Building the Mind: The Tool of Self-Hypnosis

A Tool Will Help You Only if You Use It Properly

From the book, "Your Creative Voice" by Henry Buldoc

A helpful encouragement to practice hypnosis with your own voice, to improve your trance-voice skills while also practicing using the powerful tool of self-hypnosis.

(These days, you may want to get familiar with recording audio on your computer and creating MP3 files that can be uploaded, emailed, and downloaded into iPods, phones and more. Where this article mentions cassettes, you can add MP3 digital audio files. --Ed.)

It was approximately 35 years ago that I began experimenting with self-hypnosis. At that time, I was not sure how effective or valuable this tool would be for me. I honestly wondered if it would work. The early sessions brought no profound experience and no giant breakthrough. In fact, it was several months later before I began noticing any changes in my life. This probably is similar to the experience of some parents who hardly notice the daily growth of a child. Although the daily changes are not noticeable, in time, the infant grows to become an adult. Growth is usually a gradual process; betterment comes in its own way and at its own pace.

If you are unwilling to try self-hypnosis, no one can make you do it. If you are willing to try working with it, you will gain a great deal. After 35 years, I can say, emphatically, that self-hypnosis really does work. Granted, as in my case, during the first few weeks or months, it might seem as if little is happening. Soon, however, the changes become clear. A better life is being built.

Self-hypnosis works because it uses your full brain - not fragmented parts. I have found it to be a tool that can improve the life of every person on earth. It is not a magic pill; it's a tool that is used to build and to focus the mind. A hammer is a tool that is designed to hammer nails, but it can be used for other purposes as well, or not used at all. Just as a hammer will not get up on its own initiative and start hammering, self-hypnosis will not make a person change or accomplish anything unless that person has a desire to take constructive action. The tool is just a tool - it is one's decision and free will whether or not to use it.

If this is your first time working with self-help or self-hypnosis programs, it would be a good idea to read about the field. Self-hypnosis is a safe, 100% natural and direct way to improve your life.

The art of self-hypnosis concerns timing, tone, and delivery - not going too fast or too slow, not being too forceful nor too meek. The inner mind (subconscious) responds very differently from the conscious mind. It contains profound depth and wisdom; yet, it works slowly and requires clear, direct questions or instructions. It has a natural simplicity and honesty, and is uncomplicated in its approach.

I encourage people to make their own self-hypnosis tapes by reading scripts aloud into their cassette recorder. Some people say they don't like the sound of their own voices on cassette tape. Paradoxically, this very apparatus that they don't like is the very tool that will help them.

Work with your cassette recorder, in the privacy of your room, and practice speaking differently. Yes deliberately, you can change the physical sound of your own voice, bring to it a tone and delivery that pleases you. If you have a high pitch, speak lower or deeper. If you mumble, begin to speak distinctly. If you normally speak in a monotone, add life and enthusiasm to your voice. Do whatever is necessary to improve the pitch, modulation, and speed of your voice. In just an hour, or even less, you will have improved the quality of your voice.

An ironic aspect of self-hypnosis is that you TRUST your own voice more than other voices. As you learn to improve your voice, you also will learn about self-hypnosis - in the doing. Theory is fine, but there is no substitute for practical experience.

Are you ready now to make your own self-help, self-hypnosis tape? Get a cassette recorder with a good microphone and a blank tape. To record, find a place where you will not be distracted for about an hour. First, read the a script (see the AAPH script library, -Ed.) aloud and make any changes, deletions, or additions which suit your personal preferences. Now, read the script slowly into your cassette tape. Speak s-l-o-w-l-y, very slowly, less than half your normal pace; even slower is better. Use your watch and time the one-minute pauses in the script for one FULL minute. The subconscious mind needs that much time to process the question and to give you the information requested.

In time, when you become more proficient at making self-hypnosis tapes, you can add the sound of a grandfather clock ticking in the background, or the soothing music of one of the Old Masters, or the gentle sounds of the New Age genre.

Constructive Imagination

Each script includes exercises for using your imagination. Imagination is like a door to your inner mind. The constructive imagination can help build a better reality. It is similar to pretending.

Many people assume that pretending is something phony or undesirable. In truth, pretending is a valuable process of creation, in spite of the implication of children's pretending or the hint that it is unsophisticated to pretend. Words like constructive imagination, positive thinking, visualization, and faith are used as substitute words.
The inner or subconscious mind is quite different from the conscious mind. It perceives pretending as a valid part of eventual accomplishment. Research on how the mind works suggests that when we pretend that something will happen, it has a far better chance of happening than when we don't. This works in both positive and negative pretending.

Going a step further produces even more dramatic results. When we pretend or imagine that something is already accomplished, the inner mind perceives it as accomplished. Use this valuable discovery to help you in your self-hypnosis sessions. Pretend that you already are a good writer, a dynamic speaker, an excellent presenter. In so doing, you will become exceptional!

Once your tape is completed, find quiet times to enjoy using your tape. Making tapes is easy - using them is a pleasure. Self-hypnosis relaxes the body, builds the mind, and energizes your life in amazing and wonderful ways. It is a "win-win-win" activity with great benefit to be gained and no down-side. Remember to breathe deeply throughout the session, for deep breathing is one of the oldest and most effective methods of relaxation.

Use your tape once a day. Keep a journal or diary, and log-in the results. Describe whatever you receive: What did you see? What did you feel? What did you hear? What did you perceive? For some people, the information is fleeting, as in a dream. For others, it comes clear and strong. There is no right or wrong method for receiving and processing information. The way you receive information is correct for you. Your work will improve over time with experience and patience.

Use your tape for yourself or share it with friends and family. (Better still, teach them to make their own tapes!) Should a recorder not be available, read the script aloud to loved ones. If you, or they, do not like the word hypnosis, then you may substitute any other appropriate words that you prefer. Some terms are guided reverie, an inspired meditation, a working dream, or focusing attention.

For now, let's term the session an inner adventure which allows you, or others, to experience it without pre-conceptions or pre-conditions. It is simply - and profoundly - an exciting journey inward. You can experience as much (or as little) of the adventure as YOU wish.

Be gentle with yourself. Be kind to your mind! Whatever you receive or accomplish in your session is a gift from your subconscious mind. If you accept and welcome that gift then, surely, more will be given at another time. If you criticize your inner mind and negate or belittle your gift, then you limit your potential.

There is no best time, in a general sense, to use self-hypnosis tapes. Timing is very individual. The best time for you is at the high-point of your day. Pay attention to your daily rhythms or biological clock. They are much like tides, which ebb and flow. If you reach your peak - or high tide - at around 10:00 a.m., then that would be the best time for you. This time might not be practical if, for instance, you must be at work at that hour. In that case, you will need to determine another time when you can profit best from your tapes. They may be used as often as you like. Once or twice a day is adequate for most people.

In self-hypnosis, we focus the conscious mind and use it as a tool to instruct and to guide the unconscious in the direction that we consciously want our lives to go. Self-hypnosis can be symbolized by a microscope focusing on a specific goal or objective.
Your mind is your most valuable resource. By using self-help tapes, you train your mind to use more of its vast potential. You extend the boundaries of your reality.

Pessimists blame others for their lack of success in life, or they blame circumstances. Optimists hope that everything will work out without any effort on their behalf - that others will do it all for them. But, realists take responsibility for their lives and make their own self-hypnosis tapes for the success and betterment of their life experiences!
Throughout your adventure, remember that TRUST is the key to the door of your higher mind, and APPRECIATION makes the opening easier. BE THANKFUL for all that you receive, and you will gain and grow as you journey the path of life.