Captain Ron Eslinger, USN, NC, Retired,  www.healthyvisions.com

If you are like most people you have probably noticed that you’ve already broken your New Year’s resolutions. What if I told you that the way you broke those resolutions and the way you continue with your unhealthy behaviors is the same process that will put you in control of being healthy, wealthy and wise?

Even though many people think that hypnosis is the work of the devil, witchcraft, voodoo and all other types of black magic; it may surprise you to know that every day of your life you are using hypnotic mind control to shape your own destinies, your own behaviors, and your own happiness.

We all go through the hypnagogic state as we are entering sleep. Most of us are in a trancelike state as we drive to work each day, not remembering the bridges, buildings, and intersections we actually drive by. How often do you daydream? Prayer, guided imagery, creative visualization and even watching TV is hypnosis by its definition of a focused concentration.

The thoughts that we have and the images that we create when doing all the above, praying, daydreaming, and driving, any of those things we do that places us in a focused concentrating state is hypnosis. Academics, clergy and the medical community have used other descriptions to describe hypnosis. However, as Shakespeare said, “a Rose by any other name is still a Rose”.

You can make your New Year’s resolutions permanent by understanding and doing the following;

First, you’ve got to get rid of your negative language. Words like I hope, if only, I wish, I can’t, I’ve tried everything, nothing works for me and all the other things you’ve learned to say about being overweight, being a smoker and even having chronic pain. You allow TV advertisements to hypnotize you every day into using the products advertised.

As an example on how to make your New Year’s resolution hypnotic, I will use weight management.

Start by, quit living in the past. Most people live today as if it was yesterday. What happened up until this time is no longer important, either physically or emotionally. It is what you do in the present, at this moment in time that changes the rest of your life and creates your future. Losing weight is the simplest thing in the world. All you have to do is, “eat less – move more”.

Your next move is to change your mind, which changes your brain, which changes your behavior towards overeating and under exercising. Simply stated, change your thoughts about who you are and how you eat. That simple act will change the chemical responses of your brain in an area called the limbic system. (You might want to Google that.) Those chemical responses in the brain send neurotransmitters to each and every cell of your body. With the right thoughts, the body will begin to respond in a healthy way.

Five simple thought processes will start you in the direction of being healthier, wealthier and wiser.

1. Repetition – A new positive affirmation aimed at your goal. You spent a lot of time saying, I’m fat, I can’t take these pounds off and I’ve tried everything. Stop those thoughts! Your new thought: I eat properly and sparingly and walk 20 minutes every day so that I look and feel my best. If looking your best is what you really want then saying that 100 times a day will be simple for you. However, the Chinese say that a picture is worth 1000 words. So don’t just say it – see it! Suggestions to yourself only become permanent with repetition. One of the reasons those New Year’s resolutions quit working is because we say them and then we forget about them.

2. Emotions – your mind and your body respond to every thought that you have about something that happened in the past as if it was happening in the present. You can demonstrate that to yourself by thinking about something that made you angry in the past and you will feel the anger again, or you can think about something that made you happy in the past and feel happy again. Think about eating a lemon. What happened? You probably started salivating and maybe even had a little discomfort in your jaw. Keep your emotions aimed towards what you want, and pretend that you have already achieved it. The subconscious brain takes its orders from the conscious mind and works at maintaining what the conscious mind believes. Example, if your goal is to be 130 pounds and you weigh every morning and the scale says you are 180 pounds, because of the repetition of seeing that 180 pounds the subconscious mind will work at maintaining that weight for you. Why, because you are showing it that, that is what you weigh and it is trying to maintain what you tell it you are.

3. Relaxation – when the mind is relaxed and the body relaxes with it the thoughts you have are not blocked as much by the conscious mind which is also known for its critical thinking. The thoughts and images you have go directly to the subconscious mind without being changed or blocked by the conscious mind which makes them much more powerful. So take a relaxing abdominal breath (free directions and audio can be found at www.healthyvisionshypnosis.com) and imagine you are the you that you have decided to be.

4. Concentration – when you concentrate during relaxation on your goal, your emotions begin to change toward confidence in achieving that goal. Repetition will make it become permanent.

5. Belief – for most people the simple belief that they can truly make a change in their life is unbelievable. We change our thoughts to truly believe that we can change the brain’s response to those thoughts and creates a change in those behaviors that have not allowed us to be the best person we can be. This includes all aspects of life. Losing weight, stopping smoking, controlling pain, managing stress and hundreds of other changes one would like to make in their life. See it, believe it, and achieve it.

We all use auto-hypnosis and self-hypnosis every day. Unfortunately, most of us are using it in a very negative way through thoughts and self-talk. Worry, is nothing more than negative self-hypnosis. Worry enlist all five processes above. When we worry we become obsessive about it and think about it all the time. It changes our emotions and our stress levels, which affects our heart and our digestive system through the emotions and the stress hormones that are created. We cannot relax and worry at the same time they are incompatible emotions. Worry is a very negative and powerful form of self-hypnosis that creates damaging hormonal changes throughout our body. Research has shown that “stress kills”.   You can control your stress by controlling your thinking.

Think Happy – Be Happy!