True blue blood blogging

A cool and breezy sunday morning, heavens showering their blessings, Lord Ganesha's presence creating an aura of divine bliss in the air. An upscale setup worthy of classy affairs, conversations evoking subjective reactions, a lavish spread of delicacies.

Enter the true blue bloods of blogging world. Whose words echo the corridors of worldwideweb, creating ripples in an otherwise dormant emotionally subdued society.

Awe-inspiring, highly motivating, adrenaline pumping world of bloggers, and a quick, timid hello from @rajeshlchandra.

So long normalcy. Here I come blogadda !!

Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service-Prelude

This happened few years ago during one of my learning sessions of "Excellence In Business & Enrollment" training conducted by Coach Paresh Shah-Founder President at

Symphony, who loves conducting Training and Development Programs for Students, Young Professionals, Parents, Corporates.

In those days, I was a part of my conventionally run family business of trading and stockists of garment accessories and tailoring requirements. I was glad to be a part of a successful business, but it did not satisfy my quest for creating uniqueness for our company, and neither there was space for application of my creative streak. The business was so plain and simple, to the point of being boring, that it never excited enough to look forward to reaching office every day.

I was seeking enlightenment and guidance, and after what seemed to take forever, I was introduced to Coach Paresh Shah by a common friend Bhupendra Seth. With his experience of being a businessman by profession, Paresh Shah could understand and relate to my dissatisfaction. We bonded instantly on the word GO and during one of our conversations, he invited me to his training program "Excellence In Business & Enrollment" which he had designed keeping in mind untapped talents like me who were waiting for their chance to creativity. It was an opportunity which I thought never existed.

I met other businessmen who had signed up for his training program as eagerly as me. It was an exciting program from day one, and I would look forward to it every week. We had conversations, arguments, agreements and assignments to sharpen our skills to pursue what we were seeking.

During one of such assignments, we were asked to refer this book "Delivering Knock Your Socks Off Service" by Kristin Anderson and Ron Zemke and write our synopsis of the entire book in a week. I did try to convince the Coach to change this synopsis thing from written exercise to being a part of our regular conversations, but he would take none of it. After hearing to all my convincing and coaxing for half-an-hour, he simply said "YOU HAVE TO DO IT THE WAY I SAY IT".

What started like just another mundane assignment completion session turned out to be an exciting and interesting learning experience for me. I held in my hands a wonderful book of business principles explained in a simple conversational language just like a mentor (Coach Paresh Shah) would train his prodigy (myself). I still cant thank him enough for this priceless treasure.

In regular series starting soon, I will share with you my synopsis of this book and would appreciate your participation in form of likes, comments, suggestions, dislikes and disagreements.

Thanking you and Love you for all you do.

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Humanity or Celebrity Factor

What is the social impact when Dhoni says "Save Tigers", or when Junior B (Abhishek Bachchan) propagates using mobile phones to save trees, or when King Khan (Shahrukh Khan) advises to exchange mobile handsets so that Nokia plants trees?

The social impact of these high profile social ads was that it caused more support to the celebrities, companies and their products, even more than it could support the cause that these celebrities and companies were promoting.

Undercover marketing or Social marketing is a new found strategy by companies to kindle the feelings and attract a consumer towards its products or services in a subtle manner. Those days are not faraway when a company will be identified and valued by the social cause it supports.

Indian culture promotes silent and unsung charity for social causes. The idea may have been to curb arrogance in the giver and to save the recepient from disgrace, but it also had its side effects. The strength and support to the causes died an early death.

That is also one of the reasons that Bollywood movies and Television serials showcase social stigmas and reap in heaps of money. Stigmas that would not have prospered if enough awareness and support was generated by existing social infrastructure.

Does it mean that every social act of charity will be dramatised to make impact, and what if the cause does not get marketed?

I recently came across an ad on tv that shows a teenaged blood donor who saves a senior citizen from harm. The ad did not create much hype and facebook/twitter fans and all is forgotten.

What if a Bollywood star, who fights villains, romances the damsels in rain, and is a macho law-abiding citizen, announces on TV that he can perform all these actions in reel & real life with absolute panache even if he has donated blood few minutes ago? He also looks the audience in the eye and says "I have donated blood, Now its your turn".

It is not hard to imagine that next day the hospitals and blood banks would overflow with blood donors lining up to do their part of social duty by donating blood.


KSHAN On-SMS Voluntary Blood Donor Support Team believes that every citizen of India is a real life hero, be it sharing every inch of space in jam-packed local trains and buses, or standing strong in times of terror when bureaucratic infrastructure collapses, or providing food and shelter to the people stranded during floods, and displaying many more acts of sheer grit and courage.

But the question is: Why does it take an extreme situation or a disaster to kickstart us into extending a helping hand to people we know or dont know?

Why cant we respond to more simpler means of communication for help and actually help the ones who need us?

Why cant an SMS request to save a life by donating blood get the same response that a celebrity-studded social ad?

Why do we need a incident or accident to happen to make us realise that if we dont help someone in need, we would be left with nobody to help us in our needs?

Register yourself as a donor at www.kshan.org today and realise the meaning of moral of the story: "A friend in need is a friend indeed".

Blood Donation

Hope, and help, always find their way to the needy.
I was born in 1974 into a Kutchchi-Gujarati family and brought up with traditional values of helping without harping.
Being a part & witness to my family's willingness to help the needy in every possible way. Either by funding medical expenses, providing food and clothing, contributing funds for accomodation, and by blood donation.
It was a reality check for me when In 2006, I donated blood for the first time for my friend's mom after her surgery, I realised how anxiety & helplessness takes over the patient's relative who has been instructed by the hospital blood bank to replace the quantity of blood taken for operation.
I felt sad for people whose relatives are admitted on hospitals, and who don't have any relatives or contacts who can donate blood for them and who can't afford to pay for blood bottles from a private blood bank.
On that day of August 2006, KSHAN On-Call Blood Donor Support was conceptualised.

The Hidden Meanings of Dreams

The Hidden Meanings of Dreams

By Lee Dye/ Source: ABC News


Here's the scene: You wake up after dreaming about a horrible plane crash, and you're scheduled to board an aircraft later in the day for a long-awaited trip. Will that nightmare have any effect on whether you continue with your plans?


Possibly, according to a new multi-cultural study involving nearly 1,100 people around the world. You may not cancel your trip, but your dream will probably weigh as heavily on your thoughts as if there had been a real plane crash that day, not just a dream, according to the study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. The study suggests that humans from a wide range of cultures believe their dreams are a window into the inner workings of the mind and that they may even influence our activities while we're awake. Dreams are serious stuff. "Most people understand that dreams are unlikely to predict the future, but that doesn't prevent them from finding meaning in their dreams, whether their contents are mundane or bizarre," said psychologist Carey Morewedge of Pittsburgh's Carnegie Mellon University, lead author of the study.


Do Dreams Really Mean Anything? No doubt even the earliest humans were perplexed and fascinated by dreams that can sometimes seem as real as the world around us. Do they really mean anything? Scholars tended to dismiss them as little more than mental fireworks until the latter part of the 19th century.


But when Sigmund Freud published "The Interpretation of Dreams" in 1899, he introduced science to the complex and bizarre world hidden in the human mind. Freud called dreams the "royal road to the unconscious," and for more than a century now, researchers have tried to travel down that road. We know now that dreams do mean something, and they are universal.


The most common dream, according to some studies, occurs in all cultures, and it's virtually certain that anyone reading this article has experienced the same dream. Someone, or something, is in hot pursuit, and if the dreamer can't escape, the consequences will be deadly. That universal dream usually means the person feels threatened, or under attack, or is recalling a time when an attack was real.


Dreams Contain 'Hidden Truths' Nearly as common is that old dream of showing up in public and discovering that you forgot to put your pants on before leaving the house. It can mean different things, but usually the person feels exposed or vulnerable. The interpretation of dreams is still a fuzzy area, and may always be so, but Morewedge and Michael I. Norton of Harvard University and a large team of associates wanted to move dream research into a new arena that is difficult to study: Do dreams actually influence our behavior?


The researchers carried out six studies in both Eastern and Western cultures (the United States, South Korea and India) that led them to conclude that people place considerable importance in their dreams, because dreams come from within the brain, not from outside sources, and thus contain "hidden truths."


Here are just a few of their findings:

• A majority of 182 commuters in Boston reported that dreams affected their daily behavior. Some 68 percent said that dreams foretell the future, and 63 percent said at least one of their dreams had come true. "Participants were more likely to report that a dream of a plane crash would affect their travel plans than a conscious thought of a crash or a warning from the government," the study found.

• Three-hundred forty-one pedestrians were surveyed in Cambridge, Mass., and people who believed in the Freudian theory of the subconscious were more influenced by their dreams than were nonbelievers, but "regardless of the theory of dreams that they endorsed, participants considered dreams to be more important than similar thoughts occurring to them while awake..." the study found.

• Sixty undergraduate psychology students at Rutgers University were asked whether they believed in God on a five-point scale ranging from definitely to doubtful. "Not surprisingly, believers rated dreams in which God spoke to them as more meaningful than did agnostics," the study found. Also, not surprisingly, "agnostics reported that dreams were more meaningful when God suggested that they should take a year off to travel the world than when God suggested they should take a year off to work in a leper colony."


The Role of Dreams in Our Waking Lives Consistent throughout the study is the thread that dreams do play a role in the waking lives of most people. They come from within and, thus, contain "hidden truths" that could be useful in real life, or so most of us believe.


The researchers end their report by cautioning that dreams can cause a bit of mischief. "Dreams of spousal infidelity may lead to suspicious accusations, alienating one's spouse and potentially provoking actual infidelity," they cite as one example. But they go on to add that dreams of infidelity may also be based on fact. "Dreams may integrate seemingly unrelated evidence -- unexplained credit card charges, smudges of lipstick, distant behavior -- into a correct diagnosis of infidelity," the study suggested. But they are still just dreams. Not many psychologists would embrace the idea that dreams are a clear window into the inner self, and that they can predict the flight you are supposed to take later today is going to crash. "We close by noting that, although dreams are unlikely to predict future world events, it is possible that they may provide some hidden insight into diurnal life in the way that laypeople believe they do," the study concluded.

Wierdly Creative

The Links Between Creativity and Insanity
All too often, creativity goes hand in hand with mental illness.
Now we're starting to understand why. Roger Dobson reports.
By Roger Dobson / Source: The Independent
At first glance, Einstein, Salvador Dali, Tony Hancock, and Beach Boy Brian Wilson would seem to have little in common. Their areas of physics, modern art, comedy, and rock music are light years apart.
So what, if anything, could possibly link minds that gave the world the theory of relativity, great surreal art, iconic comedy, and songs about surfing?
According to new research, psychosis could be the answer. Creative minds in all kinds of areas, from science to poetry, and mathematics to humour, may have traits associated with psychosis. Such traits may allow the unusual and sometimes bizarre thought processes associated with mental illness to fuel creativity.
The theory is based on the idea that there is no clear dividing line between the healthy and the mentally ill. Rather, there is a continuum, with some people having psychotic traits without having the debilitating symptoms. Mental illnesses have been around for thousands of years.
Evolutionary theory suggests that in order for them to be still here, there must be some kind of survival advantage to them. If they were wholly bad, it's argued, natural selection would have seen them off long ago. In some cases the advantage is clear.
Anxiety, for example, can be a mental illness with severe symptoms and consequences, but it is also a trait that at a non-clinical level has survival advantages. In healthy proportions, it keeps us alert and on our toes when threats are sensed.
It's now increasingly being argued that there are survival advantages to others forms of illness, too, because of the links between the traits associated with them and creativity. "It can be difficult for people to reconcile mental illness with the idea that traits may not be disabling.
While people accept that there are health benefits to anxiety, they are more wary of schizophrenia and manic depression," says Professor Gordon Claridge, emeritus professor of abnormal psychology at Oxford University, who has edited a special edition of the journal Personality and Individual Differences, looking at the links between mental illness and creativity. "There is now a feeling that these traits have survived because they have some adaptive value.
To be mildly manic depressive or mildly schizophrenic brings a flexibility of thought, an openness, and risk-taking behaviour, which does have some adaptive value in creativity. The price paid for having those traits is that some will have mental illness."
Research is providing support for the idea that creative people are more likely to have traits associated with mental illness. One study found that the incidence of mood disorders, suicide and institutionalisation to be 20 times higher among major British and Irish poets in the 200 years up to 1800.
Other studies have shown that psychiatric patients perform better in tests of abstract thinking. Another study, based on 291 eminent and creative men in different fields, found that 69 per cent had a mental disorder of some kind.
Scientists were the least affected, while artists and writers had increased diagnoses of psychosis. "Most theorists agree that it is not the full-blown illness itself, but the milder forms of psychosis that are at the root of the association between creativity and madness," says Emilie Glazer, experimental psychologist and author of one of the Oxford journal papers.
"The underlying traits linked with mild psychopathology enhance creative ability. In severe form, they are debilitating." Research is also showing that traits associated with different mental illnesses have different effects on creativity. The creativity needed to develop the theory of relativity, is, for example, very different from that required for producing surreal paintings, or poetry.
Research is now homing in on whether the psychosis that is linked to different types of creativity comes through schizophrenia and schizotypy traits, through manic-depressive or cyclothymic traits, or traits associated with the autism and Asperger's disorders.
A study at the University of Newcastle found significant differences between artistically creative people and mathematicians. While the artists showed schizotypy traits, mathematicians did not, and that fits in with the idea that mathematics and engineering, which require attention to detail, are closer to the autistic traits than to psychosis.
"Affective disorder perpetuates creativity limited to the normal," says Glazer, "while the schizoid person is predisposed to a sense of detachment from the world, free from social boundaries and able to consider alternative frameworks, producing creativity within the revolutionary sphere. Newton and Einstein's schizotypal orientation, for instance, enabled their revolutionary stamp in the sciences."
The stereotypical images of mad scientists working alone and preferring foaming beakers to friends, abound in literature, and reflect a popular perception of the aloof, detached and obsessive genius. But the idea goes back even further.
2000 years ago in Rome, the philosopher Seneca was obviously already on the case when he wrote: "There is no great genius without a tincture of madness."
It's no joke: Comedians and depression
Heard the one about the man who went to the doctor to get help for his depression? He's told to go and see a show with a well known comedian who would make him laugh and lift his spirits. "But that's me," says the patient. "I'm the comedian."
The joke, related by Rod Martin, author of 'The Psychology of Humor – An Integrative Approach', is apparently something of a favourite among comedians, who are known to be prone to depression, from the late Tony Hancock and Spike Milligan, to Stephen Fry and Paul Merton. One theory is that humour is developed in response to depression, and that it works as a coping mechanism. One study, reported by Martin, looked at 55 male and 14 female comedians, all famous and successful. It found that comedians tended to be superior in intelligence, angry, suspicious, and depressed. In addition, their early lives were characterised by suffering, isolation, and feelings of deprivation, and, he says, they used humour as a defence against anxiety, converting their feelings of suppressed rage from physical to verbal aggression. "The comedic skills required for a successful career may well be developed as a means of compensating for earlier psychological losses and difficulties," says Martin.
A second study did not find higher levels, although comedians had significantly greater preoccupation with themes of good and evil, unworthiness, self-deprecation, and duty and responsibility. "A significant proportion of comedians do seem to suffer more with depression," says Professor Gordon Claridge, emeritus professor of abnormal psychology at Oxford University. "Comedy seems to act as a way of dealing with depression. I think there is an emotionality and cognitive style that goes along with these depressive disorders which seems to feed creativity."
Salvador Dali was not just a great artist. He also met the criteria for several psychosis diagnoses, a mixture of schizophrenic and depressive. He may also have been paranoid, as well having antisocial, histrionic, and narcissistic disorders. "Dalí and his contribution to the history of art highlights that abnormality is not necessarily disagreeable – or to be so readily dismissed as a sign of neurological disease. For without his instability, Dalí may not have created the great art that he did," says Caroline Murphy of Oxford.

Cosmic Connection

We Will All Be Telepathic in 25 Years
By Mukul Sharma
Source: Times of India
Does telepathy exist?
The majority of mainstream scientists believe that the paranormal acquisition of information concerning the thoughts, feelings or activity of another person is a lot of poppycock. But it doesn't really matter because the majority of mainstream scientists also believe telepathy's going to exist in the future, thanks to technology.
According to one World Future Society forecast, wireless technology will be incorporated into our thought processing by 2030. In the next 25 years, we'll learn how to augment our 100 trillion relatively slow inter-neuronal connections with high-speed virtual connections via nanorobotics.
This will allow us to greatly boost our pattern-recognition abilities, memories, and overall thinking capacity, as well as to directly interface with powerful forms of computer intelligence and with each other. Which means we'll also be able to move beyond the brain's present performance capacity.
Researchers have already demonstrated that with the help of wired implants it's possible for a person to move a cursor on a computer screen just by thinking about it.
How long before such developments become non-invasive and wireless and the inter-face involves two or more human beings communicating by thought alone?
Instead of telepathy, they're calling it "techlepathy" and, initially, first generation devices will be unidirectional. That is, the neural patterns of unspoken words would be transmitted to the other person before receiving the other person's transmission in return, much like how walkie-talkies work.
Later, the pre-speech thought patterns themselves would be transmitted. Ultimately, the transference will become seamlessly bi-directional and would include other non-verbal signals such as consciousness and emotions. By then it could also involve one or more persons or, indeed, as many as possible like an Internet of connected minds.
Some experts in fact believe techno-enabled telepathy will become the sole or at least the primary form of human communication in the future and everybody will make use of it for economic and social reasons once it becomes available to all.
Also, being technology driven and not some spooky psychic phenomenon, privacy issues would not be a problem as personal firewalls could be created to restrict any unwanted intrusion. Yes, there'll be hackers going in-mind from time to time and mind-bloggers going openly public but, in general, techlepathy should be as safe as having a mobile phone inside one's head.

How to Escape the Matrix?

How to Escape the Matrix
By Edwin Harkness SpinaCreator of Energy Center Cleaning
The Matrix was one of the most popular and thought-provoking movies of all time. Viewers all over the world were captivated by the film's primary message: People get into deep trouble when they mistake what they perceive for reality.
What most viewers do not realize is that prior to the release of this groundbreaking film, western intelligence agencies were already using the term "the Matrix" to describe today's world. This was in contrast to their work with remote viewers, who would "escape the matrix" to gather intelligence. Art truly does imitate life.
In the movie, the Matrix is an elaborate Artificial Intelligence computer simulation that's so captivating that people mistake it for reality. People perceive they are walking about and interacting with others, but their physical bodies are actually submerged in fluid-filled pods, "plugged into" the Matrix, while their vital life force is harnessed to power the Matrix.
After Neo (Keanu Reaves) learns the truth, with the help of Morpheus's (Lawrence Fishburne) training, he is able to overcome his misconception that the Matrix is reality. Neo rebels against the machines that create his false reality and, eventually, he escapes the limitations of the Matrix. To others, he has developed superhuman abilities, but, "in reality," he has merely recognized the truth.
Escaping the Matrix is a metaphor for the mystic path to enlightenment.
The Matrix can be defined as the world that we perceive, which includes the physical world, as well as higher planes of emotions and thoughts, which also affect us.
Within the Matrix are countless fear-based thoughts and emotions that condition us to accept limitations. We are taught that we have little power, and what little power we do have, we are advised to delegate to authority figures and experts. Swimming in a sea of negative thoughts, we are prompted to use our creative ability to imagine even more negative thoughts. Without introspection, the Matrix gets darker and more dense.
Anyone who blindly accepts these prevalent, negative thoughts will have his or her life path dictated by the Matrix.
But those who recognize that it is our collective thoughts and beliefs that power the Matrix will recognize the way out.
When we incarnate on earth, we temporarily forget the higher truth of who we are. Our life mission is to remember, to connect with our innermost self, so that we may transcend the Matrix.
The reality we perceive with our senses is not the true reality, but merely a small portion of reality, masquerading as the whole. But, unlike the "alternate reality" that Neo must extricate himself from, in our "reality," there is no need to rebel. Rather, our goal should be to transcend. We want to "be in this world, but not of it."
The outer world is a reflection of our inner thoughts and beliefs, whether individual or collective, which have been conditioned by our experience in the Matrix. Consequently, the Matrix is a learning environment, where we get feedback on how our thoughts manifest. Thankfully, our negative thoughts do not (typically) manifest instantaneously. Otherwise, we would risk the spontaneous destruction of our world by thinking negative thoughts.
Using Meditation to Escape the Matrix
Clearing yourself of negative energies through daily meditation can provide a direct link to the "ultimate reality," i.e., the pure consciousness residing within each of us. As your negative beliefs are purified through regular contact with the "light" of your divine nature, unhealthy emotions, such as fear and anger, will naturally begin to diminish, and you'll be free to transcend to higher states of consciousness. You will "download" more of your own true self, while simultaneously and automatically attracting others of similar vibration.
Your world will become more synchronistic. You will repel angry, fearful people, and those who stick around will become calmer and more centered. You will radiate love. By simply being in higher consciousness, you will have a greater effect on the world than the most gifted orators and political leaders.
The higher your consciousness and energy are vibrating, the faster your thoughts will manifest. When you align with your innermost self, you are aligned more closely with the Source of all creation. At the apex of your individual consciousness, you are connected with The One. You then have at your disposal the entire universe to help you manifest the highest good for all.
In actuality, we are single points of awareness in the Oneness that is Reality. What we interpret as the physical world is the projection of this awareness, which is taking place in the Mind of God. We are, as Shakespeare pointed out, merely "actors" in a divine play.
When we wake up to this knowledge, the play does not stop. We are free to act or interact, in bliss and peace, unattached to the Matrix. We have within us the power to create "heaven on earth."

Business of Dreams !

Doing business is a dream for many, but how many actually end up doing business of their dreams?
I am sharing points with you if you want to convert your dream of business into business of your dreams:-
1.Find equal opportunities. Don't be a victim of the survival-of-the-fittest technique. Make yourself marketable.
2.Get a life-changing business education. Feed your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual needs. No, this doesn't necessarily mean sitting in a college classroom. Get an education from life. 3.Latch onto friends who will pull you up, not push you down. Protect yourself from negative influences.
4.Find value in your network. The more people you can meet in business, the better.
5.Develop your most important business skill. Communicate, communicate and communicate.
6.Be a leader. Influence others by being a great teacher.
7.Don't work just for money. Work to build wealth, not money. Invest.
8.Live your dreams. First of all, make sure you have dreams. Then make them a reality.

You can be a successful businessperson and still make your dreams come true.

Stop Caring!

The Secret to Happiness: Stop Caring ....
Our lives are inundated with practicality and productivity. We think that if there's no purpose to something, there's no point in doing it. In reality, the best things in life have no purpose.
We sacrifice our time and our sanity doing what we don't want to do, so at some future point we will create the freedom to do what we love. We seek happiness in things. We seek happiness in the acceptance of others, in material possessions, in social status. We even search for happiness in some future-promised afterlife. We sabotage ourselves and our entire lives because we fail to understand a very simple but easily overlooked fact.

The Search for Happiness is the Single Greatest Cause of Misery. You can't find something that's already there. Happiness exists now. Its not something you have to find. That's like trying to find your breath. It's the grasping of the mind that causes unhappiness. If you're not happy, it's because your mind doesn't allow you be happy. And the reason your mind doesn't let you be happy, is because you're stuck in the vicious cycle of productivity, judgment and purpose. That's not to say productivity is bad, or that doing things that have a purpose is wrong. It's basing the reason for your existence on them that causes so much anguish.

When we place our happiness solely in "getting" something, completing a certain number of tasks on our to-do list, or achieving a goal, we are fooling ourselves. We are like a rabbit with a carrot stick attached to our heads. We keep chasing the carrot, but we never get there. We never stop to think that it might be the chasing that's causing the problem. We are too distracted trying to find a better way to beat the game. As soon as we reach one level of success, we are hurrying to upgrade our search and move on to the next level of the chase. We never stop to think that it's not the failure to win the game that causes our grief, but the game itself.

We neglect to realize that sometimes the best way to solve a problem is to stop participating in the problem. Sometimes the best way to to solve a problem is to just stop caring.

Sometimes... The best way to solve the problem of not having a lot of cool friends is to stop caring about having cool friends. The smartest way to be happy with the place you live is to stop caring about living in a two storey house with a pool, a fireplace, central air and satellite TV.
The simplest way to be content with yourself is not to achieve greatness and praise, but to accept yourself fully for who you are now. The quickest route to happiness is to stop caring about finding happiness and to start being happiness.

By not caring, we immediately release ourselves of the grasping of the mind. But its not easy to stay in this mindset (the mind loves to grasp); its something we have to constantly cultivate.
Its especially difficult when our society tends to place more value on things, than on experiences. We value what we do more than how we feel. This is completely ridiculous when you think about it. Because the way you feel should be more important than anything else. Isn't the purpose of everything you do to feel good? Isnt the purpose of that new car, that promotion, or college degree to give you a feeling of accomplishment? Isnt that supposed to make you happy?

The problem with this is were basing our happiness on temporary things. Were deriving our joy from an achievement, or an attainment. This isnt true happiness; its an addiction. We get a short burst of endorphins to our bloodstream from our new TV, or new iPod, and then what happens? It disappears. It leaves us feeling empty and we begin looking for our next fix. Our advertising and consumer culture doesnt help this much. We are constantly bombarded with messages that we need this, or we need that. Incessantly, we hear: Buy this and it will solve your problem! If only we could solve that problem we may finally be happy. Wrong. Its not the problems that are the problem. I mean, buying a more efficient vacuum or sowing on that button you've been meaning to for seven years is great. You may feel a sense of achievement for a few moments or days. But you're still looking for happiness in a thing. Its the same with productivity. If only we could finish all of the things on our to-do list, could we be content. If only we could accomplish all of our goals, could we finally be gratified. This thinking is based on the illusion that you'll reach a certain point where everything is done. You finally made it! Theres nothing left in your inbox, all your projects are complete and your lifelong goals are achieved! Now you can rest easy.

But this point never seems to come, does it? Thats because there will always be things to do. There will always be challenges, because everything in life is constantly changing. If you reached a point in your life where you had no more problems, no more struggles, no more worries, life would stop. The game would end and there would be no point left in playing.

So what can we do about this? We Need to Stop Caring. That doesnt mean we stop trying to achieve our goals or striving for personal growth. It just means that we no longer base our happiness on fleeting, semi-permanent things. There are obviously some situations where not caring may have serious negative consequences (paying your rent). Excessive caring, however, is likely to make you miserable. The reason caring too much can be detrimental to your health, is you are so focused on the future. Your identity is too attached to outcomes. If something does, or doesnt go your way, it will likely have an enduring effect on your mood for the rest of the day.
Instead, we should base our happiness on permanent things. Things that dont change. Desires that dont shift from moment to moment. We choose to find our happiness in living. In life itself. In fact, we dont even need to find happiness. We can be happiness.

So stop searching. You cant find something thats already there.

Hypnotic Handshake

The Hypnotic Handshake method is based on brief hypnosis.

Brief hypnosis is a less known format of hypnotizing, first initiated by Dr. Milton H. Erickson.
Erickson also taught the Hypnotic Handshake method based on the principles of brief hypnosis.
Brief hypnosis claims that most people enter trance (the hypnotic state of mind) and exit trance many times during the day.

One good example would be driving on the free way, while you're figuring out what to say to your boss about you being late again (for the 29th time this month). Not being aware completely to the road and to the driving activity, you still make it in one piece to the office. That's hypnosis.

Brief hypnosis starts with a rapid induction to get a person into trance.

Rapid induction is based on two key principles:

Rapid Induction Principle No. 1: Interrupt the auto-pilot

We are predictable creatures. Lift your right hand toward someone, say Hi, smile, and he will automatically lift his right hand to shake yours. Odd. He didn't even think about it, it happened automatically. It's the auto-pilot.

One of many automatic behaviors were known of doing without conscious decision.

If you interrupt an automatic behavior like this, you create an empty space, a query in the other persons mind, a brief window to the subconscious mind.

It takes less than a second for that window to close, so you'd better act fast.

Rapid Induction Principle No.2: Fill the blank

Now that the automatic pattern is missing, fill the blank quickly. The other person will follow if it's done immediately after the interruption, because our minds don't like voids. They want completion.

Do something that will restore the missing link. Use hypnotic language and fast pacing induction script while talking in your regular voice.

Now that you know the key principles of rapid induction in brief hypnosis, lets move on to show you the Hypnotic Handshake method:

Step 1: Interrupt the Auto Handshake
Lets say youre going to hypnotize John. John is a nice guy, but he deserves to be hypnotized and positively abused (meaning he will be happy during and after the session).
You meet John, smile at him, look him directly in the eyes and you lift your right hand toward him for a handshake. Now stay alert!

For the handshake interrupt, as Johns hand comes up, you form a cup with your thumb and first finger. Instead of meeting Johns right hand with yours, you put your hand in cup form under his hand that is coming to shake.

But then your hand goes back just a little bit, dont pull it way back, just an inch. The other hand goes behind the wrist so that it goes up. Just gently cup it and move his hand up in front of his eyes and say, Look!??

Thats an awesome interruption! John would never expect something like that!

Step 2: Pull him into hypnosis

In hypnosis, we don't ask people to relax and allow themselves to be hypnotized.
Dont get nervous now. Pull John into hypnosis. Here's how:
As you pass Johns hand in front of his eyes and say Look!, you point with your other hand toward his hand. Thats a new program.

John, look at your hand and nod when you notice the changing focus of your eyes, and as you notice it, see if you can take a deeper breath than the one you just had and as you notice the changing focus, thats right!

You may let your eyes stay close on the next thats the way,

I will let you know when you are ready to let your hand rest and go all the way down listen, can you hear all the sounds, arent they clearer?

And from here you can continue with deepeners or with hypnotic suggestions and make Johns shocking experience of hypnosis a pleasant one.

One warning: make sure your victim (cough client) is sitting on a chair and not standing up.

Oh, and another warning: remember to take John out of hypnosis when youre done!

The Thin Line of Love and Hate

It often seems a thin line between love and hate, and now scientists think they know why.

Brain scans of people shown images of individuals they hated revealed a pattern of brain activity that partly occurs in areas also activated by romantic love.

The linkage may account for why love and hate are so closely linked to each other in life.

Results show that there is a unique pattern of activity in the brain in the context of hate.

In their study, the researchers showed 17 men and women pictures of someone the volunteers said they hated along with three familiar, neutral faces. The hated individuals were all former lovers or work rivals, except for one famous politician.

The brain scans identified a pattern of activity in different areas of the brain the researchers called a "hate circuit" that switched on when people saw faces they despised, the researchers said.

"As far as we can determine, it is unique to the sentiment of hate even though individual sites within it have been shown to be active in other conditions that are related to hate," the researchers wrote.

The so-called hate circuit includes structures in the cortex and the sub-cortex and represented a pattern distinct from emotions such as fear, threat and danger.

One part of the brain that switched on was an area considered critical in predicting other people's actions, something that is likely key when confronting a hated person, the researchers said.

The brain activity also occurred in the putamen and insula, two areas activated when people viewed the face of a loved person. Scientists have linked the regions to aggressive action and distressing situations.

But there were important differences as well. A bigger part of the cerebral cortex -- an area linked to judgment and reasoning -- de-activates with love compared to hate.

While both emotions are all-consuming passions, it may be that people in love are often less critical and judgmental about their partner but need to maintain their focus when dealing with a hated rival, the researchers said.

It is more likely that in the context of hate, the hater may want to exercise judgment in calculating moves to (cause) harm.

You Are Your Customer

It is mind-boggling to see most copywriters, marketers and entrepreneurs desperately search for the best approach to communicate or market a written message to their customers. What's even more baffling is that many of them have to search for the best way to motivate prospects to buy their product and services, instead of first understanding what unconsciously motivates them to act. And the most obvious tools are staring at you right in the face, it is the unconscious psychological devices or the thinking habits of every brain on the face of the planet earth.

Unconscious psychological devices are motivations of the mind that are embedded deep within a person's brain, and require a simple push button trigger to activate an automatic response action from their brain in the form of placing an order, a request for more information (generating leads), and/or a phone call or visit to the store or other place of business. The concept of mind control has always been irresistible to copywriters, salespeople, marketers and entrepreneurs.

Why? Obviously, it gives the person, who knows these psychological devices, the privileged benefits to push button automatic fortunes. If you are a writer, or in business or in the marketing arena who is willing to learn, read on:
1. Story- Everyone loves a good story: There's a magic that happens when you tell a story.
The reader or listener has to become part of the story, in order to make sense of it. This is where you get them to FEEL, and almost realistically experience in their imaginations, what you're telling them. Unconsciously, this creates a memory and it is harder to forget. Finally, it helps you create a bond with your prospect.
Application: Relate to your prospect and come up with a story that gives them imaginative reasons to use your product or service.

2. Time Distortion: Pretending they already want to own this product. Basically, what you are doing is pacing their thoughts into future, as if they are holding your product or service in their hands.
Application: Use simple descriptive phrases that initiate a sense or touch response, and it instills in the mind of your prospects that they already own it. They will begin to imagine the benefits of doing so all on their own. Like, flipping through the pages of books that you sell, using this neat electronic gadget (pushing the buttons, twisting knobs etc) as in cars, boats, anything. Just get in and drive it, grab the wheel.

3. Credibility To Project Authority: Make what you say believable, and nothing outrageous.
Who is backing your message? Do you have happy buyers of your products or services? What do they have to say? Put that in your message. Show them experts endorse your products. Credibility instills what you are saying is true, period. Just give proof.
Application: Ask your customers for testimonials, even if you have to ethically bribe them for one. Offer a free sample, bonus, or report. Simply put, the more credibility you create for you and your product or service, the more believable the message becomes, and the less resistance they have when it comes to make a buying decision.

4. Urgency To Act Now: Even if your sales message is emotionally driven and powerful, making them feel the want to buy, place a sense of urgency to reinforce them to buy it now, and to not wait, period. Limited offers, supplies that won't last, this deal won't last long. No matter how powerful your sales message is, if they get away after so long, the feeling and their buying decision erodes away their desire to buy now, until its gone.
Application: Come up with a compelling reason to get your prospect to feel so compelled its absolutely necessary they must buy it now, because its urgent. Maybe use fear of loss.

5. I Gave It To You Free, You're Guilty To Create The Return Effect: Ever get an offer in the mail of a free sample of a product? Ever go to a website and get 3 free chapters of a book?
Giving something to someone for free creates guilt, the feeling to give back. If your friend buys you dinner, you might feel the need to buy it next time. Its human nature. When something is given, the desire to give back is created.
Application: Give away a free sample or report for free. Make sure it is something of real value.
After, suggest that you've given them something and how they're one tough nut to crack, because you've given them something for free, and you haven't heard back from them. Sit back, and watch them buy.

6. Commit and remain Consistent To Create Long-Term Friendships: You've won the customers trust once you've established the first sale, and once they're happy, make them happy again,
and again. Buy something from the television and you're almost always asked to buy more, its simple. Then, two months later, another offer from that same company rings on your phone in the other room, or the offer is waiting in your mail box when you get home. Normally, being a much higher priced product or service. Why not ask? You're obviously qualified.
Application: If they buy once, get them to buy again and again. If you sell information of memberships, sell all the tools and products that the membership consists of (improving your golf game, membership website that sells golf clubs, balls, clothing, shoes etc.) If you sell them a book, sell them a home study course thats more expensive.

7. Curiosity To Keep Your Prospect Tuned In: Early in your sales presentation, promise what will happen when they finish and complete your sales presentation, and keep them curious.
Curiosity is a powerful tool you can use to keep your prospect in suspense, and to search out the answers to satisfy that strong desire to fill in the missing information. Leave out certain information in your benefits that trigger the thought "What will happen if?"
Application: Instill and arouse curiosity early in your sales presentation to cause your prospect to want to complete your message (i.e. tell them there's a misspelled word in your sales copy, and if they can find it, they get a special deal. Ask them if they want compelling benefit, and tell them they'll find the answer as they continue to read, or pay attention to you.

As you've probably noticed, it's infinitely more powerful to apply these psychological devices in your presentation when you realize they all open the flood gates of a person's brain, and deliver compelling emotions and complex thoughts and meaning. Anyone who comes across one of these seven applications will undergo the spell of this covert influence because it sparks response below a persons surface awareness.

So, the only question to ask yourself is:
Are you going to use them? To find out, simply go through the following checklist, and count the
number of items that apply to you:
1. You want more sales
2. You're willing to look through your sales presentation making sure
each of these devices are applied
3. You prefer to use powerful knowledge over just knowing it
4. You want more power in your ability to influence others on undetectable brain levels
5. You are curious and interested in creating more powerful unconscious influence
6. Covert persuasion and influence doesn't scare you and you'll use it to your advantage in ethical and judicious ways
7. You are willing to sit down and brainstorm how you can apply these psychological devices to your sales presentations, even if only applying one device a day, because you know it'll bring your more sales, and consequently, profits.

If at least 5 of the 7 above statements are true for you, then you're ready to use the most powerful form of undetectable communication that exists today. This is the best time to break into the covert persuasion and influence segment of communication.