Self-Belief

[Zeeshan]

Jazz musicians call it playing in the pocket. Athletes call it the zone. Peak performers sometimes prefer the term superconsciousness. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi call it the flow. Whatever the term, the fact is there are brief moments of history where cricketers exhibit bursts of synaptic sprouts firing in all cylinders like fireworks where they break all inhibitions and operate from a higher consciousness. Case in point Rohit Sharma 264, Brendon McCullum 123, McCullum IPL 158, Yuvraj's countless heroic feat and so on.

Of course, the current model of thinking is 'you work hard, and it pays off'. But that's a belief. That's YOUR belief. That's a belief you were brought up with, not born with. In fact, in the book The Talent Code, Daniel Coyle talks about myelin sheath, the fatty substance that surrounds axons of nerve cells. He purports - correctly- that deep learning and practice (and yes, perfect practice) - will make those like information superhighway. The path trodden in forests after repetitive treading will make information travel faster and faster like a broadband internet connection until an act becomes automatic or intuitive.

But there is a short-cut way to short-circuit that neural patterning. This is the realm of Jesus mode. And it is what I will talk about today. And this is my contention.

The Way of Photographic Memory

Every year we make New Year's resolution. This year was no different and I made a bombastic, hifalutin wish to memorize the entire 20 Volume of Oxford English Dictionary. First, it was just to memorize the vocabulary. Pretty soon it evolved into memorizing the tome verbatim. And for those who tasted the ambrosia will immediately recall that the fine print of OED is like going down the rabbit hole. The fine print gets finer and finer, and it challenges the most hardcore memory experts out there.

It became apparent to me that only way to murder it would be via photographic memory. I mean the real deal. Not the pansy artificial memory palace. But hardcore down in the dirt, all captured in a flash, Jason Bourne sh--.

I experimented with ketosis. It wasn't just sustainable after intermittent fasting and browsing for high fat foods. At any rate, since I am posting in a cricket forum, I will make the digression short. I found out how practicing celibacy and Brahmacharya Swami Vivekanda committed to memory entire Britannica. How there exist in the ether of cyberworld something called "military method" designed after fighter pilot where AW Volkmann used a tachitoscope to imprint after-images in mind's eye that can be replicated in a dark room, such as bathroom, and using a flashlight to create a strobe effect (with high lumens) and create 'mental snapshots'.

See, these things are all available. But problem is many people pride themselves on being 'skeptics' or having a 'critical mind'. Expect they are neither critical nor skeptical of their own skepticism. And since this article is titled Self-Belief, it is important to note that the operative word du jour is 'belief'.

I had the belief. Or sort of. Or so I did. But two things guided me. Tony Robbins once mentioned: "You repeat a lie enough, and pretty soon it becomes the truth." Then he continues: "Guess who said it? - Hitler!" Yes, Hitler was a master of psychological programming and subconscious manipulation before the modern day advertisers brought it to forefront.

Then in a autosuggestion book, I read how in a hypnotic session a patient was told to draw the shutter after the ordeal. And sure enough he did. That didn't surprise me. Yes, people can be suggestible in a relaxed state. It is virtually common place now. Just take a look at any sport psychology book. Apparently, Matt Damon quit smoking with hypnosis and countless others cured their phobia. But what knocked me off my socks was the fact, when asked why the patient did it, he said: "Because the sun was on my face."

The thing is subconscious mind will justify the deep embedded seed by contorting and manipulating the reality.

So, I was always a firm believer in affirmations and self-talk. I suffered from clinical depression for a decade. And after I rebelliously quit meds cold turkey three pillars saved my life: exercise (high intensity cardio), gratitude and yes, affirmations or self-talk.

I am off meds for over a year and I noticed when I was a shitty depressed state, "I" used to bog myself down repeatedly saying the mantra over and over and over and over again: "God I feel so bad now. Oh darn I feel so horrible. God my mind is a mess. I am a loser. I am depressed. I am so sad. I am really upset. I feel so weak." And the thing is they say we have over 60,000 thoughts in a day. So imagine if you constantly abuse yourself and bombard with these negative imprinting, effin damn right you will be depressed. In fact, it will be a miracle if you don't! (And who the f says 'darn' anyways?)

So, I battered myself these time propelled by the Tony Robbins nugget and the autosuggestion gem and although it was hard work and brute force at first, it kind of became second nature. I noticed the value of morning ritual and realized if the very first thought in your mind in the morning is a shitty one, then damn right you will spiral out of control for the rest of the day. I utilized Brian Tracy formula to affirm 20 times in the morning "I love myself. I love my life."

I was on a hiatus from BC. But I immersed myself and saturated in positive psychology and self-help books. Anything from activating superimmune system, to Andrew Weil's spontaneous healing talks on YouTube and yes, to even Deepak Chopra. Having cured myself from 'depression' and having laid the foundation, next I wanted to soar high.

VDB

Most skeptics will dismiss these as New Age fads or pseudoscience or some nifty gimmicks. But if it works, who are you to say how I should behave unless you are motivated by inflated ego and other subconscious agenda?

First, I couldn't even run 20 steps without panting. Then I could 'suddenly' run 2 miles non-stop with haranguing self-talk: "I am on beast mode. I feel unstopabble. I have Navy SEAL mentality" with added posture and postive body language. Speaking of Navy SEALS, you can bicker all day long that these 'stuffs don't work' but the bare bone essentials is that from elite business entrepreneurs to high performing Olympic athletes to Navy SEALS and military ALL use the following three basic mental strength reinforcing acts:

1. Self-Talk (ergo which creates belief in subconscious)
2. Visualization or Guided Imagery (Alex Honnold in his bio wrote for two days he mentally rehearses all nooks and crannies of a craggy surface and then it is just matter of simple execution)
3. Breathing or any simple relaxation technique to get into alpha state to catalyze in the peak performing state or 'the zone'.

So having checked off these mini-milestones, I put the test to my ultimate dream and goal: photographic memory.

It must be said, yes it looks cool on the surface to memorize a book from page-a-second, but the real reason why I obsessed so badly over this from childhood is not because - as some of your ill-perceived egoistical mind would believe that because of my inflated ego- rather due to childhood love, curiosity and fascination to learn everything I can get my hand onto and for violent thirst for knowledge.

Once, when I wore my phone with the affirmation "I have photographic memory" for 1 hour straight, I found a change.

I found the same change a week ago, when I resolved to brainwash myself. I set the goal to brainwash myself 10,000 times with the saying "I have photographic memory" for five hours straight.

So I went to a park to be seclusion and all I played in headphone was the inexhaustible mantra "I have photographic memory". I tell you what man: first hour and a half was an utter bore, chore and pure torture. The inner critic, the skeptical voice of doubt and reason wanted to self-sabotage me by all means hook and crook and all tricks at her disposal by putting seeds of doubt and fear. "Oh this **** won't work. This **** will hardly work. If this was so easy, then anyone could get photographic memory." But I persisted. I reasoned with myself: "But how many actually have tried? How many? Answer me." Then I just said: "Just shut up man."

And boom! Voila. I had the breakthrough. It hit me like LSD. I never had the drug, but I can only imagine when the switch gets flipped, what a person feels. The thing is in that state, you do not memorize all 20 digit numbers or bulk instantaneously. Instead, it is a feeling. The brain works very mysteriously, and surreptitiously. Once subconscious is programmed, it starts to act immediately and the first step it does is it enhances the power of observation. You really feel what a man would feel like if he had photographic memory.

You start noticing little details while your brain keeps getting furnished, flooded and inundated with the programming: "I have photographic memory". You start seeing patterns on bark, the square grille design like quiltwork patch on public restroom wall. You start seeing the erstwhile 'invisible' marks on screw drivers on the very seat you sat for hour and a half or say, that your headphone wire had an off switch button the size of a centimeter in diameter which you never noticed even though you had the headphones for a year.

Then I told myself. I need to see if I missed something from a commonplace object. Now I left my wallet and all my loose change back at home just to cut down the distraction. And I really needed a penny. Funny thing is, it was equally miraculous how right after one and half hour, when I 'wanted' a penny, I 'manifested' out of thin air from my pant pocket.

Although it wasn't 'photographic memory' per se but I was suddenly awakened to all the little details everywhere. I could see things that no one else could. I guess for someone who is not accustomed to that state of mind, that is the first baby step. Then after I stared at the Lincoln penny, I noticed three curious initials. It appeared to V, a D and a B. But my conscious mind took over and said, why would there be these meaningless letters? Maybe it reads USA?

I came home. And Googled, VDB. Before I proceed, here is the penny enlarged and still you will see it is hard to read.



Now never in a million years, I would be so attentive to the details or would have waved it off. But I had enormous fascination, childlike wonder and curiosity and keen faculties of observation.

The VDB stands for the designer of Lincoln penny: Victor David Brenner.

Self-Belief

Of course, that 'feeling' dissipated, and I was back to normalcy soon. But I made up my mind to find out how to activate that latent state. So this time I started taking Joseph Murphy's "Power of Subconscious Mind" seriously as well Claude Bristol's Magic of Believing. I learned from self-help books how Penfeld did an experiment under anesthesia where patients recalled with photographic precision what was the weather like on Thursday on so-and-so date or what had they for lunch or the convo when certain nodes in brain was probed. I learned how in a mock ritual when a group of student did cult like enactment of a teacher's assistant they didn't like and 'acted out' the decapitation scene, the man died of shock soon.

I realized human beings are capable of limitless possibilities. As Brian Tracy wrote:

Your subconscious mind is like a huge memory bank. Its capacity is virtually unlimited. It permanently stores everything that ever happens to you.

By the time you reach the age of 21, you’ve already permanently stored more than one hundred times the contents of the entire Encyclopedia Britannica.

Under hypnosis, older people can often remember, with perfect clarity, events from fifty years before. Your unconscious memory is virtually perfect. It is your conscious recall that is suspect.

The function of your subconscious mind is to store and retrieve data. Its job is to ensure that you respond exactly the way you are programmed. Your subconscious mind makes everything you say and do fit a pattern consistent with your self-concept, your “master program.”

Your subconscious mind is subjective. It does not think or reason independently; it merely obeys the commands it receives from your conscious mind. Just as your conscious mind can be thought of as the gardener, planting seeds, your subconscious mind can be thought of as the garden, or fertile soil, in which the seeds germinate and grow.

Your conscious mind commands and your subconscious mind obeys.

The point I am driving at is:

• You can practice all the techniques of cricket theories from book all you want.
• You can work as hard as you want.
• You can train till wee hours if you want.
• You can sweat yourself to death....

However, if you do not change your subconscious mind programming, you will NEVER WIN.

Of course, in academia and 'prestigious journals' there is always room for falsifiability. However, since my contention is pseudo-religious and quasi-spiritual, I would leave no room for skepticism. It is like saying: "oh let's go on to beat that team or win that war, but why not analyze our loopholes while we are at it with some healthy dosage of self-criticism, self-abnegation, self-chastization, self-denial and heck, while we are at it, why not some dollop of self-abuse'. Ali never did that before a fight. Sure, we live in a democratic world and we are free to think whatever we want. But it all boils down to if you will set yourself for failure with self-negating, negative doubts and fear and uncertainty or the complete opposite?

As for myself, I have got better and better at that game. Now I can almost enter the peak state at will even without drugs or caffeine. Because I realize the power of subconscious mind and the programming.

Your subconscious mind is the limitless capacity of a supercomputer.
Your subconscious mind is the Aladin's genie.
Your subconscious mind is a machine.
Your subconscious mind is the fertile soil of Babylonian riches.

You can program it to get whatever you want.

But first you have to believe it.

The gamesmanship is 90% mental and self-belief, and 10% mechanics. The part where Indians excel in terms of cricket is self-belief. This utter, unshakable, IDGAF depth-of-the-being self-belief.

First you have to believe it. And yes, if you play like God and you get egoistical like Tamim Iqbal, that ego is not the enemy. Guilt, however is. If deeper in your subconscious, you believe or feel guilty for being an arrogant ahole... guess what? Damn right your subconscious will sabotage you. Duh!!

This is the same reason why we -Bangladesh- have choke syndrome. Every time things go on our way, we tended to lose it in the past, because deep down due to our up bringing we felt like:

• "Oh we don't deserve it."
• "Oh, we don't deserve to be victorious!"
• "Oh we simply got lucky!"
• "Oh this is not the REAL Bangladesh!"
• "Oh maybe if we will win, it will get to our head and will suffer!"
• "Oh eto jore ar phaast jawa bhalo na. Amader ektu slow down kora uchit!"
• "Thamo thamo! Beshi bhalo khelle oshubidha ase!" (Strange! But subconsious do behave in a subtle manipulative way to maintain homeostatis and sabotage yourself, lest you deviate from your self-perceived limitations!)

We are not 'born' with any beliefs. Sure there could be genetic encoding and what not, but essentially we are born a blank state and nurtured to be what we are. Heck, I would go as far as to state, even emotions are learned.

Now from where does your self-belief come?

See we were all born with limitless capacity and even photographic mind. Heck, all children have eidetic imagery. My entry point to finding about self-belief was through photographic memory. But I realized, due to traumatic childhood event such as encounter with snake or roller-coaster experience or say anger and control from parents and school as well as abusive witnesses from people all around me who lost it whether relatives, friends or family members, I subconsciously wanted to block away all these 'memories' or 'thoughts'. Only at certain point all of these can be triggered as your subconscious mind which records everything from photographic precision will percolate and surface it to top.

Now ask yourself this. At what age did you lose your childlike wonder and self-belief? Was there some traumatic incident or memory or anything that instigated it? Was there any key moment of your life when you didn't get the thing you wanted an became increasingly disenchanted and disillusioned?

Because that is the key to unheard of riches, my friend.

[DinRaat.]

You need to get a job, you have wayyyy to much free time on your hands.

[bujhee kom]

Incredible, you are so clear explaining through your narrative. My dearest Gopal/Zeeshan, this is simply beautiful...Thank you for giving us a chance to read your articles, your writings simply makes BC a rich and magnetic place.

...But problem is many people pride themselves on being 'skeptics' or having a 'critical mind'. Expect they are neither critical nor skeptical of their own skepticism. And since this article is titled Self-Belief, it is important to note that the operative word du jour is 'belief'.

I truly admire your amazing mind and writing. God bless you.
I will say a lot more tonight once I get home...

Love/Bk

[Shadow]

I refer to the extropianism and the Ericksonian way.

[Zeeshan]

I usually post these on Facebook, but since I deactivated the social media due to too much negativity I will just share it here.

Brain development and Spirituality

Shower can sometimes be chore, as well as relaxing. When you partake in such low intensity exercise, you always want to add a little zest and spice it up. Brain development doctrines and gurus will swear that since your brain is neurplastic, by exercising it as much as possible you will strengthen neurons.

Using your non-dominant hands, writing your name with mouth, or doing any things will activate that dormant region you usually don't associate it with. For instance according to many Applied Psychology journals, travel do indeed rewire brain structure, that we all knew it intuitively. Or so does learning new activities be it crochet, knitting or vestibular activities as skateboarding or balancing or fine motor coordination cerebral sport such as ping pong. Aside, have you noticed how ripped table tennis players are?

So yesterday was 'blindfolded' shower. It was okay. And today, I also wanted to make it challenging by putting the constraint no arms above waist during the entire ordeal. (Lol orphy don't go there...)

Theodore A. Nichols is a former FBI agent who was born armless and used his toes to carry out pretty much everything.

His story was a huge inspiration to me, as are painters who use their feet or mouth to paint.

So I complete my shower and it was fun and challenging to use my knees, thigh and toes to turn the knob and turn off the shower and open the shower door. But the easiest task - ie drying myself- turned out to be most challenging. Exasperated, I tried to calculate how long will all the droplets evaporate just by standing there or maximizing the rate of process by whirling or shaking my feet. But I had no mathematical aptitude.

Then after several attempts I used my feet and teeth to pull the towel off the rack and kicking it several times and picking it up from floor I tried my best to 'dry' myself by sandwiching it between the wall and rubbing myself.

Alas! To. No. Avail.

It was then I kind of broke down a bit and closed my eyes and then and only then at that very instant, I felt all the pain that amputees feel. It is very easy to empathize when you read stories about them, but if I hand't immersed myself in that spot and felt helpless, really helpless, I wouldn't have imagined the slightest pain of the feeling of helplessness.

At the risk of sounding 'mahatma' and 'grandiose' I should admit I prayed for two seconds and asked God to give blessings to all the quadripelagic and amputees out there. That was the 'spiritual part'.

Afterthought


As Tony Robbins mentioned, in a survey in North America when people were asked what is the best thing that could happen, they said: Winning the lottery.

When asked what is the worst thing that could happen? They said: Being a quadripelagic.

What the former idiots don't realize, due to subconscious conditioning and homeostasis, most people will stretch back to where they started like an elastic band (kind of like aggressive weight loss participants) and be back to their former financial status. Because their mindset cannot cope with the newfound wealth. That is why so many lottery winners lose within months all the money earned.

On the other hand Tony Robbins talked of his friend Art Berg, who lost his legs in a car accident - and that too with his best friend driving, and he learned to forgive him. He basically assessed the whole situation and said to himself: I can either live the rest of my life like a total loser and blame this guy, or do all the things I really wanted.

See it is all about attitude. Not what happens to you, but what you do with it.

I know I felt helpless and hence I resorted to prayer. There is nothing wrong with it. If you believe, prayer is the ultimate drug and can give instantaneous solution.

But ultimately it is all about mindset.

I encourage everyone to listen to the recording, even though if you are not a Tony Robbins fan. This is one of those brief moments when his real spiritual side shone through.

[Zeeshan]

Thank you Shadow for the reference and BK for the kind words. I heard the name Erickson, but will look into him.

[tonoy]

Originally Posted by DinRaat.
You need to get a job, you have wayyyy to much free time on your hands.

Quit being a twerp and learn to appreciate other's work. And if you can't do that then learn to shut it when you got nothing nice to say.

Great read zeeshan. In regards to working on other side of the brain. On my last two years of uni I had decided to take notes using my left hand. By my graduation I became quite good at writing with my left hand. I guess you can say that I am Ambidextrous when it comes to writing.

[DinRaat.]

Originally Posted by Zeeshan
Thank you Shadow for the reference and BK for the kind words. I heard the name Erickson, but will look into him.

This guy can motivate a fan to turn into a airconditioner.

Used to listen to him during my HSC.

[DinRaat.]

Z have you ever thought of doing a PhD, you would fit right in with the students.

[Zeeshan]

I know I opened it with one article in mind. Let it be now Self-Help and Positive Psychology Thread.

Came across a remarkable book, or rather concept:



https://www.ted.com/talks/stuart_bro...fun_it_s_vital

[Zeeshan]

Nature Therapy and Brain

[Zeeshan]

Today's topic: Bibliotherapy

http://pete-walker.com/pdf/bibliotherapy.pdf

Also this:

[Shadow]

From mindfulness to mind-emptiness

http://www.peterpoolman.nl/therapiee...ndemptiness/16

[Ahsan]

Gopal da, you have some amazing research and writing skill. Enjoyed thoroughly. Keep up the good work.

Bhai DinRaat, if you find something not interesting, please respectfully stay off. No need to shot the writer down!

[Zeeshan]

Thanks Ahsan. It has been almost 10 days since I wrote it and I was really feeling in touch with my inner Guidance. I lost that intuitive feel. Tainted perhaps? Before I felt, my body knew what to do. I put it to "test" trying to solve Rubik's cube with my intuition. When I came close to solving second layer, I sabotaged myself.

Also thing with your natural intuitive divine intelligence (universal intelligence or subconscious) is that you can't really force it. Suppose conscious mind (the part capable of storing 7 bits at a time) may be your egoic self that is greedy and wants you to push push and push, but your natural divine self may have other ideas. It may have other self-serving, survival mechanism activating ideas...

Perhaps at that point your greedy egoic self wants to solve cube purely out of skepticism and doubt. But your natural divine self wants to activate latent curiosity and other talents.

So I kinda lost it. But in my initial period after getting in touch with my intuition, I felt a strong connection to do something, like a force or an instinct. My first 'success' came in a live chess game at chess.com where I was materially down 4-13 and I actually won that game. I knew no matter how bizarre a 'move' seems you have to trust it, because your inner subconscious programming capable of millions of computational power can 'sense it'. So I was on a stretch and then after a streak of five or six wins, I got bored and decided to see if I can 'use' my 'intuition' to 'cure my eyesight' or 'myopia' or memorize a book. I failed on both accounts, but the weird part of these experiences was the feeling. You felt you could do it.

For those who are still skeptical about subconscious powers and may assert their doubt with my failures will fail to note the times it DID pay off. Of course other than the brilliant flashes and insight in chess, my subconscious power only flourished when I wasn't pushing it. For instance, during 'low intensity' acts as taking shower or driving.

It almost felt superhuman. From anything I did to folding my clothes, to cutting down water usage during shower to maximize global efficiency to driving, to novel knot tying of my neyar, to pouring water and washing dishes, it was almost your sub- or superconscious 'knew' exactly the most efficient, economic, parsimonious, less time consuming and also economical in terms of movement and 'extra' moves. I felt like I was entirely a different being. MY TRUE BEING. That was how God made me to be. Without labels. Without labels that I am 'good' as a writer or in humor or in creativity. I Simply WAS. I was a blank state, my pure superconscious being and I knew I could program myself to be anything I want even if it meant passing Navy SEAL budcamp.

Going back to skepticism, I urge and invite everyone to try the simple internal clock control thing. I mean once I gave my subconscious mind a command to wake up at 3:33 am after coming home from a party really tired and without any will or effort I woke up EXACTLY at 3:33 am. Many else have vouched for this.

In reality it is really nothing magical or woo-woo. Your brain is an incredibly powerful organism. Like an organic computer it sees, feels and records everything. So it is obvious what may seem like 'strange' or 'mysticism' ... in reality there is some really underlying logical connexion.

And just like any 'natural powers' you need to learn to control. Intuition is no different. I am kind of open minded when it comes to healers and psychic. And most people assumes once you are psychic you will go to Vegas and win billions. That is like saying once you can read and write, you will get Nobel Prize in literature next day. You still need to control and hone your powers and there are degrees of skill and gradations.

Anyway, now I feel more 'normal'. It was almost my baby-like mint condition of instinctual drive was unleashed for a short while when I felt I could do anything if I had a 'feel' for it. I failed some, and I gained some.

Now back to normalcy, I am taking it more easily and soothingly. Now I do not force myself with affirmations and willpower. These often lead me to slip into bad days and habits when I don't run or once in a while toke. But there is an inherent danger in positive thinking and psychology. This is this: You try to force yourself to be happy when you are not all the time which may have later explosive effects after constant repression.

Sure in this forum, we trumpet positivity. But most importantly, we have to acknowledge all the frustrations, irritations, snarky sliding remarks and slander to some extent. If you constantly try to force yourself to be 'positive' all the time, you become extremely negative. Ain't that some s***? You become judgemental of people who smoke cigarettes and don't exercise or constantly gossip and slander and libel about other people. You start judging the judger.

Besides in the highest level there is NO DUALITY. There is one. You and I are completely one. It is kind of like a necker cube. Holographic. Reality is BOTH within and within. We are inside it and it is inside us. Paradoxical. Brain is in the vat and vat in the brain if you will. So ALL OTHER PEOPLE'S imperfections, irritations, bad habits and negativities is REFLECTION of YOUR consciousness.

But that is in the highest level. For normal day to day life, when someone cuts you off in traffic, for most part, you don't self-chastize and say 'oh that bugger must be me...I must have been a d--- to someone before'.

So now I have started to take a more 'advaita' or non-dual approach. Found a reservoir of resources. It is called Buddha at the Gas Pump. And I am trying to invoke a more 'natural transformation'.

One of the recurring defining themes in almost all the Awakening experiences from 'extra dimensional beings or angels' is this:

You need to accept and embrace the life you are having. There is a reason why it is so. You are Gods and the reason why you are experiencing the suffering right now is because you originally intended and meant to do so.

It makes sense too. I mean if you are indeed a divine being, wouldn't it make sense NOT to live a superperfect Jason Bourne type godly life every passing second? You WOULD want to f up. LOL You would WANT to screw up. Just to see the taste and feel of it. In that... in THAT lies great poignancy and poetic touch.

Suffering is grace.

P.S. Thanks every one for the support. Din Raat actually inboxed me and had nothing but praise and compliment.

I also leave something I wrote a long time ago out of whim which will give insight why suffering is grace.

[Zeeshan]

Interesting video. Long. Do watch it when you are dozing off to bed.

[One World]

Good writing!

Let me know when your first book gets published. I will definitely get the Kindle version unless you give us BCites the free e-book link .

[Shadow]

Wim Hof known as the " Ice Man" shares his knowledge.