[img]2088|right|Nicholas Pollak||no_popup[/img]At the latest of three sessions with a certain client, she said she had been experiencing daily anxiety, particularly in the mornings. It began two years ago, shortly after her father’s death, when depression set in. She felt so alone.
She became anxious about how she would survive. That, however, was resolved when she received a large settlement in a medical malpractice suit related to her father’s death.
More recently, the daughter quit her job, launched her own business and married. Her husband is so supportive that he has pledged to financially back her enterprise as it gains traction.
These pertinent issues, along with the death of her father, are three of the four top stressors that confront people.
Fourth is buying a new home and moving.
Freeways Presented a Threat
Meanwhile, my client was greatly agitated by her unrelieved anxiety. For months it had been worsening. She even had trouble driving the freeways. She came to see me because her anxiety was spreading.
When she gets into a car, she said, her mind turns to all of the bad things that could happen. Next she frets she might experience a panic attack when behind the wheel or when conducting business with one of her clients. Rather than accepting that what she is so anxious about is not occurring, she is actually is writing a script to ensure her anxiety.
In her first two sessions, at length we had covered the importance of a low sugar, high protein diet to ensure stable blood sugar levels. Since the woman is a Type 1 diabetic, she was closely watching her sugar levels. We looked at how people communicate, how they behave. At her third session, we explored theory of the mind, an eye opener for her.
With all the potential we have with our brain, we only use 5 percent of it. Ten percent of that is our conscious mind, 90 percent our subconscious. My client had tricked her subconscious into giving her these anxious behaviors as a result of training her subconscious to give them to her. As we grow, we evolve. We learn behaviors based on how we are raised and what kind of childhood environment we had. We do not realize that we are training our subconscious to give us the behaviors we want when we want them. The subconscious does not know what is bad or good, false or real, right or wrong.
Peering Inside Our Subconscious
It acts as a hard drive, storing information. Our conscious minds determine bad or good, and the choices we make.
Our subconscious has learned to give us what we ask of it. Change requires intervention within the subconscious or to repeat the wanted behavior until it becomes automatic.
Try it for yourself. Close your eyes. Imagine approaching a bank teller, saying that you want to withdraw bad memories. Wait until they come. They will, I promise. Walk away. When you return to the teller, this time say you want to withdraw good memories. They, too, will arrive. From this experience you will learn that whatever you ask your mind for, it will give you.
Another example. Say, on Monday evening you develop a schedule you must follow on Tuesday. You will find that you are uncomfortable until achieving all you set out to do.
Try this exercise. Most of us place our bags or keys in the same place every time we come home. Today, pick a new place. The goal is to put them in the new location 21 days in a row. This helps you understand how you deal with changes. In the first week, the chances of remembering to do it every day are low. By the second week, they improve. After three weeks, you are now putting them in your new place without thinking. You have created a new habit by repetition.
Finally, my client was not accepting responsibility for her own behavior. She blamed circumstances, location and other people for her troubles. Once she understood the theory of the mind and how her behaviors developed, she saw that she alone was responsible for all decisions she had made. Once she accepted her behaviors as her own, understanding how she was tricking herself with false associations, she rapidly improved.
Today, no longer anxious, her marriage is thriving and so is her very successful business.
Do not hesitate to contact me by telephone, 310.204.3321, or by email at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net. See my website at www.hypnotherapy4you.net
