“I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit together at the table of brotherhood…”

“I have a dream…” Indeed. Inspiring stuff. I want to discuss our dreams in a very practical way today.

I want to talk about how to cultivate your dreaming. It really is a tremendously valuable thing to do. I want to steer away from conventional dream interpretation and will explain why.

As of today, pay attention to your dreaming and your daydreaming. Dreams are important to us in many ways, because they do the following:

Firstly, when you dream you actively process information and feelings.

Secondly, dreams are always involving many senses, so the highly sensory experience is very rich. It is quite rare for us to use all our senses at once as we do when we dream.

Thirdly, dreams give us valuable information about what is going on in our lives, whether directly or more often in a disguised or symbolic form.

Fourthly, dreams are strongly sequenced, though often in a way which is emotionally rather than logically organised.

Finally, dreams draw upon a rich range of unconscious, associative, creative links between many kinds of information.

Some people remember their dreams; others tend to forget all but the most dramatic bits as soon as they wake. When you dream or daydream, take time to replay as much of it as you can in your mind before the events of the day overlay it. Relive the story of that dream. Remind yourself of the events, pictures, sensations and other sensory information it involved.

This dream was the product of your mind. Marvel at your own creativity! This is amazing stuff here; get excited by it.

If you get into the habit of asking yourself when you wake, “what did I dream?” you may at first only remember a few particularly strong feelings or vivid images: write them down and review it regularly. I actually used to write a dream journal and wrote everything down as soon as I opened my eyes each morning. It provided me with such inspiration when I required it.

Naturally, lots of you may want to start with dream interpretation straight away. Resist the urge for dream interpretation, ok?

Do your best not to assume that there is necessarily a single clear meaning which can be interpreted according to psychological theories or books on dream significance or dream interpretation. How can your dreams have the same meaning as someone else? Is your brain the same as that persons? For now, ease off the dream interpretation.

I have found that the most useful assumption to make about dreams is that they have some kind of significance for you, the dreamer: they come from your internal, unconscious mind’s storehouse of feelings, experiences and images, and are an active and useful way of processing that is quite different from – and just as useful as – the processing that belongs to the logical conscious part of your mind.

Often a strong feeling will be your first clue to the meaning a dream has for you: so note it, and wonder about it, but don’t try to rush to tie it down by conscious analysis. The real work of the dream is often done simply in the dreaming of it: the conscious mind does not always have to understand, and when it tries to translate dreams into its own terms it may be limiting it, just as poetry translated from another language usually loses something of its more subtle tapestry of meanings.

Think about the value of dreams.

Dreams demonstrate a different level of mental functioning from conscious, disciplined thought. When you pay attention to them, and even cultivate them, you are learning to become familiar with, to trust and to draw upon a fuller range of your own mental resources: in other words, you are using more of what you’ve got. Hey, this stuff is going to keep happening, so why not really use it.

The mind works both consciously and unconsciously. Conscious thought is formally taught in our education system. Its strength is its systematic and disciplined way of handling information. Its limitation is that it tends to be rule-bound and too narrow in its problem-solving approach.

The brain also processes information at an unconscious level: mostly, this is associative and depends on links, similarities and feelings. This processing produces dreams, as well as much of our other “creative” or “expressive” experience. That is why we are often surprised by the spontaneous connections we make or insights we have, and by our imaginative inspiration: it is not what we would have come up with consciously at all, yet it seems somehow completely “right”. This way of thinking works “laterally” – it expands, goes sideways and finds multiple avenues rather than just one.

We need both kinds of functioning if we are to make the most of our brain power. Logic and intuition, discipline and divergence, are all vital tools that enrich and enable us. But whereas we are used to working with the conscious mind, in part because we are aware of it and can monitor it as it works, many people are less at ease trusting and using the unconscious processes. Paying attention to your dreams, and deliberately cultivating daydreaming, are both ways of stretching yourself into this area.

So let us have a look at the value of deliberate daydreaming. Where dreams come unbidden, you may find it useful to deliberately evoke the conditions for daydreaming, if, like many people, you have not really valued the activity before now.

How is it valuable? Daydreaming brings us escape and relaxation; visions of the future that inspire and help us to bring about what we have dreamed of; solutions to apparently unsolvable problems; inventions and creative possibilities. Daydream states allow the unconscious, associative parts of the mind to work in their own playful and imaginative ways, bringing not only pleasure but results that our usual deliberate, attentive, rational thought does not. We need space in our lives for both ways of processing if we are to realise ourselves as fully as possible.

The key to daydreaming is to be in that right state. If you want to practice, please visit my website and download the free hypnosis session there, or learn self-hypnosis, read my book “The Secrets of Self-Hypnosis” or invest in the self-hypnosis masterclass audio programme, there is nothing else as good in the world today, really there isn’t. There is a kind of automatic abstractedness that goes along with daydreaming. Mostly it just seems to happen – but when you know about creating and changing states, you can choose to make it happen.

Here are some ways you can cultivate and work with your daydreams:

Firstly, notice when you have been daydreaming. Is there any pattern of circumstances that helps bring about your particular daydreaming state?

Some people find that repetitive, relatively automatic, activities such as jogging, ironing or walking create the right state. Perhaps it is a warm bath, swimming a few lengths, or sitting in the garden. Or it may be swaying to the movement of a train, staring into space, looking out of the window of a bus on the way to work, or going on a long drive.

Once you find what helps you daydream, use it and make space for it in your life on a regular basis, imagine that you are in that experience, recreate those circumstances inside of your mind. Let daydreaming come to you, and notice what kinds of windows it opens from our ordinary world into what other kinds of possibilities. Some of your best ideas and inspirations may come at these times.

Secondly, next time you have a decision to make, or a problem to solve, or a challenge to overcome, you can set up the circumstances so that you can trigger your daydreaming state – and allow yourself to explore your problem or decision in this way. When you have done so, make some notes of what you experienced and discovered. Add that to your conscious thinking on the subject: you now have much more information, and the advantage of having engaged more of your mental resources.

Thirdly, for today, forget dream interpretation. That is a conscious and limiting thing to do. Did I make myself clear? Forget conventional dream interpretation. For now use your dreams in personal ways to you.

The funny thing is, later on that evening when my friends were joking about my pink coloured forehead, I told them that I was really looking forward to summer and as I spoke, I felt the sun on me, imagined the fun I was going to have on the beach, remembered the smell, the amazing feeling of joy that I get from being there, just by anticipating it all.

A natural phenomenon we can replicate with NLP techniques. NLP stands for neuro-linguistic programming, which is just a methodology for helping make changes. We shorten it to NLP for easy understanding.

Without realising it, the time I had spent on the sea front earlier that day had acted as an anchor for the wonderful experience which immediately followed it. The next time I saw & heard the experience, albeit in my mind, my neurology went “I know what happens now” and started to produce the intense physical responses that it ‘knew’ were coming next.

In the field of NLP, an anchor is any representation in the human nervous system that triggers any other representation. For instance, the word ‘sex’ will immediately trigger images, sounds etc associated with that word. The word ‘chocolate’ will trigger different associations. I am not too sure which of those will create the most intense feelings though! These words are anchors. Anchors do not have to be words, they can be a wide range of things.

With NLP, we identify that anchors can operate in any representational system (ie. sight, sound, feeling, smell, taste.) Let me give you some examples;

Tonal: By that, I mean for example, the special way a certain person has of saying your name, like when a friend or family member says it. My mother shouting my name from the depths of my home when I was a child often signalled the fact that she had discovered something that I had done that meant trouble for me! “Adam!” often made me feel what I was in store for.

Tactile: The effect of a certain type of handshake for example, or the sensation of a reassuring hug compared to a loving cuddle. Rekindles all kinds of wonderful feelings.

Visual: The way people respond to certain items of clothing. I recently had lunch with a group of my friends from the town where I grew up and several of them commented on the jacket I was wearing. Now, whenever they see it, it reminds them of those comments and makes them smile.

Olfactory: Like when you smell a certain kind of food being cooked can suddenly have you remembering a time when you were in the school cafeteria.

Gustatory: The taste of your favourite food or the way certain foods can make you remember how you felt when you had it before. Maybe like when you were given soup and a big helping of love and sympathy when you were young and off school because you were poorly. I know every time I eat Heinz Tomato soup it reminds me of just that.

Once again, in the field of NLP, an anchor is any representation in the human nervous system that triggers any other representation. It is conceptually similar to Pavlovian conditioning (ie. bells and salivating dogs; some of Pavlovs findings feature in the field of NLP.

While the anchor I created for the sea front was unintentional, it is possible for you to use this NLP tecnique to anchor yourself intentionally. Have a go at this and learn this NLP technique for yourself……

Fistly, think of an occasion when you had a highly pleasurable, positive or enjoyable experience. See what you saw then (looking out through your own eyes), hear what you heard and feel what you felt. As you feel the sensations increase in intensity, squeeze the thumb & forefinger of your left hand gently together for a few moments, then release them. Now ‘break your state’ (Eg. by remembering what you had for lunch yesterday.) Squeeze your thumb & forefinger together again, gently pulsing them. The state will return.

To make the most of anchoring with NLP, it is important to really engage in the experience and make it wonderfully vivid in your mind and to then also put effort into recalling it when you first activate your NLP anchor for a few times. Imagine how powerful this can be when you want to feel wonderful if you are home, feeling gloomy. Instead of reaching for the chocolate, you can start to activate your “feel good” anchor.

Every time you want to get motivated to exercise, just activate your enthusiasm anchor. It is a really simple technique of NLP.

This is a simple but powerful NLP technique that can enable you to have access to the states and resources you want, when you want them. The use of thumb & forefinger is an example of a tactile anchor, but you can use any representation to anchor something for yourself or someone else.

Guidelines for setting anchors with NLP;

In order to get a ‘strong’ anchor for an experience, it is important to

a) Ensure that you have a powerful example of the experience to work with.

b) Anchor in as many representational systems as possible (visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, etc).

c) Set the anchor just before the experience peaks.

d) When you activate the anchor, do it accurately. Be precise!

e) With tactile (kinaesthetic) anchors, pulsing the anchor can help to maintain the experience

One of the people who came on one of my NLP training courses was particularly taken with the idea of anchoring. Shortly after the NLP training, one morning his wife offered to make him a cup of tea, and as she did so, he gently tapped the side of his cup with his ring. He repeated this the next few times she made him a cup of tea. After a while, all he had to do was tap the side of his cup subtly with his ring & she would spontaneously offer to get him a cup of tea!! Very Naughty use of NLP, Eh?! Just by creating a sensory representation (tapping the cup) that coincided with her making tea, he was soon able to use that representation as a trigger for what he wanted. He did eventually share his NLP anchoring experience with his wife and you can be sure he makes a lot more tea than she does now!

Now I know that by now some of you may be thinking “But isn’t that manipulative?!?” One answer is “Yes, so use it for doing good stuff!”
Another answer is “no.” It is no more manipulative than making yourself look good and smell nice when you go out. In those situations you are trying to get people to think the best of you and have a good response to you, a response that you are attempting to anchor through your choice of clothing, grooming and smelly perfume.

Here are some of the sorts of things that I go out of my way to use NLP to anchor whenever I see them or experience them:

- Smiles.

- Laughter.

- Excitement

- Confidence

- Good feelings

- Good performance (especially by waiters & waitresses!)

- Anything that looks good, useful or fun; Achievement and success are especially useful for stopping smoking, reducing weight or growing in confidence.

It’s happening all the time anyway:

As I said at the beginning, anchoring with NLP is a naturally occurring phenomenon anyway. You are exposed to it all the time in everything you do. Everyone is doing this stuff all the time, often without really knowing it. All I am inviting you to do is to become conscious of the anchors that you and others are setting (maybe using NLP), and to start using them purposefully to get good results, rather than randomly to get whatever you get. Use NLP with mindfulness.

Taking this a step further;

Recently, I was working with a team of related staff members with regards to doing some NLP consulting with them. I asked them how they would know that the two days had been a great success. One of them said it would have a ‘feel good factor’ and simultaneously made a gesture with both hands towards his tummy. When I repeated the words ‘feel good factor’ to him, he nodded in confirmation. Later on, I referred to the feel good factor, and simultaneously used his gesture. Instead of a nod of confirmation, I got a full physiological response, including skin colour changes, posture and energy changes…the full works. His words had been a good anchor, but the words plus the gesture were far more complete. When I used both, I got a full response. I continued to use the anchor throughout the consultation. At no time was he aware that I was using NLP & his anchors – he just had the experience of being really well understood.

You can use NLP anchors to capture and re-use positive experiences for yourself & others. Now have a go at doing this NLP exercise too…

1) Think of an occasion when you had a highly pleasurable, positive or enjoyable experience. See what you saw then (looking out through your own eyes), hear what you heard and feel what you felt. As you feel the sensations increase in intensity, squeeze the thumb & forefinger of your left hand gently together for a few moments, then release them. Now ‘break your state’ (Eg. by remembering what shoe you put on first today.) Squeeze your thumb & forefinger together again, gently pulsing them. The state will return.

2) Identify something that someone you know already does, and create a subtle anchor. Set the anchor while they are doing the activity. Later, fire your NLP anchor and see what happens. If they do the thing you anchored, then it worked!

3) When you (or someone you are with) are experiencing something you want to have more of, anchor it.

As usual, remember that this stuff is powerful so use your NLP skills wisely. As well, allow yourself to start becoming aware of when it is being used on you. Advertisers, politicians and stand-up comedians all know the power of NLP anchors and use them with great cunning (and to great effect.) Awareness with NLP is the key – have fun.

Self-control is described rationally as an endeavor on the self of an individual that embalms both the process of consideration and the behavior. The process of self-control can be achieved by having a sharp insight and a strong will to set fixed boundaries. Self-control is a wide term that comprises both resolution and veneration. Self-control is a brilliant tool that plays a crucial role in helping an entity to work out control over their mortification. The ability to control the self varies from one individual to the other. Therefore, some people have more ability to exercise control as compared to others. The capability to exercise control over the self can be hindered due to some unpleasant experiences in the past.

Optimistic affirmations in life aid in enhancing the process of self-control. This is made possible by encoding the sub consciousness of a person with constructive energy that will make imbibe positive thoughts in you. The actions of a person are derived from his thoughts. When a person is very redolent in positive energy then it becomes likely for him to act positively to all the situations he encounters. If a person is keen on doing a particular task then these positive vibrations within oneself play a significant role in overcoming all the impediments.

The positive affirmations aid in achieving exercise control by enabling a person to escape from mental ailments such as pain attacks, anxiety and phobias. It also assists in prevailing over low self-respect. It serves to channelize the energy cells and ability to handle and perk up your performance in various areas such as writing and sports among the several other fields. This will also enable in developing healthy and everlasting relationships, enhancing memory, alter dysfunctional attitudes towards others. When you have a better look with your self, you would have a better feel about your self as well. This will help you to have more self-esteem, which is something that we all can use in our life.

Most of us have low self-esteem any ways and if you’re not able to control your emotions then you’re not going to feel good about yourself.

How do you get help for this problem?

When you want to get help for this problem, you will have to search deep with in your self. When you’re in control of all of the emotions that come your way then you will have a better out look on life. Remember that when you have control on your life you will feel a lot better. Having control will help you to though all your roadblocks that may come your way. Having road blocks in your life has a major malfunction in one life you’re going to have to get control of your emotions so that you can have less malfunctions.

If you are having a hard, time with your emotions and are not able to take control of them. Worry there is help for you. There is your local family doctor that can help as well as support groups in your area that may help you. If you find that your having a hard time with finding help you may want to research a little more so you may want to get on the internet. Using the internet as a resource will help you a lot they offer you more they have a very large range on things so this would be a good place to start. Then if you fell, this isn’t enough for you then you can always check in to your local hospital for help. They will be more then helpful to you when it comes to this.

Self-mastery is becoming one of the major requirements for employees and employers in the business world. Because of the many problems, businesses are placing greater emphasis on education and learning. Some of the changes in business have lead to major changes and expectations. Businesses are supposed to be a place where people exchange ideas without conflicts. Many of the conflicts that take place in the businesses and real world are due to lack of professionalism. The world is moving rapidly toward Internet business whereas many companies are selling products, services, and so forth online. E-mails are being sent each day, which has posed issues. Many businesses are expecting employees to write professional electronic mails to promote their services or products. The problem with this is that the employee must learn proper marketing strategies, writing, and other skilled tasks to ensure that the connections are meet without complications. Internet providers will bar those that send emails in spam form, so company employees must learn to prevent, act, and respond to emails without violating the Internet providers’ rules and policies.

Therefore, new training is underway and employees and employers are encouraged to advance their professional growth by using their self-insight. Other issues are present that is causing a crisis, which is inspiring businesses to encourage employees and employers to adapt to professional attitudes. For example, Mexico’s financial system during 1995 was on the brinks of being completely in receivership. Mexico’s financial system was one-step away from complete bankruptcy because of its default on payments, which reached to billions of dollars.

One of the high officials, President Leon had no other recourse but to turn to communities internationally and to the United States, thus asking for assistance. This led to a treaty, which was signed amid the USA and Mexico. The USA issued a $20-billion dollar check, to help Mexico recover.

What caused this disaster was related to lack of professionalism. It was clear that Mexico’s prominent leader was instable. Because of the lack of structure in the financial system, major investors began withdrawing their funds. Mexican leaders attempted to reduce the sum of the peso, yet when they made this attempt, more disaster hit the financial system. The leaders had thought that the reduction of the pesos worth would increase sales. This problem alone led to many other problems, which leaders of the economy created error-packed policies for nomic that lead corruption and poverty, as well as familiar issues. The problem expanded, which led the country and the USA into facing major crime issues, such as trafficking, and political assassinations.

We see then that if these people were professionals that these problems could have been avoided. The unprofessional took a great toll on the country, which immediately after the Chiapas revolt. During this revolt, the Chiapas stood against authorities who were clearly corrupted. Immediately after, the massive corruption in the political sector erupted. One of the most prominent leaders in the country during 1994 died from a gun wound. Murrieta was announced dead at the scene of the crime. The young Martinez, a factory employee was later arrested. Vazquez later was also convicted.

Later that year another high politic leader was annihilated. Had there been professional growth in this scene, perhaps murder and other crimes would have been kept at bay. It is logical then to see that we need to develop professional growth in order to avoid such problems in the future.

What is self-mastering skills?

What is self-mastering skills? These are skills that you use every day and just do not know we are using them or that we do not know how to use them so hopefully by the time you are done reading this is you will know and understand more about self-mastering skill and how they work in your every day life. Self-mastery skills and abilities is one’s strength that helps them to take control of their behaviors, mental processes, and emotional reactions. Self-mastery is a human strength then that empowers you to reach for a better tomorrow.

When you get mad what do you do blow up right most of us do, this is some the norm for most of us. When we want to use your self-mastering skills we are going to try to find ways to stay calm, so if this means that we have to count to ten front wards and back wards then this is what we are going to have to do. For some reason you find that this is not going to work for you then you might want to try to find something else that will work for you. There are many things that you can do to stay calm all your going to have to do is to figure it out. This may mean that you are going to have to dig deep with thin your self to try to get the right method that is going to work for you.

Different methods work different ways on people what may work for may not work for others. This is when you are going to have to be able to sit down and find all the ways there is to be able to find the right method that is going to work for you. Sometimes you have to step back and remember that you are going to overcome the problems. Sometimes you have to take it one day at a time and set goals. By setting goals, you will have something to reach for in your life.  Then you make another goal and so on.

In order to do this you might have to have some time to your self to be able to figure this out. When you decided this is something that you want to do then you may want to go and pick a nice quite place where you are able to think. You not going to be able to figure out the best way for you to start to work on your self-mastering skills if you are not able to sit down and send some time with your self this is what learn self-mastering skills is all about.

The subliminal or sub conscious mind contains all the information we have obtained throughout our lifespan. All that we see, hear, smell, touch, learn, or experience is retained in this vicinity of the brain. This quarter of the brain contains undisclosed messages in which it will expose when a memory starts to develop in fragments. The unconscious (automatic) mind is where our self, individuality works instinctively. Some theorists deem the unconscious mind as the inadvertent mind. This is because some behaviors we display are unintentionally acted upon by signals we receive from the unconscious mind. Behaviors are physical actions, such as reacting to some thought. For instance, you may think of buying a bathtub, yet until you have purchased the tub, you have not shown any behavioral reactions from your thoughts.

Self-mastery is a process that requires that we use all areas of the mind to obtain our goal in building mental, physical, and emotional strength. Consciousness brings us to realization. It relates to the physical body, simply because when some force whether seen or unseen triggers the emotions, thus mental processes develop, which reflect on one’s behaviors.

Because our mind works in several ways, one must wonder if it transcends any physical reactions of the body by receiving signals from the nervous system. Along these lines, an entity would have to appreciate that the brain and nervous system works in harmony. Learning about the anatomy is a great way to decide how the mind works with the nervous system – and how it can help you expand self-mastery skills.

The anatomy framework:

The neuron, or nerve cells have a shared purposeful element in which consist of cell bodies, such as dendrites (The branched extensions of nerve cells) – axon (Extensions of nerve cells) – and these cell bodies border myelin sheath, or the nerve-insulated layers of myelin. The neurons conduct impulses in which these impulses feed and transmit to the synapse (gap amid nerve endings) and then to the muscles – glands and the organs.

Our anatomy makes up neurotransmitters. These transmitters act to produce serotonin, (chemicals that derive from amino acid tryptophan and distributes widely to the tissues) which also helps to constrict blood vessels at the injury sites, and can affect the emotional state. This is important if you are working on self-mastery skills, since self-mastery is the process of taking control of your emotions. Our anatomy makes up acetylcholine, (Transmitters of nerve impulses) dopamine, (Chemical compound in the brain) endorphins, norepinephrine, gamma – aminoburytic acid, etc. It helps to conduct the impulses from corner to corner to the synapse.

The CNS (Central Nervous System) links to the brain and the spinal cord in which the nervous system controls our frontal, parietal, temporal, and the occipital lobes at the front of the brain. Each of these lobes serve to signal and cause reactions to either allocate one to perform mentally, exploit motor skills, feel, hear, smell, taste, and so forth.

Descartes supposed, “That the mind could have a direct influence on the body.” He pointed out that our decisions “to improve our health causes us to exercise.” If you think about it, the mind will also draw up negativity to encourage you to find every reason why you shouldn’t exercise. Descartes stated, “The body could have a direct influence on the mind.”