Beyond The Swinging Watch - Hypnosis and Psychology in Everyday Life

  How many times have you heard the advice: ’Just think positive’? It’s the ‘just’ part that bothers me the most. If changing negative thinking was a simple as just thinking positively, wouldn’t everyone do that? The act of challenging negative thinking is tough because it requires an individual to reappraise how they believe things are. It means having to change position in the our mental argument. We become fixed on a way of thinking and it shapes our expectations. Giving up what we have spent time mentally building and then admitting acknowledging there are more useful ways to think about things, is not easy. Take one look at a social media post about politics and you will get all the evidence you need to support just how difficult it is for people to consider a different point of view! Positivity has to be grounded in reality if it is to begin to change negative thinking. No amount of me thinking positively is going help someone run a marathon this afternoon, but using it to su...

  “I know what happened and yet I still can’t get past it!” This one comment describes the purpose of analytical therapy and why it's important to address the emotional impact of trauma. True recovery from trauma, and the symptoms it creates, is only really achieved when two distinct types of understanding are achieved: Intellectual Understanding  Emotional Understanding  Intellectual Understanding refers to the knowledge of what happened and/or the events that led up to and are contained within the trauma. They are the facts of situation. what actually happened. The events are often describe in a narrative form. The events may be recent or from many years previously, but they are recounted as a description of what happened. Emotional Understanding refers to knowledge of what emotions the traumatic events created at the time. It includes the interpretations we gave to circumstances at the time. The emotion response to the events may be very different than compared to...

  With our increasingly busy lives, relaxation can often feel like a luxury. It becomes something that we aim to do when we have more time, but ironically it is the very thing that we should be planning for and including as a regular part of our everyday lives. Learning relaxation techniques and using them frequently can be effective in taking charge of many common stresses and worries we experience in everyday life. The more stressed we are the less able we are to cope and think positively. This can lead to being stuck in a cycle of negative thinking which prevents a person being able to achieve the things they would like. Hypnosis is an ideal way of benefiting from relaxation and encouraging a more positive attitude. Hypnosis is best described as focused relaxation. The deep relaxation, allows a person to be able to suggest a more positive way of thinking, encouraging a positive effect on their behaviour. Suggestion Therapy using Hypnosis is a way to re-programme the way we cope ...

  Anxiety is a common experience that affects millions of people worldwide. While it can serve a useful purpose by alerting us to potential dangers, chronic anxiety can lead to a range of long-term impacts that significantly affect an individual’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. As a Hypnotherapist, I often work with clients struggling with anxiety. Mental Health Challenges Living with chronic anxiety can increase the risk of developing other mental health disorders. Anxiety often coexists with conditions such as depression, panic disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The persistent worry and fear can lead to feelings of hopelessness, isolation, and sadness. Over time, this can result in a downward spiral of mental health, making it more challenging to manage anxiety and contributing to a complex interplay of symptoms that can be overwhelming. Physical Health Consequences The long-term effects of anxiety aren’t limited to mental health; they can also manif...

In my practice as a Hypnotherapist, I often emphasise the power of self-hypnosis and auto-suggestion. These techniques are not just tools for relaxation; they can significantly enhance your mental and emotional well-being. Understanding the benefits of learning self-hypnosis and auto-suggestion can help you take charge of your life and improve your overall quality of life. Stress Reduction and Relaxation One of the most immediate benefits of self-hypnosis is its ability to improve relaxation. In our fast-paced lives, stress can become overwhelming. Self-hypnosis allows you to relax in a focused way, helping to reduce stress and tension. This can lead to improved mental clarity and emotional stability, making it easier to handle daily challenges. Enhanced Focus and Concentration Learning self-hypnosis can improve your ability to concentrate. By training your mind to focus on specific suggestions or goals, you can enhance your productivity and attention span. This is particularly benefi...

To stop smoking is the easiest thing you can do in the world - as soon as you are in the right frame of mind.  That's why Hypnotherapy can make it so easy to stop smoking. Whenever someone consults me about wanting to stop smoking I always ask myself two questions:  Why Hypnotherapy? Why now?  These are the two most important questions to ask yourself because stopping smoking comes down to belief. Your belief in being a natural non-smoker for good! Most people have tried lots of different ways to stop smoking, from nicotine patches and gum to willpower alone. Each time most people find it difficult to succeed because with each of these methods you have to keep thinking about the very thing they don’t want to do in order to not do it! Why Willpower Alone is likely to fail... Take the example of using willpower alone. In order for it to work, you keep thinking: “I won’t smoke. I’m not smoking.” You are thinking about cigarettes, they seem to always be on your mind. The rea...

  What’s the difference between feeling stressed and feeling anxious? It can be easy to confuse the two, especially when they become muddled together. Think of stress as a normal response to the pressures of the circumstances. It usually occurs when we perceive the demands of the situation are more significant than we are able to cope with. The important thing is stress is logical (while unpleasant) given the situation.  Ask yourself: is it logical that I should feel the pressure given these particular circumstances? Stress is usually short-term if we have the correct coping experience to know how to deal with the demand placed upon us. We adapt and reassess the situation and the stress response reduces because we have changed our perception of our ability to cope. Where our experience of coping is limited or our natural resilience has waned, the stress response can continue. If this is left unchecked, it can lead to burnout. Anxiety is a very similar physical and psychologica...

  Do you know the difference between feeling stressed and feeling anxious? It can be so easy to get the two confused, especially when they can become muddled together. Think of stress as a normal response to the pressures of the circumstances. It usually occurs when we perceive the demands of the situation are greater than we are able to cope with. The important thing is stress is logical (while unpleasant) given the circumstances. Ask yourself: is it logical that I should feel the pressure given these particular circumstances, right now? Stress is usually short-term if we have the correct coping experiencing to know how to deal with the demands of the circumstances. We adapt, reassess the situation and the stress response reduces because we have changed our perception of our ability to cope. Where our experience of coping is limited or our natural resilience has waned, the stress response can continue. If this is left unchecked, it can lead to burnout. Anxiety is a very similar...

    If you are hoping to read that Hypnosis is a magical, mystical, controlling power that can make people behave in ways they choose not to, then you are certainly going to be disappointed. Any assumption that a person is asleep or unconscious is also not the case.  So have you ever experienced Hypnosis? Think back over the last 24 hours…. When you woke up this morning, do you remember that half-awake half-asleep feeling? On that commute to work, perhaps you drifted into auto-pilot and as you were driving along? Perhaps your mind drifted to the things you had to do.  You could be forgiven for thinking that you were daydreaming. Tonight, just as you drift off to sleep you are very likely to experience that same half-awake half-asleep feeling. Every one of those experiences could be given the name Hypnosis. Hypnosis is a natural state we all experience many times throughout the day. It is as much part of our lives as breathing. The idea of being under the control of ...

  What is your ‘go-to’ way to cope with stress? Perhaps you are someone who focuses on the problem itself. You might be someone who finds solace in focusing on the practical solutions to the situation. On the other hand, you may be someone who pays greater attention to dealing with the emotions created by stressful events. You might feel that dealing with emotions helps you see things in a clearer perspective. Perhaps you use both strategies? The research… Research (Lazarus and Folkman, 1984) has distinguished between two types of coping that we use when faced with stressful situations. We call then coping styles because each one has a particular focus on coping with stress. They are called problem-focused and emotion-focused coping.  Problem-Focused: Tackling the particular things that has been causing the stress. Often thought of as the practical solution. It asks the question: “What can be done practically to cope with the situation?” Emotion-Focused: Tackling the emotions...

  Don’t even bother trying…it’s bound to go wrong… If I go to that party, everyone is going to stare at me… There are people far better for that job… there is no point in applying… You know you are scared of that… avoid it… that’s the safest option… These worries, fears, phobias, and panic attacks are your mind lying to you! It’s fake news… your mind is telling you there is something to be fearful, worried about, when it’s not true. Like all fake news, you can ignore it, but it will find a way of creeping back in, and each time it tries to be more and more convincing. It is still lies from your mind. Think of anxiety as unconscious stress; stress that originates inside your mind. Your mind wants you to avoid anything similar to that unconscious stress so it interrupts your behaviour to prevent that happening. And not just your behaviour… Unconscious stress intrudes on your thoughts. Ask anyone who suffers with anxiety and they will tell you how much they think about it. It is ...

  Let’s imagine you are talking to someone who has been trying to manage anxiety… what would be the best question to ask? What symptoms have you been experiencing?  What seems to trigger the anxiety?    Is there anything that has helped previously?  We might even ask… how long have you been feeling anxious?  Obviously all are important questions…but what about… WHY have you been suffering with anxiety? When did you first remember feeling anxious? These might be the most illuminating questions because they are moving away from focusing on the direct symptoms of anxiety and beginning to consider what the CAUSE of the anxiety might be. Anyone with anxiety is going to have thought about where it might have started. They will have spent many hours pondering over the possible causes, but even then they will admit that those causes somehow don’t seem right. This leads to the hypothesis that there must be a cause that they haven’t worked out yet; perhaps an uncons...

‘There is an “it” which thinks in me and makes  me doubt whether it is I that think.’ Claude Levi-Strauss If you had to describe Hypnosis to someone, what would you say? It’s okay, the whole issue of an agreed definition has troubled academics and practitioners for many years. Often words like: relaxation, focused thinking, trance and sleep, are the first selected, and sometimes people talk about a hypnotic state. I work with this definition: A state of relaxation and heightened awareness, induced by suggestion How’s that?  It combines the idea that experiencing hypnosis is relaxing with the very common phenomenon that our senses become more sensitive. We become more aware of our surroundings while experiencing hypnosis and make sharper isolations of thought, even though to the observer we look perfectly relaxed. The definition also makes the point that the state is induced (either by themselves or another) by suggesting that it is going to happen. Think about that… a situa...

What is the purpose of Coaching? There are times when we find it difficult to ‘see the wood from the trees’. The problem with being IN a situation it is often difficult to see where you need to go next, or what is stopping you doing what you know you need to do. Coaching - like an ‘external you’ - helps you assess the whole situation and quite often can highlight the obstacles which have been getting in the way of you being more motivated, happier, productive or successful. Coaching is a process of helping a person formulate and act upon a plan to be the person you want to be. Like a sports coach, a psychology coach is someone who will assess what you are doing and help you to challenge things that stop you progressing. Imagine what you changes you could make to your life if you had the skills and psychological coaching. Like sports coaching, professional coaching helps you improve your psychological performance in the game…the game of life The Psychological Wish List If you stopped ...