The Hypno-sis.com Blog

Weight Loss Tips

I would like to offer you this simple tip for beginning to deal with weight issues from a hypnotic perspective.
Follow this tip exactly and you will begin to see a change in your attitude to food and eating in general.
Tip no.1: Slow Down. Simple as that. We all eat way to fast, and if we are stressed we tend to eat even faster. Chew each mouthful 20-30 times and put the knife and fork down in between each mouthful. Slowing down your chewing and swallowing rate allows your stomach time to signal your brain that you are full. There is a 20 minute lag between being full and the signal from the gut reaching the brain. A LOT of food can be consumed within this 20 minutes. By slowing down you allow your system to do its job properly, giving it time to signal you when you are full.
TEST: Just for fun, and to see how much you eat with your eyes, eat a meal blindfolded. Let me know what happens (aside form the mess!). Being blindfolded slows you down automatically and you have no visual cues to go on. Just the signal from your stomach to your brain.
I have a number of hypnotic tools here http://www.hypno-sis.com/products.html for anyone who would like to take this further in dealing with losing weight or binge eating. If you order one of these products I will be happy to send you another mp3 of your choice for FREE. This offer is only valid til the 15th October.

Thanks for reading this newsletter, and as ever, if you have any questions I’m happy to receive them at mark@hypno-sis.com

Til next month!

Mark Smith

Weight Loss Part 1

How to Master Anything Part 1

The Role of Therapists

Blog Post 1 Phobias

Seminar on How to Fail and Love It

Texting and avoidance.

We all have it. The friend who is invited out to places and enthusiastically agrees to turn up, only to cancel on the day, sometimes only moments beforebefore being due to meet with you. The cancellation is done by text and is often vague and a bit lame. This happens frequently, and is deeply deeply frustrating for the inviters, as they feel rejected by the invitee, which can lead to feelings of resentment and anger towards the invitee.
Why does this happen?
As with most of these situations, the underlying cause is extremely simple: The invitee, for whatever reason simply does not want to attend the event. “But why not say so in advance?” I hear you ask. Well, this is where the phenomena of avoidance and permission and forgiveness come into play.
When faced with an anxiety provoking situation, the body will go into fight or flight mode. The mind will then enact its preferred strategy for dealing with the situation. Texting allows the invitee to distance themselves from the person they are cancelling on and so not suffer any kind of embarassment. It also allows the invitee to get what they want without having to ask for it. It is simply easier to get what you want and apologise for it, than ask for what you want and risk being turned down or at the very least questioned about why you want it. Permission/forgiveness in a nutshell.
It is easier to get what you want and beg forgiveness than ask for what you want and risk being turned down/feeling embarassed/anxious. And the mind will do ANYTHING to avoid anxiety, because anxiety is the minds alarm mechanism, a signal that you are in danger and could die. In this situation, the anxiety is caused by not wanting to have to explain your actions to people who may challenge them. Challenging is a form of rejection. Rejection is the worst thing that can happen to a social primate (human) and so the mind avoids.
This is a common strategy employed all the time because quite simply it works. We do these kind of things all the time because they are an effective survival mechanism.

Binary Mind

In this series of posts I will be attempting to explain my ideas behind why humans act like they do, how and where reactive psychological disorders come from and what can be done to prevent/manage these conditions when they arise. I’m also going to look at more out there ideas like reality labyrinths, paranoid reading, confabulation and invented memory and interpretative drift, isms and group think (amongst other things), and how changing one little word can alter the meaning of almost everything you say.

What is the purpose of the unconscious mind?

Well in one sense that seems to be a loaded question. Those of you who are fans of semantics will immediately ask “what do you mean by purpose”. Well in this instance I will state that I believe that the mind, particularly the unconscious mind is directive, protocol driven, systematic and strives towards a specific outcome. And while it is also plastic (capable of change and learning), the very basic principles upon which it is based do not change, and indeed cannot change. As I go along, I hope the examples I give will demonstrate this.

What do I mean by unconscious mind? Well there are hundreds of good definitions of the unconscious mind, but in this instance I will state that for the purposes of this discussion the unconscious is the habit forming, reactive part of the brain.

Many people consider on a daily basis what their mind does, but rarely what it is “for”. I believe understanding the fundamental drivers of the unconscious mind and its operating systems give us a much greater understanding of what it does, and why.

So, to answer the question “What is the purpose of the mind”?, simply this: Survival. Your unconscious mind is elegantly and perfectly geared towards keeping you alive. It is on constant alert for threats and danger, and constantly feeding you information via your nervous system regarding your immediate environment, even while you sleep. (For example a woman who has just had a child, and is very tired may sleep through the loudest thunderstorm, but will immediately awaken upon hearing the child make a slight sound). As the example demonstrates, the unconscious is also selective and reactive. It is a common occurrence is combat for soldiers to become unable to hear their own gunshots, as the unconscious mind literally turns off that part of the brain to prevent damage (for more on this read the book On Combat by Lt Dave Grossman http://www.amazon.com/Combat-Psychology-Physiology-Deadly-Conflict/dp/0964920514 . The book also contains some amazing information on the effects of stress on the mind, and the use of mass repetition in learning, which I will get to later). Your unconscious mind therefore is constantly attempting to act in your best interests, by doing its utmost to keep you alive at all times.

How it does this is what I will discuss in the next section. Check back next Monday.