Trevor's Twenty Second Tune-Up - it works!

Trevor James sends me his free newsletter because I connect with his website on article marketing. He's actually a professional musician but "does other stuff". I really liked yesterday's message about the "Twenty Second Tune-Up". He says I can use it for my own blog post, with the fair and accepted condition that it's kept and credited as his material, in his wording ... no edits etcetera. So here 'tis:

"Feeling Blue? Use the 'Twenty-Second Tune-Up' and Feel Great in Twenty Seconds!   by Trevor James

"As you go about your business during the day, do you ever find yourself feeling ... well, maybe just a little bit blue, or downhearted?

If so, have I got a swell quick-fix for you!

I call this my "Twenty Second Tune-Up" and it works a treat.

It's surprisingly effective, super fast, and really, really easy. Here's what you do --

First get yourself an index card, perhaps 3"x5" in size, so you can carry it around in a pocket, as a bookmark, or in your purse, if you're the purse-carrying kind.

Next, on this card write the following seven questions --

1) "Why am I so happy?"

2) "Why am I so at peace?"

3) "Why am I so calm and collected?"

4) "Why is this day so beautiful?"

5) "Why am I so filled with energy?"

6) "Why do I feel so good?"

7) "Why am I so happy?"

Now, here's how to use it --

Whenever you would like to change from feeling the way you're feeling to feeling really good ... just take a few seconds, look at the card, and slowly and thoughtfully read each of the questions one at a time.

As you read each one, do not try answer the question, but merely read it, thinking about what it says. In other words, sincerely ask yourself this question. But you're not looking for an answer.

Instead, simply pause for a moment and consider the question briefly.

Then, with no attempt to answer the question, read and consider the next question.

Just go from question to question, considering the question for a moment as you go.

That's all there is to it!

Notice how you feel as you go through this simple exercise, and notice how nice you feel when you have reached the end.

Works every time.

If you would like to know more about how this works then you might want to get a copy of the little book called "Afformations" which tells all about this question-asking technique, and explains why it works.

But the short explanation is that, the human mind has to momentarily create the state being described in order to examine it, and it has to examine the state because that's how your mind responds to any question. Immediate and compliant consideration. It's how we work.

So we have caused the state ('happy', 'feel so good') to be created in your mind by the simple act of asking the question. Now that good feeling can go away when we then change our mind and attempt to *answer* the question.

We don't want that, so we don't attempt to answer the question.

Instead simply ask the question; it evokes the state, and we leave it at that, to enjoy the wave of good feeling we've just created!

From my copy of the "Afformations" book, I simply designed seven questions that cause a human to suddenly become filled with good feeling, according to the system given in the book.

You can get the Afformations book at Amazon. I did.

The Twenty-Second Tune-Up works for me, and I use it all the time, because it keeps me feeling chipper anytime I want, and it's easy as easy.

Hope you enjoy it too!

About the Author

Trevor James is howto guru at Voltos Industries, and has been writing articles about music, psychology, and online business since 2003. His latest website is about cheap guitar amps which discusses amplifier design and the Fender guitar amplifier designs, and how guitarists can get the best sound for the least money!"

There ya go. The 20-sec tune-up seems to work OK, and I kind of get the rationale behind it. Don't know 'bout the Fender guitar amplifier, though. But it sounds cool.

Enjoy your day. I can't persuade the Google Blogspot people (they host this website) that it's Tuesday morning here in South Oz already when they're 'way  behind and think it's still Monday night.

Melanie McKenzie

Melanie McKenzie is the mystery reviewer of my second book now available on Amazon. I have no idea as yet what her review will say. This book's called How To Hold Their Attention, with the subtitle, Ten Striking True Tales for any Audience. It was published a week ago and is 74 pages, so not a heavy read.

The online publisher is CreateSpace.com who have just let me know that my third book is on its way to me in proof copy (by snail mail). If it is OK - no big glitch such as blank pages or upside down illustrations - then I hit the Approved button and, hey presto, the book goes on sale at Amazon.com  These are not e-books but actual  physical paperback ... well, y'know, BOOKS!  The third title just  mentioned is on health and nutrition, Keep Age Away, subtitled, Easy Foods for Fitness and Longer Life. It's 98 pages. My online books aim primarily at a North American market. Typically they are written under pen-names. I am busy on the fourth title this week.

I got good feedback from some who saw the Camtasia video I posted (to Screencast) showing the covers of the four books to date, but I am taking the video-link down. The screen-capture video was a pretty unsophisticated effort, more of a try-out for  myself with using the Camtasia tool. I am not a geeky computer user, just learning, which I guess is something we do life-long in all areas.

Sad news of Ronnie's death

All of Elsie's wide circle of friends, and her family spanning several generations, are very sad at the news of the death last night of Elsie's daughter-in-law, Grahame's wife Veronica ("Ronnie") who lost her long battle with cancer. Elsie was constantly at her bedside. All our thoughts are with them. It is less than a month since the passing of the daughter of Maureen from the same little group whom I am privileged to call friends.

Orcus Patera - nope, it ain't a whale

This came my way this morning.

Orcus Patera on Mars

380km x 140km elongated crater  image 27 August 2010, enhanced for perspective view.

(The precise origins of this feature remain mysterious  although the money has to be on a significant shallow-angle impact by a large meteorite in the remote past)

Current research into the “Martian geology” of the area is by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), and is one topic of a major conference being held in Rome this week at the St Thomas Aquinas Papal University.

Changed days from when the Church burned the astronomers for heresies!

Will  

P.S.  I’m sure they’d still like to: second best option is to attempt a degree of control, such as hosting the conference!

Cecil B. deWill's first Screencast video, almost

Uh, OK, not much to show for yesterday's plodding through the How To... back at the ranch. I mean,  back at Camtasia Studio.  Who comes UP with these names??  Anyway, this was effort numero uno, and I used it to introduce the covers (front and back) of the books which I have submitted to Amazon.com's wholly owned publishing company CreateSpace.com.
Of four titles, two are now available (at Amazon), one is ready but not at proof-copy stage, and the fourth is in preparation. Essentially they represent my humble experimenting for July, August and September, and Book Four is the October project.

[Noted on 27 Sept. I removed the link to Screencast. There is more about my books at this date's post. And thanks, Bill, for your kind comment. How's weather in W.?]

Camtasia Recording Studio

Today is being devoted to me trying to grasp the most basic elements of the Camtasia (video production) software put out by the good people at TechSmith. More anon - if I ever get past the intro for beginners stage!

I have another 20 days of their free trial. So far I can record my computer screen, but I WAS trying to record the audio via my headset microphone. Maybe after morning tea or hanging out the washing, whichever comes first.

Later:  Good-oh. Well, morning coffee break has come first, and by now I have managed to put together a couple of crude videos marrying material from my PDF files with voice-over recording. Definitely a start.

Much still to explore. Digital editing beats the old cut-film-and-stick-it-back-together ways, I guess, but didn't we used to get high on the smell of the acetone-type glue??  Not to mention trying to get it off your fingers.

The Big Women of New South Wales

In PNG and elsewhere, often the powerful are referred to in the patois as 'Big Men' (and it is rare that women might hold an equivalent role). In Australia things are otherwise, which is generally to be applauded. My friend Bill B currently is in Sydney, and - having just visited Kirribilli House (PM's Sydneyside residence) and adjacent Admiralty House (the Gov. General's ditto) on the once-in-two-years Open Days of those grounds and buildings in Milson's Point - he blogs the following:

We were reminded of the interesting situation in NSW at present, where the sovereign (Queen Elizabeth), the Governor General (Quentin Bryce), the Prime Minister (Julia Gillard), the Governor (Marie Bashir), the Premier (Kristina Keneally) and the Lord Mayor (Clover Moore) are all women.

Admitted that HM the monarch is not in NSW this week - but when she does drop by, Admiralty House is at her disposal - the above situation noted by Bill is certainly unprecedented, for any State, in this nation.


As for me, my weekend was only slightly full of incident - Wendy's 60th birthday bash held at the bowling club in distant Warooka (20km), admired Simon's new boat trailer, used MY mundane trailer to take garden rubbish to the tip, and watched an old episode of New Tricks on the ABC. I call that exciting living.

Some sun, more water, mugshots, misspellings, and manuscripts

Nice to see the sun out. There have been recurring very wet days and nights. Major flooding over the state border there in Victoria.
Of course, the event of the month so far was across the Tasman in our neighbour New Zealand, where Christchurch main city of South Island had an earthquake unprecedented at 7.1 on the Richter scale. Miraculously there was no loss of life but one of the injured was in intensive care.
Our local paper this week brightened its pages with the pic in glowing black and white depicting our 14-strong choral group, with no more than the compulsory number of mis-spellings of names. They used Gwenda's well-written submitted report in lieu of sending a team of several dozen journos and camerapersons. I thought I noticed their absence at last week's concert.
I discovered, or rather was pointed to, the website CreateSpace dot com (it's owned by Amazon dot com) and tonight am ready to submit a third manuscript (read, "upload interior") for a short book. CreateSpace, despite the puzzling name, is a self-publishing site not only for books but also for audio CDs and video DVDs or digital downloads of recorded material which their authors have uploaded. At first it seems a complex process even though much of the technical work has been cleverly streamlined for the user. I think I have started to get the hang of it. The big convenience is that books, once accepted (from the author), are advertised and sold through Amazon and, when a purchase is made, printed on-demand and shipped direct to the buyer.

In The Wet

Yes, I know. In The Wet is the title of the 1953 novel by Nevil Shute (1899 - 1960, real name Nevil Shute Norway). Go here for Dan Telfair's review of it, written in 2001.

So what? I look out of my kitchen window at the back garden and see a running river. Great. But there isn't supposed to be one. Sigh. The fruit trees at the side of the house will be getting a good watering, provided that they don't get swept out into the street.

No, seriously, we are better off than all the poor buggers who are REALLY being flooded, forest-fired, or earthquaked.

September showers

I gather from a met report that August in this state was the wettest for a century and second wettest on record.

So here we are in September - hard to believe - and steady rain or drizzle all day gets spring off to a moist start.

Our choral group is due a rest following three performances in the past eight days, in three different towns. The usual jokes about doubling our salary: twice nothing is ... nothing. But we all get a kick out of it, and the audiences are polite. They say they like us!

Health issues affecting half a dozen people directly, not counting the carers and family who of course ARE affected, are currently scoring three good and three not good. Thoughts go out to these latter.

Here's a question for the organically minded (I don't know the answer). Or should that be the botanically minded? Why do red-gum logs hiss and spit and mallee roots don't? Whatever, I have really enjoyed my open fire during the past couple of months and a fair piece of June too. Two more months and ... yes, probably ... we'll be able to complain about the excessive heat and it won't be from a log fire.