Thresholds of the Mind

Alright. So, by this point, most of us know that we have a right and a left hemisphere in our brains—broadly speaking, our left side is logical and analytical while our right is holistic and intuitive. Sweet.

Now, did you know that for most of us, our hemispheres are unbalanced?

Yepperz. This state is called “lateralization” and: “The greater the lateralization of the brain, the greater the feelings of separation—and the greater the feelings of separation, the greater the stress, anxiety, and isolation.”

Fascinating. So, how do we get our brains to be more in sync?

One powerful way: meditation. As Harris says: “Whatever the technique, the effect on the brain is substantially the same: synchronization of the two brain hemispheres—and after much practice, an experience of connection with the rest of the universe, accompanied by profound inner peace and happiness. Any kind of focusing will bring about a degree of brain synchronization. The greater the focus, the greater the synchronization, and the deeper the meditative state.”

Very cool. I always knew meditation was powerful but I never knew WHY. :)

So, any technique/practice that focuses our brain will bring about a degree of brain synchronization and this synchronization is a good thing. Got it. Now, let’s look at:

Did you know we can hook our brains up to an EEG (electroencephalogram) and measure the electrical patterns of our brain?

Pretty cool stuff. (I’m looking forward to doing it some day! :)

There are four primary brain wave patterns, each with different attributes:

The interesting thing to note here is that, as Bill mentions above, as we slow our brains down, our brains become more synchronized (which, we just learned, is a good thing).

When you shut your eyes and take a few deep breaths, you slow your mind down from beta to alpha. And, you experience the gains associated with being in alpha state. (See Notes on The Silva Mind Control Method of Mental Dynamics for more mojo on another way to play with alpha.)

For now, know that the deeper you can go and maintain consciousness, the better. And: that “Even very advanced meditators attain the theta state for only moments at a time.”

This is where Holosync’s magic comes in:

So, in October 1973, a researcher named Dr. Gerald Oster published an article in Scientific American sharing his discovery that we can create ANY desired electrical pattern in the brain, including, very importantly, the practice of meditation. In other words, by putting one sound in one ear and another sound in another ear, you can drop a person into the same state as an advanced meditator.

That’s REALLY cool. :)

As Harris says: “Using certain precise combinations of sine wave tones, Holosync creates in the listener the electrical brain wave patterns of deep meditation, causing the two sides of the brain to communicate in a new and beautiful way.”

(To put it in perspective, a Tibetan monk who’s been meditating for decades can get into theta for brief flashes. Holosync can hold you in that state in minutes—allowing you to receive the benefits of decades of meditation in a fraction of the time.)

When that happens, your brain is literally re-ordering itself: “You can think of it merely as a way of reordering your brain to accept life’s challenges and opportunities with greater equanimity and without fear.”

As your brain evolves to higher and higher thresholds of what it can handle, “Problems fall away, not because they are “solved” or understood, but rather because they become irrelevant.”

I’m gonna leave you to explore the book and web site for all the details of the science behind the technology and its effects on our brains/minds, but I’ll say this: I’m on Day 200+ of my hour-long Holosync meditation practice. I’ve covered 1,000+ Big Ideas in the Notes I’ve done so far. And if I could recommend you follow only ONE suggestion it would be to meditate with Holosync. It’s been that powerful for me and I have no doubt that if you invest your energy into it, you’ll see *phenomenal* results.

If you’re interested, go to centerpointe.com to learn more.

For now, let’s explore some of the other Big Ideas from the book:

I love that—both as it applies to using Holosync and as a general metaphor for self-development. No matter how (!!) gung-ho we are, if we can only run a short distance right now, there’s NO WAY we’re going to run a marathon tomorrow or next week. Just NOT gonna happen. Same with ANY and every aspect of our lives. It takes time to see results.

As Epictetus says (see Notes on The Enchiridion): “No great thing is created suddenly, any more than a bunch of grapes or a fig. If you tell me that you desire a fig, I answer you that there must be time. Let it first blossom, then bear fruit, then ripen.”

As my Vipassana meditation teacher, S.N. Goenka says: “Work diligently. Diligently. Work patiently and persistently. Patiently and persistently. And you’re bound to be successful. Bound to be successful.”

And, as Harris says: “I know that it took persistence and discipline over a long time to achieve the benefits I received.”

So, uh, are you trying to run a marathon in some part of your life where you should prolly just be getting good at running the first mile?!? Remember: “No matter how gung-ho you are, no matter how eager you are to be in great shape, you don’t run a marathon in the first week.”

Seriously: What’s one area in your life where you’re trying to go too fast?

How can you embrace the process more and realize your results will come with diligence, patience and persistence over the long run?

T. Harv Eker talks about the same idea in his great book Secrets of the Millionaire Mind (see Notes). Imagine you’re a person with a character of 3 on a scale of 1 to 10. You encounter a size 5 problem. You’re stressed, yah? The problem’s bigger than you. Now, imagine you “raise your threshold” and become a person with a 10 out of 10 character. Do you even notice that size 5 problem?

Same thing here: We want to RAISE OUR THRESHOLD so that the stuff that used to freak us out has no impact any more. This is where we wanna play: “Eventually, a person’s threshold becomes so high that nothing can really disturb their peace of mind.” :)

The idea that RESISTANCE causes our suffering is a *very* big theme to Harris’ work. Reminds me of Dan Millman and Byron Katie and Dale Carnegie.

Dan Millman in The Way of the Peaceful Warrior: “Pain is a relatively objective, physical phenomenon; suffering is our psychological resistance to what happens. Events may create physical pain, but they do not in themselves create suffering. Resistance creates suffering. Stress happens when your mind resists what is… The only problem in your life is your mind’s resistance to life as it unfolds.”

Byron Katie’s book Loving What Is (see Notes) is ALL about, well, loving what is. She says: “I realized that it’s insane to oppose it. When I argue with reality, I lose—but only 100% of the time.” That’s genius. She also says: “If you want reality to be different than what it is, you might as well try to teach a cat to bark.” :)

In his classic, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living(see Notes), Dale Carnegie says: “Professor William James, the father of applied psychology, has been dead since 1910. But if he were alive today, and could hear this formula for facing the worst, he would heartily approve of it. How do I know that? Because he told his own students: ‘Be willing to have it so… Be willing to have it so,’ he said, because ‘…acceptance of what has happened is the first step in overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.’”

What are YOU resisting in your life today? Can you step back and see that it’s your RESISTANCE to whatever is happening that’s causing the suffering?

I love that. Preferences vs. Attachments. Genius.

My friend Dan Siegel (author of Parenting from the Inside Out andThe Mindful Brain), likes to say that Flexibility is like a river that runs between the banks of Chaos and Rigidity. On one side of flexibility, we find ourselves TOO planned, rigid, unyielding. On the other side, we’re too chaotic, not enough structure, etc. The key is to flow between the banks of rigidity and chaos and the ONLY way we can do that is through our own experiential learning. If we try to learn some rules we’re gonna wind up in rigidity. :)

The second half of that powerful second paragraph reminds me of Maslow who, studying the most psychology healthy and actualized people in the world said this: “The dichotomy between selfishness and unselfishness disappears altogether in healthy people because in principle every act is both selfish and unselfish… Our subjects are simultaneously both very spiritual and very pagan and sensual even to the point where sexuality becomes a path to the spiritual and religious.’”

And: “Duty cannot be contrasted with pleasure nor work with play when duty is pleasure, when work is play, and people doing their duty are simultaneously seeking pleasure and being happy.” …“If the most socially identified people are themselves the most individualistic people, of what use is it to retain the polarity? If the most mature are also the most childlike? And if the most ethical and moral people are also the lustiest and most animal?”

That’s brilliant.

And a huge theme of the book. Are you a Reactor/Victim or a Witness/Creator? VERY important distinction. (Check out the book for more along with my Notes on Covey’s 7 Habits of Highly Effective People—being proactive vs. reactive is Habit #1. :)

As Bill says in that side bar to the left, nothing has any INTRINSIC meaning. It’s all, as the Buddhists say, “empty.” The only meaning anything has is that which we give it. Knowing this, when we feel unhappy or distressed, we have the remarkable power to step back, see the meaning we unconsciously gave to the event and choose to consciously select a meaning that WOULD allow us to be happy. (That’s *really* powerful.)

Pause for a moment and consider something that’s stressing you out right now—whether it’s a challenge with money, a challenge with a relationship, your health, whatever. Check in and ask yourself if there’s another way to look at the challenge. One game you can play is to create a spectrum from 1 to 10. 1 being the *worst* way you could view it, 10 being the most positive way you could view it. First, rate your current perspective 1-10 and then see if you can gradually get to 10. Repeat the next time you’re feisty.