Introducing - the "Stick Person"

This is an important one. I will keep referring to this particular blog-post because it is critical to understand the basics before we build on them. Bob Proctor often says, the stick-person may look like a cute idea, but the more we study it , the more it turns into a genie and the more it will radically bring order to our mind.

The idea behind the stick-person concept is that in our mind, we think in images. Think now of a bag. you're not dealing with "B-A-G", you're probably seeing an image of a bag on the screen of your mind. Think of a leaf. Again, an image of a leaf flashes on the screen of your mind. Fine. Now , think of your mind. Don't be surprised if you either get an image of a brain, or nothing at all. However, your brain isn't your mind, any more than your finger-nail is. When there is no image, or an ineffective image, chaos and confusion sets in. In other words, we don't know how to implement what we are learning through all those self-development books we read and the million seminars we attend.

The stick person concept builds a model for the mind. This image removes the confusion and brings order, so that you can work with your mind. An example of the stick person is shown below. The upper circle represents the mind. This is divided into the upper conscious mind and lower subconscious mind. The lower circle represents the body.

The conscious mind is the intellectual part of your personality. It is the thinking and analyzing part of your personality. Your senses are hooked up to your conscious mind, shown as tiny antennae in the figure. They bring in tons of information from the books you read, the people you associate with, the media etc. The conscious mind can accept or reject any idea. Ideally, we should question everything we hear or find out and ask if that information is useful for us and whether we want to accept or reject it. We rarely do that, we tend to accept most of what we hear without thinking. The conscious mind can also originate ideas. We do this through the use of our 6 creative intellectual faculties, ( imagination, intuition , will, memory, reason & perception) which we will discuss in further posts.

The subconscious mind is the emotional part of our personality. Any information that we impress upon our conscious mind over and over again , enters the sub-conscious mind and is deposited inside the treasury of the subconscious personality. This part of our mind has perfect memory and remembers everything that we have ever encountered. The subconscious mind cannot reject any idea, it must accept what is impressed upon it. It doesn't matter if we impress thoughts of depression, doom and gloom or abundance and freedom, it just soaks it in. It then expresses itself through the body in the form of vibrations. 

The conscious awareness of the vibration we are in, is called feeling. The language of the subconscious mind is feelings. Whenever we feel happy, sad or angry it is our subconscious mind expressing itself. is wide open and absorbing everything we say and do. 

The body is the physical part of our personality. The body is an instrument of our mind. It is constantly in a state of vibration, although we cannot see this with the naked eye. The vibration we are in is dictated by the thoughts we choose to impress repeatedly on the sub-conscious mind , and the thoughts already stored in our sub-conscious mind. All our past programming (paradigm) resides in the subconscious mind. So unless we impress our conscious mind with information like this over and over again, (so that it enters our subconscious mind) our past programming does (and will continue to) control our actions to an enormous degree unless they are replaced with supportive paradigms through conscious thought.

Understanding this stick-figure helps to really integrate the stuff we learn about the conscious mind subconscious mind and the body. Our thoughts, become our feelings, which become our actions , leading to our results. Every time you read or learn about the mind, imagine yourself as the stick person. Let your head represent your mind and from the neck down represent your body. Let the upper half of your head stand for the conscious mind and the lower half for the subconscious. Indeed, the stick person can be used for a better understanding of any self-help literature because all of them deal with the mind at some level.

Why you should be unreasonable and set scary goals

Goal setting and goal achieving are two completely different aspects of goals. Now that's an undramatic, obvious start, but this fact is usually ignored when we are setting goals. This post talks about the dynamics of the two, and how we can use this knowledge to set audacious, big, scary goals.

To get the ball rolling, let's look at goal setting. It is an intellectual activity. All we need to ask is , "Do I want it?". We need not be emotionally involved with it. If you spoke to me about something you wanted, it would mean you were consciously entertaining the idea. Thus, it qualifies for goal-setting, because you are holding that thought in your conscious mind.

Goal achieving is more complicated. It requires us to be emotionally involved and the stakes are higher. We need to work on developing new habits (paradigms) , taking continuous and meaningful action and most importantly stretch our belief system. We will never achieve a goal till you we deeply believe that we can reach it. As Napoleon Hill says, "There is a difference between wishing for a thing and being ready to receive it. No one is ready for a thing until he believes he can acquire it. The state of mind must be belief, not mere hope or wish.”

                                                                    

While belief is essential for you to achieve your goals, and here is where it is really interesting, you need not believe that you will reach the goal.  Our belief will be developed in the goal-achieving process. As Bob's mentor put it "Our belief system is based upon our evaluation of something, and frequently as re-evaluate something our belief about that will change." That is precisely the beauty of setting and going after big goals, we get to work on our limited belief systems and really question and replace them with empowering belief systems; the aim of going after a goal is not to get, but to grow.  

Goal setting, therefore, does not require us to believe we are ready to reach the goal. This means, we can free and fully express ourselves when setting goals. There is no need to limit them because we cannot see how we are going to get them. Sit down, fire up your imagination, figure out what you really want and then set that big, scary and audacious goal.

P.S. Once you have set a scary enough goal, we will talk about the nuances of the goal-achieving process, methods to strengthen belief, and how to figure out the next step in later posts.

Are you a learner?

"In times of change, the learner shall inherit the earth, while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists." - Eric Hoffer

What a phenomenal quote! The moment we think we have it all figured out, we are on a losing path. So we want to stay on our toes all the time and keep learning. This does make you wonder though, what is exactly meant by learning?

Not understanding what learning actually means causes confusion, and leads to people saying they know something, when their behavior and results would suggest they haven't even heard of it. Our schooling system has further blurred the line between gathering facts and learning. If we are able to hear something, recollect and repeat it, they say we have learned it, when all they have done is repeat some information. We can see this in the ever-widening knowing-doing gap in our lives. This is when we don't DO what already KNOW how to do.  For e.g. most of us know how we can improve our productivity, but we don't do it. We know we should not react to other people but respond to them after thinking, but that knowledge doesn't stop us from blowing a fuse if someone is really annoying us etc. Not understanding this knowing-doing gap causes enormous frustration and confusion because you don't know WHY you are not getting the results.

Fig. 1 The conventional model for gathering information

Fig. 2 The 4-step process for learning and changing paradigms

The reason for this is that the part of the mind that contains the facts (conscious mind) is not the part of the mind that controls our motivation, actions and results (subconscious mind). By merely repeating facts, we are developing our memory, which is a faculty of the conscious mind, but the paradigm (our habitual programming) is deep in our subconscious mind and untouched. Hence, the paradigm dictates the results we are obtaining. The only way to actually cause a dramatic change in our results is to replace our paradigm with consciously empowering ideas. With this is mind, Bob talks about a 4-stage learning process that changes the paradigm.

1. Consciously entertain an idea. - This is the part where you think about the idea.  
2. Emotionally get involved in it - This is the part where you play around with the end result and see yourself already having achieved the final result. You build your desire and motivation for the goal.
3. Step out and actually act on the idea - Taking action and doing. 
4. Look for feedback in the form of improved results and repeat - This is where learning actually happens. We can figure out what works and what doesn't, and then do more of what works.

This method integrates knowing and doing to produce actual learning. Try it out on something today.

Carnegiean Advice

Andrew Carnegie was a Scottish-American industrialist who led the enormous expansion of the American steel industry in the late 19th century. At the turn of the 20th century, he was one of the wealthiest men in the world. Incidentally, he was the one who inspired Napolean Hill, to undertake the study of successful men which eventually ended in the publication of "Think and Grow Rich".

He said, "Any idea that is held in the mind, that is emphasised, that is either feared or revered, begins at once to clothe itself in the most convenient and appropriate physical form available." This is an excellent quote to ponder over multiple times. It has the essence of the movie "The Secret" embedded in it.

Hold on to the image of what you DO WANT, and it will begin to move into form. This happens because you will be motivated to take the actions necessary for it's realization. If it is held consistently, you will move towards it consistently. When you begin to fear , doubt and worry about the eventual outcome, you replace this image with the polar opposite, and this in turn with paralyse you and move you into procrastination, inaction and so on.

Either ways, the image you give your thought and feelings to the most will be realized by you. So make sure you pause and look at the way you are approaching your goal. Is it with calm confidence or is it with fear and worry?

Decide to Decide.

Today's post will be on decision. I may focus a few more posts on the subject because Bob talks a lot about the importance of decisions. Here's an explanation of why decision making is so important.

To start off, consider that you think on frequencies, as shown below. The horizontal lines represent various frequencies of thought. Now, bear in mind that these may not be the same as the physics frequency (in Hz.), they are merely symbolic. A better way of thinking about the term 'frequency' here would be as a form of mind-set. The lower lines represent a mind-set of lack and limitation, and the higher we go , the more in tune with abundance we are.

Now, with this model we can understand WHY people are stuck in terms of their results. Cloud # 1 represents the thoughts that are getting you your current results. The star represents your goal , which you are shooting at. It is something that is beyond your current level of awareness or thinking. The thoughts that will get you to the goal are represented by Cloud # 2. Now, if we let our current resources limit our thinking to Cloud # 1, we will never think the thoughts, do the actions etc. associated with Cloud # 2. Instead, we repeat the lower thoughts over and over, and the goal seems forever out of our reach. What we need is a DECISION. 

When we make a committed decision, we instantly switch our level of thinking from Cloud # 1 -> Cloud # 2. This is important, we don't need to wait for the outside conditions to change. We make a decision from where we currently are. This switches our frequency to the higher level thoughts. We then automatically begin to think of possible ways to go about reaching our goal, and act on them, thereby changing the current results and moving closer to the star. 

As an example, if my goal was to run a 42 km marathon in 3 months from now, and currently I can run only about 5 km comfortably, here's what my thinking would be. 

Cloud # 1 -> I can run only 5 km. I have to be able to run 42 km. That is 8 times what I can do now. It's impossible. I only have 3 months. I have tons of work to do as well. I can't possibly improve that much in such limited time. etc.

Cloud # 2 -> I am able to run 42 km. What is the training I need to undertake to get to a level where I can run 42 km? How can I carve out time for a routine during my day? Where can I practice daily? Who is someone who has accomplished the same feat and can inspire me? Can I get help from them? 

As you can see Cloud # 1 focuses more on WHY something CANNOT be done, while Cloud # 2 focuses on HOW something WILL be done.

Without the decision , we will never move from the lower level of thought to the other. And since thought is the precursor to all actions and results, we will remain stuck at lower results. By understanding this process and applying it dynamically, i.e. setting higher and higher goals and reaching out to them, we begin increasing our conscious awareness and ability to achieve these goals goes on increasing.

Introduction to the "Breakfast with Bob Proctor"

 My friends know that I am a huge fan of Mr. Bob Proctor. Since first seeing him in "The Secret", I have watched him on his Youtube channel, subscribed to his mailing list, joined his 3 month coaching program and am currently involved in his phenomenal idea - The Bob Proctor Streaming Club. In this club, people from over 54 countries meet up online and get to brainstorm with Bob on a variety of mind-expanding topics like setting up cash-flow machines, improving their relationships, understanding their mind, setting and reaching audacious goals and discovering their life's purpose.

So anyway, I would like to briefly describe what this blog is about. Yesterday morning, I realized that I couldn't find the notebook where I take down notes whenever I hear Bob Proctor material. Taking notes has totally changed the way I process his lessons, because I am always looking to condense the teachings into a doodle or a cartoon that conveys the information in an intuitive way. This causes me to really think, and get emotionally involved with the ideas, which wasn't happening earlier when I used to simply "hear" the mp3s and cassettes. At any rate, not having this book made me realize how much information I had actually "stored" away in it. I felt sad that I had lost all that information because I had been careless and that I might not see the book again. I remembered Bob's voice "It is as it is. Accept it." So I did. I let go of the sadness and thought about where I could find it.

I managed to narrow it down to a couple of places to look and checked in all of them but one, which was a canteen which had closed for the day. I would have to check there the next morning. Having eaten there about a week ago, I figured that even if I had left it there, the odds were pretty good that it would be long gone . Ah! I had caught myself letting the current situation control my thinking. I immediately switched my attitude to "expectation". I focused my thoughts on how I would feel when I got the book back the next day. The next morning (today), I happened to read "The Spirit of Opulence" essay by Thomas Troward and the part where he says talks about how to hone in on the spirit of opulence really hit me. He says - we must always make the first question "What will I do with it?" and not "What will I get from it?". So I asked myself "What will I do if I find the notebook?" and almost instantly felt that if I did get my notebook back, I would put my notes up on a blog and share them with other people.

Needless to say I actually found the book. Here's a picture of it below. It looks very ordinary on the outside but it has some phenomenal information within :)

Here's what I have decided. Every two days, I will write a short post on what I have been learning and share my notes on the same. I call it "Breakfast with Bob" because I will be doing my writing in the mornings. I say once in two days so that I can keep one day for reading and the following day for writing. I hope you enjoy this blog as much as I will enjoy writing in it :)