OBE

In the ongoing search to find effective and consistent means for achieving OBE, I spent time reading posts in the William Buhlman group on Yahoo!. This is where I learned about the Yuschak book and it is where I learned about a “physical” approach to OBE.

http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/OBE_Newsletter/

They physical approach extends Robert Monroe’s “Body Asleep/Mind Awake” a bit further (or perhaps it just provides a more effective means of achieving the state than does Monroe’s Gateway series).

At http://www.saltcube.com you will find an inexpensive DVD that discusses the physical approach. Techniques are provided to help you more effectively reach a state of body asleep/mind awake. It is an interesting experience to lay there, your body feeling heavy and numb, and listening to yourself snore. The unique bit of information in this series, at least for me, is the concept that your mind and your body are less “connected” than we think. As your body is going to sleep, it doesn’t know if your mind is asleep. The only way it can tell is to send test signals to see how you respond. These signals might include a very strong urge to roll over or a powerful need to itch your face. If you successfully ignore the urges for a minute or two, your body decides that the mind is also asleep. If you give in, the body resets its sleep timer and waits another X minutes before checking your status again.

So, the recommendation is to ignore these impulses so that your body decides that your mind is asleep and it can begin “shutting down” for the night. Once your body has shut down, creating a feeling like you are paralyzed or like your body is covered by several layers of heavy blankets, you are ready to begin your efforts to separate from your body. The DVD also provides techniques for promoting your exit.

I have had success using this method but, like any of the methods I’ve tried, the success is spotty. This is more likely an issue with me than it is the techniques. The nice thing about this approach is that is does not require visualization to the extent that many of the other techniques do.

If you’re still looking for your way out, I recommend giving this DVD a try. Some of the techniques are unique, the information is clearly provided, and the production values on the DVD itself are quite good.

ConceptDraw Office

When I first got out of college, I worked for a company that allowed me to have a Mac. The Mac SE was my favorite tool. Back then, just after we moved from chiseling tablets, the Mac had a program called HyperCard. It was an interesting program with its own coding language. I used it to create an MRP system (material requirements planning). The system allowed us to track inventories, production requirements, purchase orders, and so forth. It even gave us graphs of expected inventory levels. It was much better than the $50,000 system that my company had purchased (running on DEC…ever heard of it?).

When I moved to IT, I began managing PC’s also. A co-worker and I had moved the HyperCard system to Excel. We found out something very unfortunate. Although I could attach a modem to a Mac and have it working in less than a half hour (versus the four hours plus it would take to put a modem into a PC), our MRP macros ran at least 4 times faster on the 486 PC running Excel than they did on the Mac. This, unfortunately, was the beginning of the end of my Mac experience.

After that, I found myself in positions where the Mac wasn’t an option. My employers were so locked into the PC world that a Mac was out of the question. This year, I decided that if they upgraded the graphics on the iMac, I would buy one for myself. In the spring, they did exactly that. With some trepidation, I ordered my 3.06 Ghz iMac.

Wow. Suddenly, after 14 years, I enjoyed using a computer again. Using Fusion, I was able to put XP on my iMac but I rarely found a reason to use it. Then, one day, I realized that I hated using my Dell laptop for work. Since I have to produce project plans for my clients, I began looking around for a Mac product that would allow me to create the project plans I needed and yet provide them to all the Windows users with whom I worked.

After some searching, I found ConceptDraw Office. I loaded it onto my Mac and immediately fell in love. The product allowed me to mind map my projects, then convert them into project plans that could be exported to MS Project, then produce dashboard-style status reports that could be exported to MS Powerpoint or Visio.

This is a great product. Before finding it, I had been using FreeMind to create mind maps. There is absolutely nothing wrong with FreeMind; it’s a great product and the price is right. However, it didn’t provide the links into project management like ConceptDraw Office did. As I looked into it, I realized that ConceptDraw Office would be considerably cheaper than what I currently use (MindGenius, MS Project, Visio). We’re talking $499 vs. $940. Plus, the integration is better and ConceptDraw exports to all the necessary products.

Additionally, I found out that purchasing a license from CS Odessa actually means that you can install the product on three PC’s, regardless of OS. This means that I could use it on my XP laptop for work and also install it on my iMac to use while working from home.

Although the PC version isn’t as user friendly as the Mac version, it actually seems more stable. In both versions, it’s an excellent product. If you are comfortable using mind maps, need to produce project plans, and would like more attractive updates for your “customers,” you should definitely look into ConceptDraw Office.

www.conceptdraw.com

OBE

OK, this is an easy one.

I’ll put it under OBE but it is more appropriately classified as Lucid Dreaming. Why even bother? Because it’s important for those who long for an OBE but who have never actually attained their goal. To me, this is an intermediate step. Having said that, it’s an important intermediate step on the path to OBE’s.

We’ll call this kismet. There was a period of six months where I had these amazing OBE experiences. Could I explain why? Probably not fully but I will get to the initial reason for my success in a future post. After my incredible success (and trust me, once you’ve had a single OBE, you will see that as an incredible success), I had a dry spell of nearly a year. To call me frustrated is to understate it immensely. It’s frustrating to struggle for an OBE and never obtain it. It’s even worse once you’ve had a taste and can’t seem to achieve it again.

I had seen a book on Amazon that intrigued me but seemed too expensive. For my part, the book appeared worthless so I did not purchase it. I ordered the Lucid Dreamer product found here:

http://dreamamins.com/002.html

I got nowhere. One third of the bottle disappeared with no results.

I got desperate. I had experienced an OBE and then experienced a drought that was far too long for my tastes. If you have been struggling to experience an OBE or lucid dream, you know what I mean. I read an online post that mentioned the book and raved about the results. Later, a few more people posted their results. In desperation, I ordered the book.

The book is called “Advanced Lucid Dreaming” and is written by Thomas Yuschak.

Advanced Lucid Dreaming: The Power of Supplements

It turns out that the pills I had ordered were perfectly formulated to meet the requirements for one of Mr. Yuschak’s solutions. Mr. Yuschak provided the missing element. I was taking the pills at bedtime and this was wrong. The secret was to go to sleep, get up after 4-5 hours of sleep and THEN take the pills. This worked like magic. Suddenly, I was having these amazing flying dreams that nearly left me exhausted. They weren’t OBE’s but they easily fell within the realm of lucid dreams.

As a jumpstart, I recommend Mr. Yuschak’s book. You can use the pills I did or purchase the components based on Mr. Yuschak’s formulations. Either way, I firmly believe that you will experience a step forward in your quest for OBE’s that will amaze you.

I have not followed Mr. Yuschak’s complete plan. However, he is honest and sincere and the recommendations he makes should be followed. Once I began to get results, I began to ignore his suggestions. My successes abruptly ended. The man knows what he is talking about. Heed his words and see results.

To be completely honest, I don’t believe I can get an OBE through the methods described in this book. Mr. Yuschak is of the opinion that OBE’s are just a lucid dream and that the very unique events associated with an OBE are a rare occurrence. I disagree with his opinion because I believe I have experienced the real thing. You cannot confuse an OBE with any other experience. This has been confirmed to me by friends who have had similar experiences.

This is not to discount this book in any way. The book advocates a method of attaining lucid dreaming that is far less work than the methods of Stephen LaBerge. Mr. LaBerge may be right on track with his methods but my lack of patience kept me from attaining any level of success.

Beer

My brother-in-law called one day to say that he would be visiting from Minneapolis. He said that he would be bringing along a canned beer for me to try. Being a bit of a beer snob, I was not impressed. Beer in a can? I’ve had that crap and it isn’t good. That’s like buying beer in a green bottle.

He arrived and handed me a four-pack of 16 ounce cans. They were held together by a six-pack ring that had had two rings cut off. Boy, I was even more impressed now. Beer in a can and the brewer had even gone cheap on the rings. The name was interesting though. It was called Surly Furious. The can had a nice design. Damn…

Surly Furious Can

Pop the top and you’re hit in the face by a blast of hops aroma. Now we’re talking. Hops is what I live for. Lack of hops is apparently why I didn’t like beer until I got away from the mass produced brands in the U.S.

We poured the can into a pint glass. The beer had a great color and a nice head on it. And the taste? Excellent! It has a good body and a great taste. The hops blends well with the malt but it is definitely a very hoppy beer. It has a good strong hops taste without that ultra citrus taste that some of the American breweries seem to favor with their Cascade hops. They say they use a blend of four different American hops. Whatever the blend is, it’s fantastic.

Without question, the best canned beer I’ve ever had. Cheers to Surly Furious.