Sunday, September 7, 2014

The Tyranny of Familiar Truths



When the 'Jack The Ripper DNA' story hit the headlines today, I was interested and intrigued by the variety of responses; especially how people clung to their conspiracy theories despite evidence to the contrary. At the same time I was having an interesting conversation via The Energy Code Facebook Fan Page about the nature of ideology and dogma.

It got me thinking about how many of us have 'sacred cow' beliefs that we will defend bitterly, sometimes violently, and how the tyranny of truth has held back advances in science, the arts and philosophy throughout the ages, mainly via religion's repression of thought and freedom of expression.

Before anyone gets offended here, I would like to add that academic and scientific edifices are just as capable of repressing ideas that challenge the accepted wisdom of the age, although historically, science has been more ready to adapt than religion; with change measured in decades for science versus centuries for religion.

I believe that our attraction to holding on to cherished beliefs has a lot to do with the way our brains create mind-maps for familiar activities. Mindmaps are life-hacks, they allow us to reduce the amount of effort required to think and do. Once we have performed a task, or acquired knowledge, or taken on a belief, it is easier to rely on the existing mindmap than to edit or replace it. Think of mindmaps as being paths of least resistance, a lot like a pathway through deep snow. Once we have trod a path through the snow, it is easier to retrace our steps, making that path more obvious, and requiring less effort. The more we walk along the same path, the easier and easier it gets.

Now we may discover there is a shorter route to get to where we want to go, but it is through virgin snow, so it is going to require a lot more effort to go that way at first. Here's the caveat, however, once we have walked the new path a couple of times, it too will become ingrained and be the path of least resistance, as well as more efficient.

So next time someone presents you with evidence that challenges a cherished belief or way of doing things, don't just resist it out of habit. Sit back, take a moment and assess if this new information is useful, and then allow yourself to update your mindmaps to accommodate it. The first few times might feel like trudging through foot-deep snow, but believe me, pretty soon you will be be glad you made the effort to escape the tyranny of a familiar truth.


Elisabetta is the author of The Energy Code, The Infidel, Veritas, and D'Arc the Legend of Saint Joan.

Visit her website 

Preview or Purchase The Energy Code from Amazon 

Saturday, August 23, 2014

What is Energetic Health? Excerpt from The Energy Code by Elisabetta L. Faenza



 To celebrate the launch of The Energy Code, today's blog shares an excerpt about the very important concept of energetic health; a concept that relates to our internal well-being as well as how we interact with the world at large.


Enjoy,

Elisabetta 25th of August 2014




If we think of our bodies, cells and relationships as buckets of energy
that we can have conscious awareness of, we start to be able to better
manage our health. And by this, I am not referring solely to physical
health. The latest scientific discoveries imply that the physical, mental,
emotional and even metaphysical are intertwined via the DNA feedback
loop, and cannot be understood in isolation.


One area of our life links to another, so I use the term Energetic Health
to represent the sum-total of the health of these systems. Using the 7 Key
Principles I outline in The Energy Code, we can manage the Energetic Health of our
cells, and organs, with a flow on effect to the health of our body, mind
and spirit.

This doesn’t stop at the individual. Because of the DNA’s ability to
broadcast its health into the environment, each of us affects the Energetic
Health of everyone we interact with. So managing our own Energetic
Health, by implication, helps us to manage the health of our close
relationships; whether at home, at work or at play.

The alternative to Energetic Health is Energetic Disease - a state that
leaves us vulnerable to the over or under methylating (silencing) of our
genes, toxic overload of our organs and cells, mind-blocks rather than
healthy, flexible mind-maps, and negative feedback loops between our
peptide receptors and information/emotion molecules. Perpetuated over
time, this leads to a state of chronic fatigue or unwellness, eventually
resulting in acute illness. It is clear we are all born with the
mechanisms to self-heal; we are in fact a self-healing organism, with all
the mechanisms and back-up systems to promote health.

For some, the decline into disease, whether it be classed as mental or
physical illness (I believe the distinction is a misnomer, as the mind is
the body), leads rapidly to an under functioning in many areas of life;
for others, it leads to acute illness and death. For a great many, the path
is slowed by watching the actions of those around us and changing our
behavior to mimic theirs. If we adopt the habits of the energetically
healthy, we can return to wellness bit-by-bit.

If you think of our body’s ability to store physical and mental energy as
akin to a battery that is recharged through rest, diet, exercise and healthy
thought patterns, then just like a battery, we can be drained - in our case -
by poor diet, lack of exercise, not enough rest, and negative thought patterns.
Just like a car battery can be used to jump start another car battery that has run flat,
so the human energy system can be drained by those around us.

All too often, we charge ourselves up by stealing energy, often
learning these techniques at quite a young age. The energy theft required
is unsustainable as one-by-one those we have stolen from succumb to
illness or leave for self-preservation. Bullying is a common example that
drains the victim and temporarily tops up the bully. Countless studies
have shown that both the bully and the victim have increased incidence
of mental illness, depression and incarceration as young adults. The bully
has learned this behavior by observing adults or older children and
then mimicking it. You can often see this playing out in family groups
where a dominant, aggressive parent will berate and bully their spouse,
draining them of energy, who may then use passive-aggressive techniques
to gain pity and sympathy, from friends or family draining them in turn.

Children observe this and learn to adopt either:
♦ A passive aggressive, ‘poor-me’ style, demanding sympathy and assistance without any serious
   intention to change their situation
♦ An aloof, detached style, requiring others to spend a lot of time and energy trying to    
    connect with them
♦ An interrogating, critical style, seeking to undermine others through criticism, sapping
    all joy
♦ Or the more aggressive and overt, dominator style that seeks to overpower and intimidate
    others

I class all energy theft as a form of predation, and the thinking that
goes with it as ‘the predator’, because regardless of whether the technique
is covert or overt, it involves the theft and devouring of someone else’s
energy - their life-force.

In extreme cases, this is obvious - the work place psychopath, the
sociopath and narcissist have developed successful techniques for stealing
energy from others in a conscious, planned way, literally draining the
reserves of those around them. Do not be fooled however, we all do it to
some degree if we are not taking care of our system’s energy needs through
healthy means.

Entertainment and media, especially, reinforce these patterns by
feeding the dominant thought patterns of this predatory mind-set,
through fuelling our fears, anxieties and insecurities, prompting division
over gender, race or beliefs and draining society and the individuals
within it of energy. Ill-gotten gains are never sweet, however, and the
predatory path of energy management leads to more despair, insecurity
and ill health, leading us to consume more of the earth’s resources, trying
desperately to re-charge our batteries.

Clearly the predatory path is not sustainable and it is at the root of
many of society’s ills. It is the voice in your head telling you ‘I’m not
good enough’ that fuels jealousy, greed, anxiety, violence and addictions.
It sets in motion chemical feedback loops within the body/mind that
may persist for years, reinforcing and deepening our unhappiness, until
we believe that voice is us, forgetting that it is something we learned and
adopted. It is a false mind that prevents us from activating our natural
predisposition to living in harmony with each other, our environment
and ourselves.

Fortunately, we can free ourselves from this negative energy pattern, by following
some common-sense steps that free our body-mind to be healthy and energized, allowing
us to be the best we can be, and make the most of our time on this precious planet.*

To discover the 7 Keys to Energetic Health go to:
The Energy Code by Elisabetta L. Faenza

*Faenza, Elisabetta L., The Energy Code, Motivational Press, New York, 2014, pp88-89

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Social media and the Science of Influence


In this age of ubiquitous social media opportunities, more businesses are trying to leverage the medium to create sales, influence behaviour and develop loyalty. Most fail, spending lots of money and time trying to be 'liked' and then trying to work out how to translate these 'likes' into sales - what is known in the industry as 'monetising.'

There are many offers around to buy likes, whether through your Social Media provider in the form of advertising or some third party, but this strategy ends up having the opposite effect; reducing your impact as well as the quality and relevance of your followers to your brand. Buying 'likeability' simply doesn't work, you have to earn likeability organically because it is the glue that attracts and keeps your followers, converting them into customers.

I read an article recently by Arel Moodie in Forbes Magazine about likeability as a key factor of influence:

"We do business with people we know, like and trust. If people don’t like you, they won’t buy from you. If you sell something someone else sells, why should a customer buy it from you rather than them?"

"Increasing your likability is one of the best ways to separate yourself from the herd. Likability is accessible to everyone. Like anything else, it can be learned.  If you offer a good product or service and people like you, your competition won’t be able to touch you."
  (Arel Moodie is the best selling author of The Art of Likeability).
In our research we have identified the key components to rank highly in the social media realm, building likeability and sales. The research confirmed that successful communication in the digital realm has much in common with traditional print media; a picture paints a thousand words, snappy, relevant content is crucial, and a great headline trumps all.

Interesting, original and highly relevant images make you stand out, however - and this is a big one - they must be linked to content that is valuable to your target market. A headline of 3-4 words, with a high quality image that has an imbedded link featuring the first paragraph of an article or blog, seems to get the most impressions, views and likes; utilising the way algorithms prioritise posts on social media platforms.

So to build likeability, influence and sales via social media, you need to be able to access high quality, proprietary, original images, and have a great copywriter providing the headlines and the content. For most small organisations that's not something they can manage in house, because those skills are developed over a lifetime. It's kind of like suddenly having to become your own magazine or newspaper editorial team with copywriters, graphic designers and photographers on staff.

So what can you do?

This is where outsourcing comes in, but here is the caveat - and it's a big one. The team managing your social media must know you, must understand who you are, what makes you special, why you do what you do, and they must be able to write outstanding copy. Farming this out to some offshore team at the cheapest possible price will get you the same result as buying likes - nowhere!

So for true likeability that is in alignment with the who, what, when, where and why of your brand you need specialists who can do more than SEO and social media integration. You need a team who  have expertise in:
  • Brand Development and Consultation (understanding who you are)
  • Communication Mentoring
  • Social Media Strategy
  • Strategic Content Creation
  • High Quality, Proprietary Image Creation
  • Ghost Blogging and
  • Social Media Propagation 
If you want to stand out and become authentically likeable talk to the team at: NoTrees for an obligation free consultation:

Contact NoTrees 

Here's a sneak peak from my next book in The Energy Code series - The Charisma Code...

Charisma and the Science of Influence



Have you ever wondered why some people exert more influence than others or are more likeable? We often describe people or organisations that grab and keep our attention and influence our behaviour as charismatic or likeable. 
Charisma, however is more than just popularity and more than an ability to influence or lead.
Charisma is an ancient term, derived from the Greek word charis meaning 'divine gift of grace.' In this sense 'gift of grace' means a skill or ability given to a mortal by the gods for the benefit of the world. This gift was given in order to fulfill an extraordinary destiny or to change the course of history. While in modern times we associate charisma with beauty and persuasiveness, there is a lot more to it than that. Some people demonstrate aspects of charisma either natural or learned, while some fake charisma, creating a cult of personality to increase their celebrity or political power. I would argue these do not represent true charisma, which is something much more profound.
In its original sense a charmed or charismatic person was said to have the following attributes:
1. A special gift or talent
2. An ability to inspire others through their passion for life or a higher purpose
3. Audacity in the face of adversity - the ability to break through and lead by example
4. Grace and benevolence - putting a greater purpose ahead of their own needs, sacrificing their own comfort or well being for others.
5. Attractiveness - not just physical, a beauty of the mind, spirit or character, likeability
Charisma should not be confused with manufactured popularity or a cult of personality that uses propaganda in order to increase or maintain power. There is one attribute of charisma that helps us to tell the difference between the real thing and a fake. That quality is grace or benevolence.
Of course advertising or propaganda can be used to create the impression that someone is charitable, kind, compassionate and giving, but it cannot be faked in person.
So can charisma be learned?
Charismatic behaviors can be modeled and mimicked. We can become better communicators, develop our abilities or talents through hard work, make ourselves more attractive, but only life experience will determine whether we become more graceful, compassionate and wise individuals. This is the difference between leaders who seek to have power over others, and those who find themselves in a position of influence to change the world for the better.
Teams with a greater purpose outperform others. They retain their highest performing team members and report a greater sense of personal satisfaction and team loyalty. This leads to ongoing business improvement, further innovation and talent retention, which all contribute to market leadership.
Communicating likeability is crucial.
Alignment and authenticity are crucial. Faking likeability is a short-term solution, as is using public relations to 'look' like a good corporate citizen, because in the information age, sooner or later the faker is found out. Not every brand or individual will change the planet, but if we can connect to a deep passion or purpose, perhaps we can us our influence to advance one small area of our world for the better.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Our Intelligent Cells

In his seminal work, 'The Biology of Belief’, Brian Lipton introduces the concept of Epigenetics or the science of the effect the environment has on switching genes on or off.⁠[i]

    Lipton is a Cellular Biologist and former Professor at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine. After some 20 years as a pre-eminent biologist, pioneering the cloning of cells, Lipton realised that the cell tuned itself to its environment, and it was the environment, not our DNA that determined our evolution. He realised that the environment provides the cues that a cell uses to determine which codes to switch on or off. Even more startling, Lipton provides proof that cells actually assemble new DNA in response to environmental conditions.

    Perhaps, most startling of all, Lipton shows that cells borrow DNA from other species, and that the human body is actually a community of differentiated cells, working and cooperating with foreign species - like the bugs in our gut - to do more than survive.

    All of this goes hand in hand with what quantum biologists are discovering about the way DNA codes are affected by emotions, behaviour and environmental conditions.

    What Lipton adds to the debate is that every cell in our body is listening to our thoughts, feeling our emotions and responding to the thoughts and emotions of others. Like ripples in a pond, the DNA within our cells organises itself according to the needs of the cell and then broadcasts this response into the environment.

    Now the ramifications of this growing body of science are astounding. There is a revolution occurring in the world of the evolutionary sciences. Darwin is no longer pre-eminent with his 19th century doctrine of survival of the fittest, and the determinism of the genes. Darwin's contemporary, and the first to publish a theory of evolution - Lamarc - was long pilloried for his belief that cells are more than factories at the whim of flight or fight responses. His thesis that an organism evolves through co-operation is at long last being considered by modern science. In the battle for hearts and minds in the scientific community where nature seemed to triumph over nurture, the tide has turned. Nurture now seems to be the determining factor in what gets expressed by genes.
  
What all evolutionary scientists, cell biologists and geneticists agree upon, however, and what is often not conveyed to the general public, is that our genes are how we store and transmit the memory of our experiences from one generation to another. Our DNA is a portable library, one where new books are being written, old books re-read, and others edite
  
    So what does this mean for you and I?

    It means that we are not at the mercy of our genetics: that unless we suffer from one of a small handful of genetic conditions like aplastic anaemia, our genetic make-up is far more mutable than previously publicised. The environment we live in, the experiences we have and the choices we make about our environment, behaviour and thoughts determine what gets switched on or off, or indeed constructed in our DNA.

    As someone who was born with a potentially fatal genetic condition, I have experienced the power of choice in my life. The choices I have made around healthy food, to exercise regularly, avoid alcohol and tobacco, pharmaceuticals and recreational-drugs has helped me to beat the odds. However, the decision to manage my thoughts and emotions has been even more profound.

    By focusing on positive outcomes and committing my energy, intent and actions to the steps that will make these outcomes a reality, I know I have changed my destiny. I did not perish at three years of age, from bowel disease, although I was diagnosed with it. I did not die at 12 as a result of the four strokes I suffered. I was not in a wheel chair at fourteen or dead before adulthood. I am now nearly 50 years old, the mother of four healthy children with a full and productive life. I have outlived my mother, who died at 44 of breast cancer.

    In short I have made the best of a bad lot. What the future brings is anybody's guess. What I do know is that I have choices, and I will continue to exercise my ability to choose as long as I draw breath. I will continue to thank the collection of 50 trillion or so smart cells that make up my being, and send them supportive, healthy messages through the physical, emotional and mental choices I make; and I will acknowledge the messages they send to me, and interpret them in context, choosing the most appropriate response.

    For me, the quest to understand our biology and how our DNA, environment, behaviour and emotions interact is extremely personal. However, you don't need a genetic condition for this to matter. It is in the interest of all of us on this planet to ask ourselves a simple question each day.

    "What have I cast my vote for today? Through the choices I have made did I vote for health and a productive, useful life, or did I vote for something else?"

    This is what I have asked myself every day since I was twelve years old and a doctor gave me a death sentence. Through my choices, I believe I proved him wrong. Thanks to scientists like Lipton, I can begin to understand why.


This article is an excerpt from The Energy Code, by Elisabetta L. Faenza, published by Motivational Press for release late 2014.

[i]  Lipton, Dr. Bruce, H., The Biology of Belief, Hay House, NY,
2008

Friday, April 4, 2014

Gravity waves, microtubules and biocentrism...


The discovery of gravity waves recently has got the scientific community buzzing as the ramifications of this discovery are debated.

Gravity waves were predicted by Einstein in 1916 as a biproduct of the general theory of relativity and the sudden inflation of the universe that occurred after the big bang. Gravity waves are ripples in the curvature of space-time, but have, until very recently, been undetectable.  Their recent detection gives credence to physicists who have posited that inflation theory underpins the existence of countless, inflating, simultaneous universes, each with their own unique physical laws.

Discussed below is a book entitled "Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe," by Dr. Robert Lanza.  Dr. Lanza takes the theory of relativity and applies it to human consciousness and the nature of the universe.  Lanza posits that our experience of this universe resides within our own perception - our own electromagnetic shell, so to speak, and that when we die, we are released from that shell and our consciousness moves into another universe, existing on another frequency in a world much like our own.


Some quantum biologists have entered the debate of late suggesting that the microtubules in our brains process quanta of information and upon our death, lose integrity and release this information into the universe, where it is not destroyed but continues to exist in the form of electromagnetic energy.


While Lanza has come to his cosmological view through a study of astronomy, quantum physics and cosmology, his conclusions sound strikingly familiar.  The ancient teachings of shamanism, and mysticism describe multiple universes experienced through the layers of our individual energy fields. Furthermore, many traditions describe the near death experience as something akin to uploading your life experience to the cosmic consciousness (sometimes described as the eagle's beak) and the importance of personal energy to consciousness after death.  

Lanza's theory is known as biocentrism, which sounds strikingly like the work of Teilhard de Chardin, co-discoverer of Peking Man, and conciever of the Omega Point. Teilhard believed that the universe is a consciousness that is ever evolving, perfecting itself through the experience of everything within it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierre_Teilhard_de_Chardin

So everything old is new again - both literally and metaphorically. It seems that modern science is re-discovering through technology and theoretical physics what many ancient philosophers conceived through revelation, and by so doing, sorting the wheat from the chaff.

I am ever grateful to be living through this amazing time of discovery and debate...

Enjoy...

Scientists Claim That Consciousness Moves To Another Universe At Death

Spirit Science and Metaphysics
A book titled “Biocentrism: How Life and Consciousness Are the Keys to Understanding the Nature of the Universe“ has stirred up the Internet, because it contained a notion that life does not end when the body dies, and it can last forever. The author of this publication, scientist Dr. Robert Lanza who was voted the 3rd most important scientist alive by the NY Times, has no doubts that this is possible.

Beyond time and space

Lanza is an expert in regenerative medicine and scientific director of Advanced Cell Technology Company. Before he has been known for his extensive research which dealt with stem cells, he was also famous for several successful experiments on cloning endangered animal species.
But not so long ago, the scientist became involved with physics, quantum mechanics and astrophysics. This explosive mixture has given birth to the new theory of biocentrism, which the professor has been preaching ever since.  Biocentrism teaches that life and consciousness are fundamental to the universe.  It is consciousness that creates the material universe, not the other way around.
Lanza points to the structure of the universe itself, and that the laws, forces, and constants of the universe appear to be fine-tuned for life, implying intelligence existed prior to matter.  He also claims that space and time are not objects or things, but rather tools of our animal understanding.  Lanza says that we carry space and time around with us “like turtles with shells.” meaning that when the shell comes off (space and time), we still exist.
The theory implies that death of consciousness simply does not exist.   It only exists as a thought because people identify themselves with their body. They believe that the body is going to perish, sooner or later, thinking their consciousness will disappear too.  If the body generates consciousness, then consciousness dies when the body dies.
But if the body receives consciousness in the same way that a cable box receives satellite signals, then of course consciousness does not end at the death of the physical vehicle. In fact, consciousness exists outside of constraints of time and space. It is able to be anywhere: in the human body and outside of it. In other words, it is non-local in the same sense that quantum objects are non-local.
Lanza also believes that multiple universes can exist simultaneously.  In one universe, the body can be dead. And in another it continues to exist, absorbing consciousness which migrated into this universe.  This means that a dead person while traveling through the same tunnel ends up not in hell or in heaven, but in a similar world he or she once inhabited, but this time alive. And so on, infinitely.  It’s almost like a cosmic Russian doll afterlife effect.

Multiple worlds

This hope-instilling, but extremely controversial theory by Lanza has many unwitting supporters, not just mere mortals who want to live forever, but also some well-known scientists. These are the physicists and astrophysicists who tend to agree with existence of parallel worlds and who suggest the possibility of multiple universes. Multiverse (multi-universe) is a so-called scientific concept, which they defend. They believe that no physical laws exist which would prohibit the existence of parallel worlds.
The first one was a science fiction writer H.G. Wells who proclaimed in 1895 in his story “The Door in the Wall”.  And after 62 years, this idea was developed by Dr. Hugh Everett in his graduate thesis at the Princeton University. It basically posits that at any given moment the universe divides into countless similar instances. And the next moment, these “newborn” universes split in a similar fashion. In some of these worlds you may be present: reading this article in one universe, or watching TV in another.
The triggering factor for these multiplyingworlds is our actions, explained Everett. If we make some choices, instantly one universe splits into two with different versions of outcomes.
In the 1980s, Andrei Linde, scientist from the Lebedev’s Institute of physics, developed the theory of multiple universes. He is now a professor at Stanford University.  Linde explained: Space consists of many inflating spheres, which give rise to similar spheres, and those, in turn, produce spheres in even greater numbers, and so on to infinity. In the universe, they are spaced apart. They are not aware of each other’s existence. But they represent parts of the same physical universe.
The fact that our universe is not alone is supported by data received from the Planck space telescope. Using the data, scientists have created the most accurate map of the microwave background, the so-called cosmic relic background radiation, which has remained since the inception of our universe. They also found that the universe has a lot of dark recesses represented by some holes and extensive gaps.
Theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton from the North Carolina University with her colleagues argue: the anomalies of the microwave background exist due to the fact that our universe is influenced by other universes existing nearby. And holes and gaps are a direct result of attacks on us by neighboring universes.

Soul

So, there is abundance of places or other universes where our soul could migrate after death, according to the theory of neo-biocentrism. But does the soul exist?  Is there any scientific theory of consciousness that could accommodate such a claim?  According to Dr. Stuart Hameroff, a near-death experience happens when the quantum information that inhabits the nervous system leaves the body and dissipates into the universe.  Contrary to materialistic accounts of consciousness, Dr. Hameroff offers an alternative explanation of consciousness that can perhaps appeal to both the rational scientific mind and personal intuitions.
Consciousness resides, according to Stuart and British physicist Sir Roger Penrose, in the microtubules of the brain cells, which are the primary sites of quantum processing.  Upon death, this information is released from your body, meaning that your consciousness goes with it. They have argued that our experience of consciousness is the result of quantum gravity effects in these microtubules, a theory which they dubbed orchestrated objective reduction (Orch-OR).
Consciousness, or at least proto-consciousness is theorized by them to be a fundamental property of the universe, present even at the first moment of the universe during the Big Bang. “In one such scheme proto-conscious experience is a basic property of physical reality accessible to a quantum process associated with brain activity.”
Our souls are in fact constructed from the very fabric of the universe – and may have existed since the beginning of time.  Our brains are just receivers and amplifiers for the proto-consciousness that is intrinsic to the fabric of space-time. So is there really a part of your consciousness that is non-material and will live on after the death of your physical body?
Dr Hameroff told the Science Channel’s Through the Wormhole documentary: “Let’s say the heart stops beating, the blood stops flowing, the microtubules lose their quantum state. The quantum information within the microtubules is not destroyed, it can’t be destroyed, it just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large”.  Robert Lanza would add here that not only does it exist in the universe, it exists perhaps in another universe.

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

DNA and memory



You’ve probably heard the term ‘muscle memory’ before.

Well it turns out your muscles literally have a memory, along with every other cell in your body.

The same researchers that discovered that our DNA processes light and sound waves have discovered that each cell in our body has three Gigabytes of memory storage.

They believe that what we have termed the ‘subconscious mind’ is actually the function of the DNA in every cell of our bodies.

This memory holds our inherited and learned behavior patterns, memories, experiences, beliefs and skills.

It’s like a massive database of information that makes us, well us... it makes each of us unique.

Now it is estimated we each have 70 trillion cells in our body, so with three Gigabytes of memory per cell that equates to some 210 thousand, trillion Gigabytes or 210 Zettabytes of memory per human.

That’s 210 with 21 zeros after it, worth of memory storage in your body.

In 2013 the world’s computers were estimated to have reached 4 Zettabytes of combined storage capacity, less than one fiftieth of the storage capacity of a single human being’s DNA.

The ladder of our DNA Double Helix holds enormous storage capacity
And what is even more amazing is that just like a computer, we are able to switch the biological codes on and off and re-program the behavioral software within this DNA database.

Recently scientists have discovered that the every piece of DNA code is read by the cell in multiple ways, doubling or even quadrupling the amount of information that can be simultaneously encoded.

This appears to be the reason humans don’t need nearly as many DNA codes as was previously believed to be necessary to account for our complexity.

It’s the infinite potential of DNA’s interaction with our experiences that makes us so complex.

You can learn more about how DNA and environment interact in Elisabetta's upcoming book - The Energy Code, published by Motivational Press. 

Elisabetta's other books include The Energy Bucket, The Infidel and the soon to be released Veritas.

Learn more about Elisabetta and her work at:

 elisabettafaenza.com

Tuesday, March 25, 2014

An introduction to The Energy Code by Elisabetta L. Faenza


When I began studying human performance back in the early ‘80s I was full of questions. There was in fact very little published literature on the impact of the environment on DNA, our cells and the brain, and how these influence the way we develop behaviors.

The classical literature in the field treated the brain as a black box (to borrow an analogy from my good friend Dr. Dan Diamond). We had evidence of people’s response to the environment in the form of the things they did, and we could ask them about how they felt about their experiences. Behavioral scientists could even predict certain behaviors based upon reflex and the theory of conditioned response. But we had little idea how behaviors linked together neurologically, how habits were formed, or how we could unlearn an old behavior and adopt a new one. These things were literally hidden from view inside a black box that some believed we would never be able to peer into.
Whenever researchers proposed a theory or created a new therapy to treat behavioral problems they were often guessing, and hoping that these methodologies would help people, and make a positive difference to their lives. As a result psychology, psychiatry and neuroscience were not considered ‘hard sciences’ because much of the theory was untestable.

All the while, biologists, quantum physicists, psychologists, psychiatrists and neuroscientists, assisted by breakthroughs in the technology of peering into the black box, were gathering two types of evidence:

1.    Evidence that the brain’s functions are localized and fixed and therefore would one day be able to be predicted, and controlled.

2.    Evidence of anomalies to the accepted map of brain localization that signaled the brain might be plastic - highly changeable and not fixed, and that our approach to the brain and behavior was built on a false premise.

Today, some thirty years later, science has accepted the view that the brain is plastic, and that behaviours and memories are not stored in fixed locations. The evidence is overwhelming.
This new science is starting to be taught in universities all over the world, although it will be years before high-school biology textbooks reflect it. And in the ‘real’ world where people work and live together, we behave as if the older theory is still intact. We count humans as a cost rather than an exceptional resource, and change as something to be feared and survived rather than embraced.

In our interactions with each other in our homes and workplaces, in our hospitals and communities, many of us labor under the illusion that once injured, the brain cannot heal itself, and that ‘old dogs cannot be taught new tricks.’

My own experiences and obsession to understand the deeper biological underpinnings of behavior has of course influenced my practical work as a hypnotherapist and personal effectiveness expert.
In working to improve the performance of groups and individuals in the workplace, I was aided by my knowledge of the mind, and assisted by productivity and time-management tools.
Over and again I would be asked by managers to help them teach Stephen Covey’s ‘Seven Habits of Highly Effective People’ to their teams, or embed the ideas in the latest Time Management Blockbuster into the workweek. Books like David Allen’s ‘Get Things Done’ or Tim Ferris’ ‘4 Hour Work Week,’ contain helpful strategies to more effectively manage the things we do in the limited time available to us.

These strategies cannot and should not be undervalued. They provide useful tips to getting more done in less time.

However, unless we address the workings of the ‘black box’ of the mind, all we are ever doing is tinkering around the edges of productivity. While it is important to know how to handle the ‘stuff’ of our lives - the stuff that happens to us, the stuff we experience around us, and the stuff we do - our habits do not change through intellectual realization alone.

The reason for this is that habits are laid down over time and by repetition. Any new habit has to compete for resources within the brain and is competing with well-resourced, highly entrenched older habits. This is why, for most of us, habit change is a difficult process filled with fits, starts and reversals. It’s why our old, bad habits reassert themselves so prominently when we are under pressure and most in need of newer, better ones, and why we resist change in any area of our lives.
It is when our jobs are on the line, our company is in trouble or budgets are squeezed that we should be able to rise to the challenge and demonstrate highly productive behaviors. In my experience, working with sales teams around the world, the opposite is usually the case.

Eleven years ago I met Matt Church, the founder of the ‘Thought Leaders’ community, and he encouraged me to turn my passion for understanding the ‘black box’ of the mind into a practical guide for individuals and managers. ‘The Energy Code’ is the end result of that process.

My purpose then in writing this book is to provide a practical guide for the layman: extending the influence of complex multi-disciplinary fields like epigenetics, neuroscience, quantum biology and concepts like brain plasticity into our homes and workplaces and into our schools and hospitals, so we do not miss the opportunity to revolutionize the way we work together, the way we heal after trauma and build resilience into our personalities.

The Energy Code is a very practical book designed to help people to understand how the mind works and how three things determine behavior:

1.    Our genetics,
2.    Our environment, and
3.    Our energetic health

It is my sincere wish that you, the reader, embrace the ideas and concepts in this book and question them, test them and prove them for yourself. If out of that comes a positive change in the way you interact with your family, work colleagues and community, my purpose will have been met.


The Energy Code is published by Motivational Press and due for release in the Northern Hemisphere summer of 2014.

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