What Happened to Your New Year's Resolutions?

If you are like many of us, you kicked off the New Year with some earnest plans to improve yourself. Whether it is quitting smoking, losing weight, being more physically active, creating more quality time, changing your career, or any of the thousands of things that people seek to improve in their lives, those resolutions seem like such a “must do” when we make them. And yet, so few of us are able to actually make them happen and then make them stick. Instead, we feel stuck where we are.

Why is that?

It is not about being weak or failing.  The answer is in the way that our brains are built and work. The conscious mind, where the will to make those promises of self improvement and the willpower to actually make good on them dwells, represents only about 10-12 percent of our mental capacity. The vast majority of the mind is under the control of the unconscious mind. The unconscious is the place where dreams and imagination come from, so it is the place where we may be inspired by visions of self-improvement.

However, the unconscious mind is also the place where we retain forgotten memories and the long-term storage place of all the positive and negative things we have experienced. Those positive and negative experiences get attached to or associated with the powerful feelings that we were experiencing at the time of the event. That is why without even consciously thinking about it, a long forgotten happy memory that came from a time when you were enjoying a smoke or eating a doughnut comes up and tells us that good feelings come from those activities.

The painful circumstances that drove us to have a drink or binge on something we know is not good for us also rest within, ready to subtly color our judgement into thinking those activities will help us feel better, feel good about ourselves or recover from our troubles.

Trying to change a habit is a combination of physical and emotional behavior change that is like trying to pull 88% of your mind (the unconscious) along with you by using only 12% willpower (from the conscious mind). The unconscious is not logical. It does not care about the benefits of the change you want to make. It only wants to protect you from harm and risk by avoiding things to which it has attached negative associations and make you feel good by engaging in positively associated behaviors. It takes at least 21 days to change a habit and for most of us, the odds are against us being able to win that tug of war between the conscious and unconscious minds.

To set yourself up for success, consider getting a better understanding of what lies within your own mind. Handwriting analysis and regression hypnosis can provide insight into your unconscious mind. Hypnotherapy can help use the resources of the unconscious mind to help rather than hinder your desired behavior changes. Self-hypnosis techniques can provide tools for you to take greater control over your whole mind and use it to achieve the results that you want.

Don’t give up on those resolutions. You made them for a reason. You just didn’t know that the odds were stacked against you. Contact me today to find out how we can get you unstuck and instead, get started to help you achieve your goals and realize your potential!

References 

Dispenza, J. (2012). Breaking the habit of being yourself: How to lose your mind and create a new one. Carlsbad, CA: Hay House.

Hammond, D. C. (Ed.) (1990). Handbook of hypnotic suggestions and metaphors. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company.

Kappas, J.G. (2009). Professional hypnotism manual: Introducing physical and emotional suggestibility and sexuality (5th Ed.). Tarzana, CA: Panorama Publishing Company.

Consciousness and Transformation

Consciousness is both who we are and who we perceive ourselves to be. At any given time, who we truly are does not change, however we are constantly re-writing the stories that we tell ourselves. Those stories are based on our perception of the world and our place in it. Consciousness only exists in the moment; our recollections of the past and our fantasies of the future are just more stories. We cannot know what will be in future moments and we cannot trust what we tell ourselves happened in the past, because although real events may have happened, our memories of them are not necessarily accurate. Memories are not the real events, they are based entirely on the “false selves” that are the stories we invent and build upon our perceptions and associations. How many times have you filled in gaps in your memory with good or bad recollections that cannot be recalled by others who experienced the same event?

Transformation means changing our perceptions or our view so that we recognize that what we tell ourselves about the world and about ourselves is not the reality of the world around us or who we truly are. The real being that is buried within us must shed our “false selves” in order to be truly experienced in the moment, being whole or “integrated”. The rare moments when that happens are moments of “peak experience” and potentially transformative as they allow us to recognize the difference between reality and the storytelling that forms most of our world view. Those moments of true experience, unfiltered by our internal stories are when we can be truly dazzled, amazed and awakened by the truth. Finding new ways that allow us to experience the truth is what transformation is all about.

Hypnotherapy can help you get past your internal stories, identify the positive and negative internal associations that may be holding you back, strengthen what’s within you that can help you make progress and start you on a path of true transformation by helping you make changes in your life. This is what I mean by Helping you realize your potential!

Childhood Memories

Sometimes, childhood memories are not particularly positive, rather being part of the roots of our old personal myths if not real traumas we may have suffered.  Traumas have a habit of resurfacing, like how you always seem to physically hurt yourself in the same place over and over again. In the worst cases physical and emotional traumas can lead to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  (See my blog from March 2016 about PTSD.)  However, if not traumatic, our old negative personal myths can sometimes serve a purpose. For example, a past failure that led to a personal myth about needing to prove yourself could contribute to feelings of self confidence and independence and over time, lead to a strengthening of these positive aspects despite the original negative experience.  Sometimes, we need a little help to locate where feelings come from within us.  Meditative reflection, Healing Relaxation and hypnotherapy programs can help us continue on the quest for balance -- recognizing that we may have many experiences tucked in our subconscious that are not all good or all bad.

This realization can seem obvious when you look back on past memories, but most of us subconsciously color our memories into positive and negative associations that, according to the Theory of Mind, we then carry with us, possibly without even recalling the root cause. Trying to focus on strengthening one side or ending up wallowing in the other can be a challenge in trying to move forward in personal growth.  As a facilitator of your own exploration of your subconscious, a hypnotherapist can help you better understand some of the sources of wisdom and insight that are within you and help you gain perspective on your own memories.

Contact me to start making powerful changes in your life.

References

Davenport, L. (2009). Healing and transformation through self-guided imagery. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts.

Feinstein, D., & Krippner, S. (2008). Personal mythology: Discovering the guiding stories of your past -- creating a vision for your future (3rd Ed.). Santa Rosa, CA: Energy Psychology Press/Elite Books.

Jung, C.G. (1968). The archetypes and the collective unconscious (R.F.C. Hull, Trans.)(2nd Ed.). Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

Kappas, J.G. (2009). Professional hypnotism manual: Introducing physical and emotional suggestibility and sexuality (5th Ed.). Tarzana, CA: Panorama Publishing Company.

PTSD and Hypnotherapy

Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) can be an underlying and unrecognized cause behind a number of other problems.  Sometimes, people come to hypnotherapists for help with sleeping problems, feelings of frustration, phobias, concentration and focus problems, feeling “trapped” or “stuck” in their situation, relationship challenges, self-confidence, or feeling “stressed”, without realizing that there may be a past traumatic event that is contributing to these issues.  As a hypnotherapist, I do not diagnose or treat any condition, however hypnotherapy may be able to help you deal with PTSD as well as many of these issues that may manifest because of it; working to support your medical and psychological health care providers.

What is PTSD?

There are six medical criteria that indicate PTSD:

•            you have experienced a stressor event;
•         you re-experience some form or memory of the event in some way that seems beyond your control;
•         you consciously or unconsciously avoid things that remind you of the stressor at some level and a numbing of general responsiveness occurs;
•         you experience hyper-vigilance or heightened sensitivities that you did not experience before the stressor event;
•         your experience of these things lasts for more than a month; and
•         you endure significant impact in your ability to function socially, at work, or in other ways because of it.

So what constitutes a stressor event?

Everyone experiences a personal response of feeling sad, frightened or anxious after having experienced a traumatic event.  Typically, as time passes, we get over it.  In some cases, either from a single experience or from a combination of multiple traumas, you may instead feel increasingly isolated and trapped with those painful memories, leading to a sense of being under threat or in danger.  You may feel that you will never get back to “normal.”

Most stressor events are frightening or horrifying situations in which you felt powerless to help yourself or others.  We often think of soldiers experiencing this, but it can happen to anyone that lives through a threatening experience that made them feel helpless, either as it happened to them, as they witnessed it, as they learned about it having happened to someone close to them, or as they tried to help others through it or to respond to the situation.  It may happen quickly after the event, or may take years to slowly build into PTSD.

Although common examples include natural disasters, violent attacks, abuse, neglect or domestic violence, car or other serious accidents; a stressor can be any shattering event that made you feel helpless.

How does PTSD affect behavior?

You may experience “flashbacks” or upsetting memories of the event, nightmares, intense physical reactions (like pounding heart, sweating or nausea among others) to anything that reminds you in some way of the event.  You may consciously or unconsciously start avoiding places, things and situations that remind you of the event, including feelings.  You may lose interest in activities that you used to enjoy or feel unable to experience positive emotions.  You may feel isolated and numb or have increased sensations of your own limitations and limits to your own future prospects.  You may become forgetful, have trouble sleeping, lose your temper, feel jumpy, irritable, have various aches and pains or have difficulty concentrating.  You may become involved in substance abuse or other risk-taking behaviors, feel dread or distress, think about suicide, feel betrayed or mistrustful, feel guilty, ashamed or at-fault.  Many people fear that nothing can help and that they will never feel better.

What can be done?

Talk to your doctor or healthcare provider.  Studies have shown that overcoming PTSD is possible by reaching out for help, establishing a solid plan and developing new coping skills.  Even if you suspect or know that you are suffering from PTSD, at least 20% of people fear seeking help because they worry what others may think and over 30% of the general population of North America don’t want anyone to know that they may be in any form of therapy.

Hypnotherapy, with a referral from your doctor or healthcare provider can help address PTSD.  Based on your personal circumstances a combination of stress inoculation, cognitive behavior and exposure therapies can help you to cope with the issues you face.

Stress inoculation can help you to deal with your reactions to reminders of the stressor event by giving new coping skills such as relaxation, breathing control, reaffirming self-talk, and generally changing how you react to the external stimuli that cause you stress.  Hypnotherapy can help you start, reinforce and strengthen these coping skills.

Cognitive behavior means changing how you think in order to change the way you feel.  Replacing negative thoughts and emotions that arise and recognizing that feelings are not facts allows you to rewrite the stories that you keep telling yourself about your experiences.  Hypnotherapy allows you to directly access the subconscious while remaining in control so you can apply the changes to your internal stories directly.

Exposure therapy means reducing the impact of exposure to both the things that remind you of the stressor event as well as the memories of that event itself.  Hypnotherapy allows not only accessing of past events maintained in the subconscious while you remain in control, but also provides a method of rescripting or revising the associated memories and triggers that have become part of your subconscious baggage.

There is no universal approach as each person’s circumstances and plan for dealing with PTSD is unique to their circumstances, needs, background, nature of the stressor event and what else may be going on with your health or your life.  The key is to get started and get help to deal with PTSD.

References

American Psychiatric Association. (2013). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5^th Ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Foa, E. B. & Meadows, E. A. (1997). Psychosocial treatments for posttraumatic stress disorder: A critical review. Annual Review of Psychology, 48, 449-480.

Machenberg, L.R. (2012). Hypnotherapy and post traumatic stress disorder. Tarzana, CA: American Hypnosis Association.

Schnyder, U., Ehlers, A., Elbert, T., Foa, E. B., Gersons, B. P. R., Resick, P. A., … Cloitre, M. (2015). Psychotherapies for PTSD: What do they have in common? European Journal of Psychotraumatology, 6, http://dx.doi.org/10.3402/ejpt.v6.28186

Zawadski, B., Popiel, A., Foa, E., Jakubowska, B., Cyniak-Cieciura, M., & Praglowska, E. (2015). The structure of symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder according to DSM-5 and assessed by PDS-5 – preliminary results. Current Issues in Personality Psychology, 3(1), 1-11.

Zimberhof, D. & Hartman, D. (n.d.). The ultimate guide to clinical hypnotherapy techniques. Issaquah, WA: The Wellness Institute.

Hypnotherapy and Depression

Nearly ten percent of North Americans suffer from depression, or so they are told, no matter what the cause may be. That means that if you look at any random group of ten or more people, at the bus stop, in the lineup at the grocery store, walking down the street or in your workplace, the odds are that at least one of them is suffering from it.

Most depression is addressed with medication, psychotherapy, or a combination of both. There is research to support that combined therapies are more effective than psychopharmacology alone. But what about a fresh approach?

Depression is sometimes described as feeling like being caught in a downward spiral or a vortex. A friend of mine uses the term “catastrophizing” to describe the bleak outlook that depression sometimes presents. There are real symptoms, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual that are repeatedly reinforced through unconscious negative self-talk and negative underlying belief systems. Cognitive behavioral therapy and other psychotherapeutic techniques can help by exploring conscious thoughts and behaviors driven by the negative underlying influences, but they cannot get to the root cause beliefs that keep the cycle of sorrow continuing.

Similarly, medications can provide relief of the symptoms, but that is as far as they can go, not to mention the potential side effects that they bring with them. I never understood those disclaimers on the drug ads that warn that antidepressants can increase the risk of thoughts of suicide until a friend began to take them. She said the only way she could describe it was that they reduce the extreme impact of being so emotionally down by reducing the all extremes. The emotional lows are not so low, but there are no emotional highs either. Life becomes blasé, so the thought of ending life creeps in.

Hypnotherapy provides an alternative approach to looking at root causes. Now although hypnotherapy is not a treatment and does not diagnose or treat any problems with a physical or mental etiology, a hypnotherapist can work with your doctor, counselor or psychotherapist on a referral basis to help you explore what underlies your suffering.

Hypnotherapy can go beyond merely addressing symptoms. In fact, last year, the Wellness Institute, which offers professional training to psychotherapists and counselors in hypnotherapy, identified four significant benefits that hypnotherapy can offer. These closely correspond to my own experience working with people in my training from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute and Atlantic University, so here is my version of them:

1. Uncovering Internal Resources

During hypnotherapy, you can explore your own internal subconscious resources. The role of the hypnotherapist is to help guide you in this exploration and make sure that your own internal resources can remain accessible to you even after the session ends. Accessing internal resources can enhance your coping skills and increase your resiliency, which are two areas battered by being depressed.

Direct access to the subconscious and the superconscious can also enhance your spiritual connection, whatever you conceive that to be, whether you feel that you have reached a higher power or just a higher aspect of yourself. Since being depressed creates feelings of isolation, being able to connect or re-connect with that inner channel to wisdom can be helpful.

2. Going Deep

In the hypnotic state, you directly access your subconscious mind. Being able to access the place that is the source of dreams and phobias under your own control, guided by a hypnotherapist, often allows identification of the underlying negative associations that have become part of the much larger problem. Hypnosis provides a mechanism to safely examine deep emotions and the buried baggage that goes with them.

Integrated Imagery Regression Hypnosis can help you correlate your present situation to earlier experiences, allowing you to understand your own belief system with insights unavailable to the conscious mind. Your situation may not seem logical because it is not. The place that dreams and phobias come from is not a place of logic. The conscious mind is the source of logic and reasoning, and it is only 12% of your mind’s potential. The rest is the unconscious, where inspiration, but also fear and emotion reign supreme. At the very least, gaining some insights into what happened or is happening at a subconscious level can help you become more forgiving of your own younger self and understanding of your present self.

3. Reframing the Negative

If you trace negative beliefs and conclusions safely back to their source, sometimes the subconscious mind will be able to allow a reassessment of the events that have piled so much negativity around them. Like an irritant in an oyster that results in layer upon layer being wrapped around it, the subconscious collects negative associations that emanate from their underlying causes. With a hypnotherapist guiding you, you may be able to apply the wisdom and insight of your present maturity to change the long-standing way that negative associations have been held in your subconscious.

You do not necessarily have to continue to accept those myths of your own emotional making that say that you are alone, unloved, not good enough and so on. This is not just Pollyanna affirmation, this is working inside your own subconscious to help change your underlying belief system for the better. That is what self-improvement is all about and that is what hypnotherapy is for.

4. Rescripting

One of the most powerful aspects of hypnotherapy is that it allows you to rewrite the history of events that you carry within your subconscious. This is not about changing the facts about what happened, but rather about changing your associated emotional attachments and responses to events and emotions. This powerful tool can allow you to re-imagine the circumstances in a more positive way, even subconsciously experiencing the “what if” of a different result to the situation.

Much of our emotional baggage comes from second guessing and regretting how we handled situations and then fearing and doubting our ability to manage similar feelings and situations. The extreme example of this is when we build some unfortunate event that harbors significant negativity in our subconscious into such a powerful force that it can paralyze us with fear, overwhelming the logic of the conscious mind. Powerful emotions, negativity and impact on our day-to-day lives can come from the negative forces within us that help spark the cycle of depression as well.

Being able to revisit, rethink and rework a traumatic event or emotional response within the subconscious that has become so layered with negative associations that it affects our conscious life is a powerful tool indeed. You can address your own needs at a deep and direct level, and reduce the power that those deep wounds carry.

In Conclusion

Hypnotherapy alone does not diagnose or treat depression or any mental or physical illness. However working with your health care provider, a hypnotherapist can help you in ways that psychotherapy and drugs cannot. A holistic approach to mind, body and spirit seems to me to be very appropriate when trying to deal with issues of depression.

References

Amoroso, J. Z. (2012). Awakening Past Lives: A Guidebook to Self Exploration. VA: 4th Dimension Press. Virginia Beach, VA.

McCraty, R. & Childre, D. (2002). The appreciative heart: The psychophysiology of positive emotions and optimal functioning. Boulder Creek, CA: Institute of HeartMath.

Salewski, C. (2015). What’s the best way to treat depression: Medication, psychotherapy, or hypnotherapy? Retrieved from http://web.wellness-institute.org/blog/whats-the-best-way-to-treat-depression-medication-psychotherapy-or-hypnotherapy?

Salisbury, A.F. & Hasegawa, Y. (1995-2005). Transpersonal Hypnotherapy Protocols Workbook. Golden, CO: Transpersonal Hypnotherapy Institute.

Simpson, I. & Robinson, T. (2011-2013). The Simpson Protocol instruction manual: Working interactively in the Esdaile State and beyond. Hempstead, NY: Inner Healing Press.

Woolger, R. (2004). Healing Your Past Lives: Exploring the Many Lives of the Soul. CO: Sounds True.

Patterns around us, Patterns within us

Patterns appear in nature and in creative works.  How do you use patterns?  How can patterns be used?

Patterns are not necessarily visual, they may also be templates for artifacts or activities or patterns of behavior. 

I see patterns in relation to creativity in 3 positive ways:

1. Patterns with which I am familiar and which I try to use in my work. For example, organizing a poetry collection or setting the plot of a novel to follow the "Hero's Journey."

2. Patterns that I had not known before that I discover and that inspire me. For example I saw repeating patterns in sheets of ice on the cliffs along the side of the road, so I had to paint them. Similarly I saw ripples in the moonlit water and painted the scene.

3. Patterns that are more esoteric or sacred to me that more broadly influence my creativity. In regression work and in accessing the superconscious mind, recurring patterns of labyrinths, spheres and points as well as specific ratios and numbers kept coming to me with such regularity that they have become powerful totems for me. I have worked with these patterns by trying to build systems of meaning for myself around them.

When we establish behavioral patterns, rituals or habits in our daily lives, they can be helpful, or they can get in the way of our success.  Modifying unwanted or counter-productive behaviors for self-improvement is what hypnotherapy is all about.  So consider the patterns that you have built in your own life as well as those around you.  Be inspired by the good ones.  Consider why you are carrying the baggage of those that are not so good.

Using Your Brain

Scientists can summarize how the brain works in carrying out simple tasks like picking up a pencil. The thought of picking up the pencil arises; the eyes locate the pencil; the occipital lobe registers the image; the temporal lobe finds past associations that lead to new thoughts or choices arising; the frontal lobe maintains attention while it also works with the parietal lobe to initiate the body movement to reach for the pencil and to establish the sensory anticipation in the fingers of what the pencil will feel like when finally grasped; the parietal lobe confirms the feeling of the pencil in the hand; and the cerebellum simultaneously directs fine motor control to actually reach out and grasp the pencil. Throughout the process, electrochemical activity is ongoing through the nerve cells as neurotransmitters pass the messages required to coordinate this symphony of activity.  Once the pencil is grasped, however, the actual creative process to use that pencil to write or sketch or tap out a rhythm becomes more mysterious. Andreasen describes the understanding of how creativity happens as “hunches, buttressed by modest evidence”.
          My own use of hypnosis to access a person’s subconscious allows exploration of associations, episodic memory and free associations. Hypnotic induction provides access to memories of events in a trance state that were not physically experienced (whether considered past life experiences or fantasies). Inner life explorations such as dreamwork and meditation can also demonstrate these aspects of the mind. I believe that creativity stems from some access to unconscious mental places where words, thoughts, and ideas can combine freely and take shape as creative output. I also believe that like any mental process or learned skill, neural pathways can be built and strengthened by repeated use, so once one starts to create, one can get better at it just as repeated hypnotic inductions make it easier for a subject to enter the trance state. Similarly, post hypnotic suggestions can help us better access and make use of our own subconscious associations. We can use such creative processes and supports to keep our brains active, if not evolving using our natural ability of neuroplasticity.
          Ultimately, creativity is the product of the creative person interacting with their specific environment including both internal and external factors. Nature and nurture work together to shape the human mind. Similarly, I think that the brain’s chemistry and the unique personal circumstances of each individual work together to shape creative work.

References

Amoroso, J. (2012). Awakening past lives. Virginia Beach, VA: 4th Dimension Press.

Andreasen, N.C. (2005). The Creative Brain. New York, NY: Plume.

Dispenza, J. (2007). Evolve your brain: The science of changing your mind. Deerfield Beach, FL: Health Communications Inc.

Hinshaw, S.P. (2010). Origins of the human mind: Course guidebook. Chantilly, VA: The Great Courses.

Kappas, J.G. (2009). Professional hypnotism manual: Introducing physical and emotional suggestibility and sexuality (5th Ed.). Tarzana, CA: Panorama Publishing Company.

May, R. (1975). The courage to create. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company Inc.

How Personal Mythology can Help or Hinder

Our families give us not only DNA, but also personal history and personal mythology. As our minds re-interpret and smooth the edges of facts from our memories and as we take in stories that have grown and shrunk in the telling as family legends, we build up internal stories and we add to them our subconscious associations. Positive and negative memories are collected and attached to ideas that may be from our own past memories, from phobias and fantasies, or from elements of our lineage. The smell of apple pie baking in granny’s kitchen can become locked in the subconscious as a positive association with feelings of love and warmth and childhood delight. Such a positive association may not be consciously understood or even remembered, but it can still make millions of people smile and feel at home when they smell cinnamon and therefore be highly profitable for potpourri makers.

From my ancestors’ experiences of valuing self-reliance and assuming the roles of providers and protectors of their children and families, I can see the genesis of some of my own attitudes. Although I have no children for which to provide and protect, I grew up with a strong sense of self-reliance and a sense that I must ensure the safety and success of my household. I believe that these aspects of my personal mythology have helped motivate me to provide support to my partner and have contributed significantly to our business successes over the years.

Considering these reflections alongside the experiences I have had in meditation, dream work and regression hypnosis, I can see how some of my own elements of personal mythology have also limited my willingness to engage with others and to share with them over the years. If one is defensive, closed and mistrustful of others, it is hard to focus on the positive and to benefit from the sharing of positive energies. It is hard to tell whether the personal mythology strengthens behavior patterns, or whether behavior patterns reinforce the personal mythology. I think that both are true. In order to truly make changes, one must recognize the underlying personal mythology.  Know thyself!

Hypnosis provides a proven method of accessing the subconscious directly in order to explore, understand and begin to make changes to the internal associations that you have that may be limiting you in some way. Unfounded fears or phobias such as fear of the water or (most commonly) of public speaking affect many people and most could not explain the source or reason for their feelings. Hypnosis is a safe, effective and powerful tool to help you better understand yourself, tap into the usually hidden resources of your own mind and help you make positive changes in your life. All those powerful associations embedded in your personal mythology don’t need to remain inaccessible.

References

Davenport, L. (2009). Healing and transformation through self-guided imagery. Berkeley, CA: Celestial Arts.

Feinstein, D., & Krippner, S. (2008). Personal mythology: Discovering the guiding stories of your past -- creating a vision for your future (3rd Ed.). Santa Rosa, CA: Energy Psychology Press/Elite Books.

Yapko, M.D. (2011). Mindfulness and hypnosis: The power of suggestion to transform experience. New York, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.