This mini-chapter is a continuation of the one just below it. If you are new to my writing & have interest in disorderly eating issues, you might like to start at the beginning. There is a link near to the bottom that will direct you there. You can also find complimentary mp3's on any of my websites.
MIND EXERCISE – Working the Triple Monitor
The triple monitor is like a wide screen television, but having three sections or screens. You can number the screens, one, two and three. Let’s work with the first screen, placing a picture on it of something you do not want. Work with the image until it is clear. We tend to have a habit of now wanting to see what we don’t want, but we focus on it anyway. That focus brings it towards us. But now, once you have clarified what you do not want, utilize your mind to shrink it down. Make it small, but keep it recognizable.
You can also make this screen black and white rendering the image less appealing. Now bring your attention over to monitor three, skipping the center monitor. Place an image of what you do want, in relation to monitor one that tells the mind what you don’t want. Make this image full of detail, colored brightly. Bring the highly desired images forward, adding some positive and powerful emotional energy, perhaps playing music in the background. Now bring your attention to the center monitor number two. Notice the work going on in there. These are your subconscious mind helpers making all the plans and action steps to transmute what you don’t want into what you do want.
The triple monitor is actually a full containment or inner mind program for a specific goal. You can utilize this for a complete goal or even for small aspects of a goal. For example, you can have separate triple monitors for each of your eating behaviors, or emotional states in a particular area of your life.
MIND EXERCISE – Accessing Your Inner Power Sources
Whether or not you believe in a Higher Power, we all do have a Higher Self. This part of us is our core-self, free from our child-emotional states and their crayons. Some people call this their wise or intuitive self. In the practice of Interactive Self-Hypnosis it helps to have images for our Higher Self, and if it fits with your belief system, an image for your Higher Power. Once again, planned images act as containments, helping us to make rapid transitions out of high stress or emotional child behavior to a direct communication with a Higher Power and/or Higher Self. In addition, you can build a group of Inner Guides or Mentors to help in specific areas. We’ll meet up with them in the Library of the Masters.
Stress or emotional child states are like waving flags, suggesting you wake up and gently move to the position of Higher Self. This is achieved in Interactive Awareness that you read about in an earlier chapter. It is a simple, but profound shift of both mind and body. As you move from stress to Higher Self, you are free to communicate directly with your subconscious mind, various mentors and guides. You are also in position to work on goals in process, or plant new suggestions in the different areas of your gardens.
Rest your eyes comfortably on your mind screen, bringing forward your goal-den path and gardens. In the last chapter you met up with your Master Gardener. This may be an image you would like to utilize for either your Higher Power or Higher Self. If you prefer another image, please go ahead and do so now. I also suggest you design a containment for transmuting stress. The image that I work with is a big light at the end of the path. It is bright, but doesn’t hurt the eyes. There is a chair for you in the middle of the path, directly in front of the light, as well as smaller chairs to the right and left. Those are for emotional child-states that need to diminish stress.
In conscious life when you notice an emotion is out of balance, you can simply place your path and light on your mind screen, having the emotion sitting, filling with light, with stress dripping off the ends of it’s fingers. I like to turn the stress droplets into gold dust. This completes the transmutation process, bringing power and success from emotions that are coloring with negative crayons. You can the experiential imagery of collecting the gold dust, depositing it on specific goal plants in your gardens.
There are many ways for you to communicate with your Higher Power and Higher Self. Perhaps you already pray, and while that is an undisputed wonderful tool, there are other Interactive Images that are powerful as well. You might design a specific garden for formal meetings with your Higher Power or Higher Self. This spiritual containment can be enormously helpful for healing both physical and emotional wounds. It is here you that you will more than likely be shown the way around any obstructions in your path while learning to interpret their hidden meanings.
MIND EXERCISE – Locating Your Library of the Mind
In addition to your video programs, you can work with your subconscious mind through the image of an inner library. The library metaphor has the advantage of being able to go slower, as well as turning pages forward and back. Some individuals find this a more comfortable way for reviewing and deciding to make changes. It is also here that you are busy writing your book about today, as well as future books.
The library and the books work as containments, giving us a way to isolate our behaviors and goals for careful observation. My library is located in a separate area in the workshop of the mind and is kept in order by the subconscious librarian who functions as one of my inner mentors. When I have need for something, she provides the books where the information is written, as well as pulling together other related materials that might be out of reach of the conscious memory. The inner librarian is also very creative, enjoying pulling together mind projects that appear consciously as breakthrough ideas, or “eurekas” !
While this concept may appear a bit offbeat, we all have experienced asking “ourselves” things such as “where are my keys?” “Why did I do that?” So in fact the Inner Librarian is that part of yourself who does not where things are and why we do things. Once we get accustomed to requesting the multitude of services on a regular basis, one is amazed at how much help is truly available right in the moment!
Interactive Self-Hypnosis provides working metaphors for utilizing the library books from the past, as well as those you might be currently writing. In an earlier chapter on self-assessment you collected information from these very books. Now you can go back into these books and edit them. You might like to re-write some of the text, rearrange the emotional perceptions, change outcomes, collect power resilience memories, empower the child or earlier adult with new information, or look for lessons learned. In future books you might like to write your desired outcomes just as if you had them in the palm of your hand.
Another great exercise is one of moving boundaries. Most of us tend to program within narrow corridors or expectations. In Interactive Self-Hypnosis you can move those boundaries outward, thereby giving the subconscious librarian more room to bring in higher-expectation suggestions. For example, when looking to manage an addiction, write the future book in such a way that the addiction is not only easily managed, but the act of managing it brings you added prosperity well beyond your current expectations. This is a tremendous motivator that transmutes any perceived unpleasant experiences into valuable assets.
MIND EXERCISE – Entering Your Library of the Masters
The subconscious mind is a vast library filled with experiential memories of each of your senses from every moment of life. A whiff of perfume can transport you back to sitting on your grandmother’s lap, feeling her tender touch as she wipes your tears. In this instance the perfume is the trigger or containment for all parts of the memory. Many of our experiences have little meaning in the moment unless we need them, but this doesn’t mean that they are not planted in the subconscious mind. Sometimes we need specific memories well after the fact, and so it is a good idea to build an additional library containment. I call mine the Library of the Masters. This is not a spiritual metaphor, but it certainly could be for those who might like to design their library in that way.
Masters or Inner Guides are specialists in their field. As we enter the area we have designed as their containment, we can either call on the needed specialist, or ask for the books about the specific subject. Perhaps you might like to visit with a dietary specialist, or one working in the field of addiction. Once they are present, simply ask for what you need and be prepared to listen. Often the answers are forthcoming immediately, other times they may be given in a dream or in another quiet moment such as in the shower or when driving your car. If you have been meeting with mind specialists, be sure to give yourself lots of quiet time for arrival of the answers.
It’s really quite amazing how the mind works in this way. You can even invite a specialist to take an exam with you, as well as give a presentation to a group or any other time you may benefit from this mind service. Sometimes I take a specialist into the supermarket to view my shopping habits. It’s also not uncommon for one to be with me when eating out. Think how you might utilize this mind service!
MIND EXERCISE – Visiting Your Emotional School House
It’s fairly well known that either you manage your emotions or they will manage you. In the past this was easier said than done, but now you have the tools of Interactive Awareness and Self-Hypnosis to not only help you manage your emotions, but to help you surpass your goals through the actual managing. The Emotional School House is a great containment I designed for attaching both negative and positive-state emotions to your goal development.
I placed my schoolhouse down the path from the Workshop so the emotions would be separated from the other tools. I wanted to impress my subconscious mind with their importance and so they have their own building. Take a moment to relax deeply and I’ll show you around my containment. As we enter you will notice that even the hallway announces itself as a happy and positive seat of learning. There are classroom doors lining the hallway, each hosting a goal picture.
Inside the room the emotions, both positive and negative state, are sitting in learning circles each having a goal book on their lap. The goal books have left and right sides. The left sides are teaching what will happen if the negatives are employed by the goal. These are all “away-from motivators”. The right side of the book are “towards motivators” or what will happen if the positives are employed by the goal. The teacher can be my Higher Power, Self or one of the Specialist Mentors. The teacher goes on to explore the goal expansion, or greater expectations with the emotions. This is a creative thinking exercise that invites the subconscious mind to send up more & more ideas connected to the isolated goal. The isolation of goals is very important for growth and development. This is ultimate focus.
Each time I visit the classroom I’m actually reinforcing both sets of motivators. Think for a moment about the books your emotions would be reviewing in relation to your sugar addiction or eating disorder. What negative-state emotions would be present in your classroom? What positive-state emotions would benefit from being enhanced from isolation of goal work & enhanced motivation? Who would you call on to teach these classes? Now think about another goal area in your life that would benefit from emotional teaching. Keep in mind that everything on your goal-den path is connected by an underground root system. As you work in one goal area, others will automatically benefit.
MIND EXERCISE – The Board Meeting
The board meeting is a practice in organized thought made even more powerful with the additions of Interactive Awareness and Self-Hypnosis. Relax deeply and I’ll show you around my board meeting room. As we enter notice it looks like any other board room, housing a large table, one chair at each end and three chairs on each side. As Chairman of the Board I sit on one end. My Higher Power or Self sits opposite to me.
There are several types of meetings that benefit self-development and will determine who sits on the right and left seats. For example, if I am having a meeting with emotions that are interfering with my goal of managing sugar addiction, they will be sitting in those seats. I may also choose to call in several of my positive-state emotions to assist the ones in trouble. Meetings are places for views to be shared and not meant to be dictatorial. When meeting with emotions, give them the opportunity to explain themselves. Question their behaviors and intentions. As you are in self-hypnotic trance, these questions will open important areas of understanding for you.
One day I was interviewing an emotion that was insisting that I purchase ice cream, even though it was not on the shopping list. During the board meeting interview the emotion expressed it’s anger with me because there was no fun or enjoyment during the past few weeks. “All you do is work, work, work!” Sound familiar? So the emotion insisted on the ice cream to break the work addiction. This was important information, not only for the moment, but in helping to understand the past and to help protect the future.
Another great way to work with the board room containment is to hold a master mind meeting. Just as a company chooses its board of directors, you can do the same. This board, however, meets in your mind. You can choose anyone you like to be on your board. You don’t have to know them, they don’t have to be alive, nor do they have to be real. You can borrow from history, from fiction, or from your own creative mind processes. Once the board is in place, do keep it like that. While it’s fine to bring in a guest specialist, it works to your benefit to keep the same board members in place. I put mine together about twenty years ago. When you decide to hold a meeting, deepen your trance state, call the board to order and present the issues on the table. Anything goes! Remember to listen carefully to what your members have to say, and pass all suggestions to your Higher Power or Self, making certain they do fit well with your value system. Remember that while others may suggest things, you are the Chairman and all decisions rest with you.
You may wonder why you might want to work with this containment, and what is actually happening. Earlier on I explained that your subconscious mind is vast and in order to pull together information from the deep vaults, you might need some special tools or containments. The board of directors is simply one of these tools. The idea that it encompasses wise and successful members, speaks to those parts of yourself, calling them to action.
It’s a good idea to draw a graphic of your board table and the position of the seats. Begin to keep a list of possible members. In the beginning you may not be able to think of any, and then you find so many that you will wonder how you can choose just six. Take this project with you as you practice Interactive Self-Hypnosis. Your subconscious mind will help you to formulate your very best board member choices.
MIND EXERCISE – Plugging Into Automatic Writing
Just as the mentors and board members help to access different areas of the subconscious mind, there are other tools for going even further, one of these being that of automatic writing. Before beginning any mind exercise, make certain you will not be disturbed for the time you have chosen for your self-development work and then relax deeply. I like to image my writing mentor either on the triple monitor or actually sitting in the same room with me. Our communication tool will be that of pen and paper.
Of course you can communicate in this way with your Higher Power, self, mind mentors, specialists or your emotions. Writing is a powerful way to open the subconscious mind. You might also consider corresponding with particular mind models such as Wisdom, Truth, Forgiveness or Compassion. You might even contact a particular project you are working on such as your management of sugar addiction. This is your opportunity to ask it what you need to know, listening to what it has to say to you. This process allows you to gather insights that would not be so readily available. Once in contact you are free to ask for all kinds of help including overcoming old roadblocks.
Think of the many ways you can work with this tool. I have a patient who had very long correspondence with her cancer. Before long they were on fairly good terms, the cancer agreeing to actually partner in the treatment. Another patient had long discussions with her rather messy house, a reflection of her rather messy life. She was able to clarify quite a bit about both, make some important changes and continues to stay in touch regularly.
MIND EXERCISE – Attending Your Interactive Theater
Down the path from the Workshop you will find the Interactive Theater. You are known as the Writer, Producer and Director of the current performance. There is a reserved seat for you near to the back of the house where you can see the full-spectrum as it plays out. At any moment you can go onto the stage, position yourself behind the actor playing you, or any other actor and observe the feelings that flow from taking these different positions. You can also be aware of the different emotional states that are busy crayoning the scripts. As you maneuver from the many positions of the actors, your insight grows.
It’s also a good idea to observe some “one man or woman” shows. The more insight you develop about yourself, the better. There is nothing wrong with observing your weaknesses, for without seeing them you cannot change. It’s also important to know that you can change the emotional perceptions by employing self-forgiveness, self-compassion and self-love into any and all productions. No one is perfect and no one is expected to be perfect. Perhaps that’s an affirmation you would like to hang in your theater. Write your scripts to benefit your deepest values and goals, produce and direct with fairness, delivering human kindness to the audiences of your life.
MOVING ON….
In the next chapter you will learn additional Interactive Self-Hypnotic Tools connected to exploring your past, as well as your future on your Life Time-Line.
Lifestyle changes needed for conquering disorderly eating and managing addictions are like taking a journey. First comes the decision, the commitment to the journey, followed by the planning. Next comes the unfolding of experiences. We enjoy some parts, detest others, sit in amazement as the unexpected takes on a life of it’s own. As we look with soft eyes, it is clear that each experience carries with it, the gift of knowledge.
We tend to be asleep more than awake. If we practice waking up more frequently, the number of experiences will mount. Since each experience carries the gift of knowledge, our goal is to stay awake as much as possible, working to unraveling our past experiences along with the new. Of course, looking for the gifts, for they are there in the vault of the subconscious mind.
In the last chapter you set up gardens on your goal-den path. You met up with your Master Gardener, your Higher Self, learned something about weeds, your early belief systems, along with ways to change past self-image and esteem programming. Now you are going to locate old subconscious mind files, filled with all kinds of gifts to help you manage your addiction issues and your life balance. You are also going to design future mind programs to plant in your gardens.
Interactive Awareness and Self-Hypnosis can be utilized in hundreds of creative ways. Throughout this book you have been working with many of these. Now you will experience some of the more creative ones. Keep in mind that each and every moment holds opportunities for practice, including re-programming your subconscious mind. As you begin to truly wake up to this extraordinary power that you have in place, you can become overwhelmed. Therefore it’s a good idea to set some goals for building skill levels, for programming awareness, also for etching new subconscious mind programs.
KNOWLEDGE HOOK
You already know the power of awareness and how key it is to change. There are all levels of awareness, each carrying gifts. Some are small and some are big. Awareness requests are set-up subconsciously. We literally request the mind to make us aware of something t we know will benefit us. For example, you might request the subconscious librarian to make you aware of low-level emotions, thoughts or behaviors that connect to your addiction or disorderly eating. Your subconscious mind will consciously "key" you into these, where you will be able to diminish them right in the moment, then move to re-program your inner files related to these behaviors. You are learning to stop something before it gets out of control for you. Pre-behaviors or prodromals are very important in changing habits, behaviors, as well as automatic pilot programs.
If you have any particular triggers, you might want to request changing your inner files in reference to these. For instance, if your reactions to certain people's behaviors tend to make you tense, you might want to be more aware of these, then work with diminishing and/or re-programming. One does not need to be in a deep trance state to do this work. You can do all of it "right in the moment" if you like.
KNOWLEDGE HOOK - INDUCTION
Induction is nothing more than slowing the brain waves in increments by using a particular deepening system, such as counting backwards, or choosing images that do the same. There are many levels of trance or deep relaxation, each having their own ease of execution and benefits. In short, induction is the route you take to get out of your own way, side-stepping all emotions and judgment, stepping into a place where suggestions are readily accepted by the subconscious mind. If you work with a hypnotist or hypnotherapist, you may be taken even deeper into trance where the therapist is able to access the needed information, but in self-hypnosis you are determining the level where you can affect your own work. If you work with audio it is a bit easier to go deeper down, because even if you fall asleep, your subconscious mind will pick up the suggestions from the recorded program.
You might like to review the chapter on mental biofeedback and practice inducing self-hypnosis with body communication skills. This is particularly effective as a stress-releaser, preparing the mind for the acceptance of suggestion. Whatever the route you choose, do know you are on your way to the tools below.
KNOWLEDGE HOOK
After inducing a self-hypnotic state, you are ready to begin planting subconscious mind programs, also called suggestions. The subconscious mind enjoys organization and so it works to your benefit, assisting you in building special containment metaphors for planting inner programs, as well as editing past and future ones. These containments are useful as well for managing emotional states, locating hidden resources and building resilience. All containments are “user-friendly”. As you welcome them into your consciousness, don’t be surprised if you find them appearing automatically to help manage your life needs.
Exploring the Interactive Self-Hypnosis Workshop
You might like to review this powerful containment at the alpha state. You already know how to reach this slow brain wave state. In the last chapter you began the design of your goal-den path. As you walk down your path and past the gardens, you will see a signpost for your inner workshop. Follow the route and soon you will come upon it. The workshop is a place in your mind where you go to work on yourself. It is a private place and while others are welcome, they only come by your invitation and to work in your behalf. This is especially important for those with addiction who are so used to putting everyone else’s needs first.
Right now see the image of your workshop in your mind’s eye. Build it exactly as you like it. There might be a building or a place in the past that you would like to utilize for this purpose, and that is fine. Sometimes we have a safe place from childhood. For me it is an old barn that sat on the property of my best friend where I could escape the outside world to adventure in my dreams. It was here that I calmed myself while designing my future fantasies. If you don’t have such a place in your memory bank, simply go and build one for yourself right now. You can place it wherever you like, be it at the ocean, high in the mountains, or even in the middle of a city. Whatever meets your fancy is just fine. Choose the structure, color, windows, roof pitch, landscaping, etc. Details, details!
Feel the entrance key in your pocket and open the front door. Look around, noticing the furnishings, floor coverings, windows, collectibles, perhaps plants, books and even toys. Time to lighten up! Walk through the workshop, noticing the details of the different rooms and how comfortable you feel here. In my Workshop I have a big room, a kitchen, a spa bath, several libraries and a board meeting room. You’ll read about these in detail later on.
Look out the window and admire the view. Pay attention to the wild life, the plants, the sky and how the weather is in this moment. Your weather is a great metaphor for your current emotional crayons. Bring in some additional senses. You might tap on the window pane, hearing the tapping sound resonating in your ears. Sit down in one of the chairs, feel the texture of the fabric, how your body positions into the chair and relax deeply. This is a time set aside for you and your work. Enjoy this idea. It’s helpful to bring in some powerful emotional states, especially positive expectancy, wisdom and inner peace. Emotions appear automatically, as well as by request. In this case scenario, do request those that will be skillful in designing inner programming. In the paragraphs below I will be directing you to other parts of your workshop.
Mind Exercise – Accessing Your Wide Screen Television
Everything that you ever experienced is recorded in your subconscious mind in an orderly fashion, but in order to review it you must utilize some sort of a containment or tool. As you become familiar with the workings of Interactive Self-Hypnotic Tools you will be able to call them forward to work in the moment, as well as in deeper trance states. The wide screen television and the VCR are containments for viewing subconscious files. In our work all subconscious files are considered video tapes that are designed for you to readily apply Interactive Awareness and Self-Hypnosis.
On your inner mind screen place an image of your wide screen television. Locate the VCR and the portable hand controls. Notice the shelves holding the tape collections. The shelves on the left are filled with old tapes, including everything you have ever experienced through any of your senses. While these experiences truly happened, they are all recorded in a particular perception. Some perceptions that are not helpful to current goals may benefit from some editing. Old tapes are also great resources for building resilience and power in all types of goals. Resilience is found in past success, as well as in past failures. Interactive self-hypnosis allows you to alter the marinade of any file, often turning it from a de-motivator into a powerful pro-motivator.
The shelves on the right are filled with future video. Some are blank tapes ready for recording. There are also tapes holding new experiences that haven’t happened as yet. Some you have already programmed through the power of expectations, while others are pre-programmed for practicing different possibilities and experiences. Some of your pre-programs may not be based on negative expectation and therefore not in your best interest. It’s very possible that some include expectations of failure in working with your addiction or eating disorder. I’ll be showing you how to locate and edit these for success.
Mind Exercise – Programming Your Inner DVD
Take a few moments and slow your brain waves. Tilt your eyes up about twenty degrees imaging your wide screen television. Even through the image slips on and off your mind screen, your subconscious mind is aware of what you are doing. Begin by choosing an old DVD, perhaps one that has to do with your disorderly eating, bingeing or addiction. Maybe it is an old eating behavior, or a scene where you are with friends and having a difficult time in making healthy choices. Once you locate the video go deeper down into your relaxed state to help enhance your focus. With your eyes tilted up begin to review the tape on your mind screen. See yourself, noticing if you are alone or with others. Listen to the sound track. Observe the happenings, noticing you can focus in on specific areas, as well as slow down the action.
You are the writer, director and producer of each of your productions. Each video in your collection is a production of yours! In Interactive Self-Hypnosis you can stop any and all productions, be they past, future or present, and change them to benefit your desired outcomes.
You may be wondering how you could possibility benefit from something that has already happened. Keep in mind that everything is recorded through perceptions, and all perceptions can be changed to benefit you. For example, every failure can be seen through new eyes, or a change in perception. Let’s say that you are reviewing the experience of a negative eating behavior. You can edit this quite simply by indicating that you were practicing behaviors that you do not want. You can then bring in new actors to demonstrate what you do want, having them work side by side. Make certain that the correct signs are hanging over each actor’s performance! You can take this a step further by making the undesired behavior a black and white boring affair. Paint the desired behavior in bright colors, moving the stage forward into clear view. You have now successfully edited an old mind program and programmed a new, corresponding behavior that is seen as your preferred choice.
It’s just as easy to work with future video programs. In the last section of this book you will have many opportunities to apply these tools in different ways, but for now choose a blank future tape, placing it in the DVD slot. Relax deeply, tilt your eyes up and locate your inner mind screen. Notice you are coming down the path, looking absolutely great. It’s quite obvious that you are healthy, energetic and relaxed. As you notice your details, turn up the sound. You are about to hear yourself speaking to yourself. Listen to all of the wonderful things that have happened since you began managing your addiction several months ago. Perhaps there are things about your health, your relationships, work and even your prosperity. Notice someone else is coming down the path. This individual is somewhat older, but certainly just as healthy and energetic. This is your self from five years in the future, also looking forward to sharing even more wonderful things that have happened since sticking to your new program and lifestyle changes. You can even future pace this further by having another future you appearing on the scene. Later on in this book you will be working more with Interactive Self-Hypnosis Future Pacing Tools.
If you have pre-programmed future outcomes and would like to edit them, follow the same system as you did for past programming. Remember, your subconscious mind doesn’t know the difference. Simply direct and produce the outcomes that you desire just as if you already had them in the palm of your hand because that will become your reality.
A NOTE TO NEW READERS:
This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.
Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.
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