Category Archives for "Brain and mind"

“Reality is the mirror of your thoughts. Choose well what you put in front of the mirror.” ~Remez Sasson

At the age of fourteen, I had never been in a musical theatre production in my life.  I walked into the theater for my first audition, back in the summer of 1991.  I had high hopes for the outcome of the audition, but in the end I didn’t get the type of role I had hoped for.  While I had at least gotten a role the local community theatre’s production, I had merely secured a role as a member of the chorus.  In the summer of 1996, only five years later, I was part of a team which brought a brand-new community theatre group to our home town, selling out several shows and featuring a cast and crew of well over one hundred people.  That organization still exists today, sixteen years later!  Awesome!

In five years, I went from absolutely no experience/knowledge to starting a community theatre organization.  Not to mention for most of those five years I was a high school student, and smack dab in the middle of that, I lost my mom in a car accident and was dealing with depression.

I came across many a person as we were in the process of organizing the theatre group who thought what we were doing was impossible.  Some people just laughed and wished me good luck because they didn’t think we stood a chance, especially since I didn’t have a certain degree or level of experience.  Some people, however, never doubted us for a minute, and they became our biggest and most needed supporters when we were scratching and clawing to obtain any sort of credibility during the process.

I never doubted our team for a minute.  We had the drive and motivation to make sure the organization was a success.  How was it that our results so closely matched what we envisioned in our minds?  It’s quite simple; the reason why our results matched our vision was because our minds didn’t know the difference between imagination and reality.  We believed our vision to be reality, thus it was.

Our brains are like computers.  They are much better than computers, but research has shown that for the most part our brains are programmable and they carry out what they are programmed to do, just like computers carry out their programmed commands.  If you continually bathe your mind in positive thoughts, affirmations, and beliefs, your brain will carry out those beliefs by aligning your mind and body with those beliefs.  Likewise, if you continually surround yourself with negativity, and continually bathe it with negative thoughts, affirmations and beliefs, your brain will start to harbor those negative thoughts as “normal” or acceptable, and accept the negativity as its programming.  It’s no wonder some people seem to be so negative much of the time!

If we believe something to be true, wholeheartedly, then our brains will believe that our beliefs are reality.  If you have a goal that you want to accomplish, you must believe that you have already accomplished it, or at the very least, you must create as clear a vision of your goal as you possibly can.  Your brain will believe your vision to be reality, and it will align itself and your body to carry out the programming you have entered.

Have you ever told yourself that there was no way you were going to accomplish something?  Were you right about it?  How did you know that you would never accomplish it?  Did you even try?  Did you convince yourself you couldn’t do it before you even started?

If you think you are a failure, you are right.

If you think you aren’t creative, you are right.

If you think you aren’t good at math, you are right.

If you think you are ugly and fat, you are right.

If you think you are someone who people want to be with, you are right.

If you think you are beautiful, you are right.

If you think you are a positive person, you are right.

If you think you are successful, you are right.

Whatever you think you are, you are right all the time.  The good news is that you get to choose what you think, and therefore you get to shape who you become.

Choose greatness, and think about how great you are.  You will have no choice but to be right!

Photo source: freedigitalphotos.net

“He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still.” ~Lao Tzu

One of the greatest lessons I learned as I was building a better brain within myself was in regard to intimidation tactics, or more specifically, how to avoid getting rattled by them.  Have you ever been in a situation where you felt someone was especially intimidating, or the thought of encountering someone was intimidating?

I know I sure did.  When I was in professional school, working toward my chiropractic degree, we regularly had these “oral” examinations, where we all had to sit in a room and waited for us to be pulled from the room, one by one, as we were grilled in a series of face-to-face encounters with our professors.  These one-on-one examination sessions with professors were certainly an intimidating and nerve-racking process.  They would fire a series of questions at us about the material we were supposed to have learned.  We didn’t know what they would ask, so we had to expect to be asked just about anything.

That wasn’t all — It seemed we were subject to power plays all the time, but usually we were at the short end of the power struggle.

Now, I want to make a clarification here, because when I use the term “power,” I am referring to “power” in this case as the “right” to be “respected and listened to” in an encounter or conversation.  Many times we find ourselves intimidated when we respect another person’s right to be respected or listened to than our own.

So here’s the crux of the lesson — The amount of “power” a person has over you is the amount of “power” you give them permission to have over you.  That’s it!  If you allow yourself to be intimidated, then you will be intimidated.

I learned this principle about halfway through my course of study at chiropractic college, and I noticed a huge difference once I applied it.  I no longer felt like a subordinate to my professors, classmates, or anyone else, for that matter.  I remember one time I asked a particular clinician (who had a reputation for being intimidating by most students and interns) to sign a document for me during a clinical observation, and another student remarked afterward, “That was ‘ballsy’.”  Darn straight it would have been…If I allowed myself to be intimidated, that is.  While I respected this clinician (remember it’s a balance of respect — it has to be a 50/50 proposition at all times), I didn’t give an inch of my “power” to him.  I maintained my composure and asked for the signature.

Remember that we all have the right to be respected and listened to.  If we respect the rights of others more than our own, we give the balance of power to someone else, and the usual result in these encounters is the feeling of being intimidated.

Now that you have learned this tactic, I encourage you to use it.  Remember — this is a tool, and not a weapon.  I don’t recommend that you go out and now try to play power games with other unsuspecting people.  They deserve a 50/50 split of power too!  This should be used as a tool to assert your right to be respected in any exchange between another person.  You have the right to be respected, and you should not feel obligated to surrender any of your “power” to anyone else.  It’s yours, so hang on to it!  I recommend using positive affirmations prior to any encounter that may potentially be intimidating.  It doesn’t have to be anything fancy.  You could just say something like, “The only power someone has over me is the power I choose to give them, and I choose to give them no power.”  That usually suffices.  Just repeat it to yourself over and over again before the encounter.

Have a great weekend, and may you find yourself less intimidated in the future!

-Victor

Photo source: freedigitalphotos.net

“Every man can, if he so desires, become the sculptor of his own brain” ~ Santiago Ramon Y Cajal

I couldn’t believe that the 10th anniversary slipped by me unnoticed until yesterday!  Where has the time gone?  I thought for sure I would be marking the calendar to pause and observe the event!

Well, actually, truth to be told, I don’t know the exact date, but it’s somewhere within the first ten days of March.  You would think that such a date of significance would be marked and circled for me to remember for eternity, but it’s not.  I don’t know why I didn’t note the date; perhaps it is because once that day came, I didn’t want to look back, and I just wanted to move forward.  I was done thinking about the past — it was time to look ahead to the future, from that day and forever more.

So, sometime in early March of 2002, I began one of the most significant journeys of my life.  Prior to “the day” I was wallowing in self pity and some residual depression, and weighing in at about 225 pounds.  I wouldn’t say I was a “wreck,” but I wasn’t doing that well either.  It all started nine years earlier, when I was in an actual wreck — a car wreck with my mom, and as a result of the accident she was killed.  To say watching your mom die right in front of your eyes is a traumatic experience that changes you is an understatement.  The effects were deep and long lasting.

Without belaboring the point, I slipped into a depression, gained a lot of weight, and struggled in pretty much everything.  I look back and wonder how I made it through college in that state (and how much better I could have done had I made it through “normally”).  I had a hard time keeping a job and staying motivated, and I was lazy.

“The day” came out of nowhere.  Actually, I can pin it down to “the moment.”  I was sitting on the couch watching television in the early evening hours, after supper.  Suddenly, I looked down at my big fat belly, and something snapped within me.  For the first time, I was disgusted and frustrated with what I saw.  Something in my mind was screaming, “This is enough!  Get off your lazy butt and do something!  I’m sick of being fat and lazy!  It’s time for a change!”

The voice continued, “Do something now before you change your mind!  Get up!  Now!  Quick!”  So I did.  (More on this later)  I went into the kitchen, grabbed the phone book, found a gym nearby, and called and inquired about a membership.  I hopped in my car, drove to the gym, and signed up.  I left the gym, went to the store, got some exercise clothes and shoes, and came back to the gym for my first workout in years.  I went at it five days a week, taking off on the weekends.  I changed my eating habits, and within a year, I had lost seventy-five pounds.  I felt great!

Now I thought that the benefits of being healthier and losing weight were going to be mostly physical.  What I didn’t realize (until years later) was the significant impact getting in shape had on my brain and mind.  Not only did I build a better body, but I also rebuilt a better mind!

Through my journey that started ten years ago, I learned some valuable lessons and shaped my brain as a result.  The eventual outcome was that I was more motivated, more positive, and just had a better outlook on life and its possibilities.

Before I end my post today, I want to quickly go back to the “voice” in my head that was screaming at me to do something before I “changed my mind.”  I am forever indebted to my “conscious” mind, because it was “the voice” that was screaming at me.  It must have caught my “unconscious” mind sleeping, or it must have gagged it or knocked it out or something, but it knew it could get through to me at that single moment, and as long as I was motivated to change, I could overcome my “unconscious” mind’s desire to remain fat and lazy and unmotivated.  Maybe your “conscious” mind has been trying to shout over your “unconscious” mind to tell you it’s time for a change, and I encourage you to listen to it, because it can change your life!

I want to share with you the lessons I learned as I built a better mind for myself, and I plan on doing so through a series of posts to come.  I hope you enjoy hearing about my journey to a better brain, and how changes in how I thought led to many revelations that forever changed my life.  As I look back on what I had learned, and now consider what science has revealed about the brain and the workings of the mind, it all makes sense.  I look forward to sharing my stories with you.  Until then, have a great day!

-Victor