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Quotius # 11

by David

Science without art is sterile. Art without science is absurd. – Leonardo DaVinci.

I like this quote because, as an artist, I’m a realist too. But my self-confidence became a bit battered in my high school days since science proved not to be my long suit.

Same with math.

I found that stuff just a bit too “scientific”. That’s probably why, after my second attempt at passing grade nine, I dumped the regular courses for a stint at a school that taught the basics of a trades-type career. Besides, they bribed me to go there offering me passage into grade ten if I took them up on it. It was an all boys school and I didn’t fancy that. But, I grit my teeth and went ahead with it anyway.

Turns out I was pretty good at working with my hands and my confidence went up a notch or two. Although that wasn’t saying much.

It was an interesting experiment but, truth be told, it still didn’t push that many of my buttons. I didn’t see myself becoming a professional welder, an electrician, or a machinist. (Although later in life I could have used those skills a time or two.)

I preferred the Leonardo model.

That special blend of artistic invention with scientific grounding was way more appealing. Too bad I was about 500 years too late to learn from him personally but, then again, my languages teacher was French not Italian. I wouldn’t have stood a chance.

Eventually I got through high school by opting into a special art course. It was an important move and the timing was right. It was my second attempt at grade ten. (They made me yet another a deal I couldn’t refuse.)

It was also a return to a co-ed school and that I believed was necessary given the importance of feminine sensitivity into the whole artistic thing. I much enjoyed my time there. Leonardo would have made the same choice I think. A school of all boys and great art/science doesn’t even sound possible to me personnaly.

Besides, my teenage biological clock was ticking. I didn’t want to be in my mid-twenties and still be working my way through grade 12 high school classes.

Of course I did eventually graduate and went on to a design school in a new start-up community college about five hours driving time from my home. I chose that one because I loved the idea of designing shape and form then making it useful in a commercial world.

It was my kind of thing. I love newness especially when the newness is my idea. Or so I thought. But alas, I’ve since come to understand that most “new” ideas are simply some sort of modification of another’s brilliance. That was another confidence killer right there.

But eventually I discovered there is such a thing as pure newness. In my own nomenclature here atop this website I’m not borrowing on Leonardo but from an obscure mathematician who lived some 150 years ago. His name was August Ferdinand Mobius

He was the one credited with the invention of the Mobius Strip, which in my humble opinion was totally new, and is the greatest metaphor for duality/singularity I have ever seen. I use it often to demonstrate how my own invention can save anyone’s self-confidence from going too far down the pipe. It’s what I used to save my own confidence from disappearing.

It also fits the essence of what I’m trying to demo with these little videos too. It shows how a literary device like the palindrome can work with the art of shape.

It’s a two-for-one offer of insight goodness. Who could refuse that?

More power to you.

Shooting the Head Negs

by David

Does replacing negative thoughts work? Check out my new web shows and find out. — Does shooting the negative thoughts then replacing them with positive ones work as well as we’re told?

Lot’s of important stuff happens in our brain that screams for attention. But what tops them all is pain and misery. Could another brain help fix negativity?

For years I’ve been watching how those who claim to assist and train others in being better and to become more successful and I’ve noticed something. There’s one main thing that they all love to suggest to everyone: They always advise us to shoot the negative thoughts and replace them with more positive ones.

While I can’t disagree with the main core of that approach entirely I do have trouble with the methodology.

It is true that negative thoughts might cause us to under-perform so I’m not against doing something to eradicate them. But the coaches, motivational speakers, and psychologists all sing in the choir of the method known as “thought replacement”.

It works like this: You identify your negative thoughts and then replace those thoughts with positive ones. Now, on the surface that sounds pretty simple. Something anyone can do. But wait, there is a problem and here’s what it is: It’s a ton of impossible work.

Research has shown that the average human processes thousands of thoughts per day. That’s a lot of thoughts. Not only that but the experts estimate that of those thoughts about 70 percent of them, on average, are considered negative.

Hmmm.

So let’s see then. Let’s say have about 50,000 thoughts per day and 70 percent of them are negative then that’s a boatload of effort to replace all that. Not to mention the fact that as you are busy replacing those thoughts new thoughts are constantly being formed and 70 percent of those are quite possibly going to be negative as well.

If looking at it this way begins to give you negative thoughts about this article then I can’t blame you one bit. But read on, because I’ve got a workaround for this dilemma.

Seeing as the task of trading in all those negative thoughts for positive ones is virtually a never-ending one, at least the way that the great personal development gurus are teaching it, I think it’s time for something completely different.

To give this a new shocking perspective I’m going to have to introduce something that many of you have not heard of before.

First though I have to make one key observation. All of the advice that pertains to thought replacement is what I call bead-based. What I mean by that is that the focus is on the brain that’s in the head.

Of course, I do understand why they place such a lot of interest there. Thoughts, either positive or negative ones, appear to be made in the head so it makes sense to make this brain the prime site of repair. It’s well understood that the good old head brain is what people are thinking of when they talk about brains in general anyway. But what if it you were shown that your head brain has a partner brain you’ve not been made aware of yet?

Sounds like a weird thing to say, I know, but the fact of the matter is… it’s true, you have a second brain in your body.

In 1996 a cell biologist Dr Michael Gershon announced to the world through an article in the New York Times that he had found evidence that there is a crude brain in the gut of every human and it can, and does, act on its own.

For you this should be big news. It sure was to me since I had been using a new system of my own design to boost a person’s potential and to buffer the effects of negative thinking automatically since the 1990’s. Until I learned of this breakthrough discovery I didn’t know myself exactly why I was getting the results I was seeing. This system, what I playfully call ‘Brain Balming‘, I now realize depends on the release of the hidden steady energy available in the gut brain that soothes the upper-brain creating an elegant dual relationship between the two. (In fact, I’m working on a new book about this right now so stay tuned.)

There’s just one more thing you need to know. This strange gut energy that’s sending it’s steadying power northward to the head brain is not a physical thing it’s ethereal. But even so it’s powerful enough to render results that last and it’s all natural.

So why waste time trying to do the impossible (and the un-natural)? Just learn to use your gut brain as a buffer to your head brain’s suffering.

More power to you

Dark Energy and You

by David

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It was just a few days ago that I heard about it on the nightly news.

Scientists have come to the conclusion that the universe is not expanding at a steady rate after all. It’s speeding up.

In a way that’s bad news. It’s bad news because eventually, some day far off in the future, when we look up into the night sky we will perhaps see our moon but that’s about it.

Like you needed more bad news eh?

Sorry about that.

The only reason I mention it is because of why these brainy guys and gals are reporting this phenomena. They’re calling it dark energy. It doesn’t mean that they’ve figured out what exactly it is of course. Far from it. When they don’t know what something is they always call it “dark” – whatever.

They not only have a name like “dark energy” but one called “dark matter” too. What they do know is that, whatever it is, there is a heck of a lot of it out there and it’s the reason why the universe is expanding faster that they once thought.

To me that’s quite interesting because, as I have been talking notes about itfor my book the last two weeks or so. Like those scientists I think there is a lot of dark stuff right here on terra firma and it’s inside of every human who lives here.

The universe is obviously a hostile place. That dark energy will eventually tear the place apart (in a billion years or so). But if it’s hostile “out there” in the inverse it’s quite the opposite inside of us.

Take the good old gut feeling for example. In my theory of Mindset Immunity I describe this unknown energy that we can feel from time to time as “friendly”. If you’ve ever made a decision based on how something feels rather than how it looks then you’ve probably seen a benefit – if not immediately then at some time later.

My point is that this dark energy, which by the way, has enough weight to it to enervate our very sensitive nerve endings located in our gut brain also must be intelligent and somewhat caring about our personal welfare.

Now I can’t prove any of this stuff myself, since I’m not a scientist, but I can read books and reports about the human body. It is a fact that the individual neurons that make up our nervous systems don’t actually touch each other. There is a gap between them called the “synapse”. They actually sort of float in a very thin clear watery substance. These tiny long string-like cells, science says, then send chemical messages to each other through the synapse.

Since I found out about that I wondered: “What is in the empty dark spaces between the nerve cells?” If there is that much of it then it must be an important constituent in our makeup. And what if the “dark energy” is lurking in all that seemingly empty space?

If I’m right then whatever you want to call it be it “dark” or not it could be worth investigating. That’s exactly what I plan to do in subsequent posts on this blog and in future webinars.

Why not join me in my new project on Facebook and see how I’m doing it?

More power to you.

Welcome the September Mindset

by David

Looking east from our new home — Glorious September

September 5th. 2011

Well, here we are in September already. How is your mindset doing?

Summer is over and now it’s time to set new things in motion for the next ten months or so till, once again, summer comes back to give us respite.

For me September is way more a time of newness than January first is. That’s just a turn of the calendar to month one. Not really as big a deal as what usually happens in the month nine.

When I was in my school years it meant moving from our family cottage beside a large lake back to the city. I believe that was a contributing factor to me not liking school all that much, at least not at first anyway. That was how I saw it. The real reason I think was that there just too much newness happening and a situation like that always opened the door to the possibility of failure visiting me again.

You know how it goes: Trying something new = failure.

I remember my first year in high school. It started and soon was so deeply lost in the curriculum I could hardly breathe. It all crashed the next June when my marks proved me right about my grasp of that horrible failure formula. I had failed for sure and I had the numbers to prove it.

Ouch! I hated it. Still do if I stop and think about it.

But now, as an entrepreneur, this time of year is more like a slingshot pulled all the way back ready to fire. Just have to define the target and then let go and follow the plan. The possibility for failure still exists of course but the possibility of a successful outcome exists too.

For my wife and I it’s a whole new start.

We’re in a new location is a larger more spacious home on a beautiful acreage that even includes its own blueberry patch. The mornings bring us sunlight just at the right angle that we can comfortably sit out on the huge deck and eat our breakfast comfortably without the strong light blinding us. These warm September days aren’t bad either.

For me it’s a continuation of anew internet show ( update: After 6 months at it I’m cancelling my weekly show and moving on.) I’m doing for marketers every Monday night at 11PM Eastern. It’s only been going for a little while and tonight is my fourth show. I’m excited and so grateful to be able to do it from my new home office and being able to reach so many wonderful people with my message of mindset immunity.

This could be a very good year. But we can talk about that next June.

Yeah, it’s September alright.

Happy newness to you.

External Vs Internal – A classic motivational struggle

by David

Interesting post on Seth’s blog a while back.

He’s commenting on one of my key themes: External motivation versus internal motivation. He doesn’t go into the topic at length of course, that’s not his blogging style. He likes short and pithy and he is the best in the world at it.

He just ends the post with this and it struck me.

“The nature of our new economic system, that one that doesn’t support predictable factory work, is that external motivation is far less useful. If you’re looking for a big payday, you won’t find it right away. If you’re depending on cheers and thank yous from your Twitter followers, you’re looking at a very bumpy ride.
In fact, the world is more and more aligned in favor of those who find motivation inside, who would do what they do even if it wasn’t their job. As jobs turn into projects, the leaders we need are those that relish the project, that jump at the chance to push themselves harder than any coach ever could.”

In isolation this is about work. It’s about industry. He doesn’t actually say it (it’s really not his department anyway) but I don’t think he knows how to exactly engender internal motivation that overcomes the external. How to make the gut strength motivation deeper and more pervasive than that which comes from the brain topside.

He’s not alone. Most every coach, counselor, or guru who’s trying to do it is on the wrong track. Often they fail to see that the motivation they’re supplying to their client is just yet another external motivating factor. Like a bird chirping on a tree branch or the sound of a wave hitting the beach. It’s still from the outside. It’s external.

Not surprising that they don’t see it for what it is though.

Internal motivating ques are very subtle and personal. Who gathers around the water cooler to talk about their gut feeling? Almost no one.

Too bad though. That one phenomenon is the basis of the new immunity that I’ve been writing about for some time now. The point I always make is simple but, as the old saying goes “still waters run deep” and this is no exception. It’s taken me years to give this voice so that I can explain it to people.

I think the era of the great motivator standing up on stage getting everyone going is now just about over. I don’t think people will go on paying big money for that same stuff for too much longer. Same with the calm-talk of the “spiritual teacher” sitting there answering questions while attendees hang on his/her every word. It’s more personal now. It’s got to be. There’s just too much to contend with already.

All they’ve got is mostly just more words. Words that form ideas that motivate people. That’s how it’s been done for centuries. It’s about as old hart as it get’s

But now that model is in real trouble as our difficulties with a changing world catch up with us. Seth is smart enough to notice this new trend. So, how about you?

[Would you like to hear more about what I’ve got to say on this topic? Sign-up here and get a free limited release MP3 download of my 90 minute conversation with copy guy extraordinaire Donnie Bryant. I hold nothing back and this call is jam-packed with information about my H.E.R.O. project that I haven’t ever released on this blog before.

More power to you.