Did you ever try to do away with an unconstructive behavior, only to not succeed? There is a long list of widespread problem behaviors that people often try to alter or do away with using hypnosis. Perhaps the most common are: Overeating and weight loss; stop smoking; quit chewing tobacco; stop nail biting; increasing self-confidence; overcoming insomnia and sleeping better; improving memory; and managing stress.
WHAT THE MIND CAUSES, THE MIND CAN CURE:
The motivation for our behaviors starts in our thoughts. If you mull it over, all of these destructive behaviors are the result of negative thinking. In other words, you think and motivate yourself into all of these behaviors. Or at least you think yourself into feeling worried, and that can be the reason for these behaviors. And given that you think and motivate yourself into these behaviors, you can think and motivate yourself out of them as well. But in order to effectively think and motivate yourself out of these behaviors, you will need to know the “Motivation Formula For Success.”
DESIRE:
You are almost certainly reading this editorial because you want the motivation to alter some personal behaviors. And that is fitting for the reason that the first building block in the “Motivation Formula For Your Success” is that you must want or desire to change. If you have read this far, at least some part of you wants a change.
BELIEF IS REQUIRED FOR MOTIVATION:
Before anyone can eliminate a harmful behavior, that person must be motivated to do so. Merely wanting a change is insufficient.
Motivation comes from the things that we believe. If we believe that something very important to us will get better or “become enhanced” if we modify our behavior, we will feel a high level of motivation. Conversely, if we believe that something very important to us will be placed in jeopardy if we don’t make a change in our behavior, we will also feel motivated to make a change.
Some straightforward examples of these motivational beliefs might be:
If I take some weight off, then I’ll be able to find a lover.
If I stop smoking, then I’ll be healthier.
If I stop my nail biting, then my hands will be a lot prettier.
TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN CREATE THE BELIEFS THAT LEAD TO MOTIVATION:
NLP – which is short for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, offers methods that can immediately produce the element of belief. You can learn more about this by reading the articles “How To Get Motivated To Exercise Using Hypnosis And NLP” and “Motivation Theory – How To Quit Smoking Using NLP And Hypnosis For Motivation.” These articles are both available in my free hypnosis research library.
DECISION:
The dictionary defines the word “Decision” as making up one’s mind a verdict or judgment. When you accept as true a concept that gives you a powerful feeling of motivation to make a change, you will feel a compulsion to make a decision to get rid of a negative behavior. Decision is the key that unlocks the door and compels action.
ACTION:
The dictionary defines the word “Action” as an act or deed to do or perform. Taking action means that instead of just thinking about making personal changes, you will actually take action and create your desired changes.
SELF-TALK:
One of the many reasons that individuals are unsuccessful at eliminating a negative behavior is because of their self-talk. Self-talk is significant because time and again it is an important part of what caused the negative behavior in the first place.
I’d like you to think about this for a moment: Let’s say that you want to stop smoking. Possibly the first thing that you might say or think to yourself is: “I’m not going to smoke any longer.”
It is universal for people to tell themselves what they are not going to do. Unfortunately, when we tell ourselves what we aren’t going to do, we are actually compelling ourselves to do it!
SELF-TALK EXERCISE:
Say the following to yourself: I can’t see blue. I can’t see polka dots.
I’ll bet your mind showed you the color blue, and then it showed you polka dots. That’s because when we tell ourselves what we do not want to do, or what we won’t do, in order to make sense of it our mind must show us doing what it is that we wish to stop doing. And when we imagine ourselves engaging in a behavior, our mind compels us to produce that behavior.
SUMMARY:
In order to modify a negative behavior, we must first want or DESIRE to get rid of it. BELIEF is the element that creates MOTIVATION. MOTIVATION is the drive that compels us to DECISION. DECISION is the key to ACTION. Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a modality that we can use to facilitate beliefs, motivation, decisions, and actions.
When we tell ourselves what we aren’t going to do, we make a mental image of ourselves using the behavior that we want to modify. And that mental movie gives us a powerful urge to create the negative behavior. So if we want to eliminate a negative behavior, rather than tell ourselves what we won’t do, we must always tell ourselves what we will do.
To break the smoking addiction say: “I can live without them.”
To eliminate cravings for fattening food or to quit chewing tobacco say: “I can live without it.”
To eliminate stress say: “I’m relaxed and calm, both mentally and physically.”
To fall asleep more quickly say: “I fall asleep quickly, and sleep restfully throughout the entire night.”
To break the smoking addiction say: “I can live without them.”
To eliminate cravings for fattening food or to quit chewing tobacco say: “I can live without it.”
To eliminate stress say: “I’m relaxed and calm, both mentally and physically.”
To fall asleep more quickly say: “I fall asleep quickly, and sleep restfully throughout the entire night.”
Alan B. Densky, CH is a certified hypnotherapist and NLP Practitioner. He runs the Neuro-VISION Video Hypnosis website and offers hypnosis & NLP CDs for motivation. Visit the website for his free hypnosis videos, MP3’s, research library and newsletters. http://www.neuro-vision.us/