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Using The Language Of Self-hypnosis
Adam Eason
Words are just a part of our lives aren't they? Why do we
need to think about them? When I teach people self-hypnosis,
the language they use in self-hypnosis sessions is very important.
What's more, the kind of language used in self-hypnosis can
be used outside of formal self-hypnosis too, to enhance your
communication with yourself at all times.
The words that you use in and out of self-hypnosis carry a
lot of connotation and a lot of deeper meanings for you as
they do for everyone. What one word means to one person can
mean something completely different to another.
Think about an occasion in your life that was a wonderful
occasion; maybe a happy birthday, the birth of a child, a
wedding or a celebration, maybe a time when you achieved something,
when you succeeded or maybe a time when you felt the full
force of joy or love. Really think about that experience.
Remember what you saw, remember and think about the sounds
that you heard and think about how you know and how you knew
you felt so good then. Whereabouts in your body were those
good feelings? Now, as you really think about that memory
and immerse yourself in it, think about the words that you
would use to describe that experience.
These are the words that are going to elicit the most powerful
response from within you when you use them in self-hypnosis
sessions and when you communicate with yourself at any time.
Have a think about these questions; what words make you feel
good? Which words give you good feelings? Make a list of the
words that appeal to you. You can use a thesaurus to help.
Ask yourself: how would I like to feel? Here are some good
words you may like to use in your self-hypnosis or just to
frequent the internal workings of your mind with: Healthy,
Peace, Balance, Harmony, Relaxed, Confident, Good, Happy,
Powerful, Joyful, Calm, Unison, Assured, Vibrant, Loving,
Progressive, Better, Beautiful.
All a bit obvious, I know you get the idea. It is really important
though that you do actually use words that have a good meaning
to you and make you feel good within your self-hypnosis or
just your internal dialogue.
Now, I am going to add a couple of words here for you to think
about. Think about the words "more and more" and "increasingly."
These words are going to be important to create growth, power
and fluidity in your mind. Let me explain how.
Consider the sentence "as a result of achieving my ideal weight
I am happy." This is a nice way to remind yourself that achieving
this particular goal (whatever it might be for you) you are
happy. Great. However, we can make that more powerful by changing
a rather static "happy" to "more and more happy." I don't
know about you, but I would never want to think that I ever
reached the pinnacle of happiness and could not go any further.
"Happy" is static. In order to supercharge your programmes
and the way you utilise language in and out of self-hypnosis,
you can mobilise the words and get them moving onwards and
upwards for you. You can change "Happy" to "Happier and happier"
or "more and more happy" or "increasingly happy" or "progressively
more happy" or "more and more appropriately happy. " Use whatever
feels right for you, just use other words to develop and power
it up.
Words to avoid: Some of these words may seem fine and feel
fine to use for you. I am just giving you ideas and considerations
when using these words in and out of self-hypnosis.
When communicating with yourself, my recommendation is that
you consider avoiding the following words and types of words:
Words that elicit bad feelings. Words that are ambiguous.
Words that are limiting, restrictive or disempower you. Words
that you are uncomfortable with.
When communicating with yourself, ask yourself these questions:
Is there another phrase or word that is better? Is there a
word or phrase I find more pleasing? Is there a way in which
you can put your energy and power into this suggestion in
a better way?
So, firstly, I want to point out some words that can elicit
bad feelings: Try, can't, won't, don't, should, shouldn't,
must, mustn't, jealousy, temper, no, lose, will, sad, difficult,
but. I want to point out a couple of these words in particular.
The word "try" sends a shudder down my back. I use this word
in therapy often to ensure that people won't do what I am
asking them, for example I might say "try to resist the urge
to relax."
When you are trying to do something, you are not doing it.
You build in failure by using the word try. So just remove
it from your internal communication.
You will have heard that expression "if at first you don't
succeed, try and try again." Yuck. Awful stuff. It really
should read "if at first you don't succeed, try and try, and
try and try and try and try and try… etc, etc." You want to
do the things you want to do, you want to achieve the things
you want to achieve; you don't want to try and do them or
try and achieve them.
The word "Will" is another one to avoid if you can. Will is
not actually happening, it is something you will do rather
than actually are doing. It never occurs. You know, you can
put almost any sentence together with the word will in and
simply remove that word to make it more progressive and positive
for your self-hypnosis requirements. Have go at doing that.
(I realise that there is likely to be at least one wiseguy
who now uses the word as in "last will and testament" yes,
very clever. I have not heard that one before.) Here are a
couple of examples; "As a result of stopping smoking I will
be healthier." Now becomes; "As a result of stopping smoking
I am healthier." "I will successfully achieve my goals" is
transformed into "I successfully achieve my goals." Here we
have just removed it to make it more progressive. You see,
it is those finer distinctions that I refer to often that
can really make a difference to the way you use language,
and you may as well really use it more and more powerfully
while you are in the state of self-hypnosis.
Lots of people tell me that they want to "Lose" weight. I
always tell them that no one loses when they come to see me.
Think about what else you lose in life. Generally, it is things
that you would rather have kept like your keys or your wallet.
You generally lose things that you want to find again. Lose
has many negative connotations. Instead of losing weight,
reframe it with the words "achieving and maintaining the size,
shape and weight that pleases me." This is much more progressive.
Finally for this section, I want to mention the word "But."
This word can often be seen to be negating what has come before
it; I would really like to come out tonight, but I have to
wash my hair. Of course I really love you, but I need to pursue
my career. I had a great time, but that guy sitting next to
me was rude.
This might not always be the case for you; however, it is
for you to be aware of when addressing your own unconscious
mind in and out of self-hypnosis.
Secondly, I recommend that you really do avoid using words
that are putdowns. They don't really have a place in self-hypnosis
or your mind at all. Avoid the following words and words like
them:
Untidy, Dirty, Smelly, Ugly, Stupid, Lazy, Hopeless, Disliked,
Unkempt, Smelly, Idiot, Embarrass, Ridiculous. I know you
know lots more. I don't really like even having to write these
in this article. Your internal dialogue and self-hypnosis
sessions are better without these words.
This next set of words is for you to keep aware of and avoid
if you feel they limit you or your programme in any way. I
am referring to words that are absolutes. These are words
that have no flexibility, that are final. For example: Always,
totally, closed, never, finish, impossible, definitely, completely,
death, cancelled. You may for example, state in a self-hypnosis
session or tell yourself that you never smoke again. Which
is fine and good for some people. However, you may have one
too many glasses of sherry at Christmas and have a sneaky
puff on your friend's cigar. Now this does not make you a
regular smoker again, however, it has negated the sentiments
that you told yourself. It has made your internal communication
to yourself less credible to you because you wrote that you
would never smoke again and you just did, albeit only one
puff, by writing that you would never do it, you leave no
flexibility and you leave no room for interpretation of particular
circumstances that may arise.
That may be fine with some, just bear it in mind. I mentioned
the subject earlier within the guidelines for writing programmes
and that is the notion of ambiguity. With self-hypnosis and
when communicating with yourself in your own mind in other
ways, it is best to avoid words that are ambiguous. Words
such as: Maybe, Desire, Growth, Positive, Negative, Normal,
Whole.
You might well use the expression that your desire to stop
smoking is increasing. Again, this sounds fine on the surface.
However, do you want your desire to stop smoking to increase
or your actual ability to stop smoking to increase? If you
only increased your desire to stop smoking, it might become
a very frustrating experience. Also, you might want to consider
referring to your personal growth increasing. It could be
referring to something growing on your body somewhere!
Think about the word normal. Who is to say what that is? Do
you know specifically what you mean when you refer to anything
as being normal? If you are going to use the word normal,
I would recommend that you define what that means to you also,
be specific about it or just substitute it for the word usual
if you can.
Finally, on the topic of words, I would like to point out
to you the use of the "Able." It is one thing being able to
do something; it is another to actually do it. If you are
going to increase your ability with something, then also ensure
you do it.
I realise that this article has offered up many considerations
so far with self-hypnosis use of language and internal dialogue.
These are just that; considerations.
You can allow yourself to find the right solutions and methods
for you. As you get more and more used to being in self-hypnosis
or just communicating with yourself more progressively and
discovering the kind of suggestions and words that have the
most powerful effect for you, then you can fine tune your
use of them.
Adam Eason's best selling book "The Secrets of Self-Hypnosis:
Harnessing the Power of Your Unconscious Mind" can be found
at Amazon or any good online bookstore.
To receive Adam Eason's amazing bi-monthly newsletter,
packed with modern, innovative, psychological tips, techniques
and information visit http://www.adam-eason.com.
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Article Source: www.iSnare.com
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