Cliff Notes of The Genie Within - Harry W. Carpenter

The kindle version of the book consists of essays written to readers of a newsletter titled: The Genie Within - Your Subconscious Mind - How it Works and How to Use It

Introduction

A postulate of a new science, psychoneuroimmunology, is that your immune system responds to your thoughts. The moral is that we are blessed with an efficient immune system that keeps us healthy—as long as we do not suppress it with negative thoughts. Fear, anxiety, jealousy, grudges, greed, prejudice, and hatred impede our immune system. Cleanse yourself of negative thoughts; bless those that have offended you. Saturate your mind with positive thoughts and stay healthy.
Mental practice works because your subconscious mind does not know the difference between real and imagined. It doesn’t care whether you imagine something or experience it—it’s the same. In both cases, it’s brain cells firing in a certain pattern and sequence.
“What fires together, wires together.” The more you practice in your mind, the more you wire the patterns for a perfect performance. So if you want to improve your golf game, increase sales, perform perfectly in front of an audience without nervousness, or design a better widget, take five or ten minutes a day to practice mentally.

Imagination & Alpha

Basically, there are four states of mind: beta, alpha, theta, and delta. Beta is the awake state where your mind is active and aware of what’s going on around you. Vigilance, thousands of years ago, and today, was imperative for survival. The brain wave frequency in the beta state is 14 cps (cycles per second) and higher.
Next in line is the alpha state where your mind slows, relaxes, and focuses on one thing rather than all that busy stuff going on around you. This is the state where it is possible to control involuntary functions, such as heart rate, body temperature, and metabolism. We cannot control our involuntary functions consciously, but we can control them indirectly in alpha using imagination. Brain wave frequency in alpha is 13 to 8 cps.
Slower yet is the brain wave frequency in the theta state, 7 to 4 cps. This narrow range occurs just before dropping off to sleep. It is important because it is the range where problems are solved and inspirations occur. Many discoveries have been made science, songs written, and artistic inspirations obtained in theta. Reputedly, Salvador Dali learned how to go into theta where he got those bizarre visions for his surreal paintings. Learning to go into theta is imperative for revving up your creative skills. This will be the subject of another newsletter.
Lastly, when your brain wave function drops to a frequency of 3 and lower, you are asleep. That’s the delta state.
Back to alpha. When you are in alpha, a door to your subconscious opens. When this door is open, you can program your subconscious. If you “try” to program your subconscious in the beta state, that door is closed so you will be talking to your conscious mind. Your conscious mind is critical and analytical. When you give yourself a goal in the awake state to your conscious mind, it will come up with a dozen logical reasons why you can’t achieve it.
In sum, when you use imagination to attain your goals, be sure you are relaxed and in your daydreamy state of mind.

No Pain, No Gain - Not So!

Imagine improving your golf game without swinging a club, or increasing your bowling average by practicing at home in a chair.
How is this imaginable? The key word is “imagine.” Your subconscious mind does not know the difference between imagination and reality. Both create ingrained neurological pathways in your brain. When activated, the nerves stimulate blood flow and what ever is needed to achieve the goal. These pathways are identical whether produced by physical movement or by imagined movement.
Not only is imagery effective, it is easy and painless.
But here is a caveat. When you use imagery, you must be in an altered state of mind, the alpha state (as explained in the previous essay.)

Long Live Longevity

Attitude is the key to living longer. First, as pointed out in a previous article in this newsletter, attitude affects the immune system: happy, gracious thoughts enhance, whereas negative thoughts impede your immune system. You need a healthy immune system to live a long and healthy life.

New Concepts on Exercise

NEAT (Non Exercise AcTivies) - NEAT can be described as putting zest into every-day activities. In other words, don’t sit when you can stand; don’t mosey, walk briskly; don’t take the elevator, walk up the stairs; don’t drive around looking for a place to park next to the store, park any place and walk. NEAT improves health and results in weight loss by burning extra calories. Even if it is only a few hundred more calories a day, it adds up over time. NEAT is something most of us can do without sacrifice.
A shocking warning was made by the professor in charge of the NEAT program: he said, “Chairs are killers.” Prolonged sitting causes bad stuff to coagulate in your blood. Get up from your chair every hour, or sooner, and move around. The most beneficial factor in reducing aging of cells was time spent standing up!
BRAIN SIGNALS - Do you find those rare newspaper stories about a mother lifting a car off her son hard to believe? Well, this might surprise you: we are capable of strength feats way beyond what we think possible. Our brain signals that our muscles are tired long before they really are. It does this to protect to protect us from injury by over straining. In a life-threatening situation, a distressed mother doesn’t think about injury, she just reacts.

Happy Faces Can Cure

When you do something that makes you happy, associate it with a Happy Face image. Then paste Happy Faces in places you see every day. After a while, your conscious mind will not notice the Happy Face images, but your subconscious mind will be nudged with happy thoughts (emotions) every time a Happy Face comes in view.
Positive thoughts enhance your immune system. What have you to lose? Condition your subconscious to happy emotions. Think happy; be healthy!

Enlightening Quote by Shaun White

When asked what he is thinking at the top of a half pike waiting to do the Double McTwist 1260, Shaun replied, “At that point you’re not really thinking, you’re just letting it happen. It’s a mixture of being completely focused, then slightly not caring.”
“At that point you’re not really thinking.” He is not using his conscious mind. No one can do a complex maneuver while consciously thinking through the process. The maneuver has to be ingrained in the subconscious so it has become a habit. Habits are preformed without thinking. If Shaun had to think through of each part of the maneuver, it would be awkward and he would still be looking for a gold.
medal, for any medal. similar to what is stated in the book Blink
“. . , you’re just letting it happen.” Letting his subconscious take over and perform by habit. You cannot force your subconscious; you have to let it do what it has been trained to do.
“… of being completely focused, . .” Shaun is in the zone. When in the zone, a person is in the now, in the present moment. There are no thoughts of the past or future; this moment is all that exists. It is a mental state between the awake and sleep states; a state where his mind is totally focused on one purpose. He is in the alpha state.
“… then slightly not caring.” Caring is a conscious mind activity. So, to let go of his conscious mind and to let his subconscious do a complex manoeuvre, he has to not care about the outcome. Maybe there is a trace of caring but he has developed a detached acceptance of the outcome.

Another Golden Quote

After winning the gold medal in the men’s Snowboarding Slope Style Event at Sochi in the 2014 Olympics, Sage Kotsenburg said, “I had this idea in my mind all day… . I thought about it before the run. But once you’re going into it, if you’re thinking it, you’re going to fall on your face.”
I had the idea in my mind all day. This was a stunt he had never done so he practiced the stunt mentally. Visualization is just as effective as practicing for real because the subconscious does not know the difference between real and imagined (visualized.) In this case, it was even better. Had he practiced for real on the mountain, he would have had to correct initial mistakes by trial and error, and it would have taken much longer to perfect the maneuver. By practicing mentally, he made perfect moves every time.
But once you’re going into it, if you’re thinking it, you’re going to fall on your face. Your conscious mind cannot perform a complex series of movements well. In this case, you have to visualize the perfect result and go on cruise control—you have to do it without thinking. By the way, the move was a Backside Double Cork 1620 Japan.

Meditation

Here’s how to do the TM method. First, you need a mantra. There are three ways to get one: 1. Join the TM organization and a teacher will select a personalized Sanskrit mantra for you. 2. Select your Sanskrit mantra from the Internet. (There are several sources. Google “Mantra selection.”) 3. Make up your mantra (Reference, The Relaxation Response, by Herbert Benson, M.D.) Benson recommends the word “One,” as an example.
Second, find a quiet area, sit in a comfortable chair, relax your body, and relax your mind. It is not always possible to find the perfect spot or time. Learn to overcome distractions so you can meditate anywhere, at any time.
Third, close your eyes and become aware of the line of thoughts moving through your mind. You can’t stop them. Don’t try. Don’t judge them, just become aware of them. Then, in you mind, gently and quietly say your mantra. The subtle interruption will divert your train of thinking momentarily, but the train will continue. As you become aware of your thoughts again, quietly say your mantra to yourself. Do not repeat your mantra in a rhythmic fashion and don’t control your thoughts. Each time you repeat this process, you will go to a slightly deeper state of mind. There are times, after you become a veteran meditator, when you may experience the sensation that you are an observer of someone thinking those thoughts (and that’s a pretty cool ah-ha.)
Twenty minutes, twice a day is recommended but do what you can. One time is better than not doing it, and even five minutes is better than zero minutes.

Self-Image

The “Like” index on my Facebook author page goes up every time the subject is self-image, and it goes way up when it is about accepting yourself as you are. I think the reason for this bump is people like to be reminded that they are unique and they do not have to be anything but what they are now. There has never, ever, been anyone like you, and there never will be anyone like you. You are special, and being special should make you happy.
Sadly, some people are not happy with their uniqueness. They think they are not pretty, their nose is too big, their ears stick out, they are too short or too tall. They believe that if they looked like a fashion model, then they would be happy. Being pretty or handsome like a fashion model does not promise happiness. (That’s a presumption on my part because I’ve never looked like a one.)
True beauty is not physical; it is not even overt; it is something that radiates from within. You have, I’m sure, met people whose appearance did not impress you at first. But after you got to know them, sometimes for only minutes, you would describe that person as a beautiful human being. That kind of beauty is precious and it can be developed without cosmetic surgery.
Don’t waste time wishing you look like a fashion model; be thankful for your uniqueness. Affirm love in your heart until it spills over and fills the Universe, and then you will radiate real beauty.

Happy New Year From The Genie Within

How did you do last year? Keep your New Year’s resolutions? Succeed in your goals? Good for you if you did; if you didn’t, you weren’t alone. This year, make your goals come true using this old, sure-fire method. It’s simple, effortless, and it works. In fact, its name is, “It Works.”
Write your goal on a 3” x 5” card. Be specific and state your goal in the present tense. For example:
If you want a new home, “I own a three-bedroom house with a swimming pool.”
If you want a better job, “I am the supervisor of my group.”
If you are in school, “I graduated with an “A” average.”
If you want to learn something new, “I speak fluent Spanish.”
If you want to improve your social life, “I have many loving, lasting relationships.”
Now that you have selected a goal and written it on the card:
1. Look at the card on waking and before dropping off to sleep. In other words, look at it when you are in the alpha or theta state. The alpha and theta states are the drowsy, dreamy states between awake and sleep.
2. Don’t look at your card during the day unless you are daydreaming. If you are in the awake state, your conscious mind will interfere.
3. Keep it a secret. Telling another person what you intend to accomplish puts pressure on you and brings in the fear of failure.
4. Don’t tell your subconscious mind how to do it. Your subconscious mind knows how to accomplish your goal better than your conscious mind. Your conscious mind thinks linearly and within a box, whereas your subconscious mind thinks globally and is uninhibited in putting together bits of information from a variety of unrelated fields.
5. Don’t use any effort; effort is a conscious action. Just “let” it happen. It will. And, when it does, you will not associate it with your card, or this article, because it will happen naturally, without conscious thought or effort.

Habit Loops

Because your conscious mind can only do one thing at a time, doing every day chores would take up most of its capacity. Nature has taken care of this by creating habits. When you do the same routine many times, the routine becomes a habit. Habits are created in your subconscious mind so they are unconscious. Then, your conscious mind is free to do something else.
Most habits are useful, like brushing your teeth and getting dressed. On the other hand, some habits, like eating too many cookies, are harmful and should be changed. That’s where new research comes in handy.
Charles Duhigg describes this research in, The Power of Habit. Researchers found that habits are composed of three parts, and these parts form a loop, aptly called Habit Loops. The three parts are: Cue, Reward, and Routine. Using the Habit Loop to break a bad habit can be described by using an example given by the author. His bad habit was going to the cafeteria every afternoon to buy a cookie, which was adding unwanted girth to his midsection.
1) His first step was to find the cue. Duhigg kept a diary of what he did in the afternoon. His diary showed that he bought the cookie around 3:30 PM and by that time in the afternoon, he was bored.
2) Next, he determined what his reward was by substituting other rewards in place of a cookie. He found his real reward was not a cookie, it was the ten-minute break he took to buy the cookie.
3) Once he knew the cue and reward, he made up a new routine. At 3:30 PM, instead of buying a cookie, he took a break and socialized for ten minutes. After that, he went back to work revitalized—and without a cookie.
Once you figure out your Habit Loop, you can change a bad habit to a good one.

First, One Thing at a Time

The first time you execute a complex motion, you talk yourself through it with your conscious mind. And, you do it one step at a time because your conscious mind can only do one thing at a time.
Take something more complex, like a golf swing. I was taught there are 31 elements to a good golf swing. The first few times I swung a club, I thought about each step. This step-by-step motion produced a swing like a flickering old-time movie. It wasn’t until each step was turned over to my subconscious, which can do a zillion things at a time, that my swing became fluid.
When a complex task is performed by the subconscious, it is:
Easy because your subconscious can handle an unlimited number of tasks at one time,
Effortless because it’s unconscious,
Graceful because it is a unified, coordinated motion, and
Natural because you don’t have to think about it.
That’s too much to think about. Each shot must be made a habit and performed at a subconscious level without that pesky conscious mind getting in the way.

Watch Consciously; Hit Unconsciously

Getting your conscious mind out of the way and “letting” your subconscious play the ball is not always easy. Your conscious mind has an ego that thinks it knows better, so it wants to be in control. Two “bads” happen when your conscious mind takes charge of your pickleball play.
One, you can’t play well when you are thinking, “I gotta hit a winner; Should I hit a dink or smash it? Why did I hit that last shot into the net? That was dumb; What’s the matter with me? Look at all those people watching me.”
Two, and even worse, you start thinking about winning or losing. These thoughts introduce some degree of fear—the fear of losing or the fear of being embarrassed. Any aspect of fear undermines confidence and sends your game down the tubes.
Here’s how to get your conscious mind out of the way: use your conscious mind’s limitation (i.e., that it can only think of one thing at a time) to your advantage. Keep your conscious mind preoccupied with watching the ball. Your conscious mind’s job is exclusively to focus on the ball. Think, “ball” as you watch it. Be aware of its flight path, its velocity, etc. If you concentrate on the ball, your conscious mind cannot interfere with your inner athlete, your subconscious. In a nutshell, when your conscious mind is focused on the ball, your subconscious mind is free to make that perfect shot.

Try Harder? Play Worse Part I

Ever had a night when you couldn’t get to sleep? You got frustrated and tried harder. The harder you tried to sleep, the more awake you became. Or, you were winning a pickleball match and you just missed a couple of easy shots and started losing. You vehemently urged yourself to play better. But the harder you tried to play better, the worse you played.
These examples demonstrate that the harder you try to do something or, the more you will yourself to play better:
a) The harder it becomes to do it, and
b) The worse you do at it.
Willing yourself to do something is a conscious process. Your conscious mind can only do one thing at a time, and it can’t directly control your involuntary muscles. Thus, you don’t play your best pickleball when your conscious mind dominates.
Your subconscious mind, on the other hand, can do trillions of things at a time without conscious thought. It also controls involuntary muscles that are required for good strokes and rabbit-like movement. It is where your pickleball strokes are stored as habits so you can execute them smoothly without thinking about them.
Thus, you play your best pickleball by suppressing your conscious mind, and allowing your subconscious to dominate. Pushing yourself to play better pumps up your conscious mind, thus minimizing your subconscious mind. Hence, urging yourself to play better achieves the opposite—you play worse.
Another factor, although subtle, is that when you will yourself to play better, you subconsciously introduce a fear of losing. Fear, a strong emotion, erodes confidence, and confidence is an important aspect of playing well.
Okay, suppose you’re playing in a tournament and because of the pressure, or for whatever reason, you are playing poorly. What can you do? Will yourself to play better? Don’t bother—it won’t help. What do you do? Go to the next essay.

Try Harder? Play Worse Part II

You’re in a tournament and you’re playing badly. You’re ticked off at yourself. What are you going to do? Tell yourself to quit making mistakes? Will yourself to play better? Don’t bother; it won’t help; you’ll probably play worse. Instead, do the following:
- Play in the Now. Your conscious mind thinks in the past, present, and future, whereas your subconscious only operates in the present. Since you want your subconscious to be dominant, keep your mind in the present. Don’t think about that snide remark your opponent made, or the shot you missed—that‘s the past. Don’t think about the consequences of hitting the ball long, or about winning or losing—that’s the future. Focus on the ball—that’s the now.
- Observe. Your conscious mind is the critic; it judges, discriminates, and analyzes. Whereas, your subconscious mind accepts things literally. When you critique your strokes during a game, you bring your conscious mind to the forefront. To keep your conscious mind from taking over, don’t analyze your strokes, just observe them. If any adjustments are needed, your subconscious will make them—unconsciously.
- Watch the ball. Think about, and keep your eyes on, the ball. You can only focus on one thing at a time with your conscious mind. Focusing on the ball blocks negative thoughts, keeps your mind in the present, and keeps your conscious mind from interfering with your subconscious mind.
- Relax. Tension impedes court movement and thwarts good stroking. Top athletes don’t tense all their muscles while they jump, throw, catch, or stroke; only the ones needed to do the job. Any additional flexing hinders performance. So loosen up. Take slow, deep breaths between points.
- Act with confidence. You’ve spent weeks practicing your strokes and strategies. Your strokes are ingrained in your subconscious so you don’t have to think about them. Knowing your strokes are programmed in your subconscious gives you confidence that you can play as well, and better, than anyone in your bracket. Act with confidence; imagine you are confident and; play confidently.

Ten Powerful Horses

The year is 1000 BC, you live in Egypt, and you just bought a chariot pulled by ten powerful horses. You can’t wait to show your new chariot to the townspeople. You hop in the chariot and away you go—off the road, across planted fields, everywhere but through the town.
You realize there is only one rein and it goes to only one horse. The other nine horses are out of control. Your chariot is taking you places you don’t want to go, wasting time and horsepower.
The ten horses represent your subconscious mind, which is often in control of as much as 90 percent of your behavior. You are not aware of it because that 90 percent is unconscious.
Like the nine horses without reins, your subconscious often takes you in wrong directions. For one thing, many of the controlling programs in your subconscious were acquired in childhood. Thus, some of them are immature and counterproductive in adulthood.
When your conscious mind and subconscious mind are at odds, your stronger subconscious mind, in the end, always wins. For example, you decide to diet (a conscious decision) but there is a strong program in your subconscious to eat for gratification (which you are unaware of.) You may lose weight at first but, in the end, you’ll gain it back.
Your subconscious is ten times larger than your conscious mind and, in many ways, more powerful and useful than ten horses. A horse can’t write a poem, invent a mousetrap, help you succeed, and keep you in good health.
Your subconscious mind doesn’t sleep; it works 24 hours a day, every day. It has a million times the computational power than your conscious mind. It thinks globally and comes up with concepts that would be unthinkable in your rational conscious mind.
You can take control of those other nine horses; you can harness this power. Your conscious mind is smarter and can learn to put your subconscious mind to work for you. Learn to use this phenomenal power to achieve success in whatever you choose, be healthy, and attain peace of mind.

How Your Subconscious Mind Works

The Method - The authors suggested indoctrinating her subconscious mind with her goal by writing it down and reading it as often as possible.
She wrote a good affirmation and she thoughtfully looked at it breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After three months, she got discouraged and gave up.
Alice used a valid method to become more outgoing and friendly but her subconscious didn’t cooperate.
Have you ever failed to achieve a goal even after you thought you did everything right?
Using one of many proven methods for programming your subconscious mind is only part of the process. The methods, by themselves, are easy. Complex methods don’t work and you would give up on them anyway.
The Secret- To succeed, you must know a thing or two about how your subconscious mind works.
No. 1 The most important how-to for planting your goal in your subconscious is getting your conscious mind out of the way by going into an altered state of mind. No, that’s not quirky; it’s natural. You go in and out of altered states all the time.
One way to do this is to daydream. It’s also called being in “alpha.” When you are in alpha, the door to your subconscious mind is open. Slip back to the awake state and that door closes.
Moreover, your awake mind contains your critical faculty, and it can come up with all kinds of reasons why you will fail. Thus, you thwart your affirmation with constant critiquing.
No. 2 Another key is “double mindedness.” A strong concept in your subconscious mind always overpowers your will, which is in your conscious mind. Your subconscious mind trumps your conscious mind because it is ten times larger and has millions times more computational power.
How About You? - What over-powering concepts are in your subconscious mind? Are they in conflict with your conscious wishes? You really don’t know. Don’t forget, your subconscious is unconscious; it’s hidden from you!
If you have a concept in your subconscious mind that believes you are shy, and therefore, not popular, that’s the concept that controls your behavior, not your conscious desire to have lots of friends.

Do You Have a Clue What’s in your Subconscious Mind?

Go ahead, tell me, “What’s in your subconscious mind? What concepts does your subconscious mind hold to be true? What programs, acquired at a very early age, dictate your behavior? Why is your personality the way it is?” Stumped? Never thought about it? Why should you? The stuff in your subconscious mind is out of your conscious awareness, right? Thus, it is not important. You can’t do anything about it anyway, right?
If you believe this, you are among the majority. Most people don’t think about their subconscious mind: they don’t care. After all, what a person doesn’t know about her or his subconscious mind won’t hurt, right? As long as they are sane, what’s in their subconscious mind is not important. Their, sane, rational, conscious mind is in control!
Wrong! Your conscious mind is NOT in control most of the time. Scientists who study the mind tell us that as much as 95 percent of our behavior and the decisions we make stem from the subconscious mind, not the conscious mind. Yeah, I know what you are (consciously) thinking. I thought the same thing until I learned better. You’re thinking, “But I am consciously aware of what I decide and my behavior is what I consciously want it to be. I am conscious of these processes.”
You are thinking that thought with your conscious mind, but that’s the 5 percent. The truth is that the other 95 percent is in control most of the time and you are unaware of it. The strong emotional mind, which comprises around 90 percent of your total brain, not the puny 10 percent that you are conscious of, is in control.
Your subconscious mind is a goal-seeking computer. (For an explanation, see pp. 62–72, The Genie Within: Your Subconscious Mind.) Your subconscious mind constantly works to achieve the goals that it is given.
Are you in control of these goals? Did you consciously make up all of your goals and concepts? Are you making sure that your subconscious mind is seeking new goals that are your choice? Goals that are beneficial to you? Or, is your subconscious mind seeking goals that were picked up from others, and are still being picked from others–parents (living or deceased), teachers, relatives, friends, strangers and, yes, especially, TV (see pp. 138–145, The Genie Within: Your Subconscious Mind.)
To quote someone who knew a thing or two about the subconscious mind, Sigmund Freud said, “We learn as children how we react emotionally and this is carried into adulthood. When we are children, we do not have the faculties that we do in adulthood. We do not know what we are going to need in adulthood to cope. Therefore, as adults, we (often) react as children.” In other words, programs we learned as children were imbedded in our subconscious mind and are still in control.
Do you ever loose your temper? Are you sometimes impatient? Do you shun a certain food for no (conscious) reason? If so, maybe you are reacting from a program that was imbedded in your subconscious mind years ago.
If you are having trouble attaining a goal, such as losing weight, or advancing in your profession, it is likely that you have a counterproductive goal in your subconscious mind—one that is sabotaging your progress–one that you are unaware of.
In this case, you are double-minded. That is, you have willed one goal in your conscious mind but your subconscious mind has an opposite goal. And guess which one always wins? The 95-percenter wins. This is the law: When The Conscious Mind And The Subconscious Mind Are In Conflict, The Subconscious Mind Always Wins. The subconscious mind is ten times bigger and it has the power, emotional power, which includes electrical and chemical elements. Your subconscious mind can be a big, bad-for-you bully.
The conscious mind may have will, but the subconscious mind has the power. Power trumps will. Thus, when you are double-minded, you do not have willpower. If you want to succeed—in anything–you must become single–minded. You must change the concept in your subconscious mind to be in concert with the desired one in your conscious mind. You need to make your subconscious mind your genie.
How to override old, counterproductive goals and concepts, in other words, how to make your subconscious mind your personal genie is fully explained in simple language in the book, The Genie Within: Your Subconscious Mind—How It Works and How to Use It. Fifteen methods are described. All are easy to use but they are unlikely to work if you do not also understand how your subconscious mind works.

Writer’s Block is Only in your Mind - Dah!

Your conscious mind is critical, judgmental, and carping. That’s the part of you that interrupts your writing and says, “This stinks,” “I can’t write about that,” “I just can’t think of a thing to write today,” on and on.
Your mind also inhibits you with false beliefs. In your early, formative years, you were told thousands of times things like, “No, you can’t do that,” “No, don’t do that,” “No, that’s too hard,” “No, no ,no, don’t you ever learn?” These responses are suggestions (just as if they came from a hypnotist) that go into your subconscious mind. Thus, you are hypnotized to believe you are limited and, worse, you are unconscious of these negative beliefs.
The epitome of a false belief is the story of Roger Banister. Runners, coaches, and trainers were hypnotized to believe running a mile under 4 minutes was not humanly possible. Race times asymptotically approached 4 minutes but no runner could break through this mental barrier.
Not until Roger, who “knew” he could do it, did it. Within months other runners broke the barrier. Those runners could not break 4 minutes until someone showed them that their belief in limitation was false.
When your writing is blocked, do you “try” harder? Do you find that the harder you try, the more blocked you become? Trying harder is fighting against an absolute law of the mind, one you can’t win.
So, how do you beat writer’s block? Instead of writing with your conscious mind, open up and tap into your subconscious mind. Your subconscious mind is the part of you that is imaginative and creative.
How do you tap into your subconscious mind? This may sound too easy, but it works. Just relax and talk to yourself. Affirm that you have the ability to write and that the story or poem is already written. Too simple? That’s Mother Nature’s way: the best way, is almost always the simplest way.
When relaxed, you slip into an altered state of mind. That’s the key to being creative—going into the alpha or, much better, the theta state. Dali, the abstract painter of surreal landscapes, used to go into theta before starting a new canvas. That is how he got his visions of melting time and distorted figures, concepts foreign to the logical, linear-thinking conscious mind. It is simple to learn to go into these states. And it is invaluable if you want to be creative and write from the heart.

TV Advertising

TV Advertising is amazingly effective.
What makes it so profitable? It’s the lucky combination of several factors.
First, let’s look at how to get a person to buy a product. There are basically three legal ways and Reward is one or them. Giving a reward for buying your product is effective to a point. Coupons, rebates, and a mile bonus toward an air line ticket for every dollar charged on their credit card are rewards. But rewards are not used on primetime TV.
And, there is Logic. You would think logic would be the best way. Logic is how you would convince a friend or family member to do something. But can you recall even one ad on primetime TV that is based on logic? I doubt it. Logic is not high on the ad man’s list.
So what other way is there? Suggestion. TV ads use the power of suggestion. But how can a mere suggestion impel someone to buy one brand of shampoo when there are literally 600 hundred brands that essentially do the same thing? or to buy a particular brand of aspirin when the chemical composition of aspirin is exactly the same as in other brands?
The reason suggestion is so effective is a twofold.
Mavens in the field claim that as much as 95 percent of your decisions and behavior stem from the subconscious mind—not from the conscious mind. If you want to get someone to buy your product, you have to plant the suggestion in their subconscious mind to buy your product.
What is the best way to plant your message directed into the subconscious mind? Ask any hypnotist. He or she will tell you that the person you want to influence has to be in an altered state of mind—one where they are highly receptive to suggestions. When in an altered state, your logical, critical, conscious mind is out of the way. It is not there to discriminate good form bad, or logical from illogical.
A hypnotist could use any of several methods of putting a subject in an altered state. The basic idea is to distract the conscious mind or lull the conscious mind to sleep (Not really “sleep,” but there just is not a better word in the English language.) Then, when the conscious mind is not policing input, suggestions go directly into the subconscious.
A few methods of distracting the conscious mind include:
Boring the conscious mind so it turns its attention elsewhere.
Playing a monotonous rhythmic sound in the background, such as a metronome or drum beat.
Swinging a pendulum in front of the person. This is used in the movies but not any place else.
Reciting a relaxation routine that brings the subconscious mind to the forefront and lulls the conscious mind to “sleep.
Watching an emotional movie or reading an absorbing book.
In sum:
- The best way to get you to buy a product is to put a suggestion in your subconscious mind;
- The most effective way to put a suggestion in your subconscious is when you are in an altered state of mind, and;
- Television is a super effective way to put you into an altered state. And how convenient for the ad men because there is one or more TV in every home.

Tuned Out TV Ads

The conscious mind is a good guardian because it is logical and critical. Conversely, the subconscious mind is illogical and accepts everything as true, even silly TV ads. So, without conscious awareness, those silly ads go directly into your subconscious mind.
In a previous essay I explained why TV ads are so effective. Now let’s look at why so many ads are child-like. The crux of the prior essay was that a large part of your decisions—decisions on what you buy, in this case—come from the subconscious mind. Because the subconscious mind is illogical, immature, and undiscriminating, decisions made by your subconscious mind are often not for your best interest.
And one big problem is that you do not know what is in your subconscious mind.
Your conscious mind and subconscious mind are different as Guinness ale and water. No, they are even more different than that. You are, I trust, familiar with your conscious mind, but are you familiar with your subconscious mind? Of course not; it is unconscious.
Your subconscious mind evolved 10′s of millions of years ago, and it evolved to meet the needs of that time. Whereas, your conscious mind is a baby by comparison. And it evolved under different conditions. Unfortunately for us, they do not talk to each other very well.
In brief, here are a few of theses differences and how they are exploited to sell products in TV ads.
Emotion. Emotions come from your limbic system and that system is located in your subconscious mind. Thus, ads appeal to your emotions and, emotions are not logical. Fear, a powerful emotion, is often used: fear of not protecting your family with the sponsor’s road gripping tires; or fear of missing out on something—”If you do not use this product, you will miss out on good times, having friends, etc.
Visualization and Imagination. Your subconscious mind communicates with images. Images, like a strong, healthy, jolly green giant eating a certain brand of frozen vegetables imply you and your family will also grow big, strong, and healthy by eating their brand. (This is rare. This ad is suggesting something healthy.) Actors in Coke-a-Cola ads are young, active, and having fun within a group of friends. Drink Coke and you too will be popular and enjoy life.
Repetition. Ad nausea. Same ads run twice during the same commercial break. This is not a mistake. If you want to etch something into your subconscious mind you need to repeat it over and over. And it does not have to be grammatically correct, mature, or logical.
Symbolism. Symbols appeal to a deep level in your mind and they can be subtle. For example, actors might wear a badge, distinctive hat, or costume to connote authority. Logos are special symbols because they represent the company. Thus, companies spend a lot to make their logo well known. Logos are often linked to famous people, notably athletes. Athletes connote strength, agility, endurance, and a health.
Conditioned Reflex Substitution. Using conditioned reflex substitution does not make an ad silly or foolish—it just makes it evil. These ads suggest symptoms that can only be healed by the sponsor’s product. “It’s flu season, when you feel tired or achy, you better have our product on hand.” Or, “It’s time for Excedrin headache No. 9.”
TV ads are the perfect venue for imbedding suggestions in your unconscious mind when you are most venerable. And the producers don’t care whether the ads are foolish or irritating. In fact, these factors can work to their benefit.

One-Word Affirmations

You slam your thumb in your car door. OUCH! “Ouch” connotes pain. Do you want pain? No! So instead of “ouch,” say and think NUMB.
Many words can be used as one-word affirmations. Words that come to your mind work best for you. The words that come to your mind have more connotations to you than words suggested by someone else. Start using one-word affirmations today. This way of using your subconscious mind is easy and there are opportunities to use it every day.
Conclusion Words are powerful. Be diligent in what you say and think. What you say or think is a command, an affirmation, to your subconscious mind. Use one-word affirmations for success starting now.

Eliminating a Pain in the Neck

Procedure Every time I felt the pain in my neck I said to myself, and visualized, the word, GONE. One-word affirmations are that easy
In about three weeks (I am guessing because I was not conscious of how much time passed) the pain vanished. The pain was GONE!
How did this miracle occur? First, it was not a miracle. Our subconscious mind is capable of such cures and will heal a condition when asked—when asked the right way.
Expectation How did my “cure” come about? First, I expected success. What the subconscious mind expects to happen, the subconscious mind makes happen. This law of Expectation is covered in detail on pages 87–90 in The Genie Within: Your Subconscious Mind. One of the subtopics is Placebos.
A placebo is an imitation of a specific medicine. Unlike the real medication, the ingredients in a placebo are harmless and inert. Yet a placebo works as well as the real medicine a minimum of 30 % of the time. Under the right circumstances, a placebo can be 80 % effective (Benson, M.D., Timeless Medicine.)
When you ask, or command, your subconscious mind to do something, expect the result. Thus, if you are expecting a positive result, don’t be surprised when you get it. Just say thank you to your subconscious mind. All I had to say was, “Thank you! I appreciate you. Thank you, thank you.
Let Go Because I was not “conscious” of the process, I can only speculate what happened. Every time I felt the shooting pain, I said, to myself, GONE. It only took a day or two for my conscious mind to get bored. So I (conscious mind) forgot about it.
Forget your goal. Of course, I mean forgetting it consciously. You never forget it subconsciously. Once you’ve given your subconscious mind a goal, thinking about it (consciously) only interferes with achieving that goal.
For example, let’s say you give your subconscious mind the goal of finding, and wooing, the perfect partner. But when you consciously think about it, your conscious mind nudges you and says, “Come on now, how can you get a smart, good-looking guy or girl to fall in love with you. You are too shy to even meet her or him. Besides, why would someone you think so highly of pay any attention to you.” That kind of thinking kills your chance to succeed.
Use your conscious mind to give the goal to your subconscious mind. After that, refrain from thinking about it with your conscious mind. Only think of it when you are in the alpha or theta states and you will achieve your goal naturally, easily, and unconsciously. I tell my students and readers that when you are successful, and you will be, you will probably not credit this class, this book, or this article. You will not, because there likely won’t be a conscious connection between the seed (affirmation, idea, goal) you planted and the result. Success will happen effortlessly, naturally, and unconsciously.
Back to the pain in the neck. I consciously forgot to say GONE every time I felt the pain. But by then my subconscious mind was conditioned to the affirmation, GONE. Thus, every time there was pain, my subconscious mind was reminded of the affirmation. And, after a few weeks, and hundreds of repetitions (without interference from my conscious mind) my subconscious mind responded. It removed the pain. The pain was GONE.
How did my subconscious mind remove the pain? I don’t know. I don’t think my doctor, chiropractor, physical therapist, or neurologist would know either. It doesn’t matter if I (conscious mind) don’t understand it. All that matters is that my subconscious mind knows how to heal my body and keep it feeling good. My subconscious mind knew how to remove the pain. Once given that goal, being a goal-seeking computer, it removed it.
Your subconscious mind does trillions of things every second. And you are not aware of these activities and processes. You do not have to think about breathing, keeping your heart beating, controlling the digestive juices in your stomach after you eat, manufacturing over a hundred different neurotransmitters that the best laboratories staffed with the brightest bioscientists cannot duplicate, on and on, example after example. You can’t possibly know everything your subconscious mind knows. Just take success for granted and expect success with your affirmations.
Conclusion One-word affirmations are easy to use, powerful, and require zero preparation. Make a habit of using them daily.