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Building a New Operating System. Five Habits That Saved My Life. by Ben Ahrens (2.0). Meditation Visualization Actualization (physical follow-through) Routine Adherence Mindful Awareness. My story in short:. Athlete, Trainer, Surf-camp Director Neuro-Lyme disease
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Building a New Operating System Five Habits That Saved My Life by Ben Ahrens (2.0) • Meditation • Visualization • Actualization (physical follow-through) • Routine Adherence • Mindful Awareness
My story in short: • Athlete, Trainer, Surf-camp Director • Neuro-Lyme disease • “Cured” but not Healed • Exhaustion persists without a cause • Search to uncover the discrepancy between perceived strength and actual strength. • Re-synching perception and reality.
worry & resistance The Anatomy of Self-fulfilling ProphecyAs it relates to a VCD Adrenalin Symptoms increased inflammation Creates a Negative Feedback Loop
resistance The Anatomy of Self-fulfilling ProphecyAs it relates to Pain & Suffering Suffering Pain exacerbation
The Paradox • Letting go of resisting the negative sensation will lead to it’s disappearance • The trick is not to try and make the feeling go away, but to learn to be comfortable in its presence. - Norman Doidge, The Brain That Changes Itself • Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional.
How do you break the cycle?Tools & Techniques • Meditation • Visualization (potentiation) • Physical follow-through (actualization) • NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming • Routine (to mitigate the unexpected) • Mindful awareness throughout the day (for when the unexpected happens)
Put into Practice “The human body cannot tell the difference between something real and that which is vividly imagined.” - Maxwell Maltz First thing upon waking I: • Visualize my morning routine • Do it exactly as “seen” in my mind’s eye • Meditate 20~30min. If any anxiety is present, then: • Identify the source • Identify the triggers • Rewrite mental script with affirmative statement • Use Gupta’s “Aygdala Retraining” NLP technique to “de-condition” physiological responses • Divert attention & get absorbed in daily life • Maintain mindful awareness throughout the day
The Results From 3+ years debilitated condition to full time work, social participation, and life in “the busy city”
Three Takeaways • Awareness Being mindful is easy… remembering to be mindful is difficult. • Resistance = Persistence • Accept and divert toward the positive Or, employ the first rule of defensive driving: Never look at what you’re trying to avoid!
Related Articles • Rewiring The Brain to Ease Pain, Wall Street Health Journal, Nov. 15th. • Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue?, NY Times, Aug. 17th. • Ashok Gupta’s, “The Amygdala Hypothesis”, Medical Hypothesis Vol. 59, 2002. • Experiment showing 22% muscle-strength increase using visualization ONLY! , The Power of Imagination, - Doidge excerpt from The Brain That Changes Itself www.TheLimitlessSelf.com My Blog