I’ve been putting something off but now is the time to take action!…That something is to write about procrastination.

Well, since there is no time like the present, writing about procrastination is something I really shouldn’t put off any longer!

There are many reasons why we put things off, but all result in a huge negative energy build-up in body and mind.

Just knowing that we have something ‘hanging over us’ is a terrible burden and one that creates a self- reinforcing cycle. The more we put off, the more guilty we feel, the less we feel like doing things so the more we put off.

There are many strategies to help you break out of this destructive behaviour. One of the most powerful is the idea of ‘worst first .’

Every day, when you make your to-do list put a big asterisk beside the thing that you have been putting off the longest. Chances are that it is your least favourite activity or something you know you ought to do but are dreading, perhaps that difficult conversation you have been putting off for the right moment to come around but rarely does. Now put this ‘worst’ item right on top of the list

Whatever else you have to do today, that ‘worst first’ item is now your number one priority. You MUST strike it off your list this morning.

You’ll get three benefits (at least):

1. You have broken the cycle. Instead of sitting and laughing at you, poisoning your subconscious, that item can now only make you feel good: you’ve beaten it!
2. The next item on your to-do list can only seem easier – your day is getting better and better.
3. When you wake up tomorrow morning, enjoy the new- found feeling that there is nothing nearly so bad on your internal dread list.

And if you really cannot bring yourself to do “worst first” then try the “I’ll give it 5 minutes” approach. If you make a start on something you are as likely as not to find that it is not as bad as you imagined it would be….. and so will keep going and complete it. But even if you do find it is as bad as you thought then you can stop after 5 minutes having at least kept your promise!

While both meditation and hypnosis involve altered states of consciousness characterized by deep relaxation and focused attention, there are some key differences between the two:

Goal and Purpose:

• Meditation: Aims to cultivate self-awareness, non-judgmental observation, and present moment awareness. It’s not goal-oriented in the traditional sense, but rather a practice for personal growth and well-being.
• Hypnosis: Aims to achieve specific goals like managing pain, overcoming anxieties, or improving habits. A hypnotherapist guides the individual through a process which involves using suggestions and other techniques that can help them achieve these goals.

Induction and Control:

• Meditation: Primarily practised with self-directed techniques like focusing on the breath, using mantras, or guided visualizations. Requires consistent practice and effort to develop and maintain focus.
• Hypnosis: While it is possible to learn and use self-hypnosis, it usually requires an external guide like a hypnotherapist who uses techniques to induce the hypnotic state.

Focus and Awareness:

• Meditation: Cultivates non-judgmental observation of thoughts and feelings without getting attached to them. The focus is on being present in the moment and observing the mind’s activity without judgment.
• Hypnosis: May involve a narrower focus on specific suggestions or visualizations given by the guide. The individual often experiences a dream-like state and increased suggestibility to the therapist’s suggestions.

Benefits:

• Meditation: Improved self-awareness, reduced stress and anxiety, increased emotional regulation, and enhanced focus and attention.
• Hypnosis: Changing limiting beliefs and unwanted habits, anxiety reduction, improving performance and addressing phobias or other specific issues such as depression, grief and addiction.

Overall, meditation and hypnosis are distinct practices with different goals and approaches, even though they share some similarities in their experience.

Every year, the same scene replays: well-intentioned people craft ambitious resolutions, bursting with hope and optimism. But as January wanes, so does resolve. By February, many are ditching the resolutions, left with disappointment, broken dreams and a nagging sense of “same old, same old.”

But what if there was a way to break this cycle? Enter hypnotherapy, a powerful tool which can rewire your subconscious mind and pave the way for lasting change.

Why do resolutions fizzle out?

Our deepest beliefs and patterns, often buried in the subconscious, can sabotage our best intentions. These hidden “programs” might whisper fears like “I’m not good enough” or “Change is too hard.” Hypnotherapy helps access these hidden layers and replace them with positive affirmations, empowering suggestions and new behaviours.

How can hypnotherapy help?

Hypnotherapy doesn’t magically implant new habits – it empowers you to make the changes yourself. Here’s how:

• Motivation Boost: Hypnotherapy can tap into your intrinsic desires, making your resolutions feel less like “shoulds” and more like exciting possibilities.
• Craving Control: Hypnotherapy can address subconscious triggers for unhealthy habits, like stress-eating or procrastination. Imagine saying “no” to that extra doughnut with newfound ease!
• Inner Critic Tamer: Those negative self-talk voices? Hypnotherapy can help quiet them down and replace them with supportive, encouraging messages.
• Visualization Power: Hypnotherapy lets you vividly imagine yourself achieving your goals, building confidence and resilience in the face of challenges.

Resolutions Perfect for Hypnotherapy:

• Breaking unwanted habits: Smoking, nail-biting, overspending – you name it!
• Embracing healthy lifestyles: Exercise, healthy eating, mindfulness – get the support you need to make these sustainable.
• Boosting personal development: Building confidence, overcoming fears, improving relationships – unlock your full potential.

Ready to ditch the ditching and truly achieve your resolutions?

Hypnotherapy isn’t a magic wand, but it can be an amazingly powerful tool in your transformation toolbox. Working with me we can customize a program that addresses your specific goals and challenges. Remember, change takes time and effort on your part, but with the right support, you can turn your New Year’s resolutions into lasting victories.

Bonus Tip: Start small and celebrate each step! Hypnotherapy can help you break down your goals into manageable milestones, making the journey towards success feel less overwhelming and more rewarding.

So, this year, ditch the disappointment and embrace the power of your subconscious mind. With hypnotherapy by your side, you can make this New Year the one where your resolutions not only stick but thrive!

Let’s make 2024 the year you become the best version of yourself!  Just call me on 07976 701223 to see how I can help turn your New Year dreams into reality.

To smokers, vaping seems to be a healthier alternative to smoking cigarettes (though many still vap and smoke!) but in my view, the truth is that E-cigarettes are just the latest in a long line of products that take advantage of the fact that most smokers are desperate to quit – in fact, a 2011 study from the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention showed: 70% of smokers want to quit…….56% tried to quit……But only a paltry 6% managed to quit!

Why is that? I think it’s because the most used options available – going cold turkey, nicotine gum and patches as well as e-cigarettes – all share the same fundamental flaw, one that as a hypnotherapist I am very much aware of. The problem is none of them address where addiction really lies – the unconscious mind!

Influencing the unconscious mind effectively and rapidly is what hypnotherapy is all about. That’s why I know that instead of buying expensive and sometimes explosive Vapes in an attempt to quit, a smoker could visit me in person or online and quickly untangle the desire to smoke from their unconscious – freeing them to live a healthier, wealthier, longer life.

Want to stop being addicted to nicotine? My highly effective 2 session stop smoking hypnotherapy service now costs just £200.

Human beings, in common with all mammals, share the same five defensive states evolved over time to help us respond to danger and keep us alive. But what are these five defensive states? And how can they feel like such stressful burdens to us today?

You’re probably familiar with the first two—Fight and Flight—but there are three more that you may not be aware of:

1. Fight: Becoming aggressive in the face of a perceived threat (perception is all!)
2. Flight: The urge to flee a stressful—or seemingly stressful—situation
3. Freeze: A reaction that doesn’t feel like a reaction at all; not being able to think or move
4. Submit: Appeasing others when faced with a threatening situation
5. Attach: Forming unhealthy bonds after perceived situations of stress

Typically, people react in a conditioned way and so one of the above states can become their predominant response.

When our brains react to real threats and perceived threats—they can override our regulated state. And being in hijacked emotional states like these can lead to much unhappiness, frustration, confusion, and exhaustion. Not to mention the effects it can have on our relationships.

With effective hypnotherapy, I can help you to uncover and learn how to rise above the hold each state can have on you, to see things more clearly, and to break free of unhelpful and unnecessary conditioned responses such as high anxiety.

If you are interested in finding out more about how hypnotherapy can help rescue you from emotional hijacking, just give me a call on 7976 701223 or request a call back.

I had a call today from someone who watched the recording of Derren Brown’s brilliant Showman set on Channel 4 last night. He is indeed superb at what he does and this triggered someone to call me to ask if I could do what he does!  TRhe answer is yes and no! Yes I can hypnotise people rapidly and it is a wonderfully powerful altered state….and no, I am not an entertainer or illusionist – I am a hypnotherapist!

As I explained to this enquirer, Hypnotherapy is a therapeutic technique used by trained hypnotherapists like me to help individuals overcome various mental and physical health issues such as anxiety, depression, addiction, phobias and chronic pain. The goal of hypnotherapy is to help individuals access the subconscious mind and use it to achieve positive change in their lives.

On the other hand, stage hypnosis is a form of entertainment where a hypnotist (and Derren Brown is a master hypnotist) performs on stage to entertain an audience. Stage hypnosis is not a therapeutic intervention, as the focus is on entertainment rather than therapeutic outcomes. The hypnotist’s goal is to get volunteers from the audience to perform amazing comical or bizarre acts under hypnosis.

The main difference between hypnotherapy and stage hypnosis is the purpose and intention behind each practice. Hypnotherapy is a serious therapeutic treatment that requires extensive training and experience, while stage hypnosis is primarily for entertainment purposes only although it does also demonstrate the power of hypnosis.

One of my favourite reads is the daily blog from the Daily Stoic which contains more timeless, practical wisdom than anything else I have come across on the internet. I also like to include suggestions drawn from Stoicism  s appropriate when helping people in hypnosis to make useful changes in their thinking, beliefs and lifestyle habits.

So is a recent Daily Stoic blog which I thought I should share as a useful “thought for the day”…..

It might seem like the Stoics didn’t have fun, didn’t experience pleasure. They did write, after all, quite a bit about the emptiness of chasing sex or money or fine wines. But just because they scorned excess luxury and comfort doesn’t mean their lives were empty and joyless.

Quite the contrary.

In his book The Expanding Circle, the philosopher Peter Singer explains that what they were actually doing was trying to avoid the paradox of hedonism. It’s interesting, he writes, that “those who seek their own pleasure do not find it, and those who do not seek it find it anyway. The pleasures of a self-centred life eventually pall and the drive for still higher levels of luxury and delight brings not lasting satisfaction. Real fulfilment is more likely to be found in working for some other end. Hence, these philosophers claim, if we want to lead a happy life, we should not seek happiness directly, but should find a larger purpose in life, outside ourselves.”

Perfectly said.

It’s not that the Stoics didn’t experience pleasure, it’s that they found pleasure by seeking purpose. Most of the Stoics had huge fortunes or came from powerful political dynasties. They could have coasted, soaked up all that was given to them. But instead of being lazy or entitled playboys, they were of service to others. They worked on their art. They made scientific breakthroughs. They dedicated themselves to their children. They did their duty.

And from all this hard work came pleasure and pride and satisfaction. Was it the same pleasure that would have come from Rome’s famous bacchanals? No…it was better. Because they earned it. Because it was sustainable. Because it wasn’t something that slipped from their grasp or disappeared every time they got close to it. Because they weren’t pursuing the pleasure, they were pleasantly surprised when it ensued.

​As we talked about recently, the best things in life are byproducts of doing the right things. So it goes for pleasure and happiness and joy. You don’t get them by seeking things for yourself, but by the very opposite, by searching for purpose outside yourself.

I believe the answer lies in that they are “forcing” themselves to do it, whatever it is or was, and this “forced” energy is what people often call willpower. And studies show that willpower alone will only work in the short term – which is EXACTLY why resolutions only last a few weeks for most people.

And so the solution lies in making the desired change to be an involuntary, instinctive way of being,  just something that happens naturally without the inner battle and thus quickly becomes an engrained, automatic habit. And hypnosis is of course a very effective and quick way of changing habits for good.

So well done if you made a New Year’s Resolution and are still sticking to it… but if you have given up, yet still would like to make that goal a reality, maybe its time to make a resolution to see a hypnotherapist instead.

It is rare for me to share a post on my website but this one I think should be read by interested in discovering their highest self.  I also have a selfish interste in sharing it of course since hypnosis is a very rapid and powerful way to remove what this article describes as the “reducing valve” – the limiting beliefs and conditioned responses that stop people from discovering greater joy and fulfilment.

60 Seconds to Higher Consciousness

By Deepak Chopra, MD

No matter what spiritual path you choose, it seems to be an axiom that higher consciousness takes dedicated practice over a long time, perhaps a lifetime. There is also the lingering belief that only the select few, the spiritual elite, are going to succeed. Higher consciousness can’t escape seeming exceptional in its demand for intense inner work.

The overall effect of these beliefs is to discourage the average person from even considering that higher consciousness is within reach. For all practical purposes, society sets those apart who have become enlightened, saintly, or spiritually advanced, choose whatever term you want. In an age of faith such figures were revered; today they are more likely to be viewed as beyond normal life, to be admired, shrugged off, or forgotten.

Much of this is a holdover from the merger of religion, spirituality, and consciousness. For centuries there was no separating the three. Most traditional societies developed a priestly class to guard the sanctity—and privileged status—of reaching near to God. But these trappings are now outdated and even work against the truth, which is that higher consciousness is as natural and effortless as consciousness itself. If you are aware, you can become more aware. There is nothing more to higher consciousness than this logical conclusion.

No matter who you are or what level of consciousness you think you are in, two things always apply. The first is that you use your awareness every day in all kinds of ways. You think, feel, wish, perceive, etc. The second thing is that you have constricted your awareness, through a process that the English writer Aldous Huxley called the reducing valve. Instead of finding yourself in a state of expanded awareness, you edit, censor, ignore, and deny many aspects of reality. The reducing valve squeezes “whole mind,” another term favored by Huxley, to a small flow of permissible thoughts, perceptions, and feelings.

The reducing valve takes years to form, and much of what happens consists of social conditioning, which shapes us almost unconsciously. There is the huge influence of negative experiences that give rise to fear, the memory of pain, and the desire to be less open and more closed off for the sake of defending yourself. But positive experiences also can constrict your awareness, because likes and dislikes operate together. “Yes to this” and “No to that” is like a pendulum whose swing we ride for a lifetime. So powerful are our reasons for reducing reality that we grow to fear, dislike, and deny the possibility of whole mind.

Yet by definition whole mind cannot be destroyed, only distorted. A simple example is contained in the word “Hello.” Whenever someone says hello, they open a channel of experience that has little to do with the dictionary definition of the word.

If you aren’t using the reducing valve, this is what “hello” can communicate:

• Tone of voice
• Mood
• State of two people’s relationship
• Memories of past encounters
• Foretelling of what might happen next
• Signals of acceptance or rejection
• Alerts to possible threat or, on the other hand, possible welcome.

Can so much be contained in a single word? Absolutely. The study of linguistics packs all these layered experiences inside everyday language. The next time someone says hello, open yourself to the wider experience you are having. Is the other person feeling friendly or indifferent? Are you reminded of old thoughts of this person? Does your mood suddenly change? What’s the vibe being created between you?

If a traffic cop stops you and walks up to your car, his hello and yours in reply have the same dictionary definition as when someone you are deeply infatuated with says hello. But the two encounters carry vastly different meanings, which our antennae always pick up. They pick up everything unless we use the reducing valve. But 99% of the time we do use it. We don’t want the traffic cop to see that we are angry, scared, annoyed, or guilty. We don’t want the loved one we are infatuated with to see anything but what we think will seem desirable.

In a word, we feel safer and more in control by editing reality, and yet even if such feelings are attained, we pay a high cost. The reducing valve makes every situation a reflection or repetition of an older experience. It enforces routine. It puts other people, and ourselves, into a box. Very little of our everyday experience is appreciated as new and fresh, even though as viewed by whole mind, every moment is unique and unpredictable, open to infinite possibilities. Great painters have looked at the same trees, grass, clouds, and flowers that you pass by without notice and turned them into beautiful visions. Nothing is so mundane that is cannot be a source of wonder, creativity, love, and the deep satisfaction of being alive, here and now.

That last sentence is the key—it opens the door to higher consciousness not just in a minute but instantly. You are naturally nothing less than whole mind; the reducing valve minimizes your potential by an unmeasurable extent. How do you measure the next opportunity to feel wonder after the opportunity has vanished? What value is lost when “hello” is a ritualized word with hardly any meaning once all the possible meanings have been squeezed out of it?

It is in those questions that the motivation lies for expanding your awareness. You can do it here and now, without effort. Just realize, once and for all, that higher consciousness is the most natural, effortless, and fulfilling way to live. From there, infinity follows.

Deepak Chopra MD, FACP, founder of The Chopra Foundation