Archive for November, 2008

Eckhart Tolle – Power of Now

Monday, November 10th, 2008

I recently acquired the book “Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle.

It seems that Oprah has been gushing all over this guy for some time but this had passed me by as I rarely watch it, here in the UK.

I was actually introduced to his works whilst watching the RSD Blueprint seminar.

With both the text and the audio versions, which one should I use? At the moment, I don’t have the time to dedicate to several hours of uninterrupted reading plus I figured that listening to the audio would be a nice way to introduce myself to his teachings.

The great advantage of this audio book is that you do not get some famous narrator reading his book aloud – you get the real Eckhart Tolle so I reckon that this can only help to get the message across.

I fired up my old X-Box and began to listen whilst driving around racing circuits in Forza Motorsport.

I have not yet finished “Power of Now” but the message to me is quite clear already:

  • thoughts arise from our obsession with the past (which we cannot change) and the future
  • such thoughts give rise to negative emotions
  • negative emotions give rise to physical ailments (manifestations)
  • the way to overcome all of this is to live in the “now”, without thoughts
  • most people in this world do not live in the now, they are obsessed with the past and the future
  • the original message of most religions is to live in the now

If you want to read this book online, you can get it at Google Books.

If you prefer a physical copy you can feel and touch, I’ve included a link to Amazon below.

The Power of Now

Eckhart Tolle

Best Price $2.00
or Buy New $15.61

Posted in Beliefs | 82 Comments »

Paul McKenna’s Instant Confidence

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

I recently picked up this title from one of the UK’s most famous “hypnotists”. This guy was famous here in the UK years ago but has disappeared from the map in recent years.

He originally started by doing stage shows, always with an improvement angle although he did often go for amusement too. I remember when Nigel Benn fought Chris Eubank several years ago and apparently McKenna was in his corner, or at least this was claimed.

Anyway, McKenna has since moved on to pastures new and appears to have conquered America and, although he no longer does the entertaining style of hypnosis, he has a new forte – self development. I have since learned that he is big into NLP too.

I came across this and wanted to know if there was more to it than simply his name – and the reviews I found on Amazon looked very good indeed.

I have a number of self improvement books and a huge list to get through, so I am very keen on audio and video and think that they can be more effective in specific applications, so I’ve only listed to the audio that comes with this program.

It’s a 30 second audio, best listened to with headphones – this is because you often hear 2 McKennas! One in each ear.

It sounds much like a hypnosis script – you go into a deepened and relaxed state and Paul gets you to visualise the better “you” in situations. If you have a particular goal in mind e.g. to find a woman or make lots of money, then I think you are best off by visualising specific rather than general situations.

I was quite surprised at how “active” it was. I felt myself early on thinking – woah, what am I letting myself in for! But I just let myself get deeper and deeper. You don’t fall asleep or into a trance and you are fully aware, but like someone told me about hypnosis generally, you feel more “focussed” on the task at hand – increasing your confidence and really feeling it.

Anyway, upon waking I definitely felt invigorated. I noticed just wandering around the house and doing the cooking I was much more extrovert than normal!

The reviews I have read say that you should listen every few days for a few weeks to get the best effect, so this is what I think I will do – listen twice a week for a few weeks. In the meantime, I am going to look into EFT tapping techniques as a way of increasing confidence and removing anxieties in social situations. Interestingly, Paul is into this too and apparently he demonstrated it on the Ellen show, a tapping technique to lose weight.

Perhaps in a month’s time, I will try one of Paul’s other programs on weight loss. We don’t see it here but I understand that he has a TV show in the US about this. However, I’ll be looking for audio again instead.

Instant Confidence

Paul McKenna

Best Price $19.81
or Buy New

Buy from Amazon.com

Posted in Hypnosis, Self Esteem | 113 Comments »

Checking My Progress

Saturday, November 1st, 2008

It’s useful to check where you are every once in a while, to put things into perspective.

If you recall in one of my previous posts, My Dutch Progress, I had recently come by the Michel Thomas Dutch Foundation course.

I completed 4 CDs out of the 8 but had to take a break for personal reasons I won’t go into at the moment. Unfortunately, I feel that I have lost track a little so, when I resume my studies, I will start again from CD1. Really, I should be trying to learn a little Dutch every day and not study in bursts – this is something I need to address soon…I shouldn’t be putting this off…..

I’ve compiled a list of various programs I have that I intend to get through in the very near future:

Paul McKenna audios (losing weight, better confidence etc.)
Eckhart Tolle – Power of Now (book and audio)
Real Social Dynamics’ Transformations (audio)
Paul Coelho – The Alchemist (book)
Listening Reading in Dutch
Holosync

Quite a varied and interesting list, don’t you think? I thought I would give you a taste of what I will be writing about on here in the days and weeks to come.

I’ve decided to dedicate one hour of active time per day to my self-development. That doesn’t include extra opportunities that I may have in the future such as listening to audios while on the train. However, I prefer to give my full attention to my activities – active rather than passive learning.

Posted in General Self Improvement | 309 Comments »