The One Taste of the Universe, or How To Experience Synesthesia. I tapped my hands on the table like I normally would do. But this time I noticed something different, something quite remarkable. Not only sounds but also colors invaded my awareness. Yes, there was no way to deny it, the tap on the table gave off a red color. Amazed by this discovery I started exploring other surfaces, my nails on my jeans gave off a distinct green hue and I could make blue come alive by hitting a metal pen.
But it didn’t stop here. When I drew my attention inward, I noticed not just the connection between sounds and colors, but also between colors and tastes, sounds and feelings, thoughts and sensations. I knew synesthesia existed, but I had never experienced it myself, at least not so vividly, so undeniable real. Synesthesia is the simultaneous perception of two or more stimuli as one phenomenon, it is the effect of increased connectivity between areas of the brain that are normally more separated. and it is the basis of all our experience.
Perception. Mind-Blowing Story: “Talking to God…” I met god the other day. I know what you’re thinking. How the hell did you know it was god? Well, I’ll explain as we go along, but basically he convinced me by having all, and I do mean ALL, the answers. Every question I flung at him he batted back with a plausible and satisfactory answer. In the end, it was easier to accept that he was god than otherwise. Which is odd, because I’m still an atheist and we even agree on that! It all started on the 8.20 back from Paddington. What did he look like? Well not what you might have expected that’s for sure. ‘Anyone sitting here?’ ‘Help yourself’ I replied. Sits down, relaxes, I ignore and back to the correspondence on genetic foods entering the food chain… Train pulls out and a few minutes later he speaks.
‘Can I ask you a question?’ Fighting to restrain my left eyebrow I replied ‘Yes’ in a tone which was intended to convey that I might not mind one question, and possibly a supplementary, but I really wasn’t in the mood for a conversation. .. ‘Stottle. The Ultimate Guide to Fitness: Men’s Edition. If you’ve read Tim Ferris’s “The 4-Hour Body,” then you’re familiar with the term “Harajuku moment.” He defines it as the single, definitive moment when we decide to make a dramatic shift with our lives to improve our mental and physical health. Mine took place a few months ago. Long story short: I was loaded with stimulants and thought I was having a heart attack.
In reality it was a mere panic attack, but in my mind I was dying. If you’re looking to do the same, here is my advice to you: Set Yourself Up For Success Create a Starting Point When I took my “after” picture, I thought I was going to look a lot like I did in my “before” shot. Learn The Basics Wikipedia’s page on weightlifting is very comprehensive and easy to read. Define Your Goals I’m telling you right now, if your goal is to “get in shape,” you won’t achieve it.
Utilize Your Full Potential Potential is defined as existing qualities or abilities that, if manifested, will lead to future success. Excuses Equal Failure Persist. Educate Yourself Without School. How to (temporarily) experience the phantom limb syndrome. I placed a coffee cup in front of John and asked him to grab it [with his phantom limb].
Just as he said he was reaching out, I yanked the cup away. “Ow!” He yelled. “Don’t do that!” “What’s the matter?” Get your rubber hand here. The phantom limb syndrome is one more piece of evidence for the fact that we don’t perceive reality as it really is but that we perceive a reality as it is constructed by our own minds. “In short, phantom limbs are a mystery only if we assume the body sends sensory messages to a passively receiving brain.
During the course of evolution not only our bodies evolved but so did our cognitive functions, including our sense of self. Some of these tools gives rise to optical illusions. Illusions like these have revealed alot about perceptual processes in psychology. To trick this system and experience an inanimate object as being your own all you have to do is the following (it helps if someone can give a hand): The Human Condition According to Jason Silva. REGENZEIT II by Field Rotation - writing playlist. The Fastest Way to Change Something About Yourself. Do you have some personality trait, quirk or habit that you would like to change but have yet to succeed? Well I know the easiest and fastest way to change anything about yourself. That sounds way too good to be true, but I guess you’ll have to keep reading if you want to know for sure.
Step 1: Decide what you want to change Examples include confidence-level, speech impediments, ability to converse with the opposite sex and other sources of insecurity. Step 2: Lie to yourself I know this sounds stupid at first, but hear me out. If you are very shy, then tell yourself that you are considered by most to be “the life of the party” and that you love addressing entire groups of people. Step 3: Imagine the change in yourself Create a minute-long movie in your head of yourself after the change has been made.
It’s almost like you’re planting a false memory in your head. Step 4: Become a method actor You need to emulate the person you want to be as if you already are him/her. Step 5: Believe. Inside Job (2010) How do we achieve and appreciate success? Success is the topic of a thousand clichés, songs, and inspirational quotes; it’s conquering the proverbial mountain, or winning the proverbial foot race. It is elusive, yet we cling to the hope that, someday, we will acquire it. We not only pursue success, we crave it desperately as we climb the ladders and jump the hurdles that present themselves along our paths. The question is: How do we achieve and appreciate success? First, we must get a major misconception out of the way. Success is in no way equivalent to wealth.
The good news is that you are completely in control of that, and therefore in control of your success. The last and most important facet of success is that you will not achieve it alone. Surround yourself with people who share your passion, and they will share in your success, celebrating your victories with you.Tweet In the same way, they will pick you up when you feel overwhelmed. This all may seem rather wishy-washy, but isn’t that the whole idea of success? Altru-Hedonism: A New Perspective on Pleasure & Helping Others. Altru-Hedonism is a mash-up of the terms altruism (selfless concern for the welfare of others) and hedonism (the pursuit of pleasure).
Normally these terms are considered antonyms, which would make my made-up word a complete oxymoron. I aim to convince you of just the opposite. Note: For you smartasses out there, yes we all know that helping other people feels good. This post does eventually transcend common sense :) Altru-Hedonism can be summed up very well in a little memory exercise. Think back to the last time you have some change to a homeless person. How did you feel after? WHAT? Altru-Hedonism (noun) - the act of maximizing one’s own pleasure by seeking to help others The key word in that definition is maximizing.
But Charity is a Chore! Why does helping others have such a bad rap? You don’t need to make sacrifices or break a sweat to lend someone a hand. What about drugs, sex and nice things? Don’t get me wrong, those ‘vices’ all feel fantastic. Still Not Convinced? How to Become A Social Badass. I’m tired of being a little girl when it comes to meeting new people. To rid myself and others of this pathetic habit, I’ve put together a step-by-step guide on overcoming social anxiety taking from other articles, books and my own experimentation.
So what is a ‘social badass,’ you ask? A social badass is an individual who dominates social situations without anxiety or trepidation of any kind. The Basics Before we get to any intimate social interactions, we need to master the basics with some 2-second strangers. 1) Make Eye Contact If someone asks you what you’re staring at, just smile and respond, “Sorry, I thought you were an old friend.” 2) Say Hi When you’re comfortable making eye contact, throw in a quick ‘Hello’ with a smile. 3) Add a Greeting ‘Good morning/afternoon/evening’ usually does the trick. Warning: Some people will completely ignore you and not respond, but don’t be discouraged. Social Badass Challenges Make Yourself a Spectacle You get the idea. Take on a Persona Anchoring. Wake the F**k Up! This is a wake up call for anyone that is not living the life they want to live. It will be dogmatic and heated, but nonetheless full of truth.
I apologize if this shocks you into a state of discontent with your current lifestyle (that’s the intention). First, take a look at the road map below: Where did you end up? 1) Do I love what I do on a daily basis? If you can’t answer yes 100% to both of these questions, then you need to change something. Yeah, you’ve heard that 1000 times before. This is your life. When you give yourself pathetic excuses like that, this is how your life ends up: That’s depressing.
And yet it’s the norm all over the world! So going back to the road map at the very top, change is the key. 1) Figure out what you want to change about your life 2) Plan out the steps and attitude changes you need to implement in our to see those changes 3) Dedicate every fiber of your being to bringing about those changes Your life (and happiness) depends on it. P.S. Life Experiment: An Alien on Your Own Planet. Would you like to try something different today? Here is a perception-experiment that will surely give your day an interesting twist. If you’re skilled at placing your brain in a desired state, this experiment is perfect for you. Imagine that you’re an alien who has just arrived on Earth. You’re seeing everything for the very first time. If you’ve ever experience culture-shock, you know exactly what I mean. Do your best to observe all of the small nuances in your environment and in the actions of the people around you. Experience everything as if it is all completely foreign to you.
The hallmark of this experiment is focus. 150% of your attention should be aimed at whatever element you’re attempting to make alien to yourself. Above all, this is a fancy way of practicing being present. It’s very entertaining to feel like an alien, which I’m sure many of you experience on a day-to-day basis to some extent anyways ;) Ayahuasca: The story of Death, Rebirth and Love. “Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world.” - Schopenhauer The Ayahuasca experience was the most intense, spiritual, emotional, mind-blowing, frightening and loving experience I have ever had.
Nothing could have prepared me for the inner journey I am about to describe. Because I believe I died. ‘I’ meaning that which I am in this current form while I’m writing this. It was if my awareness that seems normally tied to this body shot loose and entered a world before unknown. My greatest challenge in this article lies into interpreting and expressing these visions I encountered, to share the insights gained. Ayahuasca, the ‘spirit vine’ or the ‘vine of death’, is a brew containing the Banisteriopsis caapi vine and Psychotria viridis or Diplopterys cabrerana leaves. It all started with my interest in the link between psychedelics and spirituality, partly fueled by the book ‘DMT: The Spirit Molecule’ by Rick Strassman.
The Ceremony Why is now not enough? The Love Experiment: Conclusions. It’s been 7 days since I started the Love Experiment and all I have to say is wow. Those of you who were also feelin’ the love this week will know what I’m talking about when I say I feel amazing. Being loving towards everyone completely removes most of the day-to-day anguish with other people. Even if you momentarily become frustrated, it’s so easy to take a deep breath, look at the person and think ‘Whoa, close one there! I love you and I hope you have a fantastic day.” It sounds so lovey-dovey and new-agey but it feels fantastic. Overall my demeanor was much more positive than normal and happiness was virtually constant. It was a lot of fun taking my walk in the morning and coming up with nice things to ‘think’ towards strangers along the way. One a more concrete note, I think being a loving person has a direct effect on how fast your goals come to fruition.
Those numbers are still being reached today and are showing no sign of stopping. P.S. The Love Experiment: Introduction. On Thursday, February 3rd, 2011 I am going to start a 7-day experiment with love and I invite all of you to try it with me. Before I tell you what the experiment consists of, I need to tell you how I came up with the idea. I’ve been doing a lot of reading and meditation in the last week and the idea of love kept coming up. It pursued me further in movie lines, song lyrics and StumbleUpon articles. It then became ridiculous when love showed up in two articles sent to me by some readers.
Obviously “love was in there air.” Feeling compelled to look into the idea of love further, I began re-reading a book that speaks almost only about love: “Conversations with God” by Neale Walsch. “Masters are those who have chosen only love. The word ‘Master’ in this case is referring to someone who has mastered life. I never refer to religion to support my ideas in my articles. So how do I apply this love thing? Close your eyes. Does that not feel ridiculously good? The Experiment What is that going to do? This Will Mindfuck You: The Double-Slit Experiment. The video below shows scientific proof that there is something NOT quite logical or scientific about this universe. The mere act of observation can completely change the outcome of an event!
Before I get too ahead of myself, you need to watch the video below to understand: (Forgive the corny cartoon character explaining the concept — at least he knows his stuff) Recap: When a camera observed the electrons, they acted as particles. However, when the no equipment was used to observe the electrons, they acted as waves and particles simultaneously. So what’s the reason for this? Want even further proof? Then in 2002, a group of researchers set up the experiment in a way that the electron could not possibly receive information about the existence of an observing instrument. The Results: The photons acted like particles 93% of the time that they were observed. What are the implications of this? 1. 2. 3. What other implications did you get out of these experiments? Emoto’s Water Experiment: The Power of Thoughts. Through the 1990’s, Dr. Masaru Emoto performed a series of experiments observing the physical effect of words, prayers, music and environment on the crystalline structure of water.
Emoto hired photographers to take pictures of water after being exposed to the different variables and subsequently frozen so that they would form crystalline structures. The results were nothing short of remarkable.. For example: Water Before Prayer Water After Prayer Biwako Lake (polluted) Shimanto River (clean) After observing these miraculous results, Dr. “You make me sick, I will kill you” “Adolph Hitler” “Thank you” “Love and Appreciation” As you can tell, the water stamped with positive words is far more symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing than that stamped with dark, negative phrases.
Oh and by the way, the average human body is 60% water. Some may say that this could be the work of biased photographers or biased photo selection by Emoto himself. “This is one of the more difficult areas to clarify. How to Learn & Enjoy Life More: The Power of Audio Learning. This Will Change Your Life. Lucid Dreaming. Law of Attraction - Take Contol of Your Life. Cutting Out the Crap 1/3: Just Say No.