Tag Archives: Mindfulness

Flow Goes Mainstream

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Volume 3, Issue 6

March 18-20, 2013 — the Advertising Research Foundation Re:THINK 2013 program sports a lunchtime speaker, Steven Kotler, two days in a row on the subject of Flow state (the Zone) and how to instill it in business. Bravo! (See Review next issue.)

I’d like to think that my blogs on Flow, and the (somewhat) Flow-inducing ARF University Masters Level Playshop with Richard Zackon, helped create a conducive atmosphere for ARF to put Flow state high on their new program. Hopefully it will stay there over time as Flow state means better decisions, more creativity, more effectiveness, and significantly, it means authenticity, not the Mask of the Advertiser, as Nick Pisacane calls it. Advertising itself as well as its research will benefit more from Flow state than by any technology.

Authenticity is the key attribute most necessary in the new social era of media advertising and persuasive communications. In Flow state, one has no egoistic tugs on the essence of the idea emanating. One is not self-protective (except in martial arts settings). Authentic feelings are expressed and this is what the public thirsts for — both to receive authentic messaging and to evoke it from inside by immersion in a world of role models acting genuinely. This is the promise of the future society powered by Flow state.

President Obama is initiating a federal research program into the brain and consciousness. Flow state for the military and government is one motivating driver. I began to pepper US presidents with this idea 40 years ago and have run workshops for top US military officers to teach the inner “tricks” of Flow.

Our work at the Human Effectiveness Institute is focused on the experiential handles. What goes on within the subjective frame that can be guided? Richard Davidson and Daniel Goleman, my old friends and partners, lead the world in both understanding the psychology of consciousness at the brain level, and in disseminating the information so that everyone can benefit. I see our workstreams as complementary. Theirs is objective and mine subjective, the way consciousness is experienced from the inside and what controls we have over it, which are largely subtle.

Dan in his great book The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights (reviewed here recently) uses the term “Self-Management” to describe one of the pillars of Emotional Intelligence, a quotient conducive to Flow. We would probably use the word “guidance” in place of “management” in that managing is not as encompassing as guiding. Freud in Civilization and its Discontents calls the ego or secondary principle the “manager”, arising from the id or primary principle, which is who we are at first. In Freud’s view both the id and ego persist together as aspects of the self, joined by the impounded incoming other-directedness of the superego or conscience.

Zen is the art and science of making the ego and superego transparent (though still present) so the self is expressing the id in a way that is in Flow with the Tao or universal consciousness. Zen’s contempt for words and concepts neuter the ego, which depends on the intellect, concepts and words for its management style. In Mind Magic, the section on Mindquiet provides a simplified step-by-step approach to removing the over-emphasis on words.

In his Maximize your “Aha!” Moment blog post recently (see also my post Set Yourself up to Cultivate “Aha!” Moments from Sept 27, 2012) Dan points out that there is a burst of gamma activity (signaling “far-flung brain cells connecting in a new neural network”) in the neocortical right temporal lobe 300 milliseconds before an “Aha!” moment. He also describes that part of the brain as being the part that gets jokes: “It understands the language of the unconscious… the language of poems, of art, of myth. It’s the logic of dreams where anything goes and the impossible is possible.”

That’s a good description of the inner-mind language used throughout Mind Magic, which is designed to be a stimulus to bring the reader into the Observer state as an ideal Launchpad for Flow. We hypothesize that the subjective self is more centered in the right temporal lobe than the left during Observer state, as sensed by the natural ease with which one thinks wordlessly — whereas the left temporal is the “Worder” as I call it. Both right and left temporal areas have active insight collection capabilities, the left seeing differences analytically through abstraction and symbols (e.g. words), and the right seeing connections holistically in feeling/images.

Main takeaway: we need tools we can use to get into Flow and these must speak in layperson terms. Dissecting the physical brain processes underlying Flow is needed too, but in itself does not replace tools that the layperson can apply to get into Flow — which is the purpose of our work. More on Flow Goes Mainstream in the next post.

Best to all, 

Bill

Entering Flow State by Koan

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Volume 3, Issue 2

Continuing on our theme from the prior post, we are sharing nuances of mind that can act as triggers to two successively higher states of consciousness, Observer and Flow. The assumption is that one is presently in what is known here in the West as “normal waking consciousness”, what we call Emergency Oversimplification Procedure (EOP) in our theory of Holosentience.

In the last post we quoted Zen masters dismissive of mindfulness. We explained that to get from EOP to Observer state one needs to strive for mindfulness, but to get from Observer state to Flow state (the Zone), one must be in natural mind sans intellectual overlays. The over-thinker is turned off. Language is not a prerequisite for anything. Wholeness is. Subject-object lens is off. There is no separation. Abstraction is somewhere offstage.

We are sharing these mental techniques as part of a noble bargain. If they work, you will naturally take on more and share as you wish. Many other similar experiential techniques and insights can be found in my book MIND MAGIC and will continue to be offered in this blog.

In the next post I will share some childhood experiences as useful to illustrate making mental transitions willfully.

Let’s lead into that story with an experiment in Zen. Most of us are familiar with one technique used in Zen, the koan, a verbal construct used to jog the psyche out of its EOP trance. Our theory as to how a koan works is this: something that makes no sense forces you to stop and NOT think in language, to back out of the EOP lens into original consciousness (or natural mind). Because language is not working it is instinctively dropped for the moment. Just as you instinctively stop trying to use a hand that has fallen asleep until it wakes up again.

This can be experienced. Remove yourself from all distraction. Concentrate on your breath and keep your eyes on whatever is in front of you. Then repeat to yourself the following: “I have no right to play God, even though I have every right to play God.” Obviously you will need to pre-memorize this or you won’t be able to keep looking straight forward. However, don’t spend any time thinking about the meaning of it — for the moment, you are concentrating on what you see and experience subtly when you first put your mind on this.

What you may see (and in future experiments of this sort will gain the knack for seeing) is that in one moment you were in a pretty normal state for you, and in the next moment your mind is naturally quiet and your senses are highly attuned. You are not easily distracted, you feel centered and aware, balanced and unafraid. Your attention is on everything around you and there is no obsessive stream of internal dialog. You are making no effort toward this whatsoever, you are not striving. It is doing itself naturally. When ideas pop into your mind you notice that they are unusually insightful and self-evidently important to your life.

You may at that point be transitioning in and out of Flow, with stability in Observer state. If negative emotion arises, take it as a signal of EOP resumption and see what comes naturally for you to stay above this weather. Direct attention to the causes of the negative emotion as if experiencing it for the first time. Mine and record insights into your (e)journal and tweet those of potential utility to all, if you’re into such things (journaling is provably useful, e or otherwise).

In next post, stripping my childhood bare.  🙂

A Daniel Goleman Must-Read

When I first met them a long time ago, Daniel Goleman, Richie Davidson and I formed a partnership called PRM and did brainwave research together in the media business. They have gone on to fame in their respective fields of psychology and neuroscience. I am belatedly catching up on their massive output over the years. This is a first installment, look for more in future posts.

Dan’s concise and powerful 2011 book The Brain and Emotional Intelligence: New Insights is packed with information conducive to Observer and Flow states. Drawing on the work of his long-term collaborator Richie Davidson among many others at the forefront of brain science, Dan does his reliable tour de force condensing the cutting edge view of the best and brightest ideas in psychology.

We are heartened that my published intuitions of the last decades are increasingly supported by real science. Emergency Oversimplification Procedure in my terminology does in fact exist as “chronic overwhelm” in today’s scientific parlance. The EOP interaction between the prefrontal cortex and limbic system, which I postulated in the theory of Holosentience (and was possibly obvious to others), turns out to be accurate.

What I felt from the inside and struggled to communicate in language, describing inner experience so that others could take similar control of themselves — what Dan calls self-management and self-mastery, one of the four key components of emotional intelligence — is now being described scientifically from the outside as well. Looking at both sides, inner/experiential/phenomenological and outer/scientific, contributes to self-mastery more than seeing only one side of the story — or neither side of the story, as in the case of the unenlightened, who by their actions are crying out for enlightenment but don’t know they are doing so.

Best to all,
Bill

Entering Flow State

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Volume 3, Issue 1

An Elegant Bargain

In the prior post we were talking about mindfulness. The Buddha said that a life of true happiness will be led once one has settled into a permanent state of mindfulness and comprehension.

Note that the comprehension part typically requires certain life experiences that expand mindfulness into more corners of life. One might have perfect mindfulness on the basketball court but lack it in the bedroom or boardroom. Life fashions itself to teach us how to be mindful across the spectrum of life. Hinduism and Buddhism indicate that more than one lifetime is normally required to achieve mindfulness and comprehension as a steady state.

Zen masters have, according to Wikipedia, an interesting and apparent contrarian viewpoint on mindfulness:

“Some Zen teachers emphasize the potential dangers of misunderstanding “mindfulness”.

Gudo Wafu Nishijima criticizes the use of the term of mindfulness and idealistic interpretations of the practice from the Zen standpoint:

However recently many so-called Buddhist teachers insist the importance of ‘mindfulness.’ But such a kind of attitudes might be insistence that Buddhism might be a kind of idealistic philosophy. Therefore actually speaking I am much afraid that Buddhism is misunderstood as if it was a kind of idealistic philosophy. However we should never forget that Buddhism is not an idealistic philosophy, and so if someone in Buddhism reveres mindfulness, we should clearly recognize that he or she can never be a Buddhist at all.[25]

Muho Noelke, the abbot of Antaiji, explains the pitfalls of consciously seeking mindfulness.

We should always try to be active coming out of samadhi. For this, we have to forget things like “I should be mindful of this or that”. If you are mindful, you are already creating a separation (“I – am – mindful – of – ….”). Don’t be mindful, please! When you walk, just walk. Let the walk walk. Let the talk talk (Dogen Zenji says: “When we open our mouths, it is filled with Dharma”). Let the eating eat, the sitting sit, the work work. Let sleep sleep.[26]“

This apparent contradiction is resolved when one applies the Human Effectiveness Institute’s theory to it. Mindfulness helps one get from EOP into Observer state. Striving to be mindful, however, blocks movement further into Flow state (zazen).

The “tricks” one uses to maximize one’s own performance are not obvious to most of us and need to be rediscovered. That is the mission of the Human Effectiveness Institute. Subtle modulations of the mind that worked for me for decades are what we share in our books, videos, audios, here and elsewhere.

I propose an elegant bargain. I will uninhibitedly share here what I know — what has worked for me — to help you maximize your own performance. The quid pro quo is that if it works and you see happy progress in certain areas that you attribute in part to these “tricks”, then you will imbibe more of them and share them with as many people as possible, in order that all of us are averaging more time in Observer state instead of EOP for the rest of our lives.

To that end, best to all,

Bill

P.S. February 17, 2013 was the second anniversary of our blog. Thank you all for another great year!

Optimized Mindfulness

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Volume 2, Issue 44

The usage of the word “mindfulness” is increasing rapidly, in connection with the benefits of meditation and the cultivation of emotional intelligence. Daniel Goleman and Richard Davidson are among those who have popularized this useful word.

There are two basic kinds of meditation: deep relaxation that uses the breath, mantra, japa or rosary beads, a candle flame, etc., to carry the individual into a deep inner state— and the other type focusing on mindfulness, the inner deployment of attention to observe carefully what is going on inside oneself at all levels — by an act of will, bringing on the Observer state or at least seeking to do so.

One widespread form of mindfulness meditation is focused on the garnering of insights about oneself and reality in general, and is sometimes called Insight Meditation.

The Human Effectiveness Institute (THEI) specializes in its own specific form of mindfulness/insight meditation, which might be called “Optimized Mindfulness”. This was a technique that arose instinctively early on and evolved throughout my life. Since it helps me get more frequently into the Flow state and keeps me most of the time in the Observer state, both of which I find useful and enjoyable places to be compared to the alternative (EOP), I am eager to share this technique and thus formed the Institute many years ago as the vehicle to do so.

What distinguishes Optimized Mindfulness is this. The generalized version of mindfulness meditation does not start you out with many insights, nor does it usually guide you to assemble your insights with the specific purpose of achieving the two higher states of consciousness just mentioned, Observer and Flow states. Mostly, mindfulness meditation in the current world is being used to reduce the stress of EOP, by at least for short periods each day getting you out of EOP into the Observer state. The military is now using mindfulness and relaxation meditation to reduce the suicide rate of troops suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). As we recommended to military leaders in speeches and meetings many years ago, they are now finally empirically testing the efficacy of one versus another specific version of meditation to see which works best.

Just as in the infant science of psychology, the modern world starts by focusing on the negative side of the coin, using not only meditation but many forms of applied psychology (we call it psychotechnology) primarily if not totally to relieve negative states. THEI, like Maslow, goes the other way and focuses mostly on the achievement and maintenance of positive states.

To summarize, THEI’s ideas are unique in the general field of mindfulness in the following ways:

  1. Focuses on the achievement and maintenance of two specific positive states of consciousness. Both states can be verified by the individual observer, thus we are talking science not “mere” mysticism (although mysticism is one valuable heuristic lens of mindfulness we will discuss another day). The states also have measurable correlates both in terms of objective performance metrics and in terms of brain conditions.
  1. Provides insights to begin with —ways of looking at things that have been observed to help precipitate the desired states. For example, Mind Magic.
  1. Provides a framework for the accumulation and mining of one’s own insights. By demonstrating that some thoughts and ways of being help reach Observer state (Flow typically coming later), each individual realizes profoundly that paying attention to one’s own insights is unbelievably valuable, among the most important things in life. This changes life from too often a grind into an adventure of discovery, in which challenges are appreciated as the irritants to catalyze creativity and self-growth, turning the tables on negativity.
  1. When negativity does get through the shields, and one spirals down into old- fashioned EOP, Optimized Mindfulness provides ways to get out again as quickly as possible.
  1. In short, Optimized Mindfulness is a Westernized approach in the sense of having set very specific goals and objectives, and not losing track of the focus on those goals, while systematically moving toward and into them, based on accumulated fieldcraft, hard logic and reasoning. At the same time Optimized Mindfulness does not lose sight of the value of the intuition, nor impose reductionist assumptions the way that Western Materialist Religious Scientism does.

We hope you experiment with and enjoy Optimized Mindfulness, adding it to your moment-to-moment life, and that your incremental experiences in Observer and Flow states make your daily life an even more wondrous experience.

Happy Valentine’s Day, 

beating heart

Bill

P.S. From Wikipedia on Mindfulness
__________________________________________________________
Zen criticism
Some Zen teachers emphasize the potential dangers of misunder-
standing “mindfulness”.

Gudo Wafu Nishijima criticizes the use of the term of mindfulness and idealistic interpretations of the practice from the Zen standpoint:

However recently many so-called Buddhist teachers insist the importance of ‘mindfulness.’ But such a kind of attitudes might be insistence that Buddhism might be a kind of idealistic philosophy. Therefore actually speaking I am much afraid that Buddhism is misunderstood as if it was a kind of idealistic philosophy. However we should never forget that Buddhism is not an idealistic philosophy, and so if someone in Buddhism reveres mindfulness, we should clearly recognize that he or she can never be a Buddhist at all.[25]

Muho Noelke, the abbot of Antaiji, explains the pitfalls of consciously seeking mindfulness.

We should always try to be active coming out of samadhi. For this, we have to forget things like “I should be mindful of this or that”. If you are mindful, you are already creating a separation (“I – am – mindful – of – ….”). Don’t be mindful, please! When you walk, just walk. Let the walk walk. Let the talk talk (Dogen Zenji says: “When we open our mouths, it is filled with Dharma”). Let the eating eat, the sitting sit, the work work. Let sleep sleep.[26]
_________________________________________________________________

BH comment
The concept of mindfulness, as a positive thing to be striving for, helps one get from EOP to Observer state, but impedes one getting from Observer state to Flow state. The Zen Masters above are saying the latter but not explaining fully what they mean.

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