'Why not live the life of your dreams?'
All it takes is
just a small switch in your mind out of limiting
thought into life and your goals...
In this exclusive
interview with Dave O'Connor, Dr Tony Quinn (Doctorate in Clinical
Hypnosis and Counselling), brings us up to date with his work in the
field of mind technology and talks about the exclusive seminars he is
conducting in the Bahamas.
Dave: When did you
first become interested in mind technology?
Tony: I first began
to develop an interest in using more of my mind as far back as
childhood. Then in 1972 1 decided, in true yoga style, that I would give
up everything I was doing and go and sit on a mountain top. I wanted to
learn all about how to meditate and achieve self realisation and,
bearing in mind that I was very young, this seemed to be the best way to
go about it.
As I persisted with
the meditation I began to awaken from my thoughts and be exactly where I
was. Eventually I discovered that I could really be there with no
thoughts in the way, so that if I saw a tree I actually saw it, or if I
saw a person I actually saw them. It was as if one day I was sitting
there and I woke up to life. I had made the switch.
How did that
experience shape your subsequent interest in the mind?
Since then I have
had a lifelong interest in the mind and in recent years particularly in
the emerging area of what has become known as `mind technology'. I made
a decision that I would like to be the most qualified person in the
world in this area. This involved a very long programme of study both in
England and America which is still going on up to the present day. Many
mind experts whom I studied maintain that we only use about 10% of our
mental potential and indeed more recently it is argued that we only use
about I%. Even so called intelligent people are generally using only a
small part of their mind. Now it seems to me that the whole process of
education ignores this fact and we continually try to cram more
information into our minds without looking at the possibility of
expanding and harnessing more of its potential. I became particularly
fascinated by this possibility and this led me to do a lot of research
in this area.
Currently I am
working on a Ph.D. in Psychology, researching whether or not a person
can learn to use more of their mind and what impact this would have on
their life.
What would you
say is the most important discovery that you've made so far?
Quite simply that
most people are actually living in a thought trance, almost in a dream.
Consequently they are using only a tiny fraction of their mind and even
that tiny fraction is distorted. Let me give an example of how that
happens. Where I live in the Bahamas there is this incredible swimming
pool, beautiful trees and a lake, and together with the perfect climate
can seem like Paradise. Now say for example, I am there working with
someone who has a problem with depression. They can sit there and sense
rather dimly that the place is very beautiful but they can't truly
experience it or enjoy it because they are looking out through their
depression. I often refer to this experience as like being wrapped in
cling-wrap film, which can be of varying degrees of thickness from
opaque to very dark. Most people you meet are looking out through this
cling-wrap onto the world. They are spending more time in their own
mental world than actually out there, living in the real world. I am
fascinated by the possibilities of awakening people from this type of
dream, which for many people can be something of a nightmare.
Does this apply to
a normal person who isn't depressed?
Yes it does, sadly.
You see many people are trapped in similarly negative thought patterns,
such as inferiority complex, limiting self-image, loneliness, isolation
and even in the past. They can have beliefs or opinions, or be
experiencing sorrow or bitterness which isolates them from life and
other people. They may be married to someone for a few years and yet not
realise they are looking at them through their past experience all the
time.
Many people say that
they can't relax or they can't stop these negative thoughts or feelings.
I see my role as helping people to make the switch. I maintain that you
can actually take your attention out of negative thoughts and they will
soon fall away and you won't even remember them. Even the personality
that you believe is so much you, is only a collection of thoughts over
the years - it's still the past. Any part of that personality is only
sustained by the fact that you continue to put energy into it and
continually remember it, if you wish. It's like feeding those thoughts -
otherwise they would just die off. When you really learn how readily
they can die off you take control over your mind and over your life.
Is there much
research to support this?
There is an
overwhelming amount of research from all over the world which shows
conclusively that even a person who is preoccupied with their thoughts
to a normal degree is almost in a state of mild depression.
Psychologists as far back as Freud pointed out that we build up this
collection of thoughts - or programmes if you wish - within our deeper
mind, our unconscious mind, and we are no longer in control of our
actions as a result of this. What I maintain and what the most up-to
date mind technology shows, is that anytime that you wish you can step
outside of all of that and take back control of your mind and your life.
How do you take back
that control?
If you focus your
attention on what's around you, you come right out of that cling-wrap
and make the switch from thought into life. When people do this it
causes a dramatic expansion in awareness and the person immediately
starts to become much happier. It is you really experiencing everything
around you, your relationship, your job or whatever you may be involved
in, instead of looking at it all through thought. Indeed research
carried out as long as 30 years ago points out that the secret of
happiness is to be totally in life as opposed to thinking about it. Many
psychologists explain this distinction in terms of how much of our brain
we are using. They maintain that we generally use mainly the left side
of our brain. But we can learn to use more of the right side. The result
of doing this is what they call `holistic thinking' involving both sides
of the brain which produces increased mental awareness and improved
mental performance. In one particular 10year study they discovered that
at that stage of holistic thinking, sports people, composers, chess
players, surgeons etc. were able to perform at their absolute best.
Some people reading
this may wonder how practical holistic thinking is?
Once you can use
your whole brain you become more aware and you are able to apply your
expanded mind, as the super-achievers have done, to your goals. For
example in a business situation you are able to see something about the
business in a few minutes that other people who have been in it for
years can't see. I have had the experience of being involved in as many
as five business meetings in a day. In those situations I find that if
you stay in the now (in life rather than thought), that allows you to be
very creative and spontaneous with people rather than struggling around
with thoughts. You are also able to really meet with the person and it
becomes effortlessly easy to sell them on an idea or plan.
Can you train people
to achieve this level?
Yes, you can readily
train a person to do it. In fact one of the favourite things I do at the
moment is training private clients to achieve this level of mental
fitness. Normally I work with them exclusively for two weeks, generally
in The Bahamas but occasionally in places like California, Las Vegas or
Palm Springs. These are generally people who are doing very well in the
business they are already in but they want to get more out of themselves
and life. They often come along and tell me that they make X number of
millions a year. Yet while they usually want to make much more money,
after we get down to what they really want, it is often to get the most
out of themselves and life.
So even very
successful people who have reached the top may not like the view?
I have met many
successful people in Hollywood and often they tell me about how they're
trying to kick a booze or drug habit. Indeed it could be a beautiful
sunny day and there is this dark mental cloud around them because they
live in their own negative mental climate. Yet these people are
incredibly wealthy, are very impressive looking also and have all the
fame you could possibly imagine. As I said earlier my understanding is
that they have, like many people I meet, became trapped in a mental
climate that is around them almost like a cling-wrap. Such people are
not really able to touch off or appreciate their life or themselves.
When I work with them I try and get them to step out of that and into
the real world.
What about these
exclusive seminars we have been hearing so much about?
Other than the work
I do with private clients my other main interest at this point is these
very exclusive seminars I do for small groups of people. These would be
people who might be doing well enough in different areas of their lives
but they feel that there is more to life or to what they can do and they
want to know how they can achieve that. What I do is help them train
their minds to the point where they can make the switch. Then that same
person, who before was only using a tiny percentage of their mind, is
suddenly using much more and the whole world looks different to them.
When I work with
people for the first time they often describe it as getting outside that
cling-wrap and into life. They can't believe the difference and they are
shocked and delighted. At that point they can begin to use that
increased mental capacity to achieve all kinds of results in their life,
from sports or business success to increased popularity, improved
selling ability, better sex life, more happiness etc.
I believe that
everyone at a certain point in life should take two weeks out of their
life to reassess what they have done up until now and train to use more
of their mind. If they are prepared to do this they can totally change
the rest of their life. That is why I developed this seminar programme.
I find this kind of work to be the most exciting thing you can imagine.
You call the system
you use on the seminars Educo. What does that word refer to?
Educo is a Latin
word meaning to 'draw out from within'. My understanding is that if you
learn to enter the state of Unconscious Attention, as opposed to
conscious attention (SEE ARTICLE UNDERNEATH BEFORE READING FURTHER),
then with that increased capacity of mind you can focus on life to a
greater level. It can be applied to any aspect of life from talking with
someone, having sex, eating your dinner or even taking a walk. In this
way for the first time you are using so much more of your brain and your
mind. Essentially you are drawing yourself out more. My understanding is
that in this way you become much more intelligent as a person - so much
so in fact that you get a shock (in a good way) at how aware you become.
Using your mind in this way is a much more effortless way of living.
Educo to me is about
learning to focus on life and consequently your self in the real sense
of the word is drawn out. That pure part of you, your Self, is then
relating to life without the contamination of the past and you will find
that what you see is that the world is often a wonderful place, a
paradise. Indeed what comes from you, from your Self, at that point has
a degree of perfection, which you may not have realised. This is my own
personal experience of the Educo process and at this stage I have a lot
of research and the experience of working with many other people to back
this up
How come we don't
normally experience this Educo process?
I believe we miss
this experience of life because we are just seeing it through negative
distorting thoughts, poor self-image and negative thought programmes.
Indeed those who make breakthroughs in any area such as true scientific
discoveries or business success, start with an open mind where they have
moved outside of that small mental space and see the bigger picture. To
try this for yourself what you can do is focus on the goals that you
have in your mind to the exclusion of opposing negative thoughts. This
is what the super achievers are able to do, they are able to focus on
their goals to the exclusion of even logical thoughts and therefore
their goals are drawn out. Think of people like the Wright Brothers who
achieved what seemed to many people as impossible, illogical goal - that
of developing planes to carry people through the sky. Or someone like
Thomas Edison who had a crazy idea that it was possible to have a mini
sun in every room and that eventually we could light up a city with just
the press of a switch. As a consequence of this "crazy" thinking in
America in the space of 150 years they have literally gone from dusty
trails and covered wagons to six lane highways with automobiles and then
on to mobile phones, satellite TV, the Internet etc. All of these things
were drawn out of the minds of creative people by the Educo process
where they totally focused on what they believed could be achieved and
ignored other people's opinions and often their own opposing thoughts.
Therefore their maximum mind is brought to bear and brings about magical
results.
So is that the
secret of success?
It appears to me
that every successful person is actually using unconscious attention to
draw out their potential even if they were never trained to do it. Super
achievers do this because they are so passionately involved in their
business or in their invention that they automatically give their full
attention to it to the point of unconscious attention. The beauty of it
is that we have reached the point in mind technology where anyone can
learn to do what a so-called genius, super-achiever or even a very
spiritual person could only seem to do before. This is why I am so
interested in being at the cutting edge of this field.
I know that many
people have paid you fabulous sums of money for the type of knowledge
you have.
Yes that's true, but
I like to think that ultimately I'm not taking money from them but
giving them money. The point is that if the person takes the knowledge I
give them and dramatically improves their business or their life then
they benefit much more than I do. For example many private business
clients may come to be trained individually by me for two weeks and are
willing to pay me a third of their resulting profits to act as a
consultant. But to do that we must of course make a profit in the first
place. I see myself as having that unique knowledge and once people get
to know something of it they consider it priceless. I can honestly say
that I have had people pay me large sums of money and laugh at me at the
end of it and say that it was worth ten times that.
Do you feel that the
amount of money people pay you causes them to take your information more
seriously?
I guess there is
something in that because throughout my life I have given people the
same information for nothing and that's what they made of it - nothing.
So, sadly that's true. Now I find that the type of people I get along
either as individual clients or on exclusive seminars couldn't be
better. I guess it's the type of material that attracts that quality of
person who are seriously committed to being themselves, really getting
the most out of life, being in good shape, and healthy in the real sense
of the word. I often say that you can be a connoisseur of life and that
is the type of person I get along. They are very seriously committed to
making use of the information.
You also get to meet
some of your favourite stars such as Sean Connery.
I have been a James
Bond fan from childhood and Sean Connery is my favourite actor. I was
invited along to have dinner with him recently which was great fun. As a
kid I used to wonder what it would be like to be Sean Connery so that
gave me the opportunity to ask him. He is one of the most together
people I have ever met.
What motivates you
most about what you do?
I delight in seeing
people of all ages awakening to their true potential. We have so much
potential as human beings in all areas and I have never met anyone yet
who has done more than touched the surface of their potential.
Finally Tony, are
you living the life of your dreams?
Yes, so much so that
sometimes I have to pinch myself to check it's not a dream, that I
actually get paid by people to pursue my life-long interest in parts of
the world that can seem like Paradise.
Unconscious Attention (The Switch)
I know from having
studied your material that you place a lot of emphasis on the concept of
unconscious attention;
As I understand it
there are three types of attention: The first is inattention, where you
are just not interested in the subject, person or event. The second is
conscious attention where you consciously make an effort to pay
attention. This is the way most people operate their minds. There is a
division in their attention between thought and life. For example, a
person with an inferiority complex talking to someone that they would
really like to impress. Most of their attention is focused on their
complex with only a tiny amount of their potential reaching the other
person. Just think of that word `impress'. They would have to be free of
their complex to `impress', otherwise they will never know their true
potential. This division can be caused by limiting beliefs, poor
self-image, attitude, the past, background, stress etc. Yet, with just a
small switch of the mind you can achieve Unconscious Attention. The
third is Unconscious Attention, where your mind is totally absorbed and
paying full attention to whatever is happening at that moment or to a
goal, to the exclusion of all opposing thoughts - and there you have the
key to a totally different way of life.
What happens during
unconscious attention Research shows overwhelmingly that if a person can
learn to focus, that is pay attention, to the exclusion of opposing
thoughts, they use both sides of their brain which immediately increases
their brain's capacity. Because they are using more of their mind their
awareness expands and their capacity for thinking changes. Many research
studies support this view. For example, a very interesting study, by Dr
Alder PhD examined the top 150 business leaders in the UK and found
conclusively that all of them were able to use both sides of their
brains and were what he described as `holistic thinkers'. They had all
learned how to focus on a goal they wanted to achieve, to the exclusion
of opposing thoughts, even logical thoughts.
Another researcher,
this time in the field of mind body medicine, Dr. Herbert Benson,
concluded from his research that people can cure as much as 90% of their
own illness and even change their personalities if they are prepared to
learn to enter levels of focused relaxation. Benson, who has been
involved in 30 years of research with the Harvard Medical School, has
written a book on this area. In it he talks about the importance of
relaxing away thoughts of illness and ill-health to the point that you
are totally able to focus on health and getting the most out of life,
which I have termed unconscious attention. He claims that in this way
you can cure the majority of illnesses. Indeed there is overwhelming
research to show that in the process of entering unconscious attention
we dissolve away stress, tension, worry, fears, phobias etc. The more we
do so the more it benefits our health.
How can someone like
me use unconscious attention to be successful?
All of the research
in many different fields indicates that once we learn to focus the mind
through unconscious attention we can apply that ability to achieve a
goal in any area of life including health, business success or any area
of achievement. Once the required level of unconscious attention has
been reached what the mind is offered to focus on at that point is
vitally important. If the person's goal is introduced at this point and
stated in such a way that their mind will readily absorb it then that
dramatically improves their level of success in any area of their lives.
This is known as mental programming and once in unconscious attention,
through a process almost similar to hypnosis, a person can readily
absorb a programme for a specific goal. This is the fastest way I know
to learn new skills.
Is there any
research to back this up'
In my own research
work I have looked in detail at this process. One university research
project some years ago involved the health stores we operate where I
demonstrated that this process was possible. I took all of the staff and
trained them to enter this state of unconscious attention. I then
offered them a programme that they were better able to relate to the
customers, were better sales people and could achieve increased sales.
In a very short period of time the revenue in the shops doubled and
maintained that increase. The results were verified by Price Waterhouse.
What about the
research you did on pain free operations without anaesthetic?
In research for a
Master of Science degree I used that same level of unconscious attention
to help four people control pain during surgical operations of about an
hour's length, without the use of an anaesthetic. They all proved very
successful and were supervised by a number of doctors and featured on
the Late Late Show and more recently on US cable TV. Essentially the
process involved getting the person not to divide their mind but
instead, using unconscious attention, to totally focus both sides of
their brain, their whole mind, on the belief that they could have a
pain-free operation. The same approach can just as readily be applied to
any goal.
How did you come to
apply these ideas in your work with Steve Collins?
After that research
the university was curious to see whether or not the same approach would
work in other fields. So my next project was with the boxer Steve
Collins. Here was someone who would obviously have to have their wits
about them in a fight situation unlike the operation patients, so it was
interesting to see if the same process would work here. In fact it
seemed to work quite well and the results were widely publicised at the
time. I will always be grateful to Steve because he certainly helped to
draw attention to my work.
The Future of Mind Technology
How do you see the
future of mind technology?
At this point I'm in
totally virgin territory, I don't know if there is anyone in the world
doing the type of work and seminars I'm doing. I used to say `Man Woman
the Unknown - The Greatest Challenge of All' and that's how I still see
it. The great adventure of the mind is that any of us can choose to go
where we have never gone before. When you apply your whole mind both
sides of your brain kick in, you get that mind expansion and begin to
experience `holistic thinking'. When you are out of all the thoughts you
feel happy, you feel free, you feel spontaneous and you really feel that
you can touch off people and really relate to them. If you want you
could call it self-realisation because for the first time you begin to
live from your Self rather than limiting thoughts.
Many people wonder
whether being your Self in that sense involves a spiritual aspect?
By learning to use
more of your mind you begin to realise that spirituality is almost part
and parcel of our true nature. My understanding is that our true nature
is one of perfection, love, intelligence and energy. Some people who
have known me for years say to me `Ah but you've given up the yoga'. But
the word yoga means union with life and that's all I have ever helped
people to do. When the thoughts fall away you join with life and then
you get to know yourself and life and you realise how blessed we are
that God has given us a mind. But unless you have your whole mind in
action you can't know the beautiful world in which we live.
You often refer to
the influence of the Gospels on your thinking.
When I was quite
young I was into the Bible and the Gospels. I still am. In particular I
was fascinated by all those pieces where Jesus says `The kingdom of
heaven is within', and `Seek ye first the kingdom and everything else
will be added unto you'. To me that seemed to say that if you allow that
potential to be drawn out from within then the rest must follow. Again
Jesus says `to those who believe all things are possible'. Maybe that
type of understanding and those beliefs made it somewhat easier for me
to be able to step outside of limiting thoughts.
How do you use this
understanding to get more out of life?
When you really
really relax away all those thoughts and even your so-called
personality, then your whole mind comes into action and you discover
this energy that we have inside us which is called `life' and which is
actually there to give you the perfect life. That to me is the most
awesome discovery I have made, that life will literally look after you.
Therefore I feel that when I go along to seminars or deal with private
clients all I have to do is just really relax and be myself and when
that happens I'm using my whole mind and life literally comes through
me. It's as if life is doing the work in the same way as it digests your
food and makes you aware. If you really have the courage to go for that
adventure where you step outside that cling-wrap I can assure you that
life almost does everything for you. Even the latest research and my own
work with the university strongly supports this. I believe we are
talking about the future here and that it is true, as the religious
people say, that it is better to `let go and let God'. But I find with
most people that they don't let go and they don't let God. Otherwise
they might possibly be a better example and an inspiration as to the
abundance that life will give you if you let your life almost do its
thing.
What does this mean
ultimately, Tony?
Ultimately the
truest thing I can possibly say about this, which may seem strange to
many readers, is that life will not only look after you but will
literally shower you with great abundance. While I feel I have made a
lot of money in just a few years since I left Ireland, this happened as
a result of living in the way I am suggesting here. Then I believe life
rewards you. It's been an effortless process, its been nothing but a
joy. In sense I don't even bother with my initial goals because life
seems to have much greater plans for me and I don't know if I would
almost be limiting what is taking place. Now you may meet the ordinary
person who is sincere in their faith and their belief in God. The only
problem I still feel is that they think that God is limited and can only
do maybe small miracles for them. Their thoughts may limit what God
wants to do for them. My understanding is that if you are prepared to
have that courage to almost in a sense let go of the helm and let your
life be freely expressed, then you will find that you are into unlimited
living. I can tell you that anyone I have been able to point this out to
who has had the courage to experiment with this for themselves have been
very impressed with the results on all levels. I believe that it's
something that everyone should be prepared to experience. If you have
heard people say in an almost casual way `Well life has been good to
me', then I can only say `Wow has life been good to me! Thank you
God'.
