I regularly read Mike Cernovich’s website Danger and Play — it’s a useful site that shows people how to handle the ups and downs of modern life without sinking into a pit of despair. His Gorilla Mindset book has a lot of good, solid life improvement tips as well. However, I would see him occasionally mention this thing called “binaural beats,” which, according to him, helps listeners focus their minds.
For the longest time, I dismissed binaural beats as new age woo that didn’t actually do anything. But one day, as I was having trouble with my writing, I decided to give binaural beats a shot. After all, I wouldn’t really lose anything from it.
Did they help?
Yes they did.
As I listened to the beat linked above (Cognition Enhancer), my head swam with ideas on how to make my story go forward. I could see characters and locations clearly, almost as if I was right there. It suggested ways to push the story onward, and I found that when I sat down to write, it went by faster than usual.
I can’t believe I just waved this off as nonsense. There it was — something free of charge and very useful, and I just ignored it. But now I know the usefulness of these beats, and I will continue to use them in the future. Obviously, there are beats other than this one, and I would be wise to vary my listening since repeating the same beat each and every day is likely to weaken its effect. It’s amazing the jewels you find when you just look around you and take advantage of what you already have. Sometimes, being wrong helps you grow and learn.
An idea is not bunk just because you didn’t see it in a scientific journal.
