Step Up Your Mental Game

TonyV

New member
I did not write this :cheers:
Your Conscious Mind

The term consciousness means self awareness.

Therefore, your conscious mind describes the part of your mind that you are
aware of.

As you go through your day you will notice a voice inside your head that
talks. You will also notice sounds and pictures flash in and out of your mind.
When you notice these things, they are said to be in your awareness, or in
your conscious mind.


The processing power of your conscious mind is very limited. Scientists have
discovered that you can hold in between 5 and 9 distinct pieces of
information in your conscious mind at one time.


As well as the processing power of your conscious mind being limited, it's
creative ability is also limited. Possibly the biggest mistake the majority of
songwriters make, is they try and create music from a very consciously
controlled perspective.


Instead of being creative in nature, your conscious mind is logical, analytical
and critical. Hardly the type of tool you want to use to construct
inspirational musical ideas!


Instead, you need to learn how to create with…


Your Unconscious Mind

Your unconscious mind is the processing that happens beyond your
awareness.

Every day your brain takes in information from the environment, through
your five senses, and stores it in your unconscious mind. Right at this
moment, you have an astronomical amount of information stored in your
unconscious mind from skills you have, to old memories, and much more.

The processing capabilities of your unconscious mind are astounding. As you
will remember, your conscious mind has the ability to process around 5-9
distinct pieces of information at one time. Famous mathematician John Von
Neumann once calculated that the unconscious can store up to

280,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits of memory. The scary thing is, many
believe this is a conservative figure.

Also, your unconscious mind has the ability to process information at 10,000
to 10 million times the speed of your conscious mind!

It's in your unconscious mind that your creative power lies.

To understand better what your unconscious mind is, let's do a quick
exercise.

Close your eyes for a moment and picture an apple. Now discard that
picture from your mind and say your phone number out loud.

You've just demonstrated to yourself how you can retrieve information from
your unconscious. A few seconds ago you didn't have an apple or phone
number in your awareness. In that moment you were unaware of those
things.

However, as soon as I mentioned them, you were easily able to retrieve this
information from where it is stored in your unconscious mind.

Your unconscious mind is a powerful, creative resource. It has practically
infinite potential to create. If you understand how to leverage its power you
can create music beyond any expectations you have.
 
You think that is interesting you should read Think & Grow Rich. Its basically 400 pages of that lol. Cept for replace apples and phone numbers with success and money.
 
thats why in interviews you always here them say that there best ideals or melody's came from nowhere:hello: (Unconscious Mind )
 
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So your mind is somewhat similar to an email account.

Your Junk Mail is filled to the max with bullsh!t you probably wouldn't notice.

While your actual folder is neatly small in size.

Interesting.

No wonder why Jay-Z is so prolific when it comes to lyrics.
 
and does jay-z write down his lyrics or does he just lets them flow from nowhere =Unconscious Mind
 
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Dot_Robinson said:
So your mind is somewhat similar to an email account.

Your Junk Mail is filled to the max with bullsh!t you probably wouldn't notice.

While your actual folder is neatly small in size.

Interesting.

No wonder why Jay-Z is so prolific when it comes to lyrics.

lol lol ol:cheers:
 
As well as the processing power of your conscious mind being limited, it's
creative ability is also limited. Possibly the biggest mistake the majority of
songwriters make, is they try and create music from a very consciously
controlled perspective.
Fair enough. Explains why it's so hard to get out of a beat block.
 
This is cool and all...but I like how it doesnt tell you how the F to write music unconciously...lot of rhetoric...is there more to it?
 
F00T said:
This is cool and all...but I like how it doesnt tell you how the F to write music unconciously...lot of rhetoric...is there more to it?
i did not write this and Yes theres is more to it :cheers: Setting Your Intention… The Crucial First Step


Your mind has two distinct sections.


You have your conscious mind. This is the part of your mind that you are
aware of. The things you notice going on in your mind are the things that
are conscious.


The second part of your mind is that which is unconscious. This is the part of
your mind that you are unaware of. This part of your mind controls many
things. It stores information. It controls things that keep you alive, such as
your breathing and your heart rate.


It also is in charge of your creative processes.


To access the almost unlimited resources of your unconscious mind, you
need a way to communicate with it. You need a way to instruct it to be
creative and discover new musical ideas.


Your unconscious won’t simply do creative things of its own accord. You
need to direct the process.


How can you do this?


Well, it’s actually quite easy!


You can use your conscious mind to direct your unconscious mind. It’s like
there is a bridge that joins these two parts of your mind together. They can
meet in the middle of the bridge, and discuss what projects are going to be
worked on!


Have you ever been doing a task before at work or somewhere else, when
all of a sudden you got completely frustrated with things not working out,
and gave up in disgust—yet when you come back to it the next day, things
are easy and fall into place effortlessly?


This is an example of your unconscious mind coming up with a solution while
you were doing other things or even sleeping. This is part of a creative
process called incubation.


Let’s look at why your unconscious decided to work on this
problem as you were sleeping.


It’s likely that while you were trying to solve the problem you were saying
things to yourself like, “How can I do this?”


In your conscious mind you were talking to yourself asking how you could
find a solution to this problem. While you didn’t find a solution that day,
when you came back to it later, a solution magically presented itself.


Why?


Well, whether you realized it or not at the time, you were setting an
intention.


By asking the question, “How can I do this and solve this problem?” your
conscious mind was actually sending a message to your unconscious that you
needed a solution to this problem.


This intention was what directed your unconscious mind to look for a
solution.


Intention is the key. It’s the way you can direct your unconscious mind and
assign tasks for it. This is the way that you can leverage the massive amount
of processing power that’s available in your unconscious.


Just think about anything you’ve accomplished in your life. On all these
occasions you will remember that you thought about the task and how you
could accomplish it. And on every occasion, all of a sudden you get the
piece of insight you needed to complete the task.


This is a case of you activating the creative process without even knowing
it!


But now you know that you can use your conscious mind to request things
from your unconscious, you can begin doing it deliberately. You can set
intentions that will set your mind to work at finding a solution.



And it gets better. You can set intentions about anything. And this includes
being creative as a musician.


This is the first step in engaging the creativity process. You must decide
what you want to accomplish as a musician. And when you know what you
want, you need to “intend” yourself for it to happen. When you do this you
are sending your unconscious on a “search and find mission.”


All those resources will be focused in finding a way to bring your intention
to life.


How to Set Your Intention

There are many ways you can set an intention. All of which use your
conscious mind to communicate an idea or a task to your unconscious.


As humans we think in a number of ways. We see pictures in our mind’s eye.
We hear sounds in our mind’s ear. We talk to ourselves. We even smell
internal smells and taste internal tastes.


All of these methods of thinking are known as “modalities.” You can use any
of these modalities to set an intention.


Method one


Using a “How can I…?” to begin your intention.


Using questions is a very effective way to set an intention. It clearly states
the problem and the solution.



For example you can say to yourself (internal dialogue), “How can I write a
beautiful album that is laden with emotion and interesting textures?” Saying
this sentence to yourself will focus your unconscious into finding a solution
to that sentence.



Or you could say, “How can I create an album full of aggressive heart
pounding riffs?”


Do this now.


Create a focusing sentence that defines the music that you want to achieve
on your next album release. This is your intention. If you pose this question
to your unconscious it will get to work at looking for solutions that satisfy
the question.


Another way you can set an intention is by making pictures in your mind of
what it would look like when you’ve achieved your goal.


I personally like using this method of setting an intention as I enjoy using
the visual side of my mind.


I simply see a picture of my next album completed, and as I look at it I know
that it’s amazing.


This is a less specific way of setting an intention; however it’s still effective
at directing the unconscious processes. Here’s why: inside your mind you
have developed what’s called “internal criteria” for what amazing music is
to you.


By seeing a picture of a completed album and knowing that it’s
breathtaking, the intention is instructing your unconscious to look for
creative musical ideas that fit your internal criteria for “breathtaking”
music.


You can use any method of thinking to set an intention.



Your best method of setting an intention will likely be different from other
people. But there is a way you can tell what your best method of setting an
intention is.


When you set an intention—whether you visualize in your mind a completed
song or album, or you put into words what you want to achieve—the best
method is the one that evokes the most emotion.


Emotion is the second important ingredient in setting an intention. If you
imagine your album completed and you feel a tremendous amount of pride,
contentment, or other emotion, then it is a good method of setting an
intention for you.


By setting an intention and attaching emotion to it, you are sending the
message to your unconscious that this is a matter of urgency and needs
attending to.


Specific or General?


Should your intentions be specific or general?


In general (pardon the pun!) the more specific the intention the better.


For example…


The intention “to create an album” is not as good as “How can I create six
magical songs that are each filled with beauty, atmosphere, and haunting
melody lines?”

You can also get more specific and intend to create a particular line for a
particular song.



I like to set intentions for many things. Specific and general.



In the next section is a list of some intentions. Use these to create your own
and begin to spend time each day going over your intentions, to keep your
mind focused on the task you want it to accomplish.




Internal Criteria: What's Your Definition of "Perfect
Music"?


If you could create music of any style, and any level of quality, what would
it be?


What would it sound like?


What emotions would it trigger?


Right now, relax back in your chair and ask yourself, “what is my ideal
music?”


If you created a song and thought it was absolutely perfect, what would it
sound like?


The truth is you can create any type of music you like. You have endless
creative power, and the possibilities are therefore endless.


So what music do you want to make?


The answer to all the above questions defines your “internal music criteria.”
This criteria is something you have deep in your brain, and it defines to you
what makes perfect music. It includes everything you believe about music.
It also includes everything you value about music.


You have criteria for every facet of music—the type of melodies you like;
the type of rhythms you like; the type of bass lines you like; the type of
singing you like; and anything else you can think of.



The other thing is: this internal criteria is unique to you. Nobody else in the
world shares exactly the same view as you when it comes to music. This is
great because it means that if you created a song that adhered to every last
belief you have about music, it would sound like nothing that’s ever been
written before.


Your internal criteria is a big reason why you have the ability to be a
completely unique artist.


This is just another reason that the “rules of music” are very bad for your
creativity and your ability to write amazing music.


Every time you’re being “taught” music by somebody, your teacher is
sharing with you the way that they think music should be. Without knowing
it they are trying to change your internal music criteria to match theirs!


The truth is there are no rules to music. The only rule you need to follow is
easy. Just ask yourself the question, “Does this sound good?”


When you get a good feeling about music it’s because you’re getting a
match against the internal criteria you have developed for music.


To be a great songwriter and drive music into the future, explore new
musical ground and more, you need to become in touch with your internal
criteria. And you need to be able to identify when you have a match with
your internal music criteria, or when you don’t.


For instance, when your listening back to a creative session, you need to be
able to identify which ideas you like, and which you don’t.


It’s quite simply a matter of confidence.


You can easily develop this confidence by asking questions such as:

“Do I like this?”

“Is this good?”

“How can this be better?”



And then trust the answer that comes to you. Just remember that if you like
something it’s because it is a match with your internal criteria for music and
because of this, you can trust it and follow this direction.



Your Internal Criteria Is In Flux


One thing to be aware of is that your internal criteria for music is in flux.
It’s always changing. Some may say it’s always maturing. This is why you
listen to different styles of music as you move through life. You develop
different beliefs and values about music and you listen to different music to
suit these beliefs and values.


Perfect Music


Intention is an important part in the creativity process. Part of “setting an
intention” is to define what you want to create.


I urge you to think big.


If you can create any music, of the absolute highest quality, what would it
sound like?


Think about this question. You may not get a crystal clear “song” in your
head (although if you do, be sure to record the idea), but the more abstract
images and sounds you will here will help define your path to creating this
music.


Thinking about this sets an “intention” for your unconscious to work on. It
gives your unconscious mind that task of finding a way to create this
“perfect music.”



When I think about my “perfect music,” I hear beautiful atmospheric
textures… epic moments… colorful intricate guitars… complex, interesting
drum patterns… mystical rhythmic percussions instruments… inspiring
melodic vocals…


And I see colors: blues… dark purple… light shades of green… whirling
patterns… moments of red…


What do you perceive when you think about your perfect music?


Think about this and you are helping your mind to create this very thing.


Take a few minutes now to write down everything that comes to mind when
you think about your “perfect music.”


What Makes You a Unique, Creative Artist?


As you have just learned, the creative process relies on taking in lots of
musical information, so your mind can distill, distort, and integrate the
information. Out of this come hybrid ideas—otherwise known as inspiring
and interesting musical ideas!


You may think that if this is the case, does that mean that I am simply a re-
hash or a copy of all the musicians that I listen to?


If you thought this for a moment, it’s understandable. Hearing the process
mapped out could give you the impression that this is so.


I assure you though, that you are NOT re-hashing or copying other people’s
work. And here’s why.


Your mind is like a highly sophisticated piece of software, light years in
advance of any software that we use on computers and such.


The fact is, the process that goes on inside your mind to create these hybrid
musical ideas is unbelievably complicated. It is so complicated that it would
take books and books and probably many years just to begin to scratch the
surface.



The creation of your musical ideas—the hybrid ideas that comes out of the
wave of the complicated process that goes on in your mind, is something
that no one else could reproduce.


There are so many factors involved here which guarantees that ideas that do
surface will be completely transformed from anything else you’ve heard (if
you follow the creative process described).


Here’s just a few of the infinite number of factors that will give you an idea
of just how complicated the creative process is:



• All the music you have ever heard
• Detailed internal criteria you have developed for what good music
should sound like
• Beliefs you have about music
• Values you have about music
• Your internal methods of processing the information (music) that
comes in
• Everything you have ever learned about music


And these are just a few things that are used by your mind to engage the
creativity process.


Fortunately we as artists don’t have to keep track of all these things! As you
have learned, we are only aware of a tiny fraction of what’s happening in
our brains. And it’s the parts of us that are unconscious that have the most
processing power, and therefore creative power.


Our job as musicians is to be aware of how the creative process works, and
act accordingly. In doing this we are giving the parts of us that are
unconscious what they need to feed us creative music ideas that we can
then stream into material form.
 
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wow, Good Read! Is There A Book I can Buy With this Information ?
 
Daaamnnnn nice post!! I've heard about this unconscious stuff before. About visualising your goals and your mind will basically try put you on the path towards it.
 
TonyV said:
I did not write this :cheers:
Your Conscious Mind

The term consciousness means self awareness.

Therefore, your conscious mind describes the part of your mind that you are
aware of.

As you go through your day you will notice a voice inside your head that
talks. You will also notice sounds and pictures flash in and out of your mind.
When you notice these things, they are said to be in your awareness, or in
your conscious mind.


The processing power of your conscious mind is very limited. Scientists have
discovered that you can hold in between 5 and 9 distinct pieces of
information in your conscious mind at one time.


As well as the processing power of your conscious mind being limited, it's
creative ability is also limited. Possibly the biggest mistake the majority of
songwriters make, is they try and create music from a very consciously
controlled perspective.


Instead of being creative in nature, your conscious mind is logical, analytical
and critical. Hardly the type of tool you want to use to construct
inspirational musical ideas!


Instead, you need to learn how to create with…


Your Unconscious Mind

Your unconscious mind is the processing that happens beyond your
awareness.

Every day your brain takes in information from the environment, through
your five senses, and stores it in your unconscious mind. Right at this
moment, you have an astronomical amount of information stored in your
unconscious mind from skills you have, to old memories, and much more.

The processing capabilities of your unconscious mind are astounding. As you
will remember, your conscious mind has the ability to process around 5-9
distinct pieces of information at one time. Famous mathematician John Von
Neumann once calculated that the unconscious can store up to

280,000,000,000,000,000,000 bits of memory. The scary thing is, many
believe this is a conservative figure.

Also, your unconscious mind has the ability to process information at 10,000
to 10 million times the speed of your conscious mind!

It's in your unconscious mind that your creative power lies.

To understand better what your unconscious mind is, let's do a quick
exercise.

Close your eyes for a moment and picture an apple. Now discard that
picture from your mind and say your phone number out loud.

You've just demonstrated to yourself how you can retrieve information from
your unconscious. A few seconds ago you didn't have an apple or phone
number in your awareness. In that moment you were unaware of those
things.

However, as soon as I mentioned them, you were easily able to retrieve this
information from where it is stored in your unconscious mind.

Your unconscious mind is a powerful, creative resource. It has practically
infinite potential to create. If you understand how to leverage its power you
can create music beyond any expectations you have.


Thats real talk..........
 
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