Psycho-Cybernetics Part 30 of 30: Action Manual
June 25, 2009 by dr. lam · 4 Comments
Maltz ends this edition of Psycho-Cybernetics recalling the story of Jeanne Sanders, a woman afflicted with muscular dystrophy who for years toiled to try to walk and not be wheelchair bound. She struggled with her progressive disease that ravaged her self identity. Then in 1960 when she was at a book store curious about this new book, Psycho-Cybernetics, she asked the clerk whether it was any good. The store clerk said that she couldn’t keep it on the shelves. Sanders read the book and was mesmerized. She changed her negative self image into that “winning feeling” and began to see herself differently. She used it as an “action manual” rather than a philosophical treatise and with that she became what was known as a “medical phenomenon.” She could walk and drive, two things the medical community had judged to be impossible in her case but wasn’t with Psycho-Cybernetics.
I encourage all to read Psycho-Cybernetics, especially the new edition The New Psycho-Cybernetics by Dan Kennedy, that updates Maltz’s thoughts and uses relevant, contemporary examples to pull his classic text into the 21st century. I have found such a wealth of information in it that it has greatly helped my life as well as my patients’ lives. I have used it not quite daily but several times a week now to help my patients’ overcome their own battles with self image to liberate themselves and achieve a higher consciousness and thereby to affect their own servo-mechanism to flourish and succeed.
I particularly like the image of a man (or woman) that seeks self betterment (as we are all doing with these blogs) as a natural course for a human being to take, i.e., Maltz’s idea that we are like bicycles, moving we are stable and doing well but stopped, we fall over. We need meaning in our lives and we need purpose. I truly like the idea that we can move from struggling to go toward our purpose to just setting our purpose to move in the direction we want and allowing our guided missile of our unconscious mind to do much more powerful things. Playing the mental imagery in our mind (Theatre of the Mind) of what we desire can be as vivid as if we already undertook it making the task or objective more easily realizable. Like Jack Nicklaus selecting his golf clubs using his unconscious servo-mechanism or Greg Louganis playing out his dive 40 times before the jump, we all can control where we are going through this mental exercise that allows our more powerful unconscious mind to do the work.
Many people ask me how do I film all of these videos on facial plastic surgery subjects, doing several back to back with no script and no pre-planning? The answer is that I don’t work on a conscious level. I have a creative idea in my mind and then with only the germ of the idea and with no script and with no prethinking I let the cameras roll. I have never thought of in the past how intuitive I work as a human but I truly work on a deep level of unconscious drive. I don’t force a lot of things (remember the Tao verses on this subject) but allow my intention to carry me forward. As a counterpoint to this, I also work with multiple accountability groups (see my previous blog on this subject too) to keep me directed where I should be. They are my “bunkers”. Remember that Maltz talked about keeping your eye on the green and knowing where the bunkers are. We must all have a positive self image but one that is steeped in reality not a self-deluded lie. We also must know where the bunkers are so that we can avoid these traps and “zig-zag” (as Maltz says) toward our goal through minor corrective maneuvers.
I hope all of you have been using Maltz’s plan as an action manual for your life rather than reading these blogs as merely provocative thinking. If not, we always can start today.
Psycho-Cybernetics Part 28 of 30: Reprogramming Old Thoughts
June 19, 2009 by dr. lam · 8 Comments
As many of you know, I believe that those individuals who have had less than desirable plastic surgery become obsessed with their past mistakes of having wrongfully picked their surgeon, reliving the experience, and further reinforcing that negative attitude as a present-day problem. Maltz says that we can program our present by how we view and handle the past. We can look at our lives like a tape-recorded show. The more times we replay a certain event or thought, the more it becomes ingrained within our psyche and the harder to let it go. It becomes such a powerful force that we are consumed by the negative energy that emanates from such a thought. Maltz calls these neural recordings “engrams” that we can further etch into our soul with past unpleasantness or rather begin to erase them through disuse and instead focus using repetition on a currently happy situation.
He recalls when he attended this funeral service for his friend and was shocked at the brother who hated his deceased sibling having poured forth a glowing eulogy. When pressed about why he gave such a warm remembrance of his kin, the brother told Maltz, “I’m the kind of person who does not speak ill of the dead.” The sentence that begins, “I’m the kind of person who…” is extremely powerful, notes Maltz. It sets the emotional tone of where someone currently wants to be by self-perception and opens the flood gates for the servo-mechanism to act in a positive way toward the intended goal. This deep level of positive affirmation can be the juice to propel one toward the end goal. Today, try to find one or more sayings of “I’m the kind of person who…” that would help you shape your intention toward the envisioned goal.
Psycho-Cybernetics Part 27 of 30: Establishing the Winning Feeling
June 18, 2009 by dr. lam · 2 Comments
As you guys know, these blogs have a lot to do with our feelings first because how we feel dictates our mood, thoughts, and goals. If we don’t like to do a goal, we won’t. If we are sad about a situation, it affects our thinking and our judgment. When we harness our feelings in the right direction, we can enlist the power of our Automatic Success Mechanism to move in the right direction.
When we set our mind on our intended goal in front of us, we need to feel as if the goal is already achieved. We need to take a future tense objective and make it into a present day possibility by feeling how we would feel if we have already accomplished it, as if it were already right in front of us. We can thereby direct our servo-mechanism toward that goal effectively.
When George S. Patton, the great U.S. general in World War II, was asked whether he got any fear in his heart during a major military campain, he replied that he did. However, he said, “I never take counsel of my fears.” So even when we are tainted by a fear of possible failure, that does not ordain the inevitability of failure. We can still succeed despite our fear and anxiety, as Patton rightly pointed out. However, when we can we should focus on future successes rather than the possibility of future failure.
Remember also that when we talked about our condition in a hypnotic situation, our brain could not tell the difference between reality and something vividly imagined. We literally can program our brain for success or failure depending on how we adjust our feeling about the situation. First, set your mind on where your goal should be and then bring your feeling into alignment with that goal, then let your servo-mechanism do the rest.
Psycho-Cybernetics Part 26 of 30: Second Acts
June 17, 2009 by dr. lam · 7 Comments
The quote ascribed to Fitzgerald albeit dubiously that “there are no second acts in American lives” is oft cited for an exception that proves the rule. However, there are simply too many exceptions. Therefore, there is no rule.
Jimmy Carter finished his presidency and returned to Plains, Georgia with his tail between his legs. But he has achieved remarkable renown for his Nobel Peace Prize in 2002, his worldwide humanitarian efforts, and his ability to draw bipartisan support for his endeavors. He clearly has a had a great second act in his life. Regis Philbin failed in his career for about 20 years until he hit it big again with his morning talk show and his “Who Wants to be a Millionaire?” show, drawing a reported $20 million contract with ABC. Who remembers the time when he was a nobody? Both of these men started their second acts much later in life.
Whatever situation you are in life, you can have a second act no matter what age, gender, race, etc. Take a risk today. Live your dream. Get your chance at a second act. Remember when you set your target goal, your servo-mechanism will drive you to it.
Psycho-Cybernetics Part 25 of 30: Shadow Boxing & The Clutch Play
June 16, 2009 by dr. lam · 5 Comments
Why do some athletes shine when they are put to the test and when the clutch play is all stakes, winner take all? Why do some athletes do well in practice rounds but fold when the pressure is on? Why do we think in our mind, “Oh, there were a thousand things I should have said but didn’t think to say them until afterward.” Or, “I really should have done better in that situation. I don’t know why I did such a poor job.”
We are in many respects like athletes. We have certain clutch plays that we need to perform our best whether professionally or socially. How do we do that well when the time comes? First, a great suggestion is to shadow box. To role play. To go over in your mind’s theatre over and over the scenario so that when it happens it becomes almost second nature. Why is it that when a real fire occurs, that it requires so much more travail to get out of the building whereas for those who practiced it calmly in the setting of a fire drill can walk out the right exit without a problem in the time of crisis because they practiced? When one holds an empty gun, the hand can be raised and shoot at a target effortlessly. But once the gun is full of live ammo, the hand shakes and misfires. But with steady practice over and over, the hand steadies and there is no problem.
Besides shadow boxing, we can also convert our fear and anxiety over to a positive emotion, excitement. Before Johnny Carson went on stage every night for the Tonight Show, he was petrified and “hyper”. He got himself psyched up before going out. Most individuals who are ready to perform on stage need a little butterflies to make the performance better, to make the mind clearer and the tongue sharper. I myself use that trick before I make a public speech. I really don’t get “nervous” anymore even in front of thousands of people but I do start to psych myself up before hitting the stage so that I am fully energized. It brings me clarity of mind and purpose that comes to athletes and performers when the time of crisis hits them. Practice shadow boxing before some major event you will be encountering and convert fear and anxiety into a deep excitement that you can leverage to your advantage.