Many people fear that another person can control their minds with hypnosis.
In truth, hypnosis gives people more control over their own minds. People can learn to eliminate a fear, stop bleeding at will, and immediately stop addictive cravings. And yes, that kind of self control through hypnosis really is something that can be learned.
Actually, hypnosis gives us more control by offering us the opportunity to temporarily break our habit of consciously trying to control things. In the state of deep relaxation that is part of the hypnotic experience, we can let ourselves be. Simply by observing the breath, without needing to control it, we can open up to the loving wisdom of our unconscious mind, which is creative and resourceful beyond our conscious imagination.
And think about it. If it were simply a matter of bossing our minds around, all those years of negative self-talk would have honed our character and habits long ago.
We all practice self-hypnosis. We tell ourselves to go to the store to buy batteries for the flashlight, and we do it!
So why doesn’t an internal command to stop procrastinating make someone instantly productive and industrious? One answer is that there is often an internal conflict over the postponed activity. He figures that taking out the trash is somehow unpleasant, so we read an article on the Internet about hypnosis. Another answer is that a self-hypnotic command to stop doing something focuses the mind on what we want to avoid, rather than what we specifically want to achieve.
When we successfully order ourselves to buy the batteries, there is a conscious and unconscious agreement: we need and want the batteries. So let’s go to the store.
A key to the success of hypnosis is finding ways, through hypnotically structured communication, to generate inner agreement with conscious goals. And that requires finding something to motivate the unconscious mind about the suggested actions or changes.
Two crucial elements of effective hypnotic communications are:
1. Suggestions are structured in a positive way. We suggest what we want, not what we don’t want. For example, “I enjoy healthy food more every day” gives the unconscious mind a direction in which to move. “I won’t eat junk food anymore” focuses the unconscious mind’s attention on, you guessed it, junk food. And the unconscious mind will move us towards what we focus our attention on.
2. Cleverly vague communications, which are hypnotic in nature because they allow the inner mind to respond to suggestions in delightfully creative ways. For example, “I eat an apple every day” is not as good as “I wonder how much more pleasure it will take me to find ways to enjoy the benefits of eating an apple every day.” The first sentence is a direct command and limits us to one choice: eat an apple. The second prize involves the creative and open process of wonder and presupposes pleasure in the desired changes. And of course, pleasure is a powerful motivator.
