New book in Progress, Changes You Can Make Now

Five years ago I published The Psychology of Positive Thinking. It was based on the previous fifty years of research in psychology, the neuro-sciences and NLP. It was about how we think and behave from Newtonian physics point of view that is too materialistic. More recently, cutting edge neuro-science, technology and quantum physics have made discoveries that are changing the way we see ourselves. The physical world, indeed the universe started from a “singularity” of energy exploding outward at the speed of light. As these energies became entangled they coalesced into masses and motion and space, forming the heavens and the earth. This knowledge significantly revises how to Think Positive; the revision will be called The Psychology of Positive Thinking: Changes You Can Make Now.

So while we appear to be material beings living in a material world, we are really made up of these coalesced, entangled masses of energy. The “space” separating us from each other and everything else is simply the illusion created by our ever-expanding universe (energy expanding at the speed of light.) Cutting edge quantum theory is telling us that the energy vibrations that underlie reality take on mass only as a result of being captured when being measured, or observed. Some theories claim that this measurement or observation must also include the involvement of consciousness.

IF THIS IS SO, if the observations on the part of our consciousness do in fact create reality, we are far more responsible for events than we give ourselves credit for. And it behooves us to think positive thoughts: “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)

Mission Possible

Getting past previous self-doubts and fears clears the way, and makes the discovering and pursuit of your mission possible. Aligning yourself, your passions, all of you in body, mind and spirit congruently with your mission make your Mission Possible. It is like taking your automobile out of “park” (or reverse) and putting it in Drive. In terms of the Energy Flow model we can now move forward on our mission the positive energy of positive emotions.

At times nagging fears or self-doubts may threaten your congruently Positive Flow with their negativity. When this happens, Michelle Bersell shows us an elegant way to re-frame that negative emotion and actually use its energy in a positive direction. Her advice is to “Feel Every Emotion as Love” (F.E.E.L.) 1- You need to recognize the positive intent of your fear (most fears are from childhood where they occurred to keep you safe, but are no longer true) 2- recognize that negative emotion is outdated but has a positive emotion message of love. As you become conscious of this the emotion becomes positive, and empowering. Michelle has a four step process for this she explains on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIfkLvj3E6k&feature=player_embedded .

Whenever a negative emotion threatens, turn it around and make it positive by using Michelle’s neat re-framing technique! Michelle also has a F.E.E.L. training video that she provides to us for FREE here: http://www.michellebersell.com/feel-kit/training1.html . Thank You Michelle!

Body/Mind/Spirit: Maintaining and Encouraging Flow

Clearing the blocks to positive energy flow, and maintaining the clear path- job #1- opens the energy pathways. Once opened to the positive energy flow the “society” of mind/body/spirit is free to progress. However this is only half the story. Thus far we are kind of “in neutral” without a strong positive direction. By all means we continue to use the techniques on these related issues as they crop up. Also we can call on positive emotions to encourage positive energy flow.

Positive emotions are known to produce physical and mental well-being. Sarah Pressman, assistant professor of psychology at KU and Gallup senior research associate report about a Gallup World Poll study in which researchers analyzed data involving more than 150,000 adults “showing that positive emotions such as happiness, enjoyment are unmistakably linked to better health.”

“Laughter is the best medicine.” We have all heard that; and Norman Cousins credits laughter, along with medical supervision and vitamin C with curing his “incurable” disease. Love is essential for an infant’s well-being, as many studies now show. The child within each of us still needs that love. Even in the absence of someone currently in our life to give or receive love, in our imagination we can give ourselves (and others just as profitably) that love as well as forgiveness and blessings.

There is indeed Power in Positive Thinking.

Clearing remaining subconscious energy blocks

Even after the more obvious sources of stress have been identified and cleared by EFT, NLP or other techniques- there is more to be done to maintain a stress-free state. There may be times when you are uneasy or fearful about a situation but can’t pin down what it is. Odds are there is a subconscious fear lurking within. These free-floating anxieties may be related ghosts of issues dealt with previously, perhaps in slightly different forms.

EFT and NLP case studies often find that new issues appear after the initial issues are cleared. Gary Craig (EFT founder) likens this to “peeling the layers off an onion.” An issue may be cleared up with tapping and a new issue pops up that needs to be dealt with. This may happen repeatedly until enough “layers” are removed and the core issue appears; once the core issue is resolved the block is fully cleared and Flow is re-established.

With Flow established positive energy enables positive thinking, forward progress, and manifestation to take place.

Clearing energy blocks: De-stress anger and resentments

Negative emotions such as anger, resentment and jealousy are potent stress producers, and as capable of blocking Flow as fear and pain. These are negative, aggressive states that likewise (to fear and pain) release the stress hormones, adrenaline and cortisol. If you are able to forgive and release your resentment that is best, and the part of you that is God will be pleased. If your resentment keeps you from forgiving you must release that resentment. Try tapping to the tune of “Even though I can’t let go of my anger while trying to forgive [person’s name], I deeply and completely love and accept myself” as the accepting statement (see 2 previous posts.) Follow this with tapping the other eight points, saying “this feeling of anger”, “this resentment” etc. Repeat until you are able to feel forgiveness, or acceptance of the other. This will release that block and positive energy will Flow.

NLP can also be used to take the “sting” out of fears and resentments. [See previous post.] Re-Frame the fear or anger by making a mental picture of the event. Make it in black and white, and very small to reduce the emotional impact you feel. Now take the mental picture and put it in a mental frame, with flashing lights embedded in the frame. Add some honky-tonk or circus music. Enjoy the Flow while the old negative block fades away!

Left unchecked the stressful effects of these negative emotions may cause emotional and health problems. Stress is thought to the major cause of ill health, and is known to cause heart and circulatory problems, ulcers, and a contributor to perhaps all diseases. Dr. Robert Sapolsky of Stanford gives a short YouTube video summary of these effects at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sPS7GnromGo .

Clearing Energy Blocks: De-Stress fears cont’d

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) has a De-Stressing procedure that is likewise (to EFT) easy and fast. It is utterly simple to perform, and may even be done by oneself with little or no training. To learn this therapeutic technique one does not need an advanced degree or years of higher education. Nor spend months or years with a psychoanalyst (not to mention thousands of dollars.) It is NLP’s Fast Fear Removal Technique.

The Fast Fear Removal Technique is a purely mental technique that maintains positive energy flow while recalling the blocking fear-producing event in reverse. In terms of our mind/body/spirit energy flow model we have introduced flow into the phobia mix that blocked energy flow and caused the stress. So far so good, and this is similar to EFT. However, the added wrinkle of experiencing the fear event in reverse keeps the memory from being overwhelming and allows the phobic program and subprograms to now associate with flow. Flow and stress cannot coexist, the next time the phobia will be weaker. There will be flow at the end of the phobia tunnel!

The procedure is straightforward, and involves the following steps:
• First (to dissociate yourself and make the memory less threatening) be an observer: imagine yourself part of the audience in a movie theater.
• Watch as a small black and white picture that shows your fear experience episode starting before the event when you were safe and sound (with positive energy flowing) until afterwards when you are once again safe and sound at the end. If this is too threatening float up above yourself in the audience and watch from there.)
• Now watch the same fear experience in reverse, in fast backward motion starting at the end safe spot to the initial safe and sound spot. Repeat this procedure, but this time in full color, and jump into the action on the screen yourself in first person.
That’s it! You should now be able to face this previously un-faceable memory/thought.

There is a YouTube demonstration of this technique at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZRDwhqXWu-A . In this two minute video top NLP expert Paul McKenna cures a client of fear of needles. Watch as Paul leads the person through these simple steps. If you have a fear of your own, allow yourself to Join in, simply substituting your own private fear for the fear of needles.

Clearing Energy Flow Blocks: Step one De-Stress

The number one enemy of flow is stress, and the number one cause of stress is Fear and Pain. When we eliminate these we eliminate that source of stress and experience more flow. We eliminate the anxiety and inhibition that automatically pumps through our body in the form of adrenaline and cortisol. This encourages the healing and restorative hormones to flow once more.

So Job #1 is to Eliminate Fear and Pain! Regardless if it is based on reality, or if it is just imaginary it still causes stress which blocks flow. Whether the root cause was physical or emotional pain, when we eliminate the associated stress we conquer the fear. To eliminate that stress we must “jump-start” the flow past the stress-producing block.

The good news is that there is a new hi-tech psychic stress-clearing method that eliminates fear and pain, or at least takes the “sting” out. It is safe, simple and fast; a child can do it. The trick is to jump-start positive energy flow at the same time the fear is present. This may be done through the body’s meridians, the channel through which the energy flows, by a form of acupressure. By gently tapping on these meridians (starting the flow) at the same time as the fear is being experienced (mentally focused on) the block is wiped out. When the fear is focused on again, the flow returns (simple association) and the block remains wiped out!

This procedure is called “Tapping”, or “Emotional Freedom Technique” (EFT). It was developed by Gary Craig and publicized and made available to all, FREE OF CHARGE, in 2004. It’s basically simple: while thinking of the fear tap with your fingers on the meridian points: 1) between the eyebrows, 2) at the side of the eye(s), 3) under the eye(s), 4) under the nose, 5) above the chin, 6) on the collar bone(s), 7) under the arm(s) 8) top of the head, and 9) on the Karate point on the side of the hand(s). The self-treatment starts with tapping on the 9) Karate point and talking about accepting the situation: “Even though I have this fear of public speaking (for instance) I completely accept myself.” The next step is tap on each meridian point while focusing on the fear, saying “this terrible fear”, “this fear of flying” etc. to maintain Flow.

That’s it! In summary you first tap the Karate chop point with the acceptance statement, then tap each of the other 8 points stating aloud that you have this fear, or pain. It takes about a minute. After completing one or two rounds of this observe yourself and sense if the pain, or the fear remains; if so repeat the procedure until it no longer bothers you.


There is a short video explaining tapping http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0I54BRKQ2po . There is also a Rod Sherwin video demonstration http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4EDgTc0AyQ . By all accounts precise accuracy on the tapping points or the accompanying dialogue is unimportant. The simple intention of exposing the fear to healing Flow will win the day. For those interested in learning more, EFT founder Gary Craig maintains a website that has a wealth of information about tapping at: http://www.garythink.com/

Mind/Body/Spirit, The Model: A Quantum/mechanical system

The original YMCA logo of “Spirit, Mind, Body” is a triangle with those three words written on the triangle itself, symbolizing the three-fold nature of a person, and the intent of the YMCA to develop all three aspects. Today, nearly two hundred years after the founding of the YMCA, modern day science (even in the western world) is beginning to agree. Today we are discovering that we and our world are, at the basic quantum level, energy. The traditional view of body mind and spirit being separate entities is being outdated. This logo now also an appropriate model for how the mind, body and spirit interconnect and energy flows among them.

The model of the mind proposed in The Psychology of Positive Thinking based on the programming of neurons in the brain, we can now see, did not go far enough. It is fine as far as it goes, but the mind is more than the neural circuit programs built up amongst the hundred odd billion neurons in the brain. It is more likely built up amongst the fifty Trillion odd cells throughout the body, and connected by electrical, chemical, light and (far subtler) quantum energies as well, energies that are not bound by either time or space.

In terms of our quantum mechanical model of our Mind/Body/Spirit system, as long as positive energy flows freely, the system is performing optimally, as it was intended to; we are “in the flow”. If there is an interruption in the flow, or a blockage occurs, performance suffers.

The previous series of posts on Mind/Body/Spirit proposes various methodologies for increasing energy flow in our system. Next we will offer suggestions on a concrete set of procedures for maximizing positive energy flow that are easy to do and fast.

Mind/Body/Spirit V: Mind Energy flow- The Power of Now

Eckhart Tolle wrote the book on The Power of Now. He had suffered for many years from the memories of a painful childhood. He tried in vain to resist these but found, as the saying goes, “what one resists, persists.” Eckhart became aware that these pain/memory vestiges were not under his control and termed them the “pain body.” He realized this was not part of his present “now” self, and in this realization was able to dispel it. Now Eckhart is a world-famous spiritual leader and devotes his life to helping others find this same enlightenment.

Vishen Lakiani, founder of Mindvalley, a superpower in the personal growth field agrees that you have to be happy in the now, to fulfill your personal growth vision. What has made his company so successful is that in running his company, he practices the enlightenment that he preaches. The following video shows the steps he follows with his company; it is also instructive for us as individuals: http://www.mindvalley.com/goal-setting-redefined/

When we are happy in the now, we experience positive energy flow.

Mind/Body/Spirit Positive energy flow.

When you are “in the Zone” life is good. Most of us have experienced being in this Zone from time to time, and have felt ourselves empowered beyond the norm. Maslow called these moments “peak experiences”. There are other names for this: “being in the flow”, “feeling good vibrations”, and being in the moment. These are moments of inspiration, and miracles seem more likely to manifest themselves at such times. We transcend our incongruent stressed out states and are enlightened and empowered.

For the past five thousand years, healers, gurus and monks have been practicing meditative and spiritual healing techniques, attempting to regulate the body’s energy flow, referred to as “qi”. Recently these energy healing ideas have spread to the Western healing world as well. Miraculous medical and emotional healing results have been claimed, and indeed seem to have occurred. Scientific medical studies have documented many of these claims.

While there is scientific documentation supporting the efficacy of these techniques, there is very little in terms of scientific explanation of how they work. “Vibrations”, the “Law of attraction”, “Qi” and other energetic unseen forces are credited with improving or blocking our functioning. Some promising scientific medical studies are investigating neurochemical/DNA/hormonal changes. Whatever the explanatory principles of these various methodologies are, however, they have been shown to work and are worthy of pursuing.

These methodologies, with accompanying websites explaining how to perform these miracles, follow in the next few posts. Meditation and Breathing techniques, Yoga, Brainwave entrainment, Hypnosis, NLP and EFT are all effective positive energy ehancement tools, and in most cases can be accomplished via self-help.

Body/Mind/ Spirit: Positive energy

For the last hundred years, since Albert Einstein revealed to the scientific world that mass is a form of energy (and vice-versa) with his famous equation E=MC2, we have begun to understand that reality is, basically, energy. And energy, we are coming to find out, has some previously unsuspected characteristics: it is not bound by time nor space; in fact it is more likely to be time and space! You- the Body/Mind/ Spirit you- are the positive energy that is created by your body, mind, and spirit. And as positive energy, you are neither bound by time nor space.

We tend to think of the body as a "container"- the mass- that houses the mind and spirit. This is partly true for it consists of fifty trillion or so cells; however these cells are all energetically connected, and communicate information back and forth electrically, chemically, and magnetically. This energetic flow is essential to our wellbeing. The channels for this flow are called meridians, a connecting network that goes throughout the body and organs. The strongest, heart meridian has by far the greatest electrical charge (far greater that the brain) and is the center of the electromagnetic “aura” field that radiates out from you. We can think of this as the center, or “ground” of our positive energy system.

We think of the conscious and subconscious mind as being a function of the brain. Perhaps it is more accurate to think of the conscious mind as being a control center, however, for the brain is connected to all fifty trillion cells in our body, while the brain itself only contains a paltry hundred billion or so. At the helm of this control center is our conscious mind. It has access to information from the fifty trillion cells and their energy information through the subconscious mind. Blockages of this energy information flow at the subconscious level can occur. These blockages have a “gate keeper” effect, preventing some information from consciousness. We can roughly identify and measure some of these mental activities in our brain with instruments like EEGs and EKGs, and at least grossly identify some mental states.

The spirit is more elusive. It is (quite obviously) a spiritual concept and traditionally not thought to have mass or any physical substance. Modern science and ground-breaking technology are bringing these traditional ideas into question, however! It appears that we humans emanate, from the heart, a magnetic energetic aura measurable to a distance of six to eight feet. Other findings with more advanced technology hint that this distance may be far greater, especially at higher vibration frequencies. We are now venturing into the quantum world, where time and distance disappear. Here we connect to the Universe, perhaps even to God. This positive energy flow may be where we encounter the miraculous! We will consider ways of increasing this energy flow in the future posts.