In spite of the joys of being able to use your mind to bring pleasure, you can, as mentioned before, bring sorrow. It’s normal to feel pain to some extent. This is a normal mechanism of defense. If you put your hand in boiling water, by the time you would react to the pain, or see blisters, your finger would be covered in blisters.

That’s where the brain kicks in, and saves the day. It immediately, or more exact in a fraction of a second (10 to the power -3 if you’re math-friendly, retracts the finger. This saves it from being destroyed.

Ok so that’s normal, what’s abnormal, then ?

Well think about the things that bring psychological pain.

Things you think you want, don’t, but force yourself to believe you do.

How’s that work ??

Simple. Everybody plays the lottery, and everyone wants a billion dollars. They have no idea what to do with that money, they don’t need it, and here’s the pitfall. If they don’t get a billion, 1000$ isn’t good enough.

Sound like you? Sorry, life doesn’t work on an “all or nothing” basis.

Another common pitfall is people don’t pace themselves. You can’t run a marathon directly, without proper training. Most surely you would collapse or die. Now that isn’t much fun, is it ?

Take small steps, baby steps even, especially when trying something new. Even baby steps counts when you go into the right direction!

That’s the only way I eventually got the hang of programming in C++.

With small steps.

Today a bit, tomorrow a bit more, so on …. and we can achieve almost any goal.

It’s not important to rush and succeed by any means. The journey is more important than the destination, no matter where you are “going”.

And as that old Chinese proverb states :

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with ones step”

Humans are creatures of habit. We tend to strive to create order in our society and lives, yet it is chaos that sparks creativity. The best way is to keep a balance between the two. Be disciplined and keep everything organized, but never be afraid to think outside the boxes.

Yes , that’s true. You live in an endless spiral array of boxes.

Don’t believe me ?

Then try this on for size : “You feel like spending the night with your lover and your friends say to go out , if not you’re lame or something. Do you go out ? Yes.

Why ? You lack the character to impose your own principles.

Don’t be afraid to be yourself outside the constraints of external/internal factors.

External

Well , anyone outside your own thoughts. So that’s pretty much, unfortunately.

This can be anyone from your very own parents, to close friends, TV, magazines, and so on. Don’t be afraid to change your opinion but don’t shape your life to suit others.

PS Don’t get fired because of this article

Internal

Believe it or not you can bring pain to yourself. If you have a headache and keep telling yourself I’m sick, by the next day you won’t have the nerve to get out of bed. I have a cure to help you feel good.

A simple principle.

“Feel like a GOD , behave like a serf”

In your eyes you are perfect and better yourself constantly, but to everyone else your just some guy. Try this. It helps you fit in, an keep your principle, and being polite …. goes a hell of a long way. Trust me. Just don’t end up brown-nosing somebody, that’s low.

If you want to form habits, form healthy ones. Here’s an easy one : Brush your teeth three times a day, for 5 minutes. Eat vegetables or fruit or better: both , on a daily basis.

Sound simple ?

Try it , and realize it’s hard to form a habit and break from it, so make sure your habits work for you, not against you.

On the third planet from the sun lies a fascinating species of mammals: humans. Besides suffering a process of constant perfection, our species found various unique skills ONLY attributable to our kindred.

Among the skills unique to humans lies an ability, mostly neglected due to its uncertain nature, the subconscious mind.

Unlike other articles of this kind, I won’t give you the false impression that using your subconscious mind you’ll get anything in the world, effortlessly, instantly and without “work”.

Let’s start at the beginning. What is the subconscious?

It is the part of the body responsible for certain functions we do not control by default , some examples being breathing or digestion .

These functions can be directly controlled if one chooses it, you can easily breathe at your own rhythm and then ignore the function and let your body take over.

The subconscious is very similar to a computer’s operating system and your instinct is similar to its bios. Your instinct only relates to basic needs (hunger, sleepiness, thirst and so on), while the subconscious can perform basic functions it can also learns, and that’s what makes it fascinating.

At first, when you are a fetus, you can’t digest anything, you are fed through veins exiting your belly button. After being born and being able to breathe, you learn to process milk and gradually your body learns to digest various new substances, like meat or vegetables or sweets.

The idea is, your “operating system” is constantly updating itself, and always learning new tasks.

Think about learning to play an instrument, at first the notes are just noise and you can’t coordinate your hand playing the instrument and the music in your head. However, in time your body learns this new skill and if you hear a sound you know, without thinking about it, how to move your hands to achieve the desired sound on the instrument.

I would like to warn you that there are others out there that have no idea about the subconscious, and they lie on their websites or in books just to make a profit. They would tell you, that in a few days dreaming about a TV will get you a wide screen TV on the spot.

If you try these techniques and fail you would no doubt be discouraged and stop trying. If a date goes wrong, do you live alone until the end of your life ?

If you get a bad grade do you stop studying ?

The list is endless, and it is a known fact that most successful people have gotten were they are by going through various mistakes, learning from them and ever improving their techniques.