Blinking - Control It Or Show Your Worst

By: H. Bernard Wechsler
Submitted: 2007-01-17 11:44:15
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Ever become suddenly aware of your eyes blinking?

When your eyes are blinking more than 30x per minute – you are under excessive ‘stress’. Of course you are not ‘counting’ blinks-per-minute – but you instinctive know when it is out-of-sync.

When you notice other people blinking – a lot of eye-lashes flickering – they often are lying through their …!

Normal is 15 to 30 blinks per minute, and it is directly linked to our ‘emotions’. Excessive blinking interferes with your ‘concentration’ – reducing it up to 25%.

Blinking is one of those things like blood pressure, heartbeat, and breathing that are ‘invisible’ to us. When you become aware of your own or another’s blinking – something serious is up. Pay attention.

Weird Facts

Mental patients go into blinking overdrive when the subject under discussion causes them anxiety or tenseness.

Most folks blink around 20 closures per second when they are relaxed. Each blink lasts just one-quarter of a second.

In the presidential election of 1996 Republican Bob Dole blinked an average of 147 times per minutes, Democrat Bill Clinton, just 99 times per minute.

When the subject of teen drug use was discussed, Clinton blinked 117 times per minute.

People who regularly appear on TV as professionals blink 31 to 50 times per minute, about twice their natural relaxed rate.

We blink the fastest when face-to-face in a love relationship, speaking in public, and when lying. Call them Love Signals, Stranger-Anxiety-Deception.

For those who must know where the feet grow from – blinking is controlled by the brain area called Superior Colliculi.

Nerve impulse travel from the vision center, and end up at the facial nerves motor muscles. The activating force is the neurotransmitter Dopamine, stimulating the RAS, Reticulating Activating System.

When it’s your own fast-blinking – stop and use one of your two-minute Behavioral Intelligence Strategies to relax your body and mind. When you are blinking your way through a test – you are on the cusp of failure. Stop and take control.

Blinking while taking to someone associated with a personal relationship – career or romantic – is a road sign that means - Stop! - Icy When Wet! - Danger-Ahead!

Breathe-Stretch-Shake – Let-it-Go!

What’s a sure-fire strategy to stop wild-eyed blinking in its tracks?

What works best is a triple-header of “Breathe-Stretch-Shake – Let-it-Go!” - which takes no more than two-minutes. This strategy combines deep-breathing with stressbusting, muscle-release, and finishes with an ‘anchor’ to knock-off heavy-blinking in the future.

Do exactly what it says: deep-breathe, then stretch and extend your arms and legs, and shake your entire body like a dog after getting wet. Finally – slap your hand on a flat-table and either aloud or silently – emotionally repeat – Let-it-go!

Never focus your attention on the blinking movement itself – it accelerates the anxiety. Focus on a new behavioral-strategy to send blinking back where it came from.

Mantra

A mantra is a Sanskrit word meaning ‘protection through repetition’. Repeat a mantra for even thirty- (30)-seconds, and you begin to physically and mentally relax. An EEG indicates our brainwaves move from Beta to Alpha, into relaxed-concentration.

Any time you are stressed, including before giving a presentation, taking an interview, or testing – close your eyes and deep-breathe, and repeat your mantra – ‘Shreem’. In less than two-minutes you feel rested and raring-to-go.

This ‘mantra’ strategy also works to reduce excessive-blinking by 65% - merely by doing two-minutes of diaphragmatic-breathing using your mantra – ‘S-h-r-e-e-m’.

Here’s How

While inhaling - ‘subvocalize’ the first-syllable of your Mantra – ‘S-h,’ by drawing-it-out during the inhalation. On exhaling, the second syllable – ‘R-e-e-m’ is expelled – s-l-o-w-l-y. ‘S-h-r-e-e-m’ is a powerful mantra for calming your ‘monkey-mind,’ while adding up to 25% to your concentration-skills.

Any time you are stressed, including before a presentation, taking an interview, or testing – close your eyes, deep-breathe and repeat your mantra – S-h-r-e-e-m. In less than two-minutes you feel rested, raring-to-go with a ‘peak-performance’.

Conduct your own scientific research: whip-out your BIS two-minute-strategy when you require stressbusting – and optimal-performance.

Author of Speed REading For Professionals, published by Barron's Educational, partner of Evelyn Wood, creator of Speed Reading, graduating 1 million, including the White House staff of four U.S. Presidents.

http://www.speedlearning.org
hbw@speedlearning.org

Article source: Expert Articles