Which comes first....good eating habits or good sleep habits? You may think that they have nothing to do with each other, but this is wrong thinking. Everything is connected & so your addictive behaviors are connected to your sleep behaviors. How you sleep is very important to the management of addictions. The body needs a deep level of rest and to produce dreams. These assist in stress release, as well as problem solving. Some people have bad sleep hygiene. Some is related to food stress & the practice of other addictions, as well as "not releasing stress" during the day. Remember the blog entry on releasing? In addition to our daily stress building, many of us were taught poor sleep hygiene. Go ahead down your past path & notice if anyone mentored these behaviors to you? It's also a good idea to review your sleep history, noticing if it was something you looked forward to or something you fought. It's not uncommon for those of us with addiction histories to have stressful sleep "stories." Of course you already know that you can delete these from your "story book", while planting new, healthy patterns between the pages of your new book.
MIND EXERCISE
Relax deeply into the moment. Utilize your breath to take you deeper down to a place where you can watch your story up on your mind screen. Take a moment to review your current sleep habits, as well as how you prepare for sleep. When you are ready, regress and visit some early areas that signal sleep information available. Trust your subconscious mind to show you the areas. There is no need to effort. Simply elicit your relaxation response and request any information that might be helpful in relation to sleep pattern improvement.
CLAIRE
"I’ve always been a follower from the time I was a child. I’m beginning to get annoyed with in myself. Sometimes I dream that I wake up in a totally different mind and body. The idea of changing seems too big a job, especially with all the other things I have to do in my life. Is it truly possible to make really big changes or should I just settle for who I am and let it go at that?"
It's interesting that Claire is asking questions in a different genre, although "dreaming" is in her question. Reading Claire's question helps us to see how writing helps us to understand thought patterns. When we think the mind is going very quickly, but when we write things down the mind slows and gives us information to work with. Here you can see some of Claire's frames and inner programs. Perhaps you would like your subconscious mind librarian to answer her questions. Relax deeply for a moment and observe the writing that comes off the end of your pen.
LET'S EXPLORE STRENGTHS
Stay deeply relaxed, but turn your attention to yourself now. You have many strengths. They are located in your experiences on your time-line. Early strengths are just as important, if not more so, than current ones. Take ample time to regress and visit past experiences. Ask your subconscious mind to name the strength being presented in the experience you are observing. Sometimes we have difficulty naming them, but they are there. Once you are aware, you can bring these forward and future pace them. That means you can attach them to new goals that haven't been achieved as yet. You will also learn to apply them "in the moment." This is the true power of Interactive Self-Hypnosis.
LET'S EXPLORE WEAKNESSES
While strengths are important, weaknesses are key to improvement. Only those who are willing to identify these short-comings will achieve at high levels. It doesn't matter what the goal. You need to see the flags and get into the pit with them. Every weakness holds the secret for success. Hypnotically you can open them up and engage them in the process of goal achieving. This is called transmuting. Later in the book you will learn many ways to work with these jewels. For now, take this basket and go collecting. The more you bring back the better. You can find them in the past, as well as in already formulated future-paced files.
How do you spend your free time?
How you choose to spend your time speaks volumes about you. It is in this area of detective work that you will find keys to managing your addiction. This is a good train to regress on. Go back and review early years, noticing your play and choice of hobbies. Sport is also important. Truly visit and become involved in the experience. Notice how you feel about yourself during these times. Move forward to the time when you stopped doing certain things, taking time to notice why. You may uncover some hidden de-motivators that are best seen in the light. Check out your current free time and any hobbies, as well as the level of involvement that you allow yourself.
SETTING GOALS HERE & NOW
What would you like to achieve with this work? Be very specific. Sometimes we think we know what we want, until asked to explain or define it. This may be one of those times. Don't just cop out by stating "I'd like to manage my sugar addiction." Write down how it will be when you do this. Truly explore as if writing a letter to someone about your decision to work in this book. This will become part of your blueprint for change.
Aside from the above, write down some of your other goals. Be specific. Review the different areas of your life such as health, relationship with yourself, with others, prosperity, work, home, spiritual, future and anything else that presents itself to you. You might want to relax deeply before writing, taking time for your subconscious mind to connect up with you.
What do you see as problems, obstacles, old beliefs, etc. that might be getting in your way towards your goal achievement? Some of these rocks may be on the surface and so it's a god idea to locate them. Others will be underground and they will pop up as the work continues. If you have difficulty focusing, relax deeply when doing this work and regress a bit. Look to experiences where you didn't achieve what you wanted to and then ask your subconscious mind to show you the problem or obstacle. Make some notes about these. If they weren't properly managed then, they are probably still hanging around.
CLAIRE
]" As I see it, my paths are loaded with rocks thrown all over the place. It’s like there is nothing but rocks. Is it possible that there isn’t anything else there and if so, what can I do?"
It’s not uncommon for individuals with addiction to see as Claire sees, but this only a perception and can be changed. We all have rocks. Claire framed them as negatives, but as we do this work, rocks are seen as powerful tools for change. So in actuality, Claire has a goldmine on his path.
A NOTE TO NEW READERS:
This experiential blog/workshop is based on my new book, "How Many Cookies Will It Take to Make Me Happy?" This book is not published as yet, but you have the opportunity to read it in it's unpublished state. If you are new to my writing, you might want to read the earlier mini-chapters. They are available on FaceBook, The PublishersMarketPlace & at the following link. Remember to scan down to find the earliest chapters & work your way up. http://beyonddisorderlyeating.blogspot.com/
A bit of background.... we are working with creative Interactive Self-Hypnosis imagery, planting suggestions directly into the creative subconscious mind as you read along. What appears like a story is a series of self-hypnotic sessions, designed to bring about desired lifestyle changes. The inner mind is creative & rather child-like, loving to play with images, especially when they are emotionalized. Just like the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words", well-planted mind images, can be worth hours of therapy. We can actually change or motivate in 1/200th of a second. So come along & look forward to some lifestyle-changing events.
Copyright 2009 Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
May not be copied or reproduced without permission of the author.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is author of Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. She is also the writer/producer of over 350 mp3/CD programs in the areas of medicine, health, prevention, addictions, self-development & sports for adults & children.
http://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.bohorquez
http://www.twitter.com/elizRN
http://www.hypnosis-audio.com
http://www.sugar-addiction.com
http://www.international-medical-health-writers
