Archive for May, 2010

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Spiritual Mind Treatment (05.31.2010)

Monday, May 31st, 2010

Join me in knowing that…

We live in an amazing World where incredibly complex systems are beautifully balanced and symbiotically related. It is a World where everything is connected in one way or another, none more fundamental than the Energetic bond we all share. Energy is the underlying building block of everything and on that level I’m one with, and the same as, everything around me. Recognizing that Unity, I understand that my thoughts and my beliefs about Life shape my view, understanding, and experience of Life. I choose to contemplate on the beautiful, on the healthy, on the abundant, on the loving, and on the joyous aspects of life and know that the more I do that, the more beautiful, healthy, abundant, loving, and joyous life becomes. With sincere gratitude I release these words to a place where everything just is, a place of no space and no time, a place of Absolute existence. I allow my beliefs tp create this awesome experience I call life, and I welcome it all. I let it be, and so it is.

Until next time,

V

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Playing Loose With Terms

Friday, May 28th, 2010

There is a tendency for people with non-scientific ideas to borrow terms from science in order to make their ideas sound credible, reliable, and proven. Richard Dawkins in one of his documentaries criticized Deepak Chopra for doing that, and since then I’ve been noticing that being done a lot more. Dawkins was questioning why Chopra was saying that his ideas are rooted in quantum physics, when there is apparently very little evidence that they are. Now I don’t intend on getting into a debate on the significance of the tie between Chorpa’s ideas and quantum physics, but people rarely question that in the first place – they just think, “Oh, quantum physics supports this. It must be true then”.

When people say that something is backed by ’science’, we have to be very careful, because ’science’ may not really be Science or may be shady Science at best. Take the series ‘Lost’ as an example. Producers and actors, when interviewed, were saying that there was going to be a scientific explanation for everything on the show. After watching the finale, I’m still looking for that scientific explanation. I should have stopped watching that show 3 seasons ago, but that magnetic pull of a ’scientific explanation’ kept me coming back. Not cool.

The last tid-bit of information I’d like to share with you before signing off is on books. Science-based books will have a lot of references to credible journals, scientific studies, and other books as the authors are making their points. When there are no references available, I’m naturally skeptical as to the claims being made. A little while back I asked if anyone knew where the 60,000 thoughts per day claim came from. One person responded saying that they read it in a Wayne Dyer book. Unfortunately there is no reference to support that number, which makes this number a Dyer’s opinion and not a fact. Don’t get me wrong, his opinion may be accurate, but it also may not be. So check where the information comes from. :)

Until Monday,

V

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Posted in Psychology | 1 Comment »

Vision For A Better World

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

As a final project in the Science of Mind class that I have been taking, we were supposed to present our vision for a better world. Yesterday’s post gave me an alternative vision for a better world than the one I actually presented. To tell you the truth, there are a lot of things that can make for a better world, so this is only one of them. What is it? People taking personal responsibility for their lives.

Think about it…how different would the world look if every single person took responsibility for their lives, for their actions, and for their behaviours? Now we are playing that ‘what if’ game, but I think that if that was the case, people would not be complacent and would actually take action to change things they do not like – politicians, economics, relationships, etc. People would stop blaming others, which will result in more love and peace. People would live more happy and fulfilled lives as they would not remain stuck for long in any particular place that they do not like. People would pursue what they want in harmonious ways.

That would truly transform the world, don’t you think?

Until next time,

V

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Posted in Affirmations, Energy, Relationships, Success, Taking Action | 1 Comment »

Feeling Bad For Yourself

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

I’m pretty confident in saying that there is no person in this world (except for me maybe) who has not attempted to influence someone else’s behaviour by feeling bad for the self. It’s a really strange behaviour, if you ask me. To get some attention/love/caring/my way, I am going to put myself in a negative state so that another person (or people) feel bad for me and do what I ’secretly’ want them to do. Do you know anyone like that?

Every time I contemplated this, I’ve come to the same conclusion – you can always get that what you seek without resorting to the ‘feel bad for me’ state. The other conclusion that I came to is that this is unlikely to change, unless people take their understanding of the self to another level. Why do I say that? Because this is one of the first things that we learn as infants – we cry and we get attention from our mother. Pretty quickly we as children figure out that by crying we will get attention, love, caring, and often our way. Then we take those lessons with us through life.

How often do you play ‘victim’ in order to get something? Do you think that serves you very well? Can you come up with alternatives?

Until next time,

V

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Posted in Psychology, Relationships | 1 Comment »

Having Your Cake And Eating It Too

Friday, May 21st, 2010

There are many things that are considered incompatible for some reason, and one of these combinations is environmental sustainability and profitability. It seems like you can either make money or be good to the environment. That is what most corporations are screaming when any talk of ‘green’ legislation comes up. There are some companies, however, that caught my attention who have been able to reduce their environmental impact AND make more money in the process. And these are not companies that are selling ‘green’ technologies – these companies have nothing to do with that. They are just doing their thing, but doing it better, and making more dough in the process.

Google is one example, where they have taken numerous initiatives to reduce energy use at their facilities and implemented technologies that paid for themselves in a few months. So at the end of the year, they had a net increase in profit due to increased savings. That makes it much easier to sell to the shareholders the requirement for other money saving technologies that pay for themselves and put money in your pocket over a longer term.

This ‘green’ field is just one of the areas where you can get ‘both’ positive results. Are there any other areas that you can think of where there are two (or more) outcomes, that are normally thought of as incompatible, that are in fact very compatible with a little creativity?

Due to the long weekend, my next post will be on Wednesday.

Until then,

V

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Is It Always Our Point Of View?

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Or are some things just plain annoying/frustration/offensive/hurtful/etc? On one hand I understand that nothing is good or bad, kind or insulting, gentle or hurtful, or anything else, except that our thinking makes it so. An event is just an event – our thoughts about that event define how we interpret that event. A rainy day can be looked at with disappointment or it can be looked at with ease and appreciation for the freshness that it brings.

While the logic makes sense and I agree more with that line of thinking than I disagree with it, I still feel that there are exceptions. But how can there be exceptions when we are dealing with a Principle? Maybe it is like a language, where there are rules and then there are exceptions to those rules? Anyway, welcome to my head – this gives you a 3 second preview.

For instance, if someone punches you in the face while you are walking down the street and minding your own business, you’d have to work pretty darn hard to convince yourself that it was a nice experience to go through (maybe if you are in the UFC ring, you’d enjoy a punch in the face – I don’t know). And that is exactly what I think you’d have to do – convince yourself that it was a positive experience, because I believe that that experience is just plain negative.

What I’d like to find out from you is whether or not you feel there are certain things that are just positive or just negative (for the sake of generalizing these categories)? Or is everything just our interpretation of it – always?

Until next time,

V

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The Golden Ratio

Wednesday, May 19th, 2010

There is another Gottman nugget that I thought would be interesting to share with you concerning relationships. This time it is on the golden ratio of positive to negative phrases expressed in an interaction between two people, and that ratio is 5:1. The idea is that you need to say (and hear) at least 5 positive comments to every negative comment for a relationship to work well. Turns out this is a very important parameter and a good predictor of relationship’s ultimate success or failure.

In his research Gottman found that it is not whether the couples fight or not, not how much they fight or how often they fight, and not even the intensity of their fights, but rather that ratio of positive feedback to negative feedback that ultimately makes the difference. So wait, to make a relationship work, just say 5 positive things for every negative thing (and avoid contempt)? Seems like it! I love when something as complex as a relationship between two people can be boiled down to one or two simple, measurable factors. Amazing!

Until next time,

V

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Posted in Psychology, Relationships | 2 Comments »

Anyone Got Proof?

Tuesday, May 18th, 2010

I have heard people say that about 95% of our thoughts are non-conscious. I have heard people say that 58,000 out of about 60,000 thoughts that we have each day are non-conscious. I have heard that our brains are processing 400 billion bits of information per second while only being conscious of 2,000 bits (What The BLEEP Do We Know?). I have heard it enough to even use it in my conversations, thought-processes, and this blog. The trouble is, when searching more on the subject, I could not find any evidence for any of these stats.

I’m not saying it’s false – it definitely seems like there are thought processes going on below our conscious level – I just want a published, peer-reviewed scientific paper that provides some numbers. Otherwise it could be that we only have 5% of non-conscious thought, but it does not works as well for some self-improvement gurus, so they fudge the numbers.

If you remember reading that claim somewhere, and it is referenced, would you kindly send me the details of that reference? I’d like to nail this sucker down and not use some nice-sounding stats that have no backing.

Until next time,

V

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Posted in Neo-Spirituality | 1 Comment »

Spiritual Mind Treatment (05.17.2010)

Monday, May 17th, 2010

I know that all the matter in the Universe is made from the same stuff, making me of the same essence as our planet, the forests, the lakes, the animals, other human beings, and the chair I am sitting on right now. As I recognize this fundamental Truth, I feel a great sense of peace and connectedness with the world around me. Recognizing another fundamental Truth, that feelings become things, I allow peace to spread through my body. As I feel more calm and centered, I allow the feelings of health to radiate from within. As each cell functions in perfection, I allow feelings of love, joy, and happiness to leave their mark. As gratitude fills my body – gratitude for my surroundings, for my family and friends, for the abundance in my life, for the opportunities, for the world, and for my life. I know that this feeling is awesome, I know that it is powerful, and I know that it is creative. I release these feelings to the Universe, knowing that they are already coming back into my life. I let go, and I let it be. Ans so it is.

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Boys Like Their Toys

Friday, May 14th, 2010

There is a really interesting study that I read from the University of Cambridge that provides very good evidence that men and women have different social attitudes due to genetics. In this study 24-hour newborns were shown an image of a car and an image of a female face without the researchers knowing the gender of the infant. The researchers measured for how long these infants looked at each image. You must agree that 24 hours is not enough time for any environmental influences to take place, so any differences would have to be due to genetic gender differences.

What they found was that boy babies looked significantly longer at the image of the car, while girl babies looked significantly longer at the image of a female face. This is consistent with what we see later in life – guys are more fascinated with cars, boats, planes, and other mechanical objects, while gals are much more understanding, emotionally connected, and express greater interest in relationships. Yeah, there are exceptions, but as a general rule it holds.

It feels very reassuring to know that I can use my Y chromosome as a reason for why I have such a soft spot for nice cars :)

Until Monday,

V

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Posted in Psychology, Relationships | 1 Comment »

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