Crazy about Coconuts

Have you ever noticed if you have bought a car that suddenly the same make car appears everywhere? Or that if you have an idea, it seems to grow so that you see further connections?

After being presented with one coconut by my 10 year old daughter last week, suddenly I'm seeing coconuts everywhere! Every time we go out in the car or for a walk we see coconut trees and count how many coconuts there are and we notice the numerous coconut stalls on the sides of the road. We now have at least 8 coconuts in our kitchen lined up for consumption. My brother-in-law who is passionate about eating healthily and keeping fit and is staying with us at the moment has talked incessantly about the health benefits of coconuts. We now know how to open coconuts, have consumed gallons of coconut water (a young coconut can hold up to 1.5 litres of water), eaten the soft, gel like textured coconut flesh (very different to the hard coconut flesh in the old, shrivelled, brown coconuts), blended coconut smoothies and we add coconut oil to our cooking. My brother-in-law re-assures me that we can also use coconut oil to stop our hair going green when we use the swimming pool (a regular challenge that my family and other people with blonde hair have experienced in Bali), as a face and body oil to keep dry skin and wrinkles at bay, as a natural way to lose weight and for our energy levels to soar! It really feels like we've gone crazy about coconuts. Our Balinese staff have been so bemused at us tucking into lots of coconuts and acting as if we have struck gold when they are as common as weeds in Bali, they went home and brought us lots of free coconuts that were simply hanging from their trees.

I used to have a limited perspective about coconuts and now I have discovered a whole new world of information and experiences. It feels like I have opened a treasure chest of valuable health information about the coconut. How has all this happened? To deal with the mass of information surrounding us and avoid overloading our senses, our brains filter what is useful to us.  By focusing on coconuts, I have activated the Reticular Activating System (RAS) of the brain which sets up neural pathways for me to consciously pay attention to them. The RAS has many functions and is particularly useful when motivating ourselves to achieve our aspirations, goals and consciously focus on what we want.

Next time you have a thought, idea or goal to achieve let your RAS direct you to focus your attention. There is a caveat to be noted here, 'you have to know what you want'.  If you focus on what you don't want your RAS will filter information so that your attention is focused on this. If I don't want to be poor, my RAS will focus on this. Alternatively, if I want to be rich, the RAS will direct my attention to finding ways to do this. You can use your RAS to help you focus on your health, wealth, relationships, career, work, studies and what you want in life. If you want to focus on being a better leader, parent, partner etc your RAS will help you to focus and find ways to do this.

Visit Mark Joyner for more of his personal development brain puzzle cartoons.

In the study of Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) which is focused on how to most resourcefully use our brain / neurology, there is a saying:

"Attention goes where energy flows."

What can you do to make sure your attention is focused on what you want?

To find out more about the fascinating subject of NLP, join our next Business Leaders NLP Programme in Bali in November. http://nolimits.typepad.com/nolimitsnlp/