During recent weeks, the city of Sheffield here in England has been hosting the World Snooker Championships.
Have you ever seen a more hypnotic sport? I know that some people would argue that it just sends them to sleep, though it is extremely hypnotic and at times I have found it to be extremely relaxing and exciting and I am amazed at what those professional players can do with the balls.
Snooker players sum up a lot about what I think you need in life to be successful - they have to practice and practice and practice to get to those levels, they have to be focus on what they want to the exclusion of all else at times, they have to learn from their mistakes and learn from each other. I know you can get metaphors to the same effect from most sports, it is just that this week I was inspired by one particular young man.
The hero of this years tournament, for me, was the losing finalist - a 23 year old man by the name of Mark Selby. They call him 'The Jester from Leicester.' Not only was he wonderfully exciting to watch play snooker... He actually smiles during games!! He has fun, he makes jokes, he entertains, he has a look about him that is extremely endearing and I really warmed to him despite this year being the first time he had broken into the top flight in the Snooker World championships. Mark Selby seemed to really enjoy what he was doing and I find that so inspiring.
What really amazed me was this guy’s stamina too.
First of all, because he was not in the world top 16 rankings prior to this tournament, he did not get an automatic place in the tournament, so he had to qualify with several matches. In the first round, he came from 5-0 down, to win 10-7. In the second round he beat former world champion Peter Ebdon, having trailed 6-2, he won 13-8. In the quarter finals he won 13-12 in a last frame decider. Then in the semi final, he beat another former world champion Shaun Murphy in a gruelling match, having trailed for much of it, 17-16!! A last frame decider again. Each of these games were hours long and the individual frames were often going on for very long times. The final, which he lost to John Higgins 18-13 went on until the early hours of the morning!
Wow. To maintain that level of mental endurance and concentration for such intense, pressurised lengthy periods of time is just incredible.
I get asked very frequently about how we can increase our powers of focus and concentration and so this week I thought I would a simple self-hypnosis technique with you to help you do just that. This technique today can also be used for all manner of things including stress reduction,
Here is a simple technique to help you keep focused for longer periods of time.
Step One: Be in a place where you are not going to be disturbed for a while. Get yourself comfortable, with your arms and legs uncrossed. Then just focus on the moment, notice what thoughts you are thinking, notice the sensation of stillness and the rhythm of your body and just be an observer of your experience for a few moments. Just observe yourself existing in that moment, without interfering with it at all. Then take a slightly deeper breath and exhale slowly while closing your eyes.
Imagine that you can feel gravity pulling you to whatever it is you are resting on. Feel your body being supported. Tune in to the moment and feel how it feels to just relax and observe how and who you are at this moment.
Step Two: Now bring your awareness in and concentrate on your breathing. Notice the parts of your body that move as you breathe in and out. Notice the wonder of your breath, be aware of the temperature of it - maybe it feels cooler when you breathe in and warmer as your breathe out.
Imagine that each breath is going deeper. That does not have to be a bigger or a larger breath, just a breath that relaxes you while you are keeping your awareness on it. Be sure at this stage to just let your breath happen without you interfering with it. Keep doing this for a little while as you notice your body relaxing around you and your mind slowing down, yet keeping your awareness on your breath - if your mind wanders, then just keep bringing it back.
Step Three: As you feel more relaxed, noticing the rhythm of your breathing, maybe it slows down slightly. Allow your breath now to move to other parts of your body. Imagine breathing in to muscles and parts of your body and releasing them, relaxing them and imagine the muscles softening and the nerves in those muscles just becoming still and quiet. Not having to do anymore than is absolutely necessary.
Step Four: When you are sure that you have sufficiently relaxed your body and are still focusing on your breathing, now move your awareness to your mind. This is where the key to this technique exists.
Using your imagination, imagine that in front of you is a clear glass jar. The jar is clear, it is clean, even shiny and it is well and truly empty. Really imagine details of the jar, the textures, the way light reflects off it, the top and bottom of it, what kind of lid it has - really get a good idea in your mind of how this jar is.
As you have been doing, observe yourself now. While you continue to observe yourself, imagine that unscrew the lid of the jar and remove it for now.
Look closely at this empty jar, become aware that it is waiting to be filled. Imagine it inviting you to put something inside. So this is your chance to let go of any burdens, any distractions, any unwanted thoughts and aspects of routines from your day. Whether they were generated by your activities, your work, any tasks you are wanting to perform, any errands, your travels, your apprehensions, any anxieties, your cares, any discomfort you may be experiencing or any other thing.
Observe carefully now as one by one you place them into the jar. Imagine that your mind pours it all from inside of you and places it into that jar. Continue now to fill the jar with any remaining distractions, burdens or unwanted thoughts or feelings.
You can have fun here and be creative. Maybe you can imagine a string of things pouring out from you, or a cloud with all these things inside, all travelling into the jar. Empty it all out in to the jar.
Step Five: Carefully and deliberately now, replace the lid on the jar. Give the lid one extra turn.
Breathe deeply now and observe that you stand and begin to carry the jar toward a door. Open the door. Outside, on the front step is a large shiny aluminum trash can. Open its lid now and place your jar inside,... Know that you may dispose of it now and forever.., or return for it at another time, if you wish.... Put the lid back on the trash can... turn from it... walk back through the door. Lock the door and return to your chair.
Affirm with yourself something along the lines of "I have true clarity of thought and supreme concentration and nothing can interfere with it until I have achieved ___________" Or something along those lines, using language that appeals to you and resonates with you of course.
Imagine that you have a focused vision, a level of concentration and focus now that is going to serve you really well with whatever you want to begin focusing on now. Feel it, experience it, imagine brimming over with this track of your mind and imagine generating a state of being within yourself... feel prepared to really be this way.
Step 6: Bring your awareness once again to your breathing and notice its rhythm, pace and depth. Tune in to the moment that you are in once again.
Become aware of your toes and fingers, give them a wiggle or two and then open your eyes.
Hold your body in the way you would when you are focused. Hold your thoughts in a way that says "I am focused" and go about your day or the upcoming task or whatever it may be in a truly focused fashion. Spend some time getting yourself really focused and engaged in something that you wish to achieve and notice how much more you excel!
Monday, April 7, 2008
Monday, March 31, 2008
Journey Of Self Discovery
The journey of self discovery begins with the immediacy of your freedom from what you are not and with the being of who you already are.
It does not begin from within the illusion of your imagination, from the place of you believing yourself to be who you think you are. It does not begin from the place of seeking or thinking, or what you customarily know as "spirituality." Your persistence in who you think you are has you not realising who you are.
This journey of self discovery begins with you consciously aligning your attention to that, to who you already are - essence - which is already flowing through your mindbody, flowing through your very eyes right now.
Self is not something that you can look at. You cannot perceive it like all other perceivables. You cannot look directly down its throat. This self is not something that stands apart from who you are. It is who you are.
You can only be the self that you are.
And when you do begin this journey of discovering your self, discovering just what your heart is, you begin acquiring the taste of - and for – home.
Self discovery is an "endless" journey of revelation of how rich the heart - who you are – is.
The alignment of your conscious attention to this "motion of seeing" that is flowing through your eyes right now and your coming to rest as this "aliveness" is your immediate freedom from what you are not and of your being this one that has always been true of you.
No amount of thinking, concepts, attempting to do it from the disposition of who you think you are, is going to be of any help to you. There is no getting around the fact that you have to surrender and let go of who you think you are.
The "central point" of self, as it is flowing through this mindbody that you drive around through, must be aligned to and come to rest as by you - and you can because it is who you are.
It is so damn simple that you "western male mind"ers will simply not grok this nor do it - even though it is not a "doing." You will not let go of who you think you are to be what has always been true of you. But even you will finally come home to the heart of your self, eventually. No one can not come home to who they already are - it is the destiny of all to be who you are. How long you may take is an entirely different story though.
Through being at rest as this one that is flowing through your very eyes right here right now, where you are immediately no longer entrapped and bound by who you think you are - this mindbody that you find yourself travelling around through, you find yourself with no where to go and no thing to do. Who you are is already here and all things are arising in this one that is who you are. There is nothing that is not already who you are. Whatever you attempt to "go for" is already in who you are.
You become established as this one that is already who you are.
Through being at rest as this one - self, the heart - and "going" no where to gain what is already arising in who you are, you begin to realize the enormity of this one that is who you are, energetically, intrinsically.
Who you are already is.
You can be who you are because you already are who you are - however, it is not who you think you are and this must be surrendered for you to come to rest as the one that is already true of you.
The surrendering is in you focusing your attention to something other than your accustomed place of residence. Coming to rest as the very "thing" that is who you are.
Being at rest as this one that is who you are, not doing anything else, simply free as the heart. Through abiding here, the mindbody that you are travelling around through begins to unravel its "bondage" of you. You find more free attention and energy to simply be this one that is who you are. As this occurs - not through you trying to do anything or manipulate anything - you realize more of what it is that is who you are.
This journey of self discovery is the most wondrous of journeys. Why? Because it is one in which you are being who you already are - at home in the heart - not you being who you think you are - lost in the illusion of who you are not.
Elysha is a profoundly clear self-realized teacher of the heart. Elysha brings understanding to who you are. http://www.elysha.org Everything is clearly given on what you need to do to free up from the bind of the mind and to stand free as the heart, your self. Elysha is available for satsang in Patea, New Zealand 7 days a week in order to bring you home to the heart that you already are, with gentleness and ease. http://www.elysha.org
It does not begin from within the illusion of your imagination, from the place of you believing yourself to be who you think you are. It does not begin from the place of seeking or thinking, or what you customarily know as "spirituality." Your persistence in who you think you are has you not realising who you are.
This journey of self discovery begins with you consciously aligning your attention to that, to who you already are - essence - which is already flowing through your mindbody, flowing through your very eyes right now.
Self is not something that you can look at. You cannot perceive it like all other perceivables. You cannot look directly down its throat. This self is not something that stands apart from who you are. It is who you are.
You can only be the self that you are.
And when you do begin this journey of discovering your self, discovering just what your heart is, you begin acquiring the taste of - and for – home.
Self discovery is an "endless" journey of revelation of how rich the heart - who you are – is.
The alignment of your conscious attention to this "motion of seeing" that is flowing through your eyes right now and your coming to rest as this "aliveness" is your immediate freedom from what you are not and of your being this one that has always been true of you.
No amount of thinking, concepts, attempting to do it from the disposition of who you think you are, is going to be of any help to you. There is no getting around the fact that you have to surrender and let go of who you think you are.
The "central point" of self, as it is flowing through this mindbody that you drive around through, must be aligned to and come to rest as by you - and you can because it is who you are.
It is so damn simple that you "western male mind"ers will simply not grok this nor do it - even though it is not a "doing." You will not let go of who you think you are to be what has always been true of you. But even you will finally come home to the heart of your self, eventually. No one can not come home to who they already are - it is the destiny of all to be who you are. How long you may take is an entirely different story though.
Through being at rest as this one that is flowing through your very eyes right here right now, where you are immediately no longer entrapped and bound by who you think you are - this mindbody that you find yourself travelling around through, you find yourself with no where to go and no thing to do. Who you are is already here and all things are arising in this one that is who you are. There is nothing that is not already who you are. Whatever you attempt to "go for" is already in who you are.
You become established as this one that is already who you are.
Through being at rest as this one - self, the heart - and "going" no where to gain what is already arising in who you are, you begin to realize the enormity of this one that is who you are, energetically, intrinsically.
Who you are already is.
You can be who you are because you already are who you are - however, it is not who you think you are and this must be surrendered for you to come to rest as the one that is already true of you.
The surrendering is in you focusing your attention to something other than your accustomed place of residence. Coming to rest as the very "thing" that is who you are.
Being at rest as this one that is who you are, not doing anything else, simply free as the heart. Through abiding here, the mindbody that you are travelling around through begins to unravel its "bondage" of you. You find more free attention and energy to simply be this one that is who you are. As this occurs - not through you trying to do anything or manipulate anything - you realize more of what it is that is who you are.
This journey of self discovery is the most wondrous of journeys. Why? Because it is one in which you are being who you already are - at home in the heart - not you being who you think you are - lost in the illusion of who you are not.
Elysha is a profoundly clear self-realized teacher of the heart. Elysha brings understanding to who you are. http://www.elysha.org Everything is clearly given on what you need to do to free up from the bind of the mind and to stand free as the heart, your self. Elysha is available for satsang in Patea, New Zealand 7 days a week in order to bring you home to the heart that you already are, with gentleness and ease. http://www.elysha.org
Improve Reading Comprehension With a Four Step Process
Would you like to improve your reading comprehension? Do you find yourself reading and re-reading a sentence or paragraph and still not remembering what you just read? Do you find that you can read and entire article and take nothing away from it? Do you find yourself day dreaming when needing to read technical information or study? Then this is for you.
You can improve both memory and comprehension with some simple changes in how you read and following four steps. There is one catch. You will have to take the time to learn how to and practice this method. This is not speed reading. This is training your mind to work the way it is designed.
Working the learning curve to improve reading comprehension can be a road block or a speed bump depending on how you look at it. So before you look at how to improve reading skills, consider why you should undertake the challenge.
To put the challenge into perspective consider a motivational story based on a 2000 year old proverb. It was about two men wanting to see who the best lumber jack in the world was. So they held a contest to determine just that.
The contest rules were simple. They were to start cutting at first glimpse of sunrise and stop at the last shimmer of sun set. No help, just man against man.
At the end of the day one man was a clear winner. The loser just couldn’t understand why he lost. He noted how the winner stopped to take breaks and refresh himself whereas he worked nonstop. The winner was truly was the best.
Wanting to learn the secret of the winner and how to improve, he started asking questions of his competitor. How did he do it?
“It was really quite simple,” the winner explained, “I did stop for breaks. The secret of my success that made the biggest difference was that while I was resting, I also sharpened my saw.”
The lesson is simple. We can sharpen our saws and improve our results or we can just work harder and have diminishing results. To sharpen our saws will require letting go of the work we want to accomplish with the end result of being more efficient at producing that work.
So how do can you increase the efficiency of your reading comprehension? You need to learn and then practice the four step process.
To start the process, get a piece of paper, an index card works best. It should be blank. Also get a place free of distraction or any other sensory input. No music, no talking, no noise. Get a chair that is slightly uncomfortable.
Next get something that would be fun to read however it should be informational writing.
1 First read the title. Then read the subheadings. Quickly think what you know about the subject. Only spend a couple of minutes. New memories are more easily recalled if they are connected to other older memories. This process in effect is like opening the filing cabinets of your mind.
Now you’re ready to read the paragraph and start filing the information. However before you start you need to understand the process. You will be reading as fast as you can. Not speed reading. You will just read at a fast pace taking in the thoughts as they appear in the text. You will only read once.
You will only read one paragraph at a time and you will cover the paragraph you just read with the index card on completion. You will not have a chance to go back. Resist any temptation to do so.
2 Once you read the paragraph, mentally review what you read and summarize it in one sentence. As a clue to help you with this, you can generally use the subject sentence as the one sentence. As you advance you will come up with more complex sentences including numbers and even statistics.
As you do this, you are starting the clock of your short term memory. It should last for about 20-30 seconds. That is long enough for you to go on to the next paragraph and do the same.
You are also forcing your mind to focus on what is being read. At the same time it is remembering the sentence you just formed. It will not have time to be distracted for at least 30 seconds. This in effect closes the other filing cabinets that you might be tempted to process at the same time of the reading. Our mind can process much more than we take in reading. Unless we turn off the other processes it will be nearly impossible to improve reading comprehension.
On completing the first paragraph, covering it over and reciting the one sentence summation, move on to the second paragraph and repeat the process.
3 Now go back and repeat the first sentence and add to it the second sentence.
You’re ready to move on to the third sentence continuing the process.
Continue on with each additional paragraph, producing one sentence for each next paragraph and then progressively repeating all the sentences from the first to the last.
4 On completion of the article, summarize the entire article. Initially it will take you longer than usual to complete this process. Once you learn it however, you will find you can cut your reading time by 20 to 50 percent. More importantly, your improved reading comprehension will enable the recall of what you just read.
For an even greater imprint on your mind, tell at least two people what you read. Give them a verbal summation of the entire article and eventually a summation of the entire magazine or chapter.
© 2006 Jonathan Steele Working as an artist, a free lance public speaker, speaking coach and webmaster of a public speaking web site Jonathan Steele has taught thousands during his career. To learn more about the mind regarding both reading and listening go to http://www.speechmastery.com/mind.html
You can improve both memory and comprehension with some simple changes in how you read and following four steps. There is one catch. You will have to take the time to learn how to and practice this method. This is not speed reading. This is training your mind to work the way it is designed.
Working the learning curve to improve reading comprehension can be a road block or a speed bump depending on how you look at it. So before you look at how to improve reading skills, consider why you should undertake the challenge.
To put the challenge into perspective consider a motivational story based on a 2000 year old proverb. It was about two men wanting to see who the best lumber jack in the world was. So they held a contest to determine just that.
The contest rules were simple. They were to start cutting at first glimpse of sunrise and stop at the last shimmer of sun set. No help, just man against man.
At the end of the day one man was a clear winner. The loser just couldn’t understand why he lost. He noted how the winner stopped to take breaks and refresh himself whereas he worked nonstop. The winner was truly was the best.
Wanting to learn the secret of the winner and how to improve, he started asking questions of his competitor. How did he do it?
“It was really quite simple,” the winner explained, “I did stop for breaks. The secret of my success that made the biggest difference was that while I was resting, I also sharpened my saw.”
The lesson is simple. We can sharpen our saws and improve our results or we can just work harder and have diminishing results. To sharpen our saws will require letting go of the work we want to accomplish with the end result of being more efficient at producing that work.
So how do can you increase the efficiency of your reading comprehension? You need to learn and then practice the four step process.
To start the process, get a piece of paper, an index card works best. It should be blank. Also get a place free of distraction or any other sensory input. No music, no talking, no noise. Get a chair that is slightly uncomfortable.
Next get something that would be fun to read however it should be informational writing.
1 First read the title. Then read the subheadings. Quickly think what you know about the subject. Only spend a couple of minutes. New memories are more easily recalled if they are connected to other older memories. This process in effect is like opening the filing cabinets of your mind.
Now you’re ready to read the paragraph and start filing the information. However before you start you need to understand the process. You will be reading as fast as you can. Not speed reading. You will just read at a fast pace taking in the thoughts as they appear in the text. You will only read once.
You will only read one paragraph at a time and you will cover the paragraph you just read with the index card on completion. You will not have a chance to go back. Resist any temptation to do so.
2 Once you read the paragraph, mentally review what you read and summarize it in one sentence. As a clue to help you with this, you can generally use the subject sentence as the one sentence. As you advance you will come up with more complex sentences including numbers and even statistics.
As you do this, you are starting the clock of your short term memory. It should last for about 20-30 seconds. That is long enough for you to go on to the next paragraph and do the same.
You are also forcing your mind to focus on what is being read. At the same time it is remembering the sentence you just formed. It will not have time to be distracted for at least 30 seconds. This in effect closes the other filing cabinets that you might be tempted to process at the same time of the reading. Our mind can process much more than we take in reading. Unless we turn off the other processes it will be nearly impossible to improve reading comprehension.
On completing the first paragraph, covering it over and reciting the one sentence summation, move on to the second paragraph and repeat the process.
3 Now go back and repeat the first sentence and add to it the second sentence.
You’re ready to move on to the third sentence continuing the process.
Continue on with each additional paragraph, producing one sentence for each next paragraph and then progressively repeating all the sentences from the first to the last.
4 On completion of the article, summarize the entire article. Initially it will take you longer than usual to complete this process. Once you learn it however, you will find you can cut your reading time by 20 to 50 percent. More importantly, your improved reading comprehension will enable the recall of what you just read.
For an even greater imprint on your mind, tell at least two people what you read. Give them a verbal summation of the entire article and eventually a summation of the entire magazine or chapter.
© 2006 Jonathan Steele Working as an artist, a free lance public speaker, speaking coach and webmaster of a public speaking web site Jonathan Steele has taught thousands during his career. To learn more about the mind regarding both reading and listening go to http://www.speechmastery.com/mind.html
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