What is your Mohini?


Where in life do you feel “imprisoned” or are you “settling” for less than you really desire?  
Listen to Dr. Adrianne Ahern as she shows her audience, at Congregation Beth Israel in La Jolla, CA,
how to identify who you are AND who you are not!  Register online at Congregation Beth Israel of San Diego. 

Event Details:

Keynote:  Who Am I Now with Dr. Adrianne Ahern Date: TODAY, Thursday, November 19, 2009 Where: 9001 Towne Centre Drive, San Diego, CA 92122 Time: 1:30 pm

Still on the Big Island of Hawaii, after an excellent seminar with Dr.
George Pratt--"Power of Energy." I am sitting on the beach listening
to David Hawkins' book, "Power Vs. Force," this Saturday afternoon on
Labor Day Weekend, and was struck by the simple and profound truth of the
following excerpt from the audio book, which I highly recommend
buying!

"... What we do to benefit life, automatically benefits all of us because
we are all included in that which is life. We are life. It is a
scientific fact that what is good for you, is good for me. Simple
kindness to oneself and all that lives is the most powerful
transformational force of all. It produces no backlash, has no
downside, and never leads to loss or despair. It increases ones own
true power without exacting any toll...."
Aloha,
Adrianne

Aloha!
Just arrived at the Fairmont Orchid on the Big Island of Hawaii.
Tomorrow we start with Yoga at 7:45 AM and then we begin the "Energy
Psychology" seminar with Dr. George Pratt. I wil be learning new
tools to help clients Snap Out of their negative patterns! Stay tuned
for daily postings!

Let's see how your brain operates to discern subtle information.  Here are two videos of the same person. In one, he is telling a story which is true. In the other, he is telling a lie. I have the sound turned off, so just by looking at him, see if you can guess which is which. 

By the time we become adults, we're all unconscious experts at body language, so pay special attention to his eyes, his gestures, his breathing and see if you can tell who's the liar?

How many of you think that he's lying in the one on the right? 

How many think it's the one on the left?  

If you thought it was the one of the right, think for a moment, "why?"   

And, if you thought he was lying in the one of the left -- think of your reasoning for making this decision.

Okay.... so, now that you've come up with a very good rationale for your opinion, let me just tell you that the only liar in this situation is ME!  This guy in the video was actually reciting poetry, the same poem in fact.  But because I convinced you that one was a lie, your brain pulled itself together and gave you concrete, well-thought through evidence for one or the other.  You actually "saw" things differently.  

Pretty amazing, huh?

I’m preparing for a keynote I’ll be giving next week at a business luncheon in La Jolla and thought you all might enjoy this little awareness test. 

In my talks I show the audience some of the ways our brain works and how it – not circumstance -- controls our outcomes. Many of you have been doing all you can think of to keep your businesses going, increase income, encourage your employees and/or families, etc. But even if you are "doing all the right things," you may not be getting results. Let me show you why.
Here's a video about perception and awareness:

How many of you saw the moon-walking bear the first time through?

So how does that relate to us right now? If you’re conditioned to focus on how bad the economy is, how many businesses have closed in your industry, how many other people have lost money…well, that's what you are going to see. Your brain will not let you see the moon-walking bear or that unusual opportunity or that potential opening in your field. But if you re-wire your brain, your internal authority to start looking for the moon-walking bear, your brain will let you see it. 

You can consciously re-wire your brain so that your conditioned beliefs and attitudes support you, embrace positive change, help you feel empowered in challenging times.  And when we feel empowered? We come up with brilliant ideas, effective strategies, innovative solutions.

So how do we get there?   There are four basic steps to the process -- you can read about them and start the process with getting, “Back in Charge!”

Just got a call from KPBS - the public television station in San Diego - to schedule "Snap Out Of It NOW!" for their membership drive on  August 8th at 7pm! I am excited that my family, friends, colleagues and clients will be able to see my 90-minute pledge show, distributed by America Public Television, that we filmed last fall in Reno, Nevada.  Watch my show and discover why your efforts at self-improvement are not working! And, learn to rewire your brain to start working for you, not against you!

Show details:

August 8, 2009

KPBS San Diego, CA: Snap Out of it NOW! with Dr. Adrianne Ahern 90-Minute Pledge Special

Saturday evening  August 8^th at 7:00 pm (Check your local listing!)

Be sure to watch!  Call in and make a pledge to support Public Television in San Diego

Call 619-594-6983 or send an email to members@kpbs.org.

Toll-free: (888) 399-5727
http://www.kpbs.org/

To carve a new neuropathway into your brain, a  new thought pattern that will serve you and your purpose, you’ll want to use your imagination.

Here’s the important point to remember: your brain can't tell the difference between an experience that actually happens and one that is imagined.

So, the brain will be as responsive to a good visualization as it is to something that actually happens. For instance, when athletes visualize a race or a golf round or an event to train for peak performance, their physiological response is measurable and looks just like it does when they are actually performing. The brain sends out the very same signals to the body's systems as it would in the "real life" situation. 

Now, when we were kids most of us were pretty good imaginers. We would pretend to be heroes or mommies or world-famous musicians. And when we pretended, we got all of our senses involved: we walked like a pirate and felt brave and fearless. We could smell the briny sea and hear the ocean waves, right? This is the kind of imagining or visualization that your brain will respond to.

So, when carving a new neuropathway into your brain, you’ll want to get all your senses involved and use the power of your imagination to create the reality you want!

If your brain is convinced that your situation, whatever it is, is nearly impossible to solve, how do you think it is approaching it? But, if your brain believed that solutions would come easily and that it was fully capable of finding them, how does it respond?

Let me share with you a true story from my book, "Back in Charge!," about a graduate level mathematics student at UC Berkeley in 1939, George Dantzig.  George showed up late for class one day and found two problems on the blackboard which he believed to be homework assignments. He copied the problems and took them home. George struggled to find solutions to these problems but, knowing he was as capable as any other student in the class, he worked diligently until he solved both of them two days later. Six weeks after turning them in, George was contacted by his very excited professor, Dr. Jerzy Newman. The two problems had not been homework assignments at all. Dr Newman had written them on the board to show the class two of the most famous unsolved problems in statistics.

Yet George had been able to solve these problems. Why? Probably because he, and his brain, believed he could. Could the other students in the class have solved them as well? Perhaps. But all of the other students in class knew that the problems had never been solved. Their brains perceived a situation that was unknown and probably impossible; George's brain perceived a situation that was difficult but doable. It was not the circumstance, but the perception of the circumstance that made the difference.   Let me make this clear – – George perceived the circumstance to be mere homework. But they were exactly the same problems that other students perceived to be unsolvable!  When the brain is told something is unsolvable, impossible or very difficult, it approaches it as unsolvable, impossible or very difficult.  

Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.
—Albert Einstein

The following is an exercise from Chapter 6, Power of Imagination, of my new book, Back In Charge!

EXERCISE: Mental Health Break

Research from the Institute of HeartMath shows that experiencing pleasure or appreciation releases endorphins into the body, and five minutes of experiencing positive feelings is enough to counteract the toxic chemicals released during hours of stress! Within your brain, you easily have five minutes worth of pleasant memories. Flex your imagination muscles and heal your body by spending just five minutes a day recalling these great memories. Make it a regular part of your daily routine, maybe while commuting to work or brushing your teeth. Five pleasant minutes first thing in the morning will set you up for an endorphin-filled day. Five minutes at night will ensure a wonderful night’s sleep!

And, incorporating the power of your breath with this exercise will alow all these positive feelings to spread throughout your entire physiology!  Remember to sign up for Dr. A's montly newsletter and then download a audio recording of Adrianne teaching you "How to Belly Breathe!"

In Search of Truly Happy Holidays

Dear Friends,

I received my holiday gift early this year—I spoke at the Massachusetts Conference for Women along with Anna Quindlen, Rene Syler, Suzy and Jack Welch. Then I headed to NYC to do a segment on Better TV, offering tips to resolve issues that arise during the holidays. Now, I join my family in La Jolla, California, where I will personally encounter the same holiday issues – and intend to follow the advice I’ve given others! I anticipate that this year’s holidays will be better than last; as I know I’ve become wiser, more forgiving, more loving and kind to myself.
“Home for the holidays” is not always a pleasant thought. The people from our gene pool may be the very ones who drive us most crazy: the aunt who is determined to tell you how to run your life, the cousin who tells offensive jokes, the kid brother who specializes in one-ups-manship. Not all of us look like The Waltons at the holiday table. Some families come to verbal blows well before the first slice of turkey or roast is carved.

It makes sense that the people you’ve known all your life are really good at pushing your buttons. Most of us revert to our childhood, less-evolved selves within minutes of being with family. But being with family is what holidays are all about. Are we stuck with two choices: 1) show up and be miserable or 2) hide out and avoid family gatherings altogether? No! There are techniques to deal with ugly family interactions in the moment they’re happening. The trick is to pre-train yourself and be prepared.

The following technique will work in moments of stress or to obliterate old, self-destructive patterns. The ways we deal with family has definitely been hard-wired into our brains over the years. The good news is that you can re-wire it.

Use your IMAGINATION… Visualize your brain cells laying down a new pathway for a new empowering thought. Cleanse the old negative thought (e.g., “My family is always critical of me and my lifestyle.”) from the brain in the moment it arises by acknowledging it and breathing it out of your physiology. Visualize this old thought being cleansed from your brain as a new thought (e.g., “My family loves me and I am terrific just as I am.”) creates a new neuropathway. You are rewiring your brain so that you can experience and enjoy the holidays.

We all tend to focus on what’s wrong when we come up against holiday headaches – let’s experiment this year by focusing on what we love about the holidays and what we love about our family. With this positive focus, we can wire this positive thought/attitude into our brains, truly creating a holiday filled with peace, love, and joy (making the cliché into a reality!).
My wish for you is that the holiday season and year ahead brings you joy, adventure, and fulfillment. My wish for myself is that there will be tons of snow in Tahoe in the New Year, allowing me to ski to my heart’s content!

Wishing you focus, fitness, & flexibility in body and mind,

Adrianne Ahern, Ph.D.
Performance Consultant, Keynote Speaker, and author of Snap Out Of It Now!
P.S. If you find value in this newsletter and wish to share it with others, please do so!