The terms I.Q. and now even E.Q. (emotional quotient, which correlates with emotional intelligence) have long ago made it into the vernacular. But there is another "quotient" so to speak that everyone strives for but not many people really understand. So I'm going to go out on a limb and coin a new phrase: let's just call it H.Q. - or the Happiness Quotient.
What is H.Q.? It's long been understood that some people just have a lower threshold for happiness. You know, those annoying people that derive great pleasure from the smallest of things. Like eating ice cream. Or watching football. Or whatever. Frankly, I never used to be one of those people. In fact, I think I simultaneously despised and envied people that were happy for no reason (I mean, what was their deal anyway?). Weren't they smart enough to see everything that was wrong in their lives and want to fix it? Wasn't it normal to endlessly examine and rationalize one's own deficiencies? To conquer childish optimism and replace it with jaded "maturity"?
Then one day, in my attempts at introspection, I realized that my forced realism, pragmatism, rationalism, and other -isms that I can't think of right now, were only making me more miserable. I had been socially trained to be all those things. Creativity, spontaneity, and passion were mere luxuries - not a normal part of everyday life. And then I began to pay attention to my emotions, and my happiness level (it's hard to quantify, but you know it when you have it).
I began to consciously infuse moments of happiness into everyday life. I would eat an ice cream cone in the middle of the afternoon (there is a great gelato place near where I work); calories be damned. I would take five minutes in the morning before I got out of bed and just lay there and daydream (I prefer to call it "visualization"); alarm be damned. I would sit in a chair in my apartment every night and close my eyes and just breathe; personal phone calls and emails waiting to be answered be damned. Yeah, I know it sounds stupid, but to my surprise, focused breathing was actually pleasurable and relaxing.
And then something interesting happened. As I got happier (for no apparent reason), the Universe seemed to cooperate with me more. I started noticing more favorable coincidences in my life. There seemed to be a positive momentum where my inner happiness seemed to attract more outer happiness (through synchronous people, places, events)- a phenomenon that I thought deserved further exploring.
Were those annoyingly happy people onto something? And does getting happy really influence outcomes and shape our future experience by moving energy, or is merely a change in perception?
Part 2- What's happiness got to do with it?
To Be Continued...
Monday, July 6, 2009
Friday, June 12, 2009
Leverage Your Thoughts and Influence Your Health
The following article was written by Deepak Chopra and published on June 9 in the Huffington Post. I've taken excerpts of it here, as I think it is an interesting perspective on the idea of quantum health and mind-body medicine, and points to the fact that we are really beginning to see as a patient-driven paradigm shift in the field of medicine.
Mainstream Medicine and the Oprah Factor
by: Deepak Chopra
"The medical profession is burdened with a host of problems that Oprah addresses with more candor and force than the AMA. She promotes wellness and prevention, two areas that drastically need improvement. She brings up creative solutions to problems that medical science is baffled by, such as the healing response itself and the role of subjectivity in patient response. These are issues that few M.D.s are willing to explore, yet she has done so for decades."
"Every illness has a subjective component -- after all, to be sick is to change your moods and emotions, and severe illness causes one to examine primal issues like life and death and the meaning of existence. Do these subjective changes affect healing? Obviously they do, or we wouldn't have the placebo effect, which comes into play at least 30% of the time in illness.Scientific medicine by and large ignores wellness, prevention, and alternative medicine in general. On a daily basis doctors don't deal in these things; few take courses in medical school centered on them. That's why a massive movement has arisen driven by patients themselves."
"In Seattle a recent study of 638 patients with chronic lower back pain were given either some sort of acupuncture or standard treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs and massage. On average, the acupuncture patients received twice as much benefit as those on standard treatment. The kicker is that some of the patients received fake acupuncture -- they were pricked superficially with toothpicks -- and received the same relief."
"The benefit of lifestyle changes has been grossly underestimated and underused. Coronary heart disease, prostate cancer/breast cancer, diabetes, and obesity account for 75% of health care costs, yet the progression of these diseases may often be stopped or even reversed by making intensive lifestyle changes. The most recent findings show that such changes actually cause beneficial alterations at the genetic level, affecting up to 400 genes through such measures as improved diet, exercise, and meditation."
"Does the most brilliant researcher in the world know why cancer sometimes spontaneously disappears? Why a patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder or depression can respond equally well to talk therapy and drugs -- that is, why talk is as effective as chemicals in altering the brain? Or how the body's healing system is influenced by outside forces?The answer is no. Which means that mysteries remain to be solved, and creative solutions have every chance of arising from unexpected quarters. Autoimmune diseases are one in which the body's immune system attacks the body itself. There are few known causes; it is baffling to grasp why the body's chief defender against illness should turn around and become the cause of illness. This study suggests a human connection rather than a biological one. Or rather, human distress leads to biological distress. Doctors don't officially believe that; millions of ordinary citizens do. Earlier studies had already correlated adverse childhood conditions with the risk of inflammatory conditions. In the little picture, a new finding has been added to the long list of mind-body links for illness and aging. In the bigger picture, the fact that we don't fully understand the mind-body connection, much less use it for healing in official medicine, comes into glaring relief."
Mainstream Medicine and the Oprah Factor
by: Deepak Chopra
"The medical profession is burdened with a host of problems that Oprah addresses with more candor and force than the AMA. She promotes wellness and prevention, two areas that drastically need improvement. She brings up creative solutions to problems that medical science is baffled by, such as the healing response itself and the role of subjectivity in patient response. These are issues that few M.D.s are willing to explore, yet she has done so for decades."
"Every illness has a subjective component -- after all, to be sick is to change your moods and emotions, and severe illness causes one to examine primal issues like life and death and the meaning of existence. Do these subjective changes affect healing? Obviously they do, or we wouldn't have the placebo effect, which comes into play at least 30% of the time in illness.Scientific medicine by and large ignores wellness, prevention, and alternative medicine in general. On a daily basis doctors don't deal in these things; few take courses in medical school centered on them. That's why a massive movement has arisen driven by patients themselves."
"In Seattle a recent study of 638 patients with chronic lower back pain were given either some sort of acupuncture or standard treatment with anti-inflammatory drugs and massage. On average, the acupuncture patients received twice as much benefit as those on standard treatment. The kicker is that some of the patients received fake acupuncture -- they were pricked superficially with toothpicks -- and received the same relief."
"The benefit of lifestyle changes has been grossly underestimated and underused. Coronary heart disease, prostate cancer/breast cancer, diabetes, and obesity account for 75% of health care costs, yet the progression of these diseases may often be stopped or even reversed by making intensive lifestyle changes. The most recent findings show that such changes actually cause beneficial alterations at the genetic level, affecting up to 400 genes through such measures as improved diet, exercise, and meditation."
"Does the most brilliant researcher in the world know why cancer sometimes spontaneously disappears? Why a patient with obsessive-compulsive disorder or depression can respond equally well to talk therapy and drugs -- that is, why talk is as effective as chemicals in altering the brain? Or how the body's healing system is influenced by outside forces?The answer is no. Which means that mysteries remain to be solved, and creative solutions have every chance of arising from unexpected quarters. Autoimmune diseases are one in which the body's immune system attacks the body itself. There are few known causes; it is baffling to grasp why the body's chief defender against illness should turn around and become the cause of illness. This study suggests a human connection rather than a biological one. Or rather, human distress leads to biological distress. Doctors don't officially believe that; millions of ordinary citizens do. Earlier studies had already correlated adverse childhood conditions with the risk of inflammatory conditions. In the little picture, a new finding has been added to the long list of mind-body links for illness and aging. In the bigger picture, the fact that we don't fully understand the mind-body connection, much less use it for healing in official medicine, comes into glaring relief."
Monday, May 11, 2009
Ways To Raise Your Vibration in Five Minutes Or Less
In my last post, I promised to share with you guys ways to quickly and effectively raise your energy vibration. A higher vibration means you are more closely aligned with Source energy. Changing your energy vibration is also the only way you can start attracting better things to you - remember, anything that is currently manifesting in your reality started with a energy impulse first, then eventually translated into physical matter (in the form of a specific person, situation, circumstance, etc. coming into your life).
The most sustainable way to alter your destiny is by changing your vibration slowly through positive thought. Sustained positive beliefs, coupled with positive expectation, are a surefire way to consistently keep good things coming into your experience. But what if you want faster, more effective results? Here are 5 ways to boost your vibrational quotient, fast.
1. MEDITATE!! If I could name one thing that every single human being should be doing, this would be it. After eating, drinking water, and sleeping, this should be the next biggest priority in your life. Check out previous posts for how to meditate and what to expect, but basically, this is THE most effective way to cause a quantum leap in your energy vibration. When you stop thought, you stop negative thought, and Source energy can begin to flood through you. You'll FEEL it - deeper breathing, relaxed muscles (or the opposite with involuntary muscle movements, which just means you are releasing resistance), a flash of light, an intuitive hit or thought that occurs to you, or even just a feeling of peace. These are all signs that your meditation efforts are working. It takes a while to experience these things, so keep at it.
2. Visualize. Close your eyes, relax, and imagine the circumstances you are wishing to create. Don't do it with the forced intention of trying to make something happen, or trying to tell the Universe what you want - it already knows, so trust that what you want has already happened in a vibrational reality somewhere. The point of visualizing is for the pleasure of it. The act of being purely focused on something that makes you happy (without any ulterior motives) is an excellent way to raise vibration.
3. Breathe. As cliche as it sounds, the old yogic saying is still true today: breath is life. All the cells of your body are crying out for oxygen all the time. Fortunately, your body handles this for you most of the time without your consciously thinking about it. But in times of increased stress, extra oxygen in your cells helps every single process in your body - metabolism, excretion, brain function, releasing of toxins, and so on. So focus on your breathing - take a deep breath, and then take in a little more oxygen. Don't exhale just yet - even if your lungs feel full, take in a little more. And then a little more. Then just exhale slowly. Enjoy it. Your breath is the most tactile, visceral way for you to feel the cyclical, rhythmic ebb and flow of Energy pulsing through you.
4. Love. Thoughts of love (not necessarily the romantic kind, but rather love as in pure appreciation) vibrate higher than any other emotion. Period. You (in your non-physical form) are essentially unlimited love, joy, and abundance. Everything that everyone wants in their life is because they think it will give them a taste of these things - love, freedom, and joy.
The basis of your life is freedom.
The purpose of your life is joy.
That is why you are here. So find something, anything that you love and just fixate completely on it for a few minutes. It doesn't matter what the object of your love is - just feeling the emotion purely will raise your vibration.
5. And, finally, Sleep. This one is tricky. When you sleep, your consciousness merges with Source energy; that is how it draws strength and sustains itself for when it must accompany you during your waking hours. If you are usually in pure positive appreciation, and loving your life, your Consciousness likes staying awake, as it experiences joy along with you. Sometimes the most aligned people need the least amount of sleep. When you are in a constant state of negative emotion and resistance, however, your Consciousness demands a break from all of the negativity more often, and you feel tired and the need for more sleep. When you sleep, you release resistance. But unlike meditation, when you wake up you return to your original vibration; when you come out of meditation on the other hand, your vibration remains higher (this is how meditation differs from sleep).
One caveat to this: wanting sleep does not always mean you are vibrating very negatively. Sometimes, if someone's desires are very strong and the Energy is moving very fast, the fast moving energy stream can cause you to feel tired if you are not "keeping up" with You. In other words, if you are not in an allowing place in which you believe your desires are manifesting, it can cause a gap between where you want to be and where you are. This can cause a feeling of fatigue, because you are summoning more and more energy, but are not in a state of relaxed allowing. Sleep can temporarily relieve some of that resistance and let you close the gap.
There you have it - 5 easy (and fun) ways to raise your vibration. Try one or two that appeal to you. Then try all of them over the course of a few days or weeks to see what works best for you!
The most sustainable way to alter your destiny is by changing your vibration slowly through positive thought. Sustained positive beliefs, coupled with positive expectation, are a surefire way to consistently keep good things coming into your experience. But what if you want faster, more effective results? Here are 5 ways to boost your vibrational quotient, fast.
1. MEDITATE!! If I could name one thing that every single human being should be doing, this would be it. After eating, drinking water, and sleeping, this should be the next biggest priority in your life. Check out previous posts for how to meditate and what to expect, but basically, this is THE most effective way to cause a quantum leap in your energy vibration. When you stop thought, you stop negative thought, and Source energy can begin to flood through you. You'll FEEL it - deeper breathing, relaxed muscles (or the opposite with involuntary muscle movements, which just means you are releasing resistance), a flash of light, an intuitive hit or thought that occurs to you, or even just a feeling of peace. These are all signs that your meditation efforts are working. It takes a while to experience these things, so keep at it.
2. Visualize. Close your eyes, relax, and imagine the circumstances you are wishing to create. Don't do it with the forced intention of trying to make something happen, or trying to tell the Universe what you want - it already knows, so trust that what you want has already happened in a vibrational reality somewhere. The point of visualizing is for the pleasure of it. The act of being purely focused on something that makes you happy (without any ulterior motives) is an excellent way to raise vibration.
3. Breathe. As cliche as it sounds, the old yogic saying is still true today: breath is life. All the cells of your body are crying out for oxygen all the time. Fortunately, your body handles this for you most of the time without your consciously thinking about it. But in times of increased stress, extra oxygen in your cells helps every single process in your body - metabolism, excretion, brain function, releasing of toxins, and so on. So focus on your breathing - take a deep breath, and then take in a little more oxygen. Don't exhale just yet - even if your lungs feel full, take in a little more. And then a little more. Then just exhale slowly. Enjoy it. Your breath is the most tactile, visceral way for you to feel the cyclical, rhythmic ebb and flow of Energy pulsing through you.
4. Love. Thoughts of love (not necessarily the romantic kind, but rather love as in pure appreciation) vibrate higher than any other emotion. Period. You (in your non-physical form) are essentially unlimited love, joy, and abundance. Everything that everyone wants in their life is because they think it will give them a taste of these things - love, freedom, and joy.
The basis of your life is freedom.
The purpose of your life is joy.
That is why you are here. So find something, anything that you love and just fixate completely on it for a few minutes. It doesn't matter what the object of your love is - just feeling the emotion purely will raise your vibration.
5. And, finally, Sleep. This one is tricky. When you sleep, your consciousness merges with Source energy; that is how it draws strength and sustains itself for when it must accompany you during your waking hours. If you are usually in pure positive appreciation, and loving your life, your Consciousness likes staying awake, as it experiences joy along with you. Sometimes the most aligned people need the least amount of sleep. When you are in a constant state of negative emotion and resistance, however, your Consciousness demands a break from all of the negativity more often, and you feel tired and the need for more sleep. When you sleep, you release resistance. But unlike meditation, when you wake up you return to your original vibration; when you come out of meditation on the other hand, your vibration remains higher (this is how meditation differs from sleep).
One caveat to this: wanting sleep does not always mean you are vibrating very negatively. Sometimes, if someone's desires are very strong and the Energy is moving very fast, the fast moving energy stream can cause you to feel tired if you are not "keeping up" with You. In other words, if you are not in an allowing place in which you believe your desires are manifesting, it can cause a gap between where you want to be and where you are. This can cause a feeling of fatigue, because you are summoning more and more energy, but are not in a state of relaxed allowing. Sleep can temporarily relieve some of that resistance and let you close the gap.
There you have it - 5 easy (and fun) ways to raise your vibration. Try one or two that appeal to you. Then try all of them over the course of a few days or weeks to see what works best for you!
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