Adaptive Freedom Blog

Your Vision is Your Own

Mon, 06 Aug 2012 20:53:00 GMT

You can get a very clear view of yourself through the helpful feedback of those who are close to you. Therefore, the hopes and vision you cherish for the growth of your authentic personality will be worked over and refined in the conscious and nonconscious interchange with your partner and theirs with you. But that vision must always be on your own terms, not theirs.

Your vision must be your own. It should represent some direct and measureable improvement in yourself—responding to your needs, desires, dissatisfaction, questioning, or issues arising from self-acceptance. This sought after improvement must be in some sense your own. If it is an image of the gains of someone else then it is unlikely to be a strong action motivator.

How Good are You at Paying Attention?

Wed, 20 Jun 2012 21:17:00 GMT

Do you think you would notice if someone you were giving directions to was suddenly replaced by someone else? Yes? Perhaps not!

Researchers at Harvard University tested fifteen people in such a scenario. The unsuspecting subjects of the experiment were walking down the street and a researcher dressed as a “passer-by” (who was in fact part of the research team) asked them for directions. As the subject was giving the directions to the passer-by, two workmen rudely barged between them carrying a door.

In the brief moment that the subject was behind the door, the passer-by (researcher) switched places with one of the workmen. The subject was left giving directions to a different person who was taller, wearing different clothes and had a different voice. Eight of the fifteen subjects failed to spot the change!

This is a classic example of what is called “change blindness” when your attention is so closely focused on a task that you fail to notice a very significant change in your visual field. The problem is not divided attention but limited capacity to process attention in the conscious mind.

This highlights the fact that attention is primarily a conscious activity. The visual experience of change requires focused visual attention, which takes up a lot of processing capacity. In the “present moment” (this is the period of short-term memory span of 1-2 seconds) the conscious mind has a processing capacity of only 127 bits of information per second or about five separate items of thought (plus or minus two). That’s why we miss things at a conscious level. And that's why we need to pay more conscious attention to what's happening around us.

Just Think!

Wed, 23 May 2012 21:50:00 GMT

If you doubted the power of mind imagery to change your physical state take a look at this report in Scientific American Mind (May 2012). Amputees who experience phantom limb pain can get relief from an optical illusion. This trick involves looking in a mirror at the reflection of a healthy limb from a certain angle, which causes it to appear where the missing limb should be. Seeing the limb move freely fools the brain into relieving the pain.

Thinking of something else is a time-honored method for coping with pain. Indeed, psychologists have demonstrated repeatedly that what you think about can modulate the pain you experience. People using binoculars to view an injured hand reported greater pain in the hand when it was magnified and less when the binoculars were reversed and the hand was minimized. The size of the image affected the pain.

Until now scientists did not know how exactly that effect plays out in the body. In a study published in Current Biology, neuroscientists have found that distraction does more than merely divert your mind; it actually sends signals that bar pain from reaching the central nervous system.

If we can control pain just by thinking differently then imagine what effective mental imaging can have in all areas of your life. The idea of visioning achieving your goals has been around for a long time but rarely has hard science been so precise in backing up these ideas.

Universal Experience

Mon, 21 May 2012 09:21:00 GMT

The modern world has a tendency to distrust the mystical or those who claim to have powerful spiritual or religious experiences. There is a view that science is a more secure basis on which to ground our view of the world. And yet one the greatest scientists of all time – Albert Einstein – had a high opinion of things mystical. He wrote of the mystical experience as knowledge of the existence of something ‘we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds.’

Others accept such experiences willingly seeing them as a natural unfolding of the underlying spiritual nature of the world. God, religion and spirituality may be linked and may also exist separately, and of course you can have a spiritual life with or without a religious dimension to your life. In the 2nd Pillar of the Freedom Code: Alignment I suggest that spirituality is a deeper more profound nature to your being and your connection to the spirit may be understood as a connection to the divine, and/or to your inner nature or to what I call “Quintessence”—itself a sort of spirit of the universe. Whatever you call it or however you describe it my view is that your connection to this deeper more profound and primal connection is absolutely crucial in discovering your authentic nature – and more important – it provides you with the power and strength to fully realize it.

These words of Albert Einstein sum it up well: "The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed.”

Albert Einstein, Essay: The World As I See It.

Action Expresses Authenticity

Wed, 16 May 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Purposive action is the daily expression of authenticity - action is part of what you are. You are always doing something: exploring, sorting, listening, talking, eating, looking, and playing. Your innate disposition is towards activity.

Self-direction is the essence of purposive action. You may now be more aware of yourself, have accepted your past, understand your needs and desires, be clear about your vision and values, and yet find yourself much the same as you always have been. Movement may be what’s missing. Literally speaking purposive action is the act of propulsion. No vision, great deeds or notable achievements occur without action.

Read more in the free online version of my book at Chapter 12… http://bit.ly/JaYDJS.... which outlines the 3rd Pillar of the Freedom Code: Purposive Action. Great emphasis is attached there on the practicalities of realizing your vision and plan through a detailed and comprehensive process of goal decisions, strategies, and implementation techniques. The Pillar outlines the essential ingredients of Personal Excellence, and explores the meaning of success and failure.

Align with the Force

Tue, 15 May 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Alignment is the key aid to living authentically and is the focus of the 2nd Pillar of the Freedom Code. It is about the ability to understand and utilize the positive forces that pervade your inner space and the world around you by accessing the powerful field of energy and information that pervades the universe.

To be aligned you must have a clear Vision of the ‘ideal you’ accompanied by a life plan that is informed by your values. Vision creates and attracts power. When the flow of your intentions and goals are clear they flow effortlessly into the universal information field. Vision feeds belief and as you begin to see parts of your vision being realized your belief is bolstered.

The Alignment Pillar has an extensive range of effective tools, strategies and techniques to facilitate alignment. Among these are three techniques to synchronize the aims of the conscious and nonconscious parts of the mind. Read more in the free online version of my book at Chapter 11… http://bit.ly/JaYDJS

The Secret is Awareness

Mon, 14 May 2012 16:21:00 GMT

The life you experience is the aggregate of what you pay attention to. To live authentically is to live in complete awareness of the present moment—that slice of time which is your conscious existence. Authentic living is conscious living.

In the First Pillar of the Freedom Code you learn to access the power of Perceptive Awareness by becoming focused on what is happening in this moment and in the broader sweep of your life in general, and this simply means to be able to pay attention. This enables you to have a clear and accurate perception of the reality you create for yourself. It allows you to access the power of your memory and intuition effectively. All four lead to awareness or what is also called ‘consciousness.’

The power of Perceptive Awareness arises from the combined effect of attention, memory, intuition, perception and awareness. This has the potential to allow you create a new, fresh and resourceful perspective on the world every moment of the day.

No instant of your waking life occurs without all these features being present. They are utterly fundamental to your existence. Everything in your life flows from them: how you think, what you think, how you act and react, how you experience the world, your identity, your memory of past events, your hopes and aspirations, all originate in the interlinked process of attention-perception-memory-intuition-awareness (with imagination and desire thrown in for good measure!). When used creatively the intelligence generated by these interrelated elements can totally transform your life.

Awareness in fact depends on attention and perception. You cannot become aware of something until you attend to it and form a perception of what it is that you are attending to. The perception you form is significantly determined by your nonconscious intuition which is based primarily on your memory. Attention, perception, memory and intuition are action processes and awareness is the state of mind that arises from them.

What is Right

Thu, 03 May 2012 09:31:00 GMT

The prevailing disposition of our human nature is essentially optimistic, directed towards harmony and a sense of internal unity, constantly seeking union or wholeness in and with other beings and the world. Despite the evidence of some human behavior, at the central core of our being is the desire to seek what is laudable, hopeful or “to the good” for ourselves and others. Our essential nature urges us to do what is pleasing, valuable or useful. As the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza wrote “You neither want nor strive for anything because you judge it to be good. On the contrary, you consider something to be good because you strive for it, want it and desire it.” What is good is right and what is right is good, and these constitute the essence of authenticity.

Stop Surviving!

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 19:10:00 GMT

Many people are simply surviving: surviving work, surviving unemployment, surviving the weekend, surviving Monday, surviving relationships and breakups, surviving parents and children. When you start to live authentically you stop surviving and start thriving. You become honest with yourself about yourself – you get real about what works for you and what doesn’t. This requires getting a handle on what you value in life and what you are prepared to commit to. Because a coherent, authentic life involves commitment, control, compassion and connection with others. Authenticity is about making choices and far more about saying ‘yes’ to committed living than saying ‘no’ to what you don't want. To thrive is also to strive – to make an effort to live a better, richer, fuller life and in the process come into full possession of your unique authentic nature. And the wonderful thing is that just making the choice is often enough to get you there.

The Age of Absurdity

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 08:30:00 GMT

The Age Of Absurdity: Why Modern Life Makes It Hard To Be Happy by Michael Foley

My rating and Review at Goodreads:

4 of 5 stars

This is a sharp, witty, highly intelligent and really quite brilliant book. Foley reminds us that our yearning for authenticity is not found only in novelty—a new place, a new lover, a new job: “More effective is to see the familiar with new eyes . . . to smash the crust of habit and see life anew.” He exhorts us to “begin a new job in your current post, enjoy a holiday where you actually live, and most thrillingly, plunge into a tumultuous affair with your own spouse.” (139)

The book is full of nuggets of learned information and wonderful quotes such as “understanding is itself transformation” (24). It is packed with impressive research into psychology and a review of the broad sweep of philosophy from the Stoics to Rousseau and much in between and beyond.

The style is easy flowing, lucid and full of distilled and simple but profound wisdom. Ideal for scholars, searchers and interested readers. This will become a classic!

What We Really Want

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 07:00:00 GMT

Beneath all the zealous pursuits of your life—your desire for love, happiness, wealth, power, success and status lies a deep unfulfilled longing. Underlying the myriad hopes and dreams that consume you and may lie partially unsatisfied, there is a more fundamental and ultimately more rewarding search—the quest for your authentic nature. The psychologist Carl Rogers believed that at the root of all the problems people presented as the reason for seeking counselling was just one: a desperate need to become their real selves, to be allowed to drop the mask they presented to the world or felt the world demanded of them.

Others Shape Who You Are

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 07:00:00 GMT

There is an authentic self—an ideal you—inside you waiting to be revealed and those who are close to you and who care about you are well placed to help you realise it. Therefore the exploration of the ideal you is not a solitary act or wholly within your own control. Environmental and interpersonal forces help with the sculpting process. Parents, friends, teachers, and colleagues all play a part. Role models are also a vibrant source of aspirational fuel. But few sculptors are likely to exert as powerful an influence on you as those of your close partners in life – and you can do the same for them.

Missing Our Lives

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 21:39:00 GMT

‎"Most of us miss most of our life!" This stark comment is from the Zen Psychologist, David Brazier http://dld.bz/bgbjH It passes by as you busily fill-up your days with hurry and bustle—doing things, being active and productive, or alternatively just being bored! To be adaptive, free and living authentically you require perceptive awareness. This includes heightened levels of attention, clear perception and awareness formed by your intuitive and analytical minds working in harmony. To be aware is "to be conscious of" what is happening in the present moment. It simply means that you know your thoughts and actions. You are aware of yourself and your situation. Awareness has its roots in two Latin words conscious and scire 'to know,' and is synonymous with consciousness. This 'knowingness' is a state, an outcome or result of increased attentiveness. It is brought about through the processes of attention and perception. Read more athttp://dld.bz/bgbjJ

Action and Satisfaction

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:00:00 GMT

The roots of authentic meaning and purpose in your life—what it means for you to achieve your highest potential—are to be found in the deep recesses of your mind and spirit. These roots feed the vine of your life. Like any vine it needs nourishment to flourish. What water and sunlight are to the vine, action and satisfaction are to the authentic life. Your inner spark of authentic meaning is nurtured and shaped by the ebb and flow of the stream of your experience, emotions and relationships and by the sense of accomplishment you obtain from the activities you pursue.

Why You Do What You Do

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 07:00:00 GMT

To have a vision is essentially to know—deep down—why you are doing what you do. This is well illustrated in the story of the Italian stonecutters told by the psychotherapist Roberto Assagioli. A visitor to a stone quarry asked a stonecutter what he was doing. "Don't you see," he replied a little sourly, "I'm cutting stones," thus showing his dislike of what he regarded as unpleasant and valueless work.

The visitor passed on and put the same question to another stonecutter. "I'm earning a living for myself and my family," replied the workman in an even tempered way that reflected a certain satisfaction.
Further on, the visitor stopped by a third stonecutter and asked him: "And what are you doing?" This third stonecutter replied joyously: "I am building a Cathedral." He had grasped the big picture. This potentially tedious and demanding task was part of the great vision for a Cathedral. His efforts were as necessary as the architect's, and carried equal value.
Therefore, he was performing his work not only willingly, but with enthusiasm. If you keep your focus on the big picture—the long term vision—then the cares of today will take care of themselves.