The Light That Illuminates The Night Will Shine To Unify The Day

WHERE have YOU been today?

Our responses to that question are usually physical:  “at work,  at home,  at school,  inside, outside.”   We immediately track down our bodily experiences to answer.   What about our minds?  Where were they?  Were they in the same place as our bodies at every minute?  Did our thoughts stick with us or did they wander elsewhere?   Surely you experienced memories of the past or dreams of the future today.   Perhaps thoughts of a place that you have only imagined garnered your focus at times or you were captured by someone else’s story on the news,  the plot of a television show,  a video circling the internet or simple hearsay from a conversation that grasped your attention and carried you away for a portion of your day.   Certainly you slept the night before, letting your mind go into dreams for the night and  then reconnecting with it to awaken into this morning.   If you have recognized yourself in any of these settings then your answer to the question of “Where have you been today?”  can also be  “I was in hypnosis.”

Have you ever wondered what it is like to be hypnotized?  Well…mystery over!  You already have been, time and time again!

Hypnosis is simply a very relaxed state of mind that we will yield to when  we are overloaded with message units to the brain.  Those message units can be positive, negative or neutral  and yet,  when numerous, they  will disorganize our inhibitory, critical mind and allow access to the subconscious mind, thereby putting us into a very suggestible state.   In other words…we are open.

Imagine you are at home watching a profoundly sad movie with a plot you can really relate to.  As you focus deeper and deeper into the storyline, the messages that are entering your mind are growing not only in number but also in personal meaning and intensity.  Before you know it they become more than the conscious part of your mind can carry. The conscious part of your mind is the part that is aware of the physical you, of where you are and what you are doing at this moment.  When overwhelmed,  it basically lets go, much like you would let go of an armful of something  that became too heavy.  In doing so, that conscious, aware and, most important, critically-thinking part of you , just moves aside…. falling into relaxation, leaving the door open for those overwhelming thoughts to expand deeper, entering into the rest of  your brain, the subconscious, where you operate more automatically, out of accepted belief,  with less questionning or critical delibaration.   Even though you are completely relaxed and open while in this state of mind, you are still fully in control.  If the phone were to ring now or if anything else were to interrupt the movie, you would be perfectly able to quickly jump out of that state, re-enter your conscious state  and focus on answering the phone or attending to the interruption simply by choosing to do so.  Nevertheless,  should you remain  in the  hypnotic state you will be experiencing the movie at a highy attentive level with all of your senses, emotions and thoughts attached to it, as close as possible to actually being in it.  You may begin to experience what the character is feeling, cry with him, feel his fear and maybe even exhibit physical  responses such as your own heart racing due to his experience!  You may forget you are at home for a second and even speak out to the movie.  Have you ever yelled at a movie character?  “Run! Get out of there! What are you doing? Look behind you! ”  Have you ever felt it difficult to hold  back your tears as the character freely released his or have you automatically put your hand on your stomach and yelled out “Oh!” as a reaction to the character taking a punch?  You were in hypnosis.

Now suppose that this movie had been playing at a friend’s or a co-worker’s home instead of your own and the environment had been a room full of people you were not entirely comfortable with.  Do you think you would have delved into it as deeply and allowed yourself to get so lost you would have been yelling out or crying?  Not likely.  The understanding of where you were and how you felt about letting go or getting overly “into the movie”  in front of everyone would have made you choose to remain in a conscious state by ignoring the message units from the movie, not allowing yourself to let go into hypnosis.  That is because you are always in control.  It is YOU and only YOU that allows the thoroughfare  from your conscious to your subconscious to be traveled.  This thoroughfare is not only a passage, it is also a right, your right,  to pass to and from the different areas of your mind as you,  and only you, accept to do.   So, contrary to popular belief, ideas presented in the media or even cartoons, you cannot be hypnotized and made to quack like a duck or rob a bank (unless you want to)!  Talk about movies hypnotizing us to believe things!

Now let’s take a look at what happens after the movie  you are watching at home alone is all over.  What part of that mental experience will enter into your conscious thoughts and decisions, into your real daily life?  If the character made a decision with a negative outcome,  lived in a beautiful city,  sang a particularly catchy tune, drove a certain color of car, how does that affect you?  How do you feel when you hear that song now….a week or a year later?  What would you tell a friend who invited you on a vacation to that city?  Would you remember or maybe even choose  that color when deciding on a new car?  What if you had to make similar decisions in your life? How much would the movie character’s outcome influence you even if it was “only a movie?”  While in hypnosis, the relaxed and flexible, open state of the thoroughfare between your conscious and subconscious mind, made you highly suggestible.  In other words,  you were open to the ideas that were presented to you while in that state without the critical eye you usually employ when in your fully alert, more guarded state.  Once the movie was over and the state of hypnosis  was exchanged  for the more conscious,  decisive state of mind you needed to get up and move on, the gateway closed but the new suggestions you accepted remained internalized as new subconscious beliefs to live by in the present.  The way you now feel about these things are the changes you achieved while in hypnosis, ideas that you affirmed and now may even refer to as truths and consider  seriously to qualify your decisions with in the future.

What a creative, powerful  place this is, your subconscious!  Imagine what you are doing there each and every day! Every night for the last 30 seconds before we doze off we give in to the hypnotic state as it naturally precedes complete sleep.  What  last thoughts do you allow in there right before you fall asleep?  Every morning before becoming fully awake we pass through the hypnotic state as it precedes complete awareness.   What thoughts do you awaken to and accept first thing in the morning?  What have  you already sealed into your subconscious in your past and,  most of all, what are you able to do there at any time you choose in the present?  What if you were able to accept a better version of yourself, a more confident you, a you that no longer likes to overeat or smoke or procrastinate?  These are only four easy changes out of literally hundreds that people make every day by treading that thoroughfare from the conscious to the subconscious to create positive change while in hypnosis.  This is the true and rare “ work you can do it in your sleep!”

We cannot “BE”  more than that which we are able to “THINK” that we are.  Whether it is occurring consciously by a well thought-out choice or subconsciously by a habitual, automatic, and, unfortunately too often, mistaken, belief, everything we are and everything we are experiencing must be born out of a thought first.  In those 30 seconds before sleep and the thirty seconds before awakening we have one full minute in which we are traveling that thoroughfare and accepting suggestions daily.  Do you fall asleep worried or wake up anxious or are you peaceful and hopeful? Whatever you are choosing it is being accepted as a belief about yourself or your world.  Then, throughout the day we enter the state several times, most often when we are overwhelmed or pulled into any deluge of thoughts, stress being a major example,  or when we find ourselves in a pattern that no longer requires conscious thought such as repetitive tasks, passive entertainment or routine habits.  We are all experts at entering hypnosis,  just not always aware we are in it or of what to do with this wonderful  ability of our mind that has so much potential to either impede or improve our lives!  It is quite a road, this thoroughfare, and  surely a  successful trip down any road should be navigated by a capable, knowledgeable guide or driver!  That is where learning about and understanding hypnosis, practicing it and receiving hypnotherapy all come in beautifully.

As long as you have to focus and think about something you are utilizing your conscious mind.   Examples that call for the conscious mind would be figuring out how to play a piano or learn a new computer program,  deciding what to wear to work today and, of course, learning how to drive!  Think of it as being in “effort mode.”  Once you have accepted how something works  without further need to question, focus, learn or try,  it travels the thoroughfare to be allowed into the subconscious.  When something lives in the subconscious it no longer requires conscious awareness to access it.  You no longer have to think about each move in these activities or consider if these beliefs are accurate.   You no longer ask yourself which key gets played next on the piano as you play a whole song with ease. You work on the computer and check your email without going over “how.”  You accept the outfit you chose this morning and wear it comfortably with your mind now on other things and, yes, even as  you get into a car you naturally start the engine and put on your seatbelt without instruction or need for the checklist you adhered to in the beginning.   We can and often do even drive  subconsiously on “autopilot!”  All of your learning , accepted beliefs and unquestioned motives are stored in the subconscious and are now doing the driving.  They are also often directing your personal intentions, your goals and, most importanly, your outcomes!

It is a fabulous system reserving the larger 88 percent of the space in our minds for accepted beliefs and ideas that drive us like confident passengers and allow the other 12 percent the freedom to focus, gather, ponder and even enjoy the scenery:

It all functions  perfectly, producing guaranteed results and a polished outcomes as long as the two sides of the brain are working together, like a passenger and a driver deciding their mutual destination.  Yet what if the two don’t agree?  What  if your subconscious accepted some time ago that French fries are a comfort you cannot do without but  your conscious noticed the extra pounds on the scale and logically wants you to diet today?  What part of your mind do you think takes over the wheel?  Where do you think this passenger is going to be driven to?  If you’ve guessed the nearest restaurant with good fries on the menu you are correct!  Twelve against eighty-eight is not a fair battle and yet, many a war has been won by the little guys when they commanded the right channels ….so….. YOU DO  have a “passage” way to the success your conscious side desires.

Mayo Clinic lists hypnotherapy in its Top Ten Recommended Alternative Therapies  of 2011 and Andrew Weil not only endorses but also offers training in hypnotherapy through his Integrative Medicine Clinic within the University of Arizona.  A trained, certified hypnotherapist in a professional setting is able to decipher your language and behavior and utilize it in your favor by communicating to your subconscious, suggesting the changes you desire to create.  All hypnosis is self-hypnosis because YOU are the one in control, entering the hypnosis at the pace in which you accept it and exiting the state, again, at will, retaining only the suggestions that you are willing to accept in the interim.  It is a wonderful  causeway!  Picture traveling to a sunny beach, a big city, a mountain side, where you enjoy complete relaxation and bring back only the souvenirs that you have chosen to in order to enhance the life you return to.  Hypnosis is a similarly relaxing trip to your subconscious and you will be returning home with the motivation, the confidence, the strength and belief to be the new you that you have until now only been able to wish or try to be through pure willpower.  The best part?  All travels allow learning.  It is  you that enters hypnosis and the more you learn from each session consciously, the more you are able to acquire the state on your own with less and less effort,  gifting yourself with the ability to choose wonderful changes and results for yourself in any area you desire each and every day!

As much as people, stories, stage and media love sensationalizing the subject of hypnosis,  it is really just a natural activity that your mind participates in daily in order to support,  store , organize and utilize your thoughts within your direction.  If you believe then you will absolutely achieve so you are already innately successful!  What you want to ask yourself then is “What do you believe?  What is driving you where?   The time spent in hypnosis or with a qualified  hypnotherapist will be like drivers’ training for the mind,  intended only to bring you to where you can take hold of the wheel and soar!  After all  it is both, YOUR thoroughfare and YOUR right to explore it since it only exists IntraYou!