Way back in the early 1990s magnets were all the rage for everything from curing warts to rapid learning. I recall having all sorts of magnetic devices – that I used unsuccessfully on a number of issues. In the late 1990s several studies debunked the use of magnets for most of the uses touted earlier. I was not surprised.

Now a new study out of the University of British Columbia, Canada, sheds some light on why magnetism was so popular in the first place – it works! At least for rapid skills learning – and done scientifically.

I think the problem with the earlier methods was in their delivery. The Canadian study used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) of a specific area of the brain – the dorsal premotor cortex (PMd) region of the brain (see figure). TMS applies an electromagnetic pulse rather than a solid magnetic field. I think the change in magnetic field is perhaps what makes TMS so effective in this regard.

Still, it is fascinating to me that the imaginative people who first envisioned magnetic therapies were on to something and now some equally ingenious people are making some headway into how to make magnetism truly useful therapeutically. Cool.

The study is online at http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2202/10/72/abstract
and in pdf format at http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2202-10-72.pdf

If you've had a similar experience, an imagery or concept can be transferred nearly instantly – 6-7 times faster than real-time. This means you can read a book at super speed (called speed reading). You can also do Rapid Eye Technology, which uses a rapid visual and auditory script and process.

Memory stores patterns of activity in modular form in the brain's cortex. Different modules in the cortex process different kinds of information — sounds, sights, tastes, smells, etc. The cortex sends these networks of activity to a region called the hippocampus. The hippocampus then creates and assigns a tag, a kind of temporary bar code, that is unique to every memory and sends that signal back to the cortex. Each module in the cortex uses the tag to retrieve its own part of the activity.

The brain uses this biological trick because there is no way for all of its neurons to connect with and interact with every other neuron. It is still an expensive task for the hippocampus to make all of those connections. The retrieval tags the hippocampus generates are only temporary until the cortex can carry a given memory on its own.

The temporary nature of this tagging system means you can quickly change your mind repeatedly, reinterpret memories, and supercharge learning. Can you read at 25000 words per minute? Yes you can! And your brain will help you do it.

Source: David R. Euston
University of Arizona

Thomas Gilovich, Cornell University professor of psychology and Travis J. Carter, Ph.D., also from Cornell, studied the relationship between spending and satisfaction with consumer purchases. They found, as is no surprise to many of my readers, is that spending on experiential purchases – like massage or hypnotherapy or Rapid Eye Technology – left consumers feeling happy with their spending choice – and that their happiness grew with time after their purchase in comparison to spending on material goods like flat screen TVs where spending felt good at first but quickly gave way to less happy feelings.

“Buyers’ remorse” often sets in after buying a material good. Consumers ruminate about better deals and more features they may have missed later. However, such feelings rarely come up after spending money on a massage or after doing a Rapid Eye Technology session. Quite the contrary, according to Gilovich and Carter -~ “Consumers found that satisfaction with ‘experiential purchases’ – from massages to family vacations – starts high and increases over time. In contrast, spending money on material things feels good at first, but actually makes people less happy in the end”

It’s fine to purchase items that you can enjoy with use – and, in fact, focusing on the enjoyment of use makes the purchase choice sweeter and so much better emotionally over time.

Still, there’s just nothing quite like a good massage…

Study Paper: “The Relative Relativity of Material and Experiential Purchases,” – Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, American Psychological Association, January 2010.

Can being nonjudgmental harm me or my client or someone else? Of course it can, in certain situations and environments.

There are bounds to tolerance. Unconsciously and instinctively I KNOW it is wrong to have sex with a child, for example. To help a pedophile get better at his trade would be unconscionable to me. I CANNOT offer such behavior safe haven in my sessions. On the other hand, if a pedophile wishes to overcome his harmful behavior, I am willing to assist. That is because I have a judgment about that behavior and the erroneous thought processes that produced it. I cannot be nonjudgmental in this case.

I have a list of behaviors I judge incompatible with health and wellness – for the individual and for society in general.

Behaviors indicate an underlying fundamental thinking error. That fundamental thinking error could be based on an underlying erroneous belief or it could be an erroneously applied interpretation of a correct belief. Either way, behavior is the avenue through which such thinking processes manifest in the physical. My job as a clinician is to assist my client in identifying and correcting these fundamental thinking errors.

What I’m saying is that it is improper and imprudent to simply throw away judgment for the sake of being perceived as “nonjudgmental.” Judging behaviors and thought processes is intelligent use of your mental resources – you do it naturally. And like changing clothes, the person exhibiting the behaviors is able to change behaviors and correcting thinking errors. As the clinician, it is my responsibility to assist my clients in identifying and correcting their errors in thinking – which means identifying and correcting my own first. As I correct my own thinking errors, I naturally become better at identifying and correcting the thinking errors of others. Judgment then becomes a useful vehicle for change.

When judging a person’s behavior/thoughts, I ask some questions:
“What thinking error is required to produce this aberrant behavior in a person?”
“What life decisions might a person have to have made in order to exhibit this set of behaviors?”
“In what ways does this set of behaviors harm the person exhibiting them or harm those within their scope of influence?”
“What therapeutic resources do I have that will assist this person in overcoming these harmful behaviors or erroneous thinking processes?”
“What clinician is best qualified to assist this person?” (if not me, who?)
…and etc.

I always judge my potential clients. During our initial visit or phone consultation, I judge whether or not I will take them on as a client. I immediately screen out people I don’t like – hey, I’m human and have feelings – if someone rubs me the wrong way, I realize my negative sense about them will interfere with what I will do with them therapeutically. I screen out those with behaviors and erroneous thought processes I know don’t respond well to my resources or who may need resources outside my scope of practice. These are ALL judgments – I acknowledge that I am far from nonjudgmental.

Using judgment constructively is a goal worthy of pursuit, I believe. And non-judgment is a myth.

From the Max Planck Institute press release:

Already several seconds before we consciously make a decision its outcome can be predicted from unconscious activity in the brain. This is shown in a study by scientists from the Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences in Leipzig, in collaboration with the Charité University Hospital and the Bernstein Center for Computational Neuroscience in Berlin. The researchers from the group of Professor John-Dylan Haynes used a brain scanner to investigate what happens in the human brain just before a decision is made. “Many processes in the brain occur automatically and without involvement of our consciousness. This prevents our mind from being overloaded by simple routine tasks. But when it comes to decisions we tend to assume they are made by our conscious mind. This is questioned by our current findings.” (Nature Neuroscience, April 13th 2008)

Did I read that correctly? My brain is making a decision a full 7 seconds before I’m aware of the decision? Wait a minute!! What about choice and accountability? That is, how can the universe (“God”) hold me accountable for a choice when I didn’t consciously make it? What the hey!!!??!!!

The researchers also note that the study does not finally rule out free will (I’m relieved, sort of): “Our study shows that decisions are unconsciously prepared much longer ahead than previously thought. But we do not know yet where the final decision is made. We need to investigate whether a decision prepared by these brain areas can still be reversed.”

Ah, I feel so much better knowing I have some conscious control over my choices – even if just to put my conscious stamp of approval or disapproval on a specific choice (maybe!). But, hold on cowboy – twenty years ago, UC San Francisco brain scientist Benjamin Libet found a brain signal, the so-called “readiness-potential” that occurred a fraction of a second before a conscious decision. In Libet’s view, it is the brain that makes the decision, not a person’s conscious mind. Oh, no!! Back to unconscious choices!

I’ve known for years that I do most activities automatically – and all too often speak or act before I “think” (my wife will attest to this). I just didn’t appreciate the extent of my choice automation. According to the Planck study, virtually ALL my choices are considered, mulled over, and decided long before I’m aware of it. And I’m basically living out my unconscious choices – and in most cases, justifying them in order to make myself appear to be right, justified, or at least proper.

It gives new meaning to Bill Cosby’s teenage conundrum – when asked, “Why did you do that?” Bill’s teenage child would answer, “I don’t know!” Perhaps now we know – he wasn’t lying! He didn’t consciously know. But some part of him did… seven seconds before. He just wasn’t aware of it.

It would seem that free will is an illusion. And yet nature is accountable to provide us a result of our “choice” – regardless of whether or not we are aware we’ve made a choice. Egad! I may be suffering from the result of choices I didn’t consciously participate in until after the fact. Perhaps it would be a reasonable idea to get better acquainted with my subconscious mind, eh?

How can we take charge of our lives if free will is an illusion? How can I realistically say I want to do this or that when the decision is already made 7 seconds ago? It’s a conundrum fit for the likes of Plato or Socrates.

So, I wonder -

• What does it mean that your brain knows your choices 7 seconds before you do?
• Is free will, therefore, an illusion?
• Are we just acting out subconscious choices over which we have little or no conscious control?
• How can you be held accountable (by the universe, God, the law) for decisions you didn’t consciously make? Or did you?
• Who is making your choices? Who is represented by that 7-second-in-advance brain area?
• Is this evidence to support the concept of a “super-consciousness” – like a “spirit” or “esoteric essence” or the like?

What do you think of all this? Please post a comment so we can discuss it…

Original Study:
Chun Siong Soon, Marcel Brass, Hans-Jochen Heinze & John-Dylan Haynes
Unconscious determinants of free decisions in the human brain. Nature Neuroscience April 13th, 2008. Click here to see original press release.

A recent study by Laura L. Ten Eyck, PhD, Dana P. Gresky, PhD, and Charles G. Lord, PhD, involved 61 college students who did not exercise on a regular basis or exercised inconsistently. Researchers asked students to think about either the reasons why they should increase the performance of a target cardiovascular exercise they had previously selected, such as to be healthier or lose weight or to list actions they could take to increase exercise performance, such a joining a gym or working out with a friend.

Over an eight week period, students who brought to mind a list of actions they could take to increase exercise performance showed an increase in exercise and improved cardiovascular fitness. However, students who repeatedly brought to mind the reasons why they should do the target exercise did not increase time spent exercising.

Conclusion: if you want to lose some weight by increasing your level of exercise – particularly if you are prone to couch potatoing, think about HOW specifically you can increase your level of exercise rather than WHY you should.

Comments?

You know that maintaining intimacy is important for your relationship with your partner. But did you know that it’s also good for your health?

Psychologists and researchers have discovered a number of benefits for people who experience intimacy in their committed relationships. In fact, closeness in relationships has been found to influence social, emotional, and physical health.

People in intimate relationships…

* Are better at successful navigating various developmental stages
* Are more likely to maintain solid, lasting friendships
* Are less likely to be in car accidents
* Are more resistant to diseases and mental illness

On the other hand, individuals involved in committed relationships that lack intimacy and closeness are more vulnerable to a whole handful of ailments: stress, depression, psychosomatic disorders, and mental illness in general. (To read more about this research, see: “Marriage and Romantic Relationships: Defining Intimacy in Romantic Relationships,” by Barry F. Moss and Andrew I. Schwebel, in Family Relations, vol. 42, no. 1, January 1993, pp. 31-37.)

If you’re in a committed relationship, take the opportunity to work on intimacy with your partner today. Small gestures can go a long way toward creating a closer relationship. Not only will you be investing in the strength of your future relationship, you’ll be protecting your future health and happiness.

Shared Couple’s Trance, a hypnosis program developed by Dr. Michele Ritterman, is a fun and easy way to explore your relationship with your partner and build intimacy. Together, you can recreate positive feelings, while discovering your own sense of safety and closeness in the relationship.

Click here to learn more about Dr. Ritterman’s program.

© 2007 The Hypnosis Network. All rights reserved.

Although highly technical and highly controversial, a “new” theory of everything concludes that “the universe is created by life and not the other way around.” And the theory is getting some pretty good press.

If Lanza’s theory holds true (we’ll probably never know because his theory is as impossible to prove or disprove as is String Theory – just makes a whole lot more sense considering the evidence), then what you think and believe really does have a significant impact on hard reality.

In a nutshell, according to biocentrism, time (and space) does not exist independently of the life that notices it. This is particularly evident in the physics of the infinitesimally small (quantum mechanics) in which subatomic particles seem to be everywhere at once unless observed, in which case they suddenly appear in only one place at one time.

Biocentrism supports such statements as:

“The mind is so powerful that it can create an experience to support any belief. Then we believe the experience proves the belief, not knowing that the belief created the experience.” Krishnamurti

“Do not try and bend the spoon. That’s impossible. Instead, only try and realize the truth.”
“What truth?”
“There is no spoon.”
“There is no spoon?”
“Then you will see that it is not the spoon that bends. It is only yourself.”
- The Matrix

“…you cannot see the human energy field of another without participating in it.” Talbot, The Holographic Universe

The United States, in the meantime has caught up and surpassed the old Soviet Union for ratio of prisoners to general population. The USA, the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave now houses more prisoner per capita than any other nation on earth – at 715 per 100,000 the US holds more than the old USSR (NationMaster.com) and almost twice as many as second ranked Russia.

And why is this? Because during the Reagan/Bush years, the US passed several laws concerning dangerous drugs such as Marijuana, Cocaine, and Heroin. These laws inflicted upon our citizenry mandatory prison sentences – even for first “offenses.” Until very recently, a conviction for selling marijuana could land you in jail for life without parole in some States – while in those same States, murderers were sometimes released after just 7 years “with good behavior” – a few of whom returned after murdering again.

“The vast majority of people incarcerated [in the US] are nonviolent drug offenders,” says Daniel Kruger, research professor at the University of Michigan School of Public Health and lead researcher in a recently published study on the negative health effects of such incarceration on the general public. “We should shift oversight of substance use and abuse to the health care sector.”

I’m not for or against legalization of any currently unlawful drug. I’m just suggesting – maybe demanding – that our legislators lift the draconian imposition of mandatory sentences for non-violent crimes – particularly those of unlawful drug use and possession.It’s time to return judicial discretion (and mercy) to the Bench.

I think perhaps it’s time to look to the French and others who are leading the way in providing effective treatment for drug users – rather than locking them away in prisons. A person addicted to some substance should not be labeled a criminal. They need instead, medical and psychological assistance – compassion! Instead, our [US] system deals out “justice” – of the harsh variety reminiscent of dark ages Europe or Communist USSR.

It’s time we scientifically INVESTIGATE substances that have been labeled unlawful and dangerous. Let’s put some science behind our laws – instead of puffy rhetoric and emotional storytelling – not to mention greed and avarice. We owe it to our children to keep them out of jail for illusory and often sensationalized “offenses” that harm no one – where incarceration harms them, their families, and their communities.

Have you visited a prison lately? If your state prisons are like those here in Oregon, you’d have to call them “schools” for criminal behavior. Unfortunately, many of those convicted of nonviolent crimes “graduate” from our prison systems with new “skills” and “education” – to the detriment of everyone.

I hope we are not literally slitting our own throats in the USA by jailing nonviolent drug “offenders” along side violent psychopaths in a prison system intended to “rehabilitate” but which in actuality may be creating more determined and more violent behaviors in people who otherwise would be contributing members of our society.

I wonder what would happen in the US if getting “stoned” were considered no more a crime than getting drunk – and if physicians were free to prescribe what would work rather than what would make the most money for certain people/corporations/industries. I wonder…

Maybe it’s time to “release the [nonviolent] prisoners” as President Reagan admonished President Gorbechev in the 1980s. It’s time we return the USA to the Land of the Free rather than continue making it the Land of the Incarcerated. It’s time to stop making criminals out of decent people who have harmed no one and have and can yet make significant contributions to our society.

Sure it’s possible to walk on coals – lots of people have done it before and not gotten so much as an ouch of a burn. But I had not done it before – and even after the first person walked across – and even though we knew scientifically and spiritually that it was possible – the HEAT and FIRE coupled with our own past experiences with fire – I had been burned badly on my feet in a fire in the garage in our old house – confronted us with the real possibility of serious injury.

FIRE BURNS FLESH!!! My body knows it – which is why I don’t put my hand on the hot stove on purpose. My body knows about heat and knows how to react to it – mostly by AVOIDING IT.

I don’t care how much you believe you can do it – when you stand at the precipice and your face and arms are burning from the heat – you are face to face with one of the greatest inbred fears of animal-kind – the fear of fire – ala Frankenstein’s monster. All animals are afraid of fire – including humans. Fire is TERRIFYING.

What would it take to make me step from the cool grass onto the superheated hot coals?

In my case, it was curiosity. I was SO driven by curiosity that I walked right across – the second person across after the host. I’d have been first if we did not honor the host with being first.

Curiosity => Motivation => Firewalk

I’ve seen and heard “experts” who complain that a firewalk is no big deal because physics will take care of you. Others have written that it’s some kind of mystical spiritual power that protects the walker. I don’t care what “power” or physical law makes walking on fire possible. That’s not the point of the walk. The point is to overcome your fear. And I will tell you from personal experience, that first step is FULL of doubt and apprehension – FEAR. There is a REASON firefighters wear protective clothing – you don’t find them going barefooted into a burning building…

So, what did I learn from walking on fire:

• Not everything I fear is insurmountable
• When I’m face-to-face with deathly fear, I’m on the precipice – just a few steps across the coals away from success
• As I was burned slightly on the first crossing, after the third crossing, I realized that I would be okay even though I was burned the first time
• Until my foot touched the coals, it was just theory
• The hotter the coals, the better the walk across them
• I (and my body) am more powerful than I once believed
• My fear kept my feet safe from burning – fear can be my friend and ally

Courage is when you feel the fear and do it anyway. Courage? It didn’t seem like it to me at the time. We just DID WHAT HAD TO BE DONE. But it WAS courageous because we felt the fear and did it anyway.

I satisfied my curiosity.

The very next year, I rappelled out of a helicopter for the first time. My fear of heights kicked in BIG TIME. Still, I made it down the 100 foot rope to the ground with no trouble at all. And just to really face my fear of heights, I did the rappel Australian – facing toward the ground – fast. It was terrifying – and exhilarating. I did it three more times that day. The third time was FUN!

At age 13, my son rappelled for the first time – down a 60 foot wall. It was terrifying for him – the scratch marks at the top bare witness. Humans fear falling – and will avoid it ferociously. Once he got through the terror, he was like a kid with a new toy – you could not keep him off the wall. Suddenly, his fear had become his friend. And he was fundamentally different after that experience.

It’s a myth that you must face your fears to overcome them. Rapid Eye Technology (RET), Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), hypnosis, and a number of other techniques and processes have eliminated the need to re-experience terror in order to overcome it – and I can tell you from my own experience, IT WORKS. I am convinced that I would not have been able to walk on the fire or bail out of a helicopter on a rope without resolving the fears that would have kept me from even trying.

Terror is just an action away from FUN. Those who experience the terror, take action, and discover the fun on the other side, are changed by the experience. Those who GET what happened are transformed.

TRANSFORMATION creates a fundamentally different person. Of course, those who were attached to the old person may feel differently about the new one – maybe even leave them. It’s one of the risks of transformation.

And then there is the story of how we faced the terror of excommunication from our religion – which meant facing our fear of eternal oblivion – and became different people as a result. Lost friends? Some maybe. Worth it. You bet!!