What's Grandma Got to Do With It?

We rarely want to face the music. Unfortunately, if we choose to keep our heads in the sand, then life will teach us some new songs, many of them not very enjoyable. I this I know this from my own personal experience. Living a highly stressful life without paying attention to the things I needed to do to keep me healthy, nearly killed me. This is not an exaggeration, but pure truth. I never truly understood how sick a person could become just from eating the wrong foods & not eating the right ones. In my case, I finally ended up hospitalized, still with no diagnosis. I remember lying there thinking, "suppose this is all about my nasty eating habits?" And, this is exactly what it turned out to be & this is why I have great interest in people such as Claire. I came to understand that the number of people who are disorderly eaters is beyond belief. I finally decided to take a food history on every client who came to my private practice, no matter why they were there. Fear of flying? Tell me about your dietary habits. Want to enhance your self-confidence? First tell me what you eat for breakfast. Fear of public speaking? I understand, but let's talk about breakfast, lunch & dinner. Can't sleep? Let's start at breakfast. And next....let's talk about your Grandmother...

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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.

THE FAMILY TREE

Unfortunately, in the practice of modern medicine, there is little help for understanding what sits underneath the addictive personality, or why people have compulsive, emotional or stress eating & especially the cravings for those sugary or high glycemic carbohydrate foods. During the time I was hospitalized I began to think a lot about this & intuitively knew that there was something more to this than just my being an out-of-control eater. It was difficult for me to visit most of my secret & bingeing activities & it took awhile before I was able to talk about them to anyone other than my most private Self. But, on the other hand, I'm grateful to them, because they opened the door of learning for me & it was on the other side of this door that I learned about how my Grandparents played a part in my then present problems.

There are certain genetic tendencies that cause the pancreas to over-produce a hormone called insulin. And these genetic tendencies add up. So, if one of more grandparents have had these certain diseases, it's more likely that they passed on these tendencies to you. When insulin is over-produced, there is a heightened physiological desire to eat something sweet....usually a refined carbohydrate or sugar. There's also a desire for other substances such as caffeine, alcohol or even a cigarette. Each time you go to satisfy these urges, more insulin is produced & blood sugars get out of balance. As time goes on, something called insulin resistance forms on the cell borders, making insulin less effective & so the pancreas produces more, eventually burning out. This is how adult onset diabetes develops.

In my case, both sets of grandparents had active disease states that caused insulin to be over-produced. These included heart & circulatory disease & late onset of adult diabetes. There were two smokers & one alcoholic grandparent. All of these diagnoses played a part in my seemingly crazy compulsive eating issues.

Knowing this was a real eye-opener & a tremendous help to me. I was no longer someone with "two personalities", for this is what I believed. I finally understood what was going on & realized that I could actually turn this around & get better. I didn't have to develop any of these diseases, even though I had the genetic tendencies. Yes, this was going to be a full-time job, but as I saw it, there was no choice, at least not for me. I had & still have no interest in developing any of the killer diseases. This knowledge served as a powerful "inner motivator" to me. I filter much of my eating & drinking life through this "filter." It doesn't matter if I'm in a restaurant, at a friend's home for dinner or shopping for groceries. I never forget about Grandma & Grandpa!


( continued in next blog/workshop)

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

BurnOut & Killer Food Stress

I'm working with Claire who is one of my clients. If you missed this part of the experiential blog/workshop, please go back to the past two entries where Claire introduced herself. This picture in time will allow you to benefit from the work I'm doing with her.

The first area I need to address with Claire is that of her "food stress" because this is a big major life stressor & one that is certainly having a gigantic impact on her life. In fact, probably most of her symptoms are related to this particular stressor. That's not to say that she doesn't have other stress-producers, but when there is a big inner stressor that is out of balance, as there is in Claire's life, then one can naturally assume that is the case. Once her food is back in order, it will be easier to evaluate the symptoms that remain in reference to other stressors. There are two kinds of stressors, internal & external. Food stress is an internal stressor. Another internal stressor is the body reaction to external stress. Both of these are under control of the Self. Outer stressors are those delivered to the Self by others, such as work, family & relationship stress. Some of these can be self-managed, but not all. Some things are simply out of one's control. However, it's important to remember that one cain control the body response to any outer stressor. Reacting rather than responding is always a personal choice.

One cannot go half-way when managing stressors. All of them need to be addressed at the same time & ongoing. This will be the most important part of Claire's new self-discipline. She must become self-responsible to & for herSelf. All co-dependent & self-ignoring behavior need to be put to rest. You may be surprised that I see Claire as being co-dependent, but she is. She has not taken responsibility for her own body & mind, even leaving this up to me because, as she told me, she is paying me for her sessions, just like she paid her physician to examine her. She tends to complain, taking the victim stance, once again, pure co-dependency & it needs to go. On a side note, can you see the difference in her professional behavior versus her self-care behavior? What would happen if she went about her executive workplace position using her self-care behavior as a model? I need to help Claire to see this clearly, not to embarrass her, but to encourage her to use her work model in managing her personal life. That is a very successful area in her subconscious mind & she can bank on that.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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.

TOOL BOX REVIEW

You already know about these tools & accompanying techniques. However, since they are new to you, it's always a good idea to have an asset list available.

HIGHER POWER OR SELF * THERAPEUTIC SELF * COOPERATIVE UNBALANCED SELF * EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT * MINDBODY HEALTH GARDEN * HEALTHY EATING TABLE * THEATER OF THE MIND * GOLDEN EGG * CIRCUS OF THE WORLD * THOUGHT MANAGEMENT* REGRESSION & FUTURE PACING * SCHOOL HOUSE LEARNINGS * WORKSHOP LEARNINGS

FOOD STRESS & WEIGHT GAIN

Claire is very unhappy because she is over-weight & while she complains about this, it's apparent that she hasn't made the connection between her scale weight, eating habits, nail biting, hair pulling, fatigue, roller coaster emotions, or anything else. She seems completely in the dark about how her mind & body are connected, as well as their needs. She complains of high stress & the need to release on weekends with excess alcohol, but doesn't connect her weekday habits with those on the weekend. To use her own words, she is just like a messy desk, but it's more than that. Claire needs to be educated about the workings of her own body & mind. Often this is a difficult awakening for someone who is highly educated & successful, mainly because they tend to believe that they know all there is to know, but luckily Claire is already deeply relaxed inside her Golden Egg, where she is very susceptible to self-hypnotic suggestion.

I'm going to talk to her, just as if she were not in a deep state of relaxation, the difference being that she will accept what I have to say & will not present resistance. I want her to know that she has severe food stress & that this is one of the biggest underlying factors for having an unhealthy lean body mass & body fat percentage. Notice I did not say "unhealthy scale weight", as the scale is not the best way to determine a healthy weight. While the scale weight could fall in the "normal" range, that would not mean that the individual is at a healthy weight. I know this to be true for Claire, because it's obvious to me that she is not burning fat. Claire may think that she is 10 or 15 pounds over-weight, but the truth is that her body fat percentage is probably around 38%. The norm for a mature woman would be in the vicinity of around 25%. When the body fat percentage is too high, the lean body mass will be too low. Because Claire is skipping meals & eating low-level nutrition when she is eating, her lean body mass is actually being burned off to support the workings of her body systems. After all, each of her systems needs to continue to work & in order to do so, they need nutrition. Therefore the muscles will break down & be stored as fat for this purpose. Claire needs to know that her goal is to have her body burning fat, not lean body mass & that it is actually a good idea to build a bigger lean body mass, because this will form her permanent fat-burning mechanism.

In order to accomplish the above, Claire needs to obtain more knowledge from her deeply relaxed state & then this knowledge needs to be transmuted into a highly motivated action plan.


( continued in next blog/workshop)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers.comUpdated 6 seconds ago · Comment · LikeUnlikeYou like this.
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Beyond Burn-Out

Here we are working with "Claire" & her disorderly issues. As the paragraphs unfold, don't be surprised if the camera appears focused on you, for many of Claire's issues are Universal. If you have not read the earlier blog entry, please do. If you have been following along, you already know that addictions & disorderly eating issues tend to flourish in messy lives & in order to continually go towards health, a better level of Self-organization needs to be put in place. Claire has been living an unhealthy life for at least a decade, probably more. Unfortunately, this is not uncommon. In fact, there are many people who have never lived a healthy life, not even realizing that their daily life habits are actually leading them towards the "killer diseases" & early death. To make matters worse, they are teaching their children the same unhealthy behaviors & we don't have to look far to know that this is so. Childhood obesity is on the rise, as is adult onset diabetes, high cholesterol & even elevated blood pressure in children.

When Claire introduced herself, it was easy to see her level of confusion & inability to look beneath her symptoms. In fact, she didn't even see the large majority of her symptoms, the reason being that she was so detached from her body & mind. Most of her symptom reporting was superficial. Just from her words it is obvious that she is walking a tight-rope & unfortunately, she wasn't awake "yet." Therefore, the first order of business would be to wake her up. This is often the roughest part of the journey, especially for someone like Claire who borders on burn-out. The reality could possibly make her want to run & hide. But, the practice of imaginology or interactive self-hypnosis is a light & playful way to assist someone in being willing to climb out of their dark hole of existence.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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.

TOOL BOX REVIEW

You already know about these tools & accompanying techniques. However, since they are new to you, it's always a good idea to have an asset list available.

HIGHER POWER OR SELF * THERAPEUTIC SELF * COOPERATIVE UNBALANCED SELF * EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT * MINDBODY HEALTH GARDEN * HEALTHY EATING TABLE * THEATER OF THE MIND * GOLDEN EGG * CIRCUS OF THE WORLD * THOUGHT MANAGEMENT* REGRESSION & FUTURE PACING * SCHOOL HOUSE LEARNINGS * WORKSHOP LEARNINGS

HELPING CLAIRE PUT OUT THE FIRE

Claire works in a very quick moving environment & part of her emotional make-up is to want things completed & off of her desk. Most likely, this is why she has procrastinated for so long, truly not wanting to take on this multi-faceted lifestyle change. She had lots of underlying fear, perhaps because she had failed in the past & now she feels so sick. What will happen if this doesn't work? When Claire came to my office she wanted to pass her problems over to me & have me fix them....& as soon as possible. What Claire doesn't realize....yet....is that no one can do this for her & that everything she needs is right within herself. The actual changes she has to make truly aren't that big & nothing that is beyond her capabilities. She also doesn't realize, because of her lack of experience in this genre of her life, that as soon as she starts to get her "ducks in a row", she will begin feeling so much better, both physically & emotionally. She will be breaking her hopeless-helpless cycle & taking control of her own life. She will be the writer, director & producer & that will energize her forward on her path to wellness.

I'll begin by having Claire relax deeply. Tense people relax quicker than mellow people & so Claire will benefit greatly from the feeling of true deep relaxation. I'm going to do this with some simple breathing from the abdomen, having her close her eyes gently & then introducing the "golden egg shape." Since change cannot happen through a tense mindBody, this is where we get on the merry-go-round. I'm going to allow Claire to enjoy this experience, also because I want to break her need to rush through her life. In the work we are doing here, rushing is not on the menu. Claire will be surprised to know that we're not going to visit the problems she brought into my office. Instead, we're going to explore some new venues. Being inside the "golden egg shape" is perhaps the most important venue for her first session. When we live hectic lives, we need to have somewhere to go that is ours & ours alone. Inside the egg will be that place for Claire.

While I do want her to notice the "circus of the world", we'll not go there today. Instead, it will be off to the Golden Path, stopping by at the MindBody Health Garden. I want her to meet up with her "body system plants." Claire has lost touch with herSelf, both physically & emotionally. She lives a "treadmill existence." The true Claire doesn't exist, only the Claire that serves others is out there every day. She doesn't even feed herSelf. She has lost connection with the purpose of her body systems & pays little to no attention to the yells & screams from those inner departments. As smart & talented as she is about her "TV career track", she is just the opposite when it comes to the running of her body & mind, almost clueless to the diseases & disorders she is inviting in. So, without any criticizing, we'll just have the body parts present themselves to her & open her eyes to what will happen if she continues along the same old paths & on the other hand, what she can expect when she changes her old habits. You'll notice that I've left no room for discussion here. Claire WILL CHANGE her old habits. That's a given.

( continued in next blog/workshop)

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

The DisOrganized Self Gets Help

We are working within the Personal Assessment part of the book where the reader is being helped to self-organize, both consciously & subconsciously. Addictions & disorderly eating issues tend to flourish in messy lives & in order to continually go towards health, a better level of Self-organization needs to be put in place.

Knowing where & how to begin is sometimes the most difficult & that is why there is so much procrastination, so let's get on the merry-go-round here. Most people come to lifestyle change issues with some arm-twisting from their doctor, perhaps some borderline blood work or obvious changes in health. Others come because their doctors can't find anything wrong with them & they are frightened because of how unhealthy they feel. There are still others who come to effect a lifestyle change because they want to lose weight for a special occasion. The first two scenarios will reap the best outcomes because the motivation is FEAR. The desire to "look good" tends to be a weak motivator & usually will not lead to a permanent lifestyle change. However, there are problems with utilizing fear as a primary motivator, because fear levels need to be kept elevated & you already know that negative mind states are not healthy mind states.

In the last chapter I invited you to truly commit to change, for without serious intent & commitment, there won't be change. OK, so now what? You are on the merry-go-round & this is a good moment for me to invite you into my office & observe as I work with a new client. We learn in different ways & here you will have the opportunity to learn by example. If you've been reading along, you already have sufficient tools & knowledge to understand the therapeutic concepts I'll be utilizing. In fact, by now you are already on your way to being a therapist to yourSelf.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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.

TOOL BOX REVIEW

Here are some of the tools & techniques you already have available. If you need a review, go ahead back & do so.

HIGHER POWER OR SELF * THERAPEUTIC SELF * COOPERATIVE UNBALANCED SELF * EMOTIONAL MANAGEMENT * MINDBODY HEALTH GARDEN * HEALTHY EATING TABLE * THEATER OF THE MIND * GOLDEN EGG * CIRCUS OF THE WORLD * THOUGHT MANAGEMENT* REGRESSION & FUTURE PACING * SCHOOL HOUSE LEARNINGS * WORKSHOP LEARNINGS

MEET CLAIRE

"I'm 38 years old & work in television production with a major network. I'm over-weight & completely stressed out. I'm a binge eater, rarely eating regular meals. I bite my nails & pull at my hair when I'm nervous. I've tried artificial nails, but pick those off as well & so I spend quite a bit of energy hiding my hands as they are a true embarrassment to me. Why can't I stop this? I know that I drink too much coffee & on weekends I find myself binge drinking. I've thought about this & think it is because I'm trying to fit in all of my fun & relaxation on the weekends. I do feel entitled to this because I don't have a minute to myself during the week. I'm married with two school-age children who are already over-extended in activities, making my life even worse because of time constraints, but what's a Mom to do?

Here's the frightening part. I truly don't feel well physically. I'm fatigued just about all the time & have frequent headaches. I truly do not remember the last time I felt well. I had a medical check-up & the doctor told me that I am fine. I am not fine & not even near to being fine. This frightens me even more than having a diagnosis of something. Is that strange or what? I went to counseling & found it useless because, despite everything, I'm a fairly happy & successful person. I have a good marriage & two great children. I'm just not well.

I don't know how to start o where to start. I'm like a "messy desk" that I don't seem to have time to straighten out because people, including myself, keep putting more things on it. I'm truly frightened that I will actually die from all of this stress, yet I can't seem to motivate myself out of this. My doctor offered me medications & I turned them down. I truly don't think they will solve any of this. I see this as something I must do myself. I think I understand what is past & what is not. I'm also quite clear about what I don't want. Why doesn't my subconscious mind respect this & help me to clean up my disorderly self?"

HELPING CLAIRE

What screams out to me, regarding Claire, is that she is very successful in her field, yet she hasn't carried over her observation & organizational abilities to her own life management. She even tells us that she is "like a messy desk." If we look closely inside ourselves, we will find that we do know how to observe & organize in many areas of our lives. This life experience is known as "resilience" & we all have it. What areas in your life do you manage well? Take a moment now, find yours & list these in your journal. And so, if you manage these, then you can manage others, including your eating issues or addictions.

Claire's life is chaotic & produces high level stress. She answers this by adding more fuel to the fire. There is no discipline to her eating, coffee consumption is up, she's bingeing & adding alcohol on the weekends. She tends to have compulsive tendencies, such as nail biting & hair pulling. If we could peak inside her body, we would be able to see the already present disease progression. This is what she is feeling & fortunately or unfortunately, her physician is not able to demonstrate this on laboratory tests. Claire is walking up the wrong path & change needs to be implemented before things get worse.

( continued in next blog/workshop)

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

Ducks in a Row

In order to stop or curtail any disorder or addiction, you need to get all your "ducks in a row." Being over-weight or having an eating issue is only a symptom & while these need to be understood in their own right, it is necessary to go below the surface, to the cause. This holds true for all adictions & disorders. In the book I've written, there is a very big chapter that is dedicated to opening up these underlying, subconscious mind files. When I work with clients in my office, this is always ongoing work & so for my readers, this is also ongoing work. Be sure to have your journal & one that is specific for "inner work." Your subconscious mind is very sensitive & even just opening a specific journal, will invite your mind to share things more easily. Also, be prepared to put aside some real time for yourSelf. This is not "quick fix" work." In fact, you will find yourSelf coming back to this area, time & time again, because as you begin to work with the techniques in this book, your curiosity will peak. It's good to know more, for the more you know about yourSelf, the more you can heal, as well as open to a higher level of creativity & performance in other areas of your life. So, you can now know, that having an addiction or eating issue, can actually benefit you in ways that you probably never imagined.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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.

UNDERNEATH THE DUCKS

While the ducks swim over the pond, what we need to do is to explore the waters underneath. You are already learning that it will be possible to change your lifestyle behaviors. The earlier chapters set the stage for breaking old patterns. You are beginning to understand that patterns have many parts, each part needing attention. In the past, you may have thought of a behavior or pattern as being singular, such as "I'm a compulsive eater", but this particular pattern can have a hundred parts or more. The more awareness you buld, the more parts you fill find & then, you will decide how you want to manage them. Do I hear groans? "This sounds like a lot of work. I just want to lose some weight & keep it off. Why do I have to do all of this? Isn't there another way, one that's not so time-consuming. How long do I have to do these things? When will all of this be over?" As a therapist, this always makes me smile, because remember, I also have disorderly eating issues, so the questions are not foreign to me. I've heard them hundreds of times, from others as well as playing in my own thought processes.

Here's the truth. The more you explore the water beneath the ducks, the easier it will be to change permanently. Yes, this does take some time, but remember, this is about your health, now & down the road. If you don't change now, when will you change? Also, if you continue along the "half-way" path, you will come to know that there is no such thing as "half-way." There are only two routes. One goes towards health & the other goes towards illness. Half-way is like "spinning" on the the pathway towards illness & the more you spin, the deeper the hole underneath your feet. So, in essence, it's important to find the joy in the journey. Then you can stop wanting it to finish quickly. Self-work is truly never finished & hopefully you will come to know that it is a good thing & you won't want to stop.

Let's talk a bit about "spinning." This is a huge time-waster that tends to complicate life. Your own memories can affirm this for you. Here's how. Think of how may times you thought about starting a program to re-order your life in some way? It doesn't have to be about losing weight or controlling compulsive eating, but it could be. Any memory will do. Now, pile those thoughts up in the theater of your mind. How high is the pile? How many minutes, hours or days does this represent? It's time to truly move forward now. Commitment is very important & I suggest that you spend some quiet time thinking about this. In fact, I'm going to suggest that you formally commit, in writing, to move out of your "spinning" position. While this may sound a bit child-like, it is not. Here's an example of what I suggest to my clients. I actually use this for my own self-development work. This is not done in a careless way, but just the opposite, in the form of a respected ritual. We clear the room, dim the lights, become meditative or inwardly still, locating that part of us that connects to our Higher Power or Self. When everything is in place, then we begin.

Statement of Intention & Commitment

I hereby state that I fully intend to work daily to develop my own self-mastery, as it applies to my issue/opportunity of ___________________ & hereby commit myself to doing the necessary learning & work involved. All of my thoughts & mind images regarding my issue/opportunity will be framed in positive, healing frames radiating full success. I commit to respecting, honoring & caring for all parts of my body at the highest level, understanding that they are a part of me & represent how I choose to see & respect myself.

I also commit myself to raising my desire in this regard, fully understanding that this desire will transmit to many other areas of my life.

Signed_________________________ Dated ____________________

Well done. Writing commitments are very powerful mind suggestions. Your own subconscious mind is now ready to work in your behalf & will not only remind you of your written words, but will find many ways for you to succeed, perhaps some you never even thought about on a conscious level. You are on your way.

KNOWING THE DUCKS

Here are some of the lifestyle behavior patterns that need to be addressed. These include, food choices, meal timing, serving sizes, snack choices, snack time, exercising, sleeping, excess habits, stress building habits & mood choosing.

There are many areas of lifestyle behaviors that are on automatic pilot. The areas above represent only some of the areas. It helps to imagine that each automatic pilot area has a separate folder in your subconsicous mind. As you work through the area of the book called "Personal Assessment", you will opening these folders & be able to research the many aspects of the automatic pilot program. Some aspects may need to be deleted, or mind-edited in some way. Other parts may appear to be fine, but it's a good idea to review these anyway. Your Therapeutic Self, aided by your now friendly, Unbalanced Self, may have some suggestions to make these even better. While automatic pilot has some benefits, it also has drawbacks. When you are not fully awake or engaged, you give up your rights ot observe, assess & manage your thought processes. Remember, thoughts are goals & whatever you play in your mind becomes your goal for that moment. Many people with eating issues, myself included, tend to eat blindly, not even realizing what's going in their mouth. This is a "spinning" behavior & one that needs to be brought to the surface & managed.

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

The Train Ride - Future-Pacing

Just as it's normal to practice regression, we all do something called "future-pacing." That means that we talk about the future, as if it were really happening. Not only that, but we emotionalize the images, despite the fact that they are purely fantasy. That's what "worrying" is all about...thought fantasy with negative marinade. Of course, we also "future-pace" with positive emotions, but most of us tend to hang out in the negative realm. A few blog/entries ago I introduced you to the time-line & discussed where that part of your memory resides. For some people it is behind them; others in front. Neither of thes positions work well. It's best to have the future to the right or left, with the past memories running in the other direction. That allows one to observe, edit or plant new images with ease.

When we have disorderly eating or addiction issues we have to be careful with future-pacing negative outcomes. Remember, the subconscious mind does not judge, but just follows what is planted. If you plant future failure, that's what you will experience. If you do not believe in your ability to succeed at changing old behaviors, then you won't be able to do so. It's like driving down a road of potholes that you wished into existence & then finding them there. Start to pay attention to your own thoughts...& then your own words as they tumble off of your tongue. It's also a helpful mind-practice to listen to others programming their negative future goals. You won't have to look far. Listen around the office water-cooler or turn on cable news. Just listen to other people conversing. It's truly amazing. Then, have a look at the written word. If you are a social networker, watch the twitter screen. You won't have to wait long.

There is something else to consider. Negative chatter, as well as negative moods are contagious. People who think like this do want others to join in. Pay attention & see if you can spot the "invitations." Sometimes it will be verbal, but other times it might be a glance or some other non-verbal sign, wanting to pull you into the negativity. If you are with people who gossip, or who are nay-sayers, or who are pessimistic, you should be able to sense their energy. It's truly a mindbody experience. Check you body to see if you can spot tension developing...often in the back, neck or stomach. Notice if you have a desire to back up or even run away. These are all signs that your mindbody wants to move towards a more balanced environment.

When working with disorderly eating, there are often many negative mind-programs already in place. In the past segments, you've had the opportunity to remove & edit some of them. Now, I'd like to teach you some techniqus for protecting yourSelf from negativity, as well as future-pacing only positive goals. Once again, I'll ask you to join me on my personal "train ride", as I take care of some of my business.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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

FUTURE PACING TRAIN RIDE

You already know your way to the train station & so I'd like you to come aboard with me. This is my train & we're going to be riding up into my future. As you look out the window, you might be surprised to see many areas are well-planted. We actually plant our future all day long. As you practice "heightened awareness", you will become more cognizant of your own future-planting. Negative-based plants are not healthy looking & you might notice that while I have some, I don't have many. This is not by accident, but instead, by careful review of what's planted & continual removal of any plants that do not serve me well. Of course, this takes some work on my part & careful attention to detail. This is accomplished through daily meditative exercises, which you will be learning, as well as living inside the "golden egg shape" while staying outside of the "circus of the world", as much as possible. If you've been reading along, you are familiar with this imaginology.

We're going to get off the train here. I've noticed some negative plants that actually came from others. I wasn't paying close attention & so they slipped in. I was hanging around some people who were fear-mongering about the economy. I actually remember thinking, "well maybe they are right." That was enough to dig the dirt for the negative plant. Now, while negative things can & do happen, that is very different from planting negative expectations. That is not something we do! Everything on the future time-line is about successful outcomes. Negativity doesn't live here. As I look around the area where this plant was placed, I notice other weeds. These are connected to my stress eating that connects by an under-ground root system to the primary negative planting.

When we are around negative chit-chat, the first thing is to wake-up to what's going on. Conversation, no matter how innocent, forms subconscious mind suggestions, unless you stop it. This can be done quite easily. Since you are already awake to it, simply enter your "golden egg". That mind-exercise tells your subconscious mind that these suggestions are outside of you & not to be planted.

Since I'm in this area of my future, I'll take the opportunity to plant some positive things here. I can do this through actual images of what I want, or I can sprinkle positive affirmations on this whole area. I think I'll do both...

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

Exploring Regression - The Train Ride

It's natural to regress or to review our past. In fact, we do it all the time. In the work we're doing here is "regression specific." We want to remember & possibily edit all the subconscious mind files that are related to specific disorderly eating behaviors & there are most likely many of them. In the past, you may not have wanted to explore these, mainly because you were probably reviewing them through the perception of guilt or shame, but that is not the case now. Your Unbalanced Self no longer requires the presence of these emotional states, for this part of you is only interested in getting unhealthy behaviors or habits into the light, where they can be healed & then edited for future health. Your Therapeutic Self & TeacherSelf have made it clear that mistakes are nothing more than exploring a way "not to do something." The only thing that was missing in the past, was moving past the way "not to do something" & putting in place what you want, just as if you already had that behavior or habit in place.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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

THE TRAIN RIDE

I designed a program for my office clients that I called "The Train Ride." I also recorded it as a CD/mp3 because it worked so well. Once again, the train is an imaginology "containment", that allows for the subconscious mind to bring up specific memories, as well as to plant new thought programs. The train ticket is either regressive specific or future specific. Obviously, the train only goes one way at a time. That, in itself, is useful because in our normal, everyday thinking, we tend to go both ways at the same time, often bring confusion & lack of focus to the project. Once again, you do not have to be deep in hypnotic trance to utilize containment imagery. I do suggest that you put time aside for it, especially when first visiting & editing old memories. After that, you can jump into the containment at any time, in any moment.

Let me invite you onto my train, as we explore some areas that are connected to my personal eating issues. Imagine that we're at the train station, sitting on a bench, waiting for the train. This is a good time to relax deeply, in preparation for the suggestions that will be forthcoming. You might remember that a few slow, deep breaths will do it. Also plug into your "desire" to come along with me to a place where you will be learning how to take care of yourSelf in new ways. Please sense "desire" in your body, as well as in your mind. Emotions are chemical states that can be enhanced or diminished. In this case, we want to enhance "desire". Get excited about this new learning, for you should be excited. These images can change your life as you know it.

The train is pulling into the station. Pay attention to the details of the train, as this will slow your brain waves further, making suggestions easier to plant. The conductor has now put down the steps & we're climbing up & in. Come sit over here next to me. The train is all windows, allowing us to see very clearly. The conductor gave me a special button for stopping the train whenever I choose. As the train starts, sense the motion. We're going back in time in my life. You are simply an invited guest. I'm almost ready to push the button. We haven't gone back too far....just to earlier this week when I was having some desire to binge in the middle of the night. This is part of my "secret night eating" that has gone on for decades. I haven't had it for awhile & while I have some good ideas as to why this came back to announce itself, I want to ask my Self of that night, some specific questions. I also want to give her the opportunity to tell me about it, as well as what she needs from me. Obviously, I wasn't taking care of something.

The train has stopped & we can get off. My Self of that night is waiting. I'll introduce you. That way she can relax & not be fearful. Criticism, fear, guilt, shame & the like are never part of inner visits. I'm being invited to sit on a rock-chair by a stream. It's very peaceful here. This environment was not something I planned, but instead, was delivered by my subconscious mind....my helping mind. I speak of my concern & begin to ask some exploration questions....gently & with concern. The Self is now ready to share. I've come to realize that the amount of stress delivered during this period of time was very high & unrelenting. Since I have a tendency to compulsive, workaholism, the level of stress chemicals produced was way above "normal". I have a long history of releasing on food & this is what this Self became involved in doing. She was supported by Selves of the past who backed her up. My Therapeutic Self has now arrived, along with my TeacherSelf. We all just sit quietly, listening to the brook & sensing the light that is covering us. That is my Higher Self/Power who is helping us to release. Releasing through the light is a powerful tool for me & I invite you to utilize it as well. It's always available. Once the release has been completed, I tell this Self very clearly that it is no longer necessary to release on food. I ask her to remind all parts of me, to wake me up, should I be lost in workaholism. She agrees...the conductor now asks us to board the train. We're ready to move on now...

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

Introducing the Time-Line

There are many mindbody concepts or tools for the management of disorderly eating & addictions. In this blog/workshop, I'm introducing you to them in these short mini-chapters. Once they're displayed, then I will be able to go back & pull them up, to manage specific underlying issues, just as I would if you, the reader, were in my private office.

Let's have a look at this very important concept, that of the Time-Line. We all exist on a time line. We have a past, a present & a future. All are valuable resources, just waiting to be mined. You already know that your subconscious mind is vst, but very organized. In the last chapter you worked with some old DVD programs that live on the shelves of the "library of your mind." This unique metaphor can be designed to meet your own belief systems. If you believe in past life regression, you might hae a time line that goes back many centuries, as well as forward, throught those yet to unfold. However, for the purpose of this book, time lines will be considered from the moment of birth, completing at death.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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

WORKING WITH TIME- LINES

Take a piece of paper & draw a simple line. On one end place the word "birth" & on the other end, the word "death." Somewhere on your tine is this very moment, "the now." Everything that happened before "now" is your past & forward is your future. It's as simple as that.

You are meandering on this time-line each moment yu are involved in talking or thinking about the past, the present, or the future. However, most of these moments are on automatic pilot, not designed for specific goal achievement or disorderly eating management. As you begin to wake up to more of these moments, you might be surprised to find that instead of working towards your desired goals, you are going towards them.

The time-line can offer tremendous value to your self-development & certainly to the management of your current issues. Throught this book you have been in contact with your time-line, even from the very first chapters, but now you are ready to apply some additional exercises that will benefit all areas of your life & certainly your disorderly eating issues.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK

Memories are stored in a very organized linear fashion on the time-line. The past lines up in one direction & the future in another. For good management purposes, it helps to know the direction of each. This is quite easy to do. Simply think of a past event, perhaps what you had for breakfast this morning. Your eyes will go to the left or to the right as you choose to recall this information. This is the direction of your past time-line. Now think of where you are going to go later this afternoon. Your eyes will turn in the direction of your future time-line. For most people, the past is to the left & the future to the right, but sometimes it is reversed. However, sometimes the past of future lines are behind or totally in front & these positions can sometimes interfere with current thought processes or with planting or gathering resources.

People who have their past time-lines in front are often lost in the past, making it difficult to move forward. On the other hand, if the past is positioned to the rear, it is difficult to reach into the wealth of assets waiting to be gathered. Future time-lines that are behind, present problems for planting resources. The old adage" out of sigh, out of mind" helps us to understand what happens with a misplaced time-line. So, while you don't want to trip on your past or future, you do want to have them easily accessible.

Going back on the time-line is called regression. This type of regression has nothing to do with past life experiences. Every time you look at old picture, you are practicing regression. Sometimes we don't like looking at ourselves in certain periods of our life & while that is fine, it's a good idea to know why we have those feelings. These are often clues that are attached to disorderly eating issues or addiction & we can consider bringing them into the light, either on our own, or with a therapist. In addition, when you practice regression, it is important to go back in time as a mature adult & not in the mindbody of the child who experienced these moments in time. This way, you are always with your Therapeutic Self & in command of the situation, giving you the opportunity to collect power resources from past experiences, as well as to bring "healing gifts" to your earlierSelves that live on the time-line.

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

Tuning In the Wide-Screen TV

Everything that you have ever experienced is recorded in your subconscious mind in an orderly fashion, but in order to utilize it, you must retrieve it with some sort of containment or "fishing" tool. You have already been working with some of these containments. The Theater of the Mind & the SchoolHouse are two examples. You already know that the emotional childSelf carries DVD's in it's backpack, often playing them on a whim. Here you will be accessing the Wide Screen Television, along with the DVD player, giving you the opportunity to view & review & then edit, just as you did in the Theater of the Mind. As you do this, the newly edited version will replace the old version in the library of the mind. At the same time, your emotional childSelf will come to know the new version, as well as when to suggest it in the thought processes. This is another example of the childSelf helping instead of hindering.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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

WHAT'S GOING ON NOW

Relax & slow your brain waves. This is as simple as taking a deep yawn breath & deciding to allow your body to be pulled down into the chair while you read the next few paragraphs. There's nothing else to do & no where to go. This time is reserved for your own self-growth, looking forward to managing any issues that may have been bothering you including any eating issues. You are already inside your Workshop & the wide screen television is over there, along with the DVD & controls. Notice the shelves holding the DVD collections. The shelves on the left contail old DVD/s, including everything you have evr experienced through any of your senses. While these experiences truly happened, that are all recorded in a particular perception "flavor." Some of these are not helpful to current goals & desires & so may benefit from some editing. Old DVD's are also great resources for building resilience & adding power to new goals. Resilience is found in past success, as well as in past failures. Imaginology allows you to alter the marinade of any DVD, often turning it from a de-motivator into a powerful pro-motivator.

The shelves on the right are filled with future DVD's. Some are blank disks, ready for recording, others 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 & experiences. Some of your pre-programs may be based on negative expectation & therefore are not in your best interest. It's very possible that some include expectations of failure, as you work with your addiction or disorderly eating. I'll be showing you how to locate & edit these for success.

Let's practice. Do know that even if an image slips on & off your mind screen, your subconscious mind is aware of what you are doing & programming is taking place. Begin by choosing an old DVD, 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 & having a difficult time making healthy choices. Choose to relax even deeper now. This will enhance your focus. Watch the wide screen, paying attention to what's going on. Listen to the sound track. Notice that you can choose to focus in on specific areas, as well as slow down the action. You already know that you are the writer, director & producer of each of your productions. Each DVD in your collection is a production of yours!

You may be wondering how you could possibly benefit from something that has already ahppened. Keep in mind that everything is recorded through perceptions & all of these can be changed to your benefit. Every failure can be seen through new eyes, or a change in perception. Let's say that you are reviewing the experience of a negtive eating behavior. You can edit this quite simply by indicating that you are practicing behaviors that you do not want. You can then bring in new actors to demonstrate what you do want, having them works 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 & white boring affair. Paint the desired behaviors in bright colors, moving the stage forward into clear view.

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

The Workshop of the Mind

The subconscious mind is huge...think of it as six football fields filled with information, all belonging to you. Unfortunately, most of us utilize less than 2%, which is a very sad commentary, but it doesn't have to be that way. In the world of imaginology we utilize "containments" as specialized, organizational images, helping the subconscious mind to retrieve, as well as plant new suggestions. This concept helps us greatly in the management of disorderly eating. What I've always found interesting, is that when one area of life becomes ordered or organized, other areas are soon to follow, thereby breaking the mindSet of "hopeless & helpless".

Here I'm going to introduce you to one of my most favorite "containments", that of the Workshop of the Mind. It is within these walls that wonderful things will take place, perhaps things that you have never, ever conceived in your mind's eye. This is a very private place & I'll be encouraging you to "decorate" the image, making it your very own. This will not only enhance your desire to play here, but your very own subconscious mind will participate in the creative development. As you participate within the imagery, you will find yourSelf working directly with your creative mind, building as well as changing already present structures. My personal Workshop has been undergoing revisions for several decades, rather like upgrading a home. We change with time & what worked or didn't work years ago, needs to be re-worked or let go, making room for new things. There are so many choices open to us, not only about goals, but of behaviors & healthy habits to develop. Perhaps you never thought in this way before, but before is not now. You can choose to think & act differently....& you don't have to wait for tomorrow. Today works just as well.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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

WHAT'S GOING ON NOW

Relax deeply & read through the next paragraphs, just as if you were reading any novel. There is nothing special you need to do. The images will form all by themselves. This is your creativeSelf at work. Early in the book, you entered your MindBody Health Garden. This is a great beginning image, setting the subconscious mind for going forward. Pass this garden & you will see a signpost for your "Inner Workshop." Follow the route & 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 & while others are welcome, they only come by your invitation & to work in "your" behalf, not theirs. This is especially important for those of you with disorderly issues or addictions, because you are very used to putting others first.

Right now, sense the image of your Workshop in your mind's eye. Simply think it. Build it exactly as you would like it. There might be a building or place in the past that you would like to utilize for this purpose & 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 would 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 & 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. Choose the structure, color, windows, roof pitch, landscaping, etc. Allow yourSelf to wallow in the details.

Feel the entrance key in your pocket & open the front door. It may squeek a bit because you haven't been here in awhile. Look around, noticing the furnishings, floor coverings, windows, collectibles, perhaps plants, books & even toys. Time to lighten up! Walk through the Workshop, noticing the details of the different rooms, while noticing how comfortable you feel here. In my Workshop, I have a big room, a kitchen, spa bath, several libraries & a board meeting room. You'll read about these in detail later on.

Look out the window & admire the view. Pay attention to the wild like, plants, sky & how the weather is in this moment. Your weather is a great metaphor for your current emotional crayons. Now 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, feeling the texture of the fabric & how your body positions into the chair, relaxing deeply. This is a time set aside for you & your selfWork. Enjoy this idea.

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

Emotional Chit-Chatting

Observing emotions outside of yourSelf, instead of entertaining them internally, is a KEY ingredient to being able to manage them creatively, effectively & efficiently. Here we are working with active imaginology or Interactive Self-Hypnosis, taking emotional management to higher levels. Just imagine how much power you have given to your emotions over the years & still tend to give! Think about today. Can you locate any moment or group of moments forming a remembered experience when your emotions were in charge & not your Therapeutic or Balanced Self? Sit back & view this happening in the Theater of Your Mind. How would you rate this production? The "library of your mind", located subconsciously, is filled with these experiences. The good news is that you are now learning to release or edit these programs.

Emotions tend to appear in groups. It helps to think of them as "families". As you learn to enhance your emotional awareness, you will hear them "chit-chatting" in your mind, having regular conversations just as you would with others.Of course, you recognize these as your thoughts, but now your thoughts are not just random, but belonging to specific emotions or families of emotions. This might seem like a small thing, but it is not. The more heightened your awareness, the easier it is to edit or change an experience, either inside your mind or outside in your environment.

You might remember my telling you that emotions can be very helpful; even the negative-based ones. Your Unbalanced Self introduced you to some of them in the beginning of this book. They were causing some havoc down in the playground. Since you made peace with your Unbalanced Self, that part is now willing to help you in your recovery from disorderly eating. As you come to know them more intimately, they will show you what you need to know in order to manage them. You may wonder why this is. Truth be known, all emotions prefer to be in healthy balance. They prefer not to be in charge, but to be in the company of a quiet, assertive leader, one who will help them to meet their own needs.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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

KNOWLEDGE HOOKS

There is much to learn from self-observation of inner chatter. You already know that these are your thought processes, but they are much more than that. Each thought moment fragment is an actual subconscious mind goal program. Your subconscious mind sees & hears everything, as if it were true & goal material. If you allow thought processes to play out as they do on automatic pilot, they will be seen by your subconscious mind as your chosen goals & that is not the end of it. Your subconscious mind is like radar or what's called a servo-mechanism. It will serve you in a special way by actually finding other programs in your subconscious mind library that will support this. Then it will go out into the world, bringing back more information to support your "thought moment fragment." This great, as long as you are playing thought programs about things you want, but if you are not, you are going to get exactly what you don't want & you are about to get a lot of it!

WHAT'S GOING ON NOW

Remember the emotional childSelf coloring the daily experiences? Your TeacherSelf is inviting you to closely observe one of those pages that was colored in with some negative emotional colors. Choose anyone you like. These subconscious mind programs all belong to you, the reader. They are all memories of yours & can play out just like a little video with action & sound. Keep in mind that you are not "in the scene", but outside of it as an interested observer...the Director of your life. Go ahead & allow it to play out. Listen carefully to the emotions as they demonstrate the inner language of the crayons. Don't be surprised if the language is a bit on the nasty side. When you've gotten an earful, fully understand that these are mini-mind programs, taking you down a dark path. Not the way you are choosing to go. When you have finished observing this page, give it to your TeacherSelf who will throw it away in the bottomless garbage can over there.

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

Emotional Art Work

Manage your emotions or they will manage you! Sounds logical, but how does one go about doing this? Working diligently with emotions is key to managing addictions & disorderly mind states. From the time you were born, you have been deeloping your own brand of emotional patterning. Some of the patterns are heavily etched & are super-automatic. You may have mentored some of these from others, especially when you were very young & more sponge-like. At that time of life, you absorbed everything, even if you didn't like it or agree to it. A good exercise is to become aware of what you dislike, or what annoys you about your parents or siblings, then look for those in yourSelf. You can do the same exercise with your significant other or your relationships with your children, relatives & friends. It's not uncommon to be blind to one's own patterns, as well as to the emotional states that automatically attach to them. Becoming aware or awake to emotional patterns & their crayons is KEY to diminishing those that produce negative tones, while giving you the opportunity to enhance the coloring of those that are helpful

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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

KNOWLEDGE HOOKS

Throughout my books you will find hooks, designed for hanging newly presented knowledge. While these hooks are very important, they are simply not enough to evoke lifestyle behavioral changes. One must take the knowledge off of the hook & bring it to the worktable where a plan is designed & then executed. Let's go ahead & experiment with this.

Working with emotional states is a skill just like anything else. We have emotions that work in a positive way for us & others that don't. When looking to identify emotional states, which is a KEY practice, you will come to know that there are hundreds of them. few people can name more than twenty. Some emotions are experienced as having high-power negative energy or coloring, such as intense anger. You also have emotions that are high-powered positive energy or coloring. Ecstacy being a good example. You also have low-powered negative & positive emotions. There energy or coloring is very different. Annoyance is a negative example of one of these, with pleasantness living in the positive column. Sometimes the momentary experience is about the "choice" of emotion & other times, it's about the intensity of the crayoning.

Here we are practicing Interactive Awareness, which helps you to see the details of the emotions & what is truly unfolding in the moment. How good are your self-observation skills? While most of us can name or describe our high-powered positive & negative emotions, most of us fall short when it comes to the lower-powered ones. This is most unfortunate because these are the emotions that hang around more frequently, coloring daily experiences & are usually the ones responsible for addictions & interfering with other goal achievement.

So, now we have this knowledge hanging on the hook. Let's go ahead & take it into the SchoolHouse & place it in "active imaginology."

WHAT'S GOING ON NOW

We find the emotional children in the SchoolHouse, of course wearing their Golden Egg Shapes, in preparation for new learnings. The children are very relaxed & you notice that. Since you have just entered, go ahead & tune into that level of deep relaxation for yourSelf. It's quite easy to do. Simply notice & then breathe. You might remember this as the instructions for "releasing" & that is exactly what you are doing now; releasing body tension & slowing your brain waves, ready to enter the "library of your mind." When you are ready, notice that there are large boxes of crayons on the desk of each child. Inside each box is a crayon labeled with the name of a particular emotion. Stop at the desk of that emotional childSelf...one that is involved in disorderly eating adventures.

Ask permission to open the crayon box. When it is granted, look for the crayon labeled "depressed" or "sad" or "compulsive" or "angry" or "fearful" or "helpless" or any other emotion that brings you into any scene of disorderly eating or one of it's equivalents. On the desk you will also find a coloring book that depicts actual scenes from your life experiences in this genre. Now take the emotional crayon & begin to color in the picture. Notice you can press hard & color in dark strokes OR you can hold the crayon lightly & just place a hue of color. Your TeacherSelf is now at your side, removing the crayon & instructing the page to "un-color", freeing you to choose a positive crayon, perhaps the one labeled "wise" or "balanced" or something similar. You choose.

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

Thoughts Are Things

Oh those pesky thoughts! Do know that managing them is paramount to making changes. Here, we're making changes related to Disorderly Eating & all of it's facets, so that means managing lots of thoughts. At first glance, it may seem an impossible task, but it's not. Yes, it will take hot desire & commitment, but remember...we're talking about your life here & so just knowing that it's doable, should feel good. I suggest we start by removing any confusion about thoughts in general.

Simply put, thoughts are things. We'll be looking at them as DVD's that play in the mind. As our imaginology continues, these DVD's fall into specific categories & are placed in the mind by the emotional childSelves. I'm sure you're getting the full picture here. You already know that we all have emotions that work for us & others that don't. You don't have to look far to know what kinds of DVD's are placed in the mind by these very different emotional states. Earlier on, you learned that these are carried in the backpacks of specific emotions. In fact, you met up with some of them in the Theater of the Mind. Here's what's important. Every thought is a goal mind-program unto itself. Every thought acts like radar, pulling similar thoughts up from the subconscious mind to enhance it. In addition, the radar will pull like-minded images from life, once again to support it. And so, if you are playing thoughts about things you don't want, this can create huge, if not insurmountable road blocks to your success.

You already know from "directing" in the Theater of the Mind & soon will come to learn more about how each "disorderly behavior" is boosted by particular thoughts or beliefs that are often very well cemented in the subconscious mind. But, don't worry about the cement. When working with your Therapeutic Self, Higher Self or Power, even the most powerful cement can come be removed effortlessly. This is an example of the power that you have. But, there are things you must do...actions you must take. Your work involves becoming aware of those thoughts that work against you & then removing them. You'll also be enhancing positive thoughts, as well as installing brand new thoughts. Remember file "E"?

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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

WHAT'S GOING ON NOW

We find the emotional children in the SchoolHouse, of course wearing their Golden Egg Shapes, in preparation for new learnings. You might remember about the importance of educating & gaining cooperation of the emotional childSelf. You'll appreciate it later on when there is less inner arguing & foot-stamping. As before, you can either observe from outside, or come inside & take a seat in the back of the room. Your TeacherSelf is showing an image to everyone, demonstrating where the thought DVD's are placed in the slot of the mind & how it is your responsibility to decide when something is to be removed or to allow it to play. In the future, the emotions will be less likely to put something in your mind slot without your permission, for indeed, their goal is to be helpful & balanced.

THE IN'S & THE OUT'S OF THOUGHT MANAGEMENT

It's important to learn to "notice" thoughts. In the future, you'll be instructed how to also pay attention to the very specific emotion that is placing a particular genre of thoughts in your DVD mind-slot, but for now, lets just focus on how the thoughts go in & out. You already know about the Golden Egg & how it is utilized to exit the Circus of the World. When you are in the Circus, it is more difficult to see, sense or remove a thought, but it's a totally different story when you are in the Golden Egg. It's the same for the emotional childSelf. When that part of you is "active" within the Circus, that's all the emotion cares about & it's often difficult to disengage the childSelf from it's emotional binge. So, instead of fighting, you as the leader, will instead choose to enter the Golden Egg. From this position, you become the "director" once again & can edit the happenings, just as you did in the Theater of the Mind. Also, your connection to your Higher Self & Power is without obstruction from inside the Golden Egg.

Your TeacherSelf is instructing all of you to practice returning to the Golden Egg. This is a meditative exercise & needs to become a part of your daily ritual. You do have a file folder for this. It's labeled "B". You might remember that is the folder for "Deep Relaxation" & that is exactly right. Perhaps, in the past, you thought about Deep Relaxation in a different way. Now you are learning that the act of Deep Relaxation can be done in just 1/200th of a second, transporting you from the Circus into the Golden Egg. In this moment of transport, the body & mind both relax, bringing balance to it's systems. The mind also knows that the specific thought that you deemed to be released, was not requested by you. This thought interruption is KEY to recovery from Disorderly Eating behaviors. Each time you instruct the mind regarding an unrequested thought, the heavy cement will loosen, enabling you to change your inner programming, no matter how long it's been living there.

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

Next Come Letters D & E

Today it's still about the ABC's....more precisely, the letters D & E. We're not going through the whole alphabet, but just utilizing the first 5 letters as a way to order what needs to be done on a daily basis. Other SchoolHouse lessons will fit inside these categories. If this sounds like self-discipline, you are right on the mark. Unfortunately the word discipline has gotten a bad rap. Discipline is a very powerful tool that actually makes living a balanced life much easier. You may have the idea that discipline isn't for you, but the truth is that you are already disciplined in many areas of life. Here are a few examples; brushing your teeth, washing the dishes, driving to work, going to church, doing the laundry, reading the Sunday paper, checking your email. The list is very long. Quite honestly, if discipline was not present in your life, it would be impossible to navigate.

If you backed away from the discipline word regarding your lifestyle behaviors, that is simply your out of control emotional childSelf who simply wants things to remain the same. What's interesting about this part of the Self is that the child emotion simply wants you to stay happy within your dysfunctional living. Unfortunately, that isn't possible, if you want to save your life, for that is what we're doing here. This is not about a smaller waist, although you will get one if extra fat is stored in that area. It's not about a lower scale weight number, although you will get one if that part of your body is out of balance. What this is about is preventing killer diseases & living a healthy life with all it's benefits.

NOTE TO NEW READERS:

This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" 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

WHAT'S GOING ON NOW

The emotional children are in the SchoolHouse with their Golden Egg Shapes on, ready to install the letters D & E. As before, you can either observe from outside, or come inside & take a seat in the back of the room. From this position you can be an observer, as the programs enter subconscious mind via the route of the childSelves who will actually be motivational helpers to yourSelf. Balanced emotions are always helpful & can be very pro-active in positive ways once they are well-educated. Letters A, B & C are already in place. Think of these as "folders" in the mind's filing cabinet. Each day you will live your life, following the directions stored there. Relax with the children now as the next two folders are installed.

INSTALLING LETTERS D & E

The letter "D" folder is where your physical exercise plans & instructions are kept. In the front of the folder is your physician's permission slip. Be sure to always obtain this in advance. It's an important safety for your health. The body & mind needs a daily dose of physical activity & while the activity choices may differ from day to to day, physical movement is essential. It is not healthy to be a couch potato or the office equivalent, a desk potato. You will notice that there are "no excuses" in the "D" folder. Perhaps they were there in the past, but they are gone now. Your body systems don't make excuses for not wanting to work. Think about that for a moment. Can you imagine your heart or lungs telling you that they're just too tired or too busy to work for you today....maybe next week when things calm down a bit. Or suppose that you were your heart, waiting for your nutrition that includes physical exercise & it never arrives or it's delivered in stops & starts. Suppose your owner takes you to the gym for a month & then doesn't take you back for another three months? How would you manage that?

Once your physician OK's your exercise, your self-responsibility will be to sit down & write out a detailed plan, just as you would plan anything else, such as a vacation. You will then test drive it hypnotically, making any adjustments such as timing, scheduling, etc. If other people will be impacted by your plan, you will discuss it with them, but from the position of your Therapeutic Self. Remember, you are in charge. You are the writer, director & producer of your life. Once the detailed plan is ready, you will execute it, keeping it motivated in ways you will learn later on in this book.

Folder 5 is labeled letter "E" & is the most fluid of all folders. That means it will get dog-eared from use, for this is the folder for brand new mind programs, as well as older, useful programs that may need some editing. As you look into letter "E", you'll notice that there are no negative programs here. All have been removed. Negativity does not enter the SchoolHouse. All lessons here are about what you want & not what you don't want. Notice that it feels good to have this folder cleaned & cleared out, rather like a messy room that miraculously is put into order. This is the power of the subconscious mind.

Your folders are ready now. How nice it is to hold your directions in organized containments.

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