How To Improve Concentration And Mental Alertness

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One of the most important things to control your own mind is concentration. In this article I have focused the incredible power of concentration and mental alertness. If you learn how to develop your concentration level or what are the exercises that help you to improve you concentration, you are on the right track to improve your personality. Your mind which you do have been in command of over, gives you tremendous power. Only with the help of concentration you can control your mind.

Exercise can organize your mind; you can get the rest of those never-ending other parts of the universe to begin to march in formation. No one would intentionally create failure, or bad relationships, or any other pain. You can only do something that is not good for you, if you do it without thinking. This means if you are creating something you dont want, you must not be doing so without thinking. The key is to become more conscious, more aware stop creating all the dramas and other waste you dont want in your life. You can do yoga, exercises to increase your ability to be consciously alert.

As you continue with the exercises and yoga, doing this your mind becomes more concentrated and inner part of you becomes stronger and stronger. You can help things along, however, by remembering and using a very important part of wisdom. Its the reality that whatever you focus on manifests as reality in your life. You are always concentrating on something, whether you are conscious of it or not. If I spent some time with you, and heard your history, I could tell you what you are concentrating on. The outcomes you get are always the effect of your concentration.

The difficulty is that this concentration is usually not conscious focus, its automatic focus. We automatically concentrate on something we dont want, and then when we get it we experience like a victim and dont even stop to think that we created it in the first place. And what is more, we dont understand we could choose to create something entirely different if we could choose to create something fully different if we could only get out of the cycle of automatically concentrating on something other than what we want.

There are some people out there who can and will harm you. Relationships can be unsafe and painful. You have to watch out for these people or from time to time, relationships in general and avoid them. Unluckily, to watch out for them and keep away from them, you have to concentrate your mind on people who could hurt you, or bad relationships, and that concentration draws more of what you dont want to do. So when they come into view in your life you are drawn to them. This is why many people prefer to have one relationship after another with the same person, but in different bodies.

Concentrating on what you do not want, paradoxically, makes it happen. Concentrating on not being poor makes you poor. Concentrating on not making mistakes causes you to make mistakes. Concentrating on not having a bad relationship creates bad relationships. This all happens only if you have lack of concentration. So it is important to develop your concentration level to achieve great success in life.

Copyright Nick Mutt, All Rights Reserved. If you want to use this article on your website or in your ezine, make all the urls (links) active.

Are Your Tennis Errors Mental Or Technical

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Scores of tennis players believe that most of their problems on the tennis court are technical (eg. The action of hitting a forehand, backhand etc) and not mental (thought process behind the action).

Players practice the technical aspects of their shots or pay huge sums of money to coaches to work on areas of their game that probably don’t need as much technical attention as they may think.

Here’s my advice.

When you play a match you need to focus at the other end of the court tactically. Every shot you play must have a purpose to either neutralise or hurt your opponent tactically. The only thing you must be aware of at your end of the court is the ball and where you are aiming to hit it.

During a match you MUST NOT think technically. As soon as you do, more often than not you lose the match. Why? Because it’s almost impossible to mend a shot during a match.

When you play a match you go into battle with what you have and you have to make the best of it. If you try to hit shots you have not mastered in practice then you will probably end up disappointed.

Most errors are mental because they have a lack of purpose or the players’ concentration is on technique and not where the ball is being aimed!

Here’s a typical example:-

A player came to me after a recent match and said that his forehand needs a lot of work because it let him down big time in his last match.

Now I know this guy can hit great forehands and does so regularly in lessons. I asked him “When did your forehand let you down?”

He answered “It was okay at first but once I made a few errors it just seemed to get worse and worse from them on.”

This statement told me a lot. It told me he was analysing his technique because of an error and became more and more conscious of what he was doing at his end of the court instead of trying to affect the points tactically at the other end.

So we hit a few rallies and played some points out. Something went wrong as I approached the net and his forehand flew out the back of the court.

I asked him what he was trying to do? His answer was “I didn’t cover the ball with enough topspin and lost control.”

He was right – his ball flew out because it had no topspin on it. BUT, it wasn’t a technical error.

So I asked him the same question again but wanted a more specific answer. So I said “tell me exactly where you pictured the ball going and where you expected it to land?”

His answer was “Cross court somewhere!”

This guy wanted a technical answer, but the answer was mental. His ball went ‘cross court somewhere’ and that’s all he’d asked from himself. So in effect he actually succeeded.

If you want to hit a short angled topspin forehand cross court to a target and you miss then that’s a technical error and we can then work on that.

BUT if you are not aiming specifically and don’t know where you want the ball to land without first visualising it, then how can you be upset when you miss?

If you don’t know where you are aiming then that is a mental error. Your racket can’t do the aiming for you, no matter how much it cost you!

If this guy had pictured the exact shot he wanted he would have automatically covered the ball, and hit with more topspin, and been successful, because he has done it in many practices before.

You wouldn’t shoot a gun without aiming would you, as it would be dangerous? To hit a tennis shot without purpose is effectively doing the same thing and is a danger to your confidence.

How many people do you know who don’t aim their second serve but just try to get it in? (are you one of those people?!).

Visualise and aim. You have a much better chance of hitting the target and succeeding.

So the key is to practice these shots and scenarios, so you know what to do in these pressure situations. You will then build up a visual memory of succeeding under pressure.

Then all you need to do is watch the ball and visualise what you want to happen. What you focus on in life becomes reality.

If the shot has been practiced enough it will begin to happen in those pressure situations as pure muscle memory. (See it, then do it!)

Use Mental Photography To Get Astounding Results With The Law Of Attraction

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What is Mental Photography?

Mental Photography is your brain’s natural ability to tap into your own photographic memory. It’s a capability that everyone possesses and enables us to take in books and other information at a phenomenal rate. This process even leaves speed readers in the dust. In fact this advanced learning technique allows a person to take in new information about 100 times faster than the average reading speed. Even people with Dyslexia, ADD or ADHD can quickly master learning new information at amazing speeds.

Not only does Mental Photography help your brain process information at a faster rate, but it also enables us to retain the memory for life. Most of the things we read are forgotten within the first 48 hours. This learning system uses different pathways in your brain to help you process facts quickly and easily. More importantly, your brain will not forget. Information goes straight in and stays in long-term memory. They say it’s as if you read a book 100 times.

The process also helps you to become a lateral thinker. This ability helps a persons brain to solve complex problems that would ordinarily boggle the mind. Your brain’s thinking capabilities will improve exponentially.

Using Mental Photography can fully enhance your use of the Law of Attraction. According to the people at Zox Training Systems, by using Mental Photography, “You are actually turbo charging the part of your brain that works with The Secret Law of Attraction…To put your powers of manifestation 100% into hyper-drive.” What an intriguing possibility that is, hyper-driven manifestation.

The only limitations any of us have are our own negative thoughts. Our brains are fully programmable. The problem is most of us have been programmed with limited, negative thinking. It is proven by years of research that a brain can be reprogrammed. It doesn’t matter how old you are. You can achieve anything if you only think you can. The human brain can be programmed to eliminate negative thought patterns. Without this negativity a person can begin to move toward his/her own unlimited being. The power of the Law of Attraction along with your own enhanced mental powers can be life changing.

Astronaut, Edgar Mitchell says this about the technique, “What better way to be of service to our fellow humans and to simultaneously create a better life for ourselves than to introduce everyone to the benefits of the Subliminal Dynamics/Brain Management process?”

Mental Photography can help to use that huge area of the brain that normally goes untapped. Imagine how that could alter your world.

Your Mental And Emotional Health Needs Exercise To Remain Healthy

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We are all aware of the benefits of proper exercise on the health of our body. We know it tones our muscles, burns fat, helps circulation, and reduces our disease risk. But what about the benefits exercise has on our mental health?

While the majority of fitness research efforts focus on the physical and health benefits of exercise, there is a growing body of work demonstrating that exercise promotes mental and emotional health as well.

Firstly exercise makes you feel good. When you exercise (with some effort of course) there are a cocktail of hormones released that stay in your system for some time after you finish lifting your mood and banishing any trace of any negative feelings.

Some of the exercise benefits that can make life so much better are:

By reducing stress hormones (cortisol), which are linked to depression
By restoring sleeping and eating patterns, raising energy levels
By releasing endorphins, the ‘feel good’ hormones
Getting in better physical shape improves self-esteem
Manage feelings of anxiety, sadness, tension and anger
Improves blood flow to brain, cut Alzheimer’s risk by 40 percent
Great alternative treatment for depression

Our mental health is important and its health does not lie with taking antidepressants. Prescriptions for antidepressants have increased by 33 per cent in the last six years with a third of the adult population taking a mood altering drug. Yet research shows that physical activity has the same effect as chemically addictive antidepressants and unlike these drugs has no negative side effects.

It is so much better for your health to avoid using drugs if possible as they can interfere with brain biochemistry. Our knowledge of how drugs affect the brain is in its infancy. Proper exercise will give you an instant feel good boost, unlike drugs that can take weeks to kick in.

It gives cause for concern when doctors are so freely writing out prescriptions for these unnecessary drugs. The same prescription pad could be used for a much healthier alternative – exercise. But then there would not be any money to be made with a recommendation like that.

Attitudes need to change so that people take some responsibility for their own health and wellbeing and stop being doctor and drug dependent. There are much healthier options available that address the cause of the problem not just mask it, and that is exercise.

Take some time out for a proper exercise program and discover how you can feel joy and pleasure just being in your own body. Don’t say no to exercise say no to something else.
Exercise is not a task or punishment and vigorous movement is something the human body needs to maintain wellness and can be viewed as a preventative that can help prevent physical, mental and emotional conditions.

You don’t have to spend hours to gain these benefits; just a couple of sessions each week of strength training exercise will make you feel fantastic. Just make sure you get some help from a fitness professional so you can be reaping the most benefits from your program and enjoy life to the fullest.

One Consumer’s Observations of the Mental Health Care System in America

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The Mental health system is a unique culture. Psychiatry itself is, unlike any other medical specialty. Mental health is an enclosed system. That means it is a world within a world. The doctors, therapists, patients, and support workers play roles. It’s a reciprocal environment. Each player in the system allows the other person the opportunity to act out his or her role. For example, the Psychiatrist gives you a diagnosis that has no basis (Yes this does happen from time to time). You, the patient, having complete faith in the powers of the behavioral health system, accept this diagnosis as the gospel truth. In time, you begin to notice certain behaviors and thoughts that you believe may be a sign of your supposed illness. You return to your doctor and report these symptoms. Your Psychiatrist agrees with your observations and writes them down in your medical record. He also inserts his authoritative comments to support his opinion. Therefore, both parties in the relationship are mutually validated in their roles.

When one has been playing the patient role for so long, a person begins to identify himself or herself as a -psych patient.- That-s who you are. This is the term that defines your very existence. You belong to the mental health system. Soon enough you find that every activity you engage yourself in is related to your disorder and the medication your doctor prescribed to suppress it. It’s a sad commentary indeed. It’s sadder still for the person who needlessly struggles against an undefinable defect in his or her character as if the diagnosis were the irrefutable truth. I acknowledge the fact that the unsettling scenario I am painting here is not true for every psychiatric patient.

At some point, the psychiatric patient discovers the benefits of being labeled mentally ill. There are mental health workers, such as case managers who assist the -consumer- in obtaining a free living allowance from the Federal government in the form of Social Security Disability Income or Supplemental Security Income in whatever minimal amount it may be. I will add for comfort that social security disability benefits are reported (by the government) to run dry in 2016. A consumer is often entitled to free housing, health care, food assistance, and much more. The mentally ill person may even have the right under certain disability laws to bring a pit-bull into a no-pet residential community. Technically speaking, you could even take it on a commercial airliner. The reason is simply because your therapist deemed it necessary that you have an emotional support animal (oops was that a secret?). Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure there are people who require a companion animal for their emotional health. I’m not trying to be disrespectful to those who are struggling. What I’m saying that there are incentives built into the system for many people to accept their diagnosis and play out their role.

There are case managers and outreach workers that will go to court with you, and advocate on your behalf before the judge when you run afoul of the law. They will help the mentally ill with all of their personal affairs. What a bargain! Run out and tell all of your friends about it. Let the government take care of you. It makes being a psychiatric patient seem so much more attractive. Why wouldn’t anyone want a Psychiatrist label to them disabled? Again, I’m being sarcastic to make my point that people, who are improperly labeled with a DSM V diagnosis, run the risk of becoming dependent on the mental health system for their needs.

This kind of social welfare encourages people to give up their ambition and motivation. It instills the idea that living a marginal existence is sufficient. I, for one, believe in the greatness people can achieve for themselves and the world by applying themselves.

Remember this. Once you get into the mental health system your chances of getting out are slim. There are a number of reasons for this. Primarily because the Psychiatrist or Psychologist has you convinced that you have a serious medical problem, which you can’t handle yourself. We all know that’s ridiculous. Many people manage their depression and anxiety remarkably well without the use of psychiatric medications. If Ativan calms your nerves and helps you function, then that’s great. On the other hand, I have seen plenty of people become addicted to sedatives. These drugs are unsafe. I wouldn’t put your faith in the safety of the anti-depressants either. I think the pharmaceutical giants are quick to point that out as a result of the numerous class action lawsuits filed against them.

Some blame can be placed on the pharmaceutical companies for this unnatural drug dependence. As I was writing this article, I surfed NAMI’s website (National Alliance for Mental Illness) and noticed -In Our Own Voice,- a public education program, is funded by a grant from Eli Lily. This is the pharmaceutical giant that manufactures psychiatric drugs like Prozac, Zyprexa, and Cymbalta. I gather (without too much mental effort) that Eli Lily’s generosity is a publicity campaign to make them look like one of the good guys in the mental field, and as a result, boost sales. As I surfaced the Internet, I found that NAMI has been receiving their fair share of criticism for their questionable association with pharmaceutical companies. I will not say NAMI is immoral or unethical. That would be too easy. If Ely Lily offered me thousands of dollars, I would have to seriously consider taking it. Sometimes the decision to cross the line depends on one’s real life needs. Other times it just has to do with making a buck. There is no denying that this kind of corporate misconduct adversely affects the mental health system and exacerbates the suffering of its consumers. Again, I know some people require the assistance of the pharmaceutical companies and the psychiatric community. The screening process for prescribing these medications is a big part of the problem. That’s because there is no adequate process in place for dispensing these potentially dangerous drugs.

Society itself contributes to this dysfunctional culture. The general attitude of the public is -As long as they are not bothering us you can do what you please with them.- This gives the mental health providers even more authority to do as they please. And so the psychiatric patient is stripped of his or her rights. As I see it, a psychiatric patient is a human being without respect or dignity. You can call my words dramatic if you like.

It may seem as I am playing the blame game and the taking on the victim role. Allow to clarify the role of the patient in the mental health system (those like myself). I will be the first to admit that the informed psychiatric patient is the one who is primarily responsible for his or her unfortunate situation. We have to accept our role in the system. No one can twist your arm behind your back, and say, -Go see a therapist about your anxiety.- At least that’s true in most cases. When you reflect on why you did it, you will say, -It seemed like a good idea at the time.-

The worst thing a mentally ill person could ever do, is telling someone about his or her condition. As soon as you do, the other person looks at you differently. An automatic flash goes off in the person’s brain, -Oh God. Here we go. His illness is acting up.- This attitude is especially noticeable in the face of a mental health professional, your family members, and closest friends. It’s a universal reaction. From the moment you reveal your secret, everything you do will be blamed on your illness. The ways in which you express yourself as a normal human being will be measured against your supposed disorder. If you are frustrated about something, the people in your life will conclude, -His meds aren’t working.- When people think you cannot hear them, they will gossip amongst themselves, -Oh he’s a psych patient. That’s why he looks agitated. That’s part of his illness.- This attitude is quite common. It comes from a lack of understanding. How could a person know, unless he or she has personally experienced it.

If you should attempt to verbalize your rights as a human being, the mental health provider will proceed to have you committed to a psychiatric hospital against your will. The patient can be held for an indefinite period of time until a clinician decides the person has come to his or her senses. The mental health professionals can essentially do whatever they want with you because no one is going to speak out against them. In Massachusetts, psychiatric patients must retain a specially trained lawyer to represent them before a mental health court in order to be released. This is where we are in 2013. I’ll bet most of you reading this article didn’t know how our behavioral health system works. We are still in the dark ages.

The only time the state of the mental health system is brought to light is when a patient commits suicide or kills someone. Then there is a public uproar and the Psychiatrist or therapist are blamed or in some cases sued. In their defense, no doctor can control the behavior of their patient in society. That is not their job as I see it. The mental health professional cannot be held responsible for the actions of their patients, unless they were grossly negligent in some way. We are free and sovereign human beings. In the United States, people are generally allowed to operate freely without undue interference from others. The American attitude is -No one has the right to tell me what to do.- It’s a slightly different story if the patient states that he or she intends to commit suicide or kill someone. Then the call to duty is activated. Mental illness is a complicated matter. This article presents an insider’s view of the system. My depiction of the mental health system in this paper is not necessarily representative of other people’s experiences. This observation is based on my own experience and perspective.