[img]560|left|Nicholas D. Pollak||no_popup[/img]I was at home today with 45 minutes to spare before leaving to deliver a talk on hypnotherapy. As I was waiting, I realized I was nervous.
I have given the same talk several times.
But I kept thinking of what would happen if I froze during the talk or if someone were to ask a question that I could not answer.
I realized I was setting myself up for a fall. I needed to take immediate action.
I know that to have a mental picture of failure will lead me to failure. So I spent precious minutes setting my mind straight.
Instead of seeing myself in front of an audience as a nervous person ready to make mistakes, I turned my picture around and thought differently.
On the Brighter Side
I saw myself standing in front of the group in a confident, relaxed fashion with plenty of things to talk about. I remembered why I was giving the talk about the great benefits of hypnotherapy and how it works.
I was ready to talk about suggestibility, a major topic for any hypnotherapist. Suggestibility is how we take in and give out information. We do this either literally or with inference. Few of us are 100 percent one or the other. we always speak out in exactly the opposite way to how we take the information in. We learn this communication from our primary caretakers, usually our mothers.
I was also ready to speak about sexuality, or in less dramatic terms, behaviors. Some of us are withdrawn, others more outgoing. Neither is right or wrong. Our sexuality is learned from our secondary caretakers, usually our fathers. How? When we are babies, our mothers pay close attention to us and care for all our needs.
This Is How It Works
But when dad comes home, a mother’s attention wanes slightly toward the baby as her attention is now also being given to her husband. The baby begins to understand that if mom is giving her attention to dad and not baby, then mom must love the dad. As a result the baby “thinks” that if mom loves dad so much, he is doing things she loves more than me. Therefore, I better act that way to gain mom’s attention.
Finally I would talk about the theory of the mind and how it works. It has been scientifically proven that at any time we only ever use approximately 5 to 6 percent of the brain power available to us. Of that total, 10 percent is the conscious mind, 90 percent the subconscious. Any desire to create a change consciously is going to be very difficult (though not impossible) because 10 percent must overcome 90.
Right there is the clue as to how hypnosis works. The process is simple. Overload the conscious mind and, as a result, the subconscious is opened. Now the hypnotist has the ability to create imagery to correct an issue or to give the client a change he or she wants. It only requires a few sessions to encourage the subconscious to offer a different response to an old habit pattern.
Lastly I would talk about how we as individuals set our thoughts for the day, and that is how we will be for the day. If you wake up grumpy, unless you change your internal thinking you will be grumpy for the day.
Our minds are so powerful that we are able to be whatever we think. If you ask your mind for bad memories it will give them to you. If you ask your mind for good memories it will give them to you. You are at your present station because the sum total of all the decisions you have ever made have brought you here.
After thinking this through, my nerves began to dissipate. I remembered that I am a confident and knowledgeable hypnotist. I have helped many people attain the changes that they wanted. These people had come to hear what hypnosis was all about, and I knew more about it than they did.
Anyone who is going to give a talk, should know his subject, be confident in his knowledge, relax, know that people are there because they want to hear what you have to say and to learn from what you are offering.
Most importantly, enjoy yourself and have fun.
A clinical hypnotherapist, handwriting analyst and expert master hypnotist, Nicholas Pollak may be contacted at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net
