Psycho cybernetics
The book Psycho Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz is one of the great references in personal development. It was first published 60 years ago, in 1960.
Maxwell Maltz, before becoming known for this book, was first a renowned cosmetic surgeon. At first glance one might think that the fields of cosmetic surgery and personal development are unrelated.
However, Maxwell Maltz understood that these two subjects were very closely related. He realized that performing operations on his patients did not help them every time. Some people regained confidence only a few days after an operation, others did not, and some even disagreed that there had been any improvement at all; even though the operations were quite successful.
He consequently became aware of the importance of self-image and its crucial role in building self-confidence:
The image of oneself poses the limits of the achievement of an individual. It defines what you can and cannot do. Expand the image you have of yourself and you will expand the limits of what is possible.
The self-image is the key to human personality and human behavior. Change the self-image and you change the personality and the behavior.
Psycho cybernetics Chapter 1: The self-image: your key to a better life
Self-image is built on our beliefs, which are themselves formed from our past experiences. We do not question these beliefs but, on the contrary, constantly act to validate these beliefs, whether true or false.
Self-image is the key to living a better life thanks to 2 discoveries:
- All your actions, emotions, behaviors, your abilities are always consistent with the image you have of yourself.
- The self-image can be changed regardless of the age of the person concerned. It is never too early or too late to live a new life.
The self-image: the real secret
The secret is this: To really “live,” that is, to find life reasonably satisfying, you must have an adequate and realistic self-image that you can live with. You must find yourself acceptable to “you.” You must have a wholesome self-esteem. You must have a self that you can trust and believe in. You must have a self that you are not ashamed to “be,” and one that you can feel free to express creatively, rather than hide or cover up. You must have a self that corresponds to reality, so that you can function effectively in a real world. You must know yourself—both your strengths and your weaknesses—and be honest with yourself concerning both. Your self-image must be a reasonable approximation of “you,” being neither more than you are nor less than you are.
Psycho cybernetics Chapter 2: Discovering the Success Mechanism within You
Every living being has within him or her a built-in guidance system to help him or her achieve his or her goals. In animals, we speak of “instincts” that guide them and allow them to adapt successfully to their environment. The built-in mechanism in animals is limited to finding food and shelter, avoiding or overcoming enemies and hazards, and procreation to insure the survival of the species.
But animals cannot choose their goals. Humans, on the other hand, have something extra: creative imagination. Therefore, humans are more than creatures, they are also creators. The human being can direct his mechanism of success by using imagination.
This success mechanism is comparable to a machine because it allows you to go towards a precise objective; it is oriented towards the result.
This is the concept of Psycho-cybernetics: the principle of cybernetics applied to the human brain. It does not mean that a human being is a machine, but rather that the human being has a machine in him that he uses.
Psycho cybernetics Chapter 3: Imagination: The First Key to Your Success Mechanism
Imagination plays a far more important role in our lives than we realize. It is used for every action we take. We act or do not act, not because of will, but because of imagination.
A human being always acts and feels in accordance with what he imagines to be true about himself and his environment.
We act or feel emotions not in relation to what things really are, but in relation to the image our mind has of those things. Realizing this gives us the power, the lever to change our personality.
Why not imagine yourself successful?
Realizing that our actions, feelings, and behavior are the result of our own images and beliefs gives us the lever that psychology has always needed for changing personality.
It opens a new psychological door to gaining skill, success, and happiness.
Mental pictures offer us an opportunity to “practice” new traits and attitudes, which otherwise we could not do. This is possible because, again, your nervous system cannot tell the difference between an actual experience and one that is vividly imagined.
If we picture ourselves performing in a certain manner, it is nearly the same as the actual performance. Mental practice helps to make perfect.
Psycho cybernetics Chapter 4: Dehypnotize Yourself from False Beliefs
When you believe something about yourself and if you are convinced that it is true, then it has the same power over you as the words of a hypnotist have over a hypnotized person.
Numerous studies have shown that the vast majority of poor grades in school are due in part to the image and “definition” that the student has of himself.
Relaxation is essential to get rid of false beliefs because beliefs have effortlessly formed themselves.
How to use relaxation to dehypnotize yourself
Physical relaxation plays a key role in the dehypnotization process. Our currently held beliefs, whether good or bad, true or false, were formed without effort, with no sense of strain, and without the exercise of “willpower.” Our habits, whether good or bad, were formed in the same way. It follows that we must employ the same process in forming new beliefs, or new habits—that is, in a relaxed condition.
It has been amply demonstrated that attempting to use effort or willpower to change beliefs or to cure bad habits has an adverse, rather than a beneficial, effect.
Physical relaxation the, along with training, leads to mental relaxation, which in turn leads to better control of our mechanism of success.
Psycho cybernetics Chapter 5: How to Utilize the Power of Rational Thinking
All learning is done through a process of “trial and error”. We try something and if the feedback is negative, then we correct the shot and start over again in a different way, until we reach the desired result.
Once an error is detected, we must recognize it as such, use it to improve the next attempt, but also “forget” that error so as not to “learn” how to make that error and thus avoid repeating it.
In the same way, our past failures should not harm us as long as we direct our thoughts towards the goal to be achieved.
Examine and reevaluate your beliefs
To eliminate beliefs, we only have to ask “why?” Why do we believe we can’t?
Then ask yourself, “Is this belief based on an actual fact or on an assumption—or a false conclusion?”
Then ask yourself the questions:
1. Is there any rational reason for such a belief?
2. Could it be that I am mistaken in this belief?
3. Would I come to the same conclusion about some other person in a similar situation?
4. Why should I continue to act and feel as if this were true if there is no good reason to believe it?
And go back to the source: is this belief based on real facts or on a supposition and a false conclusion?
Psycho cybernetics Chapter 6: Relax and Let Your Success Mechanism Work for You
Our trouble is that we ignore the automatic Creative Mechanism and try to do everything and solve all our problems by conscious thought, or “forebrain thinking. And it is true that it is through these conscious thoughts that we set our goals and use our imagination.
But it is not with these conscious thoughts that we can actually do all the work.
Don’t be too careful
Yet that is precisely what modern man tries to do: solve all his problems by conscious thought.
Modern man tries to solve everything with his conscious thoughts. He then becomes too anxious and worries too much about the results.
The secret of creative thinking and creative doing
Yet, as artists, writers or researchers describe it, it is when they relax after consciously preparing a problem or work that inspiration arrives, after they have directed their desire and all the information they have towards the goal.
Many creators report that they get their best ideas either in the shower, while walking along the beach, or otherwise being in or around water. Perhaps the “flow” of water leads to the flow of ideas.
The other “activity” that often leads to creative insights is sleeping. If you have a question you’d like an answer to, or a project you’re working on that you’d like to accomplish with greater ease, you can instruct your mind before going to bed to be open to useful information and to remember it upon awakening. Keeping a notepad and pen on your nightstand to record the insights as they come is a good idea. When you use this approach, you can quickly find yourself getting ideas that greatly surpass anything that comes to you while awake
You are a creative worker
The mistake one makes is to believe that this process of “unconscious cerebration” is reserved for writers, inventors and creative workers. The mechanism of success within us can work in the same way to produce creative actions and ideas.
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