Hypnosis for Success

In today’s rough economy (at the time of this writing) it can be hard to make a decent living, and easier than ever for your motivation run dry. The exhaustion and stress of trying to climb the career ladder can quickly result in a permanent case of the Mondays. It’s perfectly understandable: the job market is barren and employers are requiring more than ever and paying less. It’s plain to see why every year, many people shell out hundreds of dollars to attend seminars with motivational speakers in an effort to give themselves the drive and ambition to make it to the top. However, what most people don’t know is that the power to succeed is, and always has been, in their own mind. The only problem is that sometimes it gets misplaced or blocked off.

hypnosis for success 300x177 Hypnosis for Success

The metaphorical “road to success” can be accessed from within your own mind.

Hypnosis therapy can help you reconnect with this passion that is so crucial to your success. Your progress is often sabotaged by a pattern of negative thoughts. As I mentioned in the article on memory hypnosis, thought patterns have a way of reinforcing themselves due to the neural strands becoming thicker with use. This makes it easy to fall into a self-fulfilling prophecy of diminished motivation. The key is to stop this pessimistic way of thinking and teach your mind to see the positive in all of your efforts. When you get in the habit of praising yourself for good effort (even if your goal is not immediately attained) you will reverse this process of neural reinforcement and have a more positive outlook about your career or chosen goal, whatever it may be.

Low self-esteem can be another culprit in a lack of success. Perhaps you do not believe that you are even capable of achieving your goal. Hypnosis therapy can help you to see things clearly and push aside these self-defeating attitudes. It is possible to achieve anything if we put our minds to it, and hypnosis for success can help you prepare your mind. In addition, the hypnotic calming techniques I’ve mentioned before will help you focus on the task at hand and block out distractions. Hypnotherapy will also give you greater control over your state of mind, which can help you eliminate any habits of procrastination.

Hypnosis can help you eliminate negative attitudes, appreciate your accomplishments, eliminate procrastination, and focus on your goals. On every level, hypnotherapy is an option for those who feel that they are not reaching their full potential in life.

Hypnosis for Drinking

“The man drinks the first glass of sake. The second glass drinks the first, and the third glass drinks the man.” – Japanese proverb

Even in feudal Japan, they knew that excessive alcohol consumption is a serious problem, as it has been ever since the discovery of alcohol itself. Alcoholism is a serious illness which, if left untreated, will destroy families, careers, and health. In most cases, alcoholism is a disorder of the mind, often caused by depression, stress, or other emotional problems. An alcohol addiction only serves to complicate these conditions. If you or someone you know is suffering from problems with alcohol, you may want to consider hypnotherapy as a supplement for traditional alcoholism treatment.

Hypnosis for drinking problems typically begins with assessing your “trigger,” or what event or situation causes you to begin drinking. This could be social situations, coming home from a rough day at work, or generally stressful situations. Hypnotic relaxation techniques can help block out the reflexive drinking present at this stage by focusing your mind on the goal of ending your alcohol problem. Obviously, this is not the “be all, end all” element of hypnosis for drinking problems. Alcoholism is not likely to be something that can be cured in one session. Follow-up sessions may focus on eliminating the emotional situation which caused the excessive drinking to begin with. A two-tiered approach may also be a good strategy; this will ensure that not only is the momentary desire to drink curbed by the hypnotic relaxation techniques, but also that the long-term stress does not result in a relapse into old habits.

GinLane Hypnosis for Drinking

The painting “Gin Lane” by William Hogarth, a caricature of the damaging effects of excessive alcohol consumption.

Success with hypnosis for drinking problems depends on a wide variety of factors. The most obvious is the will of the person to end their drinking problem once and for all. No method of treatment will rid them of their alcohol addiction if they do not help themselves first, by making a conscious and definite decision to end their alcohol problem once and for all. They must also be a person who responds well to hypnosis therapy. Positive suggestions in the hypnotic state simply do not work for some types of people. This does not mean it is their fault or that hypnotherapy is a hoax, it simply means that everyone’s mind is different and requires an individual approach. Success also depends on the severity of the alcoholism problem. The most severe drinking problems constitute a medical emergency, and require a more immediate method to prevent serious health problems or even death.

Again, hypnotherapy is not the “silver bullet” for alcoholism. Any form of treatment for drinking problems must follow up with positive reinforcement of an alcohol-free lifestyle. The recovering alcoholic must find new ways to cope with problems and enjoy life without alcohol. They do not simply stop drinking, but in essence, they are replacing the alcoholic phase of their lives with the new period of recovery. It is widely believed that treatment for alcoholism lasts a lifetime. Hypnosis therapy may be a great supplement to the main form of alcoholism treatment, at every step of the way.

Hypnotherapy for Smoking Cessation

It is hardly necessary to remind you of the damage done to your body by smoking. It is common knowledge nowadays that smoking destroys almost every system in your body, not to mention putting a serious dent in your wallet. Many smokers would love to quit, but they beleive that it is not possible for them and so they simply carry on with this deadly habit. Those who do try to quit may try nicotine gums and lozenges with mixed success. Quitting cold turkey is another option, but it can be extremely difficult to quit this way. For some people, hypnotherapy for smoking cessation may be exactly what they need to snuff out their tobacco addiction once and for all.

One approach to hypnosis for smoking cessation is to communicate the damage of smoking to the unconscious mind. The hypnotist may suggest to the hypnotized patient that cigarette smoke burns their throat and turns their teeth yellow. The hypnotist may describe the patient’s lungs becoming clogged with tar and the heart slowly deteriorating. Imagining these things on a deep level during hypnosis may sound unpleasant, but reprogramming the unconscious mind to clearly perceive the dangers of smoking could be a great help to some people who may have “blocked out” this knowledge to reduce the cognitive dissonance caused by their smoking. Other patients may be better off with a positive afirmation-style approach. This would consist of suggesting imagery of a clean, healthy body. No mention is made of cigarettes, tar, nicotine, or any of their unpleasant effects on the body. Instead, the hypnotist might say, “imagine the fresh air flowing freely deep into your lungs… It enters your bloodstream, courses through your veins to every part of your body, and you feel clear and refreshed… It purifies and nourishes your body.” A combination of these two approaches may also work for some patients.

Smoking can be one of the toughest addictions to beat, especially if you have been smoking for decades (as many smokers have) Depending on the strength of your addiction as well as a plethora of your individual characteristics, you may require several hypnotherapy sessions to eliminate cravings forever, but I personally knew a man who was able to quit smoking (with very little withdrawal) from just one session. Of course, the most important thing is that the patient WANTS to quit. It’s important that hypnosis is not mind control, but rather the process of making positive suggestions to the unconscious mind to create a change in feelings and behavior. If you find yourself struggling to quit smoking, hypnotherapy for smoking cessation is available and may be the silver bullet to your addiction.

Hypnosis for Depression

The famous psychologist Albert Ellis once stated, “You largely constructed your depression. It wasn’t given to you. Therefore, you can deconstruct it.” Anyone who has ever suffered from prolonged depression may be skeptical of the statement that you can simply deconstruct that miserable emotional prison in which you are trapped, but it’s true: a valuable weapon against depression lies within your very own mind.

Hypnosis for depression is perhaps one of the most common uses of this unique form of treatment. Fortunately, most cases of depression are purely mental, and are thus dealt with quite easily with hypnotherapy. A primary cause of depression is a person’s outlook on their situation and life in general. Of course, this is not to say that depression is entirely the fault of that person, but simply that it is normal to become discouraged and lose faith when faced with miserable circumstances. Anti-depressant medications may help, but these are only a temporary fix for a long-term problem. In addition, some people do not wish to take anti-depressant drugs due to the risk of addiction and potentially deadly side-effects. Hypnosis for depression provides a safe and natural alternative (or complement) to other treatments for depression.

Hypnotherapy for individuals suffering from depression is fairly straightforward. It works by making positive suggestions to a hypnotized mind. These will reprogram your mindset to be more positive in it’s outlook of your situation, thereby improving your overall mood. Obviously, this does not remedy the circumstances in your life which contribute to your depression, but it helps clear your head of negative thoughts so that you can focus on improving your situation without feeling unmotivated and hopeless. The power of hypnotherapy can also help you feel relaxed and stop your mind from dwelling on negative things in your life which are making you depressed, such as the loss of an important relationship, the death of a loved one, anxiety over your job, or simply a chemical imbalance in your brain.

If you are suffering from depression, it would be well worth it to seek out a qualified hypnotherapist to help you overcome it. Hypnotherapy cannot solve all of your life’s problems for you, but it helps those who help themselves, so to speak.

Hypnosis For Flying

Fear of flying can be a debilitating phobia in today’s increasingly globalized world. An inability to step onto an airplane can prevent you from seeing relatives who live far away, visiting distant places you might enjoy, and it can even cause trouble with your career if it requires long-distance travel. A situation may occur from time to time where flying on a plane is absolutely necessary, and a person must use heavy doses of anxiety medication to make the flight even somewhat mentally bearable. However, the only thing this accomplishes is temporarily masking the symptoms, and does little to attack the source of the aversion. It has been suggested that the use of medication may actually prevent a person from becoming accustomed to flight. As with most phobias, trying to rationally explain the low risk (flying is statistically the safest way to travel, etc.) is ineffective. Fear of flying would seem to be a problem without an easy solution.

But hypnotherapy may have something to offer those who suffer from fear of flying. In most cases, a fear of flying is rooted in an initial sensitizing event (ISE) which in layman’s terms, is a traumatic experience which causes a lasting aversion to a specific element. In this case, the ISE is most likely an extremely frightening event involving airplanes, possibly a near-death experience. Hypnotherapy for flying aversion works in the same way that it works for any other mental or emotional problem: it modifies thought processes in parts of the brain that are not accessible during conscious thought. The first step is to retrieve the memory of the ISE event that caused the phobia to begin with. It is then possible for the subconscious to clear the emotional intensity of this event, thereby reducing it’s significance to your conscious mind. This will eliminate the “learned response” to the traumatic experience. Another approach may be to reprogram the subsonscious mind to recognize flying as a safe, normal method of transport. The subconscious mind is able to understand and implement this belief if the interference from the ISE can be eliminated. It may take months of hypnotherapy sessions to dismantle the many “layers” of fear that tend to build up following a traumatic life event that results in fear of flying, but patients may see a small improvement as early as the first session.

In a broader sense, hypnotherapy can help you develop mental mechanisms to help you feel relaxed wherever you are. These methods have been proven effective for all sorts of stressful situations, from taking a big exam to stressing out over a deadline at work. These skills can easily translate to helping one overcome a fear of flying. Using hypnotherapy to rid the mind of the learned response coupled with the development of mental coping strategies can make any irrational fear a thing of the past, including fear of flying. If you or someone you know are suffering from this phobia, consider hypnotherapy for flying aversion. It may prove to be a safer, cheaper, and more effective remedy than most mainstream methods.

Christian Hypnosis?

One of my good friends once mentioned to me that growing up, her deeply religious mother would not let her watch the Smurfs on TV. The reason was that she believed they were encouraging children to worship the devil. As a devout Christian myself, I can understand her concerns: we all work very hard to stay within God’s law, and it’s better to be safe than sorry. But sometimes we find ourselves worrying about something that turns out to be completely innocuous. I had the same concerns when I started my hypnotherapy sessions for my back pain following an injury. I wondered to myself, can there be such a thing as Christian hypnosis? A few simple facts and some Bible verses will show you that hypnotherapy is perfectly admissible by most interpretations of the Good Book.

While Christian Science groups, Seventh-Day-Adventists, and a few other religious sects specifically denounce hypnosis therapy, most religious groups have no issues with it, and in fact, utilize many of the core principles of hypnosis in their regular worship (repetition, concentration, relaxation) It is worth noting that the human mind drifts in and out of a hypnotic state several times a day. For example, have you ever been driving down a long country road, and you suddenly arrive at your destination, and you find that you do not remember most of the drive? Or maybe you have worked in a factory performing a dull and repetitive task for hours on end, and found that the entire day is a blur? These situations occur because your mind became very relaxed and entered a hypnotic state. Hypnosis is a natural state of mind, not an occult tool of evil ends. That is not to say that hypnotherapy cannot be abused by malicious individuals, but this is the case with any therapeutic method. While the vast majority of hypnotherapists perform a style of hypnosis which is purely medical and psychological, requiring no belief in any metaphysical or magical concepts, there are many hypnotherapists who practice with a Christian perspective. I would encourage you to seek out a practitioner of Christian hypnosis if you are more comfortable with it.

In addition, the core principles of hypnosis therapy (making suggestions to the unconscious mind in order to foster positive change) are mentioned several times in the Scriptures. Romans 12:2 states: “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his Good, Pleasing, and Perfect Will.” This may be an example of the transformative power of the mind, perhaps specifically the unconscious part. Psalm 51:6 tells us, “Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.” Yet another passage alluding to the great wisdom and truth to be found in the “inward parts” of the mind; e.g. the subconscious which is opened up during the hypnotic state.

I agree with the majority of Christians who do not have any religious objections to hypnotherapy. I believe that hypnosis can provide a natural and spiritually healthy complement to more mainstream treatments for ailments and addictions of all sorts. You may seek out a practitioner of Christian hypnosis if it puts your spiritual concerns to rest. Hypnosis has much to offer, and it would be a shame to not partake in it’s benefits because of well-intentioned but misguided beliefs about it’s compatibility with Christianity. For further reading on the subject of Christianity and hypnotherapy, read the book Hypnosis Healing and the Christian by John H. Court, available from Amazon.com Christian Hypnosis?.

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