Hypnotic Thoughts.

Testing for Hypnotic Suggestibility with a Chevreul's Pendulum

What is Chevreul's Pendulum?

Girls Can Build Self-Esteem Using Hypnosis

I try to take hints from what's going on around me when it comes to developing new products and services.  Over the past several months, I've had several different clients tell me that they enjoyed using hypnosis for their own increased wellness to the extent that they think it would be great for their kids.  Specifically, they all mentioned their daughters and how they wished there was a way to use hypnosis to help them be more confident and positive about themselves.  How could I not follow up on that one?

And voila:  "Thinking Positive (for girls)"

The first of a new line of ego strengthening audio programs, Thinking Positive (for girls) is designed for girls 12-18 years old.  It uses the framework of a classic ego strengthening routine, but it's modified to have language friendlier to a young person and it has a whole extra set of suggestions aimed at helping girls be reminded that they are beautiful, talented, and gifted. 

Look, let's be honest: girls can be pretty mean to each other.  Kids can be tough on each other in general, but there's something particularly difficult about girl culture.  I saw it when I was a teacher, and I still hear about it today from my friends who have daughters.  All of those behaviors are suggestive.  If they happen enough, which they usually do in adolescence, they can take on the power of waking suggestion, and girls can start to actually believe the mean things that are being said. 

When kids are in grade school, they believe the sky is the limit for them.  One day they want to be an astronaut, the next a movie star, and they always believe it's possible.  As they move into adolescence, the range of possibilities shrinks, largely because they keep getting messages from parents, teachers, and peers about what they can and can't do.  It's waking hypnosis!  And a bad form of hypnosis at that.

How do you fight it?  With some good hypnosis.  If you've got a daughter, provide her with suggestions in the waking state EVERY DAY.  Remind her that she's got skills, smarts, creativity, humor, and a sense of right and wrong.  That's what my audio program does, and that's what I do with girls when their parents bring them in to see me for live personal coaching.

Spice Girl Mel B Uses Hypnosis for Stage Fright

She used to perform for entire stadiums full of people when she was a Spice Girl.  Now, Melanie Brown has a burlesque-style show in Las Vegas at Planet Hollywood.  While the venue is smaller than the old days, Brown has been getting severe anxiety about performing, so she started using hypnosis to curb that anxiety.

Her situation is a great example of how people can develop powerful anxieties that are really quite silly.  Here's a woman who has performed all over the world for hundreds of thousands of people, and now she has stage fright?  It makes no sense, right?  That's how it usually works.

Phobias or social anxiety disorders usually are quite illogical.  It can be hard to understand why a person would develop such a powerful reaction to an ordinary situation, but it happens often.  One cannot approach the problem from an intellectual standpoint because the reaction to the situation isn't happening intellectually; it's coming from an emotional place in the subconscious.  This is why hypnosis is great to use for stage fright.  Hypnosis gets into that subconscious level and helps re-program the faulty thinking that's occurring, replacing it with healthy, positive thinking.

If you suffer from performance anxiety, you can visit a hypnotist for live sessions to get rid of your stage fright, or you can learn self-hypnosis to get over it, or you can use a good audio program to help you, as well. 

Tax increase on cigarettes goes into effect today.

President Obama's increase on the federal cigarette tax goes into effect today, bringing that tax up 62 cents to a full dollar and raising cigarette prices up to anywhere between five and seven dollars per pack, depending on what brand you're buying and what state you live in.  That means that if you smoke a pack a day you're spending somewhere between $1,800 and $2,500 a year on cigarettes.

That's just the cost of the cigarettes.  Add in the cost of higher insurance premiums paid by smokers, more trips to the doctor because of smoking-related illness, and time missed from work because of those illnesses.  Smoking costs you thousands of dollars each year.

Think of what else you could do with that money!  Think of how much more freedom you would have financially.  Think of how many car payments that is.  Think of how many rent or mortgage payments that is.  Think of what kind of a vacation you could take with that money. 

If there was ever a time for you to kick this habit, it's now.  This cost issue is never going to get any better; it's only going to get worse.  How much longer will you incur that cost?  When is enough, enough?

As a hypnotist, I don't judge smoking as a right or wrong issue.  I look at it in terms of whether it really provides you with something that's worthwhile.  Is the satisfaction you get from smoking really worth this cost?  For some people, I suppose it might be, but for most folks I just don't see how it can be.  It just seems like there's way too much inconvenience that comes with being a smoker. 

Have more money.  Have more freedom.  Hypnosis can help.

Five Great Reasons to Quit Smoking

Thursday, November 20, 2008 is the Great American Smokeout.  All week here at "Hypnotic Thoughts" we're focusing on smoking cessation.  How to get motivated, how to create a quit plan, and how hypnosis can help will all be covered this week.

There are many, many reasons to become a non-smoker, and the reasons that matter most are different for each individual.  You could have a million valid reasons to quit, but if none of them really mean anything to you personally, it's not enough.  Today I'm going to cover five reasons for becoming a non-smoker in the hopes that one or more of them may trigger that "aha!" moment for someone.

Reason #1:  You're worth it.
    Many people have developed a sense of powerlessness with their smoking habit.  My clients often describe feeling as if they have no say in the matter anymore, but that simply isn't true.  You always have the power to choose, and you deserve to choose something good for yourself.  You deserve to be healthier, happier, and more fulfilled. 

Reason #2:  It's not too late.
    People who have been smoking for a decade or more often feel like it's too late for them to receive significant health benefits from quitting.  This is not the case.  Regardless of how long you've been smoking, once you've quit for a year your risk of smoking-related heart attack is cut in half.  Once you've been a non-smoker for 10 years your risk of dying from lung cancer is cut in half.  If you stay a non-smoker for 15 years your risk of dying from a heart attack is equal to a person who never smoked.  Your body has an amazing ability to heal and repair itself.  Take advantage of it NOW.

Reason #3:  You get some enjoyable benefits relatively quickly.
    Eight hours after you stop smoking your oxygen level in your blood will be back to normal.  Within 48 hours your sense of taste and smell will improve.  Within 72 hours your lung capacity increases.  So you get to start having positive results pretty quickly.  One of the most common things my clients mention about the benefits of being a non-smoker is how much nicer their food tastes. 

Reason #4:  You'll have more money. 
    Just do the math.  At an average price of $4.50, if you smoke a pack a day you're smoking away $1638 per year.  Take a moment and think about what else you could do with that kind of money.  A house payment, a vacation, holiday shopping, or invest it and let it grow into even more money!  And there are other ways that it can cost you to be a smoker.  Lost time on the job, losing your job altogether, and more.  This article details that more.

Reason #5:  Someone you love wants you to.
    Now at first this sounds like you should quit for someone else, and that's true to a certain extent, but it's also a way of doing something for yourself.  Just think about it.  There's almost certainly someone in your life who loves you very much, and that love actually keeps them from talking to you about quitting because they don't want to anger you or make you feel bad.  Or sometimes it's the opposite, and they bring it up regularly, and perhaps you even argue with them and have tension about it.  Either way, if you become a non-smoker it's going to make the people you love happier, and this will enrich your relationship with them, and that benefits you, too.
    Benjamin Franklin once said, "Dost thou love life?  Then do not squander time, for that is the stuff life is made of."  The research clearly shows that, while there's no guarantee, you DO have a better chance of living longer if you are a non-smoker.  Every day, week, month, or year that you live with the people you love is a gift, and we all have to do a better job of not taking that gift for granted.  Birthdays, weddings, grandchildren... there are so many life events that you could miss out on if you shorten your life by remaining a smoker.
    Just take one minute.  Take 60 little seconds, and think about the people in your life that matter most.  Think about the things you've always looked forward to doing with them, but haven't gotten around to yet.  It takes time to get to all those things.  Give yourself, and the people you love, as much time as you can.  Keep yourself healthy and vibrant, and able to spend that time doing things that you, and they, will always remember.

Your next success is right around the corner...

United Way Promotion

I'm in South Portland, Maine, today performing for Wright Express as part of their rally for the United Way of the greater Portland area.  The folks at Wright Express wanted to make sure that the folks attending their rally got to have some laughs and see something interesting, so here I am.  Well, right now I'm actually at a Panera, but you get what I mean...

After doing the early show, and seeing the whole presentation that gets made to folks at the rally, I was really struck by the good work that folks in this community are doing, and the good work that the United Way does all year long, year after year.  So I got to thinking, and I came up with an idea that I think is a win-win for everybody.  Here goes.

Until September 26th you can purchase any hypnosis product at my store and use the code "united" at checkout to get 20% off of all products.  Then I will give $5.00 of every purchase to the United Way.  Just think about it: you can get yourself or someone you love a relaxing hypnosis audio program and help people in need at the same time.  Pretty cool, right?

My own little economic stimulus package :)

Money's tight for a lot of folks lately.  The Federal Government has created an economic stimulus package that qualifies most Americans for a check for $600.  Some people might say $600 isn't much these days, but when times get tough, $600 could do quite a few things for you.  $600 is about two-thirds of a tank of home heating oil at today's prices.  The average car payment for Americans today is $479 according to Edmunds.com, so you could pay off one month's payment and still have some money left over.  Keep thinking about it, and I'm sure you'll really start to think about all the ways you could use $600.

If you smoke cigarettes, quitting could be the equivalent of getting a stimulus check every year for the rest of your life.  Seriously.  If you smoke half a pack of cigarettes a day, at an average of $4.00 per pack, you're spending around $730 per year on cigarettes alone!  If you smoke a pack a day, it's $1460.  Imagine what you could do with that kind of money!

I used an online investment calculator to figure out how much money you could make if you invested it instead of smoked it away.  Let's just say that cigarettes didn't get any more expensive for the next 20 years (yeah, right).  Just imagine that they stayed at $4.00 a pack.  If you took that $730 each year and invested it, and the investment provided a modest 4% return, then after 20 years you would have $22,608 at your disposal.  At 30 years it would be $42,580.  At 40 years it would be $72,143.

Now if you are a pack-a-day smoker, think of this.  If you invested $1460 a year for 20 years and got a 4% return that would mean $45,215 more for you to retire on.  After 30 years?  $85,159.  40 years?  $144,287  That's JUST using the cigarette money, and pretending that the cost of cigarettes never went up again.  There are other costs.  Higher insurance premiums, more doctor bills, lost wages from more sick days.  If you want to get a better sense of how all the costs come together, there's a calculator that does it at this website.

You deserve to feel better, to be happier, to have more money and freedom.  I want to help.  So I'm introducing a little stimulus package of my own.  Purchase my smoking cessation program, "You CAN quit." and I will upgrade you to the Premium Package at NO ADDITIONAL COST.  You will receive:

• Two CD hypnosis audio program (helps re-shape habits and increase motivation.)
• One fluid ounce of aromatherapy oil (Relaxes and helps the body remove toxins.)
• Package of organic herbal tea (Red clover and verbena.  It's over $120/pound!)

This package normally sells for $74.87.  You save $25.00.   You simply won't find anything like this at other hypnosis product sites.  Most other hypnotists just want to sell you a hypnosis recording, and that's fine.  I want to provide you with a more holistic approach, a way to create balance mentally and physically so that you can be successful and happy.

You don't need a code.  Just purchase the regular "You CAN quit." program and I'll automatically upgrade you when your order is packed and shipped.  Simple and easy.

This is a great opportunity.  This special offer is good only through Friday, May 23, 2008.  Take advantage of it NOW!

What do people fear most?

I ask this question at my shows and presentations all the time: what's the most common fear Americans have today?  The answers are consistent.  People think it's heights, or flying, or spiders, or snakes.  Nine out of ten times, they don't get it.  The greatest fear the average person in America has today is the fear of speaking in front of a group.  Public speaking.  Really.

Talking.  You may be thinking, "How can you be afraid of talking?"  Well, you can, because it's not so much the fear of talking as the fear of the people you're talking to.  Getting up in front of a group of people and speaking to them creates a situation in which you're placed in a position of opposition.  You are separated from the group, and this prevents you from blending into the group.  Most folks have a natural instinct to blend in, not stand out.  I'm not a clinical professional, but you can read about social phobias in the Diagnostic Statistical Manual, fourth edition.  This website has the listing from the manual.

Here's the good news: hypnosis can help!  Anxiety is a reaction related to the fight-or-flight response hard-wired into the brain, and hypnosis can re-program the trigger for this particular activation of the response.  I've just released a new product to help people who fear public speaking.  It's called "Speak with Confidence!"

The process is super simple.  You listen to the recording once a day for a week leading up to the presentation you have to make.  The recording will give direct suggestions to the subconscious level of your mind, changing the way it thinks about speaking to groups.  The recording will also provide suggestions for boosting your confidence and getting more focused at the time of your presentation so that your mind works more efficiently. 

Some people who use the product will find that it immediately resolves the issue, while others will discover that it decreases their anxiety more and more as they use it over time.  Hypnosis is a dynamic process that works differently for each person.  This program covers the most common issues folks face when they fear public speaking so that it will appeal to as many people as possible.

This is the part of my job that is the most gratifying.  Being able to help people, using hypnosis, create happier, more fulfilled versions of themselves is so rewarding to me, and every time I create a new product like this one it really gets me excited.  In fact, I'm so eager to get this product out there that I'm going to offer a discount code on this product for the rest of this week.  Use the code "take5off" when you purchase this new product by Friday, May 2 and you'll get $5.00 off the cost of the program.  That's basically 25% off!  Enjoy it.  Use it.  You deserve it.

Your next success is right around the corner.

New t-shirt design!

Our first t-shirt design is here!  I met Jared Aronson at a craft fair in New Hampshire last summer.  Jared is a fun person who owns and operates Madhouse Tees.  I asked him a little while ago to design a t-shirt just for me, and he did.  I think it's great!