Growing the Positive Mind with the Emotional Gym [Paperback]

Dr. William Kent Larkin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 8, 2008

At the crossroads of applied neuroscience, positive psychology and quantum physics. You don t even have to know what these words mean to read this book, understand it, and make it work in your life. No matter who you are or where you are, 18 to 80, a kid, a searching student, a worker bee, a mom, a dad, a professor, a social worker, a psychologist, a teacher, a worn-out therapist, or a pauper, you can read this book and apply The Emotional Gym to your life. There are 7 promises in this book. Do the simple work the book suggests and all of the promises will be yours, I promise. Start by taking The PM Factor Test The Positive Mind Test. Take the test first, then put it away and read the book and do the work that is outlined here. Why grow a positive mind? You can grow a positive mind. But why want one, you may ask. First of all, if you stay in a positive mind rather than a negative one, you will live longer. People who spend more time in a negative downward spiral than in an upward spiral, are twice as likely to have a stroke or heart attack. Reason enough? If that is not reason enough, the more significant ones are that when you have a positive mind and when you are growing a positive mind, you get more of what you want. It comes to you more easily and it comes to you more quickly. You are healthier, you solve problems more quickly, you are more creative, you score higher on every test of well-being and life-satisfaction, and you thrive at a cellular level. Reason enough yet? How about seven more promises about the significance of growing a positive mind? These promises are the 7 chapters of Growing a Positive Mind. They are promises to a brighter, happier, more fulfilling, and authentic life. The First Promise (The Emotional Gym) is that you can learn to feel positive emotions, that you can grow positive emotional muscle and that it becomes stronger and stronger. This is the first work-out in the Emotional Gym. As you practice exercising positive emotional muscle and doing the exercises over time your UpSpiral Score, which you keep daily for 90 days will increase and your Emotional Scale Score will also increase. The Second Promise (The UpSpiral) is that you can stay in the UpSpiral of a positive mind 100% of the time and by learning to be there over time, that you can raise your emotional set-point and your happiness set-point. Quite a promise, don t you think? The Third Promise (StrengthSmart) is that you can actually find out what your own personal strengths are and that those strengths are at the core of becoming happier and more content in your life. The Fourth Promise (The VibeCore) is that your VibeCore, which is at the very heart of you, can grow and increase and as it does, you will create and find more of what you want in life. The Fifth Promise (The FuturePac) is that if you follow these directions that you will emerge with a sense of direction and vision for you life. The Sixth Promise (VisioNavigator) is that your vision in life will lead you to a sense of your passion. The Seventh Promise (MasteRevelation) is that your vision will lead you to vital friends and connections that from this synchronicity there emerges revelation When you have finished the book and after you have done some of the work, take The PM Factor Test again. You may send your results into us and we will tell you what they mean from our research and work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Amazon Review Dr. Larkin s groundbreaking work had me right at the opening sentence of the first chapter: To grow a positive mind, from which you become who you really are and from which you attract into your life what you really want, you have to learn how to stay in an UpSpiral. This book fills a long standing need in the field of neuroscience, specifically in the study of neuroplasticity, positive psychology, and the evolution of consciousness, to synthesize a highly accessible model for developing and sustaining an upward spiral of positive emotion and really achieving the life you ve always wanted. Dr. Larkin writes in an engaging, personal style which is easy to understand, and most importantly, easy to implement in one s life. He offers absorbing examples and insights into a subject which he had made uniquely his-growing a positive mind. I found the Emotional Gym both enjoyable and highly effective. Writing for a wide audience of both general interest and professional practice, he succeeds in making his subject powerful and accessible. This is a must read for anyone who wants to understand and experience a higher sustained level of life satisfaction. --Dr. Donald Johnson

About the Author

Dr. William Kent Larkin Applied Neuroscience Researcher Personal and Corporate Consultant Dr. William Kent Larkin is a neuroscience researcher specializing in the science of happiness from the perspective of neuroscience research. Dr. Larkin works in helping individuals and organizations find their strengths and talents and to build upon them. His specialty is using these strengths to create and maintain an upward spiral of positivity. His research indicates that when people know and use their strengths daily, rather than focus on and try to change their weaknesses, that they become happier and their overall well-being and life satisfaction increases. Dr. Larkin presents proof that when strengths develop, weaknesses become easier to manage and lessen because less energy and attention is given to them. People stay in an upward spiral and are happier. "We are culture driven by trying to change our weaknesses, when actually our weaknesses change very little over a lifetime. That window of change is only 3%, at the most 7%. In contrast, our strengths have infinite malleability, they can grow enormously, and when they do, they undo weaknesses, they heal weaknesses, and they manage weaknesses in profound ways," contends Dr. Larkin. He believes that we would develop many more prodigies and geniuses if we focused on strengths rather than on "balance", "wholeness" and fixing weaknesses. Educated at Yale University, with a doctorate in psychology and religion from Harvard University, he has also done post-doctoral work in neuroscience and holds a certificate in neuropsychology. Dr. Larkin was for 10 years the voice of psychology for the Armed Forces Network which broadcast to 72 countries of the world. Breakthrough with Dr. Larkin, both radio and television, won 62 national and international awards including the New York City International Festival of Radio Gold Medal and 2 Gabriel Awards from the United States Catholic Communicators Association. Dr. Larkin is the author of the Self-Esteem Manual and Inventory and Get Real. He has just published, Growing The Positive Mind: The Emotional Gym

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Applied Neuroscience Press; 2nd edition (February 8, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1605850179
• ISBN-13: 978-1605850177
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.7 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,746 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Dr. Larkin Provides Realistic Access to Happiness Studies May 22, 2008

By Greg Jackson

Format:Paperback

In my using applications of positive psychology with my graduate students, I've noticed a problem with both the Seligman (Peterson's A PRIMER IN POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGY) and Gallup's (Rath's STRENGTHSFINDER 2.0) approaches to promoting positive emotions. Gallup's approach focuses on the behavior, thoughts and attitudes to develop personal strengths and personal excellence. Seligman and Peterson's approach uses the concept of describing our inner core of values, or "values in action." Both are fabulous efforts, but their concepts can elude practical application for the individual. Both seem to approach "happiness" as a secondary effect of becoming more "engaged" in work and life in general. Increasing happiness seems to be a secondary consequence of increasing personal engagement and productivity.

On the other hand, Larkin's GROWING THE POSITIVE MIND bridges both approaches in making a practical and direct contribution to the effort of increasing positive emotions. His text is a "bridge" between the conceptual and the applied use of positive psychology and happiness studies. Larkin zeros in on the topic of "increasing happiness" itself by focusing on the workings of the human brain. GTPM provides practical and meaningful exercises that work. Add Dr. Larkin's obvious mastery of this material and the reader has an opportunity to gain a greater appreciation ot the work done by so many researchers in this area. For those who are interested, this is a fine approach to recognizing the treasures in current research on the functioning of the human brain and the subjects of neuroplasticity and neuroscience. A fine job! --Greg Jackson, Ed.D., College Professor

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Happiness Is . . . an Upward Spiral March 20, 2008

By Hyatt Carter

Format:Paperback

First, this book is fun--fun to read and fun to put into practice. The book contains seven chapters that introduce and discuss in detail seven key concepts for growing a positive, creative, happy, and fulfilling life:

1. Emotional Gym
2. UpSpiral
3. StrengthSmart
4. VibeCore
5. FuturePac
6. VisioNavigator
7. MasteRevelation

Each chapter concludes with a "Workout," an exercise that shows you how to concretely put what you have learned into practice.

Does it often seem that you are the passive victim of emotions, that it is the emotion itself that causes you to feel how you feel? When you begin to work out in the Emotional Gym, you learn how to grow, or pulse, four primary emotions: gratitude, love, peace, and joy. Over time you will learn how to feel each emotion consistently and, once you have built up emotional muscle, these emotions become instantly "on call." This is a first step in growing the positive mind.

The next step is to learn how to stay in the UpSpiral, that is, in a flow of positive energy and emotion. This has an important health benefit, for if you spend a lot of time in the DownSpiral of pessimism and negativity, you are far more likely to suffer a stroke or heart attack.

You, like everyone else, have a pattern of strengths and weaknesses that was woven into your neural pathways very early. Research has conclusively shown that there is very little, in fact, next to nothing, that you can do about your weaknesses. Your strengths, however, are "infinitely malleable," and Dr. Larkin shows you, first, how to identify your main strengths, and then how to use them.

The concept of VibeCore starts with three factors: when you know what you really want, really believe you're going to get it, and stay open to a variety of ways this can happen--when these three factors are in synchrony--you enter a state of moving meditation that is known as flow. While in flow, the vibration of your inner core is high, and you can learn how to increase this both in duration and in intensity. Your VibeCore may be likened to an inner magnet that determines whether you attract positive factors into your life or repel them. By learning how to increase and sustain your positive vibes, you attract what you desire.

With FuturePac, you clearly specify what you desire, what you really desire, and then set up six long-term goals to achieve these desires. An important part of this process is to write down your goals in the present tense, and affirm them in the present tense, so that you begin thinking of them as already yours.

How do you define your significance in the world? What do you want to accomplish with your life? What are you really here for? The answer to such questions is your vision in life, and it emerges from immersion in your long-term goals. You will identify this in VisioNavigator and come to a feeling of certitude and assurance. Dr. Larkin's vision, for example, is "to teach as many people as possible how to stay in the UpSpiral and to find their vision for their own life."

The last step, MasteRevelation, concerns the right people who are presently in your life, or will be coming into your life at the right time. They can help you to see opportunities you may have missed, provide nuances of understanding you hadn't thought of, point you in directions you might not have taken. Together, these people form a Master Mind group whose level of awareness can eventuate in revelation.

So, if you would like to feel happy most of the time, achieve what you desire, and fulfill your vision in life, you can follow these seven steps to grow the positive mind.

Review by Hyatt Carter, author of the book--

Thinking Is the Best Way to Travel: Essays along the Journey

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars DARE TO DREAM July 6, 2008

By J. Booker

Format:Paperback

I have always considered myself to be a happy person. This book has shown me how to be happy beyond my wildest dreams, while doing just that, pursuing my wildest dreams. It has helped me specifically identify that which gives me a feeling of deep significance.

How many people know for certain what they want in every facet of their lives? I do. Thanks to Dr. Larkin's book, Growing the Positive Mind, I have found new ways to create meaning in my life. He presents an easy and fun way to identify five-year goals based on your wants and desires.

You may think you don't want anything, but as Dr. Larkin states, in the chapter titled StrengthSmart, "desires and wants emerge from using your strengths", and your strengths are revealed in this process. I innately knew what some of my strengths were, but seeing all of them clearly defined in print was very powerful.

This book has taught me new ways to use my strengths. It has taught me how to raise my emotional and happiness set points through work with the emotional gym. I am now equipped with the mental and emotional tools needed to make my dreams become reality.