Posts Tagged ‘comfort zone’

We and the machine…how close are we?

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

One of the things I explain in my new and upcoming book (current program owners will receive this free as an upgrade) is the organic cycle within us all, the name I give to the process by which we are kept in our comfort zones. I realized how the process was almost a mirror image of the machine.

In summary, the organic cycle involves three main systems, the brain, the body and the senses and how they interact through the use of smaller systems within each of these main three. The machine is the same in that it involves three main systems, the fuel, the mechanical process or purpose and the operations.

If we look at each of the three main systems for people and machines we can draw some interesting parallels.

First of all, we can look at the mechanical purpose of a machine. It doesn’t matter what machine you use, whether it’s a coffee machine or a crane, it has a primary purpose that is mechanical in nature. This mechanical process however must be put in motion by some sort of trigger, whether it is by humans using switches and levers or from senses that sense that a mechanical process needs to be put in motion (i.e. the air conditioner and the thermostat). Then we have the fuel that all machines need in order to run be it electricity, gas, oil etc.

So let’s look at the human being and the organic cycle.

We are almost purely mechanical by nature. That is, we react to things in life with behaviours where the behaviour itself (the reaction) is triggered by the event, and the same events always cause the same reactions. This in itself makes it very hard to deny our mechanical nature. But don’t be alarmed, it is a survival mechanism built into us.

Then we have our senses which we can clearly see are part of the triggering process (although not all of it which you’ll learn shortly). Through our eyes, ears, nose etc, we process the environment and react accordingly.

So the difference here between a coffee machine and us, is simply that a coffee machine has one mechanical process, and we have many, and the coffee machine has switches and we have senses.

So let’s look at the fuel.

Well for us the fuel is emotions. Some may think that motivation and drive etc are the fuel but not from the point of view of organic cycle, it is emotions that fuel the organic cycle, the comfort zone, for emotions are simply chemical reactions involving the brain (the producer) and the body (the receiver), and this completes the organic cycle.

When we curse at someone in traffic (just as an example) we are reacting in a mechanical way to an event picked up through our senses that triggers the emotions to fuel the behaviour, and we do this all day every day.

Now let me go one step deeper. If we return to the machine, the machine only operates for as long as it is needed to operate, and what I ask you determines this? Motivation and drive! Machines are operated for the purpose of creating a benefit to the user, and that is us. Whether it is for the satisfaction of a great cup of coffee or from the profits made from building a skyscraper, it is all the same. There is a benefit to be had and the more a machine is run, the more benefit is being had.

And where is the parallel here for us beings? It is addiction! For our organic cycle, our comfort zone, our personalities, our beliefs, our results in life, our reactions and our behaviours are all motivated by addiction, and the addictions are to our emotions, or to be more precise, the chemicals produced in the brain that create these emotions and hence feelings (the feelings are the product of the body receiving the chemicals).

Now a machine does not become addicted to its fuel, so there the similarity ends, but the operator of the machine has a very real motive, and so do our addictions to our emotions. I said earlier that the senses are only part of the triggering process, because our addictions are a major factor in triggering reactions. For example, someone who always appears irate is subconsciously and constantly seeking events to fuel the addiction to the chemicals produced from being irate. If the senses can’t find it in the immediate environment, the next step is to trigger memories that will do the same job as memories will trigger emotions.

If we want to create a more fulfilling life we have to step back and observe our reactions and see them for what they are, simply addictions. We are running around trying to make a cup of coffee using a crane or a photocopier and it simply will not work. We are using the wrong mechanical processes and emotions in our everyday lives because we are not aware of what is motivating them in the first place. If you want to have an enjoyable day, does it really serve you to curse all and sundry when you stub your toe as soon as you get out of bed?

Visit our home page at www.reprogrammingthemind.com if you haven’t already and get our free ebook, video and 6 part series on the science behind the law of attraction. If you have already gone through this then you might want to consider purchasing our program at www.reprogrammingthemind.com/Course.html. Our program and online group and forum are two major tools to help you use the right processes to creating a more successful life rather than being run like a machine.

To your success

Dean

The complete step by step guide to Reprogramming your Mind for Success

Are You Mentally Caged?

Tuesday, February 24th, 2009

One of my daughters has a turtle, and one day while watching her swim around the aquarium, I noticed her want to get out or to go beyond the glass walls. The back glass wall has a picture of green underwater plants, however the picture only takes up some of the wall, and as the turtle reached the edge of the picture, I could sense her desire to go around the edge and beyond, as if the edge of the picture was actually a corner.

It got me thinking about the other animals we have. One of my other daughters has a blue fish; we have a dog and also three chickens. All of these pets live within physical boundaries, from which they can’t really escape. The chickens have the ability to fly out if they really wanted to, and on two occasions one of them has, only to want to get back in to the pen knowing that this is where its food is. Our dog has also had many chances to run away (thanks to kids leaving gates open etc), and every time she has come back.

With all of our pets, it is our duty to keep their needs met, with food, water, a clean environment and tending loving care. I realized that when given the chance, although some of them could leave permanently, their ‘needs’ and the security of always having those needs met, was the main driver behind their actions.

But watching the turtle made me also realize, that we have effectively domesticated what are essentially wild creatures, and regardless of their need for security, there is still that part of them that craves just that little bit more freedom to explore. Wild creatures do not have physical boundaries, only mental ones. In the wild, and I mean complete wild where no human intervention exists, the boundaries of creatures are created by their own instincts, not those of some other force.

It pains me to say this, but we humans are trapped within a mental boundary that is not of an instinctual nature, but of a conditioned need for security. Just as we have conditioned our own pets to accept smaller boundaries in exchange for security, we as humans have accepted a life of mediocrity and monotony in exchange for security and having our needs met.

We do not bump our heads into a glass wall thinking that what we just saw was a corner we could go around; instead we live within a mental boundary that is our comfort zone, and any attempts to move out are met with anxiety, doubt and fear of the unknown, ridicule, and a fear that our security may not be there tomorrow if we venture too far out. There are people who are happy with this, there are those who are not happy but accept it, and there are those who do not accept it. The majority of people are those that are not happy with it, but accept it, not really knowing what it is or why it is this way.

Some people believe that there are people in higher positions of power who control the rest of the population, that they know how to create this mental boundary through education, TV, news, laws and politics. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant, for all you have to do is ask yourself this question. ‘Is my current life based on needs or wants?’ Do you need your job, your TV, the News at 6, the mortgage payment, the car payments, the gossip at work, the arguments, the drugs, the computer games, entertainment and so on? Are many of these needs things you do to escape life, not realizing that they are the reason you are trapped? Are many of these needs the reason why you can’t spare your self the time and motivation to do anything else with your life, to do what you really should be doing to get out of your comfort zone and really live life like the wild, curious, explorer you really are?

There are many reasons why most people will continue to live within this mental conditioned cage because they know no better, the answers to breaking free are not readily available, they fear the unknown, they fear ridicule, they fear losing their security, or they believe these needs are helping them escape reality. For many who may have even been presented with some of the answers, their needs have become all too powerful that they are too time strapped or mentally drained to do anything about it.

All it takes is a small amount of your time a day to explore your own inner and outer world, and as you start to do this you open the door to many things such as opportunity, awareness and knowledge, all of which go hand in hand with freedom, and you find your addictions to your needs and security lose their grip on you and you break free from the confines of the conditioned mental cage.

To your success

Dean

The complete step by step guide to Reprogramming your Mind for Success