Cosmetic
Neurology --
Extreme Makeover for your Brain
By Laura Beil
The Dallas Morning News
In
the future, reality shows may have names such as "Extreme
Makeover: Brain Edition" or "Sharp Eye for the
Dumb Guy."
At
the beginning of each episode, viewers could learn about
one hapless soul's lifelong struggles with algebra
and another's desire to not be a worrywart. By the
end of the hour, the transformed contestants would be winning
chess matches and prancing carefree through fields of daisies.
Some
neurologists have recently wondered whether their field
is the next frontier in elective medicine. The specialty
now tries to protect ailing brains from conditions such
as Parkinson's disease or migraine headaches. But doctors'
efforts may one day extend to normal brains.
"This
is coming, and we need to know it's coming," says
Dr. Anjan Chatterjee of the University of Pennsylvania.
There's
even a name for the field: cosmetic neurology.
As
he envisions it, cosmetic neurology could one day mean
not just sharpening intelligence, but also elevating other
dictates of the brain - reflexes, attention, mood and memory. Studying for the SAT? Take this drug to retain more of those
pesky facts. About to report for duty at the fire station?
These pills will improve your reflexes.
These
are not just theoretical musings. Last month in the journal
Neurology, Chatterjee pointed out that drugs already exist
that may have many of these effects. In one study, for example,
emergency room patients given a memory-altering drug appeared
to be spared some symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Another
small study of pilots in flight simulators suggested that
those taking Alzheimer's disease medications performed
better, particularly under emergency conditions.
Chatterjee
reserves opinion but says the idea speaks to the basic purpose
of medical practice.
"I'm
not arguing that this is a bad thing, and I'm not arguing
it's a good thing." Before doctors are caught
by surprise, he says, they need to be prepared. "What
I'm hoping to do with this is get people talking."
Source: Dallas
Morning News
The
Body/Mind Link for Inner Peace
By
Paul R. Scheele
Learning Strategies Corporation
Being at peace is the wonderful state of mind and body where
all is calm, where thoughts are quiet and serene, and where
muscles are relaxed and comfortable. In this article, you'll
learn how to attain this inner peace in a matter of minutes.
Once you are adept at controlling your mind and body, you
are always only one simple thought away from perfect peacefulness.
You can "will" perfect peacefulness at any time.
You will be able to move out of stressful situations immediately.
All you need to do is follow a few simple steps to train
yourself. A little practice is all that is required. But,
you must take the time to direct the mind and body in positive
ways so that you can ensure the pleasures of inner peace.
You're at the wheel. So let's drive on!
LET PEACE HAPPEN
Being
at peace is a choice. When we stop struggling and fighting
the world around us--and the world within us--peace
can happen. Our individual fight is with our thoughts, emotions
and physical bodies. The fighting can be directed toward
ourselves or those we face each day. Here are several approaches
to quickly give up the fight and win at the same time.
There are many ways your physical body can take on struggles
you face each day. Maybe you clench your jaw when you get
mad. Maybe you collect tension across the back of your neck
and shoulders. Maybe butterflies trouble your stomach. The
first step is being aware of what you are doing. The second
step is to consciously make the choice to release the tension.
Your mind takes on struggles in the form of mental images.
Do you tend to imagine the ideal end result or the worst
possible situation? Troubling and negative mental images
translate into unpleasant emotions and stressful physical
reactions. Choose carefully the thoughts you think because
they absolutely affect how you feel. Realize that the only
person who can change your thoughts is you. You can then
take charge and change your thoughts for the better.
Emotions are natural physiological changes that occur when
thoughts are held in your mind. You can easily direct your
emotional states by changing your posture; for example,
sit straight, tilt your head, use facial expressions, walk
differently, etc. You can also direct your emotional states
by holding brighter and more pleasing visual images in mind.
You have the choice, but you must make the choice.
CREATING PEACE OF MIND
To
create peace within yourself, simply relax your body and
breathing; then, direct the mind.
A still body is the reflection of a calm mind, but the mind
cannot be still until the body is still. Begin by making
your body comfortable. Then release areas of tension. As
example, gentle movements of the neck and shoulder muscles
can help stretch and release tension in those areas.
Breathing in an even and steady way will quickly calm both
the body and mind. Make the inhale and exhale of equal length
without any pauses in between. Your breathing will become
smooth and even.
The next step is to quiet the mind. Start by bringing your
awareness into this present moment, here and now. By doing
this you can effectively eliminate distracting or troubling
thoughts. Any anxieties about the future or tensions from
the past will leave your mind and body.
Another way to direct the mind is to direct your inner voice--especially
if it is anxious or overbearing. Play with the idea of changing
the volume of your inner voice. Have it be quieter. Modify
the tone of you inner voice until it is pleasant, warm and
nurturing. You can have it say pleasant and comforting words
to you--words of encouragement and self esteem. Some
people even repeat soothing words or phrases in a rhythmic
way.
The final step is to hold images that encourage a peaceful
mind. For thousands of years, prayerful and meditative people
have directed the mind by holding steady mental pictures.
For example, the image of a candle flame can be used to
concentrate one's attention and steady the mind. You
can use images of a peaceful scene from nature, a vacation
setting, an imaginary room of comfort, a cathedral, rose
bushes, or anything calming, wonderful, and peaceful.
WHAT TO DO ONCE YOU'VE GOT THERE
Getting
to a relaxed state of mind and body by the above steps may
take 20-30 minutes at first. With practice, however, you'll
be able to accomplish this within a few minutes.
When you try to extend this peaceful feeling for long periods
of time, you may find that your mind will race to other
thoughts. After all, your mind is trained to race, to go
full throttle, all day long. If you suddenly stop for 20
minutes, will your mind to cooperate? No. It will do what
you trained it to do for the 16 hours--race!
So, what's the solution? How do you create a peace-filled
life, and not peaceful three-minute spurts? Take it one
moment and one thought at a time. Bring peaceful, serene,
and positive images and feelings into the rest of your day.
Learn to release tensions as they occur. Learn to direct
your thoughts and emotions at the time they start getting
out of hand. You'll discover that not only can you
create a peacefulness, but you are living a peace-filled
life.
Source: BeyondHuman.com
The
Easiest, Most Effective Way to Manifest Your Desires as
Quickly as Possible!
![]()
After
reviewing dozens of programs over the past few years,
Dr. Robert Anthony's Rapid Manifestation Audio Program
is still my favorite Mind Power tool available on the
web today. This incredible program is by far the easiest
way for you to accomplish any goal you desire.
The
best thing about this program is that it's simple and
fast! Just pick the next goal you wish to accomplish and
let the guided audio do the rest. A simple 11-minute mind
programming technique done every day will magically attract
what you want. Through my own testing I've found that
the only way this method will not work is if you stop
using it. So get it, use it, and thank me later! Read
more here.
Prozac
or Prayer: Is there a Spiritual Cure for Depression?
By Barbara Raulsen
MSN.com
They
are women who know paralyzing gloom firsthand: a lawyer
despairing over her workaholic existence; a librarian
watching her mother die of Parkinson's; a wife grieving
and angry at a husband who left her after 20 years of
marriage. Put them in a room and they'd have plenty to
talk about. Put them in a doctor's office, and they'd
be offered antidepressants.
But
these are women looking for a different way to ease their
psychic pain. Some have tried antidepressants and say
the drugs took the zing out of an already limp midlife
libido, or made them feel distant and numb, or simply
didn't work. But they also suspect deep down that their
lives, and not just their brain chemistry, need an overhaul.
Typically,
people turn to talk therapy as an alternative to drugs,
but a growing number of women are embracing a new trend
in the treatment of depression: spiritual practice. It's
an approach that sidesteps analyzing problems in favor
of seeking inner peace through relaxation and deep-breathing
techniques. A handful of programs, like the Center for
Mind-Body Medicine in Washington, D.C., offer 12-week
group sessions that teach patients meditation, imagery,
biofeedback, and more, and a growing number of therapists
and psychiatrists are experimenting with these spiritual
techniques as a new way to heal those diagnosed with clinical
depression (an intense, pervasive mood disorder that attacks
the mind and can affect the body).
"There's
an explosion of interest among both therapists and patients,"
says James S. Gordon, the Harvard-trained psychiatrist
who founded and directs the Center. What makes the approach
attractive, he says, is that it promises not just to make
people functional, but to help them feel joy again, and
find peace and meaning in their lives.
"Depression
is a sign that who you are as a human being on this earth
is not being fulfilled in some way," says Gordon.
"On one level that's a psychological problem that
can be dealt with in talk therapy, but it's often a spiritual
issue. 'What am I here for? What's my purpose?' Those
are spiritual questions."
THE
BEST METHOD TO TREATING DEPRESSION
How
to best treat depression has been an issue since the '50s,
when the first antidepressants were developed. Since then,
psychiatrists have disputed whether depression is a biological
disease that should be battled with drugs, or a psychological
condition that needs to be addressed with talk therapy.
The
spiritual approach offers a new paradigm altogether. Gordon
and others with a spiritual bent acknowledge that the
current understanding of depression as a chemical imbalance
with biological causes has given it the stamp of a "real
disease," which has helped lift its stigma (though
not enough to keep every woman quoted in this story from
asking that her name be changed or only her first name
be used). But they say that this overly medical view of
depression is deafening us to the spiritual yearning at
its core. And while they believe talk therapy plays a
vital role, they contend it can get in the way of true
insight.
PROZAC
-- OR PRAYER?
All
this talk of spirituality makes some people roll their
eyes. Those who have suffered major depression, the kind
that keeps them in bed for weeks at a time, scoff at the
notion that they can just meditate their way back to sanity.
Even though Joy, 53, from Massapequa Park, New York, has
meditated every night for the past 16 years, she is cautious
about viewing spirituality as the main cure for depression:
"Prozac works faster than prayer," she says.
Skeptics
also worry that patients and therapists keen on the spiritual
approach might steer clear of proven treatments, like
drugs. It's known that the more episodes of depression
a person suffers, the harder each new episode is to treat.
So depressed people who turn away from antidepressants
in favor of such practices might be putting themselves
at risk for more serious, and intractable, mental illness.
That's
why some women combine drug therapy with spiritual practice.
Christina, 55, of New Salem, Massachusetts, experienced
a crushing bout of depression while caring for her two
children, who both have developmental problems. "I
remember trying to sweep the floor one day, and I just
couldn't do it," she says. She credits antidepressants
with restoring her ability to cope with day-to-day life,
but it was her mindfulness practice (a meditation and
stress-reduction class that included yoga) that has helped
her feel joy again. "I'm not very spiritual, but
this approach has prompted a fundamental shift in my ability
to be at peace."
"Treatment
is certainly not an either/or decision, but spiritual
practice offers a larger way of viewing problems,"
says James Gordon, who acknowledges that people with clinical
depression may need to be on drugs, at least during the
onset. "But there are possibilities besides medication.
It's not easy, but if you're willing to do some work,
you may feel better than you ever have before."
Could
we be witnessing a shift in how depression will be understood
in the future? A recent landmark study funded by the National
Institute of Mental Health found that, of 145 people with
recurrent clinical depression who had stopped taking medication
(but were still considered at risk for relapse), those
who had suffered three or more episodes had a significantly
lower risk of a relapse after they'd learned a mindfulness
technique.
But
mostly there is just anecdotal evidence, from women who
swear that their spiritual practices have made them happier
now than they were before they got depressed. They say
this type of therapy puts them at peace with who they
are -- often for the first time in their lives.
Certainly
no one denies that conventional approaches such as antidepressants
and therapy will remain mainstay treatments for depression.
But mental-health experts like Gordon welcome a movement
away from the disease model of depression, viewing it
instead as a spiritual wake-up call. Gordon thinks that
this message is especially relevant to women at midlife.
"The first half of life is about making it in the
world. The second half is about fulfilling oneself as
a human being, taking an interior journey," he says.
"As you contemplate your place in the world, if you
get depressed, that's okay. Now you have to find what
is needed to complete the circle."
LIFTING
YOUR OWN SPIRITS
There's
nothing mystical about using spiritual practice to deal
with depression. All that's required is that you regularly
engage in an activity that lulls your mind into quieting
down. "The goal of spiritual practice is to simply
become more 'present' in your everyday life; to learn
not to fret about the past or get anxious about the future,
which can be triggers for depression in many people,"
says Mark Epstein, MD, a psychiatrist in New York City
and author of Going on Being: Buddhism and the Way of
Change (Broadway, 2002). "Focusing on the present
can help you accept yourself and your own problems, without
rushing to try to change or overcome anything."
Read
the entire article here: MSN.com
Is
It Possible to Reduce Your Sleep by 3 Hours and Have More
Energy Than When You Slept 8 Hours or Longer?
![]()
There's
actually a method to optimize your body's inner
sleep system to sleep less, and have more energy in
your life than when you slept LONGER. Sleep expert Kacper
Postawski spills the beans in his fascinating new ebook
"Powerful Sleep." While most people think
sleep is just "sleep," it is actually a
complex and fascinating system which you can OPTIMIZE
in order to sleep less, and create an abundance of energy
in your life. Learn more here: Powerful
Sleep
Ancient
Warrior Secrets for the Modern Entrepreneur
By Hirini Reedy
Maoir-Secrets.com
The
words you see on-screen trigger subconscious responses.
Dark images penetrate your mind. Your heartbeat increases
slightly. Your muscles tighten. Like a warrior advancing
to combat, you prepare to engage with your market. Ready,
aim, fire. You send an email! Everyday, military metaphors
are projected across our computer screens. Guerrilla marketing.
Market penetration. Global domination. Competitive intelligence
and more. How do you approach your marketing, your business?
At the end of the day, do you feel like you have been in
battle? Suffering battle fatigue.
War
is just metaphor for the application of force. By understanding
the nature of war, you can apply this understanding to business.
You can apply the principles of war with elegance or with
crudeness. It is like knowing the difference between a charging
gladiator and a meditating warrior-monk.
Here
are some warrior secrets that have been derived from traditional
Maori martial arts and modern military tactics. Adapt
and apply some of these principles into your life and business.
1.
The Power of Oneness. When tracking and observing, you
need to become one with your environment. The trees, the
insects, the wildlife become your eyes and ears. The forest
becomes part of your body. In order to reach this level
of feeling, you need to become one with yourself. This power
of oneness begins with the point of stillness. You need
to slow down your thinking and relax into yourself. Slow
down your thoughts so that you can sense your own body.
Tense muscles. Nervous responses. Stressed breathing. Just
slow down and take time out from your busy work environment.
Spend an hour of slow thinking each day. Do nothing during
this hour then move when you are ready. The modern entrepreneur
is like a scout, silently observing then moving with swift,
efficient actions.
2.
Know Yourself. Know your strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes
it takes honesty to admit your own weaknesses. Your partner,
your children or close friends can all be good mirrors.
They reflect back both your good and ugly features. The
ego of a mighty entrepreneur can be easily pricked by the
honest opinion of his 4-year old daughter. Your results
are also another good indication. What results are you getting?
Look around you for 360 degree feedback. Put yourself in
uncomfortable positions so that you can stretch and grow.
3.
Know Your Enemy. I said know your enemy, not kill your
enemy. Sometimes your worst enemy can be yourself. Sometimes
your enemy is called your competitor. Try this. Look at
your competitors as potential allies. Study them. Think
like them. Talk to them. Understand them. They very much
want the same things in life as you do. Yet be like an iron
fist wrapped in a velvet glove. Negotiate and operate from
a position of strength and honour rather than weakness and
deceit. The energy of your values and beliefs radiate out
from you like a force-field. What energy are you sending
out?
4.
Think 3 Times Beyond Your Current Capability. Some warrior
races such as the Maori of New Zealand used to train so
that one warrior was equal to three or more opponents. Their
smallness in numbers was compensated for by the quality
of the warriors. Find a way to leverage your current capability
so that you achieve a 300 percent improvement in your results.
You could be three times faster in delivering your product
to the customer. Or your product could be three times more
reliable. Why stop at a ratio of three? Perhaps you could
achieve a 10, 20 times improvement ratio on your current
capability.
5.
Focussed Relaxation in High Stress Situations. Stress
is the number one cause of reduced work efficiency. When
teaching martial arts I encourage people to consciously
laugh when in high stress situations. This relaxes the body
and allows natural reflexes to emerge. Imagine a bloodstained
maniac running at you with an axe. Your body starts to tense
up. Your mind panics. Now imagine the same axe maniac running
straight into an invisible concrete wall three metres in
front of you. He is completely knocked unconscious and thrown
backwards onto the floor. You laugh. Now slow this moving
image down, frame-by-frame. Bring the invisible concrete
wall a little closer each time. Laugh as the maniac gets
knocked out. Now speed up the frame sequence. Charging axe
maniac. Bang! Knock out! Hahaha! Repeat several times. The
concrete wall becomes a metaphor for the power of your focussed
mind. The next stage is to learn and apply defensive shock-actions
so that you have the equivalent physical impact of an invisible
concrete wall. Use this same mind process when encountering
negative or hostile customers. Put up an invisible barrier
to block their negative energy. Use laughter to disarm the
tension. Be in control of your own mind and space.
Find
ways to activate the warrior energy within you. Use it as
a force for good. This is the challenge for the modern entrepreneur.
To serve the common good while creating several successful
businesses.
Hirini
Reedy is a native author, poet, civil engineer, retired
military officer, martial arts black belt, NLP master and
internet entrepreneur. Learn more at www.maori-secrets.com
Want
more?
All
my favorite mind power articles and links are at the Mind
Power News website,
plus links to all the past issues and the best mind power
resources available on the web. All
new updates will be posted as soon as I find them, at the Mind
Power Blog.
Subscribe/Unsubscribe
To unsubscribe, simply follow the link at
the very bottom of this message. If somebody forwarded this
message to you, please sign up to receive your own copy
of this e-zine each week at www.mindpowernews.com
