Hype
Hype is a shortened form of the word, “Hyperbole.” The dictionary defines hyperbole as “obvious and intentional exaggeration.”
It’s a wonderful poetic way to compare things and bring more attention to a statement. The hyperbolic statement, “The crime of the century” implies that the writer has compared this crime to all the other ones of this century and this one is the crime of all crimes. Hyperbole gets your attention.
You would have a “brain the size of a pea” if you paid attention to all the hype that comes your way.
Hype is a way of life. It’s imbedded in our culture and it is omnipresent. Advertising is the poster child for hype. It’s not enough to present your product or service to see if there is an interest. Advertisers add exaggeration (translation: lies) to their ad copy to bust through the clutter in your head and claim a piece of real estate in your mind. This is not a condemnation of persuasive writing and advertising; it’s more of an attempt to get you to quickly spot hype and dismiss it.
Envision yourself coming back from the mailbox and standing over a trash can in your kitchen and spotting the hype in the mail you receive and tossing it in the receptacle “faster than the speed of light.”
My guess is you are pretty adept at spotting hype and here is a way to insure that a well crafted, slippery piece of hyperbole doesn’t sneak in on you and lead you down a barren trail.
Fine tune your “Hype Filter.” I’ve mention in the past that famed defense attorney, Jerry Spence says that we all have a BS filter. The difficulty is that it may be clogged. We clog our hype filter when we make all of our discernments in our head. The hype filter lives in your body – your sensing self – not in your mind.
The body is always sending the alert signal to the mind, but our thinking is so jammed that the impression our body is sending cannot translate into words and deeds.
Start paying attention to your body more often and you will not be victimized by the sea of hyperbole that surrounds you.
Here’s an exercise that will begin to clear out your hype filter so you can use it more often. Think of a time that someone said something that you wanted to believe but you had an “odd feeling” about it. You ignored the sensation and later on paid a price. We all have many experiences that we can point to like that. What I’m asking you to do is to notice the feeling you had at that time. Go back in your imagination to that time and envision what was being communicated to you and notice the specific feeling in your body that you had. Notice where it shows up – throat, chest, stomach, bowels, etc – and notice the intensity of the sensation. Then find another time that you had an “odd feeling” about and notice the location and intensity. This sensation is your hype filter. Practice this visualization exercise over and over again until you can automatically detect that sensation whenever it arises.
Paying attention to your hype filter will not only save you money it can save you from unnecessary heartache.
Your hype filter is a piece of software that is always running in the background. In order to maximize its potential, you would be well served by paying attention to your body more often.
I would tell you that my CD, RELAX IN 2 MINUTES will help anyone get more in touch with their bodily sensations, but that may be a lot of hype. Always check with your body first.
All the best,
John
http://cdbaby.com/cd/johnmorgan
http://www.cafepress.com/grasshoppernote/3580301
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