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Senior Living

2010-08-01 12:54:00

Successful hypnosis

Question: What is the most important element for a successful hypnosis session?

Answer: I would have to say it would be desire or maybe belief. Actually, when it comes to achieving anything in this life, those two, very closely allied mind sets, are of utmost importance. You know, many years ago, I read a book by Napoleon Hill entitled “Think and Grow Rich” I really didn’t understand it at all then, but one thing did stick in my mind. In that little book, which holds the key to achievement, was a statement that I never forgot. “Anything the mind of man can conceive and believe it can achieve.” Mr. Hill summed up the whole book in those few words. The rest was mostly, “how to...”, explanations. When a person comes in for a hypnosis session, we talk about their desires, and whether they really want what they are asking for, or whether they just think it might be “nice” to have it. We talk about why and how hypnosis works, so they have the opportunity to believe that it will work. The mindset, or attitude of the person who is seeking to change their life by hypnosis, is critical to the success of the session and their achieving the goals they seek. We discuss the various mindsets and what happens with them. For instance, the person who comes in saying, “I’ll give it a try, but I know it won’t work” ….. is absolutely right. They desire failure and an excuse for it. Some people come in with the attitude, “I hope this works.” It is guaranteed not to. Because hope, is a failure word. It ranks right in there with “Ill try this and see if it works” Again it won’t because both “hope” and “try” presuppose failure. Have you ever known someone who was really in trouble and they were praying for God to come help them out? They maybe were feeling a little guilty about some of the things they had done so they prayed, “God if you’ll just do this …… for me I’ll try to do better.” Why did they tell God they would “try” to do better? Because they intended to fail and they didn’t want to get caught lying to God. “Try” is a failure word. We also see clients come in with the attitude, of “OK, I’ll do this and see if it works” and it won’t! The only way hypnosis will work is if the person seeking to change their life has the attitude, of “I like this and I know it’s going to work. I want this to work” If they have a strong desire and the belief that it will work. Of course, sometimes people want something to work but they are afraid it won’t or afraid they will be manipulated by the hypnotist. Sometime, the client is mostly afraid the session will work and of achieving the goal they set for themselves. If that were to happen, then they would be accountable for what they did with the change, and that can be downright scary. As I’ve heard since I was a child, “Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t” Many of us cling to the familiar, and often painful, because the new, or change is so very frightening. We’re afraid we can’t handle it. However, there is another fear that I believe many of us carry. It was described so beautifully by Marianne Williamson a few years ago when she said: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a Child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” So many times, I find clients who come to me, wanting to change their lives. They come to me, hating what their lives are, but so very fearful of what will happen to them if they are successful in achieving their hypnosis goal. Often times, I have a spouse who comes to me, wanting to change, seeking happiness, but so very fearful of what will happen to their marriage partner, and to them, if they suddenly change into something better than they have been. Sometimes the mother fears what will happen with her children if she suddenly changes into the person she so longs to be. She fears to lose their love. And yet, when I see them change, and heal, I also see the changes that occur with family members who are able to be around this new, wonderful, positive person. It is such a testimony to the wisdom of Ms. Williamson. Napoleon Hill in his books focused on the fact that to achieve great things, one must have a great desire for them. His term was a “burning desire”. When one has a want, of desires something, but the want or desire is weak, it is usually a product of a lack of belief that they can have what they want, or a lack of belief in themselves and the ability to achieve their goal. However, there are ways of creating the “burning desire” of belief in achieving. If you are willing to do the work, you can work on visualizing what you want as actually being real. You can imagine that you already have it. You can imagine what it feels like to have it. Imagine what you can do when you have it. You can work with your imagination until you get very emotional about having it, and then it can happen. As you imagine, you can create the emotional state that is so very powerful. Albert Einstein once said,” Imagination is more powerful than knowledge.” Napoleon Hill called his book “Think and grow Rich”, but if you read the book, thinking is only the first step. Hill talks about imagining and feeling what it is like to have what you want too much. He also says that before you can get to that step, you must decide what you want. Be very specific. Once you have a desire, go to work on it, create that burning desire for it. Imagine that you already have it. Don’t do like I did so many years ago, when I first read this gem of a book. I wanted several things, but not a whole lot. I gave myself permission to fail by asking, “but what if what I want isn’t the right thing to want?” If you have several wants, pick one and focus on it. Go through the steps to get it, and you just might find that by doing the exercise to achieve that want the most, you also get all the others. You don’t have to start out, with a burning desire and fantastic emotions about it. But you can work on it. So what if you don’t get what you want immediately? If it is worth having, it is worth expending a little energy and time to achieve it. Anyone, no matter what their circumstances, if they will work on their goal can achieve it. Of course, if you’re like me and “want it now” you can use some of the tools I do. Hypnosis helps me to reach the more powerful levels of achieving so much faster, than doing it the hard way. Hypnosis let’s me leapfrog over many of the beginning, slower steps and get right to the “good” parts. Years ago, as a young man in my twenties, I went to Eureka Springs, AR to a folk festival. While there I wandered into a “String Shop” which was mostly guitars. I walked around, dreaming about being able to play, as other folks walked in and began taking guitars off the walls and jamming. It was a folk festival so there were lots of folk songs. I thought it would be lots of fun to be able to do that too. But during a break in the jamming, an older gent reached up and took a guitar off the wall and began playing it in the classical style. Everyone in the store went silent as we listened to the beauty of the music flowing from his fingertips. It made my soul soar. I didn’t sleep well that night, tossing and turning and thinking about the beauty of that music and how much I wanted to be able to play like that. The next morning, about 10 am, the “wanting” had turned to “burning desire” and I went back to the store, bought a guitar and a classical guitar instruction book. I wanted that so bad, I decided that I would never let a day go by without practicing on that guitar for at least 5 minutes. A year later, I gave an impromptu concert of classical guitar music to my friends at a party. Burning desire and the belief that I could achieve that skill made it happen. Anyone can do the same thing, with anything they desire enough. Desire and belief are the two most important elements of a successful hypnosis session. Desire and belief are two of the most important elements of success in life. And of course, hypnosis to make it all happen faster. Murl Webster, LNHA, BCH has been helping his fellow man with hypnosis for more than 30 years. He has appeared on television and has given hypnosis advice over radio in 14 countries. He is the founder of Lifemasters llc where he gives classes in hypnosis and provides clients with personal hypnosis sessions. He is an ordained minister and a spiritual healer. You may e-mail him at Lifemastersllc@yahoo.com