Left Big Toe

One of my clients mentioned in passing that she had internal critical voice: "You can't do anything right. You always make things worse...."

So I asked her the location of the voice. And, she indicated that it seemed to be coming from the left side of her head. When asked how she'd respond if it was talking to her from the direction of her left big toe, she replied, "I could care less what it has to say".

A week later I saw her for another session, and she complained that the voice was still there in her big toe. So I asked, "What is it saying now?", and she replied, "Nothing. It's sulking". Apparently, it didn't like being ignored.

This is a good example of how a simple shift in the location of an inner voice can make a big difference in its effect. We say a lot of things to ourselves, some of which we believe, and some of which we don't. A simple way to experience this for yourself is to say something to yourself that you believe, such as, "I know how to read" and notice where the mental voice seems to come from. Then say something to yourself that you do not believe, such as, "I'm 12 feet tall" and notice the location.

For most people the second statement comes from a different location. That is because we have to have a way of knowing what we believe and what we disbelieve.

There are variations, of course. For some people the difference may be tone of voice, or some other quality. But, there must be a difference, or we would be quite confused.

Once we learn to make these kinds of distinctions it can be easy to make some dramatic changes in our habitual ways of thinking. Imagine if all your internal dialog was supportive and helpful. How might that affect the quality of your life?

Food Going to Waist?

"Waste not want not" is a excellent practice for the conservation minded. It's a good thing to turn out the lights when we leave a room, or to consolidate trips to save gas when we run errands. However, food on a plate can be a very different matter, particularly when it comes to meals in restaurants.

A great many people are trained as children to eat whatever is on their plates. Unfortunately a lot of food goes to waist (and thighs) because of that early training. Our bodies actually have feedback mechanisms to let us know when we are full, but they can be overridden by childhood conditioning. That is why I tell my clients, "When I eat, if food is going to go to waist, it won't be mine!". And, yes, in case you were wondering, hypnosis certainly can be a shortcut to reconditioning those early habits and attitudes into something more useful.

I remind my clients that adults can make their own rules about eating, and if they choose to leave some food on their plates...well, more power to them. An old acquaintance told me once that his maternal grandfather would harshly ask him if he didn't like the food if he didn't eat everything on his plate. The next week his other grandfather would tell him, "A gentleman always leaves some food on his plate." So he was confused for a while, until he realized that he could decide for himself how much to eat.

Restaurants in particular often serve excessive amounts of food. And, a good practice for those who are interested in slimming down is to consider getting a "to go" box and then putting one half to one third of their meal in the box before they eat the first bite.

Once they have eaten the meal, if they are still hungry, the box will be happy to share.

Taking a Trip to the Horse Pistol

My teacher, Dave Dobson used to work with burn victims in hospitals. Many were stuck there for extended stays, and he never used the word "hospital"with them. He always called the burn unit the "horse pistol" or the "hotel". And, that's because most people have so many unpleasant associations to the word "hospital".

Back in the days of black and white television Art Linkletter has an afternoon TV show that included a segment called "Kids say the darndest things". Art asked some five year olds, "What is a hospital?" and they all replied that is was a place where people go to die. That's not the most uplifting association for someone on an extended stay! As adults we have a very different and more complete appreciation of hospitals, but since we were all once five the first impressions still resonate in the background of the mind.

So to get his burn patients to have a more positive experience of their accommodations, Dave would use different terms like hotel, which opened up possibilities for humor. He'd joke about the lousy view and tasteless food at the hotel. How did they manage to stay in business with only three working channels on the TV?

Getting his patients laughing went a long way in helping them feel better about their stay, and in speeding their recovery. We all know that laughter is the best medicine, because Reader's Digest would never lie to us.

I've used the same imagery with my clients who were getting ready to go into the horse pistol for surgery. One of them went in for abdominal surgery and had a great time joking with the nursing staff about the lousy accommodations at the "spa". Not only did she get out of the hotel a day early because she never needed any pain medication, her doctor let her go back to work in nine days rather than in the four to six weeks that is standard after that kind of surgery. I did use a little hypnosis to suggest rapid healing and pain control too, of course.

What is the Structure of a Thought?

NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP) has been defined as the study of subjective experience. The developers of NLP wondered "How do humans think?", and the answer is rather obvious, once you think about it.

We think in pictures, sounds (including words), and physical sensations. Sometimes we include smells and tastes as well. For example, a woman who loves chocolate may mentally represent chocolate with an image of a favorite candy, and imagine the taste and mouth texture, while saying "mmmmm" to herself. In other words, the thought "chocolate" generates all those experiences in a flash.

Few of us are aware that we think in pictures, words, etc. until someone calls our attention to it. And, why would we? We just think.

The value in exploring the structure of our thoughts is that when we become aware of the structures we can decide change them in useful ways. For example, one of my clients told me that when he went to the gym he'd work out with his trainer, look at the exercise bike and go home. He knew that riding would improve his results, but he just wasn't doing it.

When asked, it turned out that his representation of riding the bike was a still picture, and he wasn't even in the picture! When he turned his picture into a movie of himself riding, finishing and then gaining the benefits over time, he started riding the bike regularly.

Mind Control

A great many people are afraid that someone else 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 with hypnosis. And, it really is something that is learned.

If it were simply a matter of bossing our minds around, all those years of negative self talk would have perfected our character and habits long ago.

We all practice self hypnosis. We command ourselves to go to the store and buy batteries for the flashlight, and we do!

So, why doesn't an internal command to stop procrastinating make someone instantly productive and industrious? The answer is that usually there is an internal conflict over the procrastinated activity. Taking out the garbage is imagined to be unpleasant in some way, and so we read a blog on hypnosis instead.

When we command ourselves to buy the batteries their is conscious and internal agreement: we need and want the batteries. So off to the store we go.

A key to successful hypnosis is in finding a way, through hypnotic communication, to generate internal agreement with conscious goals.