January 24th, 2008 by aaks
Believe it or not, it isn’t difficult to harness the brainpower all of us possess, if only we knew how. Indeed, it may come as a surprise to learn that throughout life, on average, we only use about 25% of our brain - including the university educated intellectuals in our ranks!
As a practising psychologist, I frequently meet people who desperately want to increase their powers of learning, heighten their intelligence and perception - make a better life for themselves and their families, in fact!
Most of the time, people think that super- brain power and function is beyond their reach. They mistakenly feel that super intelligence is only for those who are born with such potential. Yet…they couldn’t be more off beam. The simple fact is - we all have the intellectual potential - it’s just that most people don’t know how to cultivate it and use it.
From the day we are born until the day we die, our brain receives and stores millions upon millions of facts, figures and experiences. This storage space is our memory bank, just like a computer but much more adaptable and complex. Our brain is us, our very being - that which makes each and every one of us individual. It is part of our Soul, dictating on a higher plain what we think and feel (our emotions). It can think positively or negatively, thoughts which can make us feel well or ill (psychosomatic - mind affecting body).
To keep our brain healthy and efficient requires exercise, just like the muscles in our body. Like a car engine, it requires top-quality fuel for peak performance. Most people fail to realise that the foods they eat (or don’t eat) have an influence on the brain, some foods dull its performance and others help fire it into action. It is often said that physical tiredness is healthy and mental tiredness is unhealthy, a basic truth, in fact. However, it can also be said that a tired brain is due to our own doing, our general lifestyle and/or lack of brain training.
You don’t have to pump iron and break a bead of sweat to train your brain. Why then, don’t we do it? Simply, because we take it for granted. We expect it to perform day after day without complaint. Or if it does begin to cry out for mercy, we either get a headache (commonly caused by the neck and shoulder muscles cramping up due to stress) or become tired and feel out of sorts. Yet, it need’nt have happened - if our brain had been exercised and trained in the proper manner
What does it take to have an efficient, intellectual brain with a high IQ? Not a lot really. Indeed, you can do it at any time of the day, even as you sleep. One simple ingredient is learning to concentrate solely on concentrating on what you are doing at any moment. No…I haven’t made a typing error. I’ll say it again - learning to concentrate on concentrating on what your are doing! This is commonly known as ‘hyper-concentration’, completely blotting out everything other than what you are doing - thinking, working or relaxing. You cannot improve your brain power and intellect without ‘hyper concentration’ a skill that can be learned in next to no time, believe it or not - and you won’t even strain a bodily muscle. Remember, you can train your brain anywhere and at anytime -once you know how.
Mental discipline is another factor in having healthy and positive thoughts. No problem is insoluble, if you know the most important rule required to tackle it. That basic rule is ‘positive thinking’. In other words, never cross a bridge until you come to it. You see, imagining the worst befuddles your positive thought process. Your imagination runs riot and you can’t see the wood for the trees, so to speak. The cause of the problem totally eludes you. Therefore, you cannot find a solution. Here, hyper-concentration and problem solving become closely linked - one cannot work without the other. Self-doubt and a fertile imagination never solved any problem. These two negative ingredients lead to inefficiency, mistakes, ineptitude, self-consciousness, depression and many other self-destructing and inhibiting forces.
So, contrary to what you may think, you have the brain power within you to progress in life. To become someone who is the success story you never thought you would be. All it takes is knowing how to go about it!
To find out more simple tips on how to increase your brain power and put your IQ through the roof, plus many more freebies on the subject - click here; http://www.clanpublishing.com
James Keith is a practising psychologist specialising in intelligence building and self-improvement. He has also written many specialist papers on the subject.
Posted in Mind | No Comments »
January 24th, 2008 by aaks
We convince ourselves that we what we think is the TRUTH. Our thoughts are the facts. After all, we are putting our ideas into words, so doesn’t that count for something?
If someone writes about something, doesn’t that mean it is the truth?
If we choose to read only non-fiction books because we are only interested in being objective, unemotional and dispassionate, are we really choosing to be any of these? Or are we just fuelling our beliefs?
All beliefs are assumptions; all beliefs are unproven convictions. If they were anything else, they would be proven facts and we would not speak of them as beliefs.
If we accept the belief that we can separate our behaviour from our emotions, that we are truly ignoring our feelings in making decisions, then everything we do in our career will simply re-enforce that belief.
Beliefs form a closed loop in how we think. You believe something is true and you discount anything that would go against or disprove what you believe. You direct your attention to, and make more important in your mind, those things that prove your belief.
Because you believe you are more intelligent than other people, those people should not insult your intelligence be doing or saying something that insults your intelligence. You are not a fool therefore you do not tolerate fools lightly.
But what is intelligence? How do you measure it? No one has been able to define intelligence in a way that it can easily be measured without a whole series of assumptions.
We all use the word intelligent as though we really know what it is. We certainly believe that we are intelligent. Yet intelligence has not be clearly defined or measured.
We use the word soul or spirit as though we really know what we are talking about. Yet, the soul has not been factually and scientifically identified.
We can speak words that the human being is an emotional, spiritual, rational or physical being but can we prove it?
We have difficulty proving that these characteristics are separate one from the other. It all depends on your perception and perceptions depend on your beliefs. Perhaps we should stop talking as though our behaviour makes us a fragmented human.
So our language and the definition of words clearly influence how and what we think about. If our language only supported counting to three our concepts about size and numbers would change the way we think about everything. And, there are civilizations that did exactly that.
That is the essence of belief. We use words as though we know what they mean and behave and think as though they are facts.
Beliefs are convictions based on a lack of proof. Our beliefs are so built into our way of thinking that it is difficult to separate real facts from imagined. In fact, we cannot separate our thinking from our beliefs, no more than we can separate ourselves into emotional, rational, spiritual and physical parts.
Yet we can put words on those things as though we really know what they are as though we can see something in our behaviour that identifies each separate part, but in fact, they are never separate. They are all part of the one and same person.
That is the problem. Words do not necessarily match the facts. We can talk about intelligence, for example, as though we really know it exists, but we have a difficult time proving what it is.
Just because we can speak a word that we can look up in a dictionary does not make it any more factual than another word which we do not believe.
What we believe now are truths. What others believe are myths and therefore evil.
Whether we choose to believe something or not doesn’t make us superior to anyone else or give us any special advantage. They are our beliefs.
Often we believe something because we are told that unless we believe it there will be consequences. Believe this or you will be punished either now or later.
And we can all prove our beliefs because we have conducted a lot of mind experiments even if all thought experiments are just science-fiction. Every science fiction book I read when I was twelve was a thought experiment.
We all make assumptions and judgements living day to day. Choose to believe or not believe, it makes no difference. You cannot prove a belief either way. And you are still just believing.
Beliefs are something we know because we just think it is so. We interpret our experience as though it proves what we know.
And round and round we go again.
I believe it is important to believe and to allow others to have their own belief unless they threaten the well being of others.
But then, maybe it is all just tricks of the mind.
For more feature articles go to http://www.themeaningisyou.com The author has many years experience, writing and reading for self development.
I offer this to you as a guide to every day happiness. If you feel your need is more than you can manage with this training, consult a neuro-therapist or cognitive therapist or other professional.
Copyright Gilles Hamann 2007
Posted in Mind | No Comments »
