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PHASE I
In the same way a traditional compass guides us towards the desired direction, personal objectives should guide us in making decisions, which will take us where we want to go with our lives. There develops an interactive relationship between goals and decisions. The better the alignment, the closer one gets to achieving the goals. As stated earlier, one of my very first goals was to improve the control and overall ability of my mind by creating frameworks through which to process information. Working to develop a system of philosophical, analytical and behavioral systems to help get the most out of one’s existence, these five pieces of a balanced life fell into place in my mind:
I don’t pretend to be the world’s smartest guy. Still, it occurred to me that, while there are many pathways to a happy life, the effort taken to expand the mind was among the most effective. Best of all, it’s the sort of exercise easily applied to any age, any race, and any profession. I tested basic theories on myself from 1968-1975, and began professionally testing the theories while functioning as a Professor of Law at the University of Miami School of Law. Several basic theories were tested successfully, most significantly the muscular aspects of the brain. This was an integral part of all teaching, and continues to be so. Since leaving the
So for the past 21 years, PTE has primarily been geared to distressed youth in group homes, prisons and detention facilities. This has provided sufficient time to ask what is missing from the mindsets of those in trouble while potentially helping those with nothing to lose. Again and again the system has worked, as hundreds of case histories have shown certain consistent lapses in the mental patterns of those in distress:
A reactionary mind – Most people have no system for processing events and information as it goes into the brain. Rather, as information hits the brain it 'reacts' according to its programming at the time. The lives of such individuals are guided almost entirely by their experiences, causing them to live as what they are, rather than what they have the potential to be. A student who only reads Entertainment Weekly lives as an average person, and won’t have much chance at fulfilling business potential until he also starts reading the Wall Street Journal. Equally, a person only used to abuse won’t become loving and caring until he accepts an image of himself as being worthy of that caring. In each case, the difference between what is and what could be is simple perspective. Key to providing that perspective is information. Whereas the intellect is the mechanism which processes information, perspective is the system for information delivery. You must be an active participant in developing your own mind. Left alone and without direction, the mind will drift from one thought to another. A framework for success – Look in most bedroom closets and you’ll find shoes on the floor, dresses and suits hanging on the clothes rod. You’ll see shelves holding shirts and hats. Why? Because without that framework, everything you own will be piled in disarray. It’s impossible to find what you need, when you need it, when your closet is disorganized.
The same theory applies to your thinking. The human brain cannot find the pieces needed to make the most of every situation without organizational structure – a mental framework. Such a structure serves two purposes:
It’s a fact that most people are reactive to stimuli. Like a frog’s leg hooked up to a battery, they jump every time they are jolted by a stimulus of one sort or another. This means structuring your thinking helps you control information as it comes in to your brain, and helps you remain pro-active, maximizing the information for your own benefit. This changes the view of the playing field and allows for much more information and meaningful decisions. You get to control the battery, rather than it controlling you. Intellectual curiosity – Like any other muscle, the brain gets stronger with exercise. Spend all your time watching television and both your brain and your body will atrophy. The American Marketing Association reports the typical American adult is on the receiving end of over 3,000 marketing messages every single day! This means your brain is being molded and manipulated by people who care nothing about your welfare beyond how can you help line their pockets. When this is added to societal rules and regulations, we find our minds wrapped in mental cellophane – able to see a world beyond ours but unable to breath its air or hear its music. The problem gets worse with the passage of time as more layers of cellophane are wrapped around each of us. At last we cannot even see the world beyond – only our own existence. There is no reality but our own, and we lose sight of the potential to do things any other way but the one we already know. There is a very old saying particularly applicable here; nothing changes unless something changes. To break free from the structure described above, routines must be changed that will result in a new stimulus to the brain. Something as simple as rearranging the furniture, listening to music you would not ordinarily listen to, or getting up and hour early to take a walk are among the limitless adjustments we can make on our way to increase consciousness. As you exercise your mind, actively seeking out different ways of seeing the world and organizing your thinking, you will begin to unwrap that cellophane. You hold the key to your own prison. |
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