The second exploits the differences in the way we process peripheral visual information from foveal (line-of-sight) vision.  (here)

Here’s something I didn’t see coming at all. In retrospect, I should have seen it coming an Interweb mile off.

I’m new to ‘blogging. Imagine my delight on discovering some very flattering comments left by lovely people – only to find out they’re adverts and spam.

Who is making spam and junkmail productive?

I’ve been struck by how many news reports there have recently been on the subject of mental naps improving problem-solving. We know great problem-solving and creativity can be brought about in trance states, now we’re finding out more.

Daydreaming helps to activate the problem-solving part of the brain. Ironically, the less aware we are of the daydreaming, the better it helps out. (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30725958)

“When you daydream, you may not be achieving your immediate goal – say reading a book or paying attention in class – but your mind may be taking that time to address more important questions in your life, such as advancing your career or personal relationships”.

(http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/153189.php)

REM sleep enhances activity of associative networks, improving creativity. “For new problems, only REM sleep enhances creativity.” For problems we’ve already been working on, time is enough to come up with a solution.

The abstract is available at http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/06/05/0900271106.abstract .

Both papers came from PNAS. Maybe a special? I’ll get back to my uh, research. Zzz.

There are two naturally occuring hypnotic states we go through around sleep: hypnagogia, the transition from wakefulness to sleep; and hypnopompia, the reverse. As you pass through these, your mind naturally takes on the ideas you give it.

You’ll probably recognise the effects from inadvertently programming yourself the wrong way: worrying about something coming up the next day, and having a restless, unsatisfying sleep.

You Get More Of What You Practice:

Of course you get better at something the more you practice it; it turns out that you get more of what you mentally rehearse as well.  There’s good scientific evidence supporting the use of visualisation to improve performance.

This translates into everyday life as well: as you move through the world rehearsing success in your mind, you’ll find not only an improvement in mood but also more success. If you’ve ever received a less-than-optimal outcome (such as saying the wrong thing in an interview) and run the situation through in your mind,  rehearsing all the things that went wrong — and worse, with emotional attachment — you’re rehearsing for more of the same! Rehearse success and you’ll feel better and get more of it.

Replaying scenes in your mind:

I forget where I heard this story from. When Will Smith was preparing to star as Muhammad Ali in the movie Ali, he turned up to performances and had most things sorted, but he just didn’t move like Ali himself. So Will fell asleep watching videos of Muhammad every night, and within a few weeks he had begun to move just like him.

When we fall asleep, the last thing we think of is often replayed in our minds throughout the sleep. This ties in strongly with You Get More Of What You Practice. Imagine a whole night’s worth of practice at no extra conscious effort!

The Caveats:

There a number of factors that can adversely affect sleep patters and quality. The technique can be used to cope or enhance, and is not a substitute for getting your life in order. Please examine diet, stressors and exercise levels and the times of each. Sometimes a small (or big) change here will make a world of difference.

Here are the steps, with a suggestion in brackets. Following them, there is an example of the kinds of things that worked well for me.

Technique:

As you’re lying in bed, preparing for sleep:

1. Decide what you want (deep, satisfying sleep)
2. Imagine what it will be like as you do this (as vividly as possible)
3. Imagine what it will be like when you’ve succeeded (waking up feeling great)
4. Keep vividly imagining what it will be like for this to happen.

I find the transition from awake to sleep fairly quick when doing this, and whatever I focused on tends to come true.

The more information I put into the hallucination, the more I make it real in my mind, the more successful the suggestion!

Here’s an example:

I have only 5 hours to sleep, I need to emerge feeling refreshed and motivated, getting out of bed swiftly and doing some exercise.

I imagine what it will be like to have that kind of sleep; I imagine what it will be like when I have achieved everything (just finished the exercise) and feel good. I keep these ideas, these feelings in my mind.

Fairly soon, I fall asleep and the next thing I know, I’ve woken up, I’ve got out of bed and I’ve done some good quality exercise. All without any conscious effort!

Give this a go for a few days, find out how easy it is to programme your own sleep. When you’ve run up some experience, get back to me with any questions/suggestions.

Within the pages here I’ll be covering information that I’ve found interesting, and tips and tricks that have made their way into my life – either through working with friends and clients, or as concepts I’m entertaining that have helped me out of some tight spots.

I had been waiting ’til mastery of WordPress and its nuances before posting information so as not to lose anything. Now I’ve cast this bizarre requirement aside, I can begin to share with you some fascinating and entertaining things!

As I get to grips with WordPress, I have no doubt that at some point I’ll make  (several) mess(es). I will continue as best I can to keep the pages interesting and useful.

– fred