Jeremy JohnsonHigher Learning For Success

I’m pleased to introduce you to Kim Maglinti – an inspirational person on the web and certified clinical hypnotherapist. I’ve known Kim for a short while now and am impressed with her desire to see people gain increase in their lives and more particularly, help people embrace their own creative work. Sit back, relax, and learn some of the basics of hypnotherapy and how it can benefit you.

• Kim’s Website
• Kim on Facebook
• Kim on Twitter

My clients come from a variety of backgrounds with a variety of problems. However, they all share a common trait – a desire to improve personal wellbeing and create balance in their lives. And for those of you reading, I would guess that you share that same goal.

No matter where my clients are coming from, I find that there are some tried and true methods to take them where they want to go. One method that I think should be included in everyone’s personal development toolbox is hypnotherapy.

I decided to become a board certified clinical hypnotherapist because I have been fascinated with creating behavioral changes at the subconscious level. And no, I don’t own a really big watch on a chain. Let’s take a look at what hypnotherapy is and how it can be used to create success.

What is Hypnotherapy?

There seems to be a lot of confusion and mystery about clinical hypnotherapy, but it is really not as ‘out there’ as you might think. According to the National Board for Certified Clinical Hypnotherapists, they receive referrals for services from such mainstream organizations as:

• The American Heart Association
• The American Cancer Society
• The American Lung Association
• And even the International Union of Bricklayers!

These organizations know that healing begins from within and that tapping into the subconscious mind is an essential part to creating changes in your body, mind and soul.

From a personal development perspective, hypnotherapy works by guiding individuals to either plant suggestions in the subconscious, for improved living or explore the subconscious for mental blocks that may be holding back personal growth and success.

When I mention hypnotherapy to my clients, perhaps the biggest objection I receive is that they don’t want to lose control. I completely understand that fear. To be clear, clinical hypnotherapy does not involve handing over control of your mind to a hypnotist. Instead, the hypnotherapist acts as a facilitator to help you explore your subconscious mind at your own pace and in a way that makes you comfortable.

How to Use Hypnotherapy to Create Success

Hypnotherapy can be done in a professional setting or there are also ‘do it yourself’ tools that can bring hypnotherapy to the comfort of your own home.

Clinical hypnotherapy is intended to access your subconscious mind and encourage thought patterns that will bring about your desired outcomes.

Clinical hypnotherapy has been shown in a variety of studies, to successfully help people:

• Increase Concentration
• Improve Self-Image
• Decrease Anxiety
• Manage Stress
• Eliminate Bad Habits

And of course, that’s just how hypnotherapy helps with personal development. There is a long laundry list of physical benefits to hypnotherapy as well, including weight loss, pain management and improved sports performance.

If you want to find a hypnotherapist in your area, be sure to look for someone who is board certified and check references too.

For the DIY hypnotherapy, you can use hypnotherapy scripts at home to create desired outcomes. Although you can find generic scripts that are geared for a specific issue such as smoking cessation or weight loss, I find that my clients are more successful with personalized scripts. Everyone receives information differently and personalized hypnotherapy scripts are designed specifically for you.

Even with the DIY method, I generally recommend that you check in with a hypnotherapist at regular intervals. When you experience positive changes, it’s more than likely that you will want to make appropriate modifications to the messages that you listen to in order to move forward and make improvements.

I hope this helps remove some of the mystery behind hypnotherapy. If you have any questions, please ask.

image by dawnzy58

This simple podcast will walk you through the basics of positive self talk. I’ll share with you how positive self talk has benefited me, and also share some specific dialog that you can use – and build upon – to help you in your life.

Download “Positive self talk intro”.

• Learn the negative things you say to yourself
• Learn the impact of negative self talk
• Learn the benefit of positive self talk
• Learn some examples of positive self talk in different areas
• Add to and make your own list of positive self talk

Fine folks, what do you say to yourself when you are stuck in traffic? Or when you are frustrated? Or when you have done something well? Or when you mess up at work? Do you think positive self talk is useful?

image by Gandalf

NEW! Virtual self talk discs series – audio files you can listen to while at work or driving. You can listen to the first one right now!

“Time to throw up again, let’s see if I can get it all in one go!” — “I wonder how many germs are lurking inside me?” … See why saying things like this can be helpful to you as you read on.

When I saw that this article title wrapped to THREE lines, I felt negative feelings due to its not fitting in nicely (Negativity being on its own line). But then I looked at the picture of that balrog demon I found and said to myself, “That demon sure is cool” and the negativity was crushed like a bug.

I first wrote about Positive Self Talk a year and a half ago (on another website). But this is an evolved mention of it. Do you believe you can cure negativity by talking positively to yourself? The goal here is to learn about situations and strategies for using positive self talk to give you favorable outcomes in otherwise dreadful situations (i.e. conquer that demon you see there at the top). If you find yourself or your friends being negative, this is definitely for you.

Some potentially dreadful situations needing positive self talk

• You were just informed you have a herniated disc in your lower spine.
• You just lost a bunch of money in the stock market.
• You just got dumped by someone you care about.
• You are driving to a job you can’t stand.
• You feel angry at someone who offended you.
• You feel sick.
• You’re stuck at an airport because your flight has been delayed for a while.
• You have to get up and speak in front of a group of people.
• You just realized you didn’t backup your files and your computer died.
• You feel lonely and unloved.
• Your business is not doing very well.

What other situations would you add to this? I’m sure there are plenty of other situations which are just dreadful.

Decide to be optimistic and positive

What happens to you when you face a daunting situation? Is your first reaction to say, “This Sucks?” If it is, then my first strategy for you is to sit down, put your hand on your chin and say this, “Maybe there is something else I can say other than ‘This Sucks’.” After doing that, decide you will say something else. But don’t just decide this one time. Every morning you wake up, spend one minute – that’s right just one minute telling yourself you will be optimistic and positive.

Learn and customize positive self talk phrases

Have you decided to be optimistic and positive? The next step is to decide what you will say to yourself instead. I will add some examples for the above situations as well as some general examples for you to start with. But then you must create your own positive self talk dialog which you will recite to yourself frequently.

• You were just informed you have a herniated disc in your lower spine.
  “Looks like I get to learn about how my back works now. This will come in handy.”
• You just lost a bunch of money in the stock market.
  “Let’s see what went wrong.” — “Everyone makes mistakes and many have lost more than I have – I will do better next time.”
• You just got dumped by someone you care about.
  “It’s their loss. I am a wonderful person.” — “I know I will find someone much better in the future who meets my standards.”
• You are driving to a job you can’t stand.
  “It’s time for me to excel today. Whatever I have to do, I will do it better than anyone else.” — “I’m going to make someone smile today.”
• You feel angry at someone who offended you.
  “I want to understand this person better.” — “I am a confident person. What people say will not affect me.”
• You feel sick.
  “Time to throw up again, let’s see if I can get it all in one go!” — “I wonder how many germs are lurking inside me?” — “This will end soon and I will be stronger.”
• You’re stuck at an airport because your flight has been delayed for a while.
  “It’s time to meet some people in this airport.” — “Good, this is time to gather my thoughts and meditate.”
• You have to get up and speak in front of a group of people.
  “This is awesome, I get to share what I think with other people!” — “These people will love my unique personality.”
• You just realized you didn’t backup your files and your computer died.
  “Lesson learned, I am more intelligent now.” — “I’m sure I will recover and more from this.” — “That was silly of me.”
• You feel lonely and unloved.
  “I really am special and unique.” — “It’s time to contribute to the world.” — “I love who I am.”
• Your business is not doing very well.
  “What can I do to add value?” — “How can I serve?” — “How can I entertain?” — “I will double my efforts and recommit myself.”

General positive self talk

Your positive self talk should focus on the good in situations, the humor, what you can do to improve, and be the opposite of whatever negative thought you were having. If you sit down and just think whenever you have a negative thought what the opposite is, you can start creating a list of positive self talk dialog to carry around with you. Focus on contributing, smiling, improving yourself, and then create short sentences which reinforce this. Such as the following:

• I am confident and love challenges.
• I offer my unique personality to everyone I come in contact with.
• It’s time to accomplish something today.
• I accept the things I cannot change and look forward to improving what I can.
• Nothing can stop me, I am a leader and force of good.

Catch yourself when you feel the negativity coming on

The strategy here is to stop everything you are doing when a negative thought creeps in. When this happens, take a notebook out (or something to record in) and make permanent your new positive dialog which will replace what you just said. So “This Sucks” becomes “What can I learn from this?” as an example. Soon you’ll have an army of new positive things to say which you can use at any time.

I will always recommend this book for positive self talk – it will serve you well as a pocket guide for positive self talk.

How will this help you? Simply put, you will have a new outlook on life. Certain things won’t stress you out. You’ll be healthier and happier, which is a huge benefit! There are examples here of dreadful situations. Did you think of more situations? You’ve been given some tools and strategies for using positive self talk now. What will you do with them? Do you believe positive self talk works?