In this video podcast or video blog (vlog)I I talk about what I see as the two major types of meditation. There are meditation systems which encompasses a very large, rule-filled system for meditation and there is simple meditation that is almost a pure physical effort without any of the fluff.

Video 3, Meditation: Two Types >

This is a .wmv file and plays with Windows Media Player. The file is about 41MB in size and runs for 37 minutes. This is the largest video - and they likely won’t be this large again. I wish someone could invent the magic video compression codec that gives me 30 minutes at just 1MB.

If you want your audio to sound better, try to copy the settings (in general) from the equalizer image below for Windows Media Player. Vern sounds best at these settings or raising the left side up just a little overall.

Here is a short video about the temple I filmed the video above at. It’s called, “Wat Tum Sang Phet” and is located in Krabi, Thailand. They are developing it to include a road around the limestone karst lined with fruit trees and vegetables. They’ll likely have cave tours. It’s a really quiet Buddhist temple and the abbot there is very kind - always inviting me in for tea and fruit when he sees me.

Wat Tum Sang Phet, Krabi, Thailand >

This video is 9MB and about 8:40 in length.

Enjoy!

Best of Life!

Vern

A cave at the Buddhist temple “Wat Tum Sang Phet”

This applies to a man or a woman, though a woman would probably have much more success with it. What have you got to lose? Just your marriage if you don’t try it!

Cut off all the hair from your head.

In 1996 as I began to meditate I realized something about the way women looked at me. They lusted after me to put it bluntly. I’m not Brad Pitt and I’m not a political powerhouse or wealthy mogul. But I realized something back then. I’m pretty damn attractive. Too attractive to have these women drooling over me because I was newly married and didn’t need the aggravation. Come on guys, you know what I’m talking about. (I hope this came across as humor!)

So, I was recently married and I was getting the usual eye-traffic coming my way at the university where I was finishing up graduate school. Being a student of psychology I enjoyed doing little social experiments to see if I could learn something about life. After a visit to see my brother in New York I decided I’d cut my hair down to about one eighth of an inch and see if people looked at me differently. My brother, who has been effectively bald since the age of twenty-one told me that not having hair is different than having hair. People don’t treat him the way they treat me because I have hair. He seemed to be jealous of me having hair when he didn’t - especially since I was older by four years.

My head was shaved in the Air Force years before - but that was done at the base where every man’s head was shaved. I wanted to see - does hair make a difference in how people treat me? Specifically, I wanted to see - do women treat me in a different way than when I had hair. Friends and strangers - were there differences that I could perceive?

I bought some clippers and put on the #1 level plastic piece. A “1″ is a close cut. It’s 1/4 to 1/8″ of an inch. It took all of five minutes to clip it all off. Wow. I went from a preppy and adorable full head of dirty blond hair down to stubble in minutes. It was comical to look at myself in the mirror. Already I knew the answer - people would definitely treat me differently. I couldn’t even come to grips with the new look for a few days.

Over the next few weeks I noticed a very real change in the way my friends treated me.

The most common question asked was, WHY did you do that? Apparently the shock of reality was almost too much for my female friends who thought me attractive before. They said things like, “It looked so much better before.” “Why do you want to look like a skinhead?” Apparently my head was so white because my hair was blond that I looked like a skinhead to some. I didn’t act like a skinhead any more than I did with hair - but, this was the reaction I got from some people. Apparently the stubble-head incites fear in some. I guess I did look skinheadish - but inside I couldn’t have been further from that.

I noticed a huge difference in the behavior of strangers toward me. Prior to shaving my head I got a fair number of looks my way during the day. I think everyone at the university gets their fair share of looks since out of 35,000 students there must be 100 that think any person looks good enough to make eye contact with.

Well, after I shaved my head I didn’t get the usual looks and eye contact that I got before. I still got some - and it wasn’t from people staring because I looked like a skinhead. I don’t think anyway. I began to get looks from a different type of person that I didn’t get looks from before. Bad girls. Girls with tattoos and smoking outside the classrooms, even teenagers would look at me quite a bit more and smile. It was bizarre. When I had hair I can’t remember ever having a bad girl look my way or go out of her way to make eye contact with me. When I had no hair - apparently they thought I was a bad boy and that appealed to them.

With friends they seemed to distance themselves from me a little bit. It seemed like they acted more seriously toward me and didn’t joke around or flirt as much if they were girl friends.

Anyway - a very interesting experiment that you should try as a man. As a woman I think you would experience really profound differences in the way men and other women treated you. Some would look at you as if you had turned lesbian. Some would think you a skinhead. Some would think you have a medical problem. Some would think you had a mental problem.

I’m considering making social experiments a part of this web site. I have a few more to share with you from growing up in the USA - but, since now I’m in Thailand - I wonder about the generalizability of experiments I do here. Would you still find them interesting? Not sure.

Here in Thailand I’ve shaved my head - sometimes with a razor (see pic) - just so I don’t have to think about hair being mashed down by my motorbike helmet. It’s cooler and nobody gives me strange looks here. The Thai women also have a similar reaction as in America. Less looks after I clip or shave my head. It’s really strange to realize the effect first-hand.

So - if you’re cheating or plan on cheating or could see yourself cheating - shave your head as soon as possible. Use a razor and go totally hairless if you’re just too sexy for your own good.  See how sexy you are then.

Huh?  Still too sexy?  Shave your legs and arms too.

STILL?  Shave your eyebrows smooth and pluck your eyelashes.

STILL??????? Ok, Ok, see a professional I can’t help.

Best of Life!

Vern

I’m really of the anti-supplement mindset. I’ve used them in the past especially when doing triathlons and bicycle racing but for the last 8 years I’ve stayed away from any kind of supplements. I guess I think I’m always eating enough variety and it’d be a waste of time to take more of what I already have plenty of. I lucked into a good health stream here in Thailand and I’ve not been sick at all in more than two years.

Most supplements are unnecessary. That’s my thinking anyway (Vern-logic).

During graduate school in 1995 I was having trouble holding it together to study. I’ve mentioned that I have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder), and especially during grad school when I had classes, practicum, big brother volunteering, work, exercise and a girlfriend I had a heck of a time studying when I needed to. My mind was going every which way. I’ve never taken Ritalin or anything to treat ADD, though at times in the past I’ve considered it. My brother has taken it and said his creativity just dies when he’s on it - so that was the deciding factor for me. Better to live with monkey-mind than lose my creativity.

I’d read about Ginkgo biloba in a couple of magazines I subscribed to. These appeared to be minimally biased articles (nothing is unbiased!) about the benefits of it. In addition to helping Alzheimer’s patients with memory deficits other benefits were mentioned like concentration increasing in intensity and duration. I found more articles by researching health journals in the university library and it seemed like pretty safe, natural stuff with side effects including: possible increased risk of bleeding, gastrointestinal discomfort, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headaches, dizziness, heart palpitations, and restlessness.  I noticed death was absent as a side-effect and the rest I could live with once. I decided to try it on a trial basis and see if it helped me concentrate while studying.

I started taking the minimal recommended dosage (60mg) 150 minutes before I was to study. That was when it was at it’s peak in the blood stream. While I didn’t have any side effects at all I didn’t notice any real improved concentration effects at first either. Over one week I ramped up to the maximum suggested dosage of 200mg. At this dosage I noticed a difference immediately.

I was studying - reading through a book and highlighting important bits when I realized - I’ve paid absolute attention to what I was doing for the past 90 minutes! I was in the flow - while studying! That had never happened to me before in my life. I wasn’t even necessarily very interested in the material, I think it was something about biochemical aspects of disability - and yet I was sitting there in complete attention to the process of studying. That was an amazing moment in my life.

I was floored. I attributed it to the Ginkgo as that was the only thing I’d changed recently. Over the next few weeks it got even better. If I wanted to do study or think about something - I was able to with little problem. My mind wasn’t jumping around to analyze extraneous sounds, sites or thoughts. I was able to focus on just what I wanted to focus on. I remember thinking what a powerful feeling it was. I remember asking myself over and over - is this what normal people feel their entire lives? No wonder people can pull it together and write a book or graduate top of their class at Yale. If you can concentrate you can do anything requiring extended bouts of sustained, focused thought.

I continued to use Ginkgo on and off during graduate school usually at the end of a term when I really needed the level of focused mind it seemed to give me. I was wary about using it all the time because I’m concerned about taking any kind of supplements over the long-term. I did use it often though.

I noticed no change in level of creativity while taking Ginkgo and I haven’t heard about others experiencing such side effects.

After grad school I stopped taking it. The level of stress in my life decreased substantially and it was right about this time that I found meditation. Meditation has since taken the place of Ginkgo. It gives me a peace of mind, a balance and equanimity that is available anytime without supplements.

Recently I’ve been in book writing mode and I asked my family to find some Ginkgo and send it here to Thailand to see if it helps me focus on writing for extended periods of time about one subject. Blog posts are easy enough - since they’re only a couple thousand words max. Books are another animal and I’m thinking I need to call in the “Big G”.

The price for good Ginkgo here in Thailand is around $100 USD for a two month supply. Twelve years ago in the USA it was around $30. I hope the price hasn’t risen over the years. Isn’t it supposed to decrease? That’s my private logic anyway.

Anyone else using Ginkgo and want to relate your experience? Please leave a comment!

Best of Life!

Vern

Notes:

I encourage you to read more about Ginkgo Biloba before trying it for yourself. The effects that are claimed by companies manufacturing Ginkgo biloba are not wholly supported by research. The success I seem to have had could be the result of the ‘placebo effect’. There are many articles cited in the Wikipedia entry to help you understand more about Ginkgo. Here are three below that apply to improving concentration in healthy persons:

Elsabagh S, Hartley DE, Ali O, Williamson EM, File Se (2005 May). “Differential cognitive effects of Ginkgo biloba after acute and chronic treatment in healthy young volunteers”.
Psychopharmacology (Berl) 179 (2): 437–446. PMID 15739076.

BBC News: Herbal remedies “boost brain power”.

Dose-dependent cognitive effects of acute administration of Ginkgo biloba to healthy young volunteers.

None of what I’ve written should be taken as medical advice or persuasion. I am simply relating a first-person account of my experience with Gingko Biloba. Your experience may differ. Please research fully before embarking on your own experiment!  If you haven’t yet, please read this disclaimer.

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia. Image is linked back to original per conditions of use.

Flow is something that’s talked about by aspiring zenists, Feng Shui practicioners, archers, golfers, chess players and those addicted to computer games. In the flow state time passes without being noticed. Activity is effortless. You may not remember all the details of the state. There’s nothing interfering with your brain and the activity. Quite the opposite, you’re perfectly meshed with the activity. You ARE the activity.

Creative flow is when you’re developing something or creating something and it’s a time of very high productivity. You’re in an optimal state where you are accomplishing much more than you usually do per minute, and there’s no boredom or sense of “work” being done. It may be fun, or there may be no sense of fun at all - you’re just so focused that you ARE whatever you’re doing.

This state of optimum creative flow happens often for me as I’m writing, and I’m glad it does. Over the past year I’ve written over a million words at my blogs and web sites, not to mention comments and questions at other blogs and through email. I’ve learned about the creative flow state just by needing to enter it on a daily basis. I’ll do my best to pull everything together that I’ve learned and share it with you here.

Last year I decided to blog full time. Before that I’d always just been happy to have the flow state visit me when it came. I thought I was just a lucky recipient of it. I didn’t think that I could initiate or control it. I played soccer for many years and on occasion I’d have flow occur during a game. It was as if I was two levels beyond everyone else. My passes were crisp and my timing impossibly perfect. This state usually visited me once per game for a few seconds, a minute… or, if I was extremely fortunate it would last most of the game.

I thought the creative flow state was just like that - when it came, it came. Now I know differently. Now I know how to OWN the creative flow state. It’s available when I want it to be. Or, more appropriately, when I need it to be. Gaining entry into the state when you need it is an almost god-like power. Imagine being able to choose when you enter the state and for how long.

Owning the creative flow state is not as hard as you might think. Like anything, there are antecedents that, once in place help foster the development and then prolong this awesome experience.

How to OWN the creative flow state?

1. Go to your Cave. You, like everyone else that needs to create have a preferred place to work where you can control the environmental conditions like air, noise, chair, table height, space around you, and the rest of it. Only you know what you need in your cave to make you happy and productive. If you’ll be there for hours you will want to arrange sustenance to keep the energy flowing. For me, pretzel rods, the Bull, cashews or pistachios (no red dye) canned coffee and a big water bottle does it. My cave has a toilet, air conditioning, fan, stereo and a place on the floor with a thin mattress and pillows in case I need to get cozy with my notebook on the floor for a change of position and perspective.

Ensure you have your creative instruments in supply and close at hand, exactly where they should be. If I’ve got a project that doesn’t require the notebook (rare) I need those thin lined markers (blue, black and red) and a ream of blank white paper so I can draw sketches, write symbols, text or whatever else - color coded in a way that only I could figure out.

Ambiance. Depending on what you’re doing you’ll want to choose the right music. Eighty percent of the time I’m in the cave creating I like to have something on. Other times I want absolute silence as I’m working on a very detailed idea which demands silence.

Ensure everything is exactly as you like it. The purpose of this is reducing the extraneous fook that can pull you out of the state and into mediocrity. All it takes is one stray thought to germinate in your mind about not having the ruler where you thought it was and all hell could break loose as you systematically fly through every drawer, closet, pocket and puppet to find it. Nothing destroys creative flow faster than thoughts about why something isn’t the way it should be.

Use the restroom before you begin. Take a mental inventory. Anything else that isn’t quite right? Fix it before you sit down. Usually this is when I crank up some Prodigy, English Beat, Beastie Boys, Pixies or Chili Peppers to rev me up. I need to be in a special state of mind to get the creative juices flowing. Nothing less than euphoria works best for me. Upbeat songs rattling the walls works best, but I can be considerate and use headphones when it’s in the interest of social harmony.

2. Inform others that for x hours you won’t be available. That means people in other rooms of the cave. That means turning your phone ringer off. SMS beeps off. Flash phone messages off. Browser messages off. Instant messengers off. Email notifications off. Close your blinds if you’re in an office. Kick the dog out.

3. Label a motive for starting this creative project. It might be very clear, like - if you don’t finish this 50 page paper by the morning you’ll fail Psychoanalytic Theory 6020 and need to repeat the class. Notice how you spontaneously enter the flow when you absolutely MUST get something done and you’re completely out of time and excuses?

A strong motivation is the number one factor for inviting a creative flow session. In college that student mentioned above was me. I left projects to the last minute and then completed them with amazing efficiency and quality. I did my best work that way, so why change the equation? Now it’s a little different as every night is a mental deadline for some blog article to be written. I enter the creative flow state daily for hours, banging out articles out like popcorn thrown in a cub scout fire.

If your motivation isn’t so clear, make it crystal clear so you know exactly why you need to create a masterpiece over the next few hours. I keep defining the why until I feel very confident about the need for the project. I like to picture little things that will come later as I blog toward greatness: Dinner with Lance Armstrong or maybe a playful wrestling match with my favorite Charlie’s Angel.

4. Brainstorming. I brainstorm first - scribbling fragments of ideas all over some blank A4 sheets, I’m chicken-scratching what appears to be gibberish to the rest of mankind, and honestly I can barely read it myself - but, it’s part of the process. If I slow down to write it nicely then I lose the speed at which things pour out of my head. Sometimes i use the computer to write as I can type faster than I can write with a pen - but sometimes the strict format of text on a screen is too limiting and I need to see it on paper, diagonally, curving around the edges, in different sizes, shapes and colors.

5. Planning. Plan the chapters of your project or the general outline of what you want to create by choosing from the bits and pieces you just brainstormed. It is a masterpiece and you’ll know after looking through what you’ve written if it’s comparable to Ludwig Van’s glorious 9th or not. You may need to brainstorm some more. Brainstorming might take 10-30 minutes. Planning might take another 10 minutes. Usually I’m so excited by the time I have half an outline together that I need to either force myself to slow down and finish the complete plan - or, run with it immediately and finish the plan as I go. Sometimes I’m so tweaked about getting started and seeing it come to life that I don’t finish the planning. But, that’s just me.

Usually I don’t catch myself realizing that I’m in the creative flow state for hours after it begins. At some point inevitably I’ll need to use the restroom or drink a coffee and I’ll notice that a chunk of time passed. When I wrote my first book I wrote over 10,000 words at one sitting. Time just flies when you’re focused!

For me, the first session is basically a huge right-hemisphere memory dump from my brain in “Vern-logic” digital format. I spill everything at once almost like a brainstorm but I’m fleshing out details in the general ideas, usually corresponding to paragraphs that will form in the project later. I type like a fiend until my wrists, fingers, elbows and neck hurt.

The first spill is never a completed masterpiece. The left hemisphere needs to make Vern-logic mesh logically with a critical mass of readers that will be reading it. Word substitution, spell checks, graphics and page formatting takes place next.

I’m never in a creative flow during any editing process. It’s something that doesn’t come natural to me. Dumping it all is easy, it’s just like breathing. Editing it is seriously difficult work that I wish I could call on a flow process to help with. Anyone have a remedy? Outsourcing, yeah, I know… I know…

Owning and extending the optimal creative flow state is an amazing skill to put in your bag of productivity tricks. It’s simple really, requiring nothing more than an optimal environment, confidence in your skills, and a really strong and lucid purpose and motivation for tackling the project.

When you own the flow, you’ve got it all and a bag of chips.

Best of Life!

Vern

Flow while exercising:

Flow, pseudo-flow, and mind-tweaking during exercise >