Land of Oz Workshops Blog: Creating The Future
When the artist Michelangelo w...: Creating The Future When the artist Michelangelo was asked how he approached sculpting his masterpiece, David, he replied that he chip...
Friday, July 20, 2012
Creating The Future
When the artist Michelangelo was asked how he approached
sculpting his masterpiece, David, he replied that he chipped away everything in
the large piece of marble that wasn’t David. Michelangelo had tremendous focus
and concentration in present time, but he hadn’t also maintained his future
vision of what David would look like, he would not have achieved the incredible
statue he envisioned.Our greatest hope is to learn from our past and to draw upon
the wisdom there, to be fully absorbed in present time with focus,
concentration and creativity and to retain an inspiring vision for the future.
An excellent example of this is the story of the Russian
composer and pianist, Sergei Rachmaninoff. The premier of his Piano Concerto
No.1 in 1897 in St. Petersburg, Russia met with such critical reviews by the
local newspaper that Rachmaninoff fell into a depression for two years. Unable
to recover from the trauma he sought help from a physician, Dr. Nicholi Dahl,
who specialized in autosuggestion. Autosuggestion is what we now call
self-hypnosis. During the two year period of his depression, Rachmaninoff was
afraid to compose for fear of failing again. The voices of his critics haunted
him.
Dr. Dahl assessed Rachmaninoff’s case and advised him to use
the same hypnotic declaration everyday, “I
will compose a new concerto. I will work with the greatest of ease. The
composition will be of excellent quality and the critics and public will
rejoice!”
Even though this is a very elementary use of self-hypnosis,
the affirmation worked for him. Rachmaninoff repeated these positive statements
day after day for two years. During that time he began composing Piano Concerto
No.2. This composition had its world premier in October 1901. It was an instant
success and is regarded as one of the greatest piano concertos in classical
music history. Not only did he rise to the occasion, he exceeded it. Dr. Dahl
helped him to regain his confidence, let the past go, move beyond his fears,
reignite the joy of composing, and to perform in public again.
Your past is filled with stories of success, fun, and
adventure IF you take the time to rekindle these memories. Your present can be
packed with fulfilling experiences if you are willing to take a few risks, try
new things, explore new options, and stretch beyond your daily and weekly routines.
And the future? Your future begins by creating stories with
your imagination of what you would like to do, what you would like to experience,
where you would like to travel to, how you would like to feel, and what you
would like to attract and bring into your life. The future stories you create
in your mind set the tone for what is possible to manifest. Optimism and
positive expectancy are powerful forces. Have no doubt about this. You can
create your future. It might not be on par with Michelangelo or Rachmaninoff
but it will be a creative and unique expression of you and that is a wonderful
thing!
John A. Tamiazzo, PhD
Monday, July 9, 2012
Land of Oz Workshops Blog: THE PSYCHOLOGY ANDPHYSIOLOGY OF HOPE AND EXPECTATI...
Land of Oz Workshops Blog: THE PSYCHOLOGY ANDPHYSIOLOGY OF HOPE AND EXPECTATI...: THE PSYCHOLOGY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF HOPE AND EXPECTATION In his book, The Biology of Belief , Cell Biologist Bruce Lipton writes, “Universi...
THE PSYCHOLOGY AND
PHYSIOLOGY OF HOPE AND EXPECTATION
In his book, The
Biology of Belief, Cell Biologist Bruce Lipton writes, “University of
Connecticut psychology professor Irving Kirsch found that 80% of the effect of
antidepressants, as measured in clinical trials, could be attributed to the
placebo effect. The data show that more than half of the clinical trials for
the six leading antidepressants, the drugs did not out outperform placebo sugar
pills.”
What this means is
that the power of the belief that the pills will bring relief for depression
will have a significant impact on the effectiveness of the pills. What is in
the pill, whether it is a drug or sugar water, appears not to be the important
thing. According to Lipton, the important thing is the power of your expectation
and belief which directly and dynamically impact the biology of your brain.
Just through the influence of their words and the authority
of their body language, health professionals can communicate hope and positive
expectancy or hopelessness. A couple of stories from my own life will
illustrate this point.
In 1984 my father was diagnosed with lung cancer and the
attending physician told him that he had less than 6 months to live. As a
family we tried everything possible to keep his spirits up but he remained
haunted by the words of that doctor. He
expected to die and six months he was dead.
When my mom had a heart attack in 2005, the attending
cardiologist told her that there was little he could do because of her age and
that she could die. When I asked her why she was crying, she told me what he
had said. I called him by telephone from the nurse’s station and asked him why
he told her that. He said he had been a cardiologist for over 35 years and I
had no right to question him. I told him
that I do not know what medical school he attended but he didn’t even learn the
most basic principle; to practice good medicine you always leave a patient with
hope. When he began to argue with me, I fired him. The nurses and attendants at
the nurse’s station who were attentively listening to this conversation, enthusiastically
applauded. I hired another cardiologist and told him to approach my mom’s
condition with positive expectancy. He assured me that he would. His manner was
gracious and his voice optimistic. He told her that he could treat her heart
condition with medication. 7 years later, my mom is still living on her own
cooking, baking, cleaning, and excitedly watching the Dodgers. She just turned
98 and thoroughly enjoys life. She expects to live to be 100 and she probably
will.
Dr. Lipton writes, “Learning how to harness your mind to
promote growth is the secret of life. Of course the secret of life is not a
secret at all. Teachers like Buddha and Jesus have been telling us the same
story for millennia. Now science is pointing in the same direction. It is not
your genes but your beliefs that control your life!”
John A. Tamiazzo, PhD Author of Returning to the Land of Oz available at Amazon.com, Amazon.ca and Barnesandnoble.com both in paperback and e-book formats
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