The Life Plan (56 page)

What your demon is and when it appears really doesn’t matter. My wife, Annie, a certified clinical hypnotherapist trained in mind-body techniques, has taught me how to get past whatever was causing my demons to show up. I learned that excessive food and alcohol were just obstacles I put in front of myself in order to hold me back from whatever I was really afraid of: commitment, confrontation, and sometimes even success. She taught me how to undo the damage I created within my subconscious so that I could make the changes necessary to my lifestyle in order to become the man I am today. More important, her work has allowed me to recognize the truth I had created for myself based on my own perceptions.

This chapter will help you learn how to lose the old programmed messages running through your brain, and help you find out what you really want out of life by using simple meditation techniques. And you’ll learn how to get out of your own way with daily exercises that will help reprogram your thinking.

Acceptance of hypnosis among the medical community grew rapidly in the 1900s with the practices of Dr. Milton Erickson and Emile Coué. Erikson concluded that each stage of our emotional development builds on the preceding stages, and each stage paves the way for the next stage. He believed that outside factors such as family, society, crisis, and environment influence the outcome of each stage of development. More important, the outcome of each stage is not permanent, but can be changed by later experiences and therapies.

At the same time in France, Emile Coué, a psychologist and pharmacist, introduced a method of psychotherapy, healing, and self-improvement based on autosuggestion or self-hypnosis. In working with patients, he noticed that remedies given with positive suggestion and repetition worked better than the remedies alone. He firmly believed that each person had the solution to his or her own problem:
“You have in yourself the instrument of your cure.”
In other words, you have the power within to heal yourself.

Hypnosis was first approved for use by the American Medical Association in 1958. Over the years there have been significant advances in neuroscience to support and encourage the beneficial use of hypnotherapy. Yet for many years the media has portrayed hypnosis as an evil spell cast upon you by menacing figures whose sole purpose is to take over your mind and control you. These portrayals degrade the true value of hypnosis, spread misinformation, and create unnecessary fear and skepticism.

Hypnosis is a state of relaxation, and the hypnotist has no power over you. The hypnotist is simply skilled in script and techniques to guide you into a state of hypnosis. You still remain in control at all times. We know this to be true because we all experience hypnosis on a regular basis. We are bombarded by different forms of hypnosis every day without being consciously aware of it through the biggest hypnotist of all: the media. The most successful marketing firms develop advertising that appeals to your subconscious. This increases the likelihood that you will remember what they are selling or advertising, which in turn boosts sales.

Hypnosis is a natural, yet altered, state of mind. It can be achieved when one is relaxed and selective thinking is maintained. In other words, it is a state of mind in which intense internal focus eliminates external distractions, expanding your internal world and opening the door to your subconscious. Have you ever been driving along thinking about all that you needed to do for the upcoming week and suddenly, you arrive at your destination? You realize that you don’t even remember most of the trip! Do you recall what you saw? How many traffic signs did you read along the way? How many times did you touch the brake or look in the rearview mirror? You were experiencing a natural form of hypnosis, deep into your thoughts. You were consciously thinking about other things while your ability to drive was unconscious. Your subconscious was fully aware of what you needed to do to drive safely to your destination. You did not have to consciously think about driving at all.

The key to a successful hypnotic session is your willingness to allow it to happen. Have you ever seen a stage hypnosis show where the subjects are dancing around performing crazy antics at the suggestion of the hypnotist? Frightening, huh? The truth is, the more willing the subjects are to allow it to happen, the deeper the trance, and the better the show will be—and yet, at any time, any one of them could “come back” and walk off the stage. A hypnotist cannot make anyone do or say anything that person is not willing to do or say. The hypnotist’s job is to guide you into a hypnotic state or trance state and make suggestions. Each individual’s subconscious is then able to accept it, or not.

The subconscious mind cannot differentiate between fact and fantasy: It is directed by visual imagery. The stronger the suggestion, the more vivid the image the subconscious creates. For example, if a hypnotist tells his subject to imagine that he is a ballet dancer, the hypnotized subject immediately “sees” himself as a dancer and literally begins to
feel
like one. In his mind, he has created a picture and an emotional response, and the subconscious begins to adopt it.

In stage hypnosis, the hypnotist makes suggestions that make for good theater, and the effects are temporary. However, in a therapeutic hypnotherapy session or during self-hypnosis, the suggestions are positive, reinforcing, and beneficial. The goal is to create a trance state in which the subconscious is fully open to positive suggestion. By creating achievable goals that the subconscious can read as visual images, the subconscious accepts these goals as already achieved, and then believes them to be true. That’s where true growth comes from, and the ability for you to teach yourself how to achieve your goals.

We all have the power within to improve, to change, and to succeed. All we need is the desire to make it happen. The benefits of hypnosis are endless. This is just a sampling of the benefits I have seen my patients (including myself) attain:

Become more focused

Become more organized

Control pain

Decrease/manage stress

Eliminate bad habits such as smoking/drinking/overeating

Eliminate procrastination

Get rid of negativity in your life