“Imagination is everything, it is the preview of life’s coming attractions”
— Einstein
HAVE YOU EVER DAY DREAMED WHILE DRIVING YOUR CAR HOME AND FOUND YOU HAVE AUTOMATICALLY REACHED YOUR DESTINATION WITHOUT ANY CONSCIOUS THOUGHT?
Your right foot pressed the accelerator and the brake just when needed and you turned the steering wheel at the appropriate time to automatically take you all the way home without any conscious effort?
HAVE YOU EVER SAT IN STATE OF COMPLETE RELAXATION AND BEGAN TO DAY DREAM ABOUT A SUBJECT IN WHICH YOU CONJURED UP A CLEAR VISUAL IMAGE OF THAT THOUGHT?
Has the scene been so vivid and clear that it is like you were actually there? Were the images so real and clear that it made you feel so good that you found yourself smiling?
If you have done this, which I am sure you have, then, you have already placed yourself in a form of self –hypnosis, or as I prefer to call it, “Guided Imagery”: Guided Imagery is a natural part of our lives. It is a state of mind we go to when our bodies and our minds are simultaneously relaxed and at ease. It is a very effective way of bypassing our conscious minds and tapping into our subconscious minds.
YOU MAY ASK, “ WHAT IS ALL THIS TALK ABOUT THE CONSCIOUS MIND AND THE SUBCONSCIOUS MIND? I AM ONLY AWARE OF THE THOUGHTS I HAVE RIGHT NOW!”
Most of our thinking can be attributed to one or the other of these “minds,” and I like to explain this with the “Iceberg Analogy”. That is to say, the tip of the iceberg, the part that we see, is not what sinks the ship; it is the 90% that is under the water, that we cannot see, that does it.
It is much the same as for the conscious and subconscious minds. The 10% is our conscious mind, while the greater 90% is our subconscious. Our conscious mind is our temporary source of memory, and it is all the thoughts you and I are presently aware of. It is where we hold our will power and our rational and analytical way of thinking. And it is the critical part of our minds where we make judgments. It is all the thoughts you are thinking right now!
YOUR UNCONSCIOUS MIND, HOWEVER, IS THE STOREHOUSE OF ALL THE EXPERIENCES WE HAVE HAD THROUGH OUR LIVES.
It is where we keep past files of our lives. It is essentially our minds’ filing system, and ironically, we rarely clear these out like the physical files we use in our every day lives. Therefore, all our habits, our emotions and our belief systems are stored there without being revised! They are like the encyclopedia of our behavior and actions and they have become so much part of us that we believe they are who we really are. You may argue with me and say:
I’m incapable of making money,
I simply don’t have what it takes to be successful in business
OR WHEN IT COMES TO YOUR HEALTH, YOU MAY SAY:
I just have bad genes, that’s why I am fat,
I overeat all the time. I seem to have no control over it,
I hate fruits and vegetables. That is just the way I am,
I am procrastinator. My dad was one and I am too.
WHEREAS, I SUGGEST THAT THIS IS NOT THE PERSON YOU ARE!
These are merely your habits, your negative beliefs and your thoughts that are controlling your actions. I can address this. I can use Guided Imagery to heighten your motivation and help you program your subconscious mind to work in active co-operation with your conscious desires.
With your cooperation, as a trained hypnotherapist, I can safely seek a rapid change in behavior by setting aside the conscious mind and opening the door to the rest of your mind–the subconscious. From there, we can clear unwanted ingrained patterns of behavior and introduce positive suggestions which can help change the way you think, act and respond to your environment to create the healthy, successful mindset that will bring you success in your life.