The Genie Within: Your Subconscious Mind (24 page)

Here is another example of how I used my subconscious crock-pot. I decided that I wanted to supplement my income. I programmed my genie to come up with ideas for new products my wife and I could make and sell.

The first idea came unexpectedly on a ski trip. Skiers were still using heavy, bulky boot trees to carry their ski boots.
Those boot trees were designed to keep the old wooden boot bottoms flat while they dried. Boots were now made of plastic and did not warp. Boot trees were no longer needed.

One day I looked at the old boot tree and an idea popped into my head. All that was needed was just two straps. One horizontal strap held the boots together while a vertical strap kept the boots from slipping out of the horizontal strap and provided a carrying handle. This carrier was simple, inexpensive, durable, and much easier to store when not in use. The idea was successful—too successful. My wife and I were selling small quantities, when a distributor ordered 10,000 units to start with. My wife and I realized we did not have the time to manage a small business that could handle subcontracts, shipping, and record keeping.

Another idea came to me one day while shopping. I rode a bicycle to work at the time and I was using one of those postage-stamp-size rear view mirrors that attached to your eyeglasses or cap. The small field of vision was inconvenient and actually dangerous. You had to maneuver your head to position the mirror. Maneuvering your head and concentrating on this small mirror while riding a bicycle is unsafe.

While in a Pic-N-Save store, I happened to notice a pocket, wide-angle, lightweight mirror intended for a woman’s purse. Normally I would have paid no attention to a lady’s mirror but at the time my subconscious mind was programmed to look for ideas. The idea came to me instantly. I bought a dozen of the mirrors, took them home, and designed a bicycle mirror that attached to my wrist. I could observe the area from my knee to the curb on the other side of the street without having to maneuver the mirror. It made a perfect bicycle mirror.

After about a month I had to unplug my subconscious crock-pot. I had filled several pages in a notebook with ideas. Many ideas had potential, but I just did not have the time or the inclination to become a part-time businessman.

Bill Lear epitomized the merit of the subconscious crock-pot. He learned about this method from
The Power of Universal Mind
, by Robert Collier. The method for achieving success in the book had three simple steps: 1) provide your subconscious mind with all the information available on the problem, 2) ask your subconscious mind to come up with solutions and, 3) simply forget about it. Go off and do something else, preferably something relaxing. In 21 days, solutions to your problem will spill out of your mind.

Using this method, Bill Lear, with only an eighth-grade education, invented a tuning coil for car radios and made his first million dollars before he was 21 years old. Lear probably did not know that a college professor declared in a scientific paper that tuning coils could not be made small enough for use in automobiles. Using his subconscious mind he went on to invent the:

       •    8-track cassette

       •    Dynamic speaker

       •    Autopilot

       •    Direction finder

       •    Radio transceiver

Plus, he had 148 other patents.

After a giant aerospace company told the government it would take an experienced aeronautical design team 10 years and $100 million to design a small business jet, Bill Lear and his small staff designed it and had it certified in two years for $10 million. Sales were $52 million in the first year.

You have a genie that can solve problems for you too. Using your subconscious crock-pot is energy and time efficient and costs nothing.

GUIDED IMAGERY

Guided imagery is powerful. It can be used by itself and it can be, and generally is, integrated with other methods of using your genie.

Guided imagery can be used for achieving almost anything, for example, getting high grades in school, healing the body, modifying habits and personality traits, achieving goals, and for improving physical skills.

Guided imagery is used universally in sports. It is a standard part of training at Olympic camps. Many famous athletes used visualization even before it became popular. Baseball pitchers visualize where they want the ball to go over the plate before they throw it; golfers visualize their swing and the flight of the ball before each swing, and; basketball players visualize their shots swishing through the basket each time and what their response is when the man they are guarding makes certain moves.

Slalom skiers often cannot make practice runs on the course because practice runs produce ruts that ruin the course. So they walk beside the course and memorize it. Then they sit down, relax, and visualize skiing down the course. They rehearse each turn. If you were to watch the daydreaming skier, you would see her muscles twitch as she makes each turn down the course.

Stephen Simonton and Stephanie Matthews-Simonton pioneered the use of visualization in helping advanced cancer patients. The Simontons relaxed their patients (i.e., put them into the alpha state) and had them visualize their bodies fighting the cancer. Each patient would be asked to personalize his or her approach. For example, a housewife might picture going into the cancerous area and vacuuming the diseased cells with a super powerful vacuum cleaner. A vacuum cleaner would be meaningful to her. A policeman might go into the
diseased area and shoot the cancer cells with his pistol. A military man might go in with tanks and flamethrowers. The best for you is what
feels
best for you. What feels best comes from the subconscious mind. Let your subconscious mind select your visual props.

One of the Simonton’s first patients was 67 years old and had a grave case of throat cancer. He went from 130 to 98 pounds. He could barely swallow and had difficulty breathing. He was given a 5% chance of living five years. The Simontons had him use imagery for about ten minutes, three times each day. He also went through the standard radiology treatment. He visualized the radiation as millions of bullets. He imagined the cancer cells getting weaker and giving up. He imagined his normal cells getting stronger and resisting the bullets. He also visualized his white cells swarming and overcoming the cancer cells.

The cancer disappeared in two months. Would the cancer have been cured without the imagery? That cannot be proven, but those involved with the case did not think so. Encouraged by his success with cancer, the patient then cured his arthritis, exclusively with imagery.

There are several books on guided imagery but they only tend to complicate it. The method is simple: go into the alpha state and visualize the desired result. And, of course, use all of the basics you learned in the first four lessons, namely, emotion, repetition, expectation of success, a positive attitude, and use all of your senses. And, after your visualization session, thank your subconscious mind and then let go. Do not think about it in the beta state because your conscious mind may plant seeds of doubt.

Early in my engineering career, I was asked to defend an original experimental approach I was using for a critical part of a nuclear fuel project. My problem was two-fold. One, I was out of school only a few years and I had the audacity to break from tradition and use a new experimental approach. Two, I was petrified of public speaking and I would have to make my presentation in front of 40 skeptical, competitive scientists. I prepared my talk and practiced it in the alpha state. I visualized the audience smiling and looking at me in a friendly, compassionate way. I knew that they understood my approach and could see its advantages. I even pictured them clapping after I was finished. When I gave my talk I was confident, relaxed, and being relaxed, I was able to think clearly. The talk went well and the Department Director wrote a letter for my personnel file that commended me on an excellent presentation. He also said that it was the first presentation in our department in which the audience clapped. I have been comfortable talking to audiences since.

Let your subconscious mind guide you in selecting images. It knows what motivates it better than you do. Also, use all your senses during your visualizations to invoke as much emotion as you can. If you have trouble thinking up a good image you might look through magazines for vivid, active, colorful photographs. I have a two-page picture from
Life
magazine of a small tugboat guiding a gigantic ocean liner
into port. This is my image of my conscious mind leading my subconscious mind—me leading my genie. Another is a two-page photo of the bright red afternoon sun. This, to me, represents the power in my subconscious mind.

The possibilities of using imagery are endless. Use it!

CHILDREN

Children are highly susceptible to programming. So, use this to their (and your) advantage. In Lesson No. 2, you learned that a newborn baby has an empty hard drive (the mammalian part of the subconscious mind) that soaks up new programs. Parents must keep this in mind constantly. Children should be allowed and encouraged to experience new things. They should be exposed to a variety of colors, activities, sounds, vocabulary, and music. And they should be fed positive, confidence-building affirmations.

Not only should children be exposed to the outside world but they must be nurtured verbally. You were taught in these lessons to only think of yourself as you want yourself to be. This reasoning must be applied to children.
Tell children only what you want them to become
. Feed them positive affirmations at every opportunity, and
never
feed them negative ones.

Never say things like, “Don’t be so clumsy,” “Can’t you do it right?” or “You just don’t learn, do you?” These affirmations, if repeated or said with a lot of emotion, will become programs in their subconscious minds. Even comments in jest, if said repeatedly and with emotion, will have impact. Consider such comments as “you are going to grow up to be a
big
girl,” “You are such a
naughty
boy,” or “You are such a
silly
girl.”

Two techniques work well on children. The first is to tell the child short stories with lots of positive affirmations and a good moral as they are falling asleep. The validity of sleep-learning
is arguable but, nonetheless, I recorded stories and played the tapes at low volume as my children were falling asleep and even after they had fallen asleep.

Make up the stories: it is easy. Stories that you make up are more personal and tailored to the child. An example might be a story of a happy loving family eating a peaceful meal together. Everyone is pleasant and has an opportunity to talk about what they did or felt that day. Everyone uses good manners and speaks distinctly and clearly. The children sense that the parents love them and this gives them a true sense of confidence and poise.

Another story might be how everyone has talents. And this child develops his or hers, whatever it is. Being able to do something better than most people gives them confidence and pride. They can see the value in this so they work at it more efficiently and practice longer to develop these talents.

The second method is to play some music they enjoy or read an entertaining story to them. The music or story is fed into the right ear where it is neurologically carried to the left half of the brain. In the right-brain-left-brain model, the left side is the logical, rational brain, the characteristics of the conscious mind.