|
Most people
are familiar with self imposed limitation. We might decide
that we are unhappy in our job and want to find a new one. If
we have a healthy level of confidence, then that might sound
like a good idea. All too often though, the immediate response
from our mind will be something like "It might be worse
if you go somewhere else to work......better the devil you
know.....you'll have to accept less money....it's just the
same wherever you go anyway!" Since there is a desire to
change jobs then all of these statements are negative
programmes....blocks to change. Some blocks we can easily
overcome, but sometimes the negative emotional response to
change can be overwhelming.
When there is
a struggle for power between the will of the conscious mind
and the situation as perceived by the subconscious mind, the
subconscious invariably wins. This is because the subconscious
mind is concerned with protecting the organism, and where
safety is concerned, instinct always overrides the intellect.
We know also that when danger is perceived, then the
subconscious mind necessarily sees (forecasts) the worst in
any given situation. If there is a problem with change
therefore, where change is required or desired, it will be
because the subconscious believes the outcome will be damaging
to the organism in some way, even if this damage is purely
emotional (i.e I’ll be humiliated). Ordinarily, almost no
amount of kicking and screaming from our conscious mind (our
ordinary "will") can convince the subconscious that
the outcome will be any less disastrous than the subconscious
clearly believes it will be, and if our subconscious
mistakenly believes that there is danger where there is not,
then we start to get problems. The subconscious mind will
engineer an “avoidance” mechanism which makes sure that we
do not enter the potentially dangerous situation again. This
will range from making us feel uncomfortable about entering a
situation, which we might experience as a sense of uncertainty
and lack of confidence, right through to making it downright
impossible for us to do so……usually taking the form of
phobias, panic syndrome, anger, anxiety, depression, and in
some cases serious physical debilitation. The subconscious can
produce very severe symptoms as an avoidance mechanism.
Most of the
time the subconscious does a wonderful job of keeping us safe
and well, but by its very nature, and certainly with the best
intentions, it sometimes does more harm than good. This is
particularly true where wires are crossed as often is the case
with phobic responses to harmless everyday objects. Its
purpose and intention however is to be our friend and
protector and it will oblige in helping us enormously when it
understands what we would like it to do for us. Hypnotherapy
aims to re-discover the limiting or symptom-causing belief
system and re-frame it so that the subconscious mind
understands that the presenting symptom or limitation is
neither relevant nor necessary, and we can go further to show
it what we would like to achieve in place of that limitation.
With hypnosis
we are able to bypass the usual instinctive distrust of the
situation in question by using relaxation and focus to show
the subconscious that the organism is safe and that there is
another way to view the situation. In other words, a skilled
hypnotherapist is trained to access the clients' subconscious
belief system and re-write negative beliefs with new, more
positive and productive programmes. We know that the language
of the subconscious is imagination; or put another way, we
know that those things we imagine happening a certain way will
conform to our expectations emotionally and ultimately, as a
result…in actuality. So we achieve positive change by
literally re-imagining the outcomes and issues attached to any
given circumstance. Emotive metaphor and suggestion is used to
create a new understanding of self at a conscious and
subconscious level. This process is not to be underestimated.
It IS actually how we live our lives. Our reality is dictated
by our belief systems at both a conscious and subconscious
level. The absolute beauty of this therapy is that not only
can we alleviate painful or limiting symptoms, we can also aid
with improving performance and enjoyment in almost all walks
of life.
|
