The first affirmation has somewhat of a subconsciously negative connotation as it implies to the affirmer that he/she is currently un-happy. Also, if the affirmer keeps repeating this, it will seem like an he/she is stuck in a endless state of wanting and not having reached the end-goal.

The second affirmation however programs a state of inner being into you, one that of happiness, as stated by the affirmation. From within, flowing outward to reality. See how that is better? Run through your regular affirmations and see if you can improve them with this simple but effective tip.

Apart from that, I also seem to have developed a super accute sense of hearing, which kicks in when people are talking about me. This might be selective super hearing, or simply clairaudience. I guess I’ll monitor these sensations carefully over the next few weeks… Initially I thought I was going fucking crazy.

It’s just a bit strange that I only get these at work, maybe it’s a little bit like spidey-sense… ESP kicks in when in an unfamiliar environment. Or perhaps the coffee at work is radioactive or something.

Anyway, I’ve been trying to quit coffee. Let me tell you, after day 2 or 3 of being caffeine free, a cup of coffee starts to smell real fuckin good. People who have tried to quit coffee (I’m talking about serious addicts here, with years of daily coffee drinking under their belt) will tell you about the gargantuous headaches and bodyaches which reduces their physical and mental agility to just about zero on about day 3 of no-coffee.

I have a thoery that these headaches and bodyaches are actually the result of years/months of accumulated toxins, sleep deprivation (or at least deep sleep deprivation) and the body’s way of trying to get the body to adjust itself to normality.

See, Caffeine (notice I still like it enough to spell it with a capital C) is a pretty effective painkiller. If you have been crouching at your desk the whole week doing computer stuff, naturally, if you don’t sit on a herman miller aero chair (which I heartily recommend), you’ll get a ass splitting mind fucking balls ripping neck or back ache. A standard ‘un-painkiller-ed’ bloke would just massage away the aches and pains at the end of the day, giving his/her body the tender lovin care it oh so needs. Now, what happens in the case of the 5-10 cup of joe a day bloke, who does’nt even feel these aches and pains as a result of caffeine blocking the pain? He just simply goes to sleep or does whatever other activity, simply unaware that his body is actually being strained. So when the viel of caffeine’s anti-pain effects are lifted and the reality of the body’s state is revealed, the 5-10 cuppa a day for everyday for 10 years guy gets the physiological equivalent of planet Nibiru colliding with Earth.

Obviously, the simplest solution is to reach for another cup of Joe, after all, it’s so damn convenient. If I were a dog I’d be pissed at why everywhere I go in the city I smell freakin coffee. But really, logically, the best thing to do should be to abstain from caffeine until the body reaches a wholesome state again, then again can coffee be used. Coffee should be an enhancer of an already awesome state, not an extender to a state (mental) that is fading due to lethargy.

When I first started my Coffee detox, it took me about 1-2 weeks of abstaining totally from caffeine, constant muscle aches which did not go away and week-long brain dead states just staring at the tv and not thinking or doing much at all, simply to reach ‘baseline’. Baseline here is defined as a state where I can feel decently okay and get normal daily chores done without the need to ingest Caffeine.

But I guess a detox once in a while is a good thing. Skin looks clearer and more ‘plump’, probably due to the re-hydration effect and energy is more stable throughout the day. Also, sleep comes easier and the best thing is the deep sleep, which is more regenerative than fickle sleep. I don’t know about you but the number one thing that makes me cranky, anti-social and feel like shit is a night of bad sleep. I remember my pre-caffeine days (very young age) where I used to wake up feeling charged and alive. In my relatively few caffeine-free days in my adult life, I have glimpsed this pleasant feeling of waking up recharged and relaxed. This usually occurs on day 3 in the no-caffeine zone.

I think the anti-anxiety effects of being Caffeine free is also one of the major pull factors of me considering quitting the brew. Sometimes, at work or in social situations I am a jittery, anxious and stressed out mess of a person. I guess chronic lack of sleep and days of multiple Caffeine infusions does that to you. I believe Caffeine stays in your system and is felt to a period of 3 days or so on average. At least on my system. Of course, the beneficial effects only last a couple of hours, but in terms of Caffeine being ‘felt’, I can feel it even the next day. I guess you have to experience being totally Caffeine free to know the difference.

I’ll leave you guys with one more theory on Caffeine muscle aches and why they happen and why getting a massage while having a caffeine withdrawal body ache is almost the best thing ever (the best thing ever is drinking a 100 plus at the end of a 5km run).

Caffeine muscle aches: This is toxin related. The lymphatic system in the body is the system in the body which channels white blood cells (essential for the immune system) to various parts of the body. However, unlike the artery, vein and capillary network which transports blood, the lymphatic system is stimulated only by physical movement and massage. Infact, deep tissue massage is a great way to get the lymphatic system moving. These aches and pains are the result of accumulated strains on the physical system in humans. Tend to these aches by giving yourself a good massage (get a foam roller, it’s awesome, I’ll elaborate this in another post) and it is almost certain that your body will be in better sync.

This post was written on day 2 of being in a no-caffeine zone.

- Donald Trump, real estate guru and all round ass kicker (favourite drink is coke light, infact I think that’s all he drinks)

- Warren Buffett, richest man in the world (loves cherry coke, always has a cherry coke in his hand)

- These guys

- Me (my favourite soft drink is coke light)

What’s that you might ask? Well Lucid Dreaming is basically a form of dreaming, where a dreamer is aware of his/her dream environment and hence realises that he/she is in a dream. What’s so special about this? Well, once a person realises he is in a dream, he can actually control it!

As you probably already know, the human subconscious mind is very powerful. In dreams, vivid worlds are created in an instant. Fabulous places, people, objects and crazy things happen in dreams. To even try to recreate this with a computer would require tremendous computing resources, so you can see that the human mind is capable of very complex creations. Why not make use of that subconscious for some fun?

See, my logic is that, we live in reality most of the time. Sometime’s it’s rather drab and boring. Sometimes we just need to do something out of the ordinary… Like fly to or visit a magical place, or take a holiday to a faraway land with dragons, elves and other wierd mystical dream creatures. There is another world out there! (Actually ‘in there’, in your head).

Lucid dreaming is a skill, that can be learnt, and once someone masters or perfects this skill, he/she will be able to conjure lucid experiences at will. Thankfully for you guys, I have been doing a lot of research over the years and already know the best method for achieving this kind of dream state. A good read in general about lucid dreaming can be found at www.ld4allcom. However, I think I will talk about the technique that best suits my style and that I’ve found to be the most effective.

But before that, let me talk about what YOU can do in a lucid dream :
– PRETTY MUCH EVERY DAMN THING

Yes. That means, you can conjure a nice shiny red ferrari, drive down sunset boulevard in it… Fly, possess magical powers, visit different worlds of your own subconscious creation, visit your past lives, walk through a mirror and discover another world on the other side, etc. A few ideas that ld4all describes is : look up at the sky (dreamskies are nice and wierd!)… Talk to people in your dream… Do air-swimming (like swimming through the air with your hands, just like you do in water)… Transforming your ‘dream self’ into another form, like an animal perhaps? A whale? Some kind of a bird? A hot chick? You can’t do these kind of things in real life eh? I guess you can pretty much do anything you can imagine…

Now how do I actually achieve a lucid dream? I should be charging you guys for this excellent info but hey sharing is caring and only like 1 person reads this blog at the moment so LOL… here is the method for free :

1) The method works by inducing the brain to produce alpha waves before sleep. By combining an affirmation and focusing intent in this state before you fall asleep, and also ‘hacking’ sleep and dream states by waking up and disturbing the sleep cycles / rthyms, one can ‘hack’ their mind into being awake while their subconscious is dreaming… ie, awake while dreaming. The key here is to be aware that you are dreaming. Once you are aware that you are dreaming, all becomes easy.

2) How does one exactly hack the brain into producing these perfect patterns for lucidity? I’ve developed a method :

- Sleep at 11pm. Before you go to sleep, stay awake in bed focusing your intent on being able to recall and recognize that you are in a dream when you dream tonight. You can repeatedly chant an affirmation to yourself such as ‘I will remember and realize when I am dreaming’. Or something to that effect.

- As you do this, close your eyes and look 20 degrees upward. (Roll your eyes to look up, while keeping your eyelids closed). Stare at your third eye chakra located at the center of your forehead. (With your eyes closed) For some reason unknown, this position of the eyes alone triggers alpha brain waves. After a minute (or 5) you should see some swirly red patterns forming behind your eyelids. This is known as hypnagogic imagery. Focus on these patterns as you fall asleep while chanting your affirmation and also focusing your intent on remembering and realizing that you are dreaming.

- Wake up 6 hours later. You will want to set an alarm clock for this since each sleep cycle is approximately 4 hours. Sleeping for exactly 6 hours will wake you up right in the middle of a dream cycle.

- Upon waking, stay up for 1 hour exactly. During this hour, you can focus your intent on remembering your dreams, etc etc. I guess a good way to do this is perhaps surf the web on lucid dreaming topics. The key here is to stay awake for exactly 1 hour.

- Fall back to sleep after 1 hour. Do the same eye positioning exercises and affirmations before you fall asleep again. The time now should be 5am when you fall asleep. This will totally fuck up your body’s sleep cycle so your mind will be dreaming, but because you woke and stayed up 1 hour in the middle of a dream cycle, your body is inclined to stay awake then. (That’s the theory but I might be wrong as to how a lucid dream is actually induced.)

- So you should find yourself dreaming now after you fall asleep. You might find that you just go through the dreams as per normal and don’t recall anything. That is when you have to train yourself to recognize that you are in a dream. Once you realize that you are dreaming, you are ‘in’ the dream world! And you can do anything you like there. Laws don’t apply, nothing is real, anything can be conjured. Go wild!

3) What do you do now that you are in a lucid dream? Anything! If you don’t like your current scene, one way to change the location or scene that you are in is to spin your dream body. As you spin, the world spins as well, try to decide where you want to appear when you stop spinning. And when you finally stop spinning, the world you want to appear in appears magically. Try it! If you need to ask a question, you can try summoning a dream character, or dream guide if you will. Ask it anything you want. Do anything you please! It’s a dream!

So, where do you want to go tonight?

I’ve never really tried Arabic food before but it’s really nice. I had this lamb dish with couscous and my friend tried this fruity drink called the Bin Laben. Most of the menu items sound like names of terrorists so I’m sure they must taste like the bomb.

As for the Shisha, I tried the cappucino flavour which according to the mild mannered waiter, was ‘very nice smelling’. True that. There’s just something deeply decadent about chilling back and smoking the pipe even though it does’nt really get you high. Watching thick clouds of smoke emerge from your mouth is just entrancing for some strange reason. I can’t put a finger on it but I am quite intrigued. I will be going again soon for sure. Shisha anyone?

The science community has broken down these ‘waves’ into a few major groups. Beta, Alpha, Theta, Delta. Most people live their daily lives in the beta brainwave state. This is when you brain is most awake and you are more or less in full consciousness and aware of your surroundings. Alpha waves occur when you are in dreamstate, semi-dreamstate, day-dreaming, or upon awakening from sleep, or falling into sleep. Theta waves occur during deep sleep. Delta waves occur during super deep sleep. Zeta waves occur when you are dead. LOL.

So how can we make use of these states to improve our lives? I wrote an article in my previous blog entry about visualization. Some people have trouble visualizing. For these groups of people, I recommend doing visualization exercises in the alpha brain wave states. An easy way to do visualization exercises are just as you are about to fall asleep, or just upon awakening. Your mind will be tuned to the alpha frequency naturally without much trying.

A benefit of doing visualization in alpha states is that, the brain is more open to suggestion. Mind programming can be easier in these states and the effects more long-lasting and effective. How do I know all these? I don’t know. I read. I study. I research. I experiment. I am the oracle.

Another easy way to make use of alpha states is to do affirmations during these states of mind. You will find that your mind is more suggestable to the effects and carry on these affirmations to actuality in beta states.

For those of you hard headed beta caffeine-amphetamine-loaded junkies who remain in beta all their lives and have trouble falling asleep and going to alpha, you might want to try bio-feedback mechanisms such as flasher.exe or bi-aural beats to trigger alpha brain wave states. Flasher is a simple pc program which flashes your monitor screen like a strobe light and syncs your brain to the speed of which they strobe. You can even control the frequency of the flashes to determine exactly how ‘deep’ you want to go. Bi-aural beats are also another feedback mechanism, in the form of modulating sounds, which trigger different states in the brain. ‘Brainwave Generator’ is a good tool which allows you to access different states of mental prowress. There are even settings like ‘The Awakened Mind’, etc in this program, which trigger beta waves. Check them out, they are pretty interesting.