BioFeedback Versus Meditation
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Since I began using muscle testing as a simple bio-feedback technique as part of the Logical Soul(tm) technique, I’ve sometimes come across those who seem confused about what it is, and how it is used. Some want to compare it to meditation, or vice-versa.
Let me say in the outset that I consider both biofeedback and meditation to be powerful tools for self-actualization. They are, however, vastly different tools. Just as I consider an electric saw to be valuable for cutting wood, I would only use an electric drill to bore a hole. Different tools for different purposes.
BIO-FEEDBACK
BioFeedback – whether it is the result of audio-visual feedback, or through the use of muscle testing or applied kinesiology – is a powerful tool for instant self-discovery. The simplest (and cheapest) form of bio-feedback is through the use of muscle testing or “kinesiology,” the study of muscle strength and movement.
While kinesiology or muscle testing has therapeutic uses, its use can also help us quickly and easily determine a “yes” or “no” answer to statements or affirmations. This is helpful for finding out whether or not your so-called “subconscious mind” (some say “right brain”) is aligned with your conscious mind, or left brain. If you make the statement “I am alive,” chances are both “selves” will be in agreement.
If, however, you make statements that the subconscious (right brain) considers to be a “no,” or not true, the muscle will test a little weak. This is immediately useful if you want to determine whether or not to trust someone, buy something, or engage in some sort of activity where the outcome is uncertain.
NOTE: muscle testing is NOT a useful tool for prophesy, fortune-telling, or prediction. The “readings” can only determine your inner condition – whether of or against a particular outcome. Do you have the support of your subconscious mind (or intuition) for the success of this activity? Or not? This knowledge alone is enough of a reason to use bio-feedback.
Used in conjunction with a complete systems such as the Logical Soul(tm), muscle testing becomes a powerful tool for uncovering layers of hidden untruths that cloud your ability to succeed. It is simple, universally available, and important as a NAVIGATIONAL TOOL when faced with inner doubts and fears.
MEDITATION
Thousands of years ago, during Vedic Times on the Indian subcontinent, meditation was common practice and mankind was more inner-directed. Its practice was considered as important as food or water, air and sunshine. It was our direct link to God, the source of all survival, joy and self-awareness.
Through centuries of wars and shifting civilizations we lost our ability to connect with out source . . . to meditate. Even today – in this so-called “enlightened age” – we are surrounded by the constant din of traffic, electronic gadgets and media. We are lucky to retain our sanity, much less remember our divine origins.
Over the years, meditation – our link with the Divine – was assigned to specialists: prophets, seers, clergymen and poets. Even then we seldom listened to them except when our survival depended on it.
One of our modern seers was William Wordsworth (1770-1850) who wrote of his transcendental bliss in 1798:
"That serene and blessed mood,
In which the affections gently lead us on,--
Until, the breath of this corporeal frame
And even the motion of our human blood
Almost suspended, we are laid asleep
In body, and become a living soul:
While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,
We see into the life of things."
Wordsworth described in verse what has been since measured and described as a state of deep meditation. Modern lab studies on the changing physiology during meditation showed that something, indeed, was happening when that “serene and blessed mood” kicked in! (The one thing our modern world HAS brought is the ability to re-discover these lost meditation techniques, and re-establish that inner guidance.)
Today, millions of people today practice some form of meditation. As a long-time meditator myself (for almost 40 years), I can vouch for its ability to bring me closer to my divine source and instill a sense of peace into every thought and activity. Meditation is crucial in that it builds the FOUNDATION FOR INNER PEACE I believe everyone needs to have!
THE DIFFERENCE
While meditation enlivens consciousness, it is not designed for problem-solving. The most effective meditation “experiences” are non-specific. To get to “that serene and blessed mood” one must let go of all thought and concern, drifting into the state of “being” – the level where thought arises. Over the years, the cumulative effects of “transcending” give us that inner peace we seek.
BUT WHAT IF WE HAVE A SPECIFIC PROBLEM?? To address a specific problem, you must be able to discover the SPECIFIC DECISION OR DECISIONS that gave rise to that problem. If you want to attract more money, for example, you need to know that any hidden, deep-rooted belief that “money cannot be spiritual” will stop you every time!
The Logical Soul(tm) addresses these specific, hidden decisions. And muscle testing, as the simplest form of biofeedback, can directly show us the condition of our inner landscape, i.e., our collection of hidden decisions.
Use both biofeedback AND meditation on our way to a joyful and self-actualized life!
Logical Soul Talk: 9 Ways to Sabotage Your Business
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Business Self-Sabotage
There are 9 fundamental ways we can sabotage our business success . . . BEFORE we even open our doors or put up our website!! Do you know what they are? If not, be sure to tune in to Logical Soul Talk tonight on Blog Talk Radio at 6 pm ET and call in your questions at (347) 843-4544.
During the show I will also describe how we can’t even HELP ourselves, i.e., its not some insidious “evil plot” we have to overthrow success, or to fail. We simply cannot see what we have devised – and how it plays out in our lives – until its too late.
The first fundamental way is how we view the world. This is called our “Worldview” or “Paradigm.” How our worldview is shaped pretty much determines the decisions we make, how we make them, and the results we expect from our actions. This way is also governed by our upbringing, and influences from our parents, teachers, and even our ancestors and DNA.
For example, we may consciously choose to play WIN-WIN in all our dealings with others, believing this is the way responsible citizens of the world behave. Inside, however, our limbic system – or animal brain – is insisting on fighting every rival for attention or anyone it deems to be threatening the status quo, or ego. This paradox will set off a chain of events that result in failure. Meanwhile, the mind refuses to let go of its idealism and suffers disappointment and failure becomes a pattern.
This is one pattern of one of the ways we sabotage our businesses. Tune in to hear the rest at 6 pm ET!!
Give Me Success . . . or Death??!
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Where is Your Passion?
I received the following message from a subscriber who listened to my radio show Logical Soul Talk this past Tuesday. It was such a great question, in fact, I want to share it with you . . .
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“Hi, Michael -
I listened in to the “Branding from the Inside Out” yesterday
which had me totally intrigued – enough to go back and listen
to other podcasts – such a rich resource there, really.
Question/Comment: When defining ‘passion’ you asked the question, ‘Is it something you are willing to die for?’ I am passionate about encouraging and coaching other artists to find their authentic creative paths but I am not willing to die for it.
Similarly, I am passionate about my own art and developing web presences for others, but not so much that I would die for it. I have businesses related to both and am marketing them with increasing success.
Were you speaking metaphorically? As in : death to a life without success surrounding your passion? Or lack of life energy or loss of joy if you couldn’t participate in what you are passionate about?”
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Dear subscriber: To answer your question, I will refer you to Will Smith’s video featured on the June 2nd Blog Post. During an interview, Will basically said he was willing to “die for the truth,” i.e., what he believes in, or what he is committed to. Take 10 minutes to listen to that video – it will open your eyes.
Will Smith is very successful. Tony Robbins is successful. John Travolta, Richard Branson, Oprah Winfrey and Mohamed Ali are successful. What do they all have in common? They all share the same quality of total commitment that can only bring success . . . or annihilation. Looking to history, we find this quality present mostly in the movers and shakers of their era: General George Patton, Mahatma Ghandi, Harriet Tubman, Alexander the Great, Martin Luther King, Jr. and others like them. All of these great ones played the same high-stakes game of “do or die.”
What sets each of these people apart from 97% of humanity is that they do NOT compromise when it comes to their deepest values . . . even if it means their physical death! When they focus on something, it gets done. Period. Their passion drives them towards success. Nothing else matters.
If you can look at your career or life goals with the same conviction, you will succeed. If not, you will always have an “out.” Your chances for lasting success, therefore, are reduced.
The fact is, very few of our options (unless we are committed to extreme sports or sky-diving) will lead to physical death. That’s the good news. The bad news is: there is a part of our brain that can’t tell the difference, and will continue to fight to keep us “safe.”
Does this mean you can’t have a measure of success? No. What it DOES mean, however, is that you will NOT be playing the same game on the same world stage as the super-achievers.
If that’s not important to you, I understand. Your passion is for survival, as it is for most of us. This is not wrong; its just the way things are. You can still achieve your own measure of success and happiness, so long as you know this is the game you are playing . . . so play it all out! “Death” to you might mean something like public speaking, cold call selling, or doing something you believe in that risks criticism. So do something that invites personal transformation.
This “passion for survival” can understood as part of our evolution as a species. Even if we no longer have to face daily threats like invading tribes and saber-toothed tigers, we still carry that awareness of threat within us. Facing danger in the past meant annihilation. Therefore, our ability to commit to any perceived suicide – real or imagined – has essentially been bred out of us over the millenia.
Fears of death – whether it be to the body, emotions, ego, or even basic beliefs – all appear to us equally frightening, and the part of our brain that makes this ultimate “passion decision” is very old. The limbic system - usually oversimplified as our “animal brain” – is programmed to make us survive at all costs.
In ancient times, when saber-toothed tigers roamed the earth, this meant either learning to either fight the tiger – and sure-fire way to get killed – or flee from the tiger and have a much better chance to survive. This “fight-or-flight” reaction, coined by Walter B. Cannon in the 1920’s, has also created a type of human schizophrenia.
While we WANT success, we HAVE TO survive! Our “passion thermostat,” therefore, is set for low. In our society, only the Alpha Males (and Females) actually attempt to kill the saber-tooth . . . or die trying. They become our leaders, or our deceased heroes. The rest of us are ruled by “common sense” . . . . something we’ve passed down to our descendants for millions of years.
So what does all this mean?
It means one of two things:
- we live according to the evolutionary cards
we were dealt, or - we change our survival decision setting.
Believe it or not, there is a way to change our evolutionary survival setting . . . but it takes time and a commitment to personal transformation. You must be willing to give up many of the time-honored “truths” you have held for most of your life, and be able to embrace a feeling of emptiness - at least for a short time. This vacuum – coupled with a deep intent towards success – will invite that transformation.
For some, this might mean quitting your job to pursue your passion – a kind of “death” that still implies danger to our limbic system. Some make it; some don’t. Only by truly embracing your real passion can this work out. If you quit your job to pursue the IDEA of what you THINK is your passion, you will fail. The good news is that you will probably still be alive and can regroup and try again later.
There are ways to actually LINK the passion for survival with a strong desire to succeed in a given field of endeavor. This is, in fact, a little less risky, and is the essence of “Branding from the Soul.” Without a firm (and deep) commitment, however, our “passion” will remain just a word.
So thanks for the question!
Yours for Outrageous Success,
- Michael
Logical Soul Talk: Branding from the Inside Out
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Discover Your Passion
What to learn how to turn your PASSION into Products or Services that will Attract Buyers like crazy?! Then tune in today to Logical Soul Talk at 6 pm or call (347) 843-4544 to ask a question.
This idea for a course started with a problem. You see, I’ve done lots of things in my life – started lots of businesses, and folded most of them. The thing is, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do “when I grew up.”
The other part of the problem was that all the marketing and business advice I was getting had to do with customer-oriented approaches, i.e., find a hot need or niche, develop a product that meets that need, and SELL it to ‘em! This is great, except that I already HAD a product (Logical Soul) that was over 18 years in the making. I just didn’t know how to market it – and all the marketing tips I got were using the OPPOSITE approach from where I had already come from!
So I just threw out the “rule book” and started looking inside myself. What I discovered was that my technique could quickly uncover the unique internal motivation of others and help them use this to succeed in a way totally unique to them!
Out of this idea came “Branding from the Soul” – a 6-month online and webinar training program for those who want to really STOP the internal confusion and sabotage once and for all and have a definite road map to follow for their OWN success story.
I provide the personal discovery pieces, and also enlisted the help of some top-ranking marketing and branding experts to add their knowledge to this course. The outcome is a POWERFUL program indeed – one never before presented.
If you have ever gone from idea to idea, job to job, or business to business, tune in today to Logical Soul Talk where I will be sharing some very unique processes you can start using TODAY to discover your own unique Passion.
Although this course is not yet launched, SIGN UP NOW to be notified as soon as it does! Learn how to go “from zero to happy” in only a few months!
How to Self Test for Truth
By · CommentsMuscle testing, sometimes called applied kinesiology, is a fast way to determine the reaction of the subconscious mind and body to any particular stimulus. It is the simplest – and cheapest – form of bio-feedback available.
If a toxic or negative stimulus is introduced, or held within the energy field of the person, a notable weakness can often be induced from a formerly-strong muscle. This technique is most commonly used by doctors and therapists to test the beneficial – or harmful – effects on the body by substances such as food, vitamins or supplements.
As a chiropractor, I used this technique with patients for many years as both a diagnostic and treatment tool.
In the Logical Soul(tm) technique, however, I use muscle testing as a way to test affirmations and statements. Using the simple YES/NO feedback, I can quickly determine whether or not there are hidden decisions that are sabotaging my results. In the video below, I will demonstrate a simple way to test your own statements for either truth or self-sabotage:
A Passion for Compassion
By · CommentsMy sister Page loves animals. Our childhood was often filled with the usual dogs and cats, but also accessorized with the more unusual critters like chickens, hamsters, turtles, tadpoles, frogs, guinea pigs and horses.
Recently, Page became a foster parent for homeless dogs, and wanted to share her passion for this cause with those who might feel the urge to open their hearts and home to a needy animal. Her video is below.
I realize there are lots of worthy causes out there; so get involved in one close to your heart. Develop a Passion for Compassion and you will discover a happier life. Once it blossoms, you will then be able to spread this joy of living and giving to other areas of your life!
Passion, Commitment & Consistent Action
By · CommentsAre you living your passion? If not, what’s holding you back?
Most people will not be able to accomplish what the 2007 Salsa Champions did in the video below. MOST people will lack one of these three items:
- A Passion to do what they love,
- A Commitment to do it, no matter what, and
- Taking consistent action until completion.
Do these things, you are a champion:
Love and Money Summit 2010
By · CommentsDr. Brenda Wade is offering her second Love and Money Summit on September 2-5, 2010 over the Labor Day weekend in beautiful San Francisco! Here are some excerpts from the L&M Summit in Savannah last year in this exclusive unlisted video (don’t blink – you’ll miss me at the end):
Whitewater Adventure 2010
By · CommentsAdventure time! A group of us Internet marketing types took time off this past Saturday, June 12th, to travel to Ducktown Tennessee for a real “quacking good” time. Ocoee Adventure Center herded us into a couple of oversized rafts and send us all yelling and squeeling down some pretty hefty rapids of the churning Ocoee River, sight of the 1996 Olympic Whitewater events.
Everyone got wet but no one fell out. Afterwards we all headed 30 miles north to my and Brigitte’s cabin in Coker Creek (Cupid’s Cove) for a fabulous bonfire and cookout. Here are some video excerpts (yes, that’s me in the first inside frame waving):
Blog Talk Radio: Ken Jensen Returns!
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Ken Jensen
Ken Jensen is a former Marine who had given up all hope of ever recovering from his frequent bouts with BiPolar disorder. Since his conversion to “natural healing,” however, his life has turned around 180 degrees. So much so, in fact, that he has started addressing larger audiences with his message of hope, natural living and tapping inner motivation.
Ken previously spent his days counseling others on how to emerge victorious from a disease that has crippled the minds of millions worldwide. He is also Michael’s guest for 30 minutes on Logical Soul Talk on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 starting at 6 pm to talk about what’s been happening since he was on the show last year.
Go online, or call (347) 843-4544 if you want to ask Ken a question.
Ken is the author of the book It Takes Guts to Be Me: How an Ex-Marine Beat BiPolar Disorder. It was written, he says, as a sort of survival manual on how he survive his bipolar disorder. He explains:
“I was dying from it as my mind and body were failing. Prison, lockdown ward, and death were my coming future. I’d already lived through all three, to include death, but I was running out of juice to keep up the fight.
“I followed all doctors’ instructions to a ‘T’. By this, I mean I ate every pill they prescribed me for a six-year period. This equated to thousands of pills; over 100 individual prescriptions for almost every psychotropic applicable. I only got worse with each passing month.
“During my last psychiatric visit, the doctor told me he was just about out of options and he wasn’t hopeful. This news terrified me like nothing had before in my life. I was going to die, horribly insane. I decided to look elsewhere for help and luckily, I found it.
“I then began weaning myself off my meds, with the help of professionals, (NEVER just stop your meds!) while replacing them with nutrients I was lacking. I improved rapidly and for the first time since I’d been diagnosed, 6 years ago, I began to hope I’d be OK.
“I improved enough to realize I needed even more help to sort out all that was wrong with me. I’d been through too much trauma in too many areas to get away with just addressing nutrition, powerful, though that step was.
“And that’s where the rest of my system came from. I experimented on myself. I got ripped off and misled, frequently. Some tools were good but not meant for me. The items that worked, I kept. Now? You’d have to put a gun to my head to make me stop doing these steps that keep me healthy to this day. I have been meds-free for over two years.
“Just so we’re clear: I am no doctor but my system works. Thousands have proven many of the individual steps I espouse to be effective. This is without the addition of the rest of my steps. The testimonials of those who’d gone before me are what gave me the faith to try what I did. I simply combined the best of the best. My reversal back to a “normal” individual, and my consequent bettering of myself to a level never before experienced, caused all who knew me to suggest authoring a book about my journey. The change was strikingly profound. That led me to some pros who helped me get to where I’m at now.
“I have two books written, and I’ve produced multiple articles, videos, and audio sessions all aimed at bringing others to what I know to be true. This project has recently morphed into a much broader goal of motivating people to do better in this life; to give hope to those who hear my story, no matter why they suffer. If I don’t maintain my vigilance, which is not hard at all, my bipolar will come back. I know this.
“But it is just one part of who I am and it is in my past. I work hard to build the life of my dreams and I want to take as many new friends with me as I can!”
