Honest Hypnosis

Master Your Mind... for a Change

Self Hypnosis

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

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Spring?

It’s been warm all week here in the Albany NY area… Definitely SPRING like.

And yet today, on the official “first day of Spring”

It was 20 degrees F.  Chilly.

And that prompts me to reflect on the differences between our expectations and what actually IS.

The rest of creation from squirrels to redwing blackbirds basically take things as they are. No complaining. No whining. They just deal with the cards they’ve been dealt and go about the business of adapting and surviving.

You never hear a Redwing Blackbird complaining about how cold it is in March. You never hear them say, “Well It’s just MY luck! I migrated all this way from Florida to find a mate and start a family and it’s just too cold up here. This ALWAYS happens to me. Bah humbug!” NOPE! They just keep singing. [Here’s your daily Transformation Tune BTW]

We humans tend to INTERPRET the world and events and make things MEAN something.

In other words we immediately begin to tell stories about what is happening OUTSIDE ourselves to explain what is going on INSIDE.

I’ve found it helpful in my own life to ask myself, “Hey Mark, What are you MAKING THIS MEAN?”

In other words much of our pain and “suffering” comes from how we INTERPRET events.

In the process of interpreting, we necessarily have to DELETE, DISTORT and GENERALIZE what we perceive in order to make sense of it and make it fit our “BOX” or “Label” or “story” of “reality”.

And none of it is actually “true”… because we are the ones who are explaining things according to our level of perception.

For example: I used to have a difficult time performing because if someone got up and left in the middle of one of my songs, I would tell myself that, “They hated my music.” or “I must of said something that offended them” or this really, really self defeating one: “See? Nobody wants to hear MY music. They just want to hear songs they’ve heard on the radio.”

The truth is I had no idea why that person left. I could have told a different story or two…

Like, “They had to go to the bathroom…” or, “They just got a text from the baby sitter because she can’t figure out how to work the remote control of the TV…”, or “that person must be a doctor on call…”

So that’s the “mind read” thing we all do to some extent, where we delete the positive interpretations and instead focus only on the negative ones that make us feel bad.

And then we often generalize that “Nobody wants to….” or it “Always works out against me…” or “This ALWAYS happens to me…”  so whenever you hear yourself using Always, or Never, it’s time to challenge your generalizations.

So today. Your Assignment. Should you choose to accept it.

Tell yourself better stories.
Turn the “villains” or “bad luck” in your life into your “Beloved Teachers” who are playing a required role in the exciting adventure plot of the movie of your life.

And while we’re at it, let’s tell the story of the warm weather to come…

Let’s generalize that SPRING ALWAYS COMES!
Even though we mays still have some cold weather, IT ALWAYS TURNS WARMER!

I noticed the other day that the Redwing Black birds are back.

And things are DEFINITELY thawing (look at all this delightful MUD!)
and I even heard the Spring Peepers…

so Let’s tell stories of our OWN Spring. Our OWN renewal! Our Own times of growth and expansion! Remember, we get what we focus on. (and BTW I ain’t just reminding YOU! We AWL need to hear this. Even Moi.)

COW-A-BUNG-AH!

Here’s your Transformation Tune for the day to support your Daily Mind Mastery Message or play it up above with the handy player (and you can download it for free too):

Song #415 Blackbirds Are Back!

Peace out,

Mark

The really important thing is just to be fully aware that you can realize the change you’re looking for…

And here’s how

Click the link below to:

Or just leave a comment below 🙂

Track Your Progress

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How Can You Tell You’re Making Progress?
The quick answer is…

…By Keeping Track.

For example. I weigh myself every morning when I first get up.

But body weight doesn’t always tell the whole story.

So I took the leap and invested $25 bucks in a scale that also has Body Fat, Water, Muscle and Bone percentage measurements. All of which I write down. Pretty much almost every day.

The other day I hit a new low weight wise, (which was a new high progress wise!) and all the other numbers moved in the direction I’ve been working towards as well.

My body fat went down. My muscle went up. etc.
So I wrote it down. I made a note of it. And set my intention and self hypnosis for the next small goal in this area of my life.

I can look back at October 12, 2014 which was the day I got SERIOUS about creating a life long SUSTAINABLE fitness program for my body and look at the numbers:

October 12, 2014

  • Weight: 228
  • Body Fat %: 20.4
  • Total Body Water: 62.5
  • Muscle Mass: 34
  • Bone: 8.2
  • Waist measurement: 40″

and compare it with Today’s

March 18, 2016

  • Weight: 208.6
  • Body Fat %: 17.6
  • Total Body Water: 65.1
  • Muscle Mass: 35.1
  • Bone: 7.4
  • Waist Measurement: 35″

Now also understand that this cheapo scale is not the most accurate measuring device for some of this stuff. For example, I’m probably not losing bone density. But I am staying more hydrated, and my body fat is going down and my muscle is going up. It doesn’t have to be perfect to still keep you on track.

So we don’t just weigh ourselves on the scale and use that one single metric to gauge all our progress.

Measure enough to get as accurate a picture as you can.

It feels good to make measurable progress. It reinforces what is working.

We ARE animals after all. We move TOWARDS Pleasure and AWAY from pain.

And to celebrate and reinforce my progress even more, I also bought a new pair of pants with a 34″ waist.

And… I can actually… button them!
(admittedly they are a little snug).

However,

A little over a year ago, I was wearing 38″ waist size (but with those stretchy things in them for “comfort”. so truthfully I was more like a 40″)

BTW if you would like to join me on the health and fitness quest, check out my program, “It’s Not Just About The Food”

It is simply the exact program I follow in my own life and that I developed over 15years of working with weight loss hypnosis clients… It combines leading edge research with self hypnosis sessions and NLP Mind Mastery Tools to make getting fit and healthy not only easier, faster and better but more SUSTAINABLE.

So the mind mastery tools, plus the food choices I’ve been making, the intermittent fasting I’ve been doing combined with a “feast” day once a week, getting rid of my chair and using a standing desk as well as the Slow Burn fitness techniques that take only a few minutes every other day or so, are working.

And NOW I WANT MORE! Don’t YOU?

Do you see how it works?

If you don’t keep track, how will you actually know if you’re making progress?

If you are keeping track and NOT improving then you can intelligently explore different approaches and ideas until you DO see progress.

Does that make sense?

It’s also why businesses track expenses as well as income. The mantra of many millionaires is, “You can’t improve what you can’t measure”.  And I think there is something to that.

It’s why peak performance athletes keep track of their workouts and times, personal bests in practice and in competitions etc.

So how are you doing? Have you been noticing improvements in your life?
Or do you just keep track of the failures, the disappointments and the struggles?

Remember one of the immutable laws of the universe is:

“We get more of what we focus on.”

Your Daily Mind Mastery Challenge today (should you choose to accept it) is to pick a single area of your life and begin to keep track of your progress on a daily basis.
We get more of what we focus on, so focus in on what IS working.

  • Are you better at practicing self love?
  • Are you making progress in your health and fitness?
  • Are your relationship skills and communication skills improving?
  • Are you practicing your Anxiety Crushers on a regular basis?
  • Are you cutting back on junk food and eating more veggies?
  • Are you practicing meditation daily?
  • Are you writing out WDIWOBTICPI? And making a note of how things actually turn out?

I mean, after all, What’s good in your life? Do you even know?

Make a note of it. Write it down. Keep track of your good days. Keep track of your successes.

Forget about the “failures” for now.

And if you look at things with the appreciation that even the “Failures” are part of your ultimate success, you can surely find SOMETHING to track that will give you hope and encouragement so you can take another step and another step and another step towards becoming even more fabulous than you already are…

And I am NOT suggesting that you measure EVERYTHING… Just track the stuff that’s IMPORTANT to you. And do it INTELLIGENTLY so you are fairly sure you aren’t fooling yourself like the person who wants to lose weight and starts working out and building muscle getting discouraged by their increasing weight. They don’t want to lose WEIGHT. What they really want is to Lose FAT and BUILD MUSCLE! And they very well could be succeeding but not measuring it correctly!

So give “keeping track of your successes” a shot!

Your Transformational Soundtrack to support your assignment (should you choose to accept it) is….

Song # 337 “Walk Through Roses” (It’s all about focus)

Enjoy!

Have an awesome, fabulous, groovy, love filled day!

– Mark

p.s. I will see YOU on the INSIDE!

The really important thing is just to be fully aware that you can realize the change you’re looking for…

And here’s how

Click the link below to:

Or just leave a comment below 🙂

WDIWOBTYCPI Wednesdays

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What Wednesdays are for…

I don’t know why I did this, but I set up on my white board an intention for every day of the week.

For example, “Mondays are for ME”. I highly, highly suggest you begin to practice a new kind of “Tithing”.
Now before you run to the exits, this is NOT an Evangelical Christian Tithing Sermon…

It IS a Transformational, Mind Mastery Dose of Practical GROOVINESS for your personal mastery mission…

This is about “Tithing” of your time, talent and treasure, but it HAS to start with YOU.

Give to yourself first. This is NOT selfishness. And “Mondays are for Me” is a perfect example. When I take my mondays and really rest, really take care of me and my need for quiet, meditative, restorative time, I have so much more to give to YOU the rest of the week.

So in my schedule, “Mondays are for Me”. You can pick a different day of the week but in my mind, setting aside Mondays for self care and rest is one of the best gifts I can give to the people I love… The entire rest of the week follows… Now many people do that on Sundays, but I work all day on Sundays so Mondays are MY day of rest. (But this message isn’t about Mondays…)

Tuesdays are for TRANSFORMATION… and if you read yesterday’s email/blog post you already know that Transformation Tuesdays are coming! (But THIS message ain’t about Tuesdays so enuf said for now)

But Wednesdays!

WONDERFUL, WEDNESDAYS!

The popular culture calls it “hump day”. The day you get over the hump of the work week and can see the weekend beckoning… And I guess for the cubicle slaves of the world “hump day” gives them some kind of hope… However, I prefer to focus on something a bit different today…

How about… WHY DOES IT WORK OUT BETTER THAN YOU CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE WEDNESDAYS?

W.D.I.W.O.B.T.Y.C.P.I. WEDNESDAYS for short.

What if, every Wednesday morning you started out by writing that power phrase over and over again by hand? And then chanted it all day in your mind?

What would happen if you purposefully and consciously practiced this one little thing every Wednesday?
Seriously! For your own practice pop it into the first person and ask away.

Why Does It Work Out Better Than I Can Possibly Imagine?

Here’s an example: A very dear friend of mine had an ominous email exchange with her boss over the weekend… It seemed so ominous on Saturday that when her boss said… “We have to talk first thing on Monday Morning”… she went a bit into panic mode… and what is pretty cool is that her anxiety response was actually pretty damn productive, she explored the notion that on Monday she would have no job…

So rather than sit around freaking out, she dusted off her resume and reflected on all the skills and assets she has to offer in both the corporate and academic markets and came up with 3 alternative contingency plans so that no matter what, she would be ok with or without her job.

And then? She started breathing, grounding and focusing her mind on:

WHY Does It Work Out Better Than I Can Possibly Imagine?
Why DOES it work out better than I can possibly imagine?
Whey Does IT work out better than I can possibly Imagine?
Why does it WORK OUT better than I can possibly imagine?
Why does it work out BETTER than I can possibly imagine?
Why does it work out better than I CAN possibly imagine?
Why does it work out better than I can POSSIBLY imagine?
Why does it work out better than I can possibly IMAGINE?

And so on… over and over. Heck, I chanted it with her. And I started feeling fabulous as well.
And then she went on to have a fabulous weekend.

Monday, she went in and her boss was completely reasonable, supportive and appreciative of her…
There was no conflict. Just a bit of clarification that had to be talked about in person. No biggie.

Interesting huh?

So you might want to actually put this one into practice. It’s simple. It’s free. It’s accessible anywhere
and it works. It’s also just one of the gazillion mind mastery tools I teach in “How To CRUSH anxiety NOW!”

So that’s your assignment for today (should you choose to accept it). It’s one that just might be revisited on Wednesdays to come.

Why it Works:

It works because it helps to shift your focus, it changes your energy, your bio-chemistry and the presuppositions in the question engage your unconscious mind to filter reality according to the question.

Any thoughts that do not match the presupposition simply get filtered out.

Your Unconscious Mind simply can NOT not filter your reality according to that powerful question. It simply has to accept it and build evidence to verify its truth.

So yeah. It’s actually self hypnosis. If you feel like opting in and joining the Transformation Nation, I’ll send you a link to a full video course explaining why and how this process totally works for you if you use it.

Try it. You’ll like it.

And to support it is a little Transformation Tune I wrote back in 2007…
Song #361 I’m Lucky

or use the handy, groovy player with the horseshoe picture at the top. :o)

That’s it for now.

I love you and I love loving you and I love watching you love yourself more and more each day…

I will see YOU on the INSIDE!

– Mark

p.s. More on the upcoming TRANSFORMATION Tuesdays coming soon!
p.p.s. My new online Hypnosis For PTSD program is available here: Hypnosis For PTSD

The really important thing is just to be fully aware that you can realize the change you’re looking for…

And here’s how

Click the link below to:

Or just leave a comment below 🙂

Humorous Hypnosis

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Today calls for A Bit O’ Humor for your Daily Mind Mastery Moment….

It’s one thing to do deep transformational work. And often it is damn HARD work that requires courage, tenacity and sheer determination to even consider.

However, occasionally (well perhaps more frequently than that) we need to lighten the hell UP!

Today, we is gonna
“Snap…

…OUT

OF IT!”

“It” being whatever ever funk, frustration, phobia, fear, fretting we’ve been doing this week….

In fact anything that starts with the FFFFFFF or PH sound… We are gonna BLESS and RELEASE by laughing at it…. (With deep love and compassion of course.)

So your assignment for today (should you choose to accept it) is to listen to this Tongue in Cheek Transformational Tune and then follow it’s light hearted (yet sage and sensible) hypnotic suggestion to

SNAP OUT OF IT BABY! :o)

Have a Fabulous Saturday!!

BTW I totally and completely love you and believe in you and send you light and grooviness

Swooooooooooooosh! Shazaam!

– Mark

The really important thing is just to be fully aware that you can realize the change you’re looking for…

And here’s how

Click the link below to:

Or just leave a comment below 🙂

Give Yourself Permission

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Give Yourself Permission To Be Human AND To Remember You Are Not The Only One Working on Challenging “Stuff” in Your Life.

Just in case you may be wondering, I have full permission from my client Shawna to share what I shared in yesterday’s blog post.

If you missed it you can find it here: Hypnosis For PTSD

For years I’ve been frustrated with doing great work with clients and watching TRANSFORMATIONAL MIRACLES happen in front of my eyes but due to obvious confidentiality issues I couldn’t really share their stories. And MOST change takes place in PRIVATE.

And sometimes, most of the time actually, it’s not even a big deal. The shift happens and suddenly your world opens up before you in a way that previously was impossible but very quickly becomes the NEW NORMAL… and eventually we move beyond each level when we are ready…

Today’s transformational song  just happens to be about that and you might want to play it softly in the background for the rest of the day… (seriously. See what happens if you do).

So I want to express how deeply grateful I am to Shawna for being willing to co-create with me a series of hypnosis/Energy sessions that are designed not only to help HER, but to help YOU and ME as well.

One of the reasons why I am also fully willing to share MY stories and my own healing process is that THERE IS NOTHING TO BE ASHAMED OF!

Just like climbing a mountain can be a shared activity where we can help each other up the steepest parts,

  • We are ALL in this TOGETHER.

  • We are ALL struggling to figure out what the heck we’re doing here in these little bodies on this little planet!

  • We are ALL working on understanding that the “real rules” for joy and THRIVING here in this lifetime are NOT the same rules that our parents and schools and culture has been teaching us!

Ultimately it really is not about “the person who dies with the most toys wins”.

It’s about experiencing the full health, empowerment, strength, joy, abundance and love that we can possibly experience here and now while we are alive!

But those ecstatic states do not just “happen” while we are sitting on the couch numbing ourselves out with TV, food, Alcohol, or sitting in a cubicle hating our job or striving always to please OTHER people even though it’s making you miserable…whatever.

So. If you are interested in your own transformation and “leveling up” in what I lovingly call “The Game”, stick around. It’s happening right here and you can join in the fun by simply reading these posts, signing up for my Daily Mind Mastery newsletter and daring to get a few songs “stuck in your head” while putting the daily “Master Your Mind For A Change” assignment into action.

Speaking of transformation! I want to thank the 5 Transformation Nation members who IMMEDIATELY took action and emailed me back requesting their special Pre-Release LIFETIME ACCESS to “PTSD Hypnosis Session”.  The program itself should be available to the general public as soon as Web Marketing Wonder and Technical Genuis, Michael Guerin gets it all set up.

Then watch the emails and blog posts for you opportunity to jump in as well.

Okay, Now. Your Transformation Tune for the day.
I’m thinking the Victory Song might be a good way to kick off this beautiful Friday in March.

(the player is at the top of this post)

This is a song written specifically with hypnotic language patterns in it PRESUPPOSING victory in all things.

The “Why” questions trigger your Unconscious Mind to accept the presuppositions in the questions and begin to build “evidence procedures” to make the questions TRUE.

It also appeals to all five of your senses so that no matter what your favorite or “default” communication preference is, the message can get deep into your unconscious mind…

In other words, your assignment today (should you choose to accept it) is to listen to this song all day at low volume and pay attention to how things shift in your life. And BTW you can download the song free by clicking the “download” link in the song player. (You can always pay more if you feel so moved :o)

“Give yourself permission to be abundant and at ease….”

And with that song stuck in your head, get out there and have yourself one HELL OF AN AWESOME DAY!

COWABUNGAH BAY-BEE!

– Mark

p.s. When the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Hypnosis and Energy Session is fully available for you I will definitely let you know. In the meantime, if you haven’t yet checked out my audio and video programs designed to put the power of transformation your life in YOUR hands.

The really important thing is just to be fully aware that you can realize the change you’re looking for…

And here’s how

Click the link below to:

Or just leave a comment below 🙂

Hypnosis For PTSD

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Got Trauma?

(We all do)
I’ve been working with an awesome client, named Shawna over the last year or so.

A few things up front:

  1. She gave me full permission to share her story and these sessions with you.
  2. She and I have done a lot of foundational clearing work over the course of 10 sessions.
  3. She recently had a huge breakthrough when I simply “blasted” her with energy and it seemed to clear out a lot of lingering “stuff” (“stuff” is our polite word LOL :o)

Because she and I both want to help more people, she agreed to allow me to record her sessions.

We did my usual 4 hour initial breakthrough intensive and about 6 follow up visits. Over the course of that time she experienced a ton of “stuff” that came up around her wedding (she got married in the Spring) having to do with her new husband’s ex, with her abusive, estranged father, with all kinds of family “stuff”.

“STUFF” is our polite technical term for old traumatic memories, behavior patterns that we created in childhood to survive and be accepted by our families.

These are the wounds we are yearning to heal. These are the wounds that get “triggered” when we often least expect it.

We all have it.

Most of us will do absolutely EVERYTHING and ANYTHING to avoid it being “TRIGGERED”. Cuz BEING “TRIGGERED” usually feels really, really bad.

But it is pretty much a given, that in significant relationships we somehow, mysteriously, magically find a partner with just the right “chemistry” to touch our deep woundedness in just the right way to cause this “stuff” to come up.

What most of us do, is switch partners hoping the new one won’t make us feel so bad. But then the old stuff comes up again… and again… and again….

BLECH!

But ultimately WE are the ones making ourselves feel bad and these “trigger moments” are actually the most MASSIVE opportunities we have for clearing this “stuff” out.

There’s an old therapeutic cliche that is a cliche because its damn TRUE:
“We cannot heal what we cannot feel.”

But most of us don’t know what to actually do to heal the stuff that we are suddenly feeling.

Last Friday, Shawna gave me permission to record our hypnosis/energy session, and if you’ve ever experienced old patterns or thought forms that just kind of cling to you and poison your relationships and your general well being, you might want to check it out and give it a test in your life.

It was useful to me as well to document the kind of work I do with clients one on one because it is a process that combines traditional hypnosis with conversational hypnosis, NLP, Time line Techniques and energy work. I haven’t talked much about energy healing because, even though that was my original training for 5 years under one of Barbara Brennon’s early students, I mostly avoided it because it seemed to be a little too “woo, woo” for some of my early clients who were a bit unused to “healing” as a concept.

But after working with Dr. Donnie Epstein last month, who is all about energy healing, I just started bringing it into the mix.

Today’s Transformation Tune, Song # 344 “Let It Go”, supports this trauma release process as well, and is an integral part of the new course too. It was inspired by many of my first clients back in 2004.

Because ultimately the people who show up in a hypnosis practice for weight loss and smoking cessation, anxiety relief or whatever, are pretty much all dealing with unhealed “stuff” in their lives and are using “substances”, food, tobacco etc. to self soothe.

When we actually address and clear the underlying trauma, all of a sudden the need to “check out” dissipates. Sometimes it happens suddenly, other times it’s a gradual process. But either way it’s better than just suffering and staying stuck in the muck.

thanks!

– Mark

p..s. As I write this post on Thursday March 10th, the course is not quite ready for release to the general public.

p.p.s. I will see YOU on the INSIDE!

The really important thing is just to be fully aware that you can realize the change you’re looking for…

And here’s how

Click the link below to:

Or just leave a comment below 🙂