Habits & Patterns

Study Group Materials (required)

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.

"One of the great discoveries a man (or woman) makes, one of his/her great surprises, is to find he/she can do what he/she was afraid he/she couldn't do. Most of the bars we beat against are in ourselves --- we put them there, and we can take them down." --- Henry Ford

I would like to add to this quote. Some "bars" are put in our minds by others, and these, too, can be taken down. Consider the following statements that may run through one's mind, "I never keep the weight off," "You'll never amount to anything," "I can't hit a drive today, " "I know I'll fail, " "You're stupid, " "I have to have a cigarette with my cup of coffee, '' "I can't stop eating," "You don't like me. " The list goes on and on. Thoughts such as these reflect one's beliefs.

Operating within belief, the key component for change, are imagination, motivation, and anticipation. If you can imagine something and it's within reason, mostly likely you will achieve it (Hadley and Staudacher,1996). What the mind can conceive and believe, you will achieve. Research has shown that when an event is vividly imagined, the body's internal system reacts in the precise same way it would if the activity were actually happening. This is what many great athletes practice: they imagine each part of an athletic event: golfers "see" the breaks in the green, they "smell" the finely cut grass, and they "hear" the roar of the crowd when the ball drops in the hole.

You too can practice this creative visualization process. First, clarify exactly what it is you wish to achieve. Maybe you want to clean out the garage. Imagine yourself starting the project: organizing what stays, what gets thrown out. See the clutter begin to disappear. Notice all the new available floor space. Perhaps you include a garage sale and now see your reward as all the money you have simply because you cleaned out your garage.

Sometimes personal change seems harder than it ought to be. People who have accomplished many other projects with success sometimes feel surprised and disappointed when they hit a roadblock in a seemingly minor enterprise. And the feeling of frustration isn’t helped when other people explain that it just takes willpower to change eating habits, adopt a more relaxed attitude, or give up those last two cigarettes per day.

It could be said that the main force fueling effective affirmations is belief. If you are someone who is hard put to believe in anything, you can still make your affirmation work for you. Perhaps the following seemingly foolish questions can serve to illustrate why this is so.

Let us suppose that right now, you are seated or reclining on a chair, couch or a bed. Did you examine that furniture for soundness before throwing caution to the winds and settling yourself in? Are you presently wearing a hat molded of aluminum foil as prevention against mind control by extraterrestrial and/or government operatives? The last time you checked the time, was it in order to see what time it was, or to ascertain whether or not time was still moving forward?