How deep breathing can short-circuit stress

By listening you collect data to solve problems and innovate, and you also strengthen interpersonal bonds. Good listeners are sought-after leaders. Think about those who learned to listen to the people. Listening to their needs enabled them to serve the people. In every profession and interaction--parent, lover, therapist, doctor, lawyer, or Indian chief--listening well is elemental. It also bonds us to the person who respects us enough to listen to our ideas. Looking your physical best, having a sense of humor, being assertive, and listening to and praising others are tools that nature has given us so that we can make ourselves more attractive to others and thereby enhance our lives in all of our arenas. I've bet you've never been described as broadly attractive, or for that matter, used the expression to describe someone else. For example, genius inventors are individuals who have the ability to convince others that their lives will be better because of the genius's novel inventions. These two components of genius are still lacking a third, crucial ingredient - the quality of intellectual power. There likely exist numerous cases of individuals who have displayed some unique ability that has distinguished them from others and has had some degree of impact on others yet if these abilities lack a demonstrated intellectual power or importance, each creator may be doomed to obscurity. For example, the individual in the Guinness article of Records (Russell, 1986) who can smoke hundreds of cigarettes simultaneously has displayed quite a unique ability and has probably acquired a few imitators. Yet this somewhat impactful smoker will never be known as a creative genius at smoking, for the power and importance of the act-and, arguably, the thought behind the act--is lacking. Overall, the creative genius is an individual who brings into being products of undeniable novelty, adaptability to the particular problems of a domain, and completeness. In addition, these creative products bear the indelible stamp that is associated with each genius's unique style of thinking and being, a style that often pervades all aspects of his or her life. The products of genius also affect others--changing the way people think, behave, and experience their lives--and stand as a testament to the genius's tremendous intellectual power. The creative genius, by definition, is poised to have a tremendous and indelible impact on innumerable lives. Attempts to measure and identify creative genius usually fall into six somewhat related categories - those that emphasize productivity, eminence, intelligence, cognitive style, personality, or biography. It is believed that this is the head of transport for the nervous system of our body to carry out the communication. Breathing techniques, music, aromas and candle therapy are all ways that we use the opportunities to reflect on our day, allow our mind to rest and replenish itself for further use.

But do these methods keep us mentally fit? Yes, it helps us stay in shape mentally. The great advantage in meditation, however, is the ability of the mind to transform itself into a vehicle for greater awareness. Meditation is a way for us to realize that it is not just our physical activity. We have so much more potential locked in our minds, resources that we never draw on until we have the chance to calm the mind, calm our environment and open the door to opportunities that we don't look at on a daily basis. In our meditative state, thoughts that never have the opportunity to be heard during the hustle and bustle of the day have the opportunity to manifest and be heard. Every step we take is a step in a certain direction for our lives. The opportunity to define our own destiny, to develop our manifestation of what we believe our life should be, is the opportunity that meditation offers. Yet, this is the phrase an evolutionary understanding posits to help you take advantage of the genius of your instincts. How can you make yourself attractive in the different habitats of your life? Here are some recommendations from Mother Nature. I was in Las Vegas speaking at a conference for insurance agents. I had been asked to speak to the agents' spouses. The day before my presentation, I was in an elevator with a group of people (most wearing the company's badge). As we began to climb, I overheard a conversation between a wife and her husband in which she berated him for losing a few dollars in the casino. It would be the example that I would use to introduce the subject of my presentation, the importance of being a supportive spouse, and according to Mother Nature, one of the keys to becoming an attractive mate and maintaining the love of your partner. Flash back to the young man coming home from a hunt. I didn't do well. Although psychologists most frequently emphasize the behavior and thoughts of individuals, researchers interested in genius and creativity often use creative products as their primary unit of analysis. Research using creative products has included a wide array of items including, but hardly limited to, poems (Simonton, 1989a Skinner, 1939), scientific discoveries (Kulkarni & Simon, 1988), musical compositions (Jackson & Padgett, 1982 Simonton, 1995), and dramatic works (Derks, 1994 Simonton, 1983a).

In the area of leadership, the creative product can be quantified using discrete legislative bills, elections, or military battles (Simonton, 1980 Suedfeld, Corteen, & McCormick, 1986). Indeed, it is the creative product that is often relied on to gauge productivity and eminence and may be used to infer creative processes in general. The first quantitative analysis of creativity using productivity as a measure was published by the eminent social statistician Adolphe Que'telet (1835/1968). Que'telet was interested in the ebb and flow of dramatic productivity across the life spans of famous French and English playwrights. In particular, he examined issues regarding the relationship between the playwright's age and level of achievement, with achievement operationalized in terms of the playwright's productivity (i. e. , the number of dramatic works produced). This quantitative approach allowed him to answer questions such as the following - At what age do individuals make their major creative contributions? All the steps we took began as a thought. The thought was then put into reality by our action on this thought. We are therefore able to produce new thoughts and possibilities in this period of quiet reflection. It is in these small moments of creativity and a more conscious operation that our mind recovers from the stress of daily activities, and maintains a true level of healthy functioning. Our mind is like our body, we don't have to look unhealthy to be unhealthy, and sooner or later the diseases show. Do we need meditation? Meditation, a recommended exercise for everyone, but especially for those of us who have hectic and stressful lifestyles, is defined as a commitment to contemplation, especially of a spiritual or devotional nature. Meditation has been shown to relieve stress, and promote overall good health, simply reflecting on our day, and finding happiness in ourselves. These and other mind exercises help us keep our mind in shape, and work at higher levels of performance. But until the last twenty years, meditation was something that the Western world was not much. I caught nothing. Everyone else got something.

The cavewoman who stroked his face soothingly and said, Don't worry. You will be the best tomorrow. I know you will. I believe you will, was supporting him and strengthening their bond. The woman who retorted You caught nothing? How could you catch nothing? drove him away. A few hundred thousand years later, when these couples' descendants are attending the conference in Las Vegas, which couple do you think is having a better time? At what age do they reach their peaks? At what age do their careers come to a close? In a similar tradition as Que'telet, Harvey Lehman (1953, 1962) was interested in leadership products as well as creative products. He examined the ages at which leaders occupied various positions of power (eg, prime ministers, cabinet members, presidents, ambassadors) and the ages at which military commanders led their troops into battle. Dennis (eg, 1954, 1966) also examined the relationship between age and achievement across various disciplines, but with an emphasis on individual differences. For example, in a study of eminent psychologists, Dennis (1954) studied individual differences in output (in terms of publications) and how the level of output affects the field as a whole (eg, if one is elected as American Psychological Association president as a result, at least in part, of this output). He found that the top handful of psychological thinkers were responsible for a disproportionate number of the overall publications produced by the discipline. The use of productivity in the identification of creative genius continues to be fruitfully applied to a variety of topics (see Simonton, 1990). The primary advantage of using productivity as a measure concerns the convenience of ratio-scale measurement properties (Nunally, 1978). Even though ratio scales make up the bedrock of the physical sciences, interval and nominal scales dominate the measurement landscape of the social sciences. Is it necessary for our health? Or have we just found a new way, to fill the empty hours of our day?

Well, empty hours don't exist for most of us, and frankly, without the opportunity to reflect and relax, I would most likely go completely crazy Our spirituality and meditation practices are the tools we have at our disposal to keep our mind as fit as we keep our bodies. The mind is a complicated and versatile machine, but it can become overwhelmed and unable to function properly, if we do not take the time to keep it supported. Our mind has different levels of operation, known as brain waves. As we pass through the different stages of our day, we enter different stages of brainwave activity. The brain uses this tool as a way to give us time to rest our busy mind, and deal with all the information we have received, a way of sort of mind file for the day. Modern alternative medicine and holistic healers believe in the power of the energy that flows through our bodies; this energy radiates from our mind as well. It is believed that this is the head of transport for the nervous system of our body to carry out the communication. Being supportive to your spouse when he is feeling down or has experienced a setback rebuilds his confidence, and this confidence and the positive feelings it breeds fuels his belief that he can rebound and be successful tomorrow. This is one of the evolutionary functions of support-- it helps people recover from adversity, thus increasing their chances to survive. Being a supportive mate make you more attractive because over time, the supportive spouse is felt as a confidence-builder. We like to feel confident, so it is only natural that we would be attracted to people who build our confidence. I couldn't have done it without my husband/wife, is homage to the supportive spouse. And there is overwhelming contemporary research indicating that marital discord is often rooted in a lack of support. How do you express support? One way is to be encouraging-make direct statements to your spouse that you believe in her ability to be successful in her endeavors. Be a positive thinker for your spouse. Another way is to simply listen. Measures of productivity, however, can assume meaningful values ranging from zero to hundreds of thousands, allowing for clear estimations of relative magnitude and meaningful interpretation. A number of concerns need to be addressed when choosing and measuring creative products.