Habits of My Own

by Patrick Glancy

Comfort food is something we crave when we are tired, sad, lonely, stressed or even happy. We all have our own favorite comfort food, for me it is Jack in the Box tacos. If you had this food as an adult for the first time, you would never eat it again, but still you are drawn to it. It is just not logical!

Here is the logic, the addition and craving you are feeling is emotional. You, like myself, can justify eating it because you think you will feel happy, content or calm. Deep down you know it will not make you feel better, but think it will subconsciously. After a while you actually start to believe it will make you feel better and because our minds believe this, you do feel better, but only for a short time.

As the taco is disappearing, a bite at a time, the guilt kicks in. You might have guessed this does not stop me from eating one taco, or even my second! I am sure you know this feeling, and it is very frustrating. I know I should not be eating the greasy and oddly textured taco, but I really feel like eating it. I have the same cravings, longing and urge to devour that taco, the same as you.

Annihilating the taco, is a habit and this habit was learned through different ways. For me, I remember being very young, seven or eight years old maybe. I was on the way to the beach in Southern California with my family. I remember my mom and aunt, talking about Jack in the Box tacos. They talked about how good and greasy they are. They would especially be perfect to buy and take to the beach to eat. We were all happy and having a good time. It was a warm, sunny day at the beach, and we were going to play and enjoy ourselves. We got the tacos and they were the most delicious tacos in the world. I remember some gritty sand getting onto some of my taco but it didn’t matter, we were having a fantastic day. Important memories which are vivid typically are more influential than the everyday mundane memories.

Today, just the anticipation of getting the tacos triggers good feelings which are associated with this memory. Sometimes the memory comes with it and sometimes not. It is important to understand how we relate feelings to different things in our lives, things like food, music or a voice.

For example, I used to love Aerosmith. I would listen to their songs over and over again, but never get sick of them. All this changed in the early 90’s when I took my then girlfriend to an Aerosmith concert. Things did not get well and since then I don’t care for Aerosmith much, each song reminds me of her.

I have been able to conquer my embarrassing fear of spiders, thank goodness. I managed to trace it back to a time when I was six or seven and had a run in with a black widow spider. The spider was inside of a rear window in our van. I remember the van had pin striping and the interior was tangerine orange with matching carpet. Try not to laugh too hard, it was SoCal in the 70’s. My parents were freaking out and they made my brothers and I quickly evacuate the van. Now I am able to kill spiders but if I see a big one, still gets my heart racing.

Other memories we associate with feelings or emotions might be something as simple as a voice. I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear a stern voice, like my wife saying, Patrick Michael Glancy, I know I have either done something wrong or need to find something to do and fast! Most people feel like a child when they hear this tone of voice. Especially when someone uses your first, middle and last name!

Enough about me. The point of all this is to show you common sense examples of learned behaviors. Emotions associated with memories trigger very powerful, behind the scenes reactions and decisions in our minds.

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This post was written by Patrick Glancy on December 12, 2008

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Self Hypnosis: Smoking Has a New Enemy!

by Maxwell Fields

A very misunderstood relaxation and self-help subject is hypnotherapy. Perhaps one of the biggest reasons for this misconception is the prevalence of stage hypnosis and the relative obscurity of self-help hypnosis. During all stage sessions, participants are pre-qualified, and only the most suggestible subjects are actually brought onto stage for the performance.

Another popular misconception is that some believe a hypnotist can make them do uncharacteristic things that would embarrass them. The fact is that a hypnotherapist can’t make you do anything that you don’t want to do, or are incapable of doing. The subjects performing outrageous acts on stage are uninhibited and outgoing by nature, and that’s why they’re on stage in the first place.

Hypnosis is little more than guided relaxation, nothing more. That’s it. It’s not a paranormal therapy, but it can be very effective for certain participants when used for self help purposes. The objective with hypnotherapy is to alter your state of consciousness so that you’re brain is more open to suggestion. The hypnotherapist can then speak some pre-approved affirmations that will be more readily accepted by your brain.

Another way to look at hypnotherapy is that it’s positive self-talk or positive affirmations made when the mind is relaxed. So there should be nothing mysterious about hypnosis. Hypnosis is simply an approach to lead your body and mind into a relaxed state and clear your mind of distractions so that it can focus on the affirmations being said.

Some people are more suggestible than others and some people are naturally averse to hypnosis altogether. About one out of five people will likely be resistant to hypnosis, but others will be able to implant positive messages into their subconscious, relax, and put themselves to sleep.

Smoking in particular is a good candidate for hypnotherapy because much of the addiction is psychological, and that is an area the self-hypnosis can help you address. After all, smoking, aside from the nicotine, really has little to offer the body, so an open mind should be able to quickly push aside cravings when the curtains are pulled back.

At the very least, hypnosis will help you balance yourself, relax, and lower stress levels. If you are a smoker, a hypnosis smoking cessation program might be exactly what you need, and you can safely participate in one without worrying about clucking at odd hours of the day!

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This post was written by Maxwell Fields on November 20, 2008

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NLP Hypnosis: The Combination of NLP and Hypnosis

by Joel Chue

Although interrelated in many ways, NLP and hypnosis are two very different concepts. Hypnosis is more of an art while NLP is more of a science. NLP or otherwise known as Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a method used by many psychotherapists to change people behavioral patterns. This approach has been widely adopted within the field of psychology.

The techniques of NLP find great usage in fields such as business and industries. It is also greatly used by advocates in various training activities, workshops ad also knowledge dissemination program. These workshops are essentially used in order to influence the other person’s views and perception. The underlying principle here is that with the acquisition of new knowledge and ideas there are also suitable change and modifications in a persons attitude and behavior.

Hypnosis is also a means that is used to influence the mind and the behavior of a person, but this process is highly unconventional, but none the less popular. Hypnosis generally targets the person’s subconscious. In this a person is commanded to perform actions, in a state of half sleep. In such a state of mind, the mind is more conducive to the obeying and accepting external demands from a third party. Unless recently, it was often regarded that hypnosis was like dealing with psychic. But of late this perception has entirely changed. Now hypnosis is treated with utmost scientific approach, according to the new study, we face hypnotic trance almost daily in our lives. You yourself must have experienced hypnosis while watching scenes in a movie or television.

Now the question that arises is, can we combine the two alike process NL and hypnosis? And if yes, what will be the significance? The answer is that the mixture of these two principles will lead to a better facilitation of knowledge and skill dissemination. In fact, there are many training sessions that involve the techniques of both the processes. By combing the two processes we can actually control the conscious and the sub-conscious state of mind. The end result of the combination is almost always positive.

While NLP, deals with the conscious mind, hypnosis achieve behavioral patterns changes by working on the subconscious mind of people.

If one is planning to conduct a workshop based on using both these techniques, it is imperative that you enlist the aid of those who are professional in these areas. Hypnosis is a very sensitive and delicate subject matter and as such it is crucial that those who are targeting people’s subconscious mind knows what they are doing and dealing with. Although, this may call for more investment and research to find the suitable professional, it is necessary that you do so because of the ethical issues involved.

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NLP Hypnosis: The Entertainment side

by Joel Chue

Apart from being used to change behavioral patterns for the treatment of certain problems of patients, hypnosis has also been used for entertainment. When used in this form, it is called a hypnosis show. The effects of the trance in a hypnosis show only lasts as long as the performance is. There are no permanent effects.

While performing hypnosis in front of a large number of people it is important that the hypnotist chooses his topic wisely. He has to be extremely careful about picking up people from the audience to put in a trance. Once the person is in a trace, the hypnotist can plant any idea or suggestions in the mind o the said person.

Just like when hypnosis is used for therapy, for the hypnosis show, the hypnotist also requires the total cooperation of his volunteer for him to be able to put the volunteer under a trance. To help the hypnotist pick out suitable candidates for his show, he has to choose those who will listen to his command. By using a process call induction, he can tell from the audience who are more susceptible to his command. For example, he will ask the audiences to close their eyes and listen to his command. From this action, it is easy to see the willing participants from those who are not cooperative.

Members of the audiences who are not susceptible to the Hypnotist commands will be alert within the audiences. From this, the hypnotist will not select those who are resistant to his commands as volunteers.

The actual stage performance of the hypnotist starts when he starts to call upon the volunteers on stage. There are certain techniques that the hypnotist uses to call upon the willing volunteers. One such trick is to arrange lesser number of chairs than the number of people actually required. This will help in creating a competition amongst the audience to participate in the show.

When the hypnotist puts all the volunteers under a trance, he will be able to make them anything by commanding them. While under a trance, the volunteers are totality susceptible to the commands of the hypnotist. If the hypnotist wishes the volunteers to act out that they are drunk, then the volunteers will follow as commanded. Or if the hypnotist wishes the volunteers to pretend that they are aliens conversing in a strange tongue, the volunteers will do so as well. Once the show is over, the volunteers will come out of the trance with no effect at all.

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NLP Hypnosis: Clinical Hypnosis

by Joel Chue

The process of interaction between a hypnotist and the sub conscious mind of a patient is defined as clinical hypnosis. This process actually plays a crucial role in the treatment of a patient. The majority of clinical hypnosis are conducted only qualified physicians as only they have the requisite knowledge about the mental health of a patient.

Of late, clinical hypnosis has assumed tremendous importance in view of the fact that people visit trained hypnotists to tackle their problems like smoking, drinking and various others. This method of hypnosis at a clinic is proved to be successful to control obesity as well.

The majority of us have the mistaken idea that, during hypnosis, a hypnotist just whitewashes the mind of the patient and reprogram it with a new beginning. However, the truth could not be further away; Hypnosis in fact requires a lot of work before we can even begin to see any results. The patient has to fully coordinate and cooperate with the hypnotist to achieve the desired results. Because of these factors, a lot of time is spent by the hypnotist is preparing the setting to develop the right attitude of the patient, which is conducive for treatment. If the recommendations and suggestions by the hypnotist are fully implemented by the patient, then the patient will be able to achieve his or her goal sooner. For example, those who wish to quit drinking and smoking will need to be patient before the treatment gain a foothold.

Therapeutic hypnosis is the name given to such a treatment involving a hypnotist for the purpose. In comparison, self hypnosis involves the hypnosis of the subject on his own, by reading materials provided on a CD or on the internet. In case of clinical hypnosis, on the other hand, the hypnotist completely understands the patients mental status and works on it. Remember to select an expert hypnotist for the purpose of treatment, as because the involvement of an inexperienced hypnotist may lead to extreme kind of reactions. So an expert in the field is always beneficial for the patient.

Most people who wish to quit their habits of drinking and smoking opt for this kind of treatment. It is believed that a chunk of the income that hypnotists get is from patients who wish to get rid of their smoking and drinking habits. Presently, there is not enough material to support the treatment of serious diseases like diabetes, cancer, etc., by hypnosis, but hypnosis can surely be used by cancer patients to lessen the pain that they experience.

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NLP Hypnosis: The Darker Aspect of Hypnosis

by Joel Chue

Hypnosis is a natural and common occurrence and it happens one faces it almost regularly. All of us go in and out of hypnotic trances throughout our day. These trances are generally well intend and are pretty harmless, but there are some people who drive others in to a hypnotic state just so that they can forcibly convince others to buy something that they would not buy under normal circumstances.

By now, you would be wondering who these people could be. Well, the groups which uses hypnotic trances the most to deliver their messages are the Media, the Advertising agencies, the Governments and those strongly opinioned individuals. The advertising agencies are the most aggressive of the lot who uses this method to push their messages across to the public to persuade them to buy their clients’ products. This is also the main reason why this group spends the most on advertising. There are certainly not there to be social welfare agencies, but rather to fill up their pockets when sales go up. The second group which uses hypnotic trances frequently are the political groups. A perfect example is the current Presidential election campaign going on in the US. Have you noticed and wondered why, how highly charged the advertisement s aired by the candidates?

All these campaigns are planned and crafted with details to achieve the maximum impact within the shortest possible time. Their aim is to get you to buy or at least influence you to buy their products in the end. Do you ever stop to think if you really needed that second car in the garage when the first one is working fine? Now you are beginning to see the darker side of hypnosis.

With respect to News, in fact, they are meant to inform us about the latest events that are happening around us. However, today, this is no longer the case. No longer are news related to the daily affairs which affects the nation, or us they are now more infotainment. These are designed to inform and entertain as the same time making us wanting to watch the news for the entertainment sake.

The truth is that good news is boring. You cannot hear to a happy story through out the day. It is more interesting to hear a story that goes like a happy man leaving for his job and then getting abducted by terrorists and it would make it all the more interesting and hypnotic if we add that meantime his wife lost her sanity and committed infanticide.

This is the flip side of hypnosis.

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NLP Hypnosis: How to Self Hypnosis

by Joel Chue

Self hypnosis, exactly what the term suggests? It is actually the process in which you practice hypnosis upon your own self for the achievement of goals that will lead you to the betterment of yourself. It is a very controversial topic since opinion about it varies from man to man. As an art rapidly changing into science, it has opened up huge possibilities of self betterment of individuals. You only require patience and practice on a regular basis to put it to your use. Even though responses to the therapy vary it is emerging as a fast developing science that will and has helped many to overcome various shortcomings in their personality, living habits and various other such fields.

Losing of bad habits, improving one’s memory, gluttony etc are only a few that can be overcome by this therapy. It is essentially a self-empowerment policy which is not some instant fix theory. It is the user’s motivation which will help him overcome the various obstacles in the path of his achieving what he wants to. It helps infuse positive energy in one’s life and bringing of happiness as a result.

The process and effectiveness of self-hypnotism should not be understated. This form of therapy works directly on a person subconscious mind, totally by passing the conscious level of an individual’s mind. When a person is going through a state of self-hypnotism, what they are doing is that, they substitute their negative emotions for more positive ones. This is the main reason why a person can be self-empowered. Thus, being driven by self-empowerment, an individual can be extremely successful in what they set out to do in the first place.

Learning hypnotherapy is easy. You can get professional help as well as you can learn it up yourself. The easiest way is to get a hypnotherapist, someone who will teach you how to make the therapy effective. But if you find that u cannot accommodate their consolations then no need to worry. You can always do it yourself. There are loads of books, DVD’s and CD’s available for you to learn from. Attending seminars on the same will help you learn it all practically. But you have to constantly keep taking action for the therapy to act effectively. That’s it! Stop pining right now and get to work.

Research shows that only a mere 10% of our subconscious and mind power has been put up to efficient use till date. Usage at this rate has led to such big changes possible, no one knows the limit, we do not know how or what can be achieved if the full 100% can be put to use. No one knows what tremendous things can be achieved, so are you ready to make the impossible possible?

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