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The
Key to
Mental Re-Programming
By Dr Jill Ammon-Wexler
Take
a moment to look around you with open eyes. Unless you are physically
blind, you clearly see the reality lying immediately outside yourself.
You can see the furniture around you, the walls of the room, the view
out the windows, other people who are present, etc.
When you
close your eyes, on the other hand, inner images and thoughts unrelated
to the physical reality around you flow through your mind. Your
imagination takes you beyond the limits of space and time as you
revisit the past in memories, or preview future possibilities.
Many people attach little importance to such inner visions, but they
actually hold a major key to creating our mental programs.
There’s
now solid scientific proof we actually create our reality with our
thoughts -– and not the other way around.
Researchers
around the world agree that our thoughts have a very real physical
reality –- and actually cause things to happen in the physical
world. We now know from quantum physics, for example, that subatomic
particles will physically manifest IF there is someone there to observe
them.
Remember being taught as a child that "seeing is
believing?" In other words -- that you need to physically see something
with your own eyes in order to believe it is real?
Well that
old belief is today being replaced with a new, science-based belief
that: "Before you can see it, you have to believe it."
This
viewpoint sees the act of achieving success as the result of FIRST
creating a vivid, clear future vision of your desired reality. The
belief is now: "what you see, is what you’ll be."
What’s the Real Truth?
We’ve
long been told that if we practice seeing something in our mind's eye,
it will actually manifest in our lives. Underlying this is the
assumption that we must "believe" in the process.
I have a
solid training in the scientific method, and this dependence on
“belief” disturbed me for many years. I wanted to know the
real truth behind the process of visualization: How and why does it
work? And just why is it so powerful?
The Power of Visual Programming
Early
on in my pre-medical studies I discovered an important clue: Our eyes
are actually a direct extension of our brain. The Optic nerve running
from the back of your eyes provides a *direct* connection to your
visual brain. As a result, vision is an extremely powerful mental
programming tool.
Then later I uncovered yet another key, as my
early EEG biofeedback experimentation revealed the physical reality of
a thought, and how it can truly influence our physical reality.
More
recent research has provided actual real-time pictures of the brain as
it creates new neural connections in response to a thought -– and
how repeating the same thought (especially with visual involvement)
physically strengthens the neural network representing that thought.
It
is now apparent that our vision (both real and imagined) is intimately
connected to our mental programming -- to the creation of our
“vision” of the world and our part in it.
There are actually two components of such mental programming: Passive,
and active visual mental programming.
*Passive* Visual Mental
Programming
Passive
visual programming occurs every moment of your life, and has ever since
birth. Your subconscious mind is actually a repository of every image
you have ever seen. This is why it is so important to take an active
role in what you will expose yourself (and your children) to.
For
example: Consider the thousands of images you see on your TV and
computer. Your subconscious mind cannot tell the difference between
what is real and what is imagined. So realistic TV images of violence
are actually stored in your brain as reality.
You can be certain
this affects your behavior and social expectations. What you see really
is what you get, regardless of whether you know it consciously or not.
But
you can also be just lying on the sofa, and what you are visualizing
internally has an equally powerful impact. If you lie there and review
your fears and problems, you are actually using the power of
visualization to strengthen the physical neural networks related to
your problems.
By allowing yourself to passively visualize a
poor outcome to a business deal, for example, you are in fact setting
the stage for just such an outcome. Passive visualization works with
uncanny power and accuracy.
*Active* Visual Mental
Programming
On
the other hand, by actively choosing to replay a vision of a positive
outcome, you set the stage for a more successful result. And the more
actively you use visual images during this process –- the more
powerful your final results will be.
This process applies to
anything from making a successful sales call or performing well in an
athletic event … to the effective motivation of your teammates
and children.
A Real-Life Example of Active
Re-Programming
Here’s
a real-life example of the power of active visual programming at work:
A field and track athlete I worked with a few years ago wanted to blast
past a performance plateau. We’ll call him Gino.
Gino
had tried everything his coach could come up with. According to his
coach, the problem was that Gino “thought too much.”
When
I tried to introduce Gino to visualizing an improved performance, he
got stuck analyzing instead of visualizing. I had to find a way to
sneak past Gino’s extremely fast mind with some new images.
I
decided to try an experimental approach, and borrowed some videos of
Gino performing. First I had him watch the videos in “real
time” and picture himself in action. I gradually increased the
playback speed until he had difficulty describing what he was seeing.
Then
I replaced the videos with footage of top world class athletes
performing the same events, and had Gino watch them while he "pictured"
himself on the screen.
This
time I ran the images so fast all Gino actually “saw” was a
blur he could not logically analyze. In retrospect, the method I was
using was a form of subliminal programming.
At the end of two
weeks I went to the track to personally observe a performance test his
coach had arranged. None of us were sure about the outcome.
The
results were amazing. Several subtle, but very powerful, changes had
occurred in Gino’s style. He effortlessly set three personal
bests that evening -– all without “thinking” about
how he did it.
Increased Active Visual Mental
Programming
The
powerful tool of active visualization does not just apply to athletic
activities. It can be applied to any aspect of your personal or
business life.
Learning to use active mental programming in your
life is a very personal thing. No one method works best for everyone.
If you have never before been successful visualizing, you might want to
start with a step-by-step procedure that will lead you into the
process.
You might
also give the subliminal procedure a try. This method can be
surprisingly effective, and takes very little conscious "effort."
A
simple approach that many have used is the creation of an actual
montage of pictures that represent their desired life (or business)
outcome.
Others have
found self hypnosis useful in learning to visualize. But if you prefer
a high tech fast-track method of re-programming, still the current
preference leans toward engineered brainwave training.
----
Dr.
Ammon-Wexler, a pioneer brain/mind researcher, was among the first to
teach brainwave training as a tool for mental and physical
re-programming. She is the author of Visualize Success -- a
step-by-step ebook that "grounds" the entire visualization process in
easily understood "hard science."
~ ~ ~
article provided courtesy of author -
see "Visualize Success" and other
titles on her site:
Quantum-Self
~ ~ ~
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