Note
This site works best on a
laptop, desktop,
or tablet device (i.e. iPad).
This site is not yet optimized
for
use on smart phones.
PowerCount8 Pages:
.
When you donate,
you will receive a gift
that can...
save you $10 for
every $1 you donate
on things you and your
family already need!
SEE HERE
The Oxford Handbook of Sport
& Performance Psychology
by Shane M. Murphy
Circadian Rhythms And Sports
Performance
By D Jim Reeves Silent Night
Sports Nutrition
Enhancing Athletic Performance
By Bill Campbell
Acquisition and Performance of
Sports Skills
By Terry McMorris
Sport, Exercise, and
Performance Psychology
Bridging Theory & Application
By Jaime E. Robbins
& Leilani Madrigal
Mindful Sport Performance
Enhancement
Mental Training for Athletes
& Coaches
By Keith A. Kaufman, Carol R. Glass, Timothy R. Pineau
Bold, Brave &
Courageous:
A No Fear Success Guide For Teen
Girls
By Wyjauna T. Montgomery Maom
How Champions Think
In Sport and In Life
By Dr. Bob Rotella
When you donate,
you will receive a gift
that can...
save you $10 for
every $1 you donate
on things you and your
family already need!
SEE HERE
|
|
0-5
Before
I get into the nuts and bolts of the techniques used in this training course,
I'd like to explain
some of the underlying causes (and consequences)
of your negative thoughts and feelings.
Have you ever realized that most of
your "emotional trash"
(i.e. your fears, worries, trauma, self doubts, negative
thoughts, guilt, shame, insecurities, and all other anxieties)
comes directly from feeling...
EXCESSIVE STRESS??
Throughout
history, excessive stress has become an extremely complex problem
for people. A problem that has been nearly impossible for most
people to overcome. Not only can it affect your mental self, but
literally every area of your being,
including your physical self. The negative effects of
excessive stress and anxiety actually possess the innate ability to
disrupt, and even adversely reroute the intricate
electrical-circuitry of your brain.
Now, you're probably thinking..."Well,
that can't be a good thing!" |
Well then, how would you like to hear some high
praise
for the awesome power of
NEGATIVE
thinking?
While the
popular expression,
"We are what we eat" certainly
makes a great deal of sense...
Think about it, if you normally eat a healthy diet, then your body
will be healthier over the long term.
Whereas, if you eat nothing but junk food everyday, then your body
will basically become "junk" as well,
right?
It is equally accurate to say
"You become what you say and think about
yourself."
This simply means that if you routinely put yourself down with
negative self-talk (the things you say and
think about yourself), then what else would you expect to
believe and feel about yourself? You're inevitably going to possess
a very negative image of yourself. Wouldn't you agree?
Think of it this way...if you replaced the vital parts in a sports
car with poor quality parts, would you then expect that car to run
perfectly - forever? It's NOT going to happen, is it? The low
quality parts will likely fail long before top quality parts would.
Your body and mind work in very much the same way...it's
"garbage in -- garbage
out" If we are constantly thinking
and feeling negatively, then our body will break down and
deteriorate, as well. That's because your subconscious mind
AUTOMATICALLY BELIEVES EVERYTHING YOU SAY OR THINK!
And, thus your
body automatically RESPONDS to literally everything you say or
think!
That's where negative emotions come from.
Emotions are nothing more than the body's way of expressing whatever
thoughts you are thinking in your brain. |
Here's what renowned Physicist and Psychologist, Buryl Payne,
Ph.D., writes on this subject:
"We know
that thoughts generated in the brain activate secretions, and
stimulate other nerve centers in the body. Thoughts, coded as
neural impulses, travel along nerve axons, activating muscles and
glands similar to the manner in which telephone messages travel over
wires in the form of electrical signals. Experiments with the GSR (a
biofeedback instrument) attached to fingers and toes clearly
demonstrate that mental activity reaches into the extremities of the
body."
"With sensitive EMG (electromyography) instruments, we can show
that muscles are activated when we think about anything involving action
or emotion, even though there may be no visible movement.
Although we do not know how thoughts are generated in the brain,
it seems clear that once present,
thoughts are amplified by the brain and turned into actions.
Every thought we think influences the atoms, molecules, and cells
throughout the body. Besides this straightforward effect on the
physical body, we know from general principles of physics that any
acceleration of electrons produces some electromagnetic radiation." |
|
To help illustrate Dr. Payne's point, I'd like
you to try this simple experiment:
Stand up straight, and start
repeating the words "NO,
I CAN'T" -- out loud -- for one
full minute:
No, I can't
- No, I can't
- No, I can't
- No, I can't
- No, I can't...
Just keep repeating that -
over and over and over -- for one minute!
After continuously repeating
that phrase, notice how your body feels at this moment?
Do you feel a little bit off balance? Do you feel any tightness or
nervousness in your chest, or anywhere else?
That lack of balance and tension you're likely feeling is a direct
result of your negative words immediately
affecting your physiology. Also, do you feel any less optimistic now
than you did before?
This is a very common consequence of routinely repeating negative
thoughts and comments to yourself.
Can you see how
powerfully your negative words tend to adversely affect your body?
Now, try this:
Stand up straight, and start repeating
the
words "YES, I CAN"
--- OUT LOUD -- for one full minute:
YES, I CAN
- YES, I CAN
- YES, I CAN
- YES, I CAN
- YES, I CAN...
And
so on -- for one minute.
Now, can you distinguish a
difference in how your body feels -- after saying something
positive?
That's how much of an effect maintaining a positive self-talk can
have on you!
Now
I
will point out some important facts about what actually happens in
your brain
whenever you feel any fear or anger...
Fear causes a flood of harmful, toxic stress hormones that actually
change the neuro-functional operation of the brain. Whenever we feel
fearful, these stress hormones squeeze the blood vessels of the
fore-brain closed.
It is this fore-brain (the orbitofrontal
cerebral cortex) that gives us our intelligence, our conscious
reasoning, as well as our ability to think logically.
But as a result of the blood vessels being closed in the front, this
forces the blood back to the very primitive hind-brain (the
reptilian brain), where we operate from a strictly REACTIVE behavior
- which is NOT considered
LOGICAL THINKING at all...it is merely the irrational reactive
stimulus responding to our stressful fears and worries.
Therefore, as we become more engaged in fear, our thinking also
becomes less and less logical, and more and more defensive. This
"switch into survival mode" causes the brain to flood the body with
the stress hormones, adrenalin and cortisol, thus instinctively
activating the 'Fight-or-Flight' response throughout the entire
nervous system (more on this later).
You see, what I've just described is what
happens when you experience any kind of fear, worry, or anger.
And, if this is happening to you just as you are about to compete or
perform, then your chances of
performing at 100% are severely diminished right from the start! |
|
OK, but what direct effect does all of this excessive
stress
actually have on the human body?
As
I've stated earlier, all of your emotional trash
--
such as anxiety, fears,
worries, negative thoughts, mental blocks, insecurities, etc.
comes directly from
feeling...EXCESSIVE
STRESS! And, all negative emotions are held within the cells of your
body.
Here's a brief lesson into
the underlying bio-chemical structures of the human body, and how
negative thoughts and fears affect you EVERY day of your life...(yes,
this actually IS kind of important)
Whenever you have any kind of negative experience or traumatic
event, such as a painful injury, or even just having a negative
thought or feeling, a certain part of the brain known as the
hypothalamus releases a cascade of
short-chain amino acid chemicals, called peptides. These peptides
are the chemicals that are responsible for ALL
of our sensations, (yes, even pain). They also make up all 72 of our
known emotions. Therefore, all of your emotions
and feelings are
essentially nothing more than different combinations of chemicals
within your body.
The peptides dock with the trillions of cell receptor sites, and cut
off the absorption of vital nutrients to the cells... eventually
causing the cells to become PERMANENTLY infected with (the implanted
memories) of those negative emotions. Then, when new cells are
created, they are already infected with those NEGATIVE emotions
instead of
the growing strong with the positive building blocks that are
necessary for maintaining a healthy body and mind.
Due to this consistently negative cellular environment, the body is
constantly creating unhealthy (mostly worthless)
cells that are directly contributing to all sorts of nasty ailments,
as well as dramatically slowing the recovery of
injuries and illnesses! These worthless cells are also the primary
contributors to recurring negative emotions and excessive stress and
anxiety!
Of course, it's
accurate to say that, unless we're sedated 24 hours a day, everybody
experiences some anxiety
and stress in their lives. We simply cannot avoid it, entirely.
Stressful situations will always arise, and nothing we
do can prevent stress, completely.
Granted, some anxiety does come from having stressful things going
on in our lives. But that's not typically enough anxiety to directly
cause our emotional trash. It's when you experience EXCESSIVE
anxiety from being exposed
to something that frightens you, and then
DWELLING on it
-- which causes a dramatic negative subconscious jolt,
much like an "electric shock" to take place throughout your ENTIRE
autonomic nervous system.
It's that shaky stressful feeling you get whenever you become
intensely afraid of something.
Plus, if that is not bad enough, EVERY TIME a negative thought
goes through your mind, you cause additional destructive shocks to
your nervous system...thus building up and reinforcing the powerful
anxiety triggers in your
brain - over and over again. Therefore, it becomes far easier for
you to receive those shocks from future recurrences of negative
thoughts. In other words......
...every negative thought you think actually causes additional
negative feelings in your body.
Here
is a
good analogy for explaining how these
shocks to the nervous system affect us:
What do you think would happen...if you were to remove the back
panel from an old tube-type television,
and, with the power left ON, you start poking around among the
electronics inside with a screwdriver?
Eventually, you would likely get
ZAPPED by an electric
shock, right?
And of course, it is just as likely that you would disrupt the
electricity flowing through the electrical system inside the
television. This resulting "electrical system disruption" can cause
the audio and video to become highly distorted, and could even
render the television completely nonfunctional.
Well, the human body also has a similar system of electrical signal
pathways, known as nerves, that actually work
very much like the electronics inside the television
(only far more complex). Whenever we
have a negative thought, our body's nervous system receives a
similar type of "SHOCK" from it.
Believe it or
not, EVERY ONE of these neuro-electrical shocks to your nervous
system actually triggers your fight or flight response!
These shocks, in turn, cause the intense emotional anguish
(emotional trash) you feel whenever you think
about that negative experience or fear. Hence, every time you think
a negative thought, or whenever you remember any aspects about a
negative experience you've had, your nervous system receives another
shock, which triggers your fight or flight response, yet again!
It is due to these
repeated neuro-electrical shocks to your nervous system that your
"FIGHT or FLIGHT" response is being automatically activated -- over
and over and over.
For thousands of years, our internal fight or flight response has
saved our ancestors from countless
life-threatening situations, such as being chased by predators.
However, since you are constantly being bombarded with stress and
anxiety, your brain does not always know when it is safe to "switch
off" your fight or flight alert mode.
Therefore, your body and mind
can subtly remain stuck in the fight
or flight mode -- without you even realizing it.
And, that is
definitely
NOT
a good thing!
You see,
your internal fight or flight response, which can help to save your
life when you are
confronted with a life or death situation,
can also remain switched ON -- AT ALL TIMES.
This same fight or flight response is also responsible, to some
degree, for nearly 100% of the ongoing
emotional trash that human beings deal with, everyday!!
|
Did you know that your fight or
flight response can actually be
triggered by merely thinking about, imagining, or
remembering
something that frightens you?
Here I
will illustrate how your negative thoughts, worries, fears and self
doubts can compound the shocks to your nervous system, thus
activating your fight or flight response-- many times over...
Have you ever seen somebody who was extremely afraid of heights? Or,
maybe they had an intense fear of
public speaking? Frequently, this person wouldn't even NEED to go up
in a high place, or be speaking to a crowd,
in order to be petrified by fear. Even
just IMAGINING they are doing these scary things is enough to get a
person trembling (and I should know,
since I had a fear of heights, and a fear of public speaking).
Now, allow me to repeat this, because it's
VERY IMPORTANT...Your
fight or flight response can actually be
triggered by merely imagining something that frightens you!
Plus, if you imagine yourself being in that same situation again,
you will create yet another shock to your nervous system, thus
triggering your fight or flight response, yet again!!
As the world renowned neurologist, Sigmund
Freud, stated...
"Anxiety is commonly converted into physical symptoms and nervous
reactions."
Even the
American Academy of Family Physicians now emphasizes that...
"Your body responds to the way you think, feel and act. When you are
stressed, anxious, or upset, your body tries to tell you that
something isn’t right."
Those are profound
statements, because they so elegantly reinforce the second-to-last
sentence from Dr. Payne's quote (see
above)....
"Every
thought we think influences the atoms, molecules, and cells
throughout the body."
Consequently, those shocks
can actually remain locked in your nervous
system -- FOREVER!
The panicky sensation you feel from experiencing these electrical
shocks is similar (only to a smaller degree) to the
way in which you might react as soon as you realize you're about to
fall down stairs, or slip on the ice.
It's then that your body quickly and naturally tenses up as you
"brace yourself
for the impact."
This is because even just thinking about something bad happening is
still enough to cause strong electrical shocks
throughout your nervous system -- even though you're not really
experiencing the frightening fall. |
Try this quick experiment:
For a few minutes, try concentrating
deeply on something that terrifies you, tremendously.
For example:
Imagine
that you are driving your car with your family inside, and you're
heading toward a busy intersection, when
all of a sudden, you hit a patch of slick ice, and no matter what
you do--you cannot stop your car!! Just then, you see a big,
fast-moving truck -- coming from your left, that has also lost
control on the ice, and is...
HEADED STRAIGHT TOWARD YOU!!!
Really concentrate your thoughts on just
how afraid this life-threatening incident would make you feel.
Now, ask yourself....
How does imagining this
scary scenario make me FEEL?
What's going on in my body right now?
Do I feel any difference when I'm thinking about it?
Has my breathing suddenly changed in any way?
Do I feel more tense or stressed than I was before I started
thinking about this?
That tension you're likely feeling is
directly caused by your own fight or flight response being
activated,
and making you feel nervous, worried, or stressed out.
Once your fight or flight response has been triggered by these
terrifying thoughts, it will be far easier for it to be triggered
again....which will create more negative thoughts....that will
trigger the fight or flight response yet again....which in turn,
will create even MORE negative feelings....and so on, and so on.
Soon you will have this
never-ending loop of negative emotions and feelings taking place --
creating a snowball effect, thus adding ever
more layers of negative junk to your emotional trash heap.
It becomes a vicious unending cycle of
compounding negative thoughts and fears creating more
negative feelings....which then causes even more negative thoughts
and fears to surface!
In addition...EVERY TIME you have a negative thought or emotion,
it causes the powerful neuro-electrical shocks
to create additional neuro-electrical shocks throughout your nervous
system! As I've stated earlier, that's where
that intensely stressful feeling of fear comes from.
Plus, these neuro-electrical shocks will also continue to build up
in size and strength, exponentially, over time,
thus enhancing their overall snowball effect....until it morphs into
an ongoing condition of emotional turmoil, and
may even force your anger to become self-destructive, or self
sabotaging!
It is these repeated neuro-electrical
shocks to your nervous system that are causing your recurring fears,
self doubts, worries, negative thoughts, hesitations...or in other
words, those shocks are directly building up your emotional trash
heap to enormous levels!!
And, you can eventually become negatively CONDITIONED....which
means, you will STAY this way.
This is
precisely why older athletes tend to display far more insecurities
and fears than the younger athletes.
Think about this:
Have you
ever wondered why so many more older athletes tend to be more
cautious, and have more
debilitating self doubts and mental blocks than younger athletes?
This is due to the fact that the older athletes have experienced far
more compounding neuro-electrical shocks
negatively affecting their nervous systems. This unwanted reactive
conditioning is responsible for causing their insecurities and
fears, thus inevitably diminishing their ability to react
effectively when they are required to, such as during a
championship.
Most younger athletes, on the other hand, have not yet
accumulated the overwhelming buildup of negative thoughts
and beliefs. And, since they've not yet been conditioned by all of
that continuous negativity, these younger athletes
will frequently think of themselves as being more or less
"invincible," and are often much more willing to take risks
that the older, more insecure, athletes--who would not dare to
attempt for fear of being hurt, or embarrassed.
Why do you think the military prefers to target 18 year old men
and women as their new recruits? It's simply because, the younger
they are, the more likely they are to still believe themselves to be
"bullet-proof." This brings up a question that may have been asked
repeatedly on the battlefields throughout history (or words to this
effect)....
"Why do rookies boldly go -- where veterans fear to tread?"
Essentially, since an athlete (or anybody, for that matter) will
ALWAYS have these nasty shocks continually
triggering their paralyzing fight or flight response, thus causing
their insecurities and fears to multiply
(creating even more emotional trash),
what's needed is an effective treatment method that has the ability
to clear
out the effects of these shocks in the athlete's nervous system, so
that he or she will be able to perform at their
peak efficiency, with the most lucid clarity...anytime they are
called upon to do so. |
But what can YOU do to
counter the paralyzing effects
of this relentless fight or flight
response?
While you cannot
systematically eliminate your fight or flight response. You can,
however, counteract its negative effects by
gradually desensitizing
it just enough so that it will no longer have any negative effect on
you, or your emotions!
Then, once your fight or flight response is no longer an enemy of
yours, those distressing anxiety issues that you've been struggling
with will no longer have any affect on you, either. Therefore your
emotional and mental abilities to perform as desired will be
completely restored.
In addition, since you will remain calm and confident at all times,
whatever you attempt to accomplish in life will be easier, and
you'll be able to think much more clearly than you ever had before!
Here is a
Potentially
'Life-Saving' Benefit:
Desensitizing your fight or flight
response will also help you to neutralize the indecisiveness you
might feel if you are ever faced with a life or death situation.
Thus, allowing you to make better decisions in a logical manner as
to what would be your best course of action in any given stressful
situation (whereas, other people would simply panic).
NOTE:
If you're
concerned that you will lose your inherent fight or flight response,
completely. Don't worry, this training course will merely
desensitize the negative aspects of the fight or flight response
just enough so that having negative thoughts will be far less able
to produce the powerful shocks to your nervous system that are
responsible for causing negative emotions, such as fears, self
doubts, worries, etc. throughout your body.
So, now we know that what is needed to break this continuous cycle
is an effective treatment procedure that can
gradually WEAR DOWN the ability of your fight or flight response to
cause your anxious thoughts, fears, and other stressful internal
conflicts that are holding you back from achieving your dreams.
It is only after you have
sufficiently desensitized your reactive fight or flight response
that you will begin
to release your fears, self doubts, worries, negative thoughts,
mental blocks, etc. -- FOREVER!
Now that may sound like
a rather bold statement, but it IS A FACT....and you WILL see just
what I mean...
while you're gaining positive results with this
training course.
|
Please go to
What's the Most Effective Solution to Your Anxiety Issues?
Table of Contents
Please Help
Us by Donating
Copyright © PowerCount8.com All
rights reserved --
Worldwide.
|