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Let’s separate the mind into 3 parts to
make it simpler. You
have your Conscious mind, your Subconscious mind and your Unconscious
mind. They all work together, and they all have different jobs and
responsibilities.
THE CONSCIOUS MIND
This is the part of your mind where you
live your life. Your
daily thoughts, opinions and actions come from your conscious
mind. It is
responsible for your short-term memory, which recalls phone
numbers, people’s names and other things stored temporarily.
It also makes the little decisions that you need on a
daily basis…”should I make that phone call now or wait until
later…” is a good example.
Your conscious mind is also your analytical mind (ever
hear those voices in your head – arguing!?).
Some people seem to be much more analytical than others
– you probably know someone who analyzes everything over and
over again. Your
reasoning mind is also part of the conscious mind.
The reasoning mind must give you a reason for everything
that happens and everything that you do.
Even if it has to make it up!
Ask a smoker why they smoke – they will probably tell
you that it relaxes them. That
it makes them feel calmer or more at peace.
The problem with this is that nicotine is a stimulant –
it actually increases the metabolism. So here you have a case of the conscious mind making up a
reason, just because it has to.
Willpower is also part of the conscious mind.
How strong is your willpower?
Are you one of those people that has great willpower the
first two weeks of the year, right after you’ve made all your
New Years’ Resolutions?
So this is how you live your life – in a
conscious mind that’s analyzing everything, making things up
and really inconsistent, is that it?
True, the conscious mind is quite weak, when you think
about it.
THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND
Then you have the powerhouse – the
subconscious mind. The
subconscious mind is like the most powerful computer on earth.
It can process faster, store more material and generate
your reality.
The subconscious is responsible for several
things:
Your long-term memory
The subconscious mind has stored everything
you’ve ever seen, touched, smelled, heard and experienced in
your whole life. Even
from before you were born – it’s all in there.
At any point in time an experience hypnotist can take you
back to re-experience any event in your life – how about your
second birthday? And
you would be there like you were re-living it.
Filtering Information
Your conscious mind can only handle so many
inputs. Even where
you are now, there are thousands of inputs – the light, the
temperature, the sounds, the reflections off each object in the
room…it goes on and on. Your subconscious mind puts this
picture together for you and only presents your conscious mind
with what it believes is relevant for you at this time.
If you’re presented with too much input, you lose your
focus, become confused and your productivity declines.
Emotions
Your subconscious mind is responsible for
the generation and storage of emotion.
Here’s where we run into real trouble.
In our society, we have no constructive ways to release
emotion. We teach
our children not to cry. We
say, “Stop crying or I’ll give you something to cry
about.” We’re
not supposed to get angry – we get punished for that.
You can’t feel sad, guilty, or afraid.
So what happens to those emotions?
They get generated, but where do they go?
If the emotions don’t get released, the subconscious
will find a place to put them.
It may store them in your head (migraines). Maybe it
stores them in your stomach and intestines (Irritable Bowel
Syndrome). Or maybe
it stores them in your neck, shoulders and chest causing anxiety
and stress.
Protection
The subconscious’ biggest job is to
protect you. And it
will – from all danger, real or perceived.
Now this was very useful in the ancient days when we were
all sleeping in trees. If you moved a little during your rest, you’d wake up with
a start – that instant awareness that would keep you from
falling out of the tree. Or
you ran into a bear – the fight or flight response would pump
up your adrenaline, increasing the energy to your body and
giving you speed to get away.
And this protective trait is still very protective,
increasing your awareness to alert you of possible dangerous
situations – in parking lots, walking through parks, etc.
But sometimes this protection goes awry.
Imagine walking through an elevator in a
hotel. You pass a
really pretty, fragrant inside garden on the way, and enjoy it
as you wait for the elevator.
As you board the elevator and it begins to rise, you
start to feel a little uncomfortable, but you don’t think much
about it. Maybe
that lunch you just ate was too spicy.
So you go on with your day.
Two weeks later, you board an elevator in a clients’
office. As soon as
the doors shut, you are struck with a sense of panic – you
feel like you have to get out of there, or else you’ll die!
You have no idea what’s going on – you feel totally
out of control. The only thing you know is that you absolutely
must get off the elevator – NOW!
So you go to see a hypnotist. Through hypnotic investigation you recall that when you were
young, your brother locked you in the closet for over an hour
(until your mom got home).
While you were in there you were afraid and angry.
You could smell your mom’s perfume on some of the coats
in the closet, and you just waited, yelling for someone to let
you out. Then your mom came home, let you out and scolded your
brother, and you forgot about it. But the event was stored in
your subconscious mind – along with the fear and anger you
were feeling and not able to express.
Then you went on with your life.
So why would this cause a fear of
elevators? As you passed that garden on the way to the elevator,
you smelled a faint floral smell, much like the one that your
mother used to wear. Then
you entered a small, closed in space and your subconscious mind
made a connection – back to that time in the closet where you
were afraid and angry. It
decided that to keep you safe, it would pull up these panic
feelings – in response to the “perceived” danger of being
locked in a closet, and there you are.
Terrified to go into another elevator in case those
feelings come back again.
Critical Factor
Until you’re the age of 5 or 6, there are
no barriers as to what goes into your subconscious mind.
Everything is accepted as your reality.
Everything your parents tell you, everything your friends
say, what you hear on the radio and TV, even things that
strangers say to you. And
this becomes the programming by which you live your life.
Maybe someone said that you had chubby cheeks.
Or baby fat. Or
maybe that you would be fat just like everyone else in your
family. Hmmmm.
Then when you are 6 or 7, you develop a
filter. We call it
the Critical Factor, and it’s stationed between your conscious
mind and your subconscious mind.
The job of your Critical Factor is to evaluate all
suggestions coming in and accept them or reject them.
It doesn’t make that determination based on if the
statement or suggestion is positive or negative (that would be
too easy), it makes the determination based on if the suggestion
matches what is already in your programming.
If someone says “you’re looking great!” and
that’s consistent with your programming, the critical factor
allows it to go right in. But
if it’s not consistent – maybe you’ve been programmed to
see yourself as fat, the critical factor rejects that statement
and in doing so reinforces the programming you already have.
Is it any wonder that it’s so hard to change?
So here’s what happens.
You’re 30 pounds overweight.
You have been for years.
You’ve been on diet after diet, only to gain all the
weight back, sometimes even more than you lost.
Then you find a diet that’s actually working for you.
You easily drop 10 pounds and start to feel pretty good.
You’re fitting into a smaller size – those jeans you
haven’t been able to wear in 10 years, but you held onto them
to “motivate yourself” are almost wearable.
And then it happens.
Somebody says “Hey, you’re looking pretty good –
have you lost some weight?”
All of a sudden your critical factor kicks in and grabs
that statement. It
says “Hmmm, is this consistent with our programming?
Oh no, I can’t accept that statement.
Wait a minute, she’s lost 10 pounds?
That’s not right! Emergency!
Kick it into gear, we gotta get her fat again.”
You end up with your head stuck in the refrigerator,
cleaning out the leftovers for the entire week.
Then you go for the junk food, feeling horrible, defeated
and hopeless. Wondering
all the time what happened. And then the feelings of guilt
complicate the situation – how could you be so out of control?
Can you see how the critical factor keeps
you from changing? No
matter what the problem, you might be depressed, you might have
anger issues, or even health issues.
Hypnosis, by definition, is the bypass of
the Critical Factor of the mind, allowing your hypnotist to work
directly with your subconscious mind, the part of your mind that
drives your feelings and behavior.
Through specific techniques, your hypnotist will guide
you into a wonderful, relaxing state of hypnosis and guide you
to find the cause of your issues and resolve them.
In hypnosis, you will be fully aware and an
active participant in the session.
You are in complete control at every moment, though you
may have feelings of heaviness or lightness.
Most people get very, very relaxed as their mind becomes
distinctly focused. Your hypnotist will be guiding you through techniques and
exercises to uncover the cause of your issues and resolve them.
Then you get to re-create yourself.
You begin to experience changes in your life that are
natural and consistent with your new view of yourself. You get
to choose who you will be.
At the end of your session, your hypnotist
will answer any questions you have.
You may still feel very relaxed at the end of your
session, some people feel a bit groggy.
This is because your subconscious mind has processing to
do, and is still focusing on changes. This is completely natural and will dissipate after a good
night’s sleep. Some
people, however, feel very energized by a session and will jump
right into things that may have fallen behind.
Whatever your experience, it is right for
you. If you have
further questions, please contact us.
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