The Golden Key To Fighting Stress

One of the very first questions I get as a Poker Coach is NOT about poker at all. It has to do with Stress and how to deal with it. Stress pressures the novice player, sure, but people are people and it doesn't make a whimper's difference what arena you're playing in the pressure's the same. And we all know from the inside out that the monster we call Fear holds us back and can cost us and eventually our business/career MONEY. I'm going to share with you The Golden Key Solution to stress reduction. But before I do, permit me to ask you . . . What if you could set yourself apart from your peers quickly and exude confidence? What if you could instantly melt away the anxiety when asked to rise and speak at a meeting? What if instead of that swampy, sick feeling you get whenever you have to make a presentation you could instantly muster an internal source of Power and Confidence and gain immediate calm and a state of control? What if you could finally feel the confidence to approach the 'powers to be' and request that promotion or a loan you truly deserve? What if you could learn a simple technique in an easy 1-2-3 Step method, and erase those shadows of panic and fear? What if there was a simple and easy thing you could do that, if you did 'that thing' it would . . . . . . substantially increase your personal sales simply because you’re Not Afraid To Ask For The Sale? . . . increase your income as result of YOUR increase in sales calls made? . . . drastically cut down your losses because of a more confident self image? . . . and dramatically increase your win rate? What if the The Golden Key Solution was a couple paragraphs below just waiting to be read and all you had to do was practice at home a few moments a day for it to be a positive tool for the rest of your life? Would this be a worthwhile read? What happens to someone that must speak in public? I'll tell you. It's a perfectly natural thing we've labeled our “Fight or Flight Response” and it happens to all of us when we're startled, pressured or think/feel like we're in danger. The primitive part of our 'hard wiring' alerts us of possible harm and puts into motion self-preservation efforts. That's a good thing when there's the prospect of life threatening danger, but for the most part it's an illusion. Notice I said “think/feel” we're in danger. Our nervous systems/emotions do not know the difference between imagined and real danger when the mind imposes it on us. It simply reacts. Our heart begins to beat faster, our adrenal and other glands begin pumping wildly, anticipating combat or escape. Our muscles are flush with blood, mouth dry, palms damp and our eyes are dilated. And all this is because you are about to meet a new client or give a presentation or simply confront the neighbor about their overhanging tree limb. UNDERSTAND there's no real danger here! You're sending signals to your body that there is and it is trying to protect you accordingly, BUT THERE'S NO REAL DANGER WILL ROBINSON!! The Golden Key Solution uses the same tools as meditation and hypnosis: your mind, suggestion and a trigger. As one who meditates I found it extremely simple to teach this principle to my students. Some think of it as self-hypnosis, others merely as a meditation technique. Personally . . . whatever floats your boat. I mean, it's all words and it works. Okay to the good stuff: A Simple Instruction for Meditation You should focus lightly on your breath in an easy fashion. This will allow foreign thoughts to drift in. These are handled one by one as they float in. Remember not to attack them or embrace them, but rather simply acknowledge them and allow them to pass and then bring your awareness back to your breathing. You proceed as follows: Once you have accomplished this meditation and feel accomplished at doing it, you should proceed to more advanced techniques that involve creative visualization and other methods that stimulate healing centers in the body and stimulate energies within and around you. But those are for other times and other teachers to tell you about. 1. Sit in a good chair in a comfortable position, hands resting comfortably in your lap. 2. Relax all your muscles as well as you can. Start from your toes and work your way up and simply let the tension out of your muscles and relax; from your toes to the top of your head; let go and simply relax. Breathing naturally and relaxed, place your awareness upon your breath going out and coming in; as you relax. 3. As you become more relaxed, free your mind from thinking about anything, or at least don't consciously think about anything. 4. Breathing out, relaxed, place your awareness on the place where the Out becomes the In; then breathing in where the In becomes the Out. 5. When thoughts arise, do not engage them, do not embrace them; simply allow them to pass. In doing this you begin to realize the beginning and the end of your thoughts. In doing this you begin to sense the gap between your thoughts. This is where you want to place yourself. There in the gap. Do this once or twice a day for 10 - 20 minutes: I did however promise you an energizing technique that you could use much like the stage hypnotists use that involve a trigger. Well, here it is! Stage Hypnotist Trigger Trick Meditation and hypnosis are part of the same family. They use the same fundamental techniques to get the subject's (you) brain waves down to the Alpha level where Super Learning and Super Suggestibility take place. The main difference between the two is that with hypnosis someone else is in control and with meditation you are in control. So, for instance, when a stage hypnotist puts someone under and suggests to them that they will open their eyes and feel wonderful, but when he snaps his fingers the subject will cluck like a chicken that is using hypnotic suggestion and a trigger (snapping finger) with the result being the subject performing (the chicken cluck). Now, if you wanted some result, say to be calm prior to a presentation and you knew how to get yourself to the Alpha level – which, by the way is where your brain waves are while in your meditation and in “the gap” – how would you do it? Well, you came to the right place! 1. While meditating and “in the gap” creatively visualize a bottle. Now this bottle can appear in your mind's eye as any kind of bottle you wish, but this is a special bottle and you're going to keep in a special place, under lock and key. 2. This is a special bottle of Power Elixir that can instantly give the consumer of its contents immediate power and energy (and any other traits you wish to add after all, it's your elixir). 3. My bottle is blue glass with a blue glass stopper, but you can visualize any color and shape you want. You need to be specific with the benefits of consuming it. 4. You need to, at this point, add emotion: whatever benefits, be they energies, intellect or stamina whatever you need to see, hear and feel them surging through your every cell. Now this might seem a daunting task as you read these words, while in your meditative state it will be no problem. You are after all, internally linked to all that is you. 5. So, now all you need to do is place this bottle in a safe place and secure it with a key. Mine is secure in what I refer to as my Fortress of Solitude. Yeah, yeah, I know. It's not original. So what! But in my space, I have this little laboratory like space with all sorts of cupboards and shelves and monitors and scientific looking stuff. And there in the middle is a lock-box that can only be unlocked with a magic, golden key. Now this key is one of those old skeleton type keys, but more ornate and solid gold. (Get it now? Golden Key Solution?) 6. So when I hold it between my thumb and first finger and rub them (thumb and first finger) together; that's my trigger. I feel the Power Elixir working almost immediately. Rubbing my thumb and pointer finger together like I were holding a key, is also calming. I use it in traffic. Whenever I feel tense or need some type of extra boost of intellect, energy or internal help there it is. And you know what? It hasn't failed me in almost 16 years! 2008-04-22T00:03:24Z

-23.149

438 780

true

11136

the-golden-key-to-fighting-stress

2008-04-26T23:00:00Z

I'm a Poker Coach and part of that role is helping novice players deal with the stress of tournament play and bully players, but it's really not any different than public speaking, traffic jams or preparation for business loans.

The Golden Key To Fighting Stress

2009-02-24T09:44:05Z