by June Milligan, M.Ed., CCHt |
Our daily lives are ruled by suggestions that we can either accept or reject. As adults, we have the choice whether or not to accept the suggestions made to us by our culture, peers or family. If these suggestions are repeated often enough our minds accept them as facts and they become beliefs, whether they’re true or not. As children we do not have much choice about the barrage of suggestions and demands we receive every day. If offered by authority figures, we usually need to accept them in order to psychologically survive, or at least feel comfortable.
These suggestions stack up in variety and repetition; until we are convinced they are true. In fact, if we heard something several hundred times it would be astonishing if we didn’t come to believe it.
So what is a suggestion? It is whatever makes us change the way we think and therefore change what we focus on. One definition of hypnosis is “suggestions accepted.” We are already hypnotized. We believe the suggestions we’ve accepted. As a child you may have heard statements like, “There is never enough money to pay the bills,” or “You are stupid; you’ll never amount to anything,” or “Everyone in this family gets heart disease.”
These statements are suggestions. If you hear them often enough, they become beliefs. Beliefs give birth to expectations, which become our reality. We “think” about 50,000 thoughts each day, although they are usually the same thoughts as the previous day. By thinking the same thoughts every day, not only do we create the same day over and over, we are reprogramming (hypnotizing) ourselves with the same suggestions. We do this whether they are true or not. We are reinforcing these suggestions every time we think them, hypnotizing ourselves into believing they are true.
There is a saying among those who work in brain research, “Neurons that fire together, wire together.” In other words, repetitive thoughts actually change the way the brain wires itself.
If you believe there is never enough money to pay the bills, that thought ran through your mind so many times it created its own connection. That belief has then become an expectation, or self-fulfilling prophecy, affecting a big part of your life. Now that it created its own connections, it becomes difficult to think a different thought. You have to work at it. However, by thinking an opposite thought, you are creating a different connection. This reinforces a new belief and will come to expect something entirely different.
A trip to the hypnotist is an effort to reprogram your bad habits; it is actually a “rehypnosis.” Dr. Tim Brunson, founder of the International Hypnosis Research Institute, calls it de-hypnosis. The effort to determine why it is so difficult to change bad habits is a major focus in brain research. Studies show that people become accustomed to what is familiar, even if it is unpleasant and unproductive. In other words, by repeating the same thoughts and behaviors over and over, we become hypnotized and continue to repeat those behaviors.
As you come to understand your programming, you can identify which beliefs are life-affirming and which are life-denying. Any suggestion or belief that says, “I can’t” simply stops you in your tracks. Look into your thoughts with a critical eye and determine what your deepest beliefs actually are. They are forecasting every day in your life. Begin to give yourself different suggestions. Weed some of the limiting thoughts out; nourish the ones that make you feel empowered. The beliefs of others do not affect your life until they become your beliefs. Rewire your brain, free yourself from old unproductive suggestions and watch your life change. Let positive, life-affirming suggestions in and refuse negative suggestions from anyone. Take your power back!
A certified clinical hypnotherapist is able to teach you self-hypnosis or offer effective hypnotic suggestions and directions to get you back on track.
Follow Us