Who has not experienced sweaty palms, rapid heartbeat, shallow breathing, and a quivery voice before a performance or presentation of some kind? Speaking in front of a crowd is many people's worst nightmare.

When the American flight program was in full swing, there was a news article about a particular space launch. The article described the monitoring of life signs for one of the astronauts during one mission launch. Despite the momentous occasion, the astronaut had no increase in heart rate, even during the last minutes of countdown. I remember wondering if the man was actually a robot.

Now that I understand more about the mind/body connection, I know that his experience was not only possible but desirable. During his training, he participated in simulation after simulation. When it came to the real thing his subconscious mind was so used to the procedure that he was able to perform as calmly as if it were no different than a simulation. The subconscious mind is subjective and will respond to our bidding, whatever that is.

Each one of us can use the ability of our subconscious minds for our purposes. If you are giving a speech, presentation or musical performance, of course it must be prepared from a technical and memory standpoint. But then there's the rest of the story.

Here is a step by step process for mentally and emotionally preparing for a presentation or musical performance.

Step 1. Know your reason. Have a clear picture in mind about why you are doing it and if possible, develop this picture at least a month before the event.

Step 2. Write a list of your achievements. Start as far back in your past as you like. Write down that you were valedictorian when you were in grade 8; you were a high school prefect; that you were chosen to sing a solo for your church; that you wrote an award winning story; or that you have a talent for making people laugh. Put down anything and everything that comes to your mind and spend a few minutes a day for two or three days adding to the list. Once you have your list, sit quietly for a few minutes and review it. Do this several times. How do you feel? Does it feel pretty good? Excellent! You are going to use that feeling for the next step.

Step 3. Decide how you want to feel after your presentation or performance. How does it feel to visualize yourself receiving congratulations, smiling and thanking people for the compliments, signing autographs! (Did you just laugh? I hope so.)

Step 4. Write a vision for your performance and describe everything. What do you see in the venue? What are the sights and sounds you will experience? Do a script and make sure it's in first person and present tense. EG, "I am calm and focused. I see people applauding and appreciating my performance. I bring the right information or musical content to my audience. I communicate with sincerity and passion."

Step 5. Once you have your vision run it like a movie several times a day. Start your visualization by doing some focused breathing or listening to some relaxing music. Then when you have become centered, run the movie. You may not actually see the movie, only impressions. You may want to speak it out loud, tape it or just think about it. It doesn't matter, just do it whichever way works for you. Each time you have a negative thought, turn the thought around. "Who's going to want to hear me?" becomes "Something that I say or some part of my music is going to reach one person and I don't have to know what or who." Turn all those thoughts around.

Step 6. Breathe. Stressed people breathe shallowly. Breathe slowly and deeply as you imagine your outcome and as you wait to step onto the stage.

Step 7. Enjoy it when your vision of the event becomes reality and people ask you for your autograph!