Honest Hypnosis

Master Your Mind... for a Change

Dreams

The Best Hypnosis Session In The History Of The World

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This is arguably THE best hypnosis session in the history of the world.

But it’s not by a hypnotist… But an amazing thought leader who you might consider paying attention to…

It takes less than 5 minutes. (the actual active session is 2 minutes of CONCENTRATED, PURE  GOLD PLATINUM). YOU are worth it. Take the time to watch it before you do anything else. Seriously.

Thoughts?

Talk to me

  • Mark

p.s. If you’re local to Albany NY I will be doing a public, local Sound Healing Hypnosis Session at Heartspace Yoga, 2-3ish pm, 747 Madison Av, Albany NY. If you’re not local, I will post the video here as soon as I can. Thank you again for your willingness to pay attention…

to what is happening…

and I will see YOU on the Inside…

boom!

========

I’ve spent the last 25 years researching and applying personal healing and transformation tools to my own life as well as a close circle of students who I’ve worked and collaborated with as well as hundreds of thousands of people online. I started putting what I have learned and what I continue to learn and practice into a growing library of specific courses that walk you through step by step some of the most challenging experiences life has to offer:

Anxiety? Crush it!

Shyness? Forget how to do it!

Fear? Face it, Feel it and Release it!

Lost your mojo? GET IT BACK!

Struggling to get over a breakup? Let it GO!

Check out my Honest Hypnosis Courses

Why You Will Fail to Have A Great Career

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I came across this fabulous “rant” by Larry Smith, University of Waterloo Economics Professor. Over the years he saw countless college students abandon their quest for a “great career” and settle for “safe”, “practical”, “reasonable”, “acceptable” choices that doomed them to lives of passionless drudgery.

Ultimately his TED talk is a call to “cowabungah”.

Pay attention. There will be a test…

If you have any thoughts or questions or subjects you would like me to reflect upon in future videos, click the button below and contact me today.

Let’s talk…

Anger Management

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stressed out manOK. This is what showed up on my thought “cloud” today.

First, a little back story…

I flew to California yesterday. I could have worked on the plane and posted there, but I didn’t fvcking feel like it! LOL.

I’d worked my ass off for several days before hand so I could even go. Had to wake up at 3:30 in the morning to get to the airport etc. It could have been stressful. But I was all chill.  I enjoyed my rest time on the plane. Gave myself permission to just do nothing and enjoy it.

Arrived after a 10 hour flight “process” of a plane change and a few other cities before I got to Orange County.

Unfortunately, my suitcase never showed up at baggage claim. It just hadn’t arrived with me.

In the past that would have triggered anger, anxiety, frustration, the works.

But I stayed cool. I used my “tools”

Not a big deal. I reminded myself “Why does this work out better than I can possibly imagine?”

Had a great conversation with the driver of the hotel shuttle bus, a guy from Kenya who told me HIS luggage was lost for over two weeks when he went back home to visit. His stay was only for 3 weeks. Crazy! Great stories flow from great adversity.

Eventually got my luggage delivered by the airline 5 hours after I arrived.

  • It’s all good.
  • Still on NY time.
  • Went to bed early by CA time.
  • Woke up early.
  • Ready for a day at the beach.
  • But first.
  • You.
  • Yeah. YOU.
  • My Cowabungah guys.
  • Woke up to an intense dream.

A guy I don’t know very well socially (but who I have heard was really having a tough time after a brutal divorce) was attempting to park a decent sized trailer.

But he was either drunk or just fucking upset and raging with anger and he jack-knifed the damn thing.

All over the front yard.

You could literally see this guys anger and frustration boiling off him.

His life was broken and he wanted to break shit back.

His ex wife took him to the cleaners. Turned his kids against him. Did her best to destroy him.

  • His reaction to the pain was to drink.
  • Self medication.
  • I see it all the time.
  • Hell. I’ve been there and done that myself.

We guys are supposed to be tough. But what that really boils down to is we have been socially conditioned to be unable to access our emotional resourcefulness.

We get emotionally high jacked. And in our culture we guys are not taught how to handle emotions. We’re taught how to repress them.

We just grit our teeth and tough it out.

In my dream I took him by the arm and led him away from the mess.

“Let’s take a walk” I said.

He wanted to fight.

“Stop” I said. “Let’s just take a walk.”

He surrendered. Exhausted by the fight.

“Are you open to a different way?” I asked.

Coming to his senses, he replied, “Do I have a choice?”

“Of course you do. You can keep doing what you’ve been doing hoping that somehow, some way, you’ll wake up one day and it will all be different. Better. But until you actually change the pattern that is causing you misery, you can just expect more of what you’ve been getting.”

He was quiet for a while and we walked down the neatly manicured suburban street, where everybody looked so happy. So successful. So “normal”.

“Look around”, I said.

“Do you see how full of shit we all are as a culture? Everybody pretending everything is all nicey nicey? Underneath the surface there is massive pain and suffering. What’s different about you is that it is up and in your face. And unlike these poor fuckers, YOU at least know you are miserable and that might just be what saves your ass.”

“Huh?”

“That’s right,” I continued. “BECAUSE you are in so much pain right now. You are open to a better way. I know it sounds weird but right now the massive pain you are in is actually your wake up call.

You ever read the book Johnathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach?

In that book there is this crazy seagull who doesn’t fit in. He doesn’t play by the rules. And eventually he is kicked out of the flock.

He goes and lives by himself and discovers amazing things. He attempts to go back and share his wisdom but the flock refuses to listen.

Eventually though a few other outcast seagulls straggle in.

  • He begins to teach.
  • They begin to learn.
  • All of them are transformed.
  • Life becomes magical for them. Joyful. Graceful even.

That’s where we are right now.

You’ve been kicked out of your own flock. Your life. Your pattern is about to be MASSIVELY interrupted. You can fight it. Or You can flow with it. Like the martial artist, you can either attempt to block the force coming at you or you can USE the force for your own advantage.

I can’t promise you that it will always be easy. But I can promise you that in the near future you will look back with deep gratitude for all that is so fucking shitty in your life right now.

Because that shit is what is pushing you to climb up out of the traps you’ve been tangled in.

Without that intense motivation you would just be OK with life as usual. But because you are hurting, you want to find a solution to make it stop. Am I right?”

I looked at him.  He was thinking. Hard. I gave him space to consider…

“Yeah I guess so…”

“Cool. So you’ve tried drinking. How’s that been working?”

“Not so good”

“Right. You’ve tried breaking things and smashing your way through your days filled with rage and hate at everyone and everything including yourself. How’s that been working?”

“Um. Not so good.”

“So, the question is, are you open to a different way? Are you willing to learn and apply what you’ve learned as if your life depends upon it? (and don’t answer me yet because I want you to think good and hard before you say yes) I also want to give you an example that you can test right now to see if you can understand what it means when I say, We create our own realities.

Here’s what I want you to do…

Think about your ex wife for a moment. When you think about her, how do you know you are thinking about her and not your truck?

“Well, I guess I have a picture.”

“That’s right you have a picture. Where is that picture?”

“In my mind”.

“Right. So this picture of your ex wife, where is it on what I call ‘your mental movie screen?’ Is it big and bright in the center or small and dim off to the edge?

“Well it’s big and bright in the center.”

“Interesting isn’t it? She’s nowhere near you, yet you are filled with her every waking moment because she is right in front of you in your ‘mind’s eye.’ That’s how we make ourselves miserable. We focus on stuff that makes us feel bad. But we do it unconsciously.

So, as you think of her right there close and bright and big and in the center of your mental movie screen. How do you feel?”

“Um,  shitty.”

“Cool. Now if you’re willing to play a little bit, let’s push her farther out and make her small and dim and even drop her down to the lower left corner of your mental movie screen. How does that feel?
More intense or less intense?”

“Less intense”

“Oh! How interesting. Now. I know this won’t last totally forever without a little practice, but to give you an experience of how powerful this simple little technique is, I want you to push her BEHIND you until she is a tiny dot on the far horizon BEHIND you.

How does that feel?”

“Oh my god. It’s a huge relief!”

“Good. Now I’m not suggesting that you KEEP HER THERE. Small, far behind you, dim, tiny, insignificant.
But I WOULD suggest that you put something else on your mental movie screen, front and center close and bright. Something that you would look forward to experiencing.

After the break up of my 2nd marriage almost killed me, I did this same technique. Got my ex off the screen and created a picture of AMAZING women waiting in line to meet me.

And you know what? “

“What?”

“It worked. Today I have several fabulous women in my life. Better relationships with each of them than any time in my life previous.

Try it today. Take whatever is driving you nuts and get it (or her) off of your mental movie screen. CREATE a vivid, bright, powerful, compelling picture of what you DO want. And pull that in instead.

FOCUS on that all day today. And notice how your day goes.

Chances are the old habit will reassert itself at some point so for a while you have to be vigilant.

Practice this. Consciously. Repeatedly. Intensely.

Eventually you will discover that there are even more tools that work just as well or better for you. You might want to learn them and practice them too…

And one day you will wake up to the fact that your life is full, and prosperous and happy and joyful and you will spend every single day living full out to cram as much life into your short time on this planet as you can….”

And then I woke up, wrote this down and posted it.

Now? I’m heading to the beach.

Peace and grooviness my friend!

If you want to be in the loop to learn more about Anger management techniques, what I call “Modern Jedi Mind Mastery,” opt-in below to get your fresh Cowabungah. (almost every day). These same tools also work on depression, sadness, trauma, phobias, fear, anxiety, self sabotage and more…

You can master this. You just need the right tools and a coach who can guide you in their use. So you can make your life magical, faster, easier, better.

If you have any thoughts or questions or subjects you would like me to reflect upon in future videos, click the button below and contact me today.

Let’s talk…

How To Get Out Of Your Mom’s Basement

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24568777_sOr Your Girlfriend’s Apartment

Or the shitty room you rent

Or the job you hate…

Today’s rant is all about the vital differences between a fucked up guy living in his mom’s basement and a guy who is on his way to becoming an awesome badass in every area of your life.

And if you are no longer living in your basement, please consider that there may be some other area in your life where you are just coasting or avoiding taking action.

  • You may need to man up and break up with the woman who you are no longer in love with.
  • You may need to get your resume updated and out circulating.
  • You may just need to clean off your desk so you can think straight.

Your assignment for today?

Take some simple, small, “do-able” action step towards your MASSIVE throbbing purpose. Pay attention to how good that feels.

  • Affirm it.
  • Reinforce it.
  • Do a little more. Just a little bit each day.
  • One thing. One promise to yourself that you keep today.

If you re living in your parents basement it might be to start looking for an apartment… or a room to rent.

If you don’t have a job, it could be to start looking.

If you are not happy in your relationship either start talking about it with her and working on it, or start putting your plan together to get out.

Take some action that you CAN DO today

Don’t get all sweaty and overwhelmed by all the possible actions.

Just take ONE SINGLE SIMPLE ACTION in the DIRECTION you want to go in. Start somewhere today.

MOMENTUM Baby! We are gonna build us up some MOMENTUM!

Some GO GET ‘EM!

Cowabungah!

If you have any thoughts or questions or subjects you would like me to reflect upon in future videos, click the button below and contact me today.

Let’s talk…

Your Agenda First

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19612808_sWhat do I want to rant and rave about today?

How about the idea or concept of chipping away every single day at the activities that are the most important to the emerging sculpture of your life?

Key To Cowabungah:

PUTTING YOUR AGENDA FIRST

Peak performance is a marathon not a sprint.

The reason it’s so important to understand what your “soul boners” are (check out the last 2 “rants:” Soul Boner 101 and Soul Boner 101 part 2), is that we only have so much time and energy. We are all going to fvcking die, so we might as well spend our limited time here on Earth doing what we actually WANT to be doing.

Does that make sense?

One of my mentors pointed out that our lives are a lot like chipping away at a piece of rock to create a beautiful sculpture…

So feel free to take some time to make sure the rock for the sculpture of your life is the best damn raw marble you can possibly find to carve. And then with a sculpture’s patience begin to chip away day after day… slow and steady.

The masterpiece that emerges may take some time. It may take a lifetime. But ultimately it will be your legacy.

Many of us long to make a difference with our lives. We long to look back from our death bed with the satisfaction of having lived, loved, challenged, changed, contributed, connected, even conquered.

Otherwise why are we here? What’s the point?

The point is YOU get to DECIDE what you are here to accomplish.

When you look around you will see most people following someone else’s agenda. Whether it’s the template laid down by religions, or by the cultural overlay of the corporate oligarchy and their media bombarding you with messages of consumerism and conformity, you don’t have to follow it. You can follow your own agenda towards your own desires.

I get a lot of personal pleasure out of “appearing to follow it” but inwardly and in every other way, following my own star.

Telling you guys the truth and helping you to overcome the obstacles and fears that the culture has “installed” in your unconscious mind is definitely one of my own soul boners.

So today’s action step “take away” is to open up some time every single day to work on the sculpture of YOUR life.

I have personally made a commitment to do the “most important for me” stuff FIRST in my day. AND last in my day.

I start out my day by making an incredible cup of coffee and then I come into my office and do my song blog for MarkShepardSongs.com.

Next, I work on this blog.

Then I work on whatever course I’m currently creating for you guys. Today it’s my “Master Your Mojo” course for guys who want to completely DESTROY performance anxiety in the bedroom.

AFTER I work on my most important projects FOR ME, I do the other shit that needs to get done. Throughout the day, during my meals or whenever I’m doing stuff like the dishes or gardening, I listen to thought leaders who inspire the fvck out of me.

EVENTUALLY, about an hour before heading in to bed, I’ll pick up my guitar and play for my own pleasure. Or I’ll break out the paints and canvases and do that. Or I’ll read. Whenever I need a break though out the whole day, I will either sit and open my mind to whatever needs my attention the most, or I’ll read something that affirms, challenges or supports my “path with heart”.

For me my best, most creative time is in the morning. My energy droops a little bit in the late afternoon so THAT’S when I run errands, work in the garden, exercise, return phone calls, check email etc.

No matter how much money I have rolling in, this is my daily agenda. No matter what women are in my life, this is my path.

By taking care of ME first. I’m a lot more fun and interesting to be around. LOL.

But the breakthrough for me came from COMMITTING TO MY OWN AGENDA FIRST. 

You may have to go to bed earlier and get up at some crazy early hour in order to get your shit done first, before you head out to work for “the man.” Or you may have to get rid of your TV and the idea that after work you sit like a lump on the coach in order to “rest” from your busy day. If you are pursuing your soul boners in your free time, it will energize the fvck out of you.

The point is to be “the man” in your life, your projects, your business, your “sculpture” first.

This is not selfishness, although it may look like that to some people. Fvck them. This is about you living an authentic meaningful life. If you have to remind yourself a 1,000 times a day that you are going to die, THEN DO THAT…

It’s not a morbid thing it’s an urgency and motivational thing.

Did I make my point? Let me know your thoughts…

AFTER you get YOUR shit DONE! LOL

P.S. If you have any thoughts or questions or subjects you would like me to reflect upon in future videos, click the button below and contact me today.

Let’s talk…

Soul Boner 101

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42525401_s“I’m not really sure I’m ready to commit…”

“What if I don’t feel like doing it one day?”

“What if I run out of things to say?”

“What if I commit to this and it turns out to be totally irrelevant and a waste of time?”

Have you ever heard yourself say or think things like that when imagining some new job, career or project? Particularly something that you REALLY, REALLY WANT?

Welcome to the human race!

In the last few weeks, I’ve been spending a significant amount of time with a couple of my mentors. These are guys who have truly put their money where their mouth is in their lives and committed to paths that have brought a ton of value into MY life (as well as thousands if not millions of other people.

I want to do the same in my own way… for YOUR life. For the lives of thousands of guys like you.

It’s one of my MASSIVE, THROBBING, PULSING, TWITCHING… VISIONS for my life.

What I affectionately call…

“SOUL BONERS.”

The question that I’ve been nibbling on all week is this:

“Can I integrate my songwriting with my peak performance/personal mastery coaching? Or Do they just naturally stand on their own as two separate endeavors?”

I think they are connected and ecologically congruent as they each influence each other…

BUT…. (no replace that with ) “AND”

Committing to BOTH of them will definitely take more time than integrating them into “one thing”

A single 100 watt light bulb can dimly light a room. A 100 watt laser beam can cut steel.

Two 100 watt lasers can cut a LOT of steel.

There is a lot of talk about focus. Focus. Focus hocus pocus. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. Focus on one thing for maximum success…

Both of my mentors this week have talked about the “one thing”.

Which in my mind is the place where YOUR deep passion and interest and expertise meets the world’s DEEP need.

But HOW do you CHOOSE what to focus on?

  • What if you put everything else aside and focus on something that is not big enough to keep your interest?
  • What if you focus on something that not many people actually give a shit about?
  • What if you focus on something that is too small?

The answer is you do your best to get it right. You do your best to choose a path with heart. You do your best to choose a path that inspires and challenges you. A path that makes a difference in YOUR world as well as the world of others.

Then you take a deep breath and BEGIN.

  • You can (and most certainly will) change course along the way.
  • You can add or subtract as you go.
  • You can adjust.
  • You can even realize that the “one thing” that you started with might have been leading you to a new “one thing” when you are ready.

Example: One of my mentors used to be a basketball freak. He wanted to play all the time, he focused on basketball throughout high school and college. To the exclusion of almost everything else. He eventually won a scholarship at an internet marketing training and started an online basketball program that brought in some pretty big success. But he got burned out on basketball. Totally crispy, toasty, DONE. So he turned his attention to the next project that fueled his passion and imagination… Now he’s totally killing it in that market and is opening up a new level in a new area. Because it’s the right time for him.

The bottom line is that he COMMITTED to a path with heart and put everything he had into it. He inspired me back in November of 2014 because every single day he writes a newsletter. An original, kick ass newsletter that has often been helpful and inspirational to me. So as I watch my own life improve based on what I’ve learned from him, I find myself being “called” to do my own authentic version of the same idea. Provide over the top value to the guys on this list. Guys like you.

Because of his example I committed to building a list of people who love my music enough to subscribe to a “Song of the day”. Along with that was the deeper commitment to get my ass in to the recording studio on a more frequent basis and simply record all the songs that over the years somehow never got recorded. For SIX MONTHS I have done that simple task FIRST. Every… single… day.

And what keeps coming up for me is that as much as I love music and writing songs, what fuels that creativity is an even deeper passion.

The passion I have for learning and applying life lessons and innovations that empower me to “do what I want, when I want, where I want, with whom I want.” My passion for learning, reading and testing out ideas is a SERIOUS foundation for my songwriting, storytelling, visual artist, peak performance flow.

So today, I begin a new commitment. To You. Sharing my tools, techniques, insights, learnings and wisdom with you. In a way that powerfully rocks your world. Every single day.

So who are YOU?

Chances are, you are probably like me in many areas of your life.

  • You probably grew up not so into sports. Although you may have discovered how much better you feel when you move your body, your sport may be a solo thing like running or cycling or a spiritual thing like Tai Chi or yoga.
  • You might not have had a lot of great male role models.
  • You might have been heavily influenced by your mom and your many female teachers (My mom literally “programmed” me to be the good little boy who always did what a woman told him to do… fvck that!).
  • You probably read a great deal.
  • You probably are smarter than the average bear.
  • You might be more introverted than extroverted.
  • You probably don’t quite “get” the female of the species. At least you don’t get the sex and love and attention that you want.
  • You might be a late bloomer or an underachiever.
  • You might have a ton of talent and not know quite how to get it to pay the bills.
  • You might be eating shitty food or have other health related issues.
  • You might have anxiety in some areas of your life, Performance anxiety in your sport, or career…. or in the bedroom. Approach anxiety. Test anxiety. Been there. Did that. It sucked. Overcame it.
  • You might want to stop giving away your power to women or bullies.
  • You might want to actually live that big dream you had as a kid that you have put aside so many times in order to be “responsible” or “sensible”

These are all areas that I have done deep work in with my NLP and Hypnosis practice. These are all areas I’ve CRUSHED it in my own life by applying step by step some EXTREMELY powerful tools for personal mastery. I want to share them with you.

And so today.

I chose to get up an hour earlier. And take the first step in what I intend to be a massive, throbbing, long, mutually beneficial journey.

One blog post a day here in addition to my Song of the Day post at MarkShepardSongs.com

Music and personal mastery/transformation. That’s my “one thing”.

In two parts.

Except when I have an idea for something that doesn’t quite fit in with these two “boxes”. LOL

Today no one faults Leonardo Da Vinci for having many interests. He was a renaissance man. He was as interested in engineering as he was in art. He was always experimenting. Not always finishing or fully developing his ideas. He probably did not make as much money in his lifetime as he COULD have if he had only focused…

But guys like us. You and Me AND old Leonardo Da Vinci, we have BIG visions. BIG minds. BIG plans. BIG. We think big. And we set out to reach the stars… We may fall short but at least we get SOMEWHERE!

Compare that to all the cubicle slaves grinding away at shit they hate, for people they don’t respect. Following the rules that someone else laid down for them. Being good little boys. Nice guys… and suffering in quiet desperation… blech!

So for the next 30 days. I am committing to a new blog post or video here at Cowabungah.com every single day.

If it still feels congruent at the end of 30 days, then we’ll go for 90… After that we’ll set the next goal.

So today’s tip is simple:

Take some time to look before you leap. Then take a deep breath, and FVCKING LEAP!

Action trumps thinking about taking action. But Intelligent, EFFECTIVE action trumps flailing away without a plan. There is a truly helpful and healthy pattern in spending some time each day or each month reflecting and observing the possible future outcomes related to each possible idea. But when you have done your due diligence, You need to let go of the doubts and the 2nd guessing and MOVE.

Forwards.

It is better to take totally dumb-ass “stupid” action than to sit on the couch watching shitty TV.

But you might as well take intelligent, congruent, ecological, action. Step by step. Chip away at getting to where you want to go.

So for me over here “walking my talk”, I am committing to: One thought a day that might give you the tools, ideas, inspiration, motivation, insight, or even plain HOPE that you can master your mind for a change, master your life, master your relationships, master your health, master your money. And not just some damn little fluff like all these other blogs.

Fvck that.

I may be a little ahead of where you are, but I too, am on this journey. Always will be. Today was easy. Just one thought. One small commitment to a practice that could possibly reach out like the ripples of a pond and send value your way…

Your part? To learn, apply and share.

Today’s assignment is called “Soul Boner 101″…

  • Take some time and write out every possible “Soul Boner” idea that you have. All of ’em.
  • If you had a year to live what would you do that you are not doing now?
  • If you had 6 months?
  • If you had 90 days?
  • If you had 1 month?
  • If you had 1 week?
  • If you had 1 day?

What would you do if you knew you could not fail?

Take a single piece of paper for each “Soul Boner” and write out the fantasy of what you would LOVE to have happen in that area of your life. You might need some time for this. Set aside an hour. Yeah. An hour. Turn off the fvcking TV or get up an hour earlier and start writing the script of your life. Write the script you WANT. What do YOU want? Stop thinking about what you DON’T want. FOCUS on what you DO want.

When you get something written down send me an email.

What are you hot for in your life? What are your 10 main “Soul Boners”?

We’ll get to clearing any blocks or obstacles to your dreams in future posts. But start small or big. It doesn’t matter. Just start. The key is to become conscious and aware of the fact that YOU are the captain of your own ship. The captain needs to know the destination of that ship. He needs to hold that vision every single day until he reaches the next port. There he can focus on the next step in his journey.

We can do this!

Begin.

Now.

P.S. If you have any thoughts or questions or subjects you would like me to reflect upon in future videos, click the button below and contact me today.

Let’s talk…