Psyching up
Sometimes prior to an event performers have to psyche
themselves up. This can take a number of forms but the aim is to get the mind
into a state where the event becomes easier. For example, an athlete may psyche
themselves up before a race and concentrate on the feeling of racing. They may
relax their muscles or concentrate on events that raise their adrenaline levels.
On a more mundane level, people sometimes wake up in the morning and don't feel
like getting up and going to work. They have to psyche themselves up to face the
day.
Many people like to get into a healthy routine. For example, eating well, working
out at a gym or taking daily walks, giving up smoking etc. It’s not long before
the good intentions start to crumble at the seams. Given a choice between going
to the pub with friends or to the gym and the pub wins. After a few days on a
healthy diet a plate of chips looks very tempting. As I've mentioned before, it’s
often said that the secret to healthy living is change your lifestyle so that
the habits become ingrained. In order to do this you have to psych yourself up.
If you start the day with the intention of going to the gym, for instance, you
will attempt to fit it into your schedule. If you make no such intention it will
probably be pushed aside by more appealing options.
In one sense psyching up can be seen as being similar to something that the writer Carlos Castaneda referred to when he talked about operating at certain frequencies. Carlos Castaneda claimed to have been taught by a Mexican Shaman called ‘Don Juan’. In his books he said that that there are parallel worlds that operate besides our own familiar one but on different frequencies. By shifting your frequency of perception you can come in contact with these worlds. If you shift your frequency slightly you see the same world but in a different way. If you shift it sufficiently you move from this world into a completely different one. Taking certain hallucinogenic drugs achieves the same thing, and he often took the Peyote mushroom as part of his mystical training.
A good introduction to this is a simple meditation exercise that can be performed
on a busy bus or train. Watch the people around you and relax, breath deeply and
concentrate on your breathing. Gaze ahead, but don't stare and attempt to take
in the whole scene: the moving train, the people, the scenery etc. Do this whilst
concentrating on your breathing and if you become adept at it you will start to
see the familiar scene in an unfamiliar way. You have shifted your frequency of
perception slightly.
If you want to achieve success in having a healthy lifestyle you have to psyche yourself up and shift your frequency so that you operate at a different level of perception. You will eat healthily because you think of yourself as a healthy person, not as an unhealthy person who is fighting a losing battle.
