So the message today, for Day 1 of my 37 day Thought Makeover, is plant happy thoughts around you. This may seem odd, but believe me the ideas are ingenious once you understand how it works.  Dr. Schaefer really seems to know how the mind works and adding this element of subliminal thoughts into the routine makes me trust in the effort even more.

First, find things from your past that help you remember happy times. For examples, if you have trophies from High School, ribbons, photographs of you with friends; all these things can help you “unconsciously remember” how it felt to be happy, feel connected, or being successful. Planting these items in an area of your home you see every day, or a corner of your office, can help you subconsciously to bring positive feelings and thoughts to your mind every day.

As much as I loved this suggestion, the next suggestion was even better! Schaefer next recommends that you scrounge your home for cleaning supplies and other household items with happy names, like Joy, Fantastic, Glad, etc., and place these items in areas around your home that you will see them while doing every day things. The idea here is more subliminal play with your brain, that when used correctly can eventually help you to access these thoughts automatically to achieve happiness without thinking about it.

So with this new information at the top of my mind I decided to go through my home and find all the marvelous subliminal products that would brighten my day and get me going on the road to happiness! The image here includes the items I found — I think I need a better shopping list!

All these mind-trick or subliminal message ideas, by the way, are not new. They are based on Neurolinguistic Programming concepts (or NLP for short). As a practitioner of NLP I appreciate these ideas but had never used them in such an obvious ways to help bring about real everyday changes in my life. I’m hoping that working through this 37 day Thought Makeover will change all that. So far so good; at least now I’ll be more conscientious when shopping for cleaning supplies!.

For those who are more interested in how these subliminal messages impact our every day lives, you need go no further than to the study of marketing and advertising. Although we all know the effects that marketing has on our buying decisions, most of us do not know just how pervasive they are, or why. Derren Brown knows exactly how this works, though, and is an expert in human behavior and mind control. He conducted an experiment in which he invited marketing experts to help him come up with a message in less than one 1/2 hour. He provided the product, but little else. Later he compared their results to the ideas that he had planted, subconsciously. The experiment showed just how pervasive everything we see and hear can be in our decision-making. This can include the words we hear, the gestures we see from others, the body language we take in, the pictures we encounter; just about everything we encounter in our daily lives can have a significant impact on our decisions.  View the video to the right to get a better understanding of how these subliminal messages work. After that, take a look at today’s “Laugh Picks”, gather up all your cleaning supplies, and start a new, if somewhat odd, journey with me, if you think you can handle the insanity of it all!

Today’s Laugh Picks

These are supposedly actual signs that have appeared at various locations.

Found written on the wall in front of a photocopier of a company going through hardships : ” DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE – XEROX YOUR PAYCHECKS ”

At a car dealership in Maryland to announce new seat belt legislation: “Belt your family. It’s the law.”

Seen while traveling in the Yucatan Peninsula: “Broken English spoken perfectly”

At an Applebee’s restaraunt: “NOTICE: AFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY! A new 6% tax will be charged for the cost of collecting taxes!”

Fitness Center sign: “Self Esteem is feeling good about yourself – regardless of the facts.”

In restaurant: “Open seven days a week and weekends.”

On the freeway in Boston during a MAJOR transformation of the streets and bridges, etc: “Rome wasn’t built in a day. If it was we would have hired their contractor.”

A sign in front of a Macadamia Nut Factory in Hawaii: “Caution: Nuts crossing road.”

PLEASE NOTE: I have NO affiliation with Dr. Rick Schaefer, or his Extreme Thought Makeover. I receive no compensation for these posts, but am simply doing this as a personal self-improvement effort that I hoped others might also benefit from.