Asking good questions is a great skill in life. Good questions can allow you to pursue the correct goal without the need to waste time and effort on something that is not required. With the right question you can solve any problem. Whether these problems are external ones that you wish to solve or whether they are personal internal problems; learning to ask the right questions is essential, without this ability you will be lost and will not be able to know how to go about overcoming any personal or external problem.

Questions asked in the right way can motivate you or others into providing more information. Asking questions correctly begins by being polite to yourself and to others. It is always a good idea, but especially when asking questions, that you think before you talk. In this way you are able to create questions that motivate others to provide the kind of information that you need. Being polite can also stop you from closing off a conversation that could be very important to you.

Before you even ask a question, ask yourself; what response do you expect? In this way you are able to anticipate a response and therefore have a follow-up question ready. Even if the answer that you expected is not given, you are prepared for that too and can more easily come up with the right counter question.

Whenever you start probing a situation, always begin by asking open ended questions. Open ended questions are questions that are not answerable with a simple yes or no response. Without these kinds of questions at the beginning of a probing conversation, it is quite possible that you will end the conversation before you get any answers at all. These open ended conversations will usually be quite general in nature but this is a good thing because it allows you to begin to get specific and allows you to see a broad view of the situation that you are investigating.

As you begin with these very general open ended questions, continue to probe yourself or the person that you are questioning. You do this by becoming more and more specific in the kind of questions that you ask. This probing always needs to include the five essential W’s which are; why, what, when, who, and how. Using a general perspective at first, you try to become more and more specific with each succeeding question.

Once you have probed the person that you are questioning, it is always a good idea to clarify what you know so far. The best way to do this is to basically state what you know; state out loud what you have discovered so far. See if this statement makes sense to you and to the person that you are questioning. With this kind of clarification you might need to begin to ask probing questions again, then once you are satisfied with the answers that you have, you can once again make a clarifying statement. The answer or answers that you are trying to discover must be sifted through in this manner, continually tweaking with clarifying statements, until you are satisfied with the accuracy of your answers.

In the end you will want to get to a definitive yes or a no conclusion. The ideal would be to be able to know that one thing or another is true with 100% certainty. Seldom is it possible to arrive at these perfect conclusions but the closer that you can get to this final objective, the better and more satisfying that your answers will be. Final conclusions like this are motivators of action in that they allow you to be certain and far more sure of the actions that you are about to take. They will also allow you to decide on which is the first step you must take in order to overcome any obstacle or start any project. By learning to ask good questions you can direct yourself towards clear decisions and actions.

We certainly do seem to live in interesting times. At this time in human history we all seem to be at odds with ourselves, perhaps this is how it was always and humanity is perhaps destined to always feel fractured. This is definitely the age of the intellect where we have been able to create incredible things through technology and scientific theology. But while the intellect does seem to reign supreme, at least in the west, our emotions have suffered as a consequence. Many of us feel that the intellect is superior and the emotions are dark vestiges of our animal past. How do we overcome our dark and negative emotional self?

How do we attain genius? Aren’t we just a large brained apes lost in a sea of hormones? Is there a way that we overcome these hormones or is it that we are fighting a part of ourselves that is far more necessary than we imagine? Modern scientific theology tells us that in certain ways, our emotions are mere casualties of our evolutionary development. But is this truly the case? I think it is quite possible that we are just not using our full capabilities, and that true genius is to be found by combining the full human which is made up of the intellect, the emotions, and the feelings.

From the point of view of the rational self, our emotions seem to be an unstable mess. While our reasonable self abhors what it considers to be unimportant and detrimental parts of itself, there is a part of us that tells us that our feelings and emotions are very important. I believe that the only way for us to evolve as humans is to be able to learn to combine our intellect and our emotions. I think that if we are not able to do this we will suffer a great fall because we will either fracture ourselves into robotic and neurotic things, or we will fall back into an emotionally unstable prehistoric ape.

From our current point of view, the intellect does seem to be superior. But with the intellect alone, humanity is left with a cold and inadequate resource; we soon realize that without inspiration and intuition the intellect is not enough to be able to deal with the infinitude of the universe. The intellect alone cannot explain even the smallest of things, all it can really do is organize and clarify what has been discovered through other means. Scientific investigation is after all the intellectual study of theory and theory it seldom if ever thought up through the powers of intellect alone. Theory is usually discovered through that mysterious human quality; creativity.

I think that the only thing that we are left with is that we need to combine both the intellect and intuition. The intuition can only be accessed through feelings, spontaneous creative flashes, and impulses. This then means that our emotions and feelings are very important because without them we would not be able to access our creative genius. But this creative marvel cannot exist alone, it must be organized and given a purpose through the immense power and organizational capabilities of the intellect.

If this idea is pursued, I think that there will see a great growth in the capabilities of the human mind. I think we will also begin to correct that great problem of many ages which is the feeling that man is possessed by a self-destructive inner voice that is not interested in his well-being. I think that this inner voice will be discovered as having always been an emotional ally that has been put there, by man himself, in order to balance his amazing mental power.

In your own life you should never bury your emotions and feelings. It is imperative that we all begin to learn from these inner feelings and that we begin to try and listen to these internal voices instead of trying to suppress them. It is also very important that we all work diligently to keep developing our intellect and our logical capabilities. By combining these two great human resources I think it will be possible for us to go far beyond our current mental capabilities.

I am a firm believer, that contemplation is your greatest resource in the acquisition of inner wisdom. Contemplation is basically the ability to let your mind go into a type of free flow, or inner exploration, where on the one hand you might give your mind complete and free reign, to flow in whatever direction it wants, and in the other you stay focused, so that you are able to keep track of every single thought, that enters your mind. This is a tricky give and take, because if you focus too much on keeping track of your thoughts, you can impede the natural flow of these thoughts. Personal internal contemplation is an art, that must be practiced and perfected, but it is also a very fun activity, that can be very relaxing and incredibly mentally stimulating.

You can use internal contemplation, to find answers to problems that have stumped you in the past. This contemplation is very powerful, because it allows you to access information that is usually buried in your subconscious, and as such, not easily available to your conscious mind. Contemplation then, is the bridge between the conscious and the subconscious. It is very powerful, and it has been used by the great geniuses of the past to discover thoughts, ideas, and concepts that have been far ahead of their time.

It is indeed the case that contemplation, is a type of active dreaming, that is, it is in essence a way to project the personal consciousness outside of the body. In my book, Out Of Body Experiences, Quickly And Naturally, which is available in the kindle book store, I discuss in detail how the conscious self can be projected from the body. I discuss how this projection can be done, starting from a fully awake state, and how human consciousness naturally creates its own mental propellants, that allow the self to exit the confines of the physical body.
If you are interested in finding more about this book, I will leave a link in the description below.

Contemplation, when done properly, can be used in this way to overcome the limits of the body, which then lets a person discover greater truths, and the answers to questions that might seem outside of the realm of human understanding.

There are three types of contemplation, or contemplative practices;

The First is Free flow:

This is when you allow your mind complete freedom, to go anywhere it wants. You must remember though, that you have to keep track of your thoughts, and you must be aware of them as they happen, but you must at the same time give your mind free reign. This can be a difficult task at first, but once this fine give and take is mastered, you will have access to amazing knowledge.

In a quiet relaxed place, allow your mind to just flow freely as you watch it from a distance, and you watch your thoughts flow by like a fine calm river. This type of free flow contemplation, is an incredibly powerful way to discover your inner thoughts and feelings. These thoughts and feelings can give you clues about your beliefs and about your life in general. I don’t think that I would be overstating the fact, by saying that through prolonged free flow contemplation you can attain a deep sense of personal enlightenment, which can improve your entire life. This type of contemplation is even a wonderful form of meditation, that can relax your being and settle your soul.

The second contemplation method is, Directed contemplation:
Perhaps as you begin to do free-flowing contemplation, you become interested in a particular train of thought or concept. When this happens, you must change your contemplation into a more focused endeavor. You do this by lightly focusing your mind on this particular concept, while at the same time not trying to interfere with this natural free flow of thought. This is again a tricky accomplishment, because any strong personal intention will instantly stop this natural flow of thought, so you must discover just the right touch of focus needed to direct your mind. If this natural flow stops, do not worry, just allow yourself to relax and your flow of thoughts will soon begin on its own again. All of this mental action is quite subjective, so it is difficult to give you a step-by-step guide, you must find your own methods, and discover the natural flow of your own mind. It is perhaps helpful, to realize that this natural flow of thoughts in your mind is always there, you must just be relaxed enough, and be internally focused enough, to be able to pay attention to it. Then in the most gentle way possible, you must direct your focus in a way that won’t interfere with your natural mind.

The third contemplation method is, No thought contemplation :
Once you have been doing some kind of contemplation for a while, it is quite possible that you will get sleepy. This natural desire to sleep, is perhaps the result of the wonderful relaxation that contemplation creates. This feeling of sleep though, can allow your mind to take a final step into its contemplative practice. If you follow this sleepy feeling, but at the same time try to stay as conscious as possible of the thoughts in your mind, you will find that this feeling has the ability to stop thought altogether. It is as if that wonderful river of thought just disappeared, and there is just a very nice and relaxing void left in its place. If you are able to keep your concentration on this void, you will be able to discover an incredible new deeper level of thought, visions, and sounds that begin to take on the quality of dreams. This final type of contemplation is difficult for the beginner, and can only be developed through personal work. The trick, is to follow and experience that wonderful sleepy feeling without falling asleep. If you are able to get to this level, then you will discover entire universes that you can explore at your leisure. Universes that can open up your being, to a world of infinite mental possibility.

When doing these contemplative techniques, it is often a very good idea to keep a pad and pen next to you. In this way you can write down, or draw, anything that you see or experience. The reason for this, is that these contemplative practices have a way of changing your conscious state, which means that when you wake up to normal consciousness, you most often forget a great deal of the material that you may have discovered, in very much the same way that a dream can be forgotten. It is therefore a good idea to write everything down when it is fresh in your mind.

These are the basic three methods of contemplation. With them you will be able to do anything that you want in your contemplative ventures, they will allow you to develop a direct bridge to your subconscious. This bridge, is the beginning of an unbelievably deep understanding of self and the universe, and are the beginning of your journey into a vast and infinite inner sea of awareness, where the possibilities are endless.

Persuasion is really one of the great human skills. Sometimes the word persuasion can make this art seem negative or underhanded. The reality of the situation though is that persuasion is really the art of great articulation. Seen this way, persuasion, can then be seen for what it really is and for what it should always ultimately become, which is the ability to articulate and to be able to make yourself understood.

You can find many books on persuasion. There are many techniques that are expounded but all sorts of different individuals and they all tend to follow a certain pattern of beliefs as to how human interaction works best. In this article I would like to explain persuasion as fine articulation and show you how you can have incredible persuasive power without any of the neat tricks and sometimes underhanded techniques that are expounded lately.

If you are able to articulate your thoughts perfectly and you are able to give logical conclusions and options to any objections then persuasion becomes a natural result of impeccable communication. In order to begin to develop this kind of art, you must be able to train yourself to stay objective. While emotions can be great help in communicating and understanding, they can also become a great hindrance if they are not handled properly. In order to handle these emotions properly and to have the kind of objectivity that you need, you need to develop a detached feeling. To do this I have suggested in the past and I will suggest again that you try to see things in a third person perspective. What I mean by this is that you must be able to see things and the situation that you are in from a broad perspective, a great way to achieve this is to playfully imagine that you are looking down upon yourself and the situation at hand. In this way you sort of become like a puppet master that controls the actions of your body below you and as such can stay objective enough to see everything clearly; feeling your emotions and completely engaged in the situation but at the same time distanced enough from it to control yourself effectively.

Once you can achieve this kind of objective distance, you must begin to use your logical mind. To think logically means that you always consider the end result or goal of your interaction. The logical mind asks itself firstly, “What is the ultimate conclusion that I want to achieve from the situation?” What do you need to do in order to get what you want? What do you need the other person to do to get what you want? What is the best way for you to act? What is the best thing for you to say in order to get what you want? What confrontations might you face? What objections might you face? How can you counter these objections?

These are logical questions that you must ask yourself before you engage in any situation. Moreover these are questions that you must answer for yourself before you engage in any communication. In this way you know what to say, when to say it, and how to say it best. The trick is not to be aggressive or confrontational but to keep a logical and calm mind.

Once you know what you need to say, you must be able to articulate perfectly. This means that you must be able to speak in a very concise and straightforward manner. If you can, and have the time, you should practice or at least write down what you are going to say in the most articulate way possible. In a fashion it’s sort of like practicing a speech where you try to correct your grammar and leave out any inadequate thoughts and ideas. You want to streamline your conversation and make it as perfect as possible and to the point.

Once you have all of this material at hand, you can engage in communication with the other person. This might seem like a lot of work but it gets a lot easier if you continue to do this kind of thing all the time. There is a point where you get so good at it that you do not need to write down anything and you can get yourself ready for any situation very quickly.

Once you are communicating with someone remember to stay detached. Another thing to remember is to always have a strong gaze; now this does not mean that you’re trying to stare someone down but that you are looking at someone in a calm and unemotional manner. This kind of gaze is most effective if you do as little blinking as possible, if you want more information on the power of his gaze I recommend you read the article, The Power of the Eye to Persuade.

Calm and patient, with perfect articulation, you can persuade anyone to do what you desire. Remember to not take an aggressive stance because this only introduces emotions where you want to maintain a calm and a relaxed demeanor. If the other person does lose his or her emotional stability, do not lose yours. Maintain your strong gaze and your perfect logical articulation and you will eventually get your way. Like anything else this technique requires personal practice and a little tweaking on your own. In other words learn to make adjustments to suit your personality and never consider anything as a final unalterable point. You can persuade others to your way of thinking through logic and perfect articulation.

Sometimes it is difficult to realize that we are all creative people. Labeling by others tends to make this even worse; this happens because others begin to label us telling us from an early age that we are either creative or not very creative.

It is true that some of us have a natural inclination to want to become more creative, pursuing different interests that require us to use our more creative sides. It is also the case that we change as we grow, sometimes we pursue interests that do not require great creativity while at other times in our lives we wish to open up these creative sides and expand ourselves artistically. If you are one of those people that is interested in developing their creativity then here is a simple little exercise that might allow you to get your creative juices flowing. Why this exercise works is that creativity is really the ability of letting yourself flow naturally, unhindered by a natural censor that we create which tells us that we must do this or that. The truly creative are able to remove the censor, so that the natural parts of their being can express themselves unhindered and provide new thoughts and ideas to be explored.

If you are having trouble finding your creative side, and need a little boost to get yourself going, try the following:

Read a poem out loud. You can either read a poem that you wrote, a poem that you might have found in a book that you have, or a poem that you found on the Internet. The idea is to read this poem and a loud and eloquent voice that suits the poem. Try to read a poem that is classical and perhaps has a lot of emotion, then try doing a funny rhyming poem.

Look at great art. Again try to find this art wherever you can, the Internet can actually be a great source if you have the time to look, and the inclination. Look at all sorts of different kinds of art, from classical to contemporary. Look at the art used in marketing, and also check out some of the current pop art.

Try to listen to a variation different kinds of music. You could try to listen to an opera, followed by perhaps something classical from Beethoven, and round the whole thing up with some nice powerful dance music.

Start jumping around and dancing. As you are listening to the music that I mentioned above, try to let your body move to that music. Allow yourself to become uninhibited, and let your body move naturally without your conscious control.

If you find yourself creatively stuck, or you’re trying to get yourself a little more creative than you have been in the past, this is a great way to get the juices flowing. Try to do the four techniques stated above at the same time, one after the other. In this way you naturally transcend from one to the next and your body and brain open up to a new routine that will hopefully help you inhibit that natural censor that is such a great hindrance to creativity.

Always try to nurture your imagination.  Your imagination is a powerful ally that you can use in any area of your life. Albert Einstein said that “imagination is more powerful than knowledge”.  What he was letting us know is  that our logical and objective minds can never encompass the totality of ourselves and the universe.

Your imagination is like a window into an infinite world of the inner self.  This world is far, far bigger than the exterior world that we considered to be so real.  The imagination is a connecting link that allows us to make contact with far greater realizations.  It is a well known fact that the subconscious mind is far greater and far more powerful than the conscious.  The unconscious has at its disposal nearly infinite amounts of data and the ability to process this data in ways that would put a supercomputer to shame.  The imagination then is like a doorway into this grand and subjective supercomputer of the self.  It is your imagination that will give you the clues that you need to figure out things that you can never figure out solely on a conscious level.

This imagination can be hindered by others.  Children for example have incredible imaginations that can create marvels in their heads, but this imagination is soon repressed as the child grows into adulthood and is told over and over again that imagination and pretense are childish.  Your first battle in order to nurture your imagination is to stop others from taking away this powerful tool.  The best way to do this is to always try to do your own thing and to not worry so much about what others think and believe you should be doing.  Your life must be your life, and the way that you live your life must be of your own making.  The moment that you start living by the rules and beliefs of others is the moment that you will stop your great imagination and therefore hinder your ability to perceive and to act.

New thoughts and ideas are the source of all freedom.  New ideas create new possibilities and new ways to fix old problems.  Your imagination then is the source of your freedom so you must make sure that you have a strong imagination, that way you can always create new directions to freedom by finding new possibilities for yourself and your problems.  The inner self is the source of this information and it holds the answer to all the problems that you face, but you will not be able to access this information unless you keep your imagination alive and strong.

In order to nurture your imagination, learn to relax.  The ability to relax and to enjoy the moment is the greatest way to access your imagination.  Your imagination is at its brightest and best when you let go of yourself and you let yourself be in a kind of free flow.  This free flow will stop the censor of the mind and it will allow new ideas to come forth unhindered by a mind full of expectations about what is and is not possible.  Tension then is the great destroyer of the imagination because it focuses your attention on this moment and it does not allow new thoughts and new possibilities to present themselves to you.  If you can learn to just relax and to enjoy the moment, you will find the ability to let go of this tension and discover the true potential of your imagination.

Great minds have always found the answers to their questions in the most interesting ways.  But if you study their ideas and methods then you will see that all of the methods that they use to find great inspiration involve some kind of activity that allows them to relax and forget themselves.  If you wish to cultivate your imagination, I suggest then that you also find a way to relax into the moment, so that you can find your own source of inspiration and in this way solve your problems.  Nurture your imagination and find the infinite possibilities that are available to you.

Learn to question yourself at all times. Many people tend to take this the wrong way and think that I am advocating personal doubt. But this is not what questioning yourself means. What it means is that you must give yourself the time to explore your own being. Questioning yourself is really the art of personal contemplation.

The bull headed tend to think that to question is to doubt. And we are all told that doubt is a great enemy. Even Yoda tell us that we should, “do or do not.” But Yoda wasn’t telling Luke to smash through life without personal thought, what he was telling him was that when you have to taking action, you have to do it all the way. Before you get to that place of action, it is always good to question yourself and your motives.

The fine art of self contemplation is a wonderful way to begin to meditate upon your life and the world. To do this you have to give yourself the time to question yourself and to enjoy this questioning. Take the time, every day if you can, to be alone for a while. Use this time to question all of the things in your life. Sometimes just being able to be alone and to let your mind wander where it wants to is enough. Your mind will naturally take you to this place or that, and as it does so it will allow you to question and postulate on different things.

The trick when you take time for personal contemplation is to be able to keep track of the thoughts that you are having. Most often when we are contemplating we are what is referred to as ‘daydreaming’ and just like regular dreams, it is easy to forget what we had just been daydreaming about. We often wake up from a daydream and we soon forget everything that we had just been thinking about. In order for your daydreaming to become contemplation, you must stay focused on what your mind is thinking about. It becomes a fine trick where you allow your mind the freedom that it needs to flow naturally but you stay focused enough to be able to remember, question, and pursue different lines of thought.

With a little practice you will be able to use this contemplation to find answers to all your questions. You have to practice by yourself so that you can become good at staying conscious of what you are thinking about, and then eventually at directing your mind ever so slightly so that the course of your thoughts takes you in the direction that you want them to go. This is a very fun and relaxing way to question and find answers and can easily become a meditation, that you can use every day to question yourself and to relax, like releasing built up pressure from the day.

When you begin to question yourself, you will see that you will come up with surprising answers, especially if you use the contemplation technique that I just mentioned. With these answers you will be able to implement solutions that you might not have thought of before. You might also find that you are dedicating way too much time and effort on things that are just not that important.

Self contemplation is the art of questioning. The most important questions in your life will always be the questions that you have about yourself and your own being. Therefore make sure that you practice this fine art for your betterment and for the betterment of those you care about. Question yourself, learn self contemplation, and enjoy the ride.

One of the hardest, yet one of the most powerful things that you can do to change your life is to; stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen. We all focus on that which is the most emotional thing in our present reality. What this means is that we dwell on the emotional. Unfortunately our emotions are often negative and we focus all our attention on that.

“&%*&^& happens!” That’s just the way life is, “sometimes good sometimes bad”. The problem lies in the fact that we spend way too much time thinking and contemplating the bad stuff and hardly any time at all focusing on the good.

I have mentioned in other articles that, just like the phrase says, “we tend to get what we focus on”. This is not just a metaphysical concept. Since we can’t see everything, we are all very selective in our focus. If we focus on the bad then there is no room for the good. When you are busy thinking about this jerk you had to deal with or that terrible chore that you have to do, you have no way to see the beautiful day or discover the solution that would solve your problems. You can’t find a solution if you are focusing on the problem.

You get what you expect so stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen or else it will happen. Every great solution is outside of the realm of the problem. That is what is meant when people say that you need to think outside the box. If you are in the box then you are focused on the problem. To find your solution you must step outside the box. To do that you have to focus on what you want and forget what you don’t want.

The mind is a very selective thing, it can handle only so much information. The proof of this is easy enough; see if you can hold two thoughts in your head, or how about three. If you are trying to focus on more than one thing then you are not focused enough. Every boss wants to know if you are good at multitasking, but multitasking is really an impossibility. You can only do one thing at a time well. Your mind requires that you focus on one thing at a time. You must therefore focus on the right thing, and the right thing is always what you want not what you don’t want.

Because of the selectiveness of your mind, you will see that if you focus on one thing, you can’t really focus on something else. This is actually a very good thing because it makes your life a lot easier. This is the answer to how you can stop focusing on what you don’t want. The process then becomes, consciously focus on this so that you don’t unconsciously focus on that. Your mind as I have said can only focus on one thing well so the trick then is to choose what it focuses on.  Instead of having it contemplate that which you don’t care for, direct it to that which you desire.

You might find this difficult at first but with some small effort, you will see great reward. Usually the difficulty lies in the fact that when we are focusing on things we don’t want, we are also gripped by really negative emotions. Unfortunately the only way to get past this is to hone the power of your focus so that you keep focusing on what you want until those negative emotions let you go. Once these negative emotions let go a bit, it becomes much easier to focus on the wanted. In no time at all you will strengthen that focus muscle and this will have a great effect on your life.

Stop focusing on what you don’t want. Since your mind can only focus on one thing at a time, focus on what you want instead. Strengthen your ability to focus on what you want by riding out the negative emotions until you can actually feel better. In no time your focus will become very strong and you will be able to change your reality.  After all, if you can control the emotions you feel throughout the day, you are literally changing your reality. So get outside the box and find the solution to you problems; stop focusing on what you don’t want to happen.

I would guess that we have all had times when we wish we were someone else. I certainly would like to be as debonair as James Bond for example. Unless they are already lady magnets, I am sure that most men can identify with me.

This need to want to be someone else can have both positive and negative aspects. On the negative side is the idea that you are so unhappy about yourself at this moment that you wish you could be someone else entirely. Certainly it’s not a good thing to be so pained by your personal life situation that you actually want to not be yourself. This is sort of like the ostrich that sticks its head in the sand in the hopes that it will disappear.

If your life is this difficult then you have to realize that there is no one else that is going to be able to fix it for you. You will have to step up to the plate and “man up” as they say. We can all use a bit of help from time to time and there are always friends, family, and professionals that can help you. But do remember that you will need to take responsibility for your life and your problems.

There is also a positive side to wanting to be someone else, and this might be a great help in coping and even overcoming some of your problems. Indeed it is perhaps a natural inclination in all of us to seek out those that are superstars in areas that we suck at. It’s perhaps an instinctual search for a solution to our problems; by finding those that might have the key to our recovery.

Well I am going to share with you a simple exercise that will allow you to tap into the power of these superstars so that you not only begin to emulate their success, you actually begin to take on their attributes and apply their special talent in your life. You will learn to borrow some of those great attributes that you envy, and easily begin to place them into your own personality.

Let us begin by having you come up with someone that you truly admire. Someone that is incredibly successful in some of the areas that you think you are deeply lacking. Take as long as you want and search out anyone; whether it’s someone from the historical past, the present, or even a fictional character that you greatly love and appreciate.

Now that you have identified the person that you will be borrowing from, I want you to contemplate that person performing those positive attributes that you desire. Picture that person in your mind’s eye performing those talents that you covet. Picture that person dealing directly with the problems that are facing you right now, and picture this person succeeding in every aspect.

Now I want you to pretend that have those positive attributes. Imagine that this hero that you admire is standing in front of you and that in one quick swoosh, he/she is instantly sucked into you. So where there were two now there is one and this one person is a conglomeration of the both of you. This new person has all of the attributes that you wanted.

Imagine how different things are now that you have all of those talents that you desired. See yourself performing all of those things that your hero was doing. Think about how different people’s reactions will be to you now that you have all of these new talents. It’s important that you see yourself in the here and now performing perfectly with your new acquired talents. Continue to imagine the new situations in your life and how much better things are now that you are the superstar.

Do this exercise as often as you can until you feel confident in your new abilities. Practice your new talents in your life and have faith in yourself and your new abilities. If you feel unsure about yourself or feel that you don’t quite have all of your new attributes in perfect working order, then keep practicing this exercise in your mind’s eye until you feel more certain of your abilities.

I promise you that if you give this exercise a try for a week, you will be incredibly surprised at how powerful it can be. Start practicing now and change your life forever with the power of borrowed identities.

In our previous article we had discussed the fundamental aspect of genius. I had told you that technical knowledge, which is usually tested through the Intelligence Quotient exam, does not guarantee genius. Genius has much more to do with the ability to let go of all preconceived notions about how things are in order to find a completely new way to do what was previously thought to be impossible.

Do realize though that I am not putting down our concept of intelligence at all. Einstein needed to know a great deal about physics in order to be able to begin to make the great leaps that he made. Da Vinci was a very technical person who was very passionate about science. What these two individuals had in common though, which allowed them to surpass all others in their field, was a natural ability and a methodology that allowed them to let go of their structured knowledge in order to see outside of it.

The question then becomes, how can you develop this ability to let go of the known, in order to realize the unknown and the new? Well why don’t we borrow from these two great geniuses and apply some of their techniques:

Da Vinci used to love to stare at stains and blotches. Whether it was on his furniture or on walls, he would stare at these stains in order to find his inner genius.  He wrote that he would stare at these stains and would get lost in scapes that would naturally present themselves in his mind’s eye. He would get lost in a sea of trees or water as he stared at the stains, his body and mind relaxing as he did, until concepts would begin to flash in his head. These concepts he would implement and explore until he found the answer to his questions.

If you know a little bit about psychology then you will notice that this is very similar to staring at a Rorschach ink blot. As you stare at these ink blots, pictures are created in your head which are said to reveal a bit about your subconscious thoughts. You can similarly create these stain blots for yourself. The simplest way would be to take a clean napkin and spill some coffee on it.

Stare quietly at this stain and let your mind create pictures and contemplate the pictures that you see. Let your mind create whole new realms through those pictures and explore those realms and relax. In this way you can begin to contemplate your problems. Let your inner genius reveal to you what the solutions are.

Einstein was a great daydreamer. He was actually such a great daydreamer that he flunked math in school. But his great mental disability (or ability if you prefer) did not stop him from making one of the greatest contributions to our understanding of the world, actually it seems that it was this ability to daydream that made this possible.

For example he said that he was able to discover the relativistic aspects of time and the constant of light by imagining that he was a photon flying through space. You too can use similar methods to find solutions to your questions. To a greater or lesser extent, we are all able to imagine, visualize and pretend.

Next time that you have a question and need your inner genius to give you some guidance; let yourself daydream on the problem. Relax in your favorite spot and let your mind go for a moment. Relax and allow yourself to do what you did so well while you were in some boring class in school. When you are in a happy place, visualize in a creative way seeing things from a new perspective. Einstein visualized being a photon, you can do something similar or you can imagine seeing the problem from outside yourself in a whole new way. Let your mind go with this visualization and allow your daydream to bring you new perspectives and ideas.

With these two methods you are well on your way to solving any problem. You will also find that your intellect will grow considerably which will have a great effect on your intelligence. The trick here is easy is does it and have fun. Allow your inner genius to come out and above all have fun!