1. Overall Goal of Study

Learning how to learn better, learning how to use the thinking apparatus better, should be the overall goal of every student.

If you would like to learn how to learn more easily, with less stress, and less worry, there are clues in this book that should help you to realize that goal.

2. Smart vs. Dumb; Easy vs. Hard

It once was believed that some students were just "smart", and others were just "dumb", and that there was nothing that could be done about it.

It was also believed that some subjects were just "easy", and others were just "hard".

Thankfully, you are lucky enough to have been born into an era when many advances in understanding human beings' mental potential have led to a general belief that any person can learn to be "smarter".

Therefore, don't read any further unless you have accepted the fact that you, too, can learn to be "smarter". Put the book down, and go do something else, until you can come back to it with a more positive attitude.

3. You have just jumped a quantum level

You have just projected part of yourself into a probable future where you have already committed yourself and your efforts toward that goal, of "learning to be smarter", of "learning to learn better".

You have accepted a larger vision of what you are capable of, and your own unconscious mind will remember this jump, and gradually keep guiding you to develop improved study habits and values.

Remember, that it is your own will and your own desire that makes the difference in becoming a better student.

4. This book should give you more insight into the nuts and bolts of the learning process, from the biocomputer level.

As far as techniques, this book should offer clues as to how you can go about developing a more efficient study system, suited to your own strengths and weaknesses.

The book will cover methods of self-motivation, formats for organizing information, a fresh approach to thinking about storing and recalling information, also ways to use nutrients to "rev up" your brain power, and music to study by.

We are all at different stages of development, different focuses of our sensory attention, pre-occupation, and concentration.

My oversimplified approach to explaining the way the mind stores and recalls information should give you a clearer insight into a better way of studying, that will work for you, at your stage of development.

It is never too late to do more learning. And with today's constant change in the area of technology, we all have to keep constantly learning new things.

A side benefit of following this system should be a general improvement in mental integration, and all the advantages that accrue from putting more of your brainpower to harnessed activity, using 100 percent of your brain, instead of the 5 percent most people use.

You may think of the general end result asif part of your brain is coded to run at 33rpm, part at 45rpm, and part at 78rpm.

To get all of your brain power to work together, what we are aiming at is to reprogram it all to run at the same frequency, so that you will have all of your thinking power available to help your studies, and to learn better.

5. The word "studying" is gene ralI y used to mean doing your homework assignment, or preparing for a test.

But, on a more individual-centered level, it is practice in focusing your mind's awareness and in absorbing a particular set of information into yourself, thru that focused awareness.

Each course will determine the way it is studied, primarily thru the format of the teacher's handouts and homework assignments, but all courses eventually get around to the same threshold, of trying to filter thru your personal reading and listening and study skills, into you.

This is the point where I hope to help you change your way of thinking about thinking.

6. With likely a long history of thinking that you are "dumb", or of nagging from your parents about your grades, what won't help at this point is more BLAME heaped upon yourself about it.

BLAME binds up your thinking apparatus, and wastes mental energy which might be put to better use, on the work of studying itself. Remember to NOT BLAME yourself about it, and you have freed up considerable mental energy to redirect and channel into focused information absorption.

7. What will definitely help will be plain old putting more hours into your studying, and more quality hours.

It may take more hours to learn all the information available in so-called "hard" courses.

Just "getting by" isn't doing yourself any favors.

Just so that you'll know that I really know what a difference proper studying can make, I am including copies of some of my high school test results, and a biographical listing. I was a "straight A" student in high school, and a National Merit Finalist.

I am a member of Mensa, the top 2 percent of intellectual overachievers.

I was fortunate enough to attend the two best school districts in SE Texas; that is, they paid the highest teachers' salaries and therefore attracted better teachers. The two districts were heavily funded by taxes collected from oil and chemical refineries. I feel that I was in the "cream-of-the-crop" of one of the last classes before the entire educational system went downhill.

Another reason I was fortunate: I started kindergarten at 4 years old, had first grade at 5, at a private school run by a former public school teacher, in her back yard; then when it was time for me to go to public school, I was made to repeat the first grade, allegedly because I was not "emotionally mature" enough. That extra year in first grade gave me a chance to learn more of what is offered to first graders, and I think, made me expect to learn 100 percent of what was offered.

Many of today's junior college students just recently graduating from high school have deficiences in knowledge, when compared to the generations that came along before the television, and before, when teachers gave heavier homework assignments.

Therefore, I feel qualified to try to help you understand what I understand and hopefully to inspire you to do better than you ever believed possible for you to do.

When I was such a studious person, I was aided by having an exceptional "photographic memory". Now I know that we all have the same apparatus, but maybe not the conscious awareness of it, which makes it more helpful.

An essential part of studying and being able to recall the information during tests, is being able to playback on your inner television screen, the pictures your eyes took, of the study notes, or of the textbook pages.

This is because an essential part of the way the brain stores information is thru the third ventricle of the brain, a cavity or sinus that contains the pineal gland, the pituitary gland, and the hypothalam us, as well as many other tiny nerve centers.

It appears that this is the seat of "the third eye", and it certainly is an important link between the upper and lower portions of the brain, and is decidedly visual, the pineal gland even having direct input from the retinas in the eyes.

Remember that little warm feeling when you realize something, like a cartoon light bulb has gone on, in the center of your skull, slightly above your mouth, sort of behind and between your eyes?

Well, it is highly possible that it is impossible for any real learning to take place without the organs of the third ventricle secreting a neurochemical. It is also highly possible that an important link in the process of storage involves the pineal's light-sensitive, retina-like tissues "seeing" a television-like display inside this third ventricle.

Now, here is a question you should ask yourself:

When you read a fiction book, do you "see" the action inside your mind's eye? Also, how do you react to a question like "Can you tell me which way it is to Main Street?" Don't you have to "see" Main Street and the connecting streets in your mind's eye?

So, try to make your study visually-cued. Develop this inner level of visual programming, and you will have the most reliable way of remembering.

Then structure your intimate study habits around this base.

Practice remembering how a certain sentence was located on a textbook page. Or how your notes about this particular item looked on your own note page.

Read under a very bright lamp, at home, to make strong, clear, photographic images.

Be sure to have your vision checked and avoid eyestrain. If eyestrain is a problem for you, structure your study time in short sessions, with breaks in between, to relax your eyes.

Catnaps of from ten to twenty-five minutes might also be beneficial, as this would bring a fresh blood supply to the brain.

A way of linking together all your items of information into a visual picture, for storage and recall is to reduce every detail that is "in specific" to fit within an overall outline, that groups and sub-groups parallel ideas, and gives your mind a visual picture of the outline.

Even if there is no really visual learning aid such as a graph, or chart, or table, the memory of the look of the outline, will itself be a visual form.

The singular thing that I remember about my public school days, in the 7th thru the 12th grades, is that the teachers all seemed to be trying to teach us to take notes in an outline format.

In the lower grades, 7th thru 9th, many of them actually dictated our notes to us, in outline format. Then, in later grades, we took our own notes, in outline format. We used Roman Num erals first, then capital letters, then numbers, then lower-case letters, then numbers with parentheses. Now I have found that a decimal form, 1.1.2.1 is really easier to work with. For example,

1. Days of the Week

1.1 Sunday

1.2 Monday

One of the current commercial software programs being promoted is named "ThinkTank", and it is an idea processor, centered around, guess what, the outline..

Maybe in a few years, every student will study on a lap computer using an outline-format idea-processor.

So, think of the outline format as your next best friend, in helping you to see the "big picture".

It is not the important requirement it has become in English classes, just by chance, but because it is a format that works.

This author also has a similar program under development, called "OUTLINER"

Your mind can form better "snapshots" of the pages, if your focused attention is not interrupted or disrupted by other information, during your study time.

You must keep your mind focused only on what you are studying, and anything else that comes up, or tries to intrude, must be postponed. You may have to unplug your telephone at crucial times. Another way that I was fortunate, during my junior high and high school years: my parents moved us into a duplex, and I and my sister had our own apartment! Parents and room-mates should respect your need for freedom from interruption.

You will need to invest a definite period of time for each session, more than 31 minutes long, so that there will be a good strong clear recording in your memory banks.

Think of it something like your mind is recording everything just like on videotape, because that is the closest analogy that we can make about it.

The way that the brain records it, and the way it can find it to show it to you again, is based upon a "thought frequency" or "vibration" mechanism. This is why you must concentrate.

If you think about seven other things during the "recording session", the brain gets a muddy vibrational mixture, instead of a clear, single tone, so it is harder for it to "remember", i.e., to find it.

The brain can "snapshot" visually, even better, when each single idea is presented to it, on a 3" x 5" unlined index card all by itself.

Use either terminology definition format, like you find in the dictionary, outline subparagraph format, like you use in your outlines, or a sentence or paragraph to explain a deeper, more complex general principle.

Cards are more handy, and convenient, than notebook pages, because they can be rearranged into a more orderly, coherent, meaningful whole, the outline.

A good inner visual tool is to make a blank screen in your mind, and then write on it, mentally, to record pictures of formulas and equations you must remember.

If you make mistakes in your notes, instead of "scratching them out" with your pen, as you might have erased them if they were pencil marks, draw a neat horizontal line thru them, and then write the word correctly, immediately following. When your mind sees the scratched-out mistake, it cringes, and restricts its blood flow.

Always save all your notes and cards, and arrange them in an orderly manner, so that when you face examinations, you'll have the same pictures to look at, to reinforce your already-stored mental images.

As you begin a new semester, you must resolve to daily invest your time and attention to absorb all of the general principles presented in each day's lesson.

This is not something that can be put off, and caught up with just before a test.

Most courses build upon general principles that were presented in earlier lessons, so that if you don't study every day, the next day's material seems even harder. If you will study every day, each next day's material will seem easier.

Each day, in your "homework" session, concentrate on that day's lesson, and it's ideas. If you get thru early, and have time left, you might devote the extra time of your regular session to review of all your note-cards or notes on that chapter.

Sometimes, when you reconsider a past lesson, looking at it with "fresh eyes", you'll see something you missed before, or understand it all better now, at a deeper level.

The more time you invest in studying, and trying to understand, the deeper you will be able to "see" into that subject's meaning, besides making a better grade.

Always challenge yourself to make 100% on each paper, each test. Study with that attitude in your mind, that you are trying to get every problem or question right.

Then, when you get each test paper back, especially, you should check any questions or problems you missed, and follow thru, right then and find out why you missed it. Work to understand fully, anything you obviously misunderstood.

When the teacher announces that the chapter test will be held on a certain day, begin that very same night, to review all of your daily-lesson notes and note cards, and at least glance at all the textbook pages that are relevant.

If you can afford it, photocopy the pages out of the book, and mark the emphasized material. Or mark in your book, if you own the book.

Each time your eyes' visual camera sees the pages or cards that it has already taken pictures of, earlier, it develops faster recall of the image frequency. Repeating reinforces. Also, by w riting it, reading it, saying it, and hearing yourself say it, you are making your recordings stronger and easier to recall.

Studying for a chapter test or a final examination means re-re-calling and re-re-inforcing, re-re-storing the mental visual images you have recorded inside your memory banks.

The more exercise this storage and recall "muscle" in your head gets, the better it will be able to store and recall, when you ask it to.

One reason that this is so, is that all your body cells are constantly recording and re-recording your body's vibrational energies as they proceed thru the DNA-RNA copying process. There is also an element of this recording process at the atomic and molecular level.

The more you study, the easier it gets to control your own focus, to the vibrational frequency of your choice. Also, the more you can make yourself mind yourself.

The more you study, the better you will get at being able to study.

The more you write, the better your brain gets at coordinating the signals to the hand.

The more hours you invest in studying, the closer you will get toward your goal of making 100% on every paper. And when you begin to see that you can make 100's, you can overcome your feelings of being dumb, which might be prowling around, in your subconscious.

Genius is, has been said to consist of 1 percent inspiration, and 99 percent perspiration. Perspiration means hours you perspire within your mind, practicing storage and recall, practicing reading and writing, practicing handwriting, practicing note-taking, practicing listening, etc.

There's just no way around it. If you have time for everything else but studying, you can't expect your brain to learn the stuff for you, by osmosis.

The brain is a marvelous instrument, but it is still your responsibility to aim it at the pages, and at listening to the teacher, tuning into the vibrations of the teacher, enough hours for it to do its job.

It is true, and there is hope, that after you do learn to study better, it will take less and less hours to do the same amount of learning. But at least in the beginning, you will have to put more hours in, and do it cheerfully. Doing it because of FORCE or COERCION, or FEAR will never work as well as doing it out of interest and love of learning that particular area of knowledge.

Each time you set out to learn a new subject, think of it as swimming toward the central dot of a circle. Each day, you can only swim as far toward total understanding of this aspect of our universe as halfway.

Each day, you swim off again, toward that central dot of the circle of under- standing, and though in one day, you can never reach more than halfway, each day the distance to the dot grows smaller. Each day, swimming halfway is shorter and shorter. Each day, it becomes easier to go halfway.

When viewed in relation to what you knew about this subject when the course began, you might have reached 70% or 98%, toward the center of the circle of totally understanding it.

How far you actually get from the circumference of the circle, and toward the central dot will depend upon you. How many times did you try to swim, how many days did you swim out halfway toward that central dot?

There is an analogy here with the percentage grade the teacher gives you.

On each paper, each test, how much energy did you expend toward learning all that there was to learn, not just enough to pass?

Think of your grade, not as how smart or how dumb you are, but of how many hours did you invest, of good concentrated information absorption time?

You alone have full control of how much time you invest. You make the decision every day, of how much time you are willing to invest in your own future, and in developing your own self.

You are completely responsible, and you can upgrade your commitment any time you want to do so.

The night before a test, re-awaken these visual images you have stored away, by reviewing the notes and pages and cards, again, but do not lose any sleep over worrying about the test.

If you have done your daily studying like you should have, a test will not worry you.

Study the last thing before going to sleep, and then also scan your papers again the first thing upon awakening in the morning.

For an afternoon test, scan them all again during the hour before the test.

You should be able to develop an intuitive feeling of whether your answer on the test is right or wrong. You will know whether you feel sure that a certain answer is right, or whether you feel unsure that it is right. Improve this.

At test-taking time, one way to save time and get more answers right is to skip any questions that you get stuck on, making a small pencil mark by the question number.

Then, when you finish all the other questions, go back to the first question and look down each number, searching for your secret pencil marks, and give those harder questions another try.

If you have any time left over on a test, don't leave early. Always go back over the test, rereading all of the questions and your answers. Don't change the answers unless you are really sure. You might have had a better answer the first time.

Develop your level of inner sound channel, that is the same as when you occasionally hear a popular song playing inside your head.

Also develop your level of inner sound channel that is focused on the non-verbal or vibrations level.

Although it is harder for me to tell you how exactly to use these faculties, they are two levels of nerve programming that exist between your ears and your brain. Some memories when recalled will also have a sound component, and you will hear them playback on an inner level of hearing.

Forget everything else when you walk thru the classroom door.

Assign 100% of your thinking power to listening-to-the lesson.

Program yourself to focus all your thoughts on the teacher's voice and the lesson's ideas.

Tune into the teacher's non-verbal or vibrational level.

When the teacher lectures on a particular topic, focus all of your thinking power on the exact same subject and do not let your mind wander.

It helps to make notes on the key concepts that are the main "gist" of the ideas that the chapter has stressed, or that the teacher is trying to help you understand. Do this note-taking while listening to the teacher.

If you can afford it, make an audio tape of the lecture, and play the tape back at home, while you look at that day's notes. Make your notes more complete, by inserting anything else that should have been on your note sheets.

Neurotransmitters are chemicals that are produced at the junctions between neurons in the brain and nervous system.

When the levels are high enough, and the nerve endings produce these biochemicals, the nerves can communicate across what is called a "synapse". When levels of neuro- transmitters are too low, the neurons can't get their messages across.

In the bio-computer that the human brain is, having deficient levels of neuro- transmitters is like having a dead battery in your car. You can't LEARN very well.

You can enhance and increase the concentration levels of neurotransmitters within your brain and bloodstream, by ingesting what are called " neurotransmitter precursors'', the amino acids (proteins) that the brain uses to make the neuro-transmitter chemicals.

Three of the most common, and the ones we know the most about, are 1) choline, 2) L-phenyl-alanine, and 3) L-tryptophane.

Choline increases the level of "acetylcholine" L-phenyl-alanine increases the level of "norepinephrine". L-tryptophane increases the level of "serotonin". Unfortunately, our government has taken L-tryptophane concentrates off the market, but you can get it from the protein you eat.

The best source of choline is from super-concentrated lecithin, called " phosphatidyl choline ". The other two, L-phenyl-alanine and L-tryptophane, are available in tablets at health food stores.

L-tryptophane is extremely hard for the brain to absorb, unless you also take with it, at the same time, niacin (B3), or niacinamide, pyroxidine (B~6), and vitamin C. Also with no other protein.

There is one potential danger with using L-phenyl-alanine, and that is, it has a tendency to raise blood pressure, and so should be used very carefully, and increased only gradually by anyone with a high blood pressure problem.

Also, in individuals with the biochemical enzyme defect labeled schizophrenia, L-phenylalanine could only be taken, if also taking plenty of B3 (niacin), which is known to block the defect.

Another brain fuel that will help make studying easier is called "glutamine", but not glutamic acid. The latter form is not absorbable by the brain. All in all, at this stage of our biochemical knowledge, the safest "smart pills" to try, with the least chance of not absorbing them, or of side reactions, would be phosphatidyl choline, and glutamine.

Herbs that help the brain by providing fuel, or better circulation, are Gingko Biloba, and Gotu Kola. Siberian Ginseng is a good one, for those times when you need to do a lot of typing.

One herbal combination that I have noticed is helpful when I need to get something mental done, is equal parts of Gingko Biloba, Bilberry, and Garlic. Bilberry improves vision, so it may increase circulation thru that part of the brain.

This author has discovered that there is a "learned" quality to the brainwave coordination pattern, and that you can help your brain learn a better, more coordinated pattern, thru the use of this particular formula. The formula is given on the next page.

In order to put all of your brain to work on on what you want to focus on, i.e., to concentrate, to get 100% of your brain working, rather than only 5%, you must work at improving your brainwave coordination.

The herbs in the formula toward the end of this, that I call [Anti-] Dys-Rhythmia, are a mixture of both strong and weak anti-spasmodics and relaxers, plus two mild stimulants, so the result is a normalization of the brainwave pattern.

If you take it for a while, consistently, the pattern of what I call "thought frequency" or "vibes" smooths out at a higher level of integration than it was working at, before. There is greater synchronization between the left and right hemispheres of the brain, and between the front and back of the brain.

It helps all of the portions of the brain encoded to run at 33rpm, 45 rpm, and 78 rpm, to work at once. In an analogy to today's computer software, working to improve your brainwave coordination, is like helping all the different parts of the brain to become compatible with each other.

2 ounces of Hops Flowers

2 ounces of Chamomile Flowers

2 ounces of Yarrow Flowers

1 Tablespoon Valerian Root

1 Tablespoon Lobelia

1 Tablespoon Mistletoe

1 Tablespoon Cayenne Pepper

1 Tablespoon Ginger Root

Grind each ingredient separately, in an electric blender, sift thru a tea strainer, and measure into a large mixing bowl.

Mix thoroughly, and pack into empty gelatin capsules.

This amount will be enough to almost fill a quart jar. Keep covered tightly, and use as needed.

For the first time user, the dose must be one capsule per day, for a minimum of 21 days, continuously.

After that, it can be taken for another 21-day series at any time, or just singly at certain times, when you particularly want to be able to think more clearly, or for times when you might be emotionally upset, or "freaked out".

It might help people who work under stress, or people who have frequent temper tantrums.

During that initial 21 days, when you are trying it for the first time, if you skip a day taking your dose, you might find out that your brainwaves are all malfunctioning.

Therefore, the series should not be begun, unless you are committed to continuing for a minimum of 21 days.

You would be doing what is called "neurolinguistic reprogramming" of a sort.

If you didn't complete the 21 days as directed, you might find that part of your brain wants to run under the old pattern, and part wants to run under the new pattern, and you could be worse off than if you hadn't tried it at all.

When I first invented this formula, I had been having trouble with my two eyes having different images, and the two images not being combined in the brain. I had also been going thru a ten-year-long mental reprogramming process, after a head injury. This formula helped me to achieve a new level of "thought frequency" stability.

I also used it to help my late husband, after he had a crippling stroke, that paralyzed the left side of his body. This formula would probably be helpful to almost anyone with a brain injury or stroke. A lot depends upon which part of the brain is injured.

Food substances can cause brain allergic reactions. It is now known that many people have difficulty concentrating and learning, due to sensitivities to such common foods as corn, milk and wheat. Also, to artificial food colors.

It is highly possible that you might be one of these individuals.

Two good sources of information on this are Food, Mind & Mood, by Sheinkin, Schachter, and Hutton, and The Allergy Self-Help Book by Sharon Faelten.

Investigating this possibility might help you considerably in making studying easier. Substances you may be eating or drinking everyday may be making it harder for you to learn. Find out what these are and avoid them. I recommend keeping a diary or journal, especially if you are trying out different nutrients and herbs, to see what helps your particular health problem. The same can be done with dietary changes, trying to find out what you may be allergic to.

It is known that drinking alcohol depletes the body of 8-complex vitamins, zinc, magnesium, and especially choline, all necessary for learning.

In our society, it would be hard for many students to completely avoid the use of alcohol, but at least take a balanced B-complex pill, balanced multi-mineral pill, and some choline, after every exposure to alcohol. You can also take L-cysteine, B-1, and C, to help cancel out the negative effects of the alcohol.

You should also know that your body appears to have enough detoxifying enzymes to handle one ounce of alcohol. After that, you are really doing harmful things to your body. Especially notable is the cross-linking effect, that ages you faster.

A good source of information on biochemistry for the layman is Life Extension, A Practical Scientific Approach, by Durk Pearson and Sandy Shaw.

Any music which promotes brainwave coordination, is "integrative". Any music which promotes brainwave dis-coordination is "disintegrative"

The very best sound environment for learning is to play continuous classical music of the baroque style. Some of the newer style electronic synthesizer music is designed to be "integrative", and is also good

AM radio [even FM] is the very worst sound environment for studying, with constantly changing frequencies and interruptions.

Rock and roll is also mentally dis-integrative.

Make an eight-track tape of your favorite Classical music, or use a record, as continuously having to turn over a cassette tape will be a distraction.

It is even better to have two favorite eight-track tapes or CD-ROMs, that you play constantly while studying to induce a better mental state. Play one constantly until your mind gets tired of it, then play the other. And vice versa.

This will gradually build a stronger center of consciousness, a stronger recording of coordinated brainwave rhythm within you. You will have made strong within yourself two different frequencies, that you can call forth at will, simply by pushing in your tape and turning on your amplifier.

Having two tapes and using them this way is more integrative than having only one tape. The reason for this is based upon the "beat frequency" principle. Two frequencies mixed will generate a third frequency. Three mixed will generate a fourth, etc, until all frequencies within the set of your total mind, will be turned on. This is the one-to-many-to-one thought frequency cycle of mental re-integration. It also relates back to that analogy of having parts of your mind coded at 33rpm, 45rpm and 78 rpm.

According to this author's experience, fine-tuning your brainwave pattern causes a raising of your level-of-consciousness, and the higher you go, the more you are able to understand.

There is a continuum of realities, similar to the concept of different time dimensions, all existing within the same space, but vibrating at different frequencies.

When you raise your consciousness by fine-tuning your brainwaves, you will be able to understand higher and higher Truths.

Therefore, let me wish for you, that you will find the answers your present stage of development needed, to help you arrive at your next higher level of brainwave coordination, your own next quantum level.