Keit said:
Hmm, interesting. I have a strange sleeping pattern with very weird dreams (including strange formation in the sky, etc...) since mid November. And since 9 of December I have a great trouble concentrating. I actually feel that if I wont focus my mind and thoughts, I'll lose a grip on reality and dwell into something or dissociate. Also for some reason time moves extremely fast for me, and no matter how I try, I can't do the same amount of things I was able to do not so long ago. As if I am wasting lot of time. I wasted lot of time before and still could do a lot. Very strange feeling and a bit disorienting. Maybe it is just as a result of lack of sleep.
On this, and fwiw, I have tried the Dick Sutphen tapes on Concentration Power. I figure that if there is an evil hypnotist then there must be a good one. Imo, the difference is that with the ‘good magician’ one is conscious of what one is doing and one knows why one is doing it. (Also, perhaps, and this is just speculation, is that it it may be possible that our 'higher' or greater part of the self (or whatever one wants to call it) that is, our ‘good hypnotist,’ can ‘hypnotize’ the lower part of the self, for just a brief moment, to send information or perhaps warnings to our conscious awareness).
However, I have found that I cannot expect miracles and permanent results from these tapes. It’s just a temporary aid but the tape have helped me. I combined this (listening to the tapes when going to sleep) with morning meditation. No big deal on the meditation. I just make an effort in the morning (although I’m working on being consistent about it) to sit comfortably and simply concentrate on my breathing until I relax. I don’t try to control my breathing in any way. I simply watch it, sense it, and listen to it for a little while until I relax.
These two actions have at least helped me to be more able to make the effort to concentrate. If persistent, and done with no anticipation, then something, sometimes, ‘clicks’ and suddenly I find I can focus better. But as I said these things are simply conscious aids to help me to be more able to make an effort to concentrate. Such aids, I think, can help counteract the negative hypnotic ‘feedback’ programming that we encounter in our everyday life that scatters our attention in ten thousand different ways. But I have found that the bottom line and most important is the effort of my will.
Also, I think proper diet and eating what is right for us is very important. I have found that certain negative internal states are a result of our identification with negative or uncomfortable physiological states and as a result they become negative psychological states that we erroneously call 'I'.
