Yesterday was a really busy day so I didnt post. I worked on phone calls to Nasville Area churches, fund raising around town here, answering the phone and even doing some time blowing surfing on the internet. The night before last I had my friends from Project Recovery come out to the restaurant. My intention was to BBQ chicken and have a bonfire for them. Well considering all the rain that was coming down I figured it would be hard to get the fire started. : D So I nerfed the fire idea. Instead we enjoyed chicken and some quesadillas and each others company. I talked with them for about 20 minutes and game them a ceiling tile to paint.

At the end of the night I kinda made a fool out of myself. See a couple weeks prior I met this beautiful young lady that works for Project Recovery. Well I seen her at the grand opening of the volunteer center and again this night at the restaurant. Well the funny thing is that I speak german and told her "Du hast schone augen" and "ich mag disch" which means you have beautiful eyes and I like you. I told her this in german cause I'm somewhat bashful. So thinking it could be something I could mess around with the next time I see her, I had no intention on telling her what it meant. Well low and behold I look back at her and hear the words "bitte" and she followed with "du hast guten nacht"!!!! LOL she speaks GERMAN! What she said to me was thanks and you have a good night (she was walking out the door at the time and already said bye). So I was embarressed just a weeeeeee bit on that one. But it was funny!

I'm going to make another long post. This will be very interesting if you have ever wondered why you walk in some place and walk out spending alot more money than you intended. There is a reason and advertisers do it on purpose. So continue reading.....

The Power of Suggestion

How do you save money and be less gullible? Read on....

In the early 1980's Roger Sperry won the nobel prize for his split brain experiments. When I was in college he was mentioned but I never retained that info. A young lady I met back in March reminded me and aroused my couriosity about him. Roger learned that the brain is split into 2 hemispheres. One independant of the other with only a couple million fibers connecting the two.

This was a medical breakthrough and set the standard of modern day physcology and it's application with regard to the way the brain functions. The ability to throw a ball from one hand to the other is a cooperation of both sides of the brain. If the two were not connected you would literally have to say the words "right hand catch the ball". The reason is you would have to train the left side of the brain and let it know what the right side was about to do.

The reason I mention Roger Sperry is because we are manipulated and taken advantage of every single day, and most of the time we never even know it!

Let me explain, see the manufacturing companies hire advertising agencies who in turn employ physocologists to find the most effective way to sell their products. We dont always buy what we need because we are drawn to something about a certain product that appeals to us and in turn we purchase it. Heres an example...

Walmart hires physcologists to set their stores up. How they do this is based on how someone will react to colors, light spectrum, clutter, traffic, smell and the responsibility factor. You will never see childrens clothes next to electrical appliances for a reason. If I pass electronics and see a really cool television I might buy it. But if I passed the childrens clothes I might think to myself that I cant afford the television cause I should buy clothes for my children. So the responsible thing would be to buy clothes and not a new tv. So thats why electronics are never near things that the consumer might be responsible and buy instead of a new audio system, television or video game.

Another example would be colors and lighting. How many stores have you been in that have black floors and dim lighting? Well the reason for this is alittle more obvious than the last example. Lighting and color make your mood and shopping experience happier. I dont use "happier" lightly either. See there are certain colors in the color spectrum that actually change your mood. There are happy colors as well as sad colors. Nuetral colors serve a seperate purpose (for another time) but happy colors are seen throughout retail stores so they induce a happier mood for the consumer. Theres alot more to it but in short, happy colors react different in incandescant lighting than they do in irridescant lighting. The colors on product packaging creates the same emotions and interest as wall colors and lighting. Example would be Tide laundry detergeant or Degree deodorant.

What I'm leading up to is the ability and knowledge that sales professionals, manufacturers and retailers have to influece our decision making abilities. You would have bought 1 can of coffee for $5.75 but since its three for $15 you buy three instead. Reducing the profit margain a little to secure more of your hard earned money is something any company would be more than happy to do. Using these advanced sales skills will increase their sales but retracts money from your wallet! This is another form of the power of suggestion.

How do we defend ourselves if we dont know we are being manipulated or influenced? Well as Roger Sperry suggested we should tell the right side of the brain what the left side is doing! Yes that right! So the part of the brain that is making irrational decisions for you is the same side that you dont use often as it serves little purpose other than storage, senses and deep deep stuff that we cant access on request. It's an incredibly effective influence over our decision making abilities.

As a soldier I have never been deployed or sent anywhere that I wasnt first educated about. S A L U T E report stands for size, activity, location, uniform, transportation and equiptment. This was my job in the Army. To send back the info so others could know how to respond to it. Knowing is half the battle! By knowing what to expect in advance, you can better defend youself.

So knowing is fascinating because you will see how often this happens and be among the select few that can fight off the urge to be victim to the power of suggestion.

In Army Recruiting School we learn the power of suggestion can change the outcome of an applicants decision to join the Army. How we use it is to make a motion or gesture that someone will be inclined to do. For example if someone extends their hand and holds it in front of you what do you do? You shake it ofcoarse. What if someone holds out their arms in front of you? You hug them! What if I held a pen near your chest? You would take it because you understand that I'm trying to hand it to you. Now if I hand it to you and point at the "X" next to the signiture box, believe it or not 7 out of 10 will sign next to where I'm pointing. The gesture was take the pen, look where I'm pointing and sign. And I never had to say a word! I would be manipulating a weakness in the brain that experts have used for many years now.

So if knowing is half the battle, what will you do the next time someone extends their hand? Think about it ! Know that the power of suggestion is trespassing into someones decision making ability. God gave you gifts. They belong to you and you alone. If you share them with others it should be of your own free will. I hope this S A L U T E report helps my fellow christians defend off this attack on our free will.

Thanks for reading!