Following 70 years of intensive excavations in the Land of Israel, archaeologists have found out: The patriarchs’ acts are legendary, the Israelites did not sojourn in Egypt or make an exodus, they did not conquer the land. Neither is there any mention of the empire of David and Solomon, nor of the source of belief in the God of Israel. These facts have been known for years, but Israel is a stubborn people and nobody wants to hear about it.
This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is the fact that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that the God of Israel, Jehovah, had a female consort and that the early Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai. Most of those who are engaged in scientific work in the interlocking spheres of the Bible, archaeology and the history of the Jewish people – and who once went into the field looking for proof to corroborate the Bible story – now agree that the historic events relating to the stages of the Jewish people’s emergence are radically different from what that story tells.
What follows is a short account of the brief history of archaeology, with the emphasis on the crises and the big bang, so to speak, of the past decade. The critical question of this archaeological revolution has not yet trickled down into public consciousness, but it cannot be ignored.
Birds in flocks make turns as a collective. Ants build, supply, and defend their burrows. How does a group make better decisions than any one of its members? Welcome to the hive mind.
The queen of an ant colony is like the queen of England. She doesn’t really have any power (except in Canada). She doesn’t oversee the colony or give orders. She’s a part of the collective more than the organizer. An ant colony doesn’t have an organizer. Despite that, it works efficiently.
The colony doesn’t just pump out genetically pre-determined components. Many ants can switch to different roles during the course of their lives, depending on what the colony needs. Together, the colony has an intelligence, which single ants do not possess. Over the years, many different studies hae been done to explore this concept of collective intelligence.
Some study the mechanics of collective intelligence. For example, a Stanford researcher noticed that foraging ants would change their search patterns if they were given different-sized areas to search. Ants don’t see very well, so they weren’t able to see each other. Nor did any one ant ‘round up the others’. The most likely theory was that each ant had a number of different possible search patterns. If it ran into other ants too often, it would change to a wider-reaching search pattern. If it didn’t run into them often enough, it would switch to a more conservative one. The result was all the searching ants, as a collective, changing their individual search behaviors in the same way after roughly the same amount of time.
Ants are also incredible at collectively finding the shortest routes through complicated systems, using luck and pheromone trails. As ants move through the world, they leave behind pheromones. The ants that follow behind them use a combination of chance, and pheromone scent to plot out their own routes. The first forays are random, but over time the most efficient routes have the most bunched-together pheromones trails, until the most efficient trails are discovered.
So far, it seems like just animals following instincts which lead them to a successful outcome – which is natural to all animals. The useful behaviors stick around. It’s more than that, though. Collectively, a colony learns. Destroy it one day, and it will move and rebuild. Destroy it the next day, and it will do the same thing. Faster.
Collective intelligence is a possible hot concept. The behavior used by ants can be used by malware scanners, cleaning robots, and mapping programs. Design a machine to do a complicated thing, and it becomes a complicated problem if something goes wrong. Design it, and many of its fellows, to do simple things that, collectively, accomplish the same task, and things can go a lot more smoothly.
When most people think about water, they’re thinking about something to drink, or perhaps that hot, steamy and refreshing liquid that funnels out of the shower head to remove the grit and grime after a long day’s work.
Dr. Masaru Emoto is not one of those people. He believes that water reveals hidden messages and reacts to human thoughts, music, emotions, prayers and written words.
Epiphany Works, an inspired event-planning company that provides forums for enlightening entertainment that is experiential in nature, is responsible for bringing the famed scientist to Cranberry on Sunday, Oct. 2.
The co-founder of Epiphany Works, Gina Hillier, contacted Emoto in hopes of bringing him to the Pittsburgh area to demonstrate his almost incomprehensible beliefs.
“Our goal is basically to show people things they’ve never done before, whether we create it or bring someone in,” Hillier explained.
“Dr. Emoto is one of those such people, and we’re honored to have him visiting. He’s touching a nerve and his message is so simple yet universal, that water has intelligence.
What he basically does is use scientific methods to prove that thoughts change the chemistry of water.”
The well-known Japanese scientist became interested in water at a very young age.
“When I was a child, I learned from my mother that ‘water is a reflection of your soul,’”
Emoto explained
“In remembering that experience, I decided to embark on this current research for and with water.”
Emoto has been on a non-stop quest for two decades and was internationally recognized through his breakthrough film, “What the Bleep Do We Know?” He believes that almost everything is affected by water, including tsunamis and hurricanes on a deeper level than is obvious. He feels that everyone should be learning much more about the importance of water’s impact on everyday life.
“Water is essential to life, but how long have we been ignorant about water? Forever,” Emoto stated. “I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that people are really ignorant when it comes to water.”
A few examples of the main questions Emoto feels people should be looking into: Why we can’t live a single day without water? How can water dissolve anything? Why is water the heaviest at 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit?
While these questions can be answered in a scientific fashion, Emoto feels the root of the mystery has not been uncovered in an adequate way.
Emoto points to the fact that NASA has confirmed that all of the water on Earth actually came from outer space in the form of ice comets.
“This information was reported over eight years ago, yet no one takes it seriously,” Emoto said. “This is because if this finding was accepted, all the theories that have been discovered in modern science in the past will be nullified. This is particularly (important) because if this theory is accepted as a fact, then it means that humans really came from outer space.
“Furthermore, this forces our thinking to leave the parameters of science and enter the realm of God or other spiritual reasoning, which is one of the most despised thought process by scientists.”
Another concern of Emoto’s is that the Earth is losing the battle to hold so much water.
He says NASA has concluded that ice comets are about usually 100 tons and nearly 10 million of them hit the earth every year. Due to the influx of water, Emoto predicts many more natural disasters, along with the concern of global warming.
“What I can theorize is that Earth is now acting like a full sponge and can no longer absorb enough water,” Emoto explained.
“I am seriously worried that a part of this Earth really will be consumed by water and disappear, just like in the case of the continents Mu and Atlantis.”
Emoto believes that water is so powerful that it can create havoc merely as a result human thoughts. One of his studies consists of taking photographs of water crystals by two photographers; one who is at peace and another who is agitated.
When the feeling of what Emoto calls “Love and Thanks” was sent to the water, the crystal formation was at its best and the most beautiful. On the other hand, ugly water crystals formed when when negative feelings were sent toward the water.
Part of this research has lead Emoto to the conclusion that humans are responsible for some water-related natural disasters.
“Are modern day people living a life on a daily basis that is full of ‘Love and Thanks’ energy? The answer is no,” Emoto stated.
“We are all immersed in fear and resentment and are living a life that is full of gluttony.”
The renowned water researcher concludes that our water will reflect those feelings and retaliate, possibly wreaking havoc in more areas if people do not come together, live in harmony and respect the water.
Emoto uses Einstein’s theory of relativity, E=mc2 for his water research, believing the ‘m’ represents the number of people and the ‘c’ equals consciousness.
As far as healing powers go, Emoto believes that water has true powers when one realizes that the origin of every phenomenon can be traced back to vibrations.
“Vibration can only travel through water,” Emoto explained. “All illnesses are created when a particular vibration is corrupted. The best way to heal this irregularity is to apply the same irregular frequency vibrational wave pattern so that this relationship will cancel out the bad vibration and condition that followed.”
Due to the fact that humans are made mostly of water, Emoto feels that water has the ability to change things around the world and for mankind because water is a reflection of the soul.
“I believe water is a reflection of all human consciousness,” Emoto said. “Therefore, the current tragedies around the world that are caused by water are a result of the unbalance in the culture, economy and politics.”
The leading water scientist is selling out in almost every city he’s visiting and is attracting a vast amount of people, including medical students and churches. His lecture, “The Power of Water,” is expected to be well attended in Cranberry, his only stop in the Pittsburgh area.
Soldiers could control weapons systems simply by using their minds, British scientists have suggested
Researchers found the Armed Forces could harness the rapid advance of neuroscience to improve the training of soldiers, pilots and other personnel.
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A study, from the Royal Society, Britain’s national academy of science, showed the possible benefits of neuroscience to military and law enforcement.
It predicted new designer drugs that boost performance, make enemy troops fall asleep and ensure captives become more talkative.
But among the more remarkable scenarios suggested in the report involved the use of devices called brain-machine interfaces (BMIs) to connect soldiers’ brains directly to military technology such as drones and weapons.
The study stated that the work built on previous research that has enabled people to control cursors and artificial limbs through BMIs that read their brain signals.
In their report, one of a series from the Royal Society looking at the field of neuroscience, the experts call on the UK Government to be as “transparent as possible” about research into military and law enforcement applications.
“Since the human brain can process images, such as targets, much faster than the subject is consciously aware of, a neurally interfaced weapons system could provide significant advantages over other system control methods in terms of speed and accuracy,” the report states.
The report also showed how neuroscientists employed so-called “transcranial direct current stimulation” (tDCS) to improve soldiers’ awareness while in hostile environments.
It showed how soldiers’ ability to spot roadside bombs, snipers and other hidden threats were improved in a virtual reality training program used by US troops bound for the Middle East.
But the report’s authors argued that while hostile uses of neuroscience and related technologies were now more likely, scientists were oblivious to its potentials.
While the benefits to society were obvious, through improved treatments for brain disease and mental illness, there were serious security implications to consider. “Neuroscience will have more of an impact in the future,” said Prof Rod Flower, chair of the report’s working group.
“People can see a lot of possibilities, but so far very few have made their way through to actual use. All leaps forward start out this way.”
Prof Flower, from the William Harvey Research Institute at Barts and the London Hospital added: “You have a groundswell of ideas and suddenly you get a step change.”
“If you are controlling a drone and you shoot the wrong target or bomb a wedding party, who is responsible for that action? Is it you or the BMI.
“There’s a blurring of the line between individual responsibility and the functioning of the machine. Where do you stop and the machine begin?”
Vince Clark, a cognitive neuroscientist and lead author on the study at the University of New Mexico, admitted he was uncomfortable in knowing neuroscience could be used by the military.
“As a scientist I dislike that someone might be hurt by my work,” he said. “I want to reduce suffering, to make the world a better place, but there are people in the world with different intentions, and I don’t know how to deal with that.
“If I stop my work, the people who might be helped won’t be helped. Almost any technology has a defence application.”
The Ministry of Defence has not commented on the report.
Many take little notice of motivational or inspirational articles, books or posters. Others in turn scan the horizon for anything that promise to magically turn them into unstoppable manifestation machines. We have been flooded with so-called inspirational books and material for many years now. It is almost pathetic to notice how authors, some well known and some that never wrote a book in their life before jump on the bandwagon when a new movie or DVD come out and achieve success. A good example of this is when the DVD’s came out with the titles “What the Bleep” and “The Secret”. An avalanche of books, DVD’s and articles suddenly rained down on us like a thunderstorm. Everyone jumped on the idea of manifestation. Deceptive seeds were sown by well intended and not so well intended authors and lecturers that created the impression that you can simply flop down on a comfortable chair and visualise your way to success and affluence. Millions of books and DVD’s were sold world-wide. The “secret” that turned out not to really be a secret became a best seller world-wide. Don’t get me wrong. Both the books mentioned contain powerful material that could turn your life around, but fail to really explain that visualisation must be followed by sustained action if you want to achieve your objectives. The blue print that governs most of your actions and choices is mirrored in the environment around you that you face daily. Many of us slipped into a certain channel early in life. We then simply become a copy machine that churn out the same old attitude and outcomes in the patterns that we live daily. Very few of us make regular attitude adjustment and modify the perceptions that form the main pillars that we built our lives on. We make the same old mistakes and act in the same manner without stopping for a moment to question the validity of our actions and choices. Our attitude towards life in general and our attitude towards our children, friends, politics, race etc. remain the same. The same responds patterns jump into action when triggered. The most effective way to get from where you are to where you want to be is to adjust your attitude. New software must be downloaded into our subconscious minds. What I find amazing is the reluctance we often display when it comes to the modification of mindsets that no longer serve their purpose. We must reinvent ourselves on a daily basis. We cannot desperately hang onto stuff that is busy poisoning our soul. This message might be the best news you received in decades. The reminder that you as an intelligent human being can reinvent yourself, your relationship, career or anything else whenever you want to must be phenomenal news to you. We often fear change, but look around you and you will notice that growth is not possible without change. They say that you need to reserve a place at the funny farm if you believe that you can repeat the same old behaviour and achieve a different outcome.
Most of us sooner or later discover that we have two forces that course through our veins. We automatically vacillate between the “upper” and “lower” limits of this force on a moment to moment basis. The UPPER end of the pole of this system is called the “ACTION” zone and the “LOWEST” end of this pole is characterized as the “NON-ACTION” zone. The feelings generated by thoughts, events or for that matter everything and everyone we encounter decides the quality of the output we intend using to deal with the matter at hand. The mistake we make is that many of us think that we are at the mercy of this so-called automatic reaction patterns that endlessly flood our minds and hearts daily. We jump with joy and run like the wind when good feelings are generated by the thought or event that we are confronted with (ACTION) or shut down and retreat into a dark place in our minds (NON-ACTION). What many of us never knew or understood is that there is no need to remain a victim of our historical conditioning or past mistakes. All that is real and valid is our current moment. We can if we decide to take control act in an appropriate and powerful manner notwithstanding the threat and feelings of doubt that we might be confronted with. You are part of a universal force that caters for evolution on a moment to moment basis. Call this force God my friend if it will make you feel more comfortable. This force is fair and allows every living thing in the universe to evolve, grow and expand notwithstanding his or her history. You can make a fresh start on a moment to moment basis. You are allocated 86400 new moments in any given day where you can make a fresh start. There is no need to fear failure or hide in the “NON-ACTION” zone. The NON-ACTION zone is a place where you become stagnant and RESIST risking the possibility of getting hurt or disappointed. The choices you make decide the quality of the outcomes you experience daily. Very few of us understand that not making a choice is actually also a choice that you make. You choose NON-ACTION and RESISTANCE and give up control.
Spend some time today to probe why you have this reluctance to take action. What is the cause of the resistance deep inside you that is preventing you from being the best you that you can ever be? Now make a list of all the things you will do if you knew that you cannot fail. Make a list of everything that comes to mind. Think it and then ink it. I will continue this series tomorrow.
WHAT PAIN OR PLEASURE WE LINK TO SITUATIONS AND PEOPLE DETERMINES HOW WE ACT AND REACT TO THEM. WE CANNOT ACT IN A MANNER THAT PROVOKES PAIN IN PEOPLE AND EXPECT RESPECT, LOVE AND COMPASSION FROM THEM!
People move towards pleasure provoking experiences and away from pain provoking experiences. They move towards people that make them feel good and away from people that make them feel worthless and defective. This law must always be kept in mind if you want to influence people in a positive manner.
It will be idiotic to constantly say and do things that cause somebody pain and expect loyalty and dedication from such person. How can you kick a person in the teeth and expect him or her to love and respect you. We might not always physically kick people, but some of the things we do, fail to do or say often cause more pain than a kick in the teeth.
Everything you do or refrain from doing is governed by your perception you have of such event. If you for example find it difficult to motivate yourself to do something that you know need to be done you will find “potential pain avoidance” at the root of you resistance. We usually select the potential pleasure route in all our actions and decisions. If we have any idea that we might be exposed to potentially pain we try our level best avoid such contacts.
Just think for a moment about this principle. When you see or think of certain people what reaction do they evoke in you? If a person activates any level of discomfort in you, you will always react and respond accordingly. An opinion is formed quickly and usually takes years to modify. Most people lives their live according to this law or principal. Once they formed a perception about something or someone it takes a massive jolt to dislodge perceptions. Because we are pleasure seeking entities we tend to run on tracks for the best part of our lives. We thus get stuck in a pattern and will continue to follow this path until the day we expire.
Leaders and champions are bold enough to break these patterns and confront their fears. They know that mediocre and substandard performances are caused by the avoidance of potential pain. You can never grow, learn and win while you remain in your comfort zone. It is only when you go beyond your comfort threshold that progress can be made.
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I WILL BECOME OUTCOME FOCUSED TODAY. I WILL DO THE THINGS I FEAR UNTIL IT LOSES ITS HOLD ON MY MIND!
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We often know what we need or want in life, but we hardly ever do something about it. The main reason for this is because we amplify the potential pain so much that it outweighs the potential pleasure that reaching our goal would provide us.
If you want to stop smoking or lose weight you have to make your perceived “outcome” so exciting and pleasure provoking that it will make the effort that will be needed to work through the potential pain part less dominant. You will never reach your desired objective while the fear of the pain outweighs the potential pleasure of the outcome. It is thus imperative that you desire your outcome more than the obstacle that you may encounter along the way. Only when you become excited and motivated about your outcome will you have enough staying power to hang in until the objective (pleasure) is achieved.
If you want to become influential, you will have to learn to use this law to your advantage. You will make it easy for people to be with you and do business with you. You will say and do things that will activate expectations of potential pleasure not pain. All your actions and reactions must show people that you respect their point of view and that you are there to help them to achieve their own objectives. Always remember that most people you deal with are running on preconceived tracks or perceptions.
BE BOLD AND STRETCH YOUR COMFORT ZONE DAILY – NO GROWTH IS POSSIBLE WHILE YOU REPEAT THE SAME OLD STUFF ENDLESSLY- IT IS OK TO BE SCEPTICAL, BUT OPEN YOUR MIND AND BEGIN TO LOOK AT LIFE FROM MANY DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES. YOU WILL OFTEN BE CHALLENGED WHEN YOU VISIT THE READING ROOM. WE ONLY GROW AND EVOLVE WHEN WE DARE TO GO OUTSIDE WALLS OF OUR BELIEF SYSTEM. OUR OBJECTIVE IS TO BECOME LOVE. NOT ACT AS IF WE LOVE, BUT TO BECOME UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. OUR INTENTION DIRECT ALL OUR ACTIONS. – VISIT THE READING ROOM DAILY AND DISCOVER HOW POWERFUL YOU ARE!
Use the following method and power words when you are searching for new ideas or fresh perspectives. They say that the difference between a rut and the grave is about six feet. Many of us slip into a groove and continue to play out our lives until change is forced on us. Nothing new can be created until you work up enough desire and courage to change something. Everything will stay the same until you change the current recipe.
Creativity comes to those that are not afraid of the unknown. Inventors and innovators dare to go where nobody went before. They think of ways to achieve a specific objective or solve a problem that later seem so logical, but that have been ignored because it challenged the current rules. No progress is possible while you sustain methods and systems that might be outdated and defective.
The golden rule is to remain vigilant for fresh ideas all the time. Most of the biggest inventions came about when someone identified a problem and allowed his mind to come up with a solution. Many of us become passive or panic we are faced with a potential problem. The innovators love problems and do not view them as barriers. They see them, as wonderful opportunities to improve or create something brand new that will make certain problems go away.
The innovators are responsible for everything that you see when you look out of the window. They saw solutions while the rest of the people remained focused on the problems. Your mind is a powerful computer that is connected to the universal mind. There is an unlimited resource of data stored in the universal mind’s archives. Creative people tap these archives and often come up with amazing inventions. Individuals that are not even connected to a specific industry come up with ideas that stun those that have been working there for years.
Use the following method and power word the next time that you are faced with a problem or barrier. Focus on the situation, problem or obstacle and repeat the power word “create”. This power word will activate a creative process in your mind.
You will soon discover that your mind will begin to search for solutions where it possibly in the past could only dig up hundreds of reasons why something just cannot be done. You will soon find that several options will come to mind when you trigger your inventive power by using the word “create”.
You are a creator in your own right. You have been creating for many years. Look around you and become aware of the many things you created to date. You created your own world and circumstances. Your historical mindset directed what you created in all areas of your life. The choices that you made historically formed the base of what you have today.
You can spend your time creating wonderful innovations or you can waste it creating excuses why certain things cannot be done. Repeat the word “create” the next time that you need a solution to a problem. You will soon discover that you will have several options or combinations of ideas that could assist you to overcome what you are faced with.
The key is to focus on the outcome you desire. The power word “create” will cause creative chemicals to be released by your brain. You will suddenly think solutions and not problems like you have possibly done in the past.
I suggest that you make notes of all ideas that surface after you used the power word “create”. Do not judge what come to mind. You will be able to later use one or a combination of the ideas that surfaced to “create” a solution to the problem. Remember you can use this system to innovate and “create” even when you have no immediate problems that need your urgent attention.
Repeat this power word when you are faced with a problem or challenge that you would like to overcome. Create. Create. Create.
Possible other power words you can use: Solution. Solution. Explore. Explore. Innovate. Innovate.
Rene
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Business Quotes Below by Subject – Quote Categories – Bookmark and Come back often
The simple act of writing down small, medium, short and long term goals that include our personal, family and careers immediately make a huge difference in our life. Massive power rushes into your system the very moment that you write down a goal and start acting on it. The simple act of writing down your goals start a powerful engine in your energy field that will assist you to achieve virtually anything you have the guts to dream about. The goals that you penned and acted on cannot escape you. I dare you to be bold and to write down a single goal that you wish to achieve in the next seven days.
Write down something that you want to achieve, obtain, improve, repair or adjust within the next seven days. There is no need to write a business plan and work out every detail of the task you want to conclude. Decide for example that you want to get your roof repaired that has been leaking for a while. Take a clean sheet of paper and write at the top of the page, I am going to repair the leaking roof by next Friday. Most of us tend to “think”, “I must really find the time to repair that leaking roof”, but soon fall into a procrastination rut. We have good intentions, but allow a million and one things to side-track us. We find fancy justifications for our lack of action and can justify away our inability to get the job done in weird and wonderful ways. I can guarantee you that the moment you write down your objective and start taking action to make it a reality something awesome begin to happen in your interior. You will soon discover that ideas begin to flow into your life that will assist you to achieve your stated objectives.
Randomly write all ideas that come to mind underneath the goal that you wrote down earlier. Do not validate the ideas that come to mind. Write all of them down. Now select one of the ideas listed that might seem most feasible at the moment and take the necessary action to execute that specific idea. You will discover that the moment you have a goal and you begin to take action something amazing begins to happen. New ideas, new methods and individuals that might be able to assist you will suddenly appear in your life. Friends, family and even strangers will display a desire to assist you to achieve your desired objective that you wrote down earlier.
Many take little notice of motivational or inspirational articles, books or posters. Others in turn scan the horizon for anything that promise to magically turn them into unstoppable manifestation machines. We have been flooded with so-called inspirational books and material for many years now. It is almost pathetic to notice how authors, some well known and some that never wrote a book in their life before jump on the bandwagon when a new movie or DVD come out and achieve success. A good example of this is when the DVD’s came out with the titles “What the Bleep” and “The Secret”. An avalanche of books, DVD’s and articles suddenly rained down on us like a thunderstorm. Everyone jumped on the idea of manifestation. Deceptive seeds were sown by well intended and not so well intended authors and lecturers that created the impression that you can simply flop down on a comfortable chair and visualise your way to success and affluence. Millions of books and DVD’s were sold world-wide. The “secret” that turned out not to really be a secret became a best seller world-wide. Don’t get me wrong. Both the books mentioned contain powerful material that could turn your life around, but fail to really explain that visualisation must be followed by sustained action if you want to achieve your objectives. The blue print that governs most of your actions and choices is mirrored in the environment around you that you face daily. Many of us slipped into a certain channel early in life. We then simply become a copy machine that churn out the same old attitude and outcomes in the patterns that we live daily. Very few of us make regular attitude adjustment and modify the perceptions that form the main pillars that we built our lives on. We make the same old mistakes and act in the same manner without stopping for a moment to question the validity of our actions and choices. Our attitude towards life in general and our attitude towards our children, friends, politics, race etc. remain the same. The same responds patterns jump into action when triggered. The most effective way to get from where you are to where you want to be is to adjust your attitude. New software must be downloaded into our subconscious minds. What I find amazing is the reluctance we often display when it comes to the modification of mindsets that no longer serve their purpose. We must reinvent ourselves on a daily basis. We cannot desperately hang onto stuff that is busy poisoning our soul. This message might be the best news you received in decades. The reminder that you as an intelligent human being can reinvent yourself, your relationship, career or anything else whenever you want to must be phenomenal news to you. We often fear change, but look around you and you will notice that growth is not possible without change. They say that you need to reserve a place at the funny farm if you believe that you can repeat the same old behaviour and achieve a different outcome.
When you look deeply into the nature of this thing called life and begin to understand what life is and the way the mind works, you will come to realize that in fact your happiness does not depend on any outside circumstances, events or people. This is the core realization. This is the heart of this understanding. When things begin to fall apart and then you begin to see what’s really going on, you will discover that the happiness you seek is an internal event, an internal experience. And that this internal experience has nothing to do with all the things you were programmed to believe your happiness depended on! And this is why I say this is the good news… because it means you’re free! You are free! Your happiness doesn’t depend on anyone or anything… It’s up to you. And there is something you can do about it!
From around the world, objects have been discovered over the past 200 years that clearly originate from highly advanced civilizations.
Found in California, a rock was cracked open in search of fossils. But instead of a fossil, out fell a very strange object. The rock came from a formation that had been dated at around half a million years old. In the picture below on the right is an x-ray of the object. It is composed of a ceramic material and metal. In some respects it resembles a modern spark plug.
Thousands of spiral, screw-like objects have been unearthed over the past 20 years by gold miners in the Ural Mountains in Russia. These metal items have been found at depths from 3 to 40 feet. The layer which contains the spiral shaped objects consists of gravel deposits which have been dated at up to 100,000 years of age. These are obviously man-made objects manufactured to a high degree of sophistication.
Man-made artifacts in coal
A small steel cube was found in a block of coal in Austria in 1885. A few years later, in 1891, a woman in Illinois reportedly discovered a gold chain in a chunk of coal. An iron pot was found in coal in Oklahoma in 1912. A woman found a child’s spoon in coal in 1937. In 1944 a bell was discovered (shown below) inside a lump of coal that was mined in West Virginia. What are such objects doing inside coal dated as hundreds of millions of years old?
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Two workmen signed sworn statements as to their discovery in 1912 of an iron pot inside a large piece of coal that they were breaking up to be used in the furnace of a power plant. Apparently, the pot left a clear fossil impression in the remaining pieces of coal.
Man-made objects in rock
An iron nail was found in rock in a Peruvian mine by Spanish conquistadors (in 1572). An iron nail was discovered in a Cretaceous block of stone from the Mesozoic era (mid-1800s). A gold thread was found in stone in England (in 1844). An iron nail was found in quartz in California (in 1851). A silver vessel was extracted from solid rock in Massachusetts (in 1851). An intricately carved and inlaid metal bowl was found in a piece of stone (in 1852).
In June 1851 Scientific American reprinted a report from the Boston Transcript about a metallic vase, found in two parts, that was dynamited out of solid rock, about 15 feet below the surface in Dorchester, Massachusetts. The bell-shaped vase, made from a zinc and silver alloy, was 6 inches high. On the sides were figures of flowers in bouquet arrangements, inlaid with pure silver. The estimated age of the rock out of which it came was 100,000 years.
On June 22, 1844, a report appeared in the London Times to the effect that some workmen quarrying rock close to the Tweed about a quarter of a mile below Rutherford-mill, discovered a gold thread embedded in the stone at a depth of eight feet. Dr. A. W. Medd of the British Geological Survey wrote in 1985 that this stone was of Early Carboniferous age between 320 and 360 million years old.
In 1851, in Whiteside County, Illinois two copper artefacts, a hook and a ring, were brought up during the drilling of a well from a sand stratum 120 feet deep. The stratum was dated at 150,000 years old.
A two-inch metal screw was discovered in 1865 in a piece of feldspar unearthed from the Abbey Mine in Treasure City, Nevada. The screw had long ago oxidized, but its form, particularly the shape of its threads, could be clearly seen in the feldspar. The stone was calculated to be 21 million years in age.
Ancient constructions
In 1869, in the December 17 issue of The Los Angeles News it was reported that a smooth slate wall covered with strange alphabetic writing had been discovered in a coalmine. The letters were raised and well defined. When chiseled away, the coal that had covered the wall bore their distinct impression, which confirmed that the wall dated to a time when the coal was formed. The coal was from the Carboniferous era, well over 200 million years old.
In 1891, close to Cleveland, Tennessee a length of wall was discovered which extended for about a thousand feet. It was on average 2 feet thick and 8 feet high, with numerous projections spaced along the top every 30 feet or so. Its position dated it geologically to over a million years old. The wall was composed of red sandstone blocks. Along one stretch of wall a number of the sandstone blocks were covered with the hieroglyphs of a mysterious language. All together, 872 individual characters were recorded.
While shot blasting a coal seam in 1928, a miner found, among the dislodged coal, blocks of concrete about a foot across. The faces of the blocks were highly polished. The remainder of the wall disappeared into the coal seam. A second miner working a coal face about 100 yards away struck what seemed to be the same wall. Another coal miner in West Virginia claimed miners had found a well constructed concrete building.
On June 27 in 1969, workmen cutting into a rock shelf situated on the Broadway Extension of 122nd Street, between Edmond and Oklahoma City, found an inlaid tile floor 3 feet below the surface, and covering several thousand square feet. A form of mortar was found between the tiles. It was dated at 200,000 years old.
Conclusion
With the destruction of the ancient libraries of Alexandria and China, the only remaining records of the very ancient past are to be found in India and Tibet. They speak of a golden age when men could fly in fantastic craft that could defy gravity. What happened to these fabulous civilizations? It appears that they we obliterated from the face of the earth in a series of environmental catastrophes. Such was the ferocity and scope of the destruction that virtually nothing remained. But as shown above, evidence has been coming to light. As this evidence slowly accumulates, it is becoming increasingly clear that man has had a far more glorious past than the one that has been painted by modern archaeology.
Happy people have an advantage over unhappy ones — they may be healthier and may live longer.
An extensive review of literature using seven types of evidence indicates that high subjective well-being (SWB), such as life satisfaction, optimism, and positive emotions, causes better health and longevity. The review, published in Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being (2011), examined 160 studies which showed compelling evidence that positive feelings predict health and longevity.
The findings of the review, based from seven types of evidence, are summarized below:
Longitudinal studies. These studies, which have large sample sizes and have followed participants for a decade or more, revealed that SWB was related to lower mortality rate in both healthy and diseased populations. Positive moods such as joy and happiness, life satisfaction, hopefulness, optimism, and a sense of humor were associated with reduced risk of mortality and predicted longevity.
Physiology and health. Moods and emotions are associated with biological markers such as blood pressure, cortisol, and inflammation. Studies found that pessimists have higher blood pressure levels. Anger and hostility were related not only to the development of cardiovascular disease, but also to disease progression and inflammation. Stress predicted lower levels of immune response; whereas, positive affect strengthened immunity. Positive affect was associated with greater social connectedness, perceived social support, and greater probability of performing healthy behaviors.
Experimental manipulations of emotions. In experimental studies, positive and negative moods are induced which are then measured. Research showed that participants exposed to positive mood induction had quicker cardiovascular recovery after a stressful task than subjects who were exposed to neutral and negative mood inductions. Studies also revealed that couples who were generally higher in hostility had slower wound healing than low hostile couples, as well as more tumor necrosis and a poorer immune response.
Animal studies. Animals are used in experimental research to obtain information about how certain positive and negative situations affect their health and longevity. Studies revealed that socially-stressed monkeys developed more extensive atherosclerosis than unstressed ones. Stress, threatening human behavior, and isolation suppressed the immune system of monkeys, chickens, and pigs. Pigs that learned a mastery task to obtain rewards, giving them some control over their environment, later showed quicker wound healing and carcass quality.
Quasi-experimental studies in natural settings. Studies in quasi-experimental studies suggest that events and disasters are associated with cardiovascular and immune changes. Disasters, bereavement, and observing exciting sports events can trigger cardiac deaths in vulnerable individuals. Further, people with work overload and worry showed higher cortisol response at awakening and on weekdays but not on weekends.
Interventions that influence SWB. Researchers found that transcendental meditation and progressive relaxation reduced blood pressure over a 3-month follow-up period, compared to a control group. People who wrote about intensely positive experiences had fewer health center visits for illness during the following 3 months, compared to people who wrote about a control topic. Patients who suffered from myocardial infarction, who received Type-A counseling (for Type A behavior) in addition to traditional cardiac counseling, were less likely to die within 5 years.
SW’s impact on quality of life and pain. Studies showed that positive emotions were related to lower pain and greater tolerance for pain. Patients suffering from fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis reported less pain with positive mood induction while women reported less pain to heat stimuli when looking at photos of their partner.
In sum, these converging studies form a compelling proof that SWB, such as happiness, causally influences health and longevity.
You are given the gifts of Gods. You create your reality. Yours is the creative energy that makes your world. There are no limitations to the self except those you believe in.
Think you are well and that all is well with you and nature will read your thoughts and make them true.
Your thoughts are the tools with which you carve your life story on the substance of the universe. When you choose your thoughts, you choose results.
Life allows you to think as you please, but it always produces for you what you think.
The most powerful way to develop your self-confidence is to stop looking at life through a “pink” filter system. You must see people, family, friends, strangers, business and religion in a realistic and stripped down manner. The first thing you need to do is to answer a very simple question. The question is – what is the real intention (agenda) of this person or institution? You need to dig deeper and uncover the real agendas and intentions, not the often bullshit masks and camouflage presented as bait. They for example might not really care as much as you think they do about saving your soul. Their real intention might be your money or the free hours you will spend “selling” their cause (books or ideologies etc.). That friendly politician might not care a fuck about you, your future or your family, but will tell you whatever you will be prepared to swallow to get your vote. I don’t want you to become paranoid and see a conspiracy in every shadow. All I am suggesting is that you make it your business to find the source reasons why a person, company etc. is attempting to connect with you or sustain their connection with you. You might think that this guy is buying you flowers and sending you romantic message on your phone because of your wonderful personality and blue eye. His only goal might be to get you into bed and chalk up one more victory in the pecker department. Awareness is the key to success. Ask questions and probe until you fully understand what or who you are dealing with. We need to become realistic if we want to uncover why we often end up the victim. The following might sound cynical, but you do not really have a massive supply of true friends that will die for you. Most friendships and for that matter even relationships are built on a parasitic* foundation. People feed from each other emotionally, physically and socially. You will often be dropped like a hot potato once you are depleted of whatever a person was feeding on. Set yourself free by expecting nothing from nobody. Appreciate life and your relationships on a moment to moment basis.
Rene
parasitic*
Usually, although parasites harm their hosts, it is in the parasite’s best interest not to kill the host, because it relies on the host’s body and body functions, such as digestion or blood circulation, to live.
The remains of what has been described as a huge lost city may force historians and archaeologists to radically reconsider their view of ancient human history.
Marine scientists say archaeological remains discovered 36 meters (120 feet) underwater in the Gulf of Cambay off the western coast of India could be over 9,000 years old.
The vast city – which is five miles long and two miles wide – is believed to predate the oldest known remains in the subcontinent by more than 5,000 years.
The site was discovered by chance last year by oceanographers from India’s National Institute of Ocean Technology conducting a survey of pollution.
Using sidescan sonar – which sends a beam of sound waves down to the bottom of the ocean they identified huge geometrical structures at a depth of 120ft.
Debris recovered from the site – including construction material, pottery, sections of walls, beads, sculpture and human bones and teeth has been carbon dated and found to be nearly 9,500 years old.
Lost civilization
The city is believed to be even older than the ancient Harappan civilization, which dates back around 4,000 years.
Marine archaeologists have used a technique known as sub-bottom profiling to show that the buildings remains stand on enormous foundations.
Author and film-maker Graham Hancock – who has written extensively on the uncovering of ancient civilizations – told BBC News Online that the evidence was compelling:
“The [oceanographers] found that they were dealing with two large blocks of apparently man made structures.
“Cities on this scale are not known in the archaeological record until roughly 4,500 years ago when the first big cities begin to appear in Mesopotamia.
“Nothing else on the scale of the underwater cities of Cambay is known. The first cities of the historical period are as far away from these cities as we are today from the pyramids of Egypt,” he said.
Chronological problem
This, Mr Hancock told BBC News Online, could have massive repercussions for our view of the ancient world.
“There’s a huge chronological problem in this discovery. It means that the whole model of the origins of civilization with which archaeologists have been working will have to be remade from scratch,” he said.
However, archaeologist Justin Morris from the British Museum said more work would need to be undertaken before the site could be categorically said to belong to a 9,000 year old civilization.
“Culturally speaking, in that part of the world there were no civilizations prior to about 2,500 BC. What’s happening before then mainly consisted of small, village settlements,” he told BBC News Online.
Dr Morris added that artifacts from the site would need to be very carefully analyzed, and pointed out that the C14 carbon dating process is not without its error margins.
It is believed that the area was submerged as ice caps melted at the end of the last ice age 9-10,000 years ago
My mood was cold, dark, and directionless. My tortured mind was filled with thoughts of missed opportunities and broken promises.
The cutting wind on my unshaven face made my eyes water and drove the dark clouds of depression into my shattered soul.
The years slipped by like fleeting dreams. Moments of joy and victory came and vanished like the waves of the ocean bashed on the black rocks of sadness.
I looked up and noticed the sheets of rain that endlessly poured its gift of life and growth in all directions.
A thought darted into my tired defeated mind. I suddenly noticed how nature shares her abundance with everyone and everything.
Mother Nature is not selective when she sends gifts of rain and sunshine to feed, nourish and rejuvenate everything with a smattering of life at their core.
These gifts of life are given to the seeds that are still sleeping in the soil. The dark scorched earth will soon put on a new coat of colour and in turn pass on these gifts of life to the bees, birds and everything else that waited patiently on Mother Nature to return as she has done since the beginning of time.
I suddenly understood that it is mankind’s inability to give unconditionally that is responsible for the inequality that drips off this planet like black wax from a candle.
Our homes are filled to the brim with stuff, but we want more, better, faster and the latest. Something inside us drives us like a hungry pack of wolves forward in our quest to feed our greedy ego.
There is no time for compassion in our busy lives. Poverty stares at us on every corner, but we are so obsessed with our own little world that we never notice that cold and hungry child on the corner of the street or a mother that worked her hands to the bone to serve us where we sit in our artificial castles sipping our wine of success.
The clouds of gloominess gradually lifted from my bowed shoulders. I knew what Mother Nature came to teach me in this dark night of my soul. She came to teach me about compassion and gratitude. She showed me that I must learn to give unconditionally and abundantly if I want to make a contribution to life on this planet.
I noticed that the sun began to break through the clouds announcing that the rain moved on to go and do some more teaching down the road. A rainbow suddenly appeared on the horizon. I slowly got up, wiped the water from my face, pushed back my shoulders with new hope in my heart against the backdrop of the singing of the birds that were thanking Mother Nature in advance for the new gifts that she will bring the next time she pays us a visit. She will like before pour her gifts on the rich and the poor, on those that have in abundance and those that have virtually nothing. She deposits her gifts on everyone regardless of their status, race or career and knows that a time will come when mankind has evolved enough to grasp that we are one and an extension of her.
A suggestion is like a seed…once it is thrown onto the soil of your mind, it can grow into a mighty tree; it can even create a forest, with trees bearing nothing but the fruit of that suggestion.
There are places and people that are constantly broadcasting gloom. Avoid exposure to anyone or anything promulgating pessimistic views; for their gloominess can vine onto you and in no time, the tree of pessimism will be rooted, miles deep, into your mind.
A forest cannot grow in unfriendly environments…environments of extreme cold or dryness. Make your mind so consumed with positive emotions, that it will become an unfriendly place for hopelessness to grow.
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“Self-suggestion allows you to control what gets planted into your head.” Andres Lara
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Here is how you can turn your mind into an unfriendly place for desperation and other negative emotions:
1- What To Say: Suggest to yourself out-loud “I’m the best at what I do. I experience abundance everyday. I am a very lucky person. Wealth is attracted to me.” This is called self-suggestion, which is a great tool to plant great thoughts into your mind.
2- How You Say It: Think about the people who have had the most influence on you or society. They were influential because they believed in what they were saying. Say your suggestions with conviction, so they’re felt within the inner most chamber of your mind. It’s how you say it that counts.
3- When to Say It: The fields of your mind are the most fertile or receptive to suggestion when they are plowed…meaning when you are relaxed which is:
1- Right when you wake up because you are rested and untouched by exterior forces
2- Before you fall asleep because your conscious mind lacks the energy to disagree. Use self-suggestions at these times.
4- Limit Negativity: You can avoid strangers, but you cannot completely avoid a negative relative or co-worker. Yet you can limit your interactions with them. Most importantly, you can make yourself inaccessible to them during your most receptive times (see #3). Save those times for you to plant some positive seeds with self-suggestions.
5- Picture it while you say it: Since a picture is worth a thousand words, develop a picture of each of those self-suggestions (see #1) inside your head. For instance, picture yourself being the best at what you do. What would others say about you? What kind of pay would you get? Where would you work from? Visualize and say your suggestions simultaneously.
Scientists in US have found a link between aggressive behaviour and sexual arousal.
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Violent behaviour in mice has been tracked to neurons within a part of the brain associated with sex.
Researchers discovered that sex and violence are intertwined in mice. A tiny patch of cells buried deep within a male”s brain determines whether it fights or mates, and there is good reason to believe humans possess a similar circuit.
The study shows that when these neurons are quieted, mice ignore intruding males they would otherwise attack.
Yet when the cells are activated, mice assault inanimate objects, and even females they ought to court.
“We really don”t know which part of the brain went wrong in those mice. Consequently it”s tough to make sense of that behaviour,” says Dayu Lin, a neuroscientist now at New York University and an author of the study, who began searching for the seat of aggression in mice while working with David Anderson at the California Institute of Technology inPasadena.
As part of the study, the researchers exposed male mice to consecutive encounters with other intruding male and female mice.
They then examined the brain areas activated by the encounters by labelling brain cells with a fluorescent tag that can distinguish recently active neurons. Surprisingly, neurons within a region called the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH) snapped into action during fights – but also during sex.
Perplexed, the team implanted male mice withelectrodes capable of measuring single cells in this area of the brain and watched what happened when mice fought or mated. Most of the neurons fired specifically during sex or bouts of violence, but a handful fired during both of these seemingly opposing behaviours.
The researchers next infected neurons in this region with a virus that inserts a gene that renders them responsive to blue light – a technique called optogenetics. With an optic fibre implanted into the brains of these mice, Lin and Anderson could fire these neurons on command.
When they did so, male mice wasted little time attacking other intruding males. Activating neurons in the aggression centre also provoked assaults on castrated males, whom males would usually ignore, as well as anesthetized animals and even an inflated laboratory glove.
Switching on these neurons also drove males to attack females – but only up to a point. When males first encountered a female, activating the neurons sent them into attack mode. However, if sex had already ensued, the researchers could not elicit the mice to attack.
“It”s kind of in its own world. It doesn”t listen to anything else,” Lin says. However, activating the aggression circuit post-coitus provoked a swift attack on the female.
Quieting the aggression centre also stopped mice from acting on violent urges. Animals expressing a gene in these cells that silences them didn”t attack intruding males, at though their sexual appetites remained.
Lin and Anderson hypothesize that the entanglement of brain circuits involved in sex and violence could help mice to respond appropriately to intruders, whether male or female.
They suggest that the neurons activated by sex suppress the urge to lash out against an unknown female.
This grandfather of all people-skills books was first published in 1937. It was an overnight hit, eventually selling 15 million copies. How to Win Friends and Influence People is just as useful today as it was when it was first published, because Dale Carnegie had an understanding of human nature that will never be outdated. Financial success, Carnegie believed, is due 15 percent to professional knowledge and 85 percent to “the ability to express ideas, to assume leadership, and to arouse enthusiasm among people.” He teaches these skills through underlying principles of dealing with people so that they feel important and appreciated. He also emphasizes fundamental techniques for handling people without making them feel manipulated. Carnegie says you can make someone want to do what you want them to by seeing the situation from the other person’s point of view and “arousing in the other person an eager want.” You learn how to make people like you, win people over to your way of thinking, and change people without causing offence or arousing resentment. For instance, “let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers,” and “talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.” Carnegie illustrates his points with anecdotes of historical figures, leaders of the business world, and everyday folks.
The first self-help book I ever read was “How to win friends and influence people” by Dale Carnegie. I just finished school and was looking for an inspirational book in a tiny, poorly stocked book store in Windhoek in Namibia. I came across Dale Carnegie’s book in the scant selection of books on a shelf right at the back of this dusty store. I unashamedly admit today that although this was the first “motivational” book that I ever owned when it still remains one of the top ten books I ever read when it came to practical advice regarding people skills. Many of you might have read the book or still have a copy on a shelf in your library. I would suggest that you read it again. It will refresh your memory on one of the most important principles when it comes to compassion. It will remind you that you can make more progress in all areas of your life if you develop a sincere interest in others. Dale indicates in this book that you can make more friends in two months by developing an awareness of the interests of others than you could achieve in two years using any other method.
We live in small boxes today surrounded by massive walls to keep intruders out that might dare to enter our comfort zones. We shout at each other over these walls and only on very rare occasions lower our draw bridge and venture out or invite anyone into our domain. Most of us go around with our defence shield up and remain on guard twenty four hours a day. The political climate that we live and work in might also have something to do with this unhealthy behaviour. We need to open up and become more vulnerable if we want to escape the deadly ruts that many of us fell in over the years. Some of us feel lonely and need friends, companionship and fun, but we often forgo on these desires because of our fears and warped self-interest. Everything revolves around us and our own dreams, desires and choices. We look at life, people and places through a self-interest one way mirrors. Our interests always come first and the interests of others never really feature at all. We have this “What is in it for me” attitudes that fail to address the needs of anyone else.
When last did you manage to get yourself out of the way long enough to listen and experience any human being, family member or friend with an open mind? Many of us developed a sick habit of judging everyone. We endlessly scan people for flaws or potential threats. We fail to listen to them when they talk. We listen to the first few words of their sentences and then jump to conclusions. We look at people through eyes that fail to see the pain or desperation in them. We listen to what people say and fail to read the subliminal call for help that they are possibly to proud or ashamed to express. Do we care enough to really hear what our partner or children are telling us? Are we alert enough to feel the emotions of the person that we are communicating with? I think we all of us might have some work to do when it comes to mastering the art of putting the interest of others first.
When last did you compliment anyone on anything? We as parents tend to only give attention to our children when they are sick or when they did something wrong. We as partners only become interested enough when our relationships begin to fall apart. We fail to notice the cracks and peeling paint in our relationships. We are so busy with our own agendas, self-interests and objectives that the pain and frustration experienced by our partner bounces off our egotistical shield. Can you see what major difference a shift in attention can make in your life? Can you accept that life is not only about you and your plans and goals? Can you understand that the formula for success is that your success if virtually guaranteed if you help enough other people to achieve their own goals and dreams?
So I suggest that you shut up the next time anyone talk to you and listen carefully what is said and what is not expressed verbally. God supplied you with two ears and one mouth. You must listen more and talk less. Put yourself in others’ shoes and ask yourself if you really know the story of the person that you are talking to. Stop jumping to conclusions and stop judging people on hearsay and second hand data. Stop forcing people to communicate to you through their history. Start each day with a new clean slate. We have so many prejudices and perceptions about everything that is cast in stone that it became impossible to see thing as they are in the moment. Set yourself free by putting the interest of others first for a while.
Being exceptional at something is often attributed to one’s genetics. Talent is passed down from parents, grandparents, it seems, whether that’s musical or artistic skill, being good with numbers or a dab-hand with a pipette. No doubt there are significant genetic factors involved, but there are almost certainly environmental factors in the mix too. Perhaps the two work synergistically so that expression of unique genes allows a talent to develop well if it is suitably nurtured.
However, some researchers believe that talent is learned and earned through extended and intense practice of a skill rather than being an innate expression of genes that would otherwise lie dormant. This notion is nowhere more succinctly encapsulated than in the 10,000 hours rule posited by psychologist Anders Ericsson of Florida State University, and made famous by author Malcolm Gladwell in his book “Outliers”.
In essence Ericsson’s theory suggests that sufficient practice in a particular skill can take anyone to the level of proficiency equivalent to that heard in the playing of a top concert pianist. Gladwell wholeheartedly encompasses this notion pointing out that great sportspeople, business leaders and performers all got their 10,000 hours practice in their particular art early in life. This helped them to excel precociously, allowing them to shine while their duller contemporaries were still grappling with the basics.
Gladwell cites the 10,000 hours The Beatles played in Hamburg, between 1960 and 1964. This opportunity gave them something few musicians had at the time leading to their ultimate greatness as musicians and song writers. He cites Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Gates is an examplar partly because he had access to a computer in 1968 at the age of 13 and spent 10,000 hours programming before the vast majority of his peers even knew what a computer was. There are 10,000-hour concert pianists, violin virtuosi, artists, and synthetic chemists too.
I’ve been writing professionally for more than two decades and playing guitar since age 12. Now, I’m not claiming to be concert level in either writing or guitar playing, but surely I’ve passed my 10,000 hours. My readers and listeners might suggest I still need another 10,000, and Ericsson might agree because the 10,000-hour rule is not what it seems.
“I might emphasize how deliberate practice is different from just doing or engaging in activities in the domain,” he told me. “I might disagree with some of Gladwell’s examples as they do not all of them illustrate sustained focus on deliberate practice.” He added that, “In music, people do not seem to win international competitions with less than 25,000 hours of solitary practice; most of that deliberate.” So, Erricson’s own rule is that thousands of hours of dedicated “practice”, and not simply everyday doing of an activity, is the important point.
10,000 hours is about 90 minutes practice every day for twenty years. Which might explain why the average piano-learning child doesn’t make it to concert level. Three hours a day gets you there within a decade, so start at age 10 and you’re done before you leave your teens. Unfortunately, passing the 10,000 hour point exactly is not going to be a skills tipping point. Learning and expertise are gradual processes, skills evolve with practice, talent grows. There will be a vast range of time periods over which each individual reaches their peak of proficiency, their concert level you might say, in whatever field.
Indeed, Ericsson confirmed that 10,000 hours isn’t necessarily enough for some skills. “I tend to emphasize that if there are some people who are gifted even they need to put in 10,000 hours in many domains, like music, which leads one to question what would happen if any motivated person embarked on that path,” he told me. Could anyone become highly talented simply through achieved thousands of hours of dedicated practice? This brings us full circle to the nature versus nurture argument…unfortunately.
Perhaps scientifically speaking, 10,000 hours is purely a metaphor for “lots of practice”. If you want to achieve “concert level” whether at the piano or at the laboratory bench, 10,000 hours is going to get you close to that goal. That’s a lot of practice whichever way you play.
Following 70 years of intensive excavations in the Land of Israel, archaeologists have found out: The patriarchs’ acts are legendary, the Israelites did not sojourn in Egypt or make an exodus, they did not conquer the land. Neither is there any mention of the empire of David and Solomon, nor of the source of belief in the God of Israel. These facts have been known for years, but Israel is a stubborn people and nobody wants to hear about it.
This is what archaeologists have learned from their excavations in the Land of Israel: the Israelites were never in Egypt, did not wander in the desert, did not conquer the land in a military campaign and did not pass it on to the 12 tribes of Israel. Perhaps even harder to swallow is the fact that the united monarchy of David and Solomon, which is described by the Bible as a regional power, was at most a small tribal kingdom. And it will come as an unpleasant shock to many that the God of Israel, Jehovah, had a female consort and that the early Israelite religion adopted monotheism only in the waning period of the monarchy and not at Mount Sinai. Most of those who are engaged in scientific work in the interlocking spheres of the Bible, archaeology and the history of the Jewish people – and who once went into the field looking for proof to corroborate the Bible story – now agree that the historic events relating to the stages of the Jewish people’s emergence are radically different from what that story tells.
What follows is a short account of the brief history of archaeology, with the emphasis on the crises and the big bang, so to speak, of the past decade. The critical question of this archaeological revolution has not yet trickled down into public consciousness, but it cannot be ignored.
ONLY WHEN YOU HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THE CONTROL AND SILLY GAMES WILL YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT THIS BOOK IS ALL ABOUT!
The mechanical matrix of post modern consumer society, built by ordinary men and women, is a reality that is indeed a snare, serving only to isolate its inhabitants from a truer, wider, and richer interpretation in which all things are interwoven and cooperative. The matrix we live in, and which we uphold with each and every one of our thoughts (though as we shall see, these thoughts are not our own), is a world built blindly, through fear and rationality, a prison pervaded by misery, hostility, confusion, resentment, and despair. It ain’t no playground. And if it’s a game, then it’s one which few of us ever get to enjoy playing, perhaps because no one ever told us the rules.
Everyday you make a thousand choices. You choose what to wear, where to go, who to meet, what to eat and what to do. MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL, YOU decide WHAT TO THINK. One thing is sure and that is that your day will not be better than your thoughts. ...................
Just close your eyes for a moment and see if you can visualise this open toolbox and if you can see the hundreds of tools that are neatly placed in this toolbox. Now look if you can see the maker’s name on these tools. The creator of these tools (thoughts and perceptions) is you. You created thousands of thoughts and perceptions (tools) about everything since your childhood. ..................
When confronted with any situation or problem you reach into this toolbox and take out what you think the most appropriate tool would be and then attempt to fix the problem. It is estimated that your mind thinks at least 2,500 thoughts an hour. Every thought that you think is a tool (perception) that you have that you imagine would work best under specific circumstances. This thought process continues day and night and will do so for the rest of your life. .....................................
I am convinced that we think ourselves to a standstill. We never stop playing with these tools in our toolbox and can hardly ever really relax for a while. If we are not faced with a problem or task that needs completion we still continue to take out these tools and mentally rehears and contemplate how we will use them should something that we fear become a reality. ............................
We are forever thinking and scheming and never become still and tranquil inside. Our bodies might seem relaxed, but deep inside our heads this thought process continues churning around. What I am most worried about is that most of the tools that you have in your toolbox are very old and outdated. .......................
Many of the opportunities, problems and obstructions that you face daily cannot be repaired while you are using old and outdated tools. If you take a modern mechanic’s toolbox and you place the toolbox of a mechanic of fifty years ago next to it you will find that there are major discrepancies. When you are confronted with something that needs repair and you do not have the right tool for the task at hand it can be very frustrating. We usually improvise and try using some other tools and hope that it will also get the job done. ........................
When you are faced with a problem you need to select the right tool for the task at hand. If you do not have the tool in your toolbox it can complicate your life. What most people seem to ignore is that it is sometimes better not to reach for your toolbox when faced with a problem. Sometimes you need time to pass or need to leave the problem with its rightful owner. How well you use your tools is usually reflected in the world you see around you. What would you do if you were faced with any or all of the following? .........................
You get a flat tire on your way to an important customer or meeting. You can fall apart, develop a migraine and think that life is against you or you can take out the right tools (patience and reality) and take care of the problem in a relaxed manner. ........................
You have been working on the computer for hours and suddenly lose all your work. You can drop dead with a heart attack; think that God hates you or you can take out the right tool (sanity and reality) and begin over and this time remember to make a backup of your work. ....................
A lover or wife possibly cheated on you. You can go crazy and get an assassin to take out the potential threat to your relationship, think that you are a failure or you can take out the right tool (no fear of loss) and get on with your life. .......................
When you have the right tools in your toolbox it makes life a lot easier. The choices we make are vital in our lives. The more quality choices we make during any given day the higher the probability of success and peace of mind. ................
I suggest that you equip your toolbox with the best tools you can lay your hands on. It is important to upgrade if you discover that one of your tools are outdated or that a more modern version is available. How would you react if your TV packed up and a technician that obviously knows very little about electronics arrived at your house with only a sledgehammer and a few other primitive tools in his toolbox? I am sure that you will send him away and find someone better qualified and equipped for the task. .....................
You might sometimes be like this incompetent and poorly equipped technician indicated above if you do not often update your tools (thoughts) in your toolbox. You can also have all the right tools in your toolbox and never use them because you are afraid that you might make a mistake. ..................
You must remember that happiness and success is always just one thought (tool) away. You should remember when you find it difficult to cope with something that one new tool (thought) could change your life. One fresh thought and one new idea can change your life from pain and suffering to success and peace of mind. ........................
You are today what you were programmed with yesterday. The choices that you make on a moment-to-moment basis decide your fate and future. You can never feel or perform better than the ongoing thoughts and feelings that you allow to occupy your mind! .......................
The mistake we make is that most of us live our lives on a reactive basis. We start and complete our day in a reactive state of being. Something comes to our attention via our five senses or via a thought in our mind. We automatically slip into the “role” that we created for ourselves many moons ago. We act, react and experience the same feelings and emotions that we embedded with our scrip at its inception. We do exactly the same when new stimuli push the previous “drama” off the stage in our minds. We sustain this reactive mode of thinking until we finally go to bed at night. Most of our days are made up of a tapestry of “roles” that we played in our own colorful way. It is important to understand that nothing is going to change until we do something different. We cannot repeat the same old recipes and expect a different outcome. ....................
You can use the “Portable Life Skills Wisdom” book to develop a range of appropriate scripts that you can use when you are faced with a problem or project that need your attention. You will if you apply the scripts in this book find that you no longer run your life on a reactive basis. The new scripts will help you to live your life in the moment. You will become more realistic. You will treat each event on its own merit. How do you do this? ......................
The Process ....................
Read the first message in your book. Write it down if at all possible. It will assist you to absorb the data provided. Now sit back and close your eyes and visualize how you will apply the specific message in the various areas of your life. See yourself on the screen of your mind using the message in all your day-to-day activities. It is important to attempt to feel and experience the benefits that this new mode of thinking will bring into your life. Do this for ten minutes. Then open your eyes and begin to apply the wisdom on all occasions where appropriate in your activities on that given day. ...........................
Proceed to do the same with second message etc. in your book tomorrow. You will upload almost a thousand powerful recipes if you sustain the process indicated above. You can in less than three years upload a powerful “tool” system that will serve you for the rest of your life. This can be a life changing experience if you apply it daily. You will discover that the ten minutes you invest daily will upload countless new strategies into your subconscious computer. Build a successful and happy life. The key however is action. You can have the best tools available to man and still fail if you don’t use them daily. Wishing you the very best with this endeavor. .............................
Daily Support System (This Blog) ................
You not only have the massive key ideas in the book that you can use when appropriate you also receive daily posts on a wide range of subjects that will expand this system to a level never offered before. Visit this blog daily for fresh new ideas with a sprinkle of historical wisdom that stood the test of time. ..........................
Rene
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PORTABLE LIFE SKILLS DAILY WISDOM GUIDE 