Breathing Life - Joshua Roy's Blog

When I was 14 years old I had a stuttering issue.  I found it very difficult to communicate, especially in large groups.  The worst letters for me were W’s and R’s. I found this to be huge hurdle that was inhibiting my ability to make friends, enjoy social settings and enjoy the experience of being a teenager. It was around this time that I participated in my first seminar.  It was a 4 day seminar that ran for long hours.  During this seminar I learned about affirmations and the power of the mind.  After this seminar I decided that I had the power to control my mind and speech by repeating the affirmation, “I speak clearly and well”. Each time I found myself with in group of people and felt that I had something to contribute I repeated the words in my mind, “I speak clearly and well”.  I would then speak, and unfortunately much of the time my words would come out wrong. I would stutter and stammer and trip over the words. Often I was annoyed or frustrated at the inability I had to manage and control my tongue. Often I was frustrated with myself and would repeat…

Russian Psychologist Ivan Pavlov learned that Dogs salivate at the sight of food.  He retrained this automatic response to salivate, by ringing a bell immediately before feeding time.  This was repeated over and over again.  These dogs were trained that the sound of a bell meant that food was on its way.  In preparation for the food the dogs began to salivate.  Because they believed that food was on its way, over time the sound of the bell alone would cause the dogs to begin to salivate. What if you could train your autonomic nervous system?  The autonomic nervous system is broken up into two main parts.  The sympathetic nervous system that controls our fight/flight response?  And the parasympathetic nervous system that controls our appetite and sexual desire. These are automatic responses to stimuli. It is believed that self-control is lowered when we are sleep deprived or low amounts of glycogen in the body. When stimulus hits one of those 4 responses, we immediately have an automatic response. Anger (fight), Fear (flight), lust (sexual desire), hunger (gluttony). Think about antisocial behaviour and crime.  Is not all of crime attached to one of these primal functions? How then can we train our autonomic nervous system to…

I had a friend visit come to me on Sunday and tell me he had a headache.  He told me that it had been with him all day and that he could not seem to shake it. I was happy to help.  We used 3 techniques and the headache was completely gone. As I have thought about this experience I have come up with 4 steps that ensure that you will eliminate pain from your body. 1/ First he came and asked for help. 2/ He believed that the process would work. 3/ He did the process in a positive way. 4/ The first technique did not fully resolve the issue, so I had him continue to work and utilised a 2nd and a 3rd technique. What do we learn?  1.  Ask for help.  If you want to get past something, you may not have the tools and beliefs to overcome it on your own.  Often we can lean on someone who has a different level of knowledge and experience.  This requires humility and a realisation that we do not know it all.  Sometimes this will also cost us time, money, effort and energy.  It may cost us our pride and ego. 2.  Believe…

Well it seems to me that when you change the way you use your body, life changes……for a time.  Anything new becomes old over time.  It really does not matter what it is.  Any big change to your life, once repeated about 1000 times becomes normal.  Wow who would have thought that jumping with excitement would become like breathing or riding a bike.  That it would become normal to be excited every day. How amazing is that?  looking back over the last 18 months of my life have been like a dream. Life has changed more dramatically than ever before. It really is such an inspiration to myself and others and as a result many new opportunities have presented themselves. It really is incredible that Contributing to the lives of so many other people, coupled with personal growth has really produced a high level of fulfilment. Much joy is the result of giving so much of myself to others.  Furthermore the consistency of focus on the things that matter most in life has also been incredible, and has assisted with the feelings of fulfilment. Now it is time to move to the next level, as each of us must continue to…

Many years ago I was at work and a senior employee said to me, “you need to switch on”. I was new to the job and did not know what to do, yet there must have been an overriding attitude of disinterest. I was there physically, yet in reality I was a thousand miles away. He did not just say this to me once. I acknowledge that as an absent minded child I was often not present when being spoken to. I was often distant and aloof, and would zone out regularly. It was not that my brain was inactive, rather I was thinking, wondering, or pondering. This would sometimes annoy my teachers who were trying to get me to take action. When I started an action I would become easily distracted and a simple task would take me a long time to complete. I have sat down to read something and I found that I could not concentrate. I just couldn’t seem to get my mind to read in a way that I could absorb the material. It did not help that the content of the material my have been very boring, and I found my mind wondering. Therefore…

Advertisers have spent years understanding the relationship between sex and the functions of the brain. Sex is tied to our primal instincts and is a function of the lizard brain. Many are not aware at we have three brains, not just one. There is the lizard brain or the paleo cortex, the mammalian brain, and the new brain or Neo cortex. Sexually stimulating pictures, stories and sounds affect the mind in a huge way. The lizard brain is located at the tip of the spine. It is directly connected to the nervous system of the body. This is why when a person is sexually stimulated there are very intense feelings that permeate the body. Even if the body is not moving and you are in a resting position, when exposed to sexually stimulating material the heart rate will accelerate, adrenaline can enter the body and tiredness can be dispelled. Advertisers are aware that by exposing men to sexual images and provocative sounds, feelings of excitement, adrenaline and euphoria are created. In this way, they are able to link those feelings to their product or service. The unconscious mind may falsely associate the product or service being advertised, to the stimulated…

I would like to share an analogy about the great ships of the ancient world. When sails are used effectively and the helm used appropriately the captain of a ship is able to charter a course. A sailing ship, without sails is nothing more than a floating raft.  The sailing ships that does not use, or cannot use its sails will drift. We also know that ships use anchors to lock themselves to the ocean floor, steady their position and to eliminate drift. When the anchor is deployed, the ship becomes  steady, immovable and steadfast.   An anchor is also a word that has been applied to NLP, and refers to the programming of emotional states.  Anchoring is a technique that allows one to experience a feeling or emotion again at will, even after that feeling has left the body. There are many ways of recreating a vivid past emotion, and bringing that emotion back into the body.  Anchoring is perhaps the easiest way to perform this processes. Whilst this is a very simple technique, the perfecting of it can and will take a lifetime.   For example, Anthony Robbins spends four days teaching and setting up a number of…

There are three resistors to mental effectiveness. They are fear, laziness and limited self-belief.   I wanted to write a little about fear. In particular the fear of failure. Fear can be good or bad depending on the context.  Fear can keep us safe, but fear can also prevent us from achieving our potential.   Fear of failure in business can cause one to shy away from making an attempt, taking risks, or having a go. Failure can lead to financial setbacks, or great loss such as foreclosure, or bankruptcy. Many people have started businesses, only to go out of business.  Fear stops people from taking out a loan to grow the business, spending money on advertising or employing staff. Fear can and will keep you from getting started, and fear can also keep the business small.   Fear of failure in relationships may prevent us from being open to the possibility of a relationship.  Those in a relationship may find that they unconsciously self-sabotage that relationship, or reject the other person first, for fear that they themselves will be rejected.  Failure to meet our responsibilities in a relationship may likewise be costly. If we neglect our relationship in the pursuit…

I heard a magnificent talk that really caused me to reflect on my own family. It caused me to consider just how important, deserving and wonderful my own children are.  Often my career aspirations, goals, ambition, and other interests demand my attention and focus.  At the same time I know that my immediate family relationships, my wife and children should be central in our lives, and must receive attention and focus.   The reason I say this is that money will come and go. Often work colleagues come and go. Success in work, or ability to make lots of money will satisfy in the short term, yet I know that long term fulfilment is best when there is someone to share it with. My goal is to have a fantastic and rewarding career, to have a strong and healthy body, and to have an empowering mission and purpose in life, whilst maintaining a strong and happy home.  I do not want to achieve success in career, to the detriment of my family.  One wise man said, “No success in life can compensate for failure in the home”.   Climbing the corporate ladder, and spending more time at work, and even…

Leadership is essential to every organisation and the world needs more teachers and leaders.  I fervently believe that in order to build strong teams, we need strong leaders.  These leaders must have qualities, attitudes and beliefs consistent with organisational values if we are to promote improved performance. A leader is not the one who can do the work of 10 men, rather it is one who can get those 10 men to do their work.  In the book the psychology of winning author Dennis Waitley described that 3 resistors halt our progress.  Laziness, fear and limited self-belief.  However I believe there are 3 principles that enable a business leader to get the best out of others. 1/ Money.  People need to be paid for what they do, and paid well.  Most organisations in the developed world have a very good payment structure and employees are paid well.  The only exception here is those involved with unpaid charity organisations or churches, where the reward is spiritual fulfillment. 2/ Autonomy and Mastery.  Autonomy relates to extending trust to employees, and allowing for growth in their decision making muscles.  Mastery is about improvement and development. Many organisations allow for creative vision, forward thinking employees and training and…