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Hypnosis is a very natural, normal state of mind. You go in and out of hypnosis at least twice a day when you fall asleep and when you awaken. It is simply the transitional state between conscious awareness and sleep, when the conscious mind is either starting to let go so that we can drop down into the sleep state or when we come up from sleep and the conscious mind is starting to re-engage. It’s that soft, relaxed, day-dreamy, not-all-the-way-awake, not-all-the-way-asleep state. The closer you are to being awake, the more alert and aware you feel. The closer you are to the sleep state, the less aware you are and the more relaxed you feel. And just like when you awaken in the morning, you can easily bring yourself out of this state whenever you want.One of the wonderful things about this state, when the conscious mind is letting go, is that the subconscious mind is more open and accessible. There is a suspension of belief about old perceptions you want to change and you can use the ability of the subconscious mind to create new perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors.

Here is a very simple example of how this works. Let’s say you really like ice cream. It was served at parties when you were a child where you were having lots of fun, being with friends and family, and feeling good about yourself. There are lots of feel-good emotions associated with ice cream. So a belief is formed that ice cream is good. Now you want to stop eating ice cream for health and weight reasons. Your will power is going full tilt. Your purpose is clear. You do well for about two weeks. Then inside you start missing that good, fun, special feeling you get with ice cream. You want the feeling so you start craving ice cream without even knowing that the two states of mind are connected. And you end up seemingly sabotaging yourself because you give up on your goal when you eat it again. But part of you feels satisfied because you briefly got those good feelings. This internal perception of ice cream, coupled with the emotions associated with it, drives your behavior and choices. Sure, you know logically that ice cream adds pounds and raises cholesterol. But subconsciously it is associated with that feel-good state of mind. And that state of mind is what determines your choices and your behavior. With hypnosis you change erroneous beliefs and emotions created in the past to ones that promote better choices and actions based on your present desires. You change the belief that ice cream makes you feel special and happy to believing you can feel special and happy on your own. It was your mind all along that recreated that good-feeling state of mind, not the ice cream. It simply used ice cream as a cue to go there. Isn’t it nice to know that you can be in charge of how you feel whenever you want, not through some external source? Now your behavior will match this new belief. Ice cream will no longer have an emotional hold over you, and your eating habits change accordingly. This is the effectiveness of hypnotherapy. Maybe ice cream isn’t what you use. Maybe you use alcohol or drugs or cigarettes or goofing off to feel good. Or maybe you use procrastination or self-sabotage to avoid feeling bad. Maybe because of abuse or trauma you have a negative self-image. It’s the same principle. With hypnotherapy you can create effective, powerful beliefs and states of mind to achieve the things you want and live a life of personal satisfaction.