Thursday, December 31, 2009

Little Shoes



Little Shoes....Little Steps...each one important unto itSelf! Stop for a moment, remembering how many you have already taken...Shhhh...quiet now....remembering that you are a spiritual being & there is no one else like you on the face of the earth, nor will there ever be another. Your steps are your steps!

Remember, mind imagery or sensing is different from actual experiences, but your subconscious mind will follow what you present “as being true.” Be as detailed as you can, knowing that each time you do, these very programs will be etched further into your subconscious mind. Do not worry if you feel awkward or feel like nothing is happening. Be patient with the process and you will receive the benefits. I like to use my journal for this purpose. Writing the details down, further etch them into the subconscious mind.

MIND CONTAINMENTS

It’s time to design the separate gardens. Place an image at the top of your journal page, and follow with your detailed explanation. No need to be an artist. When I began inner organizing my life in this way I simply drew an empty rectangle to cue in my subconscious mind. If you like to think in action video, design a movie.


1.The master garden is called the Mind & Body Health Garden. This garden houses all of the body part “plants”. Without good care in this garden, the other life-area gardens will have difficulty flourishing. The MindBody Health Garden is your the most important garden. Your level of health will determine your success in the other areas of your life. You will come to understand that there is an "under-ground root system" that communicates between all of the gardens. Understanding this, keeps one motivated to provide the nutrition that is needed by the body systems. As you work directly in the "mindbody health garden" you will come to know your body systems in a more personal way. They will actually begin to communicate with you throughout the day & help you to achieve very positive outcomes, not only in "their garden", but in other gardens as well.

2. Your Relationship with Yourself heads the gardens on the left side of the path. This tells you something, does it not? You are indeed VERY IMPORTANT & keep in mind the under-ground root system. All gardens are connected.

3. Your Relationships with Your Significant Other is the very next garden & needs close attention in daily life, keeping it in balance & free from co-dependent weeds. As you learn to work this very important garden with emotional management & by providing "fertilizers", you can effect change with your significant other with less stress.

4. Your Prosperity & Work Gardens are next to each other BUT are not the same. You can actually locate prosperity plants in all areas of your life & will continue to plant more & more in this area.

5. Work Gardens are only a part of the goal-den path & not the whole path. Big news for some people. Many of us have an imbalanced path in this regard & so noticing this path-structure, will send the message to the subconscious mind that you are "in life-balance."

6. The Home Garden is part of the path. Whatever surrounds us is where our mind & body are living in that moment. It's healthy to remember this as everything is communicated through the root systems to all parts of our life. Usually we all have plenty of work & de-cluttering to do in this area of the path.

7. Whether or not we are "religious", we all have a spiritual part to our life. Even non-believers ! We all have a Higher Self & as we begin to take care of that "self", we will benefit from the underground communication system...........the roots.

8. We all have a future, be it one minute, one year or decades. What we do in this moment matters & will have outcomes in all areas of our life. The better we work in the future garden, the more likely we will achieve the outcomes we want. The future garden helps us to build our opportunities, one seed at a time.....................& don't forget the underground communication system that is feeding the future !!

You will be working with this over-arching image throughout the book. In fact, I suggest that you look at this EACH DAY to remind/etch the image into your subconscious mind. You are looking for "life balance" & asking the subconscious mind to bring this to you. Keep in mind that NOTHING you do or think is missed by the inner mind. Every single thought is seen as a "desired mind program", whether or not you want it or not !! The subconscious mind is like a servo-mechanism, a radar of sorts. When you play a thought in the DVD of the mind, your subconscious mind goes & find anything & everything to support that thought. It goes both outward into the world, searching & securing & also it matches old programs from the mind-storage & utilizes those to re-enforce the innocent thought. Sounds good, if you are playing something you want in the mind, but what if you are not????? This the Power of Attraction!

Self-Discussion & Journaling Work

1. Your mindbody health garden contains body part plants for every part of your body & lives on the right hand side of your path, all by itself. Why do you think that it is important to place the image in this way? Relax deeply & discuss this positioning with your subconscious librarian. Ask if there is anything more you need to know about this positioning.

2. Your relationship with yourself garden is the largest garden on the left hand side of the path. Why do you believe that this positioning is so important? If I hadn't suggested this, where would you have placed this particular garden? If it is a different position from the one above, ask your inner librarian why you made this choice in the past.

3. Notice the positioning of the other gardens & ask yourself if this is the way you would like them to be. What does this positioning say to you? If you prefer to change the positioning, ask yourself "why" & then consider if this would be the very best design for your goal-den path. Spend some time on these "small details", understanding that they are not small at all. In fact, they are very large indeed.


A NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.


Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

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Saturday, December 26, 2009

Activating Self-Power Sources



This mini-chapter is a continuation of the one just below it. If you are new to my writing & have interest in disorderly eating issues, you might like to start at the beginning. There is a link near to the bottom that will direct you there. You can also find complimentary mp3's on any of my websites.

MIND EXERCISE – Working the Triple Monitor

The triple monitor is like a wide screen television, but having three sections or screens. You can number the screens, one, two and three. Let’s work with the first screen, placing a picture on it of something you do not want. Work with the image until it is clear. We tend to have a habit of now wanting to see what we don’t want, but we focus on it anyway. That focus brings it towards us. But now, once you have clarified what you do not want, utilize your mind to shrink it down. Make it small, but keep it recognizable.

You can also make this screen black and white rendering the image less appealing. Now bring your attention over to monitor three, skipping the center monitor. Place an image of what you do want, in relation to monitor one that tells the mind what you don’t want. Make this image full of detail, colored brightly. Bring the highly desired images forward, adding some positive and powerful emotional energy, perhaps playing music in the background. Now bring your attention to the center monitor number two. Notice the work going on in there. These are your subconscious mind helpers making all the plans and action steps to transmute what you don’t want into what you do want.

The triple monitor is actually a full containment or inner mind program for a specific goal. You can utilize this for a complete goal or even for small aspects of a goal. For example, you can have separate triple monitors for each of your eating behaviors, or emotional states in a particular area of your life.

MIND EXERCISE – Accessing Your Inner Power Sources

Whether or not you believe in a Higher Power, we all do have a Higher Self. This part of us is our core-self, free from our child-emotional states and their crayons. Some people call this their wise or intuitive self. In the practice of Interactive Self-Hypnosis it helps to have images for our Higher Self, and if it fits with your belief system, an image for your Higher Power. Once again, planned images act as containments, helping us to make rapid transitions out of high stress or emotional child behavior to a direct communication with a Higher Power and/or Higher Self. In addition, you can build a group of Inner Guides or Mentors to help in specific areas. We’ll meet up with them in the Library of the Masters.

Stress or emotional child states are like waving flags, suggesting you wake up and gently move to the position of Higher Self. This is achieved in Interactive Awareness that you read about in an earlier chapter. It is a simple, but profound shift of both mind and body. As you move from stress to Higher Self, you are free to communicate directly with your subconscious mind, various mentors and guides. You are also in position to work on goals in process, or plant new suggestions in the different areas of your gardens.
Rest your eyes comfortably on your mind screen, bringing forward your goal-den path and gardens. In the last chapter you met up with your Master Gardener. This may be an image you would like to utilize for either your Higher Power or Higher Self. If you prefer another image, please go ahead and do so now. I also suggest you design a containment for transmuting stress. The image that I work with is a big light at the end of the path. It is bright, but doesn’t hurt the eyes. There is a chair for you in the middle of the path, directly in front of the light, as well as smaller chairs to the right and left. Those are for emotional child-states that need to diminish stress.

In conscious life when you notice an emotion is out of balance, you can simply place your path and light on your mind screen, having the emotion sitting, filling with light, with stress dripping off the ends of it’s fingers. I like to turn the stress droplets into gold dust. This completes the transmutation process, bringing power and success from emotions that are coloring with negative crayons. You can the experiential imagery of collecting the gold dust, depositing it on specific goal plants in your gardens.

There are many ways for you to communicate with your Higher Power and Higher Self. Perhaps you already pray, and while that is an undisputed wonderful tool, there are other Interactive Images that are powerful as well. You might design a specific garden for formal meetings with your Higher Power or Higher Self. This spiritual containment can be enormously helpful for healing both physical and emotional wounds. It is here you that you will more than likely be shown the way around any obstructions in your path while learning to interpret their hidden meanings.

MIND EXERCISE – Locating Your Library of the Mind

In addition to your video programs, you can work with your subconscious mind through the image of an inner library. The library metaphor has the advantage of being able to go slower, as well as turning pages forward and back. Some individuals find this a more comfortable way for reviewing and deciding to make changes. It is also here that you are busy writing your book about today, as well as future books.

The library and the books work as containments, giving us a way to isolate our behaviors and goals for careful observation. My library is located in a separate area in the workshop of the mind and is kept in order by the subconscious librarian who functions as one of my inner mentors. When I have need for something, she provides the books where the information is written, as well as pulling together other related materials that might be out of reach of the conscious memory. The inner librarian is also very creative, enjoying pulling together mind projects that appear consciously as breakthrough ideas, or “eurekas” !

While this concept may appear a bit offbeat, we all have experienced asking “ourselves” things such as “where are my keys?” “Why did I do that?” So in fact the Inner Librarian is that part of yourself who does not where things are and why we do things. Once we get accustomed to requesting the multitude of services on a regular basis, one is amazed at how much help is truly available right in the moment!
Interactive Self-Hypnosis provides working metaphors for utilizing the library books from the past, as well as those you might be currently writing. In an earlier chapter on self-assessment you collected information from these very books. Now you can go back into these books and edit them. You might like to re-write some of the text, rearrange the emotional perceptions, change outcomes, collect power resilience memories, empower the child or earlier adult with new information, or look for lessons learned. In future books you might like to write your desired outcomes just as if you had them in the palm of your hand.

Another great exercise is one of moving boundaries. Most of us tend to program within narrow corridors or expectations. In Interactive Self-Hypnosis you can move those boundaries outward, thereby giving the subconscious librarian more room to bring in higher-expectation suggestions. For example, when looking to manage an addiction, write the future book in such a way that the addiction is not only easily managed, but the act of managing it brings you added prosperity well beyond your current expectations. This is a tremendous motivator that transmutes any perceived unpleasant experiences into valuable assets.

MIND EXERCISE – Entering Your Library of the Masters

The subconscious mind is a vast library filled with experiential memories of each of your senses from every moment of life. A whiff of perfume can transport you back to sitting on your grandmother’s lap, feeling her tender touch as she wipes your tears. In this instance the perfume is the trigger or containment for all parts of the memory. Many of our experiences have little meaning in the moment unless we need them, but this doesn’t mean that they are not planted in the subconscious mind. Sometimes we need specific memories well after the fact, and so it is a good idea to build an additional library containment. I call mine the Library of the Masters. This is not a spiritual metaphor, but it certainly could be for those who might like to design their library in that way.

Masters or Inner Guides are specialists in their field. As we enter the area we have designed as their containment, we can either call on the needed specialist, or ask for the books about the specific subject. Perhaps you might like to visit with a dietary specialist, or one working in the field of addiction. Once they are present, simply ask for what you need and be prepared to listen. Often the answers are forthcoming immediately, other times they may be given in a dream or in another quiet moment such as in the shower or when driving your car. If you have been meeting with mind specialists, be sure to give yourself lots of quiet time for arrival of the answers.

It’s really quite amazing how the mind works in this way. You can even invite a specialist to take an exam with you, as well as give a presentation to a group or any other time you may benefit from this mind service. Sometimes I take a specialist into the supermarket to view my shopping habits. It’s also not uncommon for one to be with me when eating out. Think how you might utilize this mind service!

MIND EXERCISE – Visiting Your Emotional School House

It’s fairly well known that either you manage your emotions or they will manage you. In the past this was easier said than done, but now you have the tools of Interactive Awareness and Self-Hypnosis to not only help you manage your emotions, but to help you surpass your goals through the actual managing. The Emotional School House is a great containment I designed for attaching both negative and positive-state emotions to your goal development.

I placed my schoolhouse down the path from the Workshop so the emotions would be separated from the other tools. I wanted to impress my subconscious mind with their importance and so they have their own building. Take a moment to relax deeply and I’ll show you around my containment. As we enter you will notice that even the hallway announces itself as a happy and positive seat of learning. There are classroom doors lining the hallway, each hosting a goal picture.

Inside the room the emotions, both positive and negative state, are sitting in learning circles each having a goal book on their lap. The goal books have left and right sides. The left sides are teaching what will happen if the negatives are employed by the goal. These are all “away-from motivators”. The right side of the book are “towards motivators” or what will happen if the positives are employed by the goal. The teacher can be my Higher Power, Self or one of the Specialist Mentors. The teacher goes on to explore the goal expansion, or greater expectations with the emotions. This is a creative thinking exercise that invites the subconscious mind to send up more & more ideas connected to the isolated goal. The isolation of goals is very important for growth and development. This is ultimate focus.

Each time I visit the classroom I’m actually reinforcing both sets of motivators. Think for a moment about the books your emotions would be reviewing in relation to your sugar addiction or eating disorder. What negative-state emotions would be present in your classroom? What positive-state emotions would benefit from being enhanced from isolation of goal work & enhanced motivation? Who would you call on to teach these classes? Now think about another goal area in your life that would benefit from emotional teaching. Keep in mind that everything on your goal-den path is connected by an underground root system. As you work in one goal area, others will automatically benefit.

MIND EXERCISE – The Board Meeting

The board meeting is a practice in organized thought made even more powerful with the additions of Interactive Awareness and Self-Hypnosis. Relax deeply and I’ll show you around my board meeting room. As we enter notice it looks like any other board room, housing a large table, one chair at each end and three chairs on each side. As Chairman of the Board I sit on one end. My Higher Power or Self sits opposite to me.

There are several types of meetings that benefit self-development and will determine who sits on the right and left seats. For example, if I am having a meeting with emotions that are interfering with my goal of managing sugar addiction, they will be sitting in those seats. I may also choose to call in several of my positive-state emotions to assist the ones in trouble. Meetings are places for views to be shared and not meant to be dictatorial. When meeting with emotions, give them the opportunity to explain themselves. Question their behaviors and intentions. As you are in self-hypnotic trance, these questions will open important areas of understanding for you.

One day I was interviewing an emotion that was insisting that I purchase ice cream, even though it was not on the shopping list. During the board meeting interview the emotion expressed it’s anger with me because there was no fun or enjoyment during the past few weeks. “All you do is work, work, work!” Sound familiar? So the emotion insisted on the ice cream to break the work addiction. This was important information, not only for the moment, but in helping to understand the past and to help protect the future.

Another great way to work with the board room containment is to hold a master mind meeting. Just as a company chooses its board of directors, you can do the same. This board, however, meets in your mind. You can choose anyone you like to be on your board. You don’t have to know them, they don’t have to be alive, nor do they have to be real. You can borrow from history, from fiction, or from your own creative mind processes. Once the board is in place, do keep it like that. While it’s fine to bring in a guest specialist, it works to your benefit to keep the same board members in place. I put mine together about twenty years ago. When you decide to hold a meeting, deepen your trance state, call the board to order and present the issues on the table. Anything goes! Remember to listen carefully to what your members have to say, and pass all suggestions to your Higher Power or Self, making certain they do fit well with your value system. Remember that while others may suggest things, you are the Chairman and all decisions rest with you.

You may wonder why you might want to work with this containment, and what is actually happening. Earlier on I explained that your subconscious mind is vast and in order to pull together information from the deep vaults, you might need some special tools or containments. The board of directors is simply one of these tools. The idea that it encompasses wise and successful members, speaks to those parts of yourself, calling them to action.

It’s a good idea to draw a graphic of your board table and the position of the seats. Begin to keep a list of possible members. In the beginning you may not be able to think of any, and then you find so many that you will wonder how you can choose just six. Take this project with you as you practice Interactive Self-Hypnosis. Your subconscious mind will help you to formulate your very best board member choices.

MIND EXERCISE – Plugging Into Automatic Writing

Just as the mentors and board members help to access different areas of the subconscious mind, there are other tools for going even further, one of these being that of automatic writing. Before beginning any mind exercise, make certain you will not be disturbed for the time you have chosen for your self-development work and then relax deeply. I like to image my writing mentor either on the triple monitor or actually sitting in the same room with me. Our communication tool will be that of pen and paper.

Of course you can communicate in this way with your Higher Power, self, mind mentors, specialists or your emotions. Writing is a powerful way to open the subconscious mind. You might also consider corresponding with particular mind models such as Wisdom, Truth, Forgiveness or Compassion. You might even contact a particular project you are working on such as your management of sugar addiction. This is your opportunity to ask it what you need to know, listening to what it has to say to you. This process allows you to gather insights that would not be so readily available. Once in contact you are free to ask for all kinds of help including overcoming old roadblocks.

Think of the many ways you can work with this tool. I have a patient who had very long correspondence with her cancer. Before long they were on fairly good terms, the cancer agreeing to actually partner in the treatment. Another patient had long discussions with her rather messy house, a reflection of her rather messy life. She was able to clarify quite a bit about both, make some important changes and continues to stay in touch regularly.

MIND EXERCISE – Attending Your Interactive Theater

Down the path from the Workshop you will find the Interactive Theater. You are known as the Writer, Producer and Director of the current performance. There is a reserved seat for you near to the back of the house where you can see the full-spectrum as it plays out. At any moment you can go onto the stage, position yourself behind the actor playing you, or any other actor and observe the feelings that flow from taking these different positions. You can also be aware of the different emotional states that are busy crayoning the scripts. As you maneuver from the many positions of the actors, your insight grows.
It’s also a good idea to observe some “one man or woman” shows. The more insight you develop about yourself, the better. There is nothing wrong with observing your weaknesses, for without seeing them you cannot change. It’s also important to know that you can change the emotional perceptions by employing self-forgiveness, self-compassion and self-love into any and all productions. No one is perfect and no one is expected to be perfect. Perhaps that’s an affirmation you would like to hang in your theater. Write your scripts to benefit your deepest values and goals, produce and direct with fairness, delivering human kindness to the audiences of your life.

MOVING ON….
In the next chapter you will learn additional Interactive Self-Hypnotic Tools connected to exploring your past, as well as your future on your Life Time-Line.

Lifestyle changes needed for conquering disorderly eating and managing addictions are like taking a journey. First comes the decision, the commitment to the journey, followed by the planning. Next comes the unfolding of experiences. We enjoy some parts, detest others, sit in amazement as the unexpected takes on a life of it’s own. As we look with soft eyes, it is clear that each experience carries with it, the gift of knowledge.

We tend to be asleep more than awake. If we practice waking up more frequently, the number of experiences will mount. Since each experience carries the gift of knowledge, our goal is to stay awake as much as possible, working to unraveling our past experiences along with the new. Of course, looking for the gifts, for they are there in the vault of the subconscious mind.

In the last chapter you set up gardens on your goal-den path. You met up with your Master Gardener, your Higher Self, learned something about weeds, your early belief systems, along with ways to change past self-image and esteem programming. Now you are going to locate old subconscious mind files, filled with all kinds of gifts to help you manage your addiction issues and your life balance. You are also going to design future mind programs to plant in your gardens.

Interactive Awareness and Self-Hypnosis can be utilized in hundreds of creative ways. Throughout this book you have been working with many of these. Now you will experience some of the more creative ones. Keep in mind that each and every moment holds opportunities for practice, including re-programming your subconscious mind. As you begin to truly wake up to this extraordinary power that you have in place, you can become overwhelmed. Therefore it’s a good idea to set some goals for building skill levels, for programming awareness, also for etching new subconscious mind programs.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

You already know the power of awareness and how key it is to change. There are all levels of awareness, each carrying gifts. Some are small and some are big. Awareness requests are set-up subconsciously. We literally request the mind to make us aware of something t we know will benefit us. For example, you might request the subconscious librarian to make you aware of low-level emotions, thoughts or behaviors that connect to your addiction or disorderly eating. Your subconscious mind will consciously "key" you into these, where you will be able to diminish them right in the moment, then move to re-program your inner files related to these behaviors. You are learning to stop something before it gets out of control for you. Pre-behaviors or prodromals are very important in changing habits, behaviors, as well as automatic pilot programs.

If you have any particular triggers, you might want to request changing your inner files in reference to these. For instance, if your reactions to certain people's behaviors tend to make you tense, you might want to be more aware of these, then work with diminishing and/or re-programming. One does not need to be in a deep trance state to do this work. You can do all of it "right in the moment" if you like.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK - INDUCTION

Induction is nothing more than slowing the brain waves in increments by using a particular deepening system, such as counting backwards, or choosing images that do the same. There are many levels of trance or deep relaxation, each having their own ease of execution and benefits. In short, induction is the route you take to get out of your own way, side-stepping all emotions and judgment, stepping into a place where suggestions are readily accepted by the subconscious mind. If you work with a hypnotist or hypnotherapist, you may be taken even deeper into trance where the therapist is able to access the needed information, but in self-hypnosis you are determining the level where you can affect your own work. If you work with audio it is a bit easier to go deeper down, because even if you fall asleep, your subconscious mind will pick up the suggestions from the recorded program.

You might like to review the chapter on mental biofeedback and practice inducing self-hypnosis with body communication skills. This is particularly effective as a stress-releaser, preparing the mind for the acceptance of suggestion. Whatever the route you choose, do know you are on your way to the tools below.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

After inducing a self-hypnotic state, you are ready to begin planting subconscious mind programs, also called suggestions. The subconscious mind enjoys organization and so it works to your benefit, assisting you in building special containment metaphors for planting inner programs, as well as editing past and future ones. These containments are useful as well for managing emotional states, locating hidden resources and building resilience. All containments are “user-friendly”. As you welcome them into your consciousness, don’t be surprised if you find them appearing automatically to help manage your life needs.

Exploring the Interactive Self-Hypnosis Workshop

You might like to review this powerful containment at the alpha state. You already know how to reach this slow brain wave state. In the last chapter you began the design of your goal-den path. As you walk down your path and past the gardens, you will see a signpost for your inner workshop. Follow the route and soon you will come upon it. The workshop is a place in your mind where you go to work on yourself. It is a private place and while others are welcome, they only come by your invitation and to work in your behalf. This is especially important for those with addiction who are so used to putting everyone else’s needs first.
Right now see the image of your workshop in your mind’s eye. Build it exactly as you like it. There might be a building or a place in the past that you would like to utilize for this purpose, and that is fine. Sometimes we have a safe place from childhood. For me it is an old barn that sat on the property of my best friend where I could escape the outside world to adventure in my dreams. It was here that I calmed myself while designing my future fantasies. If you don’t have such a place in your memory bank, simply go and build one for yourself right now. You can place it wherever you like, be it at the ocean, high in the mountains, or even in the middle of a city. Whatever meets your fancy is just fine. Choose the structure, color, windows, roof pitch, landscaping, etc. Details, details!

Feel the entrance key in your pocket and open the front door. Look around, noticing the furnishings, floor coverings, windows, collectibles, perhaps plants, books and even toys. Time to lighten up! Walk through the workshop, noticing the details of the different rooms and how comfortable you feel here. In my Workshop I have a big room, a kitchen, a spa bath, several libraries and a board meeting room. You’ll read about these in detail later on.

Look out the window and admire the view. Pay attention to the wild life, the plants, the sky and how the weather is in this moment. Your weather is a great metaphor for your current emotional crayons. Bring in some additional senses. You might tap on the window pane, hearing the tapping sound resonating in your ears. Sit down in one of the chairs, feel the texture of the fabric, how your body positions into the chair and relax deeply. This is a time set aside for you and your work. Enjoy this idea. It’s helpful to bring in some powerful emotional states, especially positive expectancy, wisdom and inner peace. Emotions appear automatically, as well as by request. In this case scenario, do request those that will be skillful in designing inner programming. In the paragraphs below I will be directing you to other parts of your workshop.

Mind Exercise – Accessing Your Wide Screen Television

Everything that you ever experienced is recorded in your subconscious mind in an orderly fashion, but in order to review it you must utilize some sort of a containment or tool. As you become familiar with the workings of Interactive Self-Hypnotic Tools you will be able to call them forward to work in the moment, as well as in deeper trance states. The wide screen television and the VCR are containments for viewing subconscious files. In our work all subconscious files are considered video tapes that are designed for you to readily apply Interactive Awareness and Self-Hypnosis.

On your inner mind screen place an image of your wide screen television. Locate the VCR and the portable hand controls. Notice the shelves holding the tape collections. The shelves on the left are filled with old tapes, including everything you have ever experienced through any of your senses. While these experiences truly happened, they are all recorded in a particular perception. Some perceptions that are not helpful to current goals may benefit from some editing. Old tapes are also great resources for building resilience and power in all types of goals. Resilience is found in past success, as well as in past failures. Interactive self-hypnosis allows you to alter the marinade of any file, often turning it from a de-motivator into a powerful pro-motivator.

The shelves on the right are filled with future video. Some are blank tapes ready for recording. There are also tapes holding new experiences that haven’t happened as yet. Some you have already programmed through the power of expectations, while others are pre-programmed for practicing different possibilities and experiences. Some of your pre-programs may not be based on negative expectation and therefore not in your best interest. It’s very possible that some include expectations of failure in working with your addiction or eating disorder. I’ll be showing you how to locate and edit these for success.

Mind Exercise – Programming Your Inner DVD

Take a few moments and slow your brain waves. Tilt your eyes up about twenty degrees imaging your wide screen television. Even through the image slips on and off your mind screen, your subconscious mind is aware of what you are doing. Begin by choosing an old DVD, perhaps one that has to do with your disorderly eating, bingeing or addiction. Maybe it is an old eating behavior, or a scene where you are with friends and having a difficult time in making healthy choices. Once you locate the video go deeper down into your relaxed state to help enhance your focus. With your eyes tilted up begin to review the tape on your mind screen. See yourself, noticing if you are alone or with others. Listen to the sound track. Observe the happenings, noticing you can focus in on specific areas, as well as slow down the action.

You are the writer, director and producer of each of your productions. Each video in your collection is a production of yours! In Interactive Self-Hypnosis you can stop any and all productions, be they past, future or present, and change them to benefit your desired outcomes.

You may be wondering how you could possibility benefit from something that has already happened. Keep in mind that everything is recorded through perceptions, and all perceptions can be changed to benefit you. For example, every failure can be seen through new eyes, or a change in perception. Let’s say that you are reviewing the experience of a negative eating behavior. You can edit this quite simply by indicating that you were practicing behaviors that you do not want. You can then bring in new actors to demonstrate what you do want, having them work side by side. Make certain that the correct signs are hanging over each actor’s performance! You can take this a step further by making the undesired behavior a black and white boring affair. Paint the desired behavior in bright colors, moving the stage forward into clear view. You have now successfully edited an old mind program and programmed a new, corresponding behavior that is seen as your preferred choice.

It’s just as easy to work with future video programs. In the last section of this book you will have many opportunities to apply these tools in different ways, but for now choose a blank future tape, placing it in the DVD slot. Relax deeply, tilt your eyes up and locate your inner mind screen. Notice you are coming down the path, looking absolutely great. It’s quite obvious that you are healthy, energetic and relaxed. As you notice your details, turn up the sound. You are about to hear yourself speaking to yourself. Listen to all of the wonderful things that have happened since you began managing your addiction several months ago. Perhaps there are things about your health, your relationships, work and even your prosperity. Notice someone else is coming down the path. This individual is somewhat older, but certainly just as healthy and energetic. This is your self from five years in the future, also looking forward to sharing even more wonderful things that have happened since sticking to your new program and lifestyle changes. You can even future pace this further by having another future you appearing on the scene. Later on in this book you will be working more with Interactive Self-Hypnosis Future Pacing Tools.

If you have pre-programmed future outcomes and would like to edit them, follow the same system as you did for past programming. Remember, your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference. Simply direct and produce the outcomes that you desire just as if you already had them in the palm of your hand because that will become your reality.

A NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.


Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.bohorquez
http://www.twitter.com/elizRN

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Receiving Creative Gifts



Lifestyle changes needed for conquering disorderly eating and managing addictions are like taking a journey. First comes the decision, the commitment to the journey, followed by the planning. Next comes the unfolding of experiences. We enjoy some parts, detest others, sit in amazement as the unexpected takes on a life of it’s own. As we look with soft eyes, it is clear that each experience carries with it, the gift of knowledge.

We tend to be asleep more than awake. If we practice waking up more frequently, the number of experiences will mount. Since each experience carries the gift of knowledge, our goal is to stay awake as much as possible, working to unraveling our past experiences along with the new. Of course, looking for the gifts, for they are there in the vault of the subconscious mind.

In the last chapter you set up gardens on your goal-den path. You met up with your Master Gardener, your Higher Self, learned something about weeds, your early belief systems, along with ways to change past self-image and esteem programming. Now you are going to locate old subconscious mind files, filled with all kinds of gifts to help you manage your addiction issues and your life balance. You are also going to design future mind programs to plant in your gardens.

Interactive Awareness and Self-Hypnosis can be utilized in hundreds of creative ways. Throughout this book you have been working with many of these. Now you will experience some of the more creative ones. Keep in mind that each and every moment holds opportunities for practice, including re-programming your subconscious mind. As you begin to truly wake up to this extraordinary power that you have in place, you can become overwhelmed. Therefore it’s a good idea to set some goals for building skill levels, for programming awareness, also for etching new subconscious mind programs.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

You already know the power of awareness and how key it is to change. There are all levels of awareness, each carrying gifts. Some are small and some are big. Awareness requests are set-up subconsciously. We literally request the mind to make us aware of something t we know will benefit us. For example, you might request the subconscious librarian to make you aware of low-level emotions, thoughts or behaviors that connect to your addiction or disorderly eating. Your subconscious mind will consciously "key" you into these, where you will be able to diminish them right in the moment, then move to re-program your inner files related to these behaviors. You are learning to stop something before it gets out of control for you. Pre-behaviors or prodromals are very important in changing habits, behaviors, as well as automatic pilot programs.

If you have any particular triggers, you might want to request changing your inner files in reference to these. For instance, if your reactions to certain people's behaviors tend to make you tense, you might want to be more aware of these, then work with diminishing and/or re-programming. One does not need to be in a deep trance state to do this work. You can do all of it "right in the moment" if you like.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK - INDUCTION

Induction is nothing more than slowing the brain waves in increments by using a particular deepening system, such as counting backwards, or choosing images that do the same. There are many levels of trance or deep relaxation, each having their own ease of execution and benefits. In short, induction is the route you take to get out of your own way, side-stepping all emotions and judgment, stepping into a place where suggestions are readily accepted by the subconscious mind. If you work with a hypnotist or hypnotherapist, you may be taken even deeper into trance where the therapist is able to access the needed information, but in self-hypnosis you are determining the level where you can affect your own work. If you work with audio it is a bit easier to go deeper down, because even if you fall asleep, your subconscious mind will pick up the suggestions from the recorded program.

You might like to review the chapter on mental biofeedback and practice inducing self-hypnosis with body communication skills. This is particularly effective as a stress-releaser, preparing the mind for the acceptance of suggestion. Whatever the route you choose, do know you are on your way to the tools below.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

After inducing a self-hypnotic state, you are ready to begin planting subconscious mind programs, also called suggestions. The subconscious mind enjoys organization and so it works to your benefit, assisting you in building special containment metaphors for planting inner programs, as well as editing past and future ones. These containments are useful as well for managing emotional states, locating hidden resources and building resilience. All containments are “user-friendly”. As you welcome them into your consciousness, don’t be surprised if you find them appearing automatically to help manage your life needs.

Exploring the Interactive Self-Hypnosis Workshop

You might like to review this powerful containment at the alpha state. You already know how to reach this slow brain wave state. In the last chapter you began the design of your goal-den path. As you walk down your path and past the gardens, you will see a signpost for your inner workshop. Follow the route and soon you will come upon it. The workshop is a place in your mind where you go to work on yourself. It is a private place and while others are welcome, they only come by your invitation and to work in your behalf. This is especially important for those with addiction who are so used to putting everyone else’s needs first.
Right now see the image of your workshop in your mind’s eye. Build it exactly as you like it. There might be a building or a place in the past that you would like to utilize for this purpose, and that is fine. Sometimes we have a safe place from childhood. For me it is an old barn that sat on the property of my best friend where I could escape the outside world to adventure in my dreams. It was here that I calmed myself while designing my future fantasies. If you don’t have such a place in your memory bank, simply go and build one for yourself right now. You can place it wherever you like, be it at the ocean, high in the mountains, or even in the middle of a city. Whatever meets your fancy is just fine. Choose the structure, color, windows, roof pitch, landscaping, etc. Details, details!

Feel the entrance key in your pocket and open the front door. Look around, noticing the furnishings, floor coverings, windows, collectibles, perhaps plants, books and even toys. Time to lighten up! Walk through the workshop, noticing the details of the different rooms and how comfortable you feel here. In my Workshop I have a big room, a kitchen, a spa bath, several libraries and a board meeting room. You’ll read about these in detail later on.

Look out the window and admire the view. Pay attention to the wild life, the plants, the sky and how the weather is in this moment. Your weather is a great metaphor for your current emotional crayons. Bring in some additional senses. You might tap on the window pane, hearing the tapping sound resonating in your ears. Sit down in one of the chairs, feel the texture of the fabric, how your body positions into the chair and relax deeply. This is a time set aside for you and your work. Enjoy this idea. It’s helpful to bring in some powerful emotional states, especially positive expectancy, wisdom and inner peace. Emotions appear automatically, as well as by request. In this case scenario, do request those that will be skillful in designing inner programming. In the paragraphs below I will be directing you to other parts of your workshop.

Mind Exercise – Accessing Your Wide Screen Television

Everything that you ever experienced is recorded in your subconscious mind in an orderly fashion, but in order to review it you must utilize some sort of a containment or tool. As you become familiar with the workings of Interactive Self-Hypnotic Tools you will be able to call them forward to work in the moment, as well as in deeper trance states. The wide screen television and the VCR are containments for viewing subconscious files. In our work all subconscious files are considered video tapes that are designed for you to readily apply Interactive Awareness and Self-Hypnosis.

On your inner mind screen place an image of your wide screen television. Locate the VCR and the portable hand controls. Notice the shelves holding the tape collections. The shelves on the left are filled with old tapes, including everything you have ever experienced through any of your senses. While these experiences truly happened, they are all recorded in a particular perception. Some perceptions that are not helpful to current goals may benefit from some editing. Old tapes are also great resources for building resilience and power in all types of goals. Resilience is found in past success, as well as in past failures. Interactive self-hypnosis allows you to alter the marinade of any file, often turning it from a de-motivator into a powerful pro-motivator.

The shelves on the right are filled with future video. Some are blank tapes ready for recording. There are also tapes holding new experiences that haven’t happened as yet. Some you have already programmed through the power of expectations, while others are pre-programmed for practicing different possibilities and experiences. Some of your pre-programs may not be based on negative expectation and therefore not in your best interest. It’s very possible that some include expectations of failure in working with your addiction or eating disorder. I’ll be showing you how to locate and edit these for success.

Mind Exercise – Programming Your Inner DVD

Take a few moments and slow your brain waves. Tilt your eyes up about twenty degrees imaging your wide screen television. Even through the image slips on and off your mind screen, your subconscious mind is aware of what you are doing. Begin by choosing an old DVD, perhaps one that has to do with your disorderly eating, bingeing or addiction. Maybe it is an old eating behavior, or a scene where you are with friends and having a difficult time in making healthy choices. Once you locate the video go deeper down into your relaxed state to help enhance your focus. With your eyes tilted up begin to review the tape on your mind screen. See yourself, noticing if you are alone or with others. Listen to the sound track. Observe the happenings, noticing you can focus in on specific areas, as well as slow down the action.

You are the writer, director and producer of each of your productions. Each video in your collection is a production of yours! In Interactive Self-Hypnosis you can stop any and all productions, be they past, future or present, and change them to benefit your desired outcomes.

You may be wondering how you could possibility benefit from something that has already happened. Keep in mind that everything is recorded through perceptions, and all perceptions can be changed to benefit you. For example, every failure can be seen through new eyes, or a change in perception. Let’s say that you are reviewing the experience of a negative eating behavior. You can edit this quite simply by indicating that you were practicing behaviors that you do not want. You can then bring in new actors to demonstrate what you do want, having them work side by side. Make certain that the correct signs are hanging over each actor’s performance! You can take this a step further by making the undesired behavior a black and white boring affair. Paint the desired behavior in bright colors, moving the stage forward into clear view. You have now successfully edited an old mind program and programmed a new, corresponding behavior that is seen as your preferred choice.

It’s just as easy to work with future video programs. In the last section of this book you will have many opportunities to apply these tools in different ways, but for now choose a blank future tape, placing it in the DVD slot. Relax deeply, tilt your eyes up and locate your inner mind screen. Notice you are coming down the path, looking absolutely great. It’s quite obvious that you are healthy, energetic and relaxed. As you notice your details, turn up the sound. You are about to hear yourself speaking to yourself. Listen to all of the wonderful things that have happened since you began managing your addiction several months ago. Perhaps there are things about your health, your relationships, work and even your prosperity. Notice someone else is coming down the path. This individual is somewhat older, but certainly just as healthy and energetic. This is your self from five years in the future, also looking forward to sharing even more wonderful things that have happened since sticking to your new program and lifestyle changes. You can even future pace this further by having another future you appearing on the scene. Later on in this book you will be working more with Interactive Self-Hypnosis Future Pacing Tools.

If you have pre-programmed future outcomes and would like to edit them, follow the same system as you did for past programming. Remember, your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference. Simply direct and produce the outcomes that you desire just as if you already had them in the palm of your hand because that will become your reality.

A NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.


Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.bohorquez
http://www.twitter.com/elizRN

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Mind Magic



You began your life walk with your very own unique first step. While this may have been your first walking step, every experience in your entire life had a first step as well, and you have many more first steps to experience.

Tune into the world and you will hear lots of moaning and groaning about having to begin all over again. If you take a moment to dissect these complaints, you will find the errors in these thought patterns, for every experiential moment on the path of life begins in a different place. A failure experience is simply a step in a different direction. Later as we explore the subject of failure, you will come to find that it really isn’t a bad thing, but instead a good one. We are surrounded with a multitude of teachers on these subjects. Take toddlers for example. We can learn quite a bit from them. Observe what happens when they fall down. They may cry or not, but then they get up, center themselves, look around at their immediate environment, then movetowards where they want to go.

Your own breath is your teacher in residence. As you learn to observe it, you will begin to find that each inhalation and exhalation is different from the one before. Therefore we do know how to live with ongoing change. This realization can help you to shift out of the fear surrounding change, right into action.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK - DEEPENING

The tools you have learned so far are multi-faceted. They work to reduce your stress chemical production just by their sheer presence. The slowing of your brain waves is called deepening trance. You already know how to reach the alpha brain wave state right in the moment, even when others are around. When the brain waves are slowed, the body becomes balanced. This is called homeostasis. Your blood pressure normalizes, as does your heart and hormone production. This act of mental shifting begins changes within every cell, delivering you to the door of your subconscious mind that is located at the alpha brain wave level.
You can slow the brain waves even more, going to a deeper level of trance. Many people have the idea that it is necessary to be at much lower levels in order to practice effective hypnosis. Some believe they must be asleep in order for suggestions to be planted. Nothing could be further than the truth. We tend to be in self-hypnotic states all day long, but unfortunately most of these are negative mind programs, going towards negative goals instead of positive ones.. In purposeful self-hypnosis, you will be waking from these, releasing them and then programming your mind for what you want.

There are times when you might like to go to a deeper level, perhaps during a dental appointment or medical procedure. Deepening is also beneficial for releasing high stress levels, either in the moment or in time put aside for this purpose. There are many ways to experience deepening. While all of these can be applied in the moment, it is best to practice them in a solitary environment, without time pressure.

MIND EXERCISE – MAGNETS

A simple exercise for deepening is the utilization of mind magnets. Most of us are familiar with the sensation of magnetic pull. For example, if you have flown in a plane you do know the feeling of being pulled down and back into the seat.

Start this exercise with a deep yawn breath, holding it in your mouth for the count of four, letting it out slowly. Settle into the chair, tilting your eyes up slightly. When practicing you might like to close your eyes, but you can practice this with them opened or closed. Allow your buttocks to be pulled gently down, sensing your spine sinking into the back of the chair. You can work with an imaginary dial. Notice that as you turn it to the right, the magnetic sensation enhances. A turn to the left allows you to experience a decrease in magnetic sensation. This imagery gives you full control of your depth of trance or level of relaxation.
This exercise is very easily adaptable to any situation in the real world. For example, if you find yourself becoming anxious in the moment, simply turn your dial to the right. You will be turning off your stress chemical production, slowing your brain waves, and going right to the door of your subconscious mind where you can request information or plant suggestions. As you tilt your eyes up just slightly, your programming screen will be available for subconscious mind communication. You can also release emotional cravings in the same way. Of course, physiological cravings need to be managed with the food connection.

MIND EXERCISE – MAGIC NUMBERS

This exercise appears a bit more cumbersome, but each part of it can be utilized as a separate mind program in the moment. Sit upright and allow your body to sink into the chair. Take in a very deep yawn breath, holding it in your mouth for the count of four, allow it to exit slowly as if you were a balloon at the end of a party. After reading this exercise, close your eyes and tilt them up about twenty degrees, just as if you were sitting in the second row of a movie theater. Notice the placement of the mind screen and the number four slowly coming in from the distance. Remember imaging is different than seeing with normal sight. It’s more of a felt sense. Allow the number to touch and enter your forehead and begin to feel it absorbing down throughout your body.

Bring your eyes back to the screen and notice the number three is coming in and now entering the center of your chest, finding the door to your heart and now pumping throughout your body taking it further down. The number two is coming towards you now, entering your belly button door and disseminating down into your lower abdomen and both legs. Allow yourself time to feel the joining of the numbers, as they take you deeper. The number one is coming forward in the form of a paint brush coated in white sparkling paint and outlining your entire body. Notice you can take the outline off and place it back on. Each time you do so you go deeper down. You can utilize this portable outline at any moment, as it is now programmed. Once you are inside your outline, you are separated or disassociated from the action of the moment and in the powerful position of the observer.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

In a strange paradox, the release of the high stress states actually opens the subconscious library door, readying the mind for programming. Your creative power is right where you want it. Each and every time you wake up to an aspect of your disorderly eating, addiction or any other stressor, choose to release it. Now program your mind for what you want. See or sense it on the mind screen “as if” you already achieved this. You could also choose to edit the inner scene that is playing out, especially if it is related to your addictions. Pretend that you are the writer, producer, director of this production and change whatever you want. Then observe as it goes forward with your new programming.

Your subconscious mind loves inner organization. To oblige, you will be building some working metaphors or inner structure that will encompass your entire life. This will make it easy for you to build multiple goals in different areas of your life, as well as manage the emotional children that either help or hinder. While this work may appear like a child’s game, make no mistake. Your subconscious mind loves pictures, especially stories that are both humorous and imaginative. You are in the process of engaging your mind to assist you in managing your specific problems, but you can utilize this to organize other areas of your life as well. Remember, everything is connected. Your disorders do not exist unto themselves.

LIFE CONTAINMENT


We need an over-arching image that will encompass all areas of your life. This is a major containment. I like to utilize an image of a goal-den path, with separate gardens for each major life area. I’ve presented an image below that represents my inner over-arching image. I teach this image to my patients and students. It seems to work quite well. Once this major containment is in place, the next step is to fill in the details “as if” you already had all of these present in your life. This is called future-pacing and is a major subconscious mind program. The more specific you can be, the better your outcomes will be for the mind will have more to work with. Remember, this is a work in progress. You will continually be adding to it.
Here is a drawing of my goal-den path. You can see the positioning of the separate goal gardens. Notice how the major garden sits on it’s own. This is not just important when managing addictions. It is crucial for high level health and optimum performance in any area of life.

The bricks are twenty-four carat gold, sparkling their value. Beautiful gardens emerge on each side of the path, each having a signpost. The gardens extend back to the horizon, filled with flowers of every conceivable variety and color. The plants are healthy, the colors vibrant. These plants represent my achievements, my resilience, as well as my new desired goals. I image my feet standing on the path, sensing them tingle from the sparkling gold. I look up at the sky, noticing a few clouds moving slowly, feeling the heat of the sun touching my face gently, coupled with the coolness of a slight breeze. I enjoy allowing my body to fill with feelings of happiness, expectation of good things to come, including the total management of any specific addictions or disorderly behaviors I may have in my life.

I then sit quietly, allowing all of this to settle inside of me. Each time I repeat this in the theater of my mind, my subconscious mind programs the changes. It doesn’t matter what my current reality is. The mind will prefer the newly designed images and will work to bring those into my life. That’s why positive details are so very important, even if they sound ridiculous.

Remember, mind imagery or sensing is different from actual experiences, but your subconscious mind will follow what you present “as being true.” Be as detailed as you can, knowing that each time you do, these very programs will be etched further into your subconscious mind. Do not worry if you feel awkward or feel like nothing is happening. Be patient with the process and you will receive the benefits. I like to use my journal for this purpose. Writing the details down, further etch them into the subconscious mind.

A NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.


Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.bohorquez
http://www.twitter.com/elizRN

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers

Saturday, December 12, 2009

Inside the Hypnotic ToolBox



A frequent question is “what is the difference between meditation and visualization?” Meditation clears and concentrates the mind, while visualization or imagery puts an image in it. Both are great change agents and complement each other. Visualization or imaginology refers to our inner movies or VCR tapes. These are at the heart of our mind bio-computer. The human brain programs and self-programs through its images. All skills, and all achievements are acquired through this image-making process. Interactive Awareness and Interactive Self-Hypnosis are high-level consciousness tools that allow stress release, emotional management, subconscious mind re-editing and programming right in the moment.

Building these skills can assist us at all levels of our training and performance whether it be managing sugar addiction or winning at tennis.. Many people feel they are making up the images, rather than seeing them and this is perfectly fine. The mind accepts what is presented to it as truth, so as long as the images are healthy and positive, go with your own creative thoughts.

MIND EXERCISE

Here is another skill builder that will enhance your toolbox. Take any simple object, a pen, pencil, cup or similar item will do. Look directly at it until you feel you are quite familiar with it. Close your eyes and imagine you are still looking at it. Open your eyes and look at the object again, and compare it with your mind image. Now close your eyes and do the same. Next, move the object out from where you are observing it, and scan it with your eyes as if it were an external image. Often people expect the inner image to be exactly like the outer image, and judge themselves as being a "poor imager." This is just the ego getting in the way, and the emotional visitors coloring the visualization experience for you. Release them, and go back to your practice knowing that however you image or visualize is absolutely correct. There is no right or wrong. The more you practice, the more understanding you will have of the whole experience and the more real your images will become.

MIND EXERCISE

Don’t rush through this work. It’s fine to read through, but make sure you go back and take the time to truly work with these. While the exercises appear simple on the surface, they are truly involved in rather complex activities. Take the same simple object, or choose a different one. Set it by itself, with no other objects around it to distract you. Take several relaxing breaths, and now look directly at the object until you feel familiar with it. Close your eyes gently and imagine that the object is about two feet in front of you. See it in your mind’s eye, and begin to scan the object for details such as the shape, shadings of color, irregularities, etc. Now open your eyes and compare the inner image with the outer image, noticing any aspects you were not aware of during your visualization practice. Close your eyes and repeat the exercise. Now practice with a different object.

MIND EXERCISE

Close your eyes and transport yourself back to your childhood bedroom. Take several relaxing breaths and make yourself comfortable. Look in front of you and see what you see. Notice the furnishings, what is on the wall, and look down at your feet and notice what covers the floor. Now look at the wall to your left, and then to the wall on your right, noticing what you are aware of. Take some time and notice other things about the room such as windows, doors, closets, colors, textures, etc. Here we are learning to move around and locate ourselves within a visualized space. Practice this exercise with other places, especially those from your childhood or teen years.

MIND EXERCISE

This time we are going to practice moving outside a large object such as your house. Image yourself in front of your house and notice the position of the door, windows, plants, lights, etc. Notice the construction materials, colors, and go ahead and actually touch the outside walls. Experience touching other things, comparing differences in sensations. Open your eyes. Take a few relaxing breaths, and go back again, or to a different site.

MIND EXERCISE

Take a few relaxing breaths and comfortably close your eyes. Image a chair, perhaps one you are familiar with from home or your office. Stand in front of the chair and notice the shape, color, textures, etc. Touch it. Now, move to the side of the chair and notice what you see, and then feel. Go around to the back and repeat the process, and then to the other side. Now, image yourself above the chair, looking down at it, and then from under the chair looking up. Open your eyes slowly, and follow with some relaxing, refocusing breaths.

MIND EXERCISE

Relax deeply and close your eyes. Return to the room of your childhood and re-orientate yourself. Find the light switch on the wall and turn it on, and then off. Pick up any object such as a book or a pencil and study it from all angles. Feel it. Now watch as it floats up in front of you and hovers around the ceiling. Notice that you begin to lift up as well, gently and easily. Maneuver yourself so as to grab the pencil, and turn towards the open window and gently sail through, looking down at the areas below and noticing how easy it is to go up and down at will. This very powerful visualization practice allows us to have very different relationships with our world, enabling us to control in a relaxed format.

MIND EXERCISE

Relax deeply and close your eyes. Bring before you an image of someone you know. Have that person stand a few feet in front of you, and look at his/her face. Scan the face and pay attention to the eyes, nose, mouth, ears, hair, etc. Notice the person’s clothes and how they are standing. Image the person talking to someone else, and watch the facial expressions and how the body changes during the conversation. Hear the voice and its inflections. Walk around the person, and observe from the back and sides. Open your eyes slowly and acclimate yourself back to the room.

As you continue exploring this book you will have many opportunities to practice mind development. Please don’t rush. If you don’t have time in the moment, go to the monthly planning sheet and make a written commitment to return to the work brought to your attention by your subconscious mind. When we “sense interest” that is the subconscious librarian waving a mind flag.

In the next blog entry I'll invite you to collect some new Interactive Self-Hypnosis tools that will help pull together everything you’ve learned so far.

A NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.


Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.bohorquez
http://www.twitter.com/elizRN

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers

Sunday, December 06, 2009

Bus Tickets



As your perceptions change, so will your outcomes. You are learning to observe your inner mind programming, noticing what is helpful and what is not. You are learning to choose to make changes in small moment fragments, even those these appear small on the surface, for they are also taking you towards your goals. Every thought, every emotion, every expectation is like buying a BUS TICKET to go there. Heightened awareness is on your tool belt. You are getting better at observing the facets of your larger patterns. You are now seeing the auto-pilot responses you play without thinking, as well as how they are connected to your particular emotions, or those of others in your relationships.

You now have your Personal Assessment Plan in your pocket telling you where you are, where you want to go, and what you need to get there. If you look at your tool belt, you will notice that you have room for more. You can see the nutritional tools, and perhaps you are surprised at how many there are, but feeling confident that you truly understand the directions that accompanied them. You might have already noticed changes already in place, as if someone else was holding the reins. This is the power of interactive self-hypnosis. You can also see your tools for mental biofeedback, emotional management and crayon awareness.

In this section of the book you will receive many advanced mind management tools to help open your subconscious mind, as well as place even more detailed programs into your inner file cabinet. Like all tools, these are meant to be utilized, not to be left on the shelf to get rusty. You already know it's not enough to read about things, simply expecting them to happen. You must take appropriate action, while managing your mind and body connection in order to etch new programs into place. The more skilled you become, the better your outcomes.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Mind tools have been utilized in the practice of medicine for thousands of years and continue to be utilized in top Universities of the world. There is even a special area of medicine called psycho-neuro-immunology, PNI for short, that encompasses research in the area of mind and body medicine.

READER QUESTION:

"I have been working with noticing my emotions and especially those that appear during my emotional craving times for sugar. I have improved my food and so the body cravings are much improved. I notice when I get bored or overwhelmed with work I think about eating junk. This is also a problem for me in the evenings when I’m finally finished with cleaning up and the children are in bed. I find it amazing how the same emotions come to find me at the same time every day. Will this ever change?"

Interactive awareness allows us to see tremendous detail in the moment. The more you stay in the position of producer/director, the more you will see. You can even ask for the scene to be replayed in slow motion. Relax deeply before doing this, so your focus will enhance at a lower brain wave speed. Even though you are looking to change things, don’t allow your compulsive desires to push you around in this important moment. The deeper you go into your observation mode, the more powerful the change program will be once you place it. Be patient. Everything you need to know is coming to you, but in small spoonfuls. This is the way to the knowledge hooks.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Imagery, or the thoughts you play in your mind are everything. They are the crux of how you experience your body, your environment, your relationship to yourself , your relationship to others, as well as your spiritual life. You image continually like a VCR that is never turned off. Unfortunately, the most common imagery consists of negative, non-trusting, insecure, failure-orientated, worrisome, highly judgmental inner radio and visuals. These images are often followed by behaviors that match the program blueprints, thereby reinforcing the negative mind programs. You are now in the processes of exploring change and transforming your own existing images into ones that form the basis for managing your disorderly eating, your addiction, or any other problems and taking you away from optimum health and performance.

MIND EXERCISE

Take a mini-mind break, allowing your body to sink into the chair where you are resting, perhaps yawning deeply, allowing a blue mist to encircle you, encouraging all stress and the need to rush through this material to exit the ends of your fingers. See yourself on your mind screen taking in small spoonfuls on powerful information designed to change your life in so many ways. Observe the words you have just read sinking into the library of your mind, like rain being absorbed into a road surface on a hot summer day. Allow your body to enjoy the blue mist for another moment and then continue with the next hook.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Until recently hypnosis has been viewed by the general public as a mysterious technique performed by people with strange skills and special powers. The truth of the matter is that there is nothing mystical or magical about hypnosis. It is simply a state of very deep relaxation and quiet focus. Emotions are put to sleep and awareness is heightened. It is a state of consciousness that we enter naturally, commonly known as automatic-pilot or daydreaming.

Hypnosis is not something someone does to you. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis. In this book you have already practiced various levels of deepening or trance for specific purposes or mind exercises. You have been programming your mind for change from the first page forward.

Interactive self-hypnosis is a health tool, perfect for changing lifestyle behaviors, managing addiction, disorderly eating, bringing any and all performance to the highest levels. It allows the healing of both mind and body from the stresses of life while inviting acceleration of learning and goal achievement beyond usual expectation.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Your subconscious mind is a like a vast library with an infinite number of selections stored. It has an instant retrieval system and an endlessly cross-referenced subject catalog. You might like to image it as your personal VCR, knowing whatever tapes you place there, becomes your goal, and your subconscious mind librarian will go to find any and all cross-references to assist you in achieving this goal. This is great if you are playing a positive goal image, but what about if you are playing a negative goal image? You’ve already had some practice with identifying these in the chapters on Interactive Awareness and Emotional Management exercises, but now it is time to get even better at subconscious mind programming.
Visualizing negative outcomes or memories can stir up anxiety or depression. Besides the images or visualization, it is not uncommon to speak internally to yourself in quite critical ways. During the “practice” of putting oneself down, the individual is essentially in a light trance state, preoccupied and internally focused. You guessed it! A negative self-hypnotic program is busy being etched right into the subconscious mind and becoming a goal.

Later on you will be learning that during the programming of the subconscious mind for success, you can request the inner librarian to make you aware of any unproductive emotional states and corresponding behaviors, so you can change them right in the moment. It’s like being on a bus going towards your goal when all of a sudden you realize that you are on the wrong bus. Of course you are going to want to change right then and there, and not an hour later!

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

In hypnosis we alter our internal world. By utilizing our imagination in special ways we stir feelings and alter behavior and attitudes. When you change how you think, visualize and imagine things to be, your feelings and behaviors begin to change. You not only see what is possible, but the subconscious mind will send up other suggestions for your approval, perhaps things you never even considered that will take you even closer to your goal, or enhance it in some way. The mind works backwards. When it sees the ideal goal picture clearly in great definition, it makes the action plan. Changes just seem to occur, as if the goal took on it’s own life. Things that were difficult in the past often become simple, and one is left wondering what the commotion was all about.

Our subconscious mind stores all memories, anything and everything we have experienced through our entire life. This includes memories of each and very sense, including taste, touch, sight, hearing and emotion. It’s all there filed in an orderly fashion. This means that you have a wealth of resources on which to draw as you focus on your future. Most of us never utilize these assets and continue to see everything as a struggle. If one continues to see things in this way, everything will be a struggle for one always gets what one asks for in the mind’s eye.

As you learn to relax, to let go, and ask for the appropriate resources from the inner bank vault, you can change with a new level of comfort. When you are tense the subconscious mind cannot get your attention, and so you cannot share the bounty. As you learn to relax during actual stress, the stressors will work as catalysts, opening the door of the subconscious mind, and freeing you to work with this powerful part of yourself.

MIND EXERCISE

Working with subconscious mind programs will make your management of disorderly eating and addictions much easier. You already know about containments, and since you are more skilled than you were earlier on in this book, this is a good moment to build a few.

Simply relax deeply, tilt your eyes up about twenty degrees. Place a mind movie, perhaps seeing yourself in your containment area and placing an appropriate label on a facet of your disorderly eating. Your inner librarian will take care of the rest. Take an extra moment to study the contents. What does your disorder or addiction look like? Notice some of the VCR programs that you play in relation to this issue. Are they worn out from over-playing? Have you already made some corrections and celebrated them? Always be sure to celebrate both big and small accomplishments. Remember small ones tend to pile up and become very big ones!!

Have a look at your emotional children, noticing they crayons that they are applying to this special containment. Remember, your subconscious mind does not judge. What you play is what you get. This will be subconsciously enhanced for you. When working with your subconscious mind in this way, you can make changes right in the moment if you choose. If there are any emotional visitors or crayons you would like to remove from this containment, please go ahead and do so. Just image yourself completing the action. Your librarian will take care of the rest. You may wonder what you are actually doing. The right brain is very creative and sees this as a re-programming. Whenever the subconscious mind finds your actions in real life being incongruent with subconscious mind programming, the inner programming will win out. You will instantaneously be pulled into heightened awareness and find yourself going towards the behaviors connected to the inner program.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

The art of working with mind images is often called imagery or visualization. My word for this is imaginology. I define this as the study of your own imagination or mind creativity. This speaks to the special work you are doing here.

In the practice of imaginology, you see with your mind’s eye. This is very different than seeing with normal sight. Sometimes people report that they can’t see images and become discouraged in working hypnotically. This is simply a matter of communication and understanding of how the tools work and what to expect. Each and every person reading my words is working with imagery.

Whenever you notice an idea or a thought flowing through your mind, this is imagery. Whenever you hear someone telling a story and you form pictures in your mind about it, this is imagery. The reason one has less problems with those examples is that there is little to no efforting. When someone tells you a story they don’t say, “now I want you to see images in your mind as I tell you what happened to me on the way to work.” Images just naturally come to mind. Your job here is to take the efforting out of the process of imagery and imaginology, allowing free flow. It helps to practice, and so in this chapter you will be presented with some skill building exercises. There is no right or wrong way to do this work. It is simply the doing that is important. Your work is to get out of your own way, allowing your subconscious mind to simply take the ball and run with it.

MIND EXERCISE

Let’s practice. As your eyes read these words, if you choose, you can easily see your bedroom in your mind. You don’t have to elicit the relaxation response to do that, do you? The image just came forward. Now notice you can see yourself going to that bed and turning back the covers. You can also “mind experience” this and sense your body walking towards your bed and feeling the covers as you turn them back. In another instant you can be in your car, driving down any street. Go ahead and practice seeing yourself driving, and then actually driving. Feel the steering wheel, the seat beneath you, and touch the rear view mirror.
You can then transfer to your office and look for some files, or see yourself doing that. Those are two different kinds of imaginolgy. Next, be in the supermarket choosing all your favorite foods. Feel them as you take them off the shelves. Notice they all feel differently. Now practice seeing yourself participating in an entire supermarket excursion in a few seconds. Don’t you wish it could be like that in real life?
Let’s practice some regression. Take yourself back into your past, replaying anything you choose. You don’t have to go back very far to find your past. It is just on the other side of “now.” Of course, you can go way back if you choose, and in a later chapter you will be working on your time line, going back as well as going forward.

A NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.


Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.

Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.

http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.bohorquez
http://www.twitter.com/elizRN

http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers