“Your nervous system cannot tell the difference between an imagined experience and a ‘real’ experience.”
How do you de-hypnotize yourself from false beliefs?
Do you want to become a rational thinker to avoid stress?
How do you consistently generate creative ideas?
How do people become success junkies?
Psycho-Cybernetics
Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr. Maxwell Maltz is a 1960s classic that has been quoted many times by the “Jesus” of self-development, Tony Robbins.
Having nothing to do with robots or the future, Psycho-Cybernetics is about using your brain as you would a machine. Maltz was a plastic surgeon who noticed something fascinating — patients who got the nose job they wanted STILL felt ugly afterward. The problem was never the face. It was the mental image they carried of themselves.
Imagination Is Real
Imagination plays an epic and underrated role in improving almost every element in your life, from public speaking, sports, programming, and social gatherings to achieving a calm state of mind, and everything in between.
Our brains cannot distinguish between imagination and reality when training ourselves in a particular task.
For example, if you experience social anxiety when communicating with someone you are interested in, then you can create a positive mental scenario of the interaction.
Imagine yourself approaching, opening, interacting, and escalating. Of course, all in vivid detail.
Athletes are routinely asked to play their game mentally and in detail. This allows the brain to practice the motions and actions successfully.
But imagination has its limitations if you do not view the interaction or actions in a positive manner.
Imagination is limited if the scenario played out in your mind concludes with a negative outcome.
You need to play the imagination in a positive light and constantly train yourself for the most positive outcome. This is not fluffy “just think happy thoughts” advice — Maltz backs it up with case studies from his practice. Your subconscious doesn’t filter for real versus imagined. It RECORDS the experience and adjusts your behavior accordingly.
Hypnosis Inhibits Us Every Day
We are constantly hypnotized into believing we are not good enough for this or for that. This can be through friends, family, media, or anything else.
The hypnosis is so subliminal in nature that it pervades who we are, what we do or don’t do, and how we inhibit ourselves on a daily basis.
This is also called social conditioning, when we limit ourselves based on what everyone else has said and thinks is correct.
In some tribes a long time ago, cutting off the head of a victim, shrinking it, and putting it up on a wall or spear was common sense.
Think about how many beliefs you hold right now that you never actually CHOSE. Someone told you that you were bad at math when you were eight, and you carried that label for decades. Maltz argues that most limitations we accept were planted by other people — and we never questioned them.
Rational Thinking Unchains Us
Rational thinking allows us to de-hypnotize ourselves by viewing a situation objectively, rather than through our own opinions and beliefs.
For example, if someone is laughing near you, subjectively you may think the laughter is directed at you. But objectively, you place no value on the situation.
Rational thinking allows us to step away from impulse emotions such as anger, fear, greed, and petty conflicts.
Because our brains function as machines, we can program them to think in a positive manner — granted we “learn” how to value ourselves first.
By generating a mental list of your successes, you begin to generate positive emotions — granted you view the successes as positive.
So imagination allows us to create a detailed scenario of a situation or outcome, while hypnosis builds into us beliefs and inhibitions.
Ultimately, rational thinking allows us to view things in an objective manner (step outside of yourself) and deconstruct beliefs that limit us.
Creative Solutions While Relaxing
Psycho-Cybernetics covers creativity in an interesting light as well.
By focusing on a problem too intensely, we sometimes are unable to find a solution.
Various problem solvers in history — inventors such as Edison, biologists like Darwin, or mathematicians like Einstein — have concluded that taking a short nap can be exponentially beneficial.
Another idea is to focus on the problem intensely for several hours, and then “sleep” on it, with pen in hand when you wake up.
The solution will occasionally arrive when the subconscious is processing it, rather than with your waking consciousness.
Your subconscious is able to process a greater amount of learned data from all corners of your mind and piece together something new.
I’ve experienced this myself. Some of my best business ideas came to me in that half-awake state after sleeping — not while grinding at my desk for hours. Maltz would say the conscious mind gets in its own way. Step aside, let the servo-mechanism do its job, and the answer shows up.
Are You Driven to Succeed?
Finally, why are some people prone to success and have repeat successes in their life?
Success drives a positive emotion within them, and failure is simply a learning point on the graph towards success.
Negative emotions are typically in the moment, yet are not thought upon for too long.
The success junkie keeps striving to find something new, sleeps on ideas, and wakes up with a fresh perspective and a continued drive.
When in a negative state of mind, I personally will become grateful for my past successes and achievements and use that emotional rush to move forward.
Furthermore, challenge is not a barrier but a boon, because I get a rush from it as well.
When a challenging problem arises, there is little time to worry about it and look back retrospectively.
Instead, I seek out a positive emotion and find a direction, or even a solution.
Read Psycho-Cybernetics Now
Reading Psycho-Cybernetics is definitely recommended for people seeking a positive, success-oriented outlook in their lives.
For those who wish to stop punishing themselves for past mistakes — move forward onto new opportunities.
My motto several years ago was, “the harder you work, the luckier you get.”
After years of risk-taking, I’ve accomplished several incredible goals, all of which are derived from countless failed attempts and only a handful of successes.
Now my motto is “lead a life of freedom, fun, and adventure.”
So go grab Psycho-Cybernetics now, in your library or bookstore, and get on with having that success-oriented mindset.
Finally, positive thinking helps you live longer.
Go now!
Thanks for reading.
— Leonidas
