consciousness – Page 4

How to cope with information overload

According to Forbes Magazine, the average worker receives about 200 emails a week. In the last five years we have embraced a bewildering variety of messaging apps and social media platforms. To stay on top of our lives, we’re obliged to read official communications, go through bills and bank statements, and work our way through piles of dreary virtual paperwork. We’re bombarded with data on hourly basis, from rolling news channels, online newsfeeds, automatic notifications and many other sources. The more ambitious and curious of us also have personal reading lists, with hundreds of unread books crammed onto our Kindle or I-pad. The volume of information we have to process is unparalleled in human history and our brain often struggles to deal with it, slipping into a “zombie” mode…

“Information overload” is a widely recognised contemporary social phenomenon, which was identified as far back as the 1960’s in books such as The Medium is the Massage by Marshall McLuhan and graphic designer Quentin Fiore. The speed of information acquisition increases rapidly in conjunction with technological development. According to Daniel Levitin, McGill University psychology professor and author of the best-seller The Organized Mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload,

“we produced more information in the last decade than in all of human history before that”.

We have to run at least twice as hard to ‘stay in the race’, and juggle the conflicting demands of being well-informed, productive and time-efficient. The mental effort that this entails often results in damage to our private life and personal wellbeing, effectively turning us into automatons.

I’m regularly asked how I’m able to run a few start-up companies, manage an on-lime magazine (OpenMindPortal), train twice a day, serve my private clients, read around 80 books a year, travel and keep my personal life on point. The following are a few of my thoughts on the subject:

The personal experience I gained whilst working for and with giant multinational companies such as Moscow Stock Exchange, Jaguar & Land Rover, GSK and so on was extremely useful. The stress and pace of life necessitated leading an organised, disciplined life;
I have been helped in this by dozens of books written by productivity gurus (you can find few of them in reference list below);
Ideas that I picked up during my MBA at Imperial College helped too;
Articles from popular magazines (Harvard Business review, Forbes, etc.) and blogs that I read at least few times a week aid in keeping my perception of productivity fresh.

This is the first article in a series devoted to productivity. I would like to open the series by offering ten useful tips that will help you to deal with information noise, and keep you focused, proactive and creative, able to overcome procrastination, and to get more done in less time.

The second article will be devoted to mind decluttering techniques. The third will be about the seven types of brain activity humans have, and how we can improve all of them. The fourth will suggest a range of useful tools to apply when dealing with emails and other message forms effectively and rationally. The fifth one will shed light on how to lead effective meetings, avoid wasting precious time on human drama and effectively achieve your goals. Finally, in the sixth article, I will share how to maintain a positive attitude and transmit good vibes to other people.

Declutter your mind

David Allen, the famous productivity coach, recommends regularly “clearing the mind”. I could not agree more. When your mind is in order, your life, relationships, business and lifestyle will be in order too. But we are only human, and all of us to some extent are prone to involuntary compulsive thoughts that can turn life into a nightmare.

However, there are plenty of methods which can help to cleanse the mind. I, for instance, always carry a little notebook in which I can jot down various thoughts. These can be creative ideas, plans, little tasks I have to accomplish or just annoying emotions I want to get rid of. David Allen also recommends putting thoughts on paper in order to keep the mind fresh and pure: “Writing thoughts down gets them out of your head, clearing your brain of things that are interfering with being able to focus on what you want to focus on”. Such simple strategies can help to eliminate negativity at its initial point, giving you the peace of mind to concentrate on what you want to keep done.

Read: Simple techniques to declutter your mind.

Classify, prioritize and break down

Once thoughts are down on paper – sort them out. My technique is to initially split them into two main categories: emotions and actions. Once classified, thoughts that have preoccupied you all day do not look quite so scary and overwhelming any more.

I want to focus on actions, which in turn can be split into sub-categories. Allen suggests splitting them into the following: DO, DELEGATE, DEFER, and DROP. I usually do not use “defer”, as all postponed actions bear little relation to the present moment, and could be easily dropped, delegated or done immediately.

Sometimes some of the actions on your list can seem quite daunting. For instance, ‘write a dissertation’ or ‘lose 10 lbs’. It may even sound scary, but don’t stress! What you have to do is to split them into smaller steps and to schedule all of them.

By sticking to your plan 80% of the time, and executing tasks from the ‘do’ category every day, you can be extremely productive without being overloaded with worries, and plagued by negative feelings.

Do not multitask

The human brain is designed to do only one conscious thing at a time. Multitasking not only burns a tremendous amount of energy, but also negatively impacts on performance, and leads to mistakes. And it is only the tip of the iceberg. Stress bubbles under the surface, a consequence of emotional burn, cortisol spikes and even subsequent muscle catabolism and fat gain. Moreover, multitasking saves no time at all. It has been scientifically established that switching between two activities takes the same, or even more, time than it does to carry them out sequentially. If you have two equally urgent and important tasks, do one first and then the other one.

Keep in mind that any exercise in multitasking is in fact a cluster of small decisions you have to take. According to Daniel Livitin, decision making ‘spends’ oxygenated glucose, the essential fuel you need to retain your focus, and to keep doing things. Constant prolonged jumping between tasks will cause physical and mental exhaustion, anxiety and disorientation. On the other hand,

“once we engage the central executive mode, staying in that state uses less energy than multitasking and actually reduces the brain’s need for glucose. This allows us to get more done and finish up with more energy,” writes Levitin.

As a qualified nutritionist I would add that avoiding multitasking is very beneficial for keeping fit. Doing one thing at a time in a calm, focused mode decreases the need to top your glucose levels up by consuming sugar and simple carbs, and as a result reduces the risks of gaining fat associated with sedentary office work.

First thing’s first

At the beginning of the day we are fresh and full of energy. Every decision we take and every movement we make uses fuel from the same tank. However, we have a limited supply. According to Livitin,

“important decisions should be made at the beginning of the day, when gumption and glucose is highest”.

He adds:

“If you eat a frog first thing in the morning, the rest of the day goes better”!

Clearly not a statement to be taken literally, but his point about making crucial decisions in the morning is relevant.

Schedule 1-3 hours at the beginning of each day to accomplish 1 to 3 of your most important tasks. Turn notifications on your phone off and focus on your ‘first things’ fully and consciously. I always do cardio at morning. However, my body needs some time from my first glass of water with a shot of espresso until I’m ready to go out for a run. I use this time for planning editorials or writing. I love these productive 1-1.5 hours, as I can usually do 30% of my daily ‘must do’ activities. Then I can refresh my mind and dive into the details of a new article or a project while jogging two to three laps of the park. You can create your own way to ‘eat the frog in the morning.

Eliminate distractions

There are various distractions around us, and they are always ready to capture our attention. It could be scrolling through social media (very often meaningless), idle banter or gossip, checking messages and emails, tidying up the workplace and other forms of banal procrastination.

“We need to be really clear about the most important things. As a rule of thumb, you can remember three ideas relatively well,” says David Rock.

Exactly for that reason, it is useful to limit your goals for the year, for the week, for the day to a maximum of three. With a larger number it becomes almost impossible to control their execution. Eliminating meaningless objectives, ego driven goals (to get one more trophy just for sake of it), and empty conversations, can enable you to focus on your real aims.

Group together tasks and do simple things quickly

Doing similar quick tasks at once is another way to lightening your ‘do’ list. Do not confuse this with multitasking. For example, paying a few bills, making a few phone calls or answering a bunch of emails in one, defined, time-slot is a great solution to keep on track. Allocate 15-30 minutes (no more) to execute similar, simple and quick tasks, eliminating them from the list and thus being able to switch your attention to more exciting things.

Be conscious when doing on-line tasks. It is always very tempting to start surfing the Net. Reserve a special time for that activity too – allocating 30 minutes after your evening workout in the gym or after lunch, when your brain activity is at its lowest. Alternatively you could split your reading time before bed into two parts: 30 minutes for browsing your favourite on-line sources, and devoting the other 30 minutes to a book from your reading list. When you set a specific time to do certain things it is far easier to avoid distractions and to stay fully focused.

Schedule wellbeing

Coaching people, I very often hear the same story: “I have no time for dates” or “I have no time for the gym/ another degree/ reading books/ grocery shopping/ eating healthily”. However, all of those ‘little things’ determine our quality of life. 14 years ago I made conscious decision to stop watching TV. It was one of the only types of affordable entertainment in the small town where I was born. I made an invaulable gift to myself, splitting the few free hours I had into training and reading.

When I moved to Moscow and started my career in PR and marketing I reconsidered my life habits again. I decided to stop being judgmental and reduced amount of unnecessary meetings and phone calls that I spend before with my female friends discussing gossips and mutual acquaintances. I’ve got few more hours and I start learning English and read English books.

Now I spend two hours doing fitness each day, and a further two hours reading and learning new things. And these are just four of the 24 hours available to me! The value of the time you are putting to more productive use when applying similar techniques is incalculable in life.

A short while ago I stopped competing in fitness shows that were taking up a significant amount of my time (stage rehearsals, posing practice, bikini making). I realized that gaining one more award did not improve my life. I’ve always been very much a people person, and helping others has always made my life more fulfilled. Now I spend two to three hours a day doing research and writing articles for OpenMindPortal and other media, to help people along their life journey.

The time you can save by refraining from obsessing about other people, associating with damaging or negative individuals and their accompanying worries, and ego-driven behaviour, could well be enough to free up hours and hours in which to do really valuable things. Start planning your wellbeing and self-development. Just consciously check what makes you happy and how you spend your time, and act accordingly.

Rest

Eight hours of quality sleep each night should be a rule of thumb. It has been proven that the human brain cannot be efficiently active and retain its focus for more than 1 to 2 hours in a row. We have to rest during the day as well.

“People who take a 15-minute break every couple of hours are much more efficient in the long run,” believes Levitin.

It is not only generally refreshing: Short relaxation activates some parts of the brain responsible for feelings of happiness. Apart from that, little breaks help us to keep our consciousness and energy levels high. “So taking a break, taking a nap, taking a walk around the block, listening to music — these activities, although most bosses would think that they’re a waste of time, in fact, they’re a big adjunct to productivity and creativity.” Levitin also claims that a “15-minute nap can increase your effective IQ by 10 points”.

The human brain works in two main modes: “one is when you’re directing your thoughts, and the other is when the thoughts take over and run themselves,” says Levitin. I call them proactive and insightful modes. The first one allows us to get things done.

In the insightful mode, according to Levitin, “one thought melds into another and they’re not particularly related.” Such a mode is a neural reset process that replenishes some of the glucose, and is also beneficial for boosting creativity. “The thoughts meander from one to another, creating links between things we might not have seen as linked before, and from that may come the solutions to problems,” writes Levitin.

So take regular breaks. I like doing fitness, meditate or simply do something completely different (graphic design is one of my favourite things to relax my mind during those periods), while my brain switches to a more insightful mode.

Don’t underestimate time

We always tend to underestimate simple tasks. Very often in my past I allocated fewer hours for a task than it really takes. I learnt through experience that being realistic about the length of time that tasks will take is beneficial, and to allocate extra time accordingly.

Don’t overestimate importance

This is the final, but also a crucial, point. Very often we become fully immersed in achieving our goals, and can easily lose a sense of reality. If everything goes right – that’s fine. In a worst-case scenario we could endure some unnecessary sacrifices, or experience physical and mental exhaustion. When something goes wrong, stress level increases rapidly, turning us into over-reactive zombies. However, in the majority of cases this is not calamitous, and nothing will really happen if we put everything and everyone aside for a moment, and take a reflective step back. Conscious control, required rest, mental flexibility and the ability to adjust, reconsider or even surrender some goals are also key to personal success.

Tatiana Dmitrieve

Reference list

Daniel Kahneman. Thinking fast and slow. 2004

Daniel Livitin. Organized mind: Thinking Straight in the Age of Information Overload. 2012

David Allen. Getting things done. The art of stress free productivity. 2001

David Allen. Making It All Work: Winning at the game of work and the business of life, 2008

David Allen. Ready for anything. 2003

David Rock. Your brain at work. 2009

Echart Tolle. The new Earth. 2013

Echart Tolle. The power of now.1997

Ivy-Marie Blackburn. Cognitive therapy in actioin. 1996

Ray Kurxweil. How to create a mind.2015

Diets and exit strategies

To lose 4lbs during a diet, yet gain 6lbs back within a few weeks of finishing it is a sadly familiar scenario. In the previous article “Why diets never work and what to do” we discussed in detail why fad diets generally have poor results. We also presented some of the best alternatives to fad dieting, with the goal of achieving desired ‘body correction’ and avoiding starving the body. This article is devoted to exit strategies for diets.

Any process embarked on should have an exit strategy.

Dropping a diet without planning is the equivalent of stopping your car in the middle of the motorway, or jumping out of the airplane before landing – not recommended!

In the previous article “Why diets do not work…” we discussed the body’s reaction to various ‘cut’ diets. Here’s a quick refresher:

A decrease in calories leads to metabolic slowdown due to inevitable negative metabolic adaptation. Being adapted to lower calories, the body burns less ingested nutrients for energy. The more you reduce your food intake, the lower your metabolic rate becomes and the lower the quantity of nutrients which are used for body maintenance. Muscle degradation occurs as a side effect of many diets. This is a result of the body using its own muscle tissue for its energy needs when it is being starved, rather than burning fat as the latter is used to store nutrient deposits for a ‘rainy day’. A final and important point is that the less muscle tissue the body has, the lower its metabolic rate. Consequently a decrease in food consumption leads directly to muscle degradation during ‘cut’ diets, resulting in a situation in which the dieter is both eating less and getting fatter.

By instead taking a path of balanced and healthy eating, you could achieve visible sustainable results and reach a desirable body correction. This, in combination with the right training strategy, is the right solution.

Now let’s imagine a situation in which you are a healthy eater and regular exerciser. You have adopted the right nutritional strategy and follow an appropriate fitness plan for your body’s needs, but you want to achieve even more.

In this instance so-called “manageable cut dieting” may be suitable.

Imagine that you achieve this additional goal; fantastic! But what next?

You always have two options: to either return to your normal eating habits, or follow a correct exit strategy. In the first case the pattern will be more or less classic. If you are a healthy eater, you will inevitably gain weight after the diet is over and your metabolism will accelerate due to an increase in calories. Super-compensation will occur and you will come back to your normal body weight and body composition with an additional 1-3% of body fat. This is the most favorable scenario. However, you have to be ready to be slightly “softer” for a while until all your bodily processes are settled. If you are not a healthy eater, you will probably fall into the vicious circle of any diet, described above.

The second scenario, which involves a smart exit strategy, is a bit more sophisticated in terms of execution but at the same time will definitely help to keep your physical achievements for longer. It may even shift your body composition permanently and allow you to be lean all-year-round. This is exactly what happened to me after 3 years of competing.

3 years of smart dieting and exercising helped me to shift my body composition towards being lean (9-12% of body fat) all year round. Taking into account my age (I’m 33) it is a great achievement and long-term health and wellbeing investment.

Exit strategy recommendations:

Increase calories gradually.

It is always very tempting to start eating all your favorite treats after a diet. However, keep in mind that your body will have become extremely sensitive to all previously excluded food sources. Be careful and conscious with carbs and fats first of all. Lane Norton (one of the most notable experts in metabolic damage) believes that the best way to smooth the transition to a non-dieting state is to increase your carbs by 10%, and fats by 1%, every week. Such moderate increases boost the metabolism and help the body to adapt to a new macronutrient modulation, without drastic changes in body composition.

Track protein intake

Protein consumption also should be trackable. In the majority of smart fitness diets (not fad diets) protein intake is sufficient at the ‘cut’ stage. Macronutrient increase usually happens on account of carb and fat intake. However, some strategies such as various “detox” programs exclude or minimize protein consumption for the entire duration of the diet. This leads to severe muscle loss and metabolic damage.

Conversely, there are some diets (Dr. Atkins and his numerous imitators) that exclude carbs almost completely. One of the biggest misconceptions behind such an approach is that the human body does not need anything apart from protein. This in turn gave birth to the following misunderstandings of the human body: One is that you can eat any amount of protein and not gain fat. In fact, any excessive amount of protein is converted into glucose by the liver via the neoglucogenesis process. Excessive glucose and fatty acids not used for energy are literally converted into body fat. So keep your protein intake attuned to your body composition, type of exercise you do and your activity level, but be careful with any extra amount consumed. If you want to increase muscle mass the nutrition strategy you follow should be allied with your training and supplementation plans to achieve desirable results. Eating mountains of protein without a smart plan will not bring benefits. On the other hand, excessive consumption of protein can even be dangerous and lead to unexpected fat gain, increased acidity and an additional burden placed on the kidney and the liver. For more details about this, read my article “How much protein should be eaten”.

Increase physical activity

It is clear that any increase in food consumption provides the body with additional energy. This increased energy should be burned up, in order to avoid undesirable body fat formation after a diet. As the metabolism is still slow after the period of reduced calories the only way to make sure you are on the right track is to increase your physical activity until the metabolic rate is normalized. The question is how we can do this in a more efficient and productive way. Obviously, we can not spend 2-3 hours a day doing low intense steady state (LISS) cardio as some so-called ‘fitness gurus’ recommend. That sort of free time is far too scarce for most of us. The best way to increase activity after a diet is to increase the intensity of your normal workout by increasing resistance (weight), or the number of receptions. Another recommended tactic is to add 15-20 minutes of highly intense interval (HIIT) cardio after your workout.

Supplementation

After any diet all bodily processes are altered. Being excluded for a while, and then re-introduced, some food sources could provoke digestion problems and cause bloating and other unpleasant consequences. You need to help the body to start working properly. Short, 2-3 week courses of digestive enzymes and friendly bacteria will be beneficial.

Metabolic boosters are another useful thing. Two of the most well-known natural metabolites are chili and black pepper. Just add a pinch of those to your meals.

The next possibility is an insulin controller. Keeping going without simple carbs for a period of time increases insulin sensitivity. Add 1-3 tablets of chromium to your meals to avoid insulin spikes. Also be careful with fruit: Those fruit with a high glycemic index such as mango, figs and other exotic fruits likely will be harmful for your six-pack.

Check your list of wellbeing factors daily

Try to get eight hours of quality sleep, fresh air (and, at least, a one-hour power walk outside) and attempt to keep your stress levels low. These three wellbeing factors should always be checked and whenever possible, observed. High cortisol levels (stress hormones) alone could ruin all your fitness and dietary efforts. Insufficient sleep, excessive alcohol consumption and smoking, and constant tissue hypoxia (lack of oxygen) will make change impossible.

Check your body composition

This is a pretty obvious point, but very often ignored. After a diet, it is essential to know what the proportion of your lean muscle mass is to your body fat percentage. Check it once every two weeks, a reasonable length of time to let your body react to new nutrients and any adjusted fitness plan. Ideally, both figures should stay unchanged or increase very slowly. Keep an eye on them. If you notice a drop in muscle mass or an increase in body fat of more than 4lbs within a two week period, your exit diet should be reconsidered and adjusted accordingly.

Tatiana Dmitrieva

Why diets don’t work and what you can do about it

why diets do not work and what to do

Have you ever noticed that after any diet, the pounds inevitably pile back on? Not only that, but people often actually gain more than they lose after finishing a diet. The idea of dieting is fundamentally flawed, with the process frequently being useless, painful and even dangerous to the person following it. In this article we are going to shed light on fad diets and provide you with some recommendations on how to avoid mistakes, and achieve long-term results.

Are still considering dieting?

What does an average diet consist of? They vary enormously in terms of the type of food stipulated or prohibited, timeframe, and degree of strictness. However, there are a few common features. Let’s examine them briefly.

All fad diets are low in calories and rely on a nutrients deficiency principle. That means a dieter consumes fewer calories than he or she burns. This usually leads to a certain weight loss, but a series of studies have shown that the drop in body weight usually occurs predominantly as a result of muscle – but not fat – loss. This is only the tip of the iceberg. Beneath the surface, the body experiences a significant metabolic slowdown.

All diets are short-term (up to a few weeks). First of all, that does not allow the body to change in the longer term. Secondly, it means that a dieter will soon return to his or her “normal” – often unhealthy or semi-healthy – eating habits. These dietary habits caused weight gains in the past, so it’s fairly certain that the same thing will happen again.

All diets impose strict restrictions on the type and quantity of food consumed. That might provoke not only temporary mood swings and fatigue but also long term hormonal problems. Another consequence can be malnutrition (i.e. a deficiency of some important micronutrients and vitamins). It could impair bodily functions and negatively impact the overall health of the dieter.

Now, let’s dig a little deeper.

Calorie restriction

Very often calorie restriction in the course of a dietary programme is too extreme, and has no scientific basis. The buckwheat diet, green diet, zero carbs diet, fruit diet and even the lemon-water diet are just few examples of type of diet which are – to put it bluntly – complete nonsense. Do people lose weight on such diets? Yes, they do. Do they gain it back? Yes, and it happens very quickly.

vicious circle 2 — less muscle burn less calories

Decreasing calorie intake is another form of dieting. People keep their eating habits unchanged and just reduce the size of the portions or general quantity of their food intake, and exclude “criminal” food such as white bread or refined sugar. At first glance, this approach looks logical. Curbing excessive unhealthy food consumption will inevitably lead to weight loss. However, it is temporary. Having reached his or her target, a dieter reverts to “normal” eating habits, quickly gaining back everything that was lost, plus a little bit more, after every diet.

Another important point is that dieters almost never measure what they eat (we’re not speaking about bodybuilders, who, in opposite, obsessively weigh every ingredient). All food intakes is approximate and cannot be precisely replicated every day. Eating in public spaces makes tracking exact consumption even more complicated. It is impossible to be certain how purchased meals were cooked, and what additives such as oils, sugar, starches and so on were used. I’ve heard this stock phrase a million times: “I eat healthily but can’t lose fat”. When I start analyzing what people really eat I always see an abundance of hidden salt, sugar and fats in ready-to-eat or processed meals consumed. As a result, a dieter has fluctuating macronutrient intake (proteins, carbs, fats, fibre as well as salt and water) from day to day without any degree of consistency, consuming extra unnecessary nutrients that negatively impact the body in both the short and long term.

Sometimes people stop eating completely for a while (“detox” fasting). This is probably the most terrifying scenario in terms of negative metabolic adaptation and the degree of harm it inflicts on the body.

Juice diets, which are currently extremely popular, are another example of outrageous fad strategies that inevitably cause overcompensating fat gain after the diet is over.

To recap, people do lose weight during diets but mostly due to three key factors:

muscle degradation,
loss of body water due to loss of muscle glycogen (1 molecule of muscle glycogen retains 3 molecules of intramuscular water keeping the body hydrated),
loss of intestine bulk due to extremely low food consumption.

Muscle loss

Now, let’s look in more detail at muscle loss. Why is this factor important? It has been scientifically proven that muscles burn more calories for maintenance than fat. In other words, two 130 pound individuals with the same activity levels but with different body composition (let’s say, the first has 10% of body fat and the second – 30%) have completely different daily calorie expenditure. Who is going to burn more? Obviously the first one, as he has more muscle tissue.

Another interesting fact is that the human body starts burning muscle tissue for energy when calorie intake is insufficient. Fat is used to store nutrients for the body in case of starvation, which is why the human body tends to keep it for as long as possible, destroying muscle tissue first. It’s a survival mechanism. Only in certain circumstances the body uses fat for energy (for example, when a certain heart rate is reached). Muscle loss during fad diets is inevitable even if a dieter continues exercising, and the less muscle tissue the dieter has, the fewer calories he/she burns. That’s why prolonged fad diets provoke muscle degradation and, as a result, significant metabolic slowdown.

Metabolic slowdown

Let’s say a couple of words about metabolic adaptation (slowdown/damage). This probably the simplest correlation to explain: The human body is both ingenious, and highly efficient. Survival is its main objective, so the fewer calories consumed, the fewer calories used. The body becomes very efficient and stores everything possible to deal with the possibility of starvation. In other words, the less you eat – the less you burn. And it works the other way around: the more generous the food supply, the less the need of the body to store fat for a raining day. However, don’t forget about food sources. Fat-laden, sodium-rich and sugar-heavy processed food never brings benefits. When boosting your metabolism, always opt for whole foods.

To sum up, when a dieter starves him/herself for a prolonged period, negative metabolic adaptation occurs. In combination with inevitable muscle loss it causes even more dramatic consequences – a dieter simply starts gaining more and more weight, while eating less and less.

High cortisol

Cortisol is a human stress hormone. Overwork, fad diets, long and exhausting cardio sessions, over-exercising, and lack of quality sleep, sunshine and fresh air are only a few examples from the long list of cortisol boosters. High cortisol levels cause major water retention (in case of some extreme female dieters, up to 25-30lbs). Moreover, high cortisol slows down the metabolism even further.

To diet or not to diet

Taking into account all of the above evidence, the question must be asked: is it actually worth dieting?

The answer should be obvious: No, if we’re talking about fad diets.

Another, related, question is how can we achieve targeted body correction?

It’s all about long term life-style changes: Short-term diets don’t provide long term results and may be harmful, whereas permanent changes to your eating habits bring long-term benefits.

How to start and what to do

CALIFORNIA WALNUT COMMISSION MEDITERRANEAN DIET — stick to whole food and healthy eating

Here are just a few simple tips that could make your healthy eating easier, and more effective.

Always rely on a scientific, fully customized approach! Generic diets and programs work poorly. Don’t copy someone else’s strategy. Most likely it was designed for an individual with a different somatotype, body fat percentage, activity level and other differentiating factors.

Would you perform dentistry on yourself? I didn’t think so. Always rely on professionals. Hire a qualified nutritionist to design the right strategy for your needs and guide you through the journey. It’s not going to be easy, as any life-style change requires complete focus, dedication, patience, and competent support.

Never starve yourself. Remember, fad diets are harmful.

Accept that finding healthy food in public places, or around your office, is pretty much impossible. Make it a habit to carry around a few little Tupperware boxes containing your freshly made meals. You will definitely be hungry at some point. Take care of yourself and don’t allow hunger to force you eating rubbish, or to starve.

Try to avoid processed food. This step alone will be hugely beneficial in the long-term.

Always put your health first.

Fast food and junk food cravings only exist in your head. The normal human body does not need junk food at all. Believe it or not, our brain can work perfectly on complex carbs. The human body is able to produce endorphins and serotonin without eating mountains of sweets. Our ancient ancestors never knew McDonalds or Nutella and lived happily without them. So the biggest monster lives in our own heads. Stop feeding it!

Take your time. The human body needs a far longer time to change than we tend to believe. Give yourself time. Be generous. Healthy eating will start working sooner or later. Just be consistent

Keep calm and eat your chicken (or broccoli/spinach/cod – whatever suits you!). Stress slows down the metabolism, making the body store more fat and retain water.

Sleep well and get enough fresh air every day. It’s a basic rule and you shouldn’t make excuses for yourself.

Just as you can’t be “almost pregnant”, you can’t “almost eat healthily”. You either do it or you don’t. The more you cheat the more you crave. It is better to eliminate junk food from your diet completely. Good luck!

Tatiana Dmitrieva

Vibrations determine being

When you wake up with a smile on your face it is good indication that you are doing something right. Our simple emotions are like litmus paper – the best indicator of what is going on in our lives. But what if you wake-up drained, apathetic, scared about your future? There are five crucial fields you should check daily.

image1 (13) — Love, be open, be grateful, respect yourself and others…

The body reacts first

The body is born to serve our basic needs and act as a box for the soul (our essence or spirit). Ayurveda practitioners believe that the body is “older” than the mind. Indeed, when one is born he/she is not able to analyse things, because cognitive skills are as yet undeveloped. This is the probably the best period of our existence, as we are still free from that constant, irritating and uncontrollable churn of thoughts that plague us later in life.

The body is the only real means a new-born has of indicating his or her feelings. Being adults we always put rationality first, not paying enough attention to our body’s signals. This is a huge mistake, as the body never lies! All the signals it sends us should be accepted, acknowledged, and taken into account. So, if you suffer a lack of energy, poor focus, or constant fatigue – it is time to change your routine.

Human magnetic field — Human energy field

Sufficient Sleep + Healthy Eating + Physical Activities + Fresh Air + Sex = Body Wellbeing.

It’s a pretty simple equation, but at the same time, one which is surprisingly difficult for most of us to put into effect.

However, this apparent complexity is just an abstract construction of our mind. If you walk instead of taking the train, car or bus, you have already met two fundamental needs at the same time (activity and fresh air).

Sex is the most well-known source of both endorphins and serotonin (happiness hormones). Of course, not all of us have the possibility to have regular sex – but this isn’t a problem. I don’t believe it was an issue when you were 15 (at least for most of us!). There are so many other ways of getting your daily dose of happiness: Weight training, yoga and deep relaxation, 5 HTP (naturally occurring amino acid acting as a precursor of serotonin), deep tissue massage, and proliferations of other methods, to name a few. You should aim to a rule of thumb to get two separate happiness experiences a day, topping up your levels of endorphins and serotonin.

Healthy Eating is also fundamental. Doing nutrition consulting over years I realized that 99% of people have difficulty in telling apart basic carbs, fat and protein sources. Very frequently we suffer from minor and major food intolerances: Major intolerances can inflict a great degree of pain, and so we are usually aware of them. Minor intolerances are not so obvious, but could nevertheless cause serious health problems. The best way to tackle the problem is to conduct an allergens and food intolerance test to identify the core problems, and then hire a qualified practitioner to design a well-balanced flexible diet to meet your needs. Even if you have a perfect body and don’t plan on losing or gaining weight, a balanced bespoke flexible diet could help you to maximize performance, boost your energy and immune system, and even extend your youth.

So, keep your body in good order and always listen to its signals: It will definitely pay off!

Monster in your head

Have you ever caught yourself thinking almost obsessively about something very unpleasant? I bet your answer is yes.

You are not alone. Obtrusive thinking is a major “defect” of the human brain.

Eckhart Tolle, the author of bestseller “The Power of Now”, and “The New Earth” compares this trait of human cognitive processes with the concept of original sin. In other words, all of us suffer from obtrusive negative thinking. It could be snippets past conversations, fighting with invisible “enemies”, or simply anxieties about possible future events that, most likely, will never happen.

It has been scientifically proven that obtrusive thinking is very energy-consuming. I compare it to a hungry vampire, sucking out your energy, draining you of life. You should remember that this ugly, greedy vampire only exists in your own head.

To many of us it seems like a trap from which we can’t escape, but wait: There are some people who are able to beat the Monster, for a while, at least. How? By focusing exclusively on the present moment. All your negative feelings, fears, anxieties and regrets dwell in the past (which you can’t change) or in the future (that you can’t control). So the present moment is the only safe place you have. Next time when the Monster attacks, do something that immediately requires your full, undivided attention. According to Zen principles and cognitive behavioural therapy practitioners, humans are not really able to successfully multitask, as we tend to believe. It’s an illusion. We are really able to do one thing at any one time, and this is a potent weapon in battling our Monster.

My personal method of combatting my inner, negative voice was to start lifting heavy weights, for instance, and counting reps. Doing this slowly, by flexing my muscles for 10 seconds during every rep, didn’t allow me to pay much attention to the Monster. Try this technique, or your own, and send me feedback.

Through controlling your emotions and managing that inner Monster, you will be able to save your energy for far more exciting and inspiring moments in life.

Just do it

When living each moment, try to extract maximum value from the present. Try to accomplish more, try to get new experiences, learn something relevant and useful to your life, visit new places; do something that you’ve never done before.

You’re probably thinking that you could be disappointed, that the experience may not live up to expectations. You might also worry about being put down by negative people, or failing in some way. Those possibilities exist, certainly, but why don’t we simply accept them, move on, and focus on the positives instead? There will always be experiences in life that disappoint us, which may be unpleasant or cause us to be upset. Your Monster is waiting for these feelings to surface, never sleeping, always ready to thrive on negative emotions. So be smarter than your Monster, and collect only beautiful pictures for your life album. Would you keep an ugly picture next to your bed? I don’t think so. Why are we so selective for our physical environment and not as selective for our inner peace?

Don’t be afraid, and open yourself to new and exciting experiences:

A life filled with wonder is a wonderful life.

Vampires feed your Monster

Celestine Chua, the author of the bestselling book Personal Excellence, states that your level of consciousness and energy levels are an average of the 5-10 people you interact most often.

Keep in mind that having negative, greedy, jealous, judgemental, aggressive or constantly moaning people in your circle is not good for you for three key reasons:

They drag down your level of consciousness. Remember, misery loves company. If you see that someone is suffering from personal problems, and you are in a position to help, don’t hesitate. But in majority of cases such people don’t need your help at all. It is ultimately their life choice to struggle. Try to help, but don’t get stuck in fighting a futile battle – if after a month or two you’re making no progress, walk away. They are simply draining your energy, benefitting neither of you.

Such people feed the Monster in your own head, multiplying anxieties, fears, jealousy and complexes. Have you ever noticed they are always keen to give you so much negative ‘food for thought’?

If you interact with negative people too often, you may also start to perceive other people negatively. If your close ‘friend’ is never grateful, doesn’t appreciate what you do, always tries to diminish your achievements – run away. Otherwise, very quickly, you will start seeing the world as a place full of people like them.

The Power of Words

Words have an incredible power to form our reality. Even the Bible begins with the sentence:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”.

Nowadays all of us are drowned in information. We read countless meaningless articles, snippets of news here and there, newspapers, magazines and text messages. We absorb all of this noise, again providing sustenance for the Monster.

On the other hand, books are the best teachers. Reading meaningful texts from positive and reliable sources could help you to acquire new useful knowledge and deeper insights. So, read, read, read, but be selective at the same time. Try to minimize your exposure to negative and meaningless information, or things written by negative people. Take care of your health, energy and purity, and spread positive vibes around to make our world a better place.

Tatiana Dmitrieva

Level of consciousness vs happiness

You wake up, down a cup of coffee, grab your stuff and rush to the station to take the tube to work. The same stations, the same people, the same situations are repeated over and over again. Every day. Every month. Every year. You live like a sleepwalker, in a trance-like state, losing your “today” and waiting passively for things – one day- to change …

Happiness vs consciousness — happiness vs consciousness

… but miracles like that rarely happen by themselves. You clock-watch, spending much of your time waiting for the end of each day, looking forward to the weekend and that holiday you have planned. You are often angry, scared or indifferent. You are always in a rush and not really happy, but live in the hope of a better life. You don’t truly live in the present, but instead in the past or future, overwhelmed by irritating memories of what could have been, or dreaming about a better future life. You focus on the material side of life, trying to get more goods, more money, more brands, and better holidays. You are greedy for pleasure, but when you actually get them you still feel empty…

Does that sound familiar? If yes – it’s time to wake up.

Let me introduce one key term at this point – consciousness.

What is consciousness?

Simply, consciousness is the state of mind when you are fully awake, living in the moment, objectively aware of yourself and others, and possessing a clear understanding of the roots, causes and consequences of events and actions.

Why is it important?

In her book Personal Excellence, Celestine Chua says that

the perception, beliefs, mindsets and values we hold right now are a result of the consciousness we are operating in.

Chua compare consciousness with “a lens you use to view reality”. Eckhart Tolle, author of the bestselling The Power of Now, compares consciousness with the ability to be awake and present at any moment of being. He believes that people spend 99% of their time conducting an internal dialogue about their past and future, which could be classified as an unconscious state. Sometimes this internal dialogue stops, most often when we are involved in some process requiring our full, undivided attention. However, most of the time we perform tasks automatically whilst fully immersed in our stream of our worries.

Another scholar involved in the field of consciousness and self-development, Dr. Hawkins, believes that

the higher the level of consciousness you are in the more objective, positive and loving your mindset.

Chua compares consciousness with myopia. The lower the level of consciousness you have at any moment, the more distorted your perception of yourself and reality. Conversely, the higher the level of consciousness you have, the greater your clarity of vision:

The higher you go, the more lucid you become, and the calmer, more loving and compassionate, more successful, more generous and sharing, and more balanced and positive you become.

Successful people vs normal

Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

Have you ever thought what the unique characteristics of successful people are? Why they always look calm and confident and seem to reflect so much positive energy? I’m not talking about people who are ‘successful’ by chance (inheritance, lottery or other miracles!). I’m speaking of inspirational visionary leaders, trendsetters and philanthropists such as Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, Elon Musk, Steve Jobs, and Richard Branson. What do they have in common apart from fame and, in the case of the business-people on that list, money? You got it – a high level of consciousness! For exactly this reason they reached their goals and were able to manage their emotions and feelings, overcoming failure and disappointment to pursue their ambitions.

Levels of consciousness

Dr. Hawkins described 17 levels of consciousness. All of them were measured and marked from 0-1000 by the logarithmic method. I’m not going to cover the methodology in this article. I will focus on description of all 17 levels.

Consciousness map — Dr. Hawkins consciousness scale

1). Shame (1-20)

This is the lowest level of consciousness, characterised by a feeling of constant humiliation and low self-esteem. These people feel worthless, miserable, ugly, stupid and unable to improve themselves or their lives. They tend to blame other people (parents, teachers, partners) or circumstances for their misery. According to Chua, “vibrating on this level for prolonged period of time can lead to elimination (of the self or others), in extreme cases resulting in suicide, or turning them into serial killers, rapists, moral extremists (mental of physical sadism)…”.

2) Guilt (30)

Feelings of misery are projected outward: This state is associated with public ‘punishment’ – a willingness to hurt or embarrass others. If you meet a person who tries to humiliate or hurt you, they are probably vibrating on this level.

3) Apathy (50)

This is a state of despair and helplessness. After being aggressive to others, abusers often experience feelings of emptiness that in turn trigger a sense of apathy. Many manifestations of addictive tendencies are common at this level, such as addictions to drugs, alcohol, TV, video games and social media.

4) Grief (75)

Many people are at this level at times of personal loss. The life-view is essentially tragic. The dominant colours are grey and black. People usually feel empty and paralysed, and want to break social contacts and escape from reality. This state is mostly inward focused. It may be externalised as a vibration of emotional disability or sadism, coldness, or ignorance.

People on the first four levels are overly focused on past heartaches, disappointments and tragedies. They don’t function ‘in the moment’ and are consequently unable to plan and create a future for themselves.

5) Fear (100)

The dominant feeling is one of anxiety. This level of consciousness is very often associated with anxiety disorder, and fears manifest themselves in a variety of ways: a fear of failure, loss, pain, death, even strangers, but the most powerful, overriding vibration is the same – timidity and defensiveness. People on this level are focused on the terrifyingly uncertain future. This level prevents any options for personal growth and self-development. One living on this level denies information and knowledge, and neglects and discounts the talents and wisdom of others.

6) Desire (125)

The dominant feelings at this level are ones of lust, craving and avarice. Someone on this level craves food, emotions, money, sex, and the consumption of material goods. They perceive others not as independent, valuable individuals but as tools to satisfy their cravings (material, professional, sexual, social). These people are focused on past experiences and on future pleasures and gains: They deny, and could even hate, their present existence as they see it as unsatisfying.

7) Anger (150)

The dominant emotion is hate. One of the common social expressions of anger is strident activism against something, followed by feelings of aggression, frustration and even revenge (ex. religious, environmental, animal rights, sexual minorities etc.). People on this level are focused on past pains and future revenge, seeing the present moment as basically frustrating, a time of waiting.

8) Pride (175)

The qualities which characterise this level are scorn, arrogance and racism. However, this state of consciousness is unstable, and could be destroyed at any time by people from the previous level (anger). You have probably noticed that arrogance is often “punished” with aggression. This is not by accident. Vibrating on the pride level, people often transmit the negative energy of dualism (I’m better then you – you are less worthy then me) that is easily picked up by people from the anger level (which may result in physical violence!) or even those on the guilt or shame strata (who, in a worst-case scenario, may be at risk of being physically or mentally abused or even killed). People on these level could be living in the present from time to time, but mostly dwell on their past achievements and dream about their future victories.

9) Courage (200)

This is the first wake-up point and a threshold between force (violence, aggression, physical and emotional extremism, jealousy, possessiveness, rudeness, and abuse) and power (help, support, sharing, empowering, and inspiring). The dominant emotions are openness (to knowledge, emotions, people, and tasks) and curiosity. Someone on the courage level of consciousness sees the world as an exciting place, full of great people and opportunities. Such a person is warm, open, willing to share (resources, emotions and information), supportive, collaborative, positive, and optimistic. These people have made a conscious effort to live in the present moment, even if their thoughts are mostly future-orientated. The past, in their mind, is accepted as providing lessons and experience.

10) Neutrality (250)

At this level people stop being judgmental. The dominant emotion is a feeling of safety and satisfaction. The individual is not possessive, not hungry for recognition, not aggressive, and very flexible. If they don’t attain something they aim for, they can easily refocus their energies toward something else. They believe in themselves and always have a plan B, a result of a solid understanding of the external world, an inner peace and a high degree of self-awareness. These people are very responsive due to their awakened state of being and are positive, supportive, confident and friendly.

11) Willingness (310)

This is a point where real social contributions begin. The dominant emotions are optimism and sympathy. Life is seen is hopeful. Someone on this level is able and willing to create and to contribute, not only for the benefit of themselves and those people close to them, but for the good of the whole world. These people are present and happy in their ‘now’.

12) Acceptance (350)

This is the second waking point, according to Chua. At this point the individual consciously realises that she or he is a creator. The person is highly aware of themselves and of the society in which they live, and see a clear path to reaching their goals of improving life. The dominant features at this level are acceptance over rejection, creativity, collaboration, openness, long-term vs short-term, ‘striving for personal excellence and growth’, and a willingness to educate and to develop him/herself and help others.

Another defining emotion at this level is forgiveness: Personal pain and old offences are relatively unimportant and go into the “memory box” of the past. One on this level clearly understands the abstract nature of time, and is able to separate the present from the past (in particular, painful memories) and the uncertain future (anxieties and fears) and direct all their optimism to fulfilling present tasks.

13) Reason (400)

Starting from this level, the individual’s presence ‘in the moment’ is constant.

Understanding and rationality are core features of those operating on the Reason Level. A person on this level tends to gather an enormous amount of information from various fields, puts it together, analyses it, and transforms it into easy understandable forms or extracts completely new ideas from it, transmitting these to others. “The life-view is meaningful” on this level, according to Chua. People on this level have the potential to make a huge, positive impact on society in general. Inventions, breakthroughs, and new scientific discoveries take place on this level. Elon Musk, Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Albert Einstein, Eckhart Tolle, Tony Robinson are just a few examples of people who reached the level of Reason.

14) Love (500)

Starting from this level, the uncontrollable internal dialogue is over. People reaching this and the following levels are constantly present ‘in the moment’, and consciously free from negative emotions.

The dominant feeling is unconditional love. There is no antithetical feeling of hate, just overwhelming, outwardly-radiating love. Mother Teresa is one of the brightest examples. According to Dr. Hawkins, only 0.4% of society could reach such a state of consciousness.

15) Joy (540)

According to Chua, “the dominant emotions are serenity and compassion”. The world is perceived as being inherently perfect at this level. “This is the level where saints, advanced spiritual students and healers dwell”, Chua concludes. She adds that some people close to death could also briefly ascend to the level of Joy.

16) Peace (600)

Bliss is the dominant feeling. “At this level, there is no longer any distinction between observer and subject”, Chua says. Eckhart Tolle describes this level as free from judgmentalism and negativity; the individual lives constantly in the ‘now’.

There are no random thoughts, no random emotions or destructive feelings. One on this level is fully connected with the universe at every single moment of their existence. Hawkins thinks that only one in a million could reach this level of consciousness. Examples include Jesus Christ, and the Buddha.

17) Enlightenment (700-1000)

No emotions and no thoughts at all exist at this level. The individual transforms into a channel of pure universal energy. Examples include Christ resurrected, the Buddha following enlightenment, and Krishna.

Consciousness vs success and productivity

hoe to succeed — Consciousness vs energy level

What is the correlation between consciousness and productivity/creativity? The lower the level you are on, the lower your productivity and creativity are. Real creativity starts from the level of Courage, the first positive, outwardly-focused, level. Productivity is pretty low before the level of Pride because individuals waste their energy through continuously occupying themselves with negative thoughts, and worries.

Consciousness vs energy level

Your energy level is tightly linked with your level of presence ‘in the moment’, and the quantity of negative thoughts or dreams about your future you fill your mind with, with no actions to realise or avoid those possibilities. People literally waste themselves away on worries, anger, jealousy, aggression, pointless competition, and empty dreams, rather then creating anything useful for either themselves or others.

How to wake up

According to Dr. Hawkins 85% of society never even reach the first wake-up threshold, the level of Courage, instead fluctuating between shame and anger.

He explains this phenomenon largely through economics (being below the poverty line, many people simply don’t have any opportunity to develop themselves, instead spending their life time struggling to survive). Even with an abundance of resources, most people don’t even reach the level of Pride, as they are overly focused on competition and the acquisition of material goods. He concludes that the average level of consciousness on our planet is fairly low. The lower the average level, the greater the level of damage inflicted on a daily basis to both the planet, and ourselves.

Your personal level is mostly your own responsibility. Here are just a few tips on how to increase your consciousness

Find inspiration.

It could be anything, or anyone, inspiring: gurus, books, motivational talks, travelling to new places, interacting with interesting people.

Try to find inspiration in every day of your life. Collect inspirations, write them down or take pictures to use them in future. The more inspiration you have in your life, the more focused on the present moment and positive you become.

Leave your comfort zone.

Thy to do something new, explore new areas of activity, enhance your experiences and develop your skills, learn new subjects or delve more deeply into subjects you are familiar with, and acquire new experience and knowledge. Do this daily. Add new things on both the mental and physical sides to maintain a balance.

Be present

Time is an abstract phenomenon, existing only in our head. Logically, there is no past and no future. There is only the constant present moment – ‘now’. If you make an effort and focus on the present moment, cutting out the past (painful or aggravating memories) and the future (uncertainty and related anxieties) you could easily clear your mind of any negative thoughts. If you ask yourself if you have problems now, at this particular moment, 99% of the time the answer will be ‘no’. So, there are no reasons to worry. Just stay in the present.

Stay positive whatever happen

As in the previous point, there is no need to worry as the past no longer exists (it passed a second ago!) and the future has not yet happened. 99% of our worries live in our heads only, so be upbeat and create a better future for yourself.

Cut waste

It’s related to any sort of waste: clothing you don’t wear, folders you don’t use, watching TV, scrolling social medias feeds, chatting about nothing with people who don’t bring your up. Clean everything up and regularly aerate your space with fresh air, new ideas and new knowledge.

Moreover, be very careful choosing people you interact with. According to Celestine Chua your level of consciousness is an average of 5 people you interact more often. So, it’s up to you but keep in mind aggressive, shallow, apathetic, jealous, competitive, miserable and constantly moaning people will drag you down.

Be compassionate

Help, support and empower others if you can. Remember the more positive energy you spread around the more positive your World will become.

Collaborate rather then compete

Competitiveness gives birth to aggression, jealousy, constant comparisons and other lower energy feelings. Collaboration is in opposite: put together creativity and recourses for better off, empower people, and multiply positivity.

Share experience and knowledge

Don’t be shy to share your knowledge and experience with others. Very possible they will appreciate and use it for better off.

Follow your life purpose

This point is worth to write a book. I will definitely write a separate article about it. For now just saying: never betray your dream. If you feel that you were born to express yourself in dancing – dance, if your were born to acquire and share knowledge – teach, if you feel you have a talent in sport – go for it.

Tatiana Dmitrieva