Have you ever been so absorbed by a good book you forgot the time (or to save the world in Spiderman's case here?)
Or lost yourself in a movie that you forgot to eat? Or waited for the green signal at the pedestrian crossing that went from green to red back to green several times?
Good news is you're normal! Your mind was in a state of focused concentration, so focused that you lost track of time, where you were, and what you were doing.
You hypnotized yourself!
This is a normal brain state when we're awake, and our concentration levels rise and fall quite naturally.
What if we could deliberately do this daily? What if we could train our minds to switch on and off giving us focused attention on a particular goal?
Professional athletes do this all the time, e.g., before taking a free throw, basketball players will stare at the net, talk to themselves, visualize the ball passing through the hoop, and take several deep breaths before throwing the ball.
They're hypnotizing themselves!
The benefits of self-hypnosis are plentiful, and you can gently induce a state of peace and calm when there's chaos around you. Or you can give yourself a subtle energy and confidence boost before meeting someone important. Or you can turn off external distractions when you need to focus.
By the way, we all do this everyday when we talk to ourselves, but I'd like to share a few simple steps to help you self-hypnotize with more focus and clarity.
Here's how:
★ 1. Breathe slowly and deeply from your stomach, not your chest. Breathe in and out through your nose only and slowly feel the air gently entering and leaving your body.
★ 2. With every exhale, say a word that represents what you want to feel, e.g., say "calm" or "energized" or "confidence."
★ 3. Recall an image or memory from your past that matches the feeling you seek. Remember the people, places, sounds, smells, tastes, and how you felt in this image from the past.
★ 4. Continue to take deep and slow breaths and repeat the word of the feeling you desire, and continue experiencing the sights, sounds, feelings, taste, and smells from your memory.
That's it, a very simple yet powerful way to change your emotional state using self-hypnosis. Use it as often as you need to, or make it a part of your everyday routine.
