

The mind-body connection is ever present. It's effect on health, performance and wellbeing grab much of the attention given to it. But the truth is that no matter what the context a snapshot of any given moment will have the fingerprints of both the mind and the body all over it. Think about it. From the mundane, such as a bad hair day, to the profound, such as walking across the Grand Canyon on a tightrope, the mind-body connection is always active. Fortunately, it's a powerful tool that is always available for us to use to make our lives better. 

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The 3rd element of optimum health: Rejuvenation

6/16/2013

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Along with nutrition and exercise, rejuvenation, the next subject, is another essential element of vitality. By incorporating each of them into your lifestyle your body will look, feel and perform as good or better than you’ve ever experienced. You’re quality of life will improve, perhaps dramatically.

The explosive growth of the ready-made coffee and energy drink industries is a sign of how important getting sped up so we can git r done has become to us lately.


Picture

Unfortunately, not even caffeine can keep human beings in perpetual motion.

Rest is a biological necessity. It is nature’s counterbalance to the demands we place on ourselves.  

As we, a society, continue to focus on having, doing and being MORE, we may be losing sight of how to chillax, as a consequence.

So, here’s a little refresher on how to wind down and relax.

First, some tips for rejuvenating your body.  

1.  Breathe. By using two simple
 breath control techniques, you can activate your parasympathetic nervous system, which regulates your body's relaxation response. Here's how: Inhale using your diaphragm muscle at the bottom of your ribs to draw air all the way to the bottom of your lungs. Then elongate your exhalation relative to your inhalation; for instance, exhale twice as slowly as you inhaled. These two techniques combined will cause your muscles to relax, your pulse and respiratory rate to slow and your blood pressure and cortisol (stress hormone) levels to drop. You should notice these effects subtly within a few breaths and in a big way over five or ten minutes. 

2. Get some bodywork. There is a broad spectrum of therapeutic options, ranging from traditional spa massage treatments, to acupuncture, steam and sauna rooms, self-massage and yoga stretching and breathing. Find the ones that suit you best and use them as often as needed to soothe your aches and pains.

3.  Acquire a hammock and lie in it often. Seriously, because it’s more difficult to be stressed when you’re lying down (try it), and it's nearly impossible when you're lying in a hammock.


4. Tailor your sleep situation. Learn how to get the most restful sleep with this simple guide. 

5. Dial back the stimulants. Cut your coffee with decaf (Sacrilege, I know.). Have the vodka without the Red Bull. Caffeine is a strong drug. It turns on your sympathetic nervous system, more commonly known as the fight-or-flight reflex (producing opposite effects of the relaxation response noted earlier), and it can take up to half a day to wear off. 


hammock relaxing

And now here are a few tips on how to use the mind-body connection to relax. 

1.  Relax your attitude. Find something to be grateful for now. Anticipate good fortune tomorrow. And  when life insists on giving you lemons get out the sugar, vodka and ice and make some hard lemonade. 

2.  Visualize relaxation. Take advantage of the fact that your mind can’t tell the difference between real experiences and those that you vividly imagined. Create a happy place in your mind where everything is wonderful and go there. It doesn't just work for kids. 

3.  Single-task. Find something that can fully absorb your attention and dive into it. The quality of the experience will often feel greater than if your attention had been divided. Single-pointed focus is the doorway through which meditators pass to reach the Source. You can approach the door by immersing yourself fully in your present experience.  


calm thought waves

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How exercise becomes happiness

6/9/2013

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You can get high on exercise. As you work out, the amount of stress hormones in your system, like adrenaline and cortisol, goes down, and production of your body's homemade pain-killers and mood enhancers, endorphins, goes through the roof.[1] [2] [3] This process rewards you with an awesome runner's high (which, incidentally, you can get from other forms of exercise, too).

Exercise focuses a scattered mind.
Playing sports and doing other physical activities with a lot of effort requires concentration. That's why athletes are sometimes oblivious to the crowd. You have to focus your attention on what matters most to performing the task at hand effectively. You have eliminate distractions. And you have to keep focused on what's happening in the present moment. A focused mind can help you see clearer and farther, so you can make the most of your opportunities. 

Exercise can ground a mind that's drifted far off into the past or the future. Focus
 on your body's movements and how it is responding to the demands you're putting on it. By keeping your attention in the same space where you're physically present you will feel centered in your being. 

Exercise can have a clearing effect on the mind, like meditation. You can use the
 rhythms in exercise, such as strides, strokes, or your pulse and breath, to settle your mind in a similar way to repeating a mantra or rolling prayer beads. Your mind can slip into these rhythms, like grooves that it can follow round and round until it comes to rest peacefully nearby.

After you've finished exercising, your mind will remain in this clear, collected and calm condition for some time. While in this state it will be inclined to notice the subtly beautiful qualities about yourself, your surroundings and the people you share it with.

You can get into the zone or flow through exercise. This space, where skill and challenge combine at their highest levels, harbors one of the most euphoric experiences we know.

Exercise can be a great time to socialize. Most forms of exercise can bring you together with other like-minded people to share an enjoyable experience. There are so many social benefits inherent in sports and athletics, like teamwork, mutual encouragement and collective accomplishment, that few other activities compare. 

Revitalize a worn down spirit by going outside for some exercise. Running, biking, golf, most adventure and snow sports and lots of other sports happen outside and often in spectacularly beautiful settings. Go for a run at sunset or bike through a forest when the autumn leaves are multi-colored and you'll experience how exercise and nature are a perfect match. The combination leaves you feeling refreshed and happy to simply be alive. 

A happy mood can unfortunately be fragile. But exercise can protect it by developing your defenses to stress.[4] [5] By definition, exercise is stressful, both physically and mentally. But, because it's fun or in some other way worthwhile, we put up with the pain, struggle, fear and failure that it often brings. Then we adapt and grow stronger. This kind of strength (will power, optimism, focus, etc.) comes to aid us wherever we encounter adversity. 

Exercise boosts self-esteem.[6] We're instinctively attracted to the image of a physically fit human body. Liking the body you see in the mirror is a huge mood booster. Plus, society holds fitness up as a virtue. So, when you notice another person finding you attractive that feels real good, too. 

Fitness enhances sexual performance. That's obviously going to make you feel pretty happy. 

There's a radiant quality to a fit body. All matter vibrates, even though we usually can't notice it. Perhaps a fit body vibrates at a higher frequency, one closer to the visible light spectrum, and so it literally is glowing. Even if that's not true, I think we've all observed the phenomenon that super fit bodies seem to shine, especially in the skin, and sparkle in the eyes.  

There are many physical, mental and even spiritual reasons why exercise is a good place to look to find happiness.[7] 

Seek and ye shall find. 

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Exercising for optimum physical condition

5/19/2013

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Virtually every aspect of a person's life experience is enhanced by being active and fit. 

If I had a chisel I would set those words in stone. 

Exercise helps keeps you healthy longer. It strengthens the immune system. Exercise increases your vitality making you look and feel years younger than if your lifestyle is sedentary.
 The benefits are far, far too many to list here, but you can follow some of the links in this post to find out more.[1] 

Exercise is a very broad term that means physical effort above resting levels, so there are countless ways to get some. 

What exercise is best?

While all exercise is good for you, some forms are more beneficial than others.[2]

Here are a few issues to consider:

1.  Time:

The current consensus opinion among exercise science experts is that around 3 hours of moderate exercise per week is necessary to get noticeable health benefits.[3][4] 

These three hours can be broken up into smaller segments. Even little 10-15 minutes chunks of exercise support fitness when added together.

Here are a few ways to understand what the term "moderate exercise" really means.[5][6] 
  • The Talk Test: If you can talk normally while you’re working out, then you’re not yet working at a moderate level.
  • Sweat: Unless your environment is so hot that you sweat while resting, perspiration is a strong indication that you're exercising hard enough to get health benefits.  Also note that wind and cold temperatures can reduce perspiration. So this rule requires some practical experience to apply effectively. 
  • Heart Rate Monitor: These sophisticated electronic devices offer an array of features to measure and report on various aspects of your exercise, including exertion.[7] 
  • Moderate exercise uses approximately 50% of your aerobic capacity, or a 5 on a 1-10 scale where 0 is the level of effort of sitting and 10 is maximum effort.[8]

In comparison to moderate exercise, vigorous exercise is unsustainable for more than a few minutes, except for persons with very high levels of fitness. At a vigorous level of effort, you can't speak normally, breathing is labored and sweating can be profuse. 

The health benefits differ between moderate and vigorous exercise by a factor of two. For an equal amount of time, say 90 minutes, vigorous exercise produces twice the benefits of moderate exercise. In other words, you can get the same benefits of 90 minutes of moderate exercise in 45 minutes if you work at a vigorous level.[9] 


2.  Health Benefits:

Science says the best form of exercise for health is cardio-metabolic, meaning that it works your muscles, heart and lungs. 


Harvard Medical School published the spiffy chart below, which quantifies the cardio-metabolic benefits from various forms of physical activity, including tennis, raking the lawn and sex. (Click on the chart to make it bigger.) 
From a health and fitness perspective, the aim of exercise is to increase both endurance and strength. Increase endurance by exercising moderately for at least 20 minutes at a time, or vigorously for at least 10 minutes. The key is to keep your heart rate elevated above resting for an extended period of time while you exert yourself. 

Increase your strength by bearing weight or otherwise working against resistance, such as your bodyweight. It's important for good health to strengthen all of your major muscle groups, e.g. legs, core, back, chest and arms. The key is to fatigue your muscles. Just before you finish strength training you should need help to move the weight. 


Cardio-metabolic exercise chart, Harvard Medical School
3.  Efficiency:

Who among us isn't pressed for time from time-to-time? That's a great reason to develop an active lifestyle. 

An active lifestyle is often the easiest way of getting exercise. Integrating exercise into your lifestyle is also an efficient use of your time and money, aside from the health benefits. 

By viewing the way you interact with your physical environment as a source of opportunity for exercise you will find that physical fitness and the health benefits that come along with it are easily attainable. Circumstances you once viewed as inconveniences can be seen, instead, as opportunities in disguise. For instance, having to park several blocks away from your destination or encountering a slow-to-arrive elevator when you're in a hurry gives you the opportunity to walk, and walking is one of the healthiest forms of exercise.[10][11] The opportunities for enhancing your fitness are limitless if you choose to look at your environment as a gym. Plus, this outlook can reduce the stress associated with viewing these aforementioned situations in a negative light. 


4.  Safety:

Safe exercises are better choices than those involving a high risk of injury because injury defeats the purpose of exercising for fitness.  

Some risk can be mitigated by the use of safety equipement, training and discretion. Rock climbing, for instance, is fantastic exercise for both endurance and strength. But there's a saying, "There are old climbers and reckless climbers, but there are no old, reckless climbers." Apply the essence of that aphorism to your choice of exercise and you'll potentially spare yourself the pain that erases gain. 

You should also consider your current state of fitness when evaluating potential exercise options. Running a half-marathon may sound awesome. But you have to be quite fit. So if you currently can't play with your dog without being winded you're setting yourself up for failure and possible injury. 

Pushing the limits of your fitness is a way to expand them. But be realistic about where those limits are. As every exercise disclaimer says, "Consult your physician before you begin a new exercise." That's a bit extreme because risk-averse lawyers wrote it, but the core idea is valid. If you have concerns about how much strain your body can tolerate you'd do well to visit a doctor. 

* * * * 

The bottom line is that some exercise is better than none and more is better than less. That said, the absolute best exercise for you is the one that you are willing and able to do. 

Regular exercise is a pillar that supports optimum physical condition. Exercise is amazing because you will often get more out of it than it seems you had to put into it and the benefits increase exponentially with time. Combine exercise with proper nutrition as part of your lifestyle and in short order you will be radiating vitality. 

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Values: the key to contentment

4/28/2013

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Values are what matter most in life.

They are the notches on the yardstick we use to measure the success of our own lives.

When our lives reflect our values, we experience contentment. When our lives and our values are in conflict we experience stress, or even distress if they’re far out of alignment.

We don’t think about our values in day-to-day life. They can seem abstract, whereas ordinary life is usually practical. But that doesn’t mean that we should lose sight of them.

Have you ever gone through the process of identifying your individual values in order of importance?

Awareness always precedes effective action. In order to create greater harmony between your life and your values, you first have to be aware of your values. 

If you are already keenly aware of what matters most to you, have you successfully incorporated those values into your daily life?

In the quest for greater contentment the aim of action is to fill your time with valuable experiences. Because a life that embodies your values generates massive contentment.

To achieve that you must first be aware of how your time is used now. 
Then you can compare that to your most authentic life, the ideal life that enables full expression of your values. Knowledge of how your reality and your ideal differ enables you to consider practical ways to close the gap. Finally, you can act on your insights with a plan to begin making the necessary changes to increase your quality of life.

I have created a Values Hierarchy Exercise (VHE) out of my research and experience to serve as a guide for this whole process. I’ve used it several times and it’s invaluable for illuminating those deeper aspects of quality of life. I recently revised it into the Values Hierarchy Exercise 
– Expanded Edition to make it an easy to use tool for you to use, too.
When you complete this exercise, allow your mind to be free of limitations and acknowledge the importance of your feelings. The VHE is an exercise of becoming reacquainted with your deepest self. Don’t hold back. Be honest. Be thorough. Be excited about your future. 
The PATH² Values Hierarchy Exercise – Expanded Edition
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File Type: pdf
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One Love

4/17/2013

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We were made to love. To want and need to give and receive it. 

Love is an infinitely renewable resource. Giving love produces love. Receiving love produces love. 

Love, as opposed to lust, is also a feeling of connection. It's gratitude for the existence of someone or something. And it's the source of a selfless wish that all will be well. 

Only when we lose the love of ourselves can we begin to hate each other. Love is lost to ignorance of our inherent perfection and unity in life. 

Try hard to nurture love whenever it can be found like an ember you can delicately coax into a flame that will grow into a warming glow for everyone to gather around. 

Strive to periodically return to the peaceful stillness underneath your thoughts and actions where love waits to refresh your spirit. 

Be curious about yourself, the world and the people you share it with and you'll invariably discover something that pulls on your heart strings. 

Try to lose your sense of individual self by doing something altruistic, however big or small, and you'll find the great connection among us all. 

However it speaks to you, act upon "A five-word sentence that could change the world tomorrow [which] is 'What would love do now?'"  – Neale Donald Walsch

Read the classic, The Art of Loving, by Psychologist Erich Fromme for an insightful description of the history and variety of the greatest human emotion and how to cultivate it to enrich your life and the world. 

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Flow: The perfect experience

4/14/2013

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Britney Spears once expressed a truly brilliant insight (seriously!) that applies to us all: “I wanna get in the zone.”

The Gatorade commercial from the 1990s featuring Michael Jordan that had people saying “I’d like to be like Mike” was sensationally popular because it tapped into the same thing: our desire to get in the zone, which during that era was embodied most visibly by MJ on the basketball court.

Likewise, the comparably popular Nike golf commercial where a diverse group of people spoke the same line “I am Tiger Woods” targeted exactly the same psychology. Tiger dominated the game of golf so thoroughly in the early 2000s that he single-handedly made golf cool
 – almost. No mean feat. So how did he do it? Because in Tiger Woods the golfer we saw someone completely in the zone, dominating not just the golf course and the field but also the apparent limitations of body and mind.  It's a deeply alluring trait.

The zone, known as flow in psychology circles, is so attractive that we will happily live vicariously through someone who we see in it, like Tiger or Michael. Flow liberates the spirit from the confines of the body and mind so completely that people often describe the experience as out-of-body and as being unconscious. The result is nothing short of euphoria. Even when the experience is second hand we still feel it and love it.

But we don't have to rely on others to feel that thrill. Everyone can get in the flow, not just ultra-elite performers. In fact, there are as many entry points to the flow as there are individuals.

Enter flow by following your passion. Search your past and identify an activity you have found so engaging that minutes passed like seconds or hours like minutes. It will have involved these four elements: 1. your skills, 2. values, 3. interests and 4. a challenge. 

Finding your entry to the flow is that simple. However, there aren't very many qualifying experiences. That scarcity contributes to its value, so appreciate it. 

    Where Flow Lives

Picture
Then commit 100% to experiencing it again. Eliminate distractions. Focus intensely. Look for that elusive, magical quality in the details of whatever it is you’re doing and you’ll find it. 

For more insights from science and experience read Flow: The Psychology of Optimum Experience. 

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Quiet your body and mind to hear the whisper of your heart

4/3/2013

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This Electronic Age is one of hyper-stimulation, which often leads to technostress.

Our minds were built with a tendency to roam back to the past and ahead to the future, grabbing fistfuls of random information from the thought atmosphere along the way. That’s nothing new.

But due to the relatively recent availability of 24/7 Internet access via the array of digital devices many of us have, we are constantly exposing ourselves to an endless supply of increasingly vivid sensory stimulation. 

With a helping hand from caffeine, the world's most widely used psychoactive substance, our mind's appetite for stimulation has grown increasingly voracious and difficult to tame.

We have faster, longer and more intense cycles of information consumption. Our mental activity is nearly incessant and leaves residual internal background noise that means more and more of us are losing the ability to turn the volume down and enjoy inner peace and quiet.

Long ago, our ancestors identified this problem and also developed a solution: seclusion and quiet contemplation. Wise people have been relying on it for centuries as a way to slow the world down to a manageable speed, clear out a crowded mind and gain clarity and insight. And it works as well now as it has in the past.

Unplug from the world whizzing around you for a short time and enjoy the experience of a self-imposed power outage. Turn off your phone. Yes, it does have an off button. It’s the one that looks unused. Let the caffeine wear off (as a bonus, the next coffee or soda you drink will feel extra strong). This will help quiet your mind.

Then listen for the silence underlying all the sounds around and within you. You will be able to hear the whisper of your heart. It’s a sweet sound. And it carries a very nice message that’s worth listening to.

Try it and tell me what you hear.

BODY – MIND – SPIRIT

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