Training your mind to think positive

We have two minds: The subconscious mind and the conscious mind. We use the conscious mind when we are actively thinking or focusing on something, which happens only about 1% to 5 % of the day. The remaining 95% to 95% of the time, our subconscious mind is working. Your beliefs create your reality. Almost all your beliefs are coming from your subconscious mind, therefore your subconscious mind creates your reality. Most of these beliefs were downloaded to your subconscious mind by parents, teachers, the media, society, etc.

To change your reality, you must change the beliefs in your subconscious mind. I could write a bunch of more paragraphs here, but I’ll spare you the agony, and simply give you links to a couple of YouTube videos that really should change your life. Smart students take shortcuts; they usually don't think faster. They think more clearly. Sometimes they visualize the problem. Sometimes they think about different ways to solve the problem, and then exercise a well-tuned judgment about which way to approach it. Often they think generally about the approach until they "see" the way to solve it, and only then do they put pencil to paper.

One of the persistent problems I face with graduate students in physics is to try to get them to slow down. In undergraduate work, people seem to be impressed with quickness of thought. But in graduate work, it is far more important to be careful and to get the right answer -- and maybe in the process of thinking through the problem, to recognize that there are new ways to approach it. Many times (as my students will tell you) I'll admonish them to "slow down!"

Go faster than you think is possible. I emailed the current World Memory Champion at the time, Ben Pridmore, and he gave me the best advice on thinking faster (and memorizing faster) I have ever received. He told me, 'Go faster than you think is possible. Force your brain to keep moving and don't dwell on the cards and images.' The first step of going faster than you think is possible was huge for me in the memory tournament competition. So many times I would really slow down and focus on what I was wanting to recall. And you do have to focus. But I was spending too much time to 'make sure' I had it. So I would encourage you to keep moving and go faster than you think is possible.

Create a system. The system Ben was referring to when he said 'images' is the Mind Palace memory method. I would create image for the cards and then place them in my memory mind palace. It is a memory technique. I would have a standard picture for every card. But there is a lesson in that. If it is a game or puzzle (or memorizing a deck of cards) develop systems to speed up the process. Bad foods. Your eating habits can give you a cloudy head and slow down thinking. Things that will cloud your thinking are: excessive salt, excessive sugar, basic junk food, excessive alcohol, medication that makes you sleep or drowsy, 4. Beneficial foods for your brain include: Walnuts, Blueberries, Spinach, Plenty of water, Apples, Pumpkin seeds, Omega 3, Fish Exercise is one of the few things that can actually change the brain Regular exercise changes the brain to improve memory, thinking skills - Harvard Health Blog

Training. There really is few things that your brain won't improve speed on with repetition. Almost anything you will get faster and better at with training. Force yourself to go so fast that errors are inevitable. If you aren't making errors then you aren't going fast enough and then simply work to correct errors and eliminate them at the same speed. When you read, read faster than you think is possible just to keep your brain thinking faster all the time. Here are tips on how to do this in speed reading.

When driving down the road see how much information you can take is as quickly as possible. Add up the numbers on license plates and billboards as you drive by (if you are a passenger for sure. If a driver don't devote too much time to this) Challenge your brain to do new things. Walk in to the room and close your eyes and see if you can navigate the room. Relying on your memory to remember the furniture. Fast is slow, smooth is fast. This is huge. When you go too fast and are reckless in the speed what happens? You make too many mistakes. But when you focus on moving smoothly you get it perfect. This may sound like a contradiction to going faster than you think possible but it's not. You still must be smooth in your speed

Keep stress low. Stress is one of the worst enemies to your brain. Relax. Breathe deep. Take it east. Keep your stress as low as you can! Now go, go, go, go, go! It is a very deep leap and it is possible only when one can see beyond the past and the future. The past is that which is gone but we are still absorbed in it and the future is that which has not come but we are weaving the imagination of it. Memories are formed when information perceived by your five senses is made relevant by emotions. Emotions and experience become intricately linked in your memory.

Whenever you remember a bad experience, you feel sad, or angry, or frustrated, etc., because that emotion is linked to the memory. The emotion rises before you become consciously aware of the memory. You can even have an emotional response to a memory without becoming fully aware of the memory itself. Now, wouldn't it be great to get rid of those bad feelings associated with some memories? It can be done, because of a very interesting fact: The emotional response to a memory can be reprogrammed at the exact moment the memory is retrieved. The very act of remembering opens the memory for additional input.

This happens all the time without much effort. It's called learning. Bad memories are hard to reprogram because they are such powerful triggers of negative emotions. You can't overcome the emotions by ignoring them, trying to control them, or faking it. Each of these further complicates the memory with more negative feelings. We need to get the mind consciously involved if we're going to reprogram those bad memories. I'll explain how after one more point. We call emotions “feelings” because they are actually a physical thing we can feel: hormones that cause your body to respond in a very specific way (for you, the effects vary between individuals). So when you're sad, you may cry. When you're angry, your face may turn red. If you're frustrated, you may clench your teeth.

There's your hook to activate a new program. If you can reset your visceral, physical response to a negative memory, you alter the hormones/emotions via feedback. The more balanced emotions reprogram your memory so it becomes less painful. Let's step away from the theory now and see how this works. Suppose you get very angry any time you think of X. Your shoulders and jaw clench, and you start breathing fast. Your mind starts whirling and remembers something else about X that makes you even angrier. You clench your fists and growl under your breath. What if you could rein in your whirling mind and focus on the physical sensation of your anger? Noticing that your jaw is clenched, you open your mouth slightly. Noticing how tight your shoulders are, you let them slide away from your ears. Noticing your nails digging into your palms, you open up your hands. Noticing your erratic breathing, you start taking slow, deep breaths.

Moments later, you're not angry anymore. You've eliminated the sensations of anger, and the feeling itself evaporated too. But the brief time window for reprogramming your memory has already passed. You're going to need some practice to make this work. You can train your mind to interrupt negative emotions before a memory reaches consciousness. The goal of your training is to detect and release the physical response to a memory before you are actually conscious of the memory. It takes practice. Lots of practice! Here's the protocol:

Sit or lie down comfortably. Relax and breathe deeply.

Start thinking about one of your most problematic memories. Really focus on it until you start feeling.

Shift your awareness to the physical sensations in your body. Wherever you feel tight or uncomfortable, try to release and relax.

That's it. The first few times, pay attention to the relationship between your emotions and your body's physical response. After you've practiced a while, try to hold on to the memory while you work to release the tension in your body.

As it develops into a fast, automatic reaction, you will be able to start reprogramming your negative memories with more balanced emotions. Over time your worst memories will become associated with a relaxed, calm feeling, and slowly fade away. Cheers!