Social & Society

Last week (Jan 4), the Better Business Bureau released its list of the top ten most common scams of 2010.

The impact of a direct suggestion can heavily depend on its meaning to the individual being hypnotized. When offering suggestions, it’s essential to consider the language being used. A good example of this would be a particular case involving an individual from a different country where a common implication (as opposed to their dictionary definition) of the word “fat” would mean healthy, whereas calling someone “fat” in English would commonly be used offensively. In other words we benefit from considering cultural connotations, before we rush to decide that our own language is what works for the person being hypnotized. Rapport building and conversation is key to knowing the best approach. We are not the same, but the same in that we are all different.
Cultural environment plays a factor when indirectly influenced. Since studies have shown that indirect and direct language can equally be effective, it makes sense to consider the cultural desires and dislikes of the client when using indirect suggestion before putting the person into a deep trance.

Single parenthood is extraordinary and unparalleled. There is an assumption, however that in order for single parents to live their dreams, they must wait until a child grows independent. At this time, the parent’s mind grows weary and physical capabilities can diminish if a healthy diet and exercise is not part of their routine. Sometimes a typecast is mentioned as the reason for seeking help. “I’m a single mother” is mentioned as a stigma and not a simple statement of fact. To think independently may seem more difficult than to simply accept how many in society, family, and friends believe a single parent should live. Independence equals creativity. Assuming a role everyone else feels you should play impedes on your overall growth & individuality so that seeking a holistic health practitioner, a life coach or therapist offers little help if the individual is not willing to let go of those belief systems holding them back from reaching desired results.

Hypnotherapists everywhere are discovering the extra business income available from selling MP3 hypnosis (recorded audio sessions) online. A few hypnotherapists are really making a lot of money this way.

I certainly recommend getting as many of your own MP3 audio sessions as possible up on the Internet for sale, and there dozens of ways to do that. You have all kinds of options, from services like Amazon that will take care of everything for you (and take 60% of the sale) to operating your own shopping cart (where you keep 100% of the revenue) and every combination in between.

Be sure to mention at the beginning of each session that the suggestions and imagery included in the MP3 sessions are generic, and that the advantages of seeing a hypnotherapist in person include personalized suggestions and world-model as well as customized imagery of your preference, and that these things do make a significant difference. This helps potential clients understand why they would want to call you and book an appointment.

This technique can be used with anyone. However, it probably works best with persons with whom you have a relatively close relationship. It is not safe to use this technique when you are driving or operating machinery. This is because it places you in a light trance state, which you then allow the other person to borrow.

The first step in this six step process is to notice that the other person is agitated and to refrain from mentioning this fact.

The second step is to notice the rate at which the person (let’s call him Bart) is breathing. This can be ascertained by watching the rise and fall of his chest, the expansion and contraction of his ribcage, changes in the size of his nostrils, the rise and fall of his abdomen, subtle changes in the position of his chin, or the fluttering of hairs on his mustache. If Bart is congested, you may be able to hear his breathing. If he is talking, and he is not a musician who has mastered circular breathing, then no minute scrutiny is required, since, obviously enough, his words come on the exhale, and he pauses to catch his breath.

When a friend tells us something like,"Boy, Jason and Jessica really know how to push my buttons," many of us know all to well how it feels to be in our friend's position. And, if we are highly sensitive people and our button pushers are expert technicians, our inner control panels may be consistently flashing as brightly and variously as that of a commercial jet in flight mode.

And, while our family members and friends are flicking and pressing our psychological switches and buttons, we may be having something like the jet's experience: coasting comfortably for a while on autopilot, all at once, we find that we're streaking above the clouds with elation, hardly noticing the light mist of confusion that is beginning to gather around us until we are in a zero visibility fog of disorientation. As we break through into the light, there is momentary relief until we note that the ground is straight ahead, and rapidly approaching.

Half of the modern drugs could well be thrown out of the window, except that the birds might eat them.
Dr. Martin Henry Fischer

We have all known people whose personalities and actions tend to push our buttons. They are everywhere, they are our co-workers, postal employees, and family members. We all know some of these people and they are indeed irritating. But most of us have never stopped to consider that these people can serve as our greatest teachers. These individuals serve as our mirrors and teach us what needs to be revealed about ourselves. Seeing what we don't like in others helps us look deeper inside ourselves for similar traits and challenges that need healing, balancing, or changing.

Salespeople, administrators and managers routinely take workshops where they learn neuro-linguistic programming techniques that trigger trust and compliance in their customers and co-workers. The purpose of this blog is to give you methods that you can use to stand your ground (without seeming to be in any way oppositional) when you are confronted with the aforementioned techniques. Following the fictional example below will be three combinations of methods that you can use to sidestep the specific sales and management techniques covered in the example.

Example:
Let's say the person using the management techniques actually is your manager, and her name is Ms. Jane Smith-Doe. Her goal in the interaction is to have you say, "Yes" to becoming chair of the conflict-fraught Committee for Relations Overview and Cooperation Know-how.

Ms. Smith-Doe's first move is to ask you how you are and put out her hand. Now, this seems innocent enough, and even cordial, and perhaps it is. On another level, however, it follows the principle that a neutral response is halfway to a "yes" response, and the easiest neutral response to trigger is an automatic one.

It could be several times per day. Sometimes salespeople, administrators and managers use neurolinguistic programming techniques to trigger trust and compliance (see numbers 1-3.) Since this is a detailed topic, a separate blog will be devoted to how these techniques work and how you can sidestep them.

Sometimes, family members and friends unconsciously hypnotize us (see numbers 4-7.) If you are interested in this topic, let me know, and I can devote a blog to the nuts and bolts of that, too.

Often, we hypnotize ourselves from within or through our connection to the environment (see numbers 8-16.) Relating to nature and listening to music can be enhanced to create a deeper and potentially very pleasurable and even healing trance state. Another blog will give specific steps on how to do that.

Meanwhile, here's the information you were wondering about, that is, how to determine how many times per day you may be in a hypnotic trance without knowing it. You are probably in a trance state if you are experiencing a situation similar to one in which, for example, you find yourself: