Self Hypnosis

WHY IS A BAD HABIT SO HARD TO BREAK?

The subconscious is often called ‘the unconscious’ in many teachings. I prefer ‘subconscious’ because this term is not so misleading. The word ‘unconscious’ perpetuates the popular myth that hypnosis is sleep. This brings us to the importance of another misunderstood facet of human behaviour, the bad habit. People are surprised that bad habits are hard to break but rarely consider what a blessing it is to be able to keep good ones. Imagine learning to ice-skate or drive a car and then suddenly losing the habit! The consequences could be fatal.

To form a habit you practise it and, when practised enough, it becomes automatic. You first consciously work at it, then, if you continue for a long enough period, the subconscious takes over. The subconscious does not judge whether it is a good or bad habit. It presumes that if you do it enough, then you must want it to be permanent. Likewise, when you want to put an end to a habit you have to practise until you ‘automatically’ stop doing it.

The subconscious is programmed to ensure that the conscious retains this newly-learned habit. Part of the ‘job’ of the subconscious is to create an obstacle course to prevent any change to the acquired habit.

Once the subconscious has taken a habit on board it provides an ‘urge’. It is, therefore, the subconscious that we need to access in order to persuade it to cancel the programme that triggers this ‘urge’. Hypnosis provides instant access to the subconscious and allows an immediate change of attitude which, in turn, changes the unwanted behaviour. Simply put, with hypnosis it is not necessary to practise unlearning a habit because the work has already been completed. The conscious mind is more or less bypassed—only, however, if it is in the individual’s interest.

If you were to decide at a later date that you wanted to regain an old habit, very little practice would be needed. The programme would already be set and could easily be retrieved. For example, if you had not ridden a bike for 10 years and then had a go, you might be a bit shaky at first but, nevertheless, your confidence would soon return. Or, just walking down a flight of stairs, try thinking which foot goes where and notice how difficult it is. Since you have formed the habit it has become an automatic instinct and you are no longer conscious of the action. Consider amnesia victims: whatever else they may have forgotten, they always remember how to open doors, how to talk and how to perform most habitual, simple tasks. I should know, if anyone does!

Just as you can eliminate a bad habit without practice through hypnosis, it is also feasible that you can create a good one in the same way. I have proved this in developing a speed reading programme in which I can guarantee at least to double a person’s reading speed, while increasing retention and concentration, in less than three hours (20 minutes if there is no trauma involved which may be preventing the subject from accepting the speed reading technique). To speed read properly you have to use a pointer, such as a pen, pencil or even your finger, to lead your eyes across the page. Without hypnosis it could take as long as 40 hours’ practice to master this. It may sound simple but involves a complicated procedure, linking eye movement and the correct maximum speed for optimum concentration. To achieve the 100 per cent success rate I have been able to claim with my speed reading clients there may be a need for advanced methods of hypnosis, but suggestion-only therapy can reach a healthy 60 per cent of those who try it. Obstacles to the success of the suggestion therapy arise in the form of trauma-based problems, which more than likely date from early childhood. The trauma can be as simple as that when you first attended school your teacher slapped your hand if you used your finger to point to the words as you read.

Our actions are dependent on the information we receive in early life and, therefore, many problems have begun with a ‘programme’ that was established in early infancy. If you are doing something that you really do not want to do it is because you are acting on an incorrect programme. It is not necessarily bad or good, just inappropriate for you. If a person says to me that he has a problem and he knows exactly when it started—it could be anything from fear of flying to insomnia—invariably he is wrong! Few if any of us are really aware of when or where a trauma started, only when the programme came into operation. The actual trauma will probably have happened much earlier, a later incident only triggering off the programme.

If someone really could remember the trauma, there would not be a problem. The conscious would have been able to deal with the trauma and solve the resulting problem naturally with its logic. The reason the conscious cannot solve the problem—say, fear of flying—is that it does not have all the information it needs to be able to use logic to eliminate the fear.

Sometimes, even trauma-based problems can be treated with suggestion therapy, but there is a higher success rate with problems that are purely and simply bad habits. Most bad habits are not the result of a trauma but rather of practice.

Smoking is a good example of a bad habit. It is only a bad habit once the smoker decides he or she wants to give up. It might have been an unhealthy habit but it did not start out as a bad one, from the individual’s point of view. Humans do not persist at acquiring bad habits, only at habits they want. For example, nail-biting in its early stages might have been done for comfort, just as thumb-sucking or nose-picking all begin innocently enough. There has been extensive research to prove that the nicotine in cigarettes is the reason that smokers find it nearly impossible to quit, although just as many other reports disprove this. In 1992 I was at a conference where figures were produced proving that 90 per cent of smokers gave up without any help from products on the market (including therapy), with 40 per cent of this 90 per cent suffering no ill side-effects whatsoever. The latter tallies with my own statistics. I have a Stop Smoking programme that only takes one hour and carries a very healthy (95 per cent) success rate. The client stops immediately and does not suffer the supposedly mandatory side-effects. Suggestion hypnotherapy that has a positive 30 per cent success rate (and with the right script and hypnotherapist a 60 per cent success rate) has worked for giving up smoking for many years. It is all down to the old rule: ‘What the mind expects tends to happen!’ If the smoker is programmed to believe there must be side-effects, then there will be. Out of the thousands of smokers I have treated, I have never found a common denominator in the type of side-effect they suffered to give credence to the popular but unproven opinion that smoking is an addiction.

At present there is a great deal of scientific debate over whether smoking is an addiction or a habit. I would say that smoking is a mental addiction, whereas, say, taking heroin is a physical addiction. A mental addiction can be eliminated instantly with hypnosis, without the occurrence of side-effects. On the other hand, a drug addiction takes longer to treat, as the body will necessarily have a physical response when deprived of the drug it has become used to.

There have been extensive tests and surveys by addiction clinics claiming to prove that smoking constitutes a physical addiction to nicotine. But the mere fact that they are called ‘addiction’ clinics will automatically discourage those smokers who believe it is only a habit. Therefore, the results of any survey based on test results in these clinics are bound to be totally flawed! The belief that smoking is a physical addiction is what the popular nicotine ‘patches’ trade on. It is hardly surprising that, whatever the manufacturers’ claims, their success rate is disappointingly low.

PROBLEMS AND HYPNOSIS

It always amazes me to see the huge number of weekend courses for the mind that are available in the UK. Unfortunately not all of them are good and some of them are very esoteric. The course ‘junkies’ tend to be forever taking one course or another, almost every weekend. You can easily spot them. They analyse your conversation and then assess you in public. Life is not as straightforward as this and it soon becomes very boring. I fear we may soon become a nation of DIY health analysts, just acting on theories. Not a very pleasant thought! As a therapist one is taught to watch out for ‘therapy’ junkies. These are people who go around the different therapists, trying everything even though their own doctor can find nothing wrong with them. These people never get any better and have either had every illness imaginable or stick to the same one that resists cure no matter whom they see. These people are always difficult to treat because they actually get satisfaction out of the constant attention their problem receives.

If you are going to try your hand at suggestion hypnosis after reading this book, then keep it simple. Do not try to analyse your problem too deeply. If you or someone you are hypnotizing does not respond to suggestion hypnosis, then you will know that more advanced work is needed. At least trying it yourself first will save you the cost of going to a hypnotherapist, who may charge anything between £25 and £150 per session to get the same results you could get at home. Also, the information in this book will help you to know which questions to ask a hypnotherapist so that you can find one with the right training to assist you in more advanced work. If there is some aspect of your behaviour that you want to change, use hypnosis to your advantage—but do not abuse it. If someone else says you have a problem which you have not been aware of and which does not bother you, then it is not your problem—it is theirs! Remember the old saying: ‘If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it.’

RULES OF THE MIND

There are certain rules that the mind always follows. I have listed below the ones I find are the most interesting and helpful. You do not have to be an expert psychologist to follow them. If you want to use and programme a computer, you do not need to become a computer expert—you just need to know the basics for the work you will be doing. The same applies to the mind. You do not need to study psychology for years to use suggestion hypnosis; you just need to know the essentials. Although minds are far more complex than the most sophisticated computer ever designed, they all rest on the same basic foundations. The four rules that follow can help you to understand how you can work on yourself to achieve changes in your behaviour.

Rule 1

Every thought creates a physical reaction. Research has shown that emotions, brought on by thought, cause an inward physical reaction. Worry, for example, causes changes in the stomach (ulcers, diarrhoea, digestion problems, etc.). Anger stimulates the adrenal glands, causing increased adrenaline in the bloodstream affecting many bodily functions. It is better to vent anger, therefore, than to suppress it. Anxiety and fear stimulate the blood supply, possibly leading to a high pulse rate and blood-pressure. The subconscious mind, too, is affected by thoughts with strong emotional content; once these have been accepted they become a programme and trigger the same response over and over again.

Rule 2

You cannot have two conflicting thoughts at one time: for example, you can be either sad or happy, you cannot be both at once. You can train yourself to change moods, however depressing your environment. If you have a worrying thought you can learn to shelve it and bring forward a memory of a more pleasant occasion. You can make a ‘hell out of heaven’. I was living on a beautiful Malaysian island when I began writing this book. Suddenly, out of nowhere, there came a host of problems that brought me depression, even in paradise. One of the wise islanders to whom I remarked: ‘There is no peace in paradise’ replied: ‘The only paradise is in your mind.’ How true.

You can also make a ‘heaven out of hell’. Take for example the person in jail who still manages to live happily through his imagination and thoughts. One of my students had, many years before, served a six-year jail sentence as a political prisoner. He served his time in the same jail in South Africa as Nelson Mandela and, although the experience was horrendous, he kept his sanity by thinking of beautiful and peaceful surroundings and all the good things in life, remaining positive through the hell to which he was being subjected. When I met him he still had a wonderful outlook on life, which made him very easy to converse with and enabled him to become a very calming therapist. The jail sentence had given him the keen ambition to help people. He has now taken his skills back to Africa.

A negative mind can soon become ill and plummet into the depths of depression if not alleviated. Negativity and depression can be overcome by practising good, positive thoughts. The mind needs ‘feeding’ through the powers of hearing, vision and speech.

Hearing

Censor your thoughts to keep them positive. Choose carefully what TV programmes you watch or with whom you socialize. There is an old saying that your character can be assessed by the company you keep. When I lived and worked in Hollywood a famous old director I was interviewing put it simply, but colourfully, like this: ‘When you lie down with dogs you get up with fleas.’

Vision

Look at pleasant scenery. If possible, travel to the countryside or recall favourite places by looking through photographs. Watch pleasant and light-hearted TV programmes; switch off programmes which disturb you. Select carefully which newspapers you read. ‘Pass’ on upsetting news that is no use to you. I edited a video trade paper when I lived in Hollywood. This was in 1982, when cable TV was booming in the US while, back in the UK, video machines were first being marketed. I noticed that the levels of violence in the US were very frightening. Television news was full of violence. When it became apparent that video shops and video nasties were coming on the UK market, I predicted in an article that in 10 years’ time the UK would have changed out of all recognition, having itself become a very violent society. I fear that my prediction has come true.

Speech

Speak positively and you will begin to see the changes in other people’s attitudes towards you. Change negative ideas to positive ones and you will find yourself becoming more popular with positive people. Negative people will only hold back your growth. Suppose you were to go into a wine bar and see a group of people in a corner enjoying themselves, all talking positively and generating a feeling of enthusiasm. Now imagine a negative person joining the group. He or she would easily make the crowd feel uncomfortable, affecting their confidence, possibly introducing depressing conversation and sapping their enthusiasm even further. On the other hand, if there were a group of moaners in the wine bar with negative attitudes and a positive person were to join them, more than likely the opposite would occur. The solitary, positive person would be brought down to feeling negative in a very short time.

It is easy to slip into negative thinking. The ill mind is far more susceptible to negative thoughts, resulting in deep depression. When I have a client who is in deep depression, I advise him to start to monitor what he sees, hears and says, just as I am advising you now. Your brain is fed through these three faculties, so feed them correctly. This in turn will change your attitudes. To many people it comes as quite a surprise to realize that they have a choice as to whether they want to think positively or be depressive. It is even more unsettling to them when they realize that they can train themselves to take control of their thoughts and be the master of their mind instead of its servant. There is a difference between suppressing emotions and moving them. Suppressing is when you push an emotion down and bury it. Moving an emotion allows it to be accessible when you are ready to deal with it yourself.

I interviewed Uri Geller, the incredible fellow who became famous by bending keys and other metal through the power of his mind. I could not have been more impressed with his vast house, his personality and his many photographs of his beautiful family. On the face of it—and I have no reason to believe otherwise—he is living proof of what visualization can do. He told me how he used a television screen in his mind to visualize how he wanted to feel, using his imagination to invent his own movie, showing what he wanted to achieve, his goals, eliminating negative thoughts and spurring a host of other equally positive assignments. He takes the time to make it work.

Pictures are the language the subconscious understands. If you picture yourself happy, your subconscious will send you happy thoughts. If you picture yourself a failure, your subconscious, thinking that is what you want to be, will send you all the reasons you need to fail so that you can attain what it believes is your goal. In Uri Geller’s early days he performed stage hypnosis and was well aware of the power of the mind. He knew that you control your mind, not the other way round. Unfortunately, most people let their mind control them, looking on helplessly as it takes over. It is very difficult to get the average person to accept the simple fact that he is in charge of his own destiny.

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