When I was a kid I used to really like watching old monster movies. There were one or two channels that would always show these old movies on Saturday afternoons, and I would always look forward to watching them. Most of them were “B” movies from the fifties and sixties, and had really interesting plots and story lines. Many of them were Japanese monster movies, and had an underlying metaphor of nuclear holocaust and the dangers that go along with it.

One of things that I find interesting, in retrospect, is that despite the seemingly “out here” story lines and the funny fact that their voices never matched their mouths, I still remember being completely drawn into these stories. As soon as they started, I couldn’t help but to completely lose myself in this and forget everything else. I don’t know if it was because I was a kid, and hadn’t really experienced a lot of special effects that most people expect when they see a science fiction movie, or just that being a kid allows for much more imagination and less critical attention to things that “don’t make any logical sense.”

I remember reading a study where the researchers were talking about different brainwaves in adults. Apparently, there are four different levels of brainwaves, beta, alpha, theta, and delta. Beta being the highest vibration, and delta being the lowest. Alpha is kind of a daydreaming state, the kind when you are in a meeting, and your boss is droning on about the latest sales figures, and you start thinking about that hot date you have this weekend, and suddenly your boss says “Peterson! Peterson! I’m talking to you!” and you say “Huh?”

Then there is theta, which is supposedly a really good brainwave state to be in, as it allows you to reprogram your subconscious, have amazing mental experiences, like shamanistic journeying and out of body experiences, and remote viewing and all kinds of other good stuff. Your imagination is best while it is in theta. It’s that stage just before you drift off into sleep that you are kind of conscious, but kind of just wandering around in la la land. If you’ve ever slipped into theta while falling asleep, and then slipped back out, you know what I’m talking about. You have a feeling of “who, what was I just thinking about?”

The brain is highly susceptible in the theta state. This is the best state to be in if your are undergoing hypnosis, because you can do things like learn to quit smoking, cut back on drinking, vastly improve your social skills, and remove any fears that you may have. And many studies indicate that children, up to about age 7 or 8, are almost always in the theta state.

Which explains why watching monster movies is so fascinating, even with cheesy special effects, obviously fake monsters, and voices that don’t match the actor’s lips. Of course, this is a double edge sword, both for kids and for parents. Anything you say to a kid, especially if it comes from an authority figure, will go straight in as unquestioned truth. Which is fantastic if you understand this and give kids empowering messages like, ” you can be anything you want to be,” or “there is no such thing as failure, you are always learning and getting better,” or “you are a worthy person who deserves success.” These can be wonderful messages to give to kids on a regular basis that will ensure they grow up to be happy self-sufficient individuals. Of course when you say things to them without thinking, or behave in ways that indicate any other that the above statements, that has a powerful effect as well.

The lowest form of brainwaves is delta, which is when you are deep asleep, even deeper than the dreaming state. Scientists believe that you only need less than an hour of delta sleep per night, and your good to go. Even if you sleep eight hours or more, and don’t get that delta state, you will still feel groggy all day, as if you only slept a few hours.

But my favorite was the Godzilla and Gamera movies. I even liked Gamara more than Godzilla, because I always believed Gamara to be a good guy, and Godzilla to be a bad guy. Gamara was always helping people out, while Godzilla was always walking all over Tokyo and generally causing mayhem.