Mental Housecleaning

"Language shapes our behavior and each word we use is imbued with multitudes of personal meaning. The right words spoken in the right way can bring us love, money and respect, while the wrong words-or even the right words spoken in the wrong way-can lead to a country to war. We must carefully orchestrate our speech if we want to achieve our goals and bring our dreams to fruition."  

-Dr. Andrew Newberg, Words Can Change Your Brain

The Silva Method changed my life - for the better and better and better than I ever thought possible. Mental Housecleaning was probably as important to that change - and continuing growth - as any individual technique.

Why? Because I found that by paying attention to the words and phrases I use, I become aware of the underlying thinking process ... my beliefs, my perspectives, my overall attitude about life.

As I became aware of those underlying thoughts and beliefs I was empowered to change myself. The knowledge allowed me to accept or reject what had previously been unthinking, automatically.

As I listen to my words, what I'm saying, I sometimes hear things that surprise me. Yes, I know, I said those words but I may be startled because they're coming from deep-rooted beliefs and thinking patterns I'm not even aware are there.

When I identify a previously 'unknown' way of thinking, I'm then empowered to accept or change it.  How? By using Cancel Cancel and then deliberately choosing new words which are appropriate to the situation and match the way I choose to believe, think and act.

By doing this consistently ... yes, sometimes I 'slip' ... I'm re-training my mind in a conscious, deliberate way.

Tony Robbins calls this 'Transformational Vocabulary'. Jose Silva called it 'Mental Housecleaning'. 

I call it Empowerment! 

How to Reduce Your Stress Quickly and Easily

STRESS - perhaps the biggest challenge we face today ... not the causes of it but the stress itself with all its 'fallout' such as high blood pressure, poor sleep, anxiety and so many other things.

Graduates of the Silva Method courses have a real advantage when it comes to handling stress, it's effects and the situations that have led to it.

For those of you who may have forgotten and for those of you who haven't yet taken Silva courses, let me offer a process that I know works well.

First, identify a thought that's causing or feeding your stress. Usually this is a thought about situations over which you have no direct control.

    Write down this thought, just the thought.

Now draw a big X through the statement and write Cancel, Cancel over it. Yes, it's messy but we're not producing an artwork here!

Using an introductory phrase such as "I love how I feel when ...." or "I wonder how glorious it is going to be when..." or I can't wait to experience..." or an equivalent phrase....

     Now write down a statement that is the direct opposite of the first, stressful thought. This is a thought that produces a calmer, more happy feeling.

Then it's time to use your Silva programming skills to change your feelings at an even deeper level AND to change the stress-inducing situation.

Express gratitude for your new experience. 

When you finish, take a deep breath and enjoy a very large smile. Really feel GOOD - physically, mentally and emotionally - as you know that you're on your way to a better and better life! 

If you need some help doing this, send me an email. I'd love to help!

Better & Better,

Barbara Hawkins

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Significant Events in Jose Silva's Research

    In this article, Jose Silva recalls some of the significant events in his research, such as being the first person to ever demonstrate in a scientific laboratory that people could learn to actually control their brain waves.

    At the time scientists thought it was impossible. They were so impressed that they published an article about it in a scientific journal.

by Jose Silva


    After reading about Sigmund Freud and the work he had done, we began to search for ways to help our children get better grades in school, and be more successful in all of their activities.

    We began to seek ways to improve their minds. As we had success with this, we began to search for the specific factors that were producing the positive results.

    In order to help us determine exactly what was going on that was leading to success, we set up projects in the following manner:

    Problems were presented to subjects while they were connected to an EEG with a digital counter in the output.


    We were training them with various mental exercises, including hypnosis in the beginning. Later we abandoned that for superior methods.

    Some subjects, while trying to analyze and answer the problem question, would cause the digital counter on the EEG to indicate 10 cycles per second frequency.

    However, the majority would indicate 20 cps while doing the same thing - attempting to analyze and answer the problem question.

    This attracted our attention since the average brain frequency range of humans is between 1 and 20 cps.

    We observed that when people enter normal, natural, deep sleep, the sleep-and-dream, cycles indicate a movement between 1 and 20 cps on the average.

    However, when people are awake, the average brain frequency is 20 cps.

    So it seemed unusual to us to observe that approximately 10 percent of our subjects would cause a 10 cps output when analyzing and solving problems.

    Since 10 cps is the center of the normal brain frequency range, we began to call those people who did
their thinking at 10 cps "centered thinkers" and those who did their thinking at 20 cps "eccentric thinkers."

    We then realized that our mental training exercises were teaching our subjects to learn to control their brain
waves consciously.

    At the time, university scientists were saying that it was impossible for people to consciously control their brain wave activity. They challenged us to prove it at the University of Texas Medical School and also at Trinity
University, both in San Antonio, Texas.

    We were successful in showing them that our trained subjects could enter the alpha level at will and could even activate their minds while at the alpha level, so as to analyze and solve problems. These results were published in a scientific journal in England in 1972.

    Since then, it has become accepted knowledge that people can learn to consciously activate their minds at the 10 cps alpha frequency as well as at 20 cps beta.

    People receive many benefits when they function consciously at 10 cps alpha.

    *We have observed that they are healthier because they rarely get sick with psychosomatic health problems.

    *They are safer because their intuition functions at this level and they rarely get into accidents

    *One of the most outstanding benefits of being a 10 cycle thinker is that you can use your intuition at that
level, and can be more times right than wrong when making decisions, which leads to greater success in life.

    All of these factors contribute to people being more successful in life.

    We always believed that the 10 cycle alpha level would be the ideal level to solve any kind of problems, especially since the alpha level is the strongest, the level with the least impedance to neuron discharge, and the most synchronous. Thinking should be faster, thoughts and ideas should be more clear, and insight should be better.

    Despite all of the benefits that were being received by people who used our method, some people were concerned that borderline psychotic patients could be thrown into psychosis when entering the 10 cycle alpha level.

    In order to demonstrate that even borderline psychotic patients would not be harmed in any way, we set up a test project with a team of psychiatrists, Dr. Clancy McKenzie, and his associate Dr. Lance Wright.

    At first they proceeded very cautiously, sending only one patient at a time and monitoring that patient very
closely.

    Eventually they began to send groups of patients.

    Finally Dr. McKenzie decided that they should recommend that all of their patients use our method to
learn to enter the 10 cycle alpha level, and use our techniques for problem solving.

    Dr. McKenzie reported that none of their patients became psychotic or was harmed in any way, and virtually
all improved. He has provided us with many reports of patients using the alpha level to gain insight and, as a
result of this insight, having tremendous breakthrough and dramatically shortening their recovery time.

    He has written of many patients who programmed themselves at the alpha level to have a dream that contains
information to help them correct their problems. When they gain insight on their own in this manner, they readily accept it and act on it, according to Dr. McKenzie. He said that he has found this to be one of the best ways for them to hasten their recovery.

    Since that project was conducted, we have gone on to verify through many research projects that the Silva Method can help everyone who wants help and will use the techniques. We have conducted research and verified the many beneficial results with groups such as:

    *High school students (Effects with Three High Schools).

    *Alcoholics (The Alcoholic Study)
.
    *Executives at a major corporation (RCA Records)

    *Single mothers on welfare (The Ottawa County Project).

    *Adolescent girls in a Catholic high school (Hallahan High).

    *Average people (The Albuquerque Report).

    *And of course mental patients (The Consciousness Movement and the Mental Patient).

    The research confirmed that regardless of how much or how little success a person has had, they can achieve even more success by learning to activate their mind at 10 cycles alpha.

    Now we no longer need to settle for only 10 percent of people being centered, and able to think at 10 cycles alpha, while 90 percent are eccentric, and think only at 20 cycles beta.

    Now everyone can learn to center themselves at alpha, activate their mind and analyze and solve problems, and be more successful in life.

    What we have accomplished is to convert the sub-conscious into what we call the inner-conscious level.

    Now everyone can learn to use the sub-conscious, consciously.

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    Thank you for reading this edition of the SIGA Success Strategies Online Magazine. Please stop by the Silva
International Graduate Association Clubhouse any time, we are always open and you are always welcome:
http://www.SIGA.org

What is Your Legacy?

By Jose Silva

    During my 82 years on this planet, I've learned that the only thing that's permanent in life is the legacy that you leave.

    The radios that I learned to repair as a teenager are now antiques that are nice to look at but have no practical value today. When is the last time you saw a vacuum tube?

    I've traveled all over the world presenting the Silva Method. I've seen the ancient ruins in Rome, that were once part of the greatest empire the world has ever known. They remind me of a story I once heard about a ruler who presided over a great city.

    Archaeologists found the ruins of this city that had once been so great, and among the ruins they found a portion of the base of a statue.

    The statue had been of the great ruler. All that was left was part of the inscription, which read: Here lies Ozymandeus, King of Kings. Look on these works, ye mighty, and despair.

    The irony was that he had intended that they could never create anything so great as he had, but in reality, he demonstrated that nothing is so great that it will last forever.

    Except the legacy that you leave.

YOUR LEGACY


    Everybody leaves a legacy:

    *World leaders who must carefully watch every word that they utter have an obvious impact on the world.

    *Every child that is born produces a powerful effect on the parents and grandparents and perhaps many others. If you've ever had a child, or a grandchild, or even a great grandchild as I have, then you know that this changes you.

    *You never know what small action of yours might bring about a big change. The psychiatrist in the Army induction center probably never even remembered that he suggested that I read The History of Psychiatry, but that one bit of guidance started me on the path that led to the Silva Method, which has now helped millions of people throughout the world.

WHAT WILL YOU LEAVE?

    Sometimes a tiny kindness has a ripple effect that grows as it goes forward, until it makes a huge difference.

    Sometimes a mean gesture also has a ripple effect that winds up hurting many people.

    You never know, at the time, what the effect will be.

    Think about some of the people in your life: people who gave you a word of encouragement that you still remember; people who were indifferent, or even cruel. They might not even remember it.

    But you remember it. And perhaps it influences your life:

    *You pass on the kind gesture to others, who in turn pass on that gesture.

    *Your hurt and resentment cause you to say or do things you don't really mean, and people learn from your example.


    Long after we are all gone, long after the great cities of today have crumbled, long after our modern technology is rendered obsolete, long after our greatest leaders are just names that students read in history books, your legacy will still live.

    It will live in the lives of people who follow us. The things that you do spread out, and give you a type of immortality.

SUPERIOR HUMAN BEING

    Here is a formula that I included in the Silva Method, that will help insure that you leave a positive legacy:

    You will continue to strive to take part in constructive and creative activities to make this a better world to live in, so that when we move on, we shall have left behind a better world for those who follow.

    You will consider the whole of humanity, depending on their ages, as fathers or mothers, brothers or sisters, sons or daughters.

    You are a superior human being; you have greater understanding, compassion, and patience with others.

    What kind of legacy do you want to leave?

    Someone once suggested that you do every act as if it would be your last. How do you want to be remembered?

    Go to level. Think about your life at the alpha level, the ideal level to think on. Plan what you are going to do with your life, so as to leave a legacy that you can be proud of.

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    Thank you for continuing to read Jose Silva's comments in the SIGA Success Strategies Magazine. Please remember to visit the SIGA clubhouse occasionally at http://www.SIGA.org. We are always open, and you are always welcome.

How To Get Better Results With Your Programming

    In this article, Jose Silva explains some terminology and gives some advice on how to get better results with your programming.

by Jose Silva


    One of the biggest problems in our new science is terminology. This is true of any new science: There are no words to explain what we have found.


    Freud surely found this when he invented psychology, and he invented terms like the subconscious to help him explain what he found. He re-defined other words, and created new words, like ego, superego, and id, to help him explain his system.


    Those words don't mean anything unless you understand his system.


    If you accept his ideas, then those terms make sense.

    Other pioneers in psychology and related fields created their own words and terms to represent what they were doing. That's why we have peak experiences, the collective unconscious, akashic records, nirvana, heaven,
and all sorts of other terms. They define what somebody felt was important.

    Even a simple word like meditation has many different meanings.

WHAT IS MEDITATION?

    One person's meditation is another person's concentration. Some people say that Silva Method graduates are not meditating when we go to level to work on a project, but if we calm our mind, perhaps we'll go into meditation.

    What's that again?


    Well, that's alright, because we call what we do "dynamic meditation."

    If somebody starts talking to you about meditation, you might want to ask them to define the term for you. Then you will have a better idea of what they are talking about. 


    You can meditate on anything.


    *When you meditate on a picture, or on symbols. Calm your mind by concentrating on a picture and you are
meditating.

    *When you meditate on music. Calm your mind while listening to great classical music and you are meditating.

    *If you concentrate on a project at your level, you are meditating on that project.

WHAT DOES "CONCENTRATE" MEAN?


    Of course concentration can be tricky too. Comedian Jeff Foxworthy said you may be a "redneck" - a term
embraced by working people who are more comfortable in overalls than a tuxedo - he said you may be a redneck if you sit and stare at a can of frozen orange juice because the label says "concentrate."


    "Concentrate" is defined differently when you are speaking of orange juice: it means to reduce the volume by
removing water.

    What we mean by concentrate is to direct your thoughts and attention towards one thing only. This will calm your mind and help you achieve an altered state of consciousness and a lower brain frequency.

    And there are many different kinds of meditation, determined by the process used, the goals sought, and what
happens when you do it.

    For instance, concentrating on a picture, or concentrating on your breath, or concentrating on a word or
phrase and repeating it over and over either mentally or verbally is something that is taught in yoga.

MEDITATING TO CORRECT PROBLEMS

    That's different from what we do in the Silva Method, and while it can bring about an altered state of
consciousness, it is not necessarily the same state of consciousness as you achieve when you use the 3 to 1, 10 to 1 method to enter your level.

    We use physical and mental relaxation, and countdowns, to enter a state of dynamic meditation. Then you learn how to maintain a light level of meditation even after you activate your mind so that you can go to work to correct problems. This is active meditation, because you can take action to correct problems.


    If you prefer, of course, you can use the deepening exercises - countdowns, physical and mental relaxation,
visualizing tranquil and passive scenes - to achieve a deep state of passive meditation. Do this for 15 minutes a day and it will strengthen your immune mechanism and help you in many other ways.

WHAT IS PRAYER?


    There are other terms that are not always clearly defined, such as prayer.

    There are many different definitions - and methods - for prayer.

    Here's how I see the process of prayer:


    It is the process of making your needs known to higher intelligence, on the "other side," as I like to say. It is
also giving thanks when you receive guidance and help from higher intelligence.

    We pray by concentrating on our needs and on making higher intelligence aware of our needs.

SOLVING PROBLEMS


    The first thing you want to do when working on a project is to concentrate on the project yourself, to meditate on it so that you can solve your own problems.

    When you have concentrated and meditated on your project, then it is important to go out and take action.

    It is important to use your body as well as your mind.

    We want to use both dimensions to correct problems.
    
    When you reach a sticking point and do not know what to do next, then you concentrate on making your needs known to higher intelligence. By doing that, at the correct level, you will receive guidance from the other side to help you continue on with your project.


    That guidance might come in the form of an idea, so that you will know what to do next. Again, you must act on that idea to determine if it was actually information from the other side, or only a fantasy that you created with
your imagination.

VERIFYING INFORMATION


    How do you determine whether the idea came from higher intelligence, or from your own imagination?


    Simple:
    By the results that you get.


    If the information helps you to correct the problem, then you can take it for granted that it came from higher
intelligence. If it doesn't help you to correct the problem, then it was probably your own idea.

    In that case, try again:


    Do some more deepening, work some health cases, check with your Silva Method lecturer for guidance - do whatever is necessary for you to learn to get to the correct level where you can communicate successfully with the other side.

    On the other hand, the guidance from higher intelligence might come in the form of a "coincidence" in the physical world. This is a sign to guide you as to which way to proceed.

    Perhaps someone comes and offers you some help. Maybe you read an article that helps you determine what to do next. Maybe your way is suddenly blocked, and you cannot proceed as you had hoped to. As the lyrics to an old song say, sometimes you ask if you can have something or do something and the answer is No.

HOW TO PROCEED

    Keep in mind that we first attempt to correct problems ourselves. That's what we were sent here to do. Concentrate on correcting the problem yourself first. And when you successfully correct a problem yourself, remember to express your gratitude to higher intelligence for having the ability to correct problems.

    When you get stuck, pray for guidance and help in solving the problem. You don't tell higher intelligence to
solve it for you; you concentrate on asking for guidance so that you can go ahead and finish the job yourself.


    When you have completed the project, pray again to give thanks for the help that you received. Concentrate on the completed project, and concentrate on conveying your appreciation to higher intelligence for the help that you received.

OUR OBLIGATION


    We have been assigned to do a job here on planet earth, and those who assigned us are there to back us up
and help us when we need help.


    They are willing to help us when we need it. That's their assignment. They are not there to do our work for us.
They are not there to give us things just for the sake of having things.

    They give us help based on our performance, on what we have done in the past. If you have a solid record of
correcting problems - not just for yourself and your family, but any problems that are given to you - then the
other side will provide you with a lot of help.

    Promises to help out in the future don't mean much to our helpers on the other side. Anybody can promise
anything. They go by your record of what you've been doing with what you already have.

    If you have demonstrated by your actions that you meet your obligation to help correct problems whenever you
encounter them - even if you do not receive any kind of compensation for doing so - then the other side is eager to help you so that you can continue to fulfill your mission on earth.

PEOPLE WHO PROSPER


    During my 82 years on this planet, I have observed that the people who prosper the most are the people who
correct the most problems. But they don't correct problems in order to prosper, they correct problems because that's what human beings were sent here to do.

    They are not foolish about it - they have enough common sense to know that they need resources to work with if they are going to correct a lot of problems, so they make their needs known to the other side and get what they need. Then they use what they get to continue to correct problems.

    If you mediate on that, at a deep enough level, you will understand. When you understand, you will take action
and become a better problem solver.

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    Thank you for joining us, and please be sure to check out all of the excellent resources at www.SIGA.org to help you continue to get Better, Better, and Better.
    Thank you.

Why Meditation?

Would you like to have more peace, health, happiness and abundance in your life?

Have you identified the things that provide or create them?

Are you doing these things yet?

Interesting questions, aren't they.

One of the things that I KNOW brings more peace, health, happiness and abundance is meditation. If you're a Silva Method Graduate, you've heard me (or another instructor) talking about this. You may sort of know that meditation does this but still not spend time regularly experiencing that quiet time...meditation.

Ask yourself "Why?" or "Why not?" What's so hard about taking 10 or 15 minutes a day to sit still, eyes closed, and experience the quiet?

Part of the answer may be that you think you have to DO something to be of value, to be of worth, to be effective and productive. Yet the 'busyness' of doing may actually repel the very things we're desiring and expecting!

But now ask yourself "If I don’t think I'm worthy of taking this time, would Source believe I truly value the things (peace, health, happiness and abundance) that I say I desire? ...things that come through meditation?" 

"Does Source believe I desire lowered stress?" "...more income?" "...solutions to problems?" "...a better life?" etc.

"By my actions, what am I showing Source I desire?"

Some people feel that spending time in meditation is selfish yet taking care of yourself assures that you have the ability to share more with others. Remember: the more abundance we have, the more we can share with others...the more time we have to be with family and friends...and the more adventures we may experience. 

So let's think about what meditation really is.  It's a quiet time, usually with eyes closed. 

Seems simple to me. How about you?

But is there more to it?  Well, there may be. It depends on what form of meditation you're using as well as what your intentions and expectations are.

Many people meditate to enhance spiritual growth and deepen inner peace.

They listen for the 'still, soft voice' of their Guidance/Source. Ask a question...receive an answer.

By the way, 'voice' may suggest you could be 'hearing voices' like a mentally ill person. Not so. Some people may seem to hear something but it's almost always 'inside their head' not in their ears. Most often, it's a thought or series of thoughts on the same or similar theme.

Some people use this quiet time to 'program' for specific manifestations such as improved health, a life partner, a new job...in other words, a specific outcome.

Other benefits would be managing stress, energize, center and balance the physical, emotional and mental bodies. No matter why you take this quiet time - meditation - you benefit.

I'd like to remind you of the saying “energy flows where attention goes.” 

Every time you have a thought - no matter what the topic - you've turned on a magnet that draws it to you. Certainly if you have few thoughts on one topic, it's a very weak magnet. Lots of thoughts means a strong magnetic attraction.

Lots of thoughts on your desired outcome or goal, makes a strong attraction. If your thoughts are fearful, then you're attracting situations which cause you to feel more fear! 

Whenever you repeatedly think of the same thing, you're drawing it to you. 

Whether you're a Silva Graduate or not, you can take a few minutes, a few times a day, to just sit with your eyes closed. Follow your breath and let your mind grow quieter. Know that on the in-breath you're experiencing healthy energy. On the out-breath, you send out worry, stress, tension and limiting beliefs. Doing this slows the mind-chatter.

Sitting quietly for 15 minutes, three times a day improves health - physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually.

This can make a powerful difference in your life...even if all you do is take time to breathe.

Have questions? Email me at Barbara.SilvaStars@gmail.com

Better & Better,

Barbara Hawkins

Many of you receive email blasts from MindValley, an email marketing company which handles Silva International. (Thanks to them, more and more people know about The Silva Method.)

Vishen Lakhiani is the founder of that company.

This is his personal story of what Silva did for him!