Taking Back Control

A hypno-therapist friend reminded me that we are all already hypnotised. All of us. Me too.

We all have a conscious mind which, in theory, should be in charge of our lives. And we all have a much more powerful unconscious mind that actually runs our lives. Hypnosis is simply when we let someone else take the controls of our unconscious mind.

It's not difficult to see. It begins in childhood. Well-meaning family members and teachers try to show us the ropes of life. What we pick up from them gets embedded in our unconscious minds and rules our behaviour  ever after (until we take steps to change it). We lose awareness (if we ever had it) of how we were programmed. We get used to the process.

But it doesn't stop in childhood. Nor does it stay with just those who mean well. It goes on throughout our lives. Governments, the press, TV and radio, advertisers of all kinds ... all of them have their little tricks for getting their message into our heads. And we drink it all in, day in day out, mostly unaware of it.

This hypnotism is not necessarily bad in itself. It's a part of the way we learn and survive as individuals. It's a part of the way we hang together as a society. But if we take back control and choose how we are hypnotised, and by whom, then it can become more constructive. And more fun.

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It is said that no one can use hypnotism to make you do anything; not unless, deep down, you wanted to do it in the first place. But it happens, doesn't it? What about all those hang-ups and fears that you most definitely do not want. How did they get in there?

Well, you wanted to please your parents; you wanted to stay out of trouble at school. That's how.

And that's how advertisers get you to buy all kinds of junk, including junk foods that pollute and damage your body. You never wanted those things ... but you did want the feelings that the advertisers linked to them.

Not any more. Once you start learning to take back control, you can free yourself from all that junk. The previous post outlined a simple method for replacing an undesired habit with something more useful. That's a start. You will find other effective ways to clear out junk from your mind over on the right of this page. Look under the heading HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

And if you have any questions about those things, just drop me an email to steveszubert "at" ymail "dot" com.

How To Give Something Up

Today is the start of the Christian season of Lent, the forty day countdown to Easter during which many prepare by trying to give something up. I guess that, for them, LENT must mean Long Endurance No Treats? Whatever, we all have bad habits we'd like to give up, whatever the season. And we all know how devilishly difficult it can be.

As an example, let's take cutting back on heavy coffee drinking. The trick is not to think you cannot or must not have that next coffee. That only gets you thinking about coffee, which dooms you to cave in to your craving.

A more effective way is to simply make a deal with yourself, in which having a coffee always loses out to an alternative choice. For example, choose someone you love dearly. The deal is that before you have a coffee, you first spend a few moments thinking loving thoughts about that person. You then give yourself a choice. Do you want to continue thinking blissfully about your loved one? Or would you prefer to go for a coffee?

Not only does drinking coffee (or whatever it is) soon become a thing of the past, you are also creating a good habit in place of the old one.

Perhaps you could buy some flowers for your loved one, with the money you save on coffee. They will enjoy your flowers, you will enjoy better health (both from drinking less coffee and from thinking loving thoughts throughout your day).

And when they ask you why you have given up coffee, you can answer truthfully, "I did it for you!"

Scientifically Proven? Here's The Truth

I am a strong supporter of real science: rigorous enquiry by an unbiased mind. But that is rarely what we get. Especially around questions of health, where it matters most.

To begin with, a huge number of valid scientific reports never see the light of day. The scientists who produce them are bound by confidentiality agreements with their sponsors. If they break that confidentiality, no more work for them. An effective way of silencing anything the sponsors don't want us to hear.

Of the reports we do get to see, "published" (even in respected journals) does not necessarily mean "proven". Sometimes, it later turns out that the data was forged. More often, under closer scrutiny, the methods used or the interpretations deduced turn out to be flawed. By the time that is discovered, the damage has been done and another medical myth is in circulation.

Quite a few supposedly scientific reports do nothing but perpetuate those myths. These are the ones for which no new research is done. They simply rehash all the existing reports on the same topic. Without validating them.

The scientists are not entirely to blame. Much of the distortion is introduced when the media gets the stories. The days are sadly gone when journalists dug deeper. Most times, they just write up more or less the same words given to them in the press release. Have you noticed how reports in "rival" newspapers are often almost word-for-word identical? And the hunger for headlines often leads to the wrong bight being presented, so it ends up nothing like what the scientists originally intended.

But here's the real problem. Who has the time, or the knowledge, to even scrape below the surface of these reports, let alone unravel the truth that usually remains deeply hidden?

Most of us can't, can we? Fortunately, there are people we can trust who do it for us. Here are just two that I personally find to be impeccably worthy champions of truth when it comes to interpreting medical research.

http://www.jonbarron.org/

Jon Barron has been a fearless researcher for over forty years. His Baseline Of Health website is a goldmine of carefully validated information on just about every health issue you can think of. He doesn't just tell you what's wrong with much of the published research. He explains why it's wrong, in detail, so you can decide for yourself. Check out his website, get his free book, sign up for his newsletter ... you'll be glad you did.

http://www.theshawnstevensonmodel.com/

Shawn Stevenson battled his own route to vibrant heath from heavily serious illness. He has gone on to become a highly qualified nutrition expert who pursues his quest with a passion: to bring you the real deal on healthy fitness. Check out the free videos and podcasts on his website. And his books are worth their weight in gold.

To your good health!

Law Of Attraction: The Missing Link?

Just aboout everyone has heard of The Law Of Attraction in some form or another. The internet is awash with programs purporting to teach how you can put it to work for yourself.

Some of those programs have merit. Most are nonsense, luring buyers with promises of easy riches akin to winning a lottery jackpot. As with lotteries themselves, most people end up disappointed.

There are actually several Laws Of Nature governing the principle of attraction. To employ that principle effectively, things have to be set up in harmony with all of those laws. For example, in winning a lottery, we come up against the laws of arithmetic. For each jackpot winner, there must be millions of losers. A lottery is a game that can't add up any other way.

That's not to say that prosperity for everyone is ruled out. It's just that winning lotteries is a pretty poor method.

In any case. Why put all your eggs in one basket by declaring "When I win the lottery" as a condition necessary for everything to fall into place in your life?

How about developing unshakeable peace of mind? How about realising a feeling of being cherished, and able to pour love out to all? How about feeling vibrant with healthy energy, every day? How about tapping into a flow of deeply satisfying creativity? How about connecting up in mutual co-operation with the human family, worldwide?

Do any of those things require a lottery win?

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So, how do we get aligned with the Principle Of Attraction so that it helps bring about whatever we desire? Well, a fundamental of that principle is that for something to attract anything at all, it first needs to be attractive to the thing it wants to attract.

That rules out most desires.

"The Universe" (or whatever you choose to call it) is not stupid. Imagine if it did give anything and everything to anyone and everyone, just because they wanted it. The resulting chaos would make the Big Bang sound like the fart of a fruit-fly.

Most people have little clue about what they really want or what is truly in their own best interest. Their desires change like a constantly turning kaleidoscope.That's why advertising works; most of us are easy prey when we see something dressed up as bright and colourful.

You would not give over the controls of a nuclear reactor to a bunch of kids, simply because they wanted to play with it. (Although, sadly, that's the direction perenting seems to be heading, these days.) On the path of evolution, we are all still kids. There are things we need to learn before our hands can be allowed on the controls of how the Universe operates.

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The Universe is not random. It unfolds to a plan. Plans are about order and harmony. So, which do you think the Universe will find more attractive? Someone screaming, "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" or someone who is at least trying to understand and follow the Plan?

What evolution teaches us is that the plan of Nature is to move towards better and better, for more and more. Humanity has been privileged to play a key role in that plan. Through science and technology and commerce we have made huge leaps in recent years. But not all for the better, so we are in a mess. But only until we learn that truly forwards progress must be in harmony with Nature's plan, not against it.

The more we learn that, the more the whole world (not just individuals) will come to experience the harmonious peace, love, health, creativity and connection that I spoke of at the beginning.

If you want to see The Law Of Attraction working for you, start thinking about how you could make things better for all around you, in line with Mother Nature's plan. And watch what happens.

And for those who still want to win the lottery first ... ask yourself, "Why?"

Your Self Talk Can Break You ... Or Make You

With no particular interest in what was being said, I recently spent an afternoon tuning my ears in to random snatches of conversations that were going on all around me.

There was one common factor: none of it made any sense. At least not to me. Not until I heard a solitary voice behind me, speaking in complete sentences, expressing clear logical reasoning. I turned around. It was a woman having an argument with herself.

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Now why, I pondered, was this woman talking to herself considered odd by the rest of us, when she was the only one making any sense?

She was only doing out loud what most of us do all the time, quietly in our own heads. Except that our self-talk is usually like those random snatches of conversation, nonsensical and negative: Stupid me! ... He looks a real dork! ... I'll never get this done! ... They must think I'm stupid! ... I feel such a fool!

OK, those examples may be grammatically correct, but they are nonsensical because they are simply not true. They are not facts, just opinions.

Their negative effect hits us deeply. And yet, we allow them to go on and on.

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Let's go back to those nonsense phrases I picked up at random in the street.

The speakers were not wasting their breath. Clearly they were communicating something between each other, creating rapport, sharing a common feeling about something. Even though their words seemed meaningless at face value.

It seems to back up the statistic that less than ten percent of what we communicate comes from the dictionary definitions of the words we use. The rest is carried by tone of voice, context, vocal dynamics, accompanying gestures...

The actual words we use can be brief, or even incomplete. But they can serve as triggers that set off explosive chain reactions of shared ideas, common opinions, mutual feelings. Somehow, powerful communication takes place on a non-verbal level.

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And so it is with the self-talk that goes round and round inside our heads all day. It isn't just words. It determines our facial expression, the way we hold ourselves, the way we move.

The words themselves do not matter. What makes them powerful is the emotions they stir up, Our e-motions literally set us into motion. Like puppets. It's important to take control of the strings and rein in the feelings stirred up by our negative self-talk.

And then there is the "vibe" broadcast by these emotions, both individually and collectively.

Have you ever been caught in a crowd that is in an ugly mood, like when a fight is breaking out? Or walked into a room where two people have just had a blazing row? No words are being spoken at that stage, but you can feel the fierceness of the emotions behind the unspoken thoughts.

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It's important to check our own unspoken inner talk. Are we polluting the environment with negativity? Or are we lifting our world with a little love and forgiveness, of ourselves and others?

Even skilled meditators will tell you how difficult it can be, even for them, to stop our self-talk. But that isn't necessary. All that's needed is to start changing it.

As soon as you catch yourself slipping into a negative train of thought, think "CANCEL! CANCEL!" And substitute a kinder thought of your choice. Soon, this will become your habit. And it will start to show in the kind of world you experience.

It's simple, but it works ... if you stick at it.

As you grapple with your self-talk, take encouragement from this fact. Just one kind thought, about yourself or others, can outweigh a hundred nasty ones. Especially if you put your heart into it. It is often said of an action that what counts is the thought behind it. Well, the feeling behind that thought counts even more.

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Of course, here on the pages of the internet we have nothing but the words to convey our messages. Nothing else comes across from our computer screens.

Or does it?

Let me know what you feel.