Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Self Experimentation of Mr. I-I-I

Greetings Happy People,

Do you remember a television show called “The Incredible Hulk?” Do you remember the beginning of each episode? If you do, then you would remember Dr. David Banner performing an experimentation on himself that went terribly wrong. Apparently a little overdose of gamma radiation plus a fit of rage turned this scientist into a green, muscular monster known as the Incredible Hulk. After this metamorphic change, the Hulk would smash everything in sight. At the end of each episode, he turned back to Dr. Banner and hitchhiked down a lonely road to some sad background piano music.

Eleven months ago, I did a little experimentation on myself. Did it have anything to do with gamma radiation, smashing things, and turning into a green Lou Ferrigno? Nope. This was more of a light-hearted experiment.

On May 2009, one year after my wall broke; I decided to try a couple techniques that would give an extra “spring” to my life. What are they? Well, they can be broken down into two different things: meditation and thinking more positively. After doing these things for almost a year, I realized that my life is a lot better now than what it was before.

The first step I will explain to you involves meditation. There are different forms of meditation to do. I have a couple of favorites that I do on a frequent basis. The first form of meditation I do involves closing my eyes, clearing my mind, and listening to the environment around me. When I do this, I can hear the birds chirping, the wind blowing, and the beautiful rings of nearby wind chimes. As I listen to these things for a few minutes, I notice a sense of peace and calmness inside my body. When this meditation ends, I would ask myself three different questions and give myself three answers to the questions.

QUESTION 1 - “What time is it?”
ANSWER 1 – “The time is now!!”

QUESTION 2 – “Where am I?”
ANSWER 2 – “I am here!!”

QUESTION 3 – “How do you feel?”
(Here I would give a big inhale of air and slowly exhale as I say….)
QUESTION 3 – “I FEEL AWESOME!!”

The next thing I know, I really feel awesome!! This piece of meditation was given to me by a good friend of mine and I feel more thankful by doing this exercise!!

Another form of meditation I like to do involves putting on my headphones and listening to the rain and wind chimes on my CD player. There is something about this combination that also puts me a great ease. After listening to this for a few minutes, I would ask myself those three questions that were mentioned before. When I finish with this meditation, I will be ready for my day!!

The second step I will explain to you involved thinking more positively. Before I did this step, I had my doubts. I kept asking myself if this would even work. With some hesitation, I gave it a try. The first thing was allow myself to be thankful for the things I have right now. I became thankful for my car, my friends, my apartment, the job I have, and the wonderful relationship. Somehow, being grateful for these things make my outlook on not so bad!!

The next thing I did in my positive thinking is to cut down on listening and reading any sort of bad news. Before I did this experiment, I would go to bed with the news channel on. Back then, I did not get any good rest. Ever since I stopped putting the news on, I have received better bed rest!! As for the newspaper, the most I ever done was glance at the headlines or check out the sports scores.

I did not read too deeply into the news stories. Why? When my co-workers read the newspaper, they would find stories they can gripe about to each other. Sometimes, the ranting can get a bit intense. I don’t know about you, but that is the type of stuff I choose to avoid. News outlets have a way of over saturating a story.

Another thing I do is hang around other amazingly positive people. Whether it is with my old high school friends or with fellow Toastmasters, being around positive people can increase your own positive outlook by a few points. Heck!! It beats being around negative people that constantly like to wallow in their own worthlessness – ala The Perpetual Victim. Hanging around too many negative people can bring you down. In order to soar with the eagles, you got to stop hanging with the turkeys.

These are the two things I have done within the past 11 months. I will admit to you that after doing this, my life feels a lot better. Although this may not be done in a whole day, these things can be done daily. Are there more things that can be done to improve your life? Perhaps. But this is only a starting point to something better. If it can work for me, I am sure this will work for you too. Just give it a try and 11 months later, you will be amazed on how you are living.

That is all I have for now. Take care and thank you for your time and attention.

Sincerely,

Jesse I-I-I

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