You talk to yourself all the time, about all topics. Your mind incessantly jumps from branch to branch like a monkey in the tree of thoughts. Your mind can be trained – yet it has natural inclinations. When it comes to food, your mind travels to astounding and fascinating places. And those are the places we’ll adventure to here. These approaches are mostly subconscious, not conscious, so here’s a chance to pay attention to things that may have been hidden under the surfaces of your mind.
The Caveman Approach to Food
This is the person holding a fork and a knife upright with a napkin bib, slurping his lips, saying “Food. Good. I want some. Gimme. ” This is, of course, the primitive approach, the way some people still go forward when they see food of any kind. “I want it. It’s for me. I’m eating it right now.”
The Visual Experience
Does your mouth water when you see pictures of food or when you look at a beautifully prepared meal or sumptuously beautiful fruits. This type of reaction is primarily visual. Here, the eyes are connected to the appetite.
The Sensual Garden of Delights
This way of talking to yourself might say, “That would satisfy me, feel good in my mouth and belly –crunch, slurp, chew, sip, taste.”
Food for Comfort
If you’re driven by this approach to food, your mind might be subconsciously saying: “If I eat that , I’ll feel better. If I put that in my mouth, it’ll be my pacifier, my binky. I’ll feel good, and I feel so bad. It’ll make me feel secure and maybe even happy.”
Authority –Driven Food Choices
If you have someone in your life who has a powerful affect on your thinking, you might say, “That’s what the food guru says to do. That’s what the guy on the infomercial says is the best. That’s what my husband (or wife) tells me I need to do.” Or if the whole gang is doing it, you might say to yourself, “Well, they’re eating that cake, pie, etc –and so am I!”
Tradition as an Approach
If you’re driven by the “ancestors,” you might be saying to yourself, “I’ve always eaten that – and so have my mom and their people from Transylvania, and I want to be a part of a long line of such eaters. That’s the way we’ve always done it, and that’s the way I want to do it now.”
Food for Health
In this approach, you note what the food is doing for your body and well-being. “That would make me live ten years longer. That’s good for my waistline. That would help me lose weight. I get energized when I eat that. I can live to see my grandchildren grow up.”
Food for Beauty
Here you choose foods that will amplify your beauty. “I can walk the runway if I eat like that. I’ll look like those people in the movies. I’ll keep my skin clear. I’ll be as lovely as I can be.”
Food as a Drug
We all know that some foods can be addictive – as any sugarholic will readily tell you. You might be saying to yourself, “I need more energy. I’ll eat that. I’ll drink that. I need to get my soda fix. I need, I want, I must have. ” More and more people are becoming addicted to foods that companies, sad to say, create expressly for this purpose.
The Aversion Approach
People who know that they need to stay away from particular foods (like sugar, for instance) might say to themselves, “That sugar is gross. It’s made in factories, and it’s sickeningly sweet. It hurts my body, makes my blood sugar go up and down. It makes the food companies rich and causes addiction to the people in our country. It causes havoc in my body, and I don’t want that.” Though it sounds negative, it really works for some people to keep them food-focused.
The Positive Suggestion Way
If you have an aversion to aversion and want to accentuate the positive, you can always give yourself some positive suggestions. We’ve looked at some already. Some more are “I make wise choices. I AM a person who knows exactly what to do and who eats wholesome healthy delicious and healthy foods.” You can make up your own suggestions now.
The Spiritual View
If you operate on this wave length, you know that your food choices raise your vibration and affect your meditations and your life. “I’m choosing this food because it makes me feel light and strong, and it makes my aura bright. I’m choosing this food because it honors the food sources of the earth and because it sustains the planet.”
So What’s the Significance of All This?
You can take a look at your own relationship with food and your subconscious thoughts, and you can look with awareness at what you decide to put into your mouth and your body. Then you can decide if you feel comfortable with it – and if you do, that’s great (be here now!) – and if you don’t, you can train yourself to think different thoughts and make other choices. You can, for example, find healthy foods to make you feel comfortable or loved or happy. You can choose wise food authorities. You can approach this whole topic with awareness and wisdom. Why not? It affects your entire life.
Here’s something you already know – told to you in a brand new way that might just astonish you: There’s a key to manifesting a better life – and you have this key already. As you continue to read my words, you may find a huge “Aha!” about it – a revelation that can shift your entire life.
Imagine This
Imagine what it would be like if you stopped worrying, if you knew how to have a happy mind, if funds were flowing in, if your body and mind were filled with healing power. Begin to notice that there’s something you’re doing inside yourself that’s different from the way it used to be. There’s a state of consciousness that is very clear and strong.
You know inside yourself that throughout your life in many ways you’re “dreaming a dream.” People who have awakened from that dream see everything as bliss or pure awareness. How are you dreaming your dream? Is your dream about suffering and lack? Or have you freed up your mind to dream a positive dream? What are you telling yourself about what’s real?
Thoughts are Prayers
Consider that your thoughts are prayers. What kinds of prayers are coming forth from your mind over and over? What pictures are you forming before your own eyes?
You may need to take some preliminary steps by healing your old thoughts and pictures. Where there were negative relationships, childhood experiences, financial woes – go inside and bring light to those pictures. Embrace the difficult parts of yourself with love and healing. Bring in angels, masters, fairy godmothers, your own inner love – and heal the old pictures.
Set the Stage for a New Life
Then set the stage for a whole new life. Allow yourself to imagine an entirely new scene of more than enough and great blessings. Have you heard this before? Well – maybe. Has it penetrated your consciousness like a bolt of enlightenment? Let it do that this time – and dream the most powerful dream you could ever create in the entire universe and for all time.
What about the national and international scene, you might ask? Imagine it healed and whole. No need to add to it with your outpicturing of a less than stellar reality. What about people who are suffering all over the world? Imagine them blessed. Use your profound powers of consciousness to transform the world. Inside is the power of healing and transformation that can be the force that wakes you up.
Remember Stuart Smalley from Saturday Night Live? If he said something negative about his life, he’d stop himself and say, “No, that’s just stinkin’ thinkin’! I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!” This was Stuart’s way of shifting his thoughts of low self esteem and personal defeat into feeling okay and even loved. If you ever tend to look at all the possible ways you or your life are no good, you can shift your thoughts into higher levels.
Thought Shifting
So if like Stuart you do a litany of stinkin’ thinkin’, you can shift your thinking upwards. First you take note of what you’re doing. Here’s what Stuart once said to himself:
”Oh my God, I said the wrong thing to someone. I’m going to die homeless and penniless, I’m twenty pounds overweight, and no one will ever level me.” That’s Stuart’s negative spin and is not quite the truth. Choose your own negative spin if you have one. You first pay attention to it and look at it from a distance. Stand back as if you’re on a mountaintop and take a look. No judgment, just observation. “What am I attempting to say here?” you might ask yourself. You may be attempting to self destruct or treat yourself less than well. (You can blame it on the devil or the negative thought forces of the world.)
“No that’s just stinkin’ thinkin’ – or something like this to yourself.” “I don’t need to do this anymore. I’m a being of the universe.” Or “I’m fine just the way I am.” Or “Maybe I didn’t do so well that last time, but I can transform this, and I will.”
And you can always remember this: “It is what it is!”
Seeing the Advantage of Everything
If you lose something or regret something else, you can look for the advantage, the other side to all things. Maybe you hurt your leg, but perhaps this keeps you from having to do some work you really didn’t want to do. Maybe you lost something, but you’re learning to be non-attached. Or maybe you’re being opened up to a new life. Perhaps you’re being prepared for something higher or more expansive. Maybe you’re learning the importance of spiritual values. Perhaps something has worn out its usefulness or relevance in your life, but you haven’t yet acknowledged it, and now you can. Learning to see the advantage of everything is a major life transforming habit of mind.
Connecting with Your Wisdom
Your Wise Mind has a fresh perspective on life. When you ask it what it would like to tell you about something, it will tell you the truth. A young eleven year old girl was afraid to go to sleep because she could only think of bad people who might try to harm her. She allowed herself to feel her fear, and then she asked her Wise Mind to tell her more:” It’s okay. You used to feel this way when you were a younger child, but now you can grow up some more and think thoughts of being safe.” Anyone can do this, young and old – connect with the Wise Mind, for fresh perspective and for truth.
Making a connection with Spirit can help you with everything in your life – including finances. It’s always helpful to go to a level of expanded possibility so that you keep yourself open to positive eventualities, and you can also receive assistance. Whatever you call it – the Universal Force, God, or any other name, it’s a way to go beyond your limited vision of the world and step into the essence. Here are five ways to move into this expansion and create financial well being.
Create Your Vision and Maintain Your Faith
You create a specific vision of what you’re manifesting in your life and impress it on the universe with your heart and soul. Know that your vision will be realized according to divine timing. You keep the faith that “everything has a way of working itself out,” and you allow this faith to carry you through and beyond disappointments that are just ways the universe has of saying to you: “Something better for you is coming.” Keeping the faith is paramount. There’s a song that says:
”It may not come when you want it, but it’s right on time.”
Maintain Your Understanding of Where Your Good Comes From
Know that whatever comes to you, comes from the universal Source. Remember that what you may think of as the source (job, banks, etc.) is only the appearance of things. Imagine yourself in your mind’s eye with money flowing from the universe to you. You catch it in your hands, your pockets, in baskets or any containers you like. You’re smiling and you’re grateful for the abundance of the universe as it rains down upon you.
Let Spiritual Symbols Inspire You
Let imagery of well-being fill your consciousness. Lakshmi, the Goddess of Wealth, is an icon of abundance. If her image is one you can align with, let its energy permeate your mind. You can even talk with her and tell her what you’d like. You can also commune with any other spiritual figure and allow its transformational power to move you forward. Having financial well being is very spiritual, and you tap into the gifts that are given from the spiritual into the material world.
Do Special Ceremonies
If you enjoy ceremonies or rituals and you find that they benefit you, you can light candles, say prayer, do mantras and affirmations, say “thank you.” You can devise your own rituals, often called pujas or poojas in India. They can create a positive force field within and around you and can assist you in the process of manifestation. You can reiterate your vision for your life as you do your rituals. If you’d like to have temple priests do rituals on your behalf, go to www.astroved.com.
Express Gratitude
Everyone talks about it because it’s a powerful form of expression. It lifts your consciousness toward what you have instead of what you think you don’t. Gratitude manifests more abundance as you realize how blessed you already are. “I give thanks for my…” is a good way to start a daily list. Again, imagine yourself as a most fortunate being receiving the great abundance of the universe. “Thank you, thank you, thank you” are magnificent words to say, words that paint your mental pictures with fullness and gratitude.
There’s an “upper room” in your mind that has great power. It’s a special room that allows you to fully experience and transform what you’d like to heal and manifest in your life. So, if “this old world is getting you down,” you can always go “up on the roof to the top of the stairs and just drift right into space” in the Healing Room of Light.
Here you can heal physical or mental or emotional issues. You can manifest anything. You can bring someone else into this room, someone you love or someone who’s creating some trouble in your life. You can shine light to transform something or bring something to life. You can see it or feel it or just know it’s there.
What Happens in the Healing Room?
Beams of light stream out of the walls and from the floor and ceiling. You sit or stand in the middle of the room and receive the beams. Or someone you know sits or stands there and receives the beams of light. When you’re there, you can bring others with you or you can be there by yourself. You bathe yourself in the brilliant streams of light.
Shifting the Vibration of Anything!
When you enter this powerful room, you can transform the vibration of anything, infuse it with light, and transform its very nature. You can upgrade the way the cells of your body vibrate, move yourself to a “higher octave” of life, feel expanded emotions, heal worn-out thoughts, release discord, open your heart center, bring yourself into the harmony of the universe, and overcome the problems of your life.
A Systematic Way to Transform
This is a systematic way of transforming anything. So, if “this old world is getting you down,” you can go to the Healing Room of Light where “it’s peaceful as can be, up on the roof, where the air is fresh and sweet, where the world can’t bother” you, and where you can shine the light of healing and transformation and move yourself to higher levels. In this way, you transform darkness into light.
Have you ever wanted to melt into the ground when you thought you said something “wrong?” Have you ever wondered, “Am I okay?” Have you ever given yourself dire predictions for your life?
If you have, then join the ranks of millions who’ve proven that “stinkin’ thinkin” still lives on. Like Stuart Smalley, the Al Franken character before he ran for the Senate, you might say to yourself:
”I’m going to die homeless and penniless. I’m 20 pounds overweight, and no one will ever love me.”
And then he would correct himself by saying,
”Oh no, no, no! That’s just stinkin’ thinkin!” I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”
Remember that?
Yes, such mind chatter lives on in many people – even people who’ve reached a level of enlightened thinking in many areas. They still worry and wonder if they’re okay.
Now, you might think that such non-constructive thinking is “humility” or the remedy for an ego trip. But in truth, it’s just as much an ego trip as saying, “I’m the most awesome and beautiful person this world has ever known.” There’s another state of consciousness that’s beyond “I’m the worst” or “I’m the best. That state of consciousness is the place of ultimate truth.
So What’s the Ultimate Truth about Self Worth?
You may have been told all your life that you’re no good. You may respond to the song “You’re No Good, You’re No Good, You’re No Good” with: “That song is definitely about *me*.” You might think that everyone is more lovely, handsome, intelligent, able, or worthy than you are.
But here’s the fact: That is all an illusion. Sure, some people seem smarter, richer, and more attractive than others – but:
Everyone is of the highest worth – including you.
Why is this so? You are made of the same substance of which the entire universe is made. You are composed of the same light and love as the towering trees and the vast oceans. You are a god or a goddess in potential. When you fix your mind in this direction, you transform the flow of your consciousness, and you move yourself in to ever-expanding potential.
Here’s the truth: I AM. It’s not “I am good” or “I am bad.” It’s beyond that. Like the planets and the stars, you exist as a living embodiment of the highest of the high. You may have been told the opposite – but it’s for you now to live in the truth, to practice “higher thinking” and move into the greatness of your life. Why not? And why not now?
Here are some tips and pointers I’ve gathered along the way. Some of them were given to me by ingenious people. Others I’ve developed myself. Take a good look at them and see if you get the feeling, “Yes! This is just what I need.” Here are some additions to your tool box that can make a big difference in the lives of others.
• Use this to avoid hearing the comments from clients “Was I really in hypnosis?”
Some people think they’ll go into a stupor when they come for a hypnosis session. They’ve seen the stage shows in which hypnotees are apparently under a spell, and they think that’s what’s in store for them also. Anything less than a coma state might mean to them, “I’m probably not in hypnosis.” Here’s how to avoid that phenomenon:
Before going into hypnosis, you say the following to your client:
“I’d like to do some hypnosis with you. Some people relax very deeply; some go very lightly. Most people are right in the middle. So you see, it’s a range of experiences that people have. You’ll have full awareness and full control, and you’ll get what you need.”
There’s a lot here: They now know that even if they go into a light state, they’re still in hypnosis. They understand that they’ll know everything that’s happening, and in a pre-hypnotic suggestion, they’ll “get what they need.” This technique can work wonders.
• Use numbers and letters to help people go more deeply.
A long time ago, the great Walter Seichort told me that instead of visualizations, he always used numbers and letters, and he recited them very slowly. He felt that visualizations were more from the intellect, and numbers and letters were from the more primitive reptilian part of the brain. He’d count backwards very slowly, sprinkling hypnosis patter (“Going very deeply now. More and more relaxed”) in between. He felt that this was more mesmerizing than relaxing on the beach. Now, there’s nothing wrong with visualizations, and they’re also deeply relaxing. But everyone can understand and relate to numbers and letters, whereas some people will not relate to your specific visualization, especially if they don’t like sunshine, water, or sand.
• Make recordings for your clients.
Clients love their recordings, especially if they’re custom made especially for them. These aren’t recordings of entire sessions. They contain a relaxation induction and positive suggestions that are created for your clients’ own issues, suggestions that arise from what has taken place in the session. The recordings can be short, 15 or 20 minutes long. They can have soft relaxing music on them. You can make them during the session or afterward, though it’s good to learn to make them during the session to avoid giving yourself a lot of homework. You conclude the recording with comments about how the material on the recording is penetrating into the client’s inner mind and having a powerful effect. You can bring your client back with numbers also. I count upward from 1 up to 5, and my voice gets louder as I go.
• Use a questionnaire.
We send the questionnaires by email or regular mail and ask clients to bring them to their sessions. We go over the questionnaires with clients when they come to their sessions. We have separate questionnaires for smoking, weight, and healing.
Here are some typical healing questions on one of our questionnaires:
* Have you ever had a hypnosis session before? Was it a positive experience?
* What’s the issue that brings you to your hypnotherapy session?
* Briefly describe the history of this issue.
* What’s going on right now regarding your issue?
* What would you like to accomplish in your hypnotherapy session?
* What would you like to see for yourself and your life in the future?
* Do you have any particular spiritual path that can assist you in transforming your issue? Please explain if you like.
* Is there anything else you’d like us to know?
All of these questions assist us to know our clients in greater depth. Of course, leave room between each question so they can answer, and put your contact info at the top.
• Create rapport.
That’s the first thing you do when a client comes to you. You can even small talk with a client at first. “How’s your day been today? Did you find it here easily?” It helps you both to come into a greater connection with each other. If you want to just go into your routine with clients and simply do suggestions, you may be missing a personal link with them, and you may not know how to individualize your suggestions for them. Building rapport builds trust – and this is a significant factor in your hypnosis success.
• Help your clients come back fully from hypnosis.
Here’s a technique that works every time. I learned it from someone, and I don’t know who that genius was. But here it is:
If you find that a client is woozy after a hypnosis session, tell him or her that you’d like to clap a few times in front of their face. Then you clap your hands together in the air 5 or 6 times, saying as you clap: “Coming back fully now. Wide awake and feeling great. Coming on back.” You then ask your client, “Are you back now?” The answer will usually be “Yes!” and you’ll often see a great big smile.
• Observe absolute, complete confidentiality.
Let your clients know in a client consulting agreement form that you maintain professional confidentiality. Make sure you never tell anyone the name of anyone you’ve worked with.. If you tell anecdotes about client sessions, make sure they’re completely anonymous, and names and places are changed to protect the innocent..
• Ask this question and receive profound answers:
The question is “What would your Wise Mind tell you about that?” Everyone has a Wise Mind, and it is brilliant. The reason it’s brilliant is that it’s a part of the infinite wisdom of the universe.. You might be amazed at what comes forth from clients when you ask this question. If you’d like to know more about this, take a look at my book, The Wise Mind. The Wise Mind often indicates the significance of particular experiences of our lives and invites us to move into new dimensions of understanding.. The Wise Mind gives an expanded view and shows us how to transform the problems and issues of life.
