Have you ever watched a movie,
and become completely wrapped up in the emotions of the tale,
to the extent that you forgot everything else, forgot time;
you just lost yourself in the entertainment? Or perhaps you've
just daydreamed, blocking out all other interruptions, sounds,
or worries.
Believe it or not, these instances
are actually examples of self-hypnosis. Whether it's a movie
or daydreams, it feels absolutely real to you. The emotions
are real. You feel anger, pain, fear, sadness, happiness. We've
all been to tearjerkers, two hankie movies. According to Milton
Erickson, premier hypnotism expert of the 20th century, people
hypnotize themselves on a daily basis.
Think back to a time when you
were a child, playing pretend with your friends. You knew in
your mind that it was imaginary, but you played with the intensity
of a child; it felt real. This is how hypnotism works and it
makes you feel relaxed and uninhibited.
In this state, you're not worrying
about anything. All doubts fly out the window, you're free to
do anything. When you're wrapped up in a movie, essentially,
you've escaped your worries, doubts and fears; all you think
about is the film story. At this point, you are highly suggestible.
Never fear though, a hypnotist cannot make you do anything you
wouldn't ordinarily do. Your good sense will prevail to keep
you from embarrassing yourself or putting yourself into danger.
Here is where it gets a little
more complicated. Now we're talking your subconscious mind versus
your conscious mind. Your conscious mind thinks over problems,
helps you choose your words carefully, or helps you find lost
items.
However, it's the subconscious
mind working in the background along with the conscious mind.
Everything you do automatically, like breathing, or small tasks
that you do by rote. You don't think about it, you just do it.
Your conscious mind evaluates
situations and relays the messages to your subconscious. While
you're awake, your conscious mind is at the forefront, making
decisions, formulating plans, but when you go to sleep, your
subconscious takes over. That's why you dream; it's your subconscious
working out what happened during the day, rewriting events and
sometimes solving problems you couldn't work out while awake.
Hypnotism works much the same
way. While under the influence of hypnosis, your conscious mind
isn't constantly filtering thoughts and impulses. The subconscious
takes over. This is what makes hypnotism so useful for behavioral
control. You can change the way you react to food, cigarettes
or alcohol. You can stop procrastinating, learn to focus better,
even take away the fear of public speaking by using hypnosis.
But have no fear; you can't be
hypnotized if you don't want to be, and you won't do something
that's potentially dangerous or embarrassing. Your conscious
mind is still alert, just taking a back seat temporarily to
the subconscious.
And now, please relax and learn
hypnosis now. When you wake up, you will remember this
article and want to reread it many times.