An Excerpt from “Mind Training: The Science of Self-Empowerment” by Ravinder and Eldon Taylor”

Who am I? is one of life’s big questions, one I first remember asking myself at just five years old. No one has a satisfactory answer to this question, but we keep on asking it anyway. One element of Douglas Hofstadter’s exploration of consciousness in I am a Strange Loop is the idea that ‘I-ness’ arises from recognizing ‘other,’ and the realization that I am different from ‘other.’ Our differences make us all unique, but who we are can change significantly throughout our lives.

Several movies have centered on a protagonist who suffers some amnesia and their resulting experiences. One of my favorites is Regarding Henry. In this movie, Henry (played by Harrison Ford) is a trial lawyer who puts winning a case above every other ethical consideration. He thrives on power and is too busy for his wife and child. However, his life is upended after being accidentally shot. Suffering from retrograde amnesia and learning to regain his former independence, Henry loses all sense of who he once was; he does not even recognize his former self. With a clean slate, Henry is then able to create the kind of person he wishes to be, taking his career in a different direction and forging much healthier and happier relationships with his family.

Regarding Henry is only a story with some feel-good moments, but a fair bit of traction can be gained from the idea of rooting out characteristics in ourselves that don’t serve us and creating the person we wish to be. As this information resides in our minds, the first key to successful mind training, therefore, requires some understanding of how our minds work. Minds, though, can be very tricky. While scientists can look at the brain, name the different parts, and assign different primary functions, they cannot do this with the mind. And what about the interface between the brain and the mind—how does that happen? Over the years, some of the brightest people have attempted to construct models of the mind to explain how it works. While no definitive model of the mind holds in all circumstances, the different models do give us some insights, along with some clues as to how this information can be beneficial.

Mind Divisions

While interning under French neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot, Sigmund Freud, the founding father of psychoanalysis, was introduced to the idea that subconscious processes could influence behaviors. At that time, Charcot had been interviewing patients suffering from a condition called hysteria. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, hysteria was a commonly diagnosed affliction. While a man could be so diagnosed, it was predominantly a malady that affected women—particularly those belonging to the more affluent segments of society.

This is an important story to look at as it highlights certain issues. For one, a very long history abounds of women being defined in ways that limit their abilities, and female hysteria certainly contains within it a definition of an overly sensitive weaker sex. This very definition played a role in actualizing it for many women, restricting their potential.

Additionally, and maybe even more significantly for our purposes to- day, is that defining a condition can create it (or convince people that they have it), especially when the symptoms can be so varied and general. In the nineteenth century, symptoms of hysteria could even include a fondness for writing, post-traumatic stress syndrome, depression, or even infertility.1 In fact, the symptoms were said to include “everything that men found mysterious or unmanageable in women” and were “evidence of both the instability of the female mind and the social function of women defined in relation to their reproductive capacity.”2

It would be fair to believe that female hysteria as a condition belonged way in the past. This is not so. While the condition was not included in the first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-I) of the American Psychiatric Association (APA), which was published in 1952, it did appear in the DSM-II in 1968. It was finally dropped in the DSM-III in 1980.3 So, as I prepared to go away to university, female hysteria was still classed as a mental disorder!

A more recent example of another condition with vague symptoms that gained popularity due to increased public awareness is restless leg syndrome. In 2005, the FDA approved the first medication to treat twitching legs. A multimillion-dollar consumer advertising campaign by manufacturer GlaxoSmithKline took sales from $165 million in 2005, to nearly $330 million in 2006, and by 2007, sales were up to $491 million, with 4.4 million prescriptions written for the drug.4 While restless leg syndrome is a real condition, according to Dr. Christopher J. Earley (Johns Hopkins University), “advertising created an overheated demand for diagnosis among consumers, while easy-to-dispense drug samples provided a convenient response for busy doctors.”5 In 2008, the FDA approved a generic version of the drug. With the end of the advertising campaign, GlaxoSmithKline anticipated a drop in sales. “It’s usually a pretty sharp drop,” said Mary Anne Rhyne, the Glaxo spokeswoman.”6 Since the 1980s, Eldon has spoken of the dangers in commercials with their subtle (or not so subtle) attempts to create a problem for which the advertiser has a solution.

 

“Mind Training: The Science of Self-Empowerment” is more than just a self-help book; it’s a roadmap to unlocking the full potential of the human mind. By combining scientific insights with practical techniques, Ravinder and Eldon Taylor provide readers with the tools to transform their thinking, overcome obstacles, and achieve their goals. Whether you’re looking to break free from limiting beliefs, enhance your mental well-being, or embark on a journey of personal growth, this book offers the guidance and support you need to succeed.

For those interested in exploring this transformative resource, “Mind Training: The Science of Self-Empowerment” is available for purchase on all major platforms such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.