Choices, Choices

Tony Blair was a guest on the Late Late Show last Friday night. Ryan Tubridy was as keen with his questioning as ever. Tony Blair is a master at debate, and he made his point well that had Iraq not been invaded, things may well be even worse for the people of Iraq than they currently are. He said something to the effect that no matter what choice he made, bad things would happen.

In JRR Tolkiens classic book, "Lord of the Rings", when the adventurers were deciding what course to take, Boromir exclaimed: 'All choices seem ill, and to be caught between wolves and the wall the likeliest chance. Lead on!'. 

When people are faced with a difficult choice, it can be a very harrowing mental state to be in. Our minds hate being split between choices. "Inner Conflict", or "two conflicting desires" are terms that are very common in psychology. Even picking something off the menu can be difficult, and there is a degree of relief when an item is chosen! (It may taste horrible, then we are into the area of regrets!). 

If the choice is a life altering choice, it can be very difficult. Our inner minds tend to hate change, and prefer to keep along the known path, even if that is damaging to us in the long term. We resist change like a person resists having their bad tooth pulled!

Sometimes, a decision is forced upon us, and if the decision causes anguish, it can cause a sort of mental tearing. For example, someone may find their current situation intolerable, but to remove themselves from that situation leads to future uncertainty. FEAR in capital letters is a very strong emotion. When we "complete the story" in our minds, sometimes the fear can dissolve, because the unknown can be terrifying. (For example, A person is terrified of going to an interview. Just the thought of the interview is terrifying. However, if they "complete the story", and paint the worst case scenario in their mind - they mess up the interview, and don't get the job. They know they will have got valuable interview experience, and will be better prepared for the next interview. The fear may be replaced by a normal mental edge honing tension, simply by "completing the story". 

Usually, making a decision can give great mental relief. Decision made, now its time for action. Planning actions are things our minds can do very well!

Sometimes there can be two conflicting subconscious desires, two parts of our minds fighting a battle that we are consciously unaware of, we are just aware of symptoms, which may be bizarre. Hypnotherapy can help us identify the hidden conflicts, and come to some kind of mental resolution or compromise.

Go to http://www.experiencetheworlddifferent.com/ for more details, or ring Daniel Madden on 085 1318344 to arrange your free consultation.

Email: dmadden@experiencetheworlddifferent.com

Download an explanatory brochure HERE.

How can hypnosis help you control your weight?

How many times have you tried dieting, exercising, depriving yourself - only to say to hell with this and soon found yourself back where you started? No doubt, you have realised by now that weight control is quite a complex area! There are a lot of psychological aspects to weight control, for example people eat for comfort. Weight may not be optimal for what are sometimes very surprising subconscious reasons. Your subconscious is the key to controlling your weight, after all it controls all your automatic body functions including telling you when you've had enough to eat, and when and where to store body fat. The subconscious reacts to help you to survive, so for example if you deprive yourself, your subconscious may go into "famine mode", store food eaten as fat, and constantly prod at your urge for gratification until you give in. And once you do that, you might as well say, to hell with this, I'm going to enjoy myself! To achieve and permanently stay at your ideal weight, you need to get your subconscious co-operation. Once you do that, what was difficult before becomes very easy. Once your conscious mind and your subconscious mind are working towards the same goal, there are no internal mental battles (which your subconscious wins the vast majority of the time). How do you get your subconscious co-operation? Hypnosis allows you to get into a relaxed state where communication with your subconscious is possible. Once your subconscious has negotiated a goal that you are happy with, and once your subconscious accepts that goal, results will seem to happen automatically. Of course there will be changes in lifestyle, but they will be natural changes that you will be happy with. (For example, of you spend 20 minutes eating - savouring and enjoying each tempting delicious mouthful of your food instead of bolting it down, you will find that your stomach will automatically send you signals that it is full. People spend a fortune on appetite supressant tablets - 20 minutes of chewing and enjoying your food can have the same effect.) Sometimes the reasons for abnormal weight can be more psychologically deep rooted, in which case hypno analysis would be the best way to get to the root of the problem.

Go to http://www.experiencetheworlddifferent.com/ for more details, or ring Daniel Madden on 085 1318344 to arrange your free consultation.

Email: dmadden@experiencetheworlddifferent.com

Download an explanatory brochure HERE.

Stress Test for Irish Banks

The two main Irish banks are today expcted to pass a major European stress test of banks ability to cope with potential losses. People also under go stress - due to personal loss, financial loss, or major upheaval and change. Stress in the right amounts is good - it motivates us to escape from wild animals, study and pass those exams, defend ourselves, compete at sports. However, our bodies can also respond with stress at times when it is not approptiate to do so, if our "stress buttons" are activated too easily, the secondary consequences of stress can be physically damaging. The bodies stress response is an emergency life saving response, and all the resources of your body are diverted to that emergency response. This means that things of secondary importance like digestion and immune system are suspended while you are running from the hungry tiger or defending yourself, so energy and oxygen can be diverted to the large muscles used for running or fighting. After a period where the body had been profligate with the bodies resources, there should be a rest time when the body can get all its systems back into harmony and balance. If someone is stressed all the time, this healing restful period does not happen, and the consequences can be damaging. Coming back to the banks, this is a quiet restful period for the banks, where they are recuperating from the damage done during the manic phase of financial madness. Recovery time can be also difficult!

Go to http://www.experiencetheworlddifferent.com/ for more details, or ring Daniel Madden on 085 1318344 to arrange your free consultation.

Email: mailto:dmadden@experiencetheworlddifferent.com

Download an explanatory brochure HERE.

Home Defence & Trauma

The Government is to publish a bill on home defence today. This will allow people to to use 'reasonable force' against intruders to defend themselves, others or their property. This is an emotive issue to say the least! It is a hugely traumatic event for people if their territory is invaded, and even the thought of the threat from an invader to us or our loved ones can evoke a very primitive response. Defence of our homes and territory is built into us, as can be observed in nature. Even a usually timid creature will become a fury of teeth and claws against any invader of its home, even if it does not stand a chance. An example of where there is flight instead of fight is when sheep are attacked by a dog. Panic sets into the sheep, and some of them die from the stress. As for people, if their house is burgled while they are absent, there is that sense of violation, and fear of the perpetrator invading their house while they are there. The trauma is immeasurably worse when there is confrontation. There is the actual stress of the confrontation. How does it turn out? Retreat by one party? Injury or death of one party? Regardless, the consequences can be devastating, whether the ongoing emotive consequences are fear or guilt or both. Feeling safe and secure in your own home is a blessing. Will the home defence bill help people to feel more secure at home?

Go to http://www.experiencetheworlddifferent.com for more details, or ring Daniel Madden on to arrange your free consultation.

Email: dmadden@experiencetheworlddifferent.com

Download an explanatory brochure HERE.

What does hypnosis feel like?

Hypnosis feels like a pleasant lethargy, when your limbs feel heavy, disinclined to move. When the mind drifts in easy relaxation, or turns its attention to ideas in new, constructive ways, warm, comfortable serenity. In good quality hypnosis, the conscious mind is in neutral gear and so the sub—conscious comes to the fore, for your protection. Just as it does in normal sleep. However, you remain totally aware of everything, whereas when sleeping, outside events have to awaken you so that you become aware of them. Just as a mother is around when her baby calls, yet ignores louder, unimportant sounds. In hypnosis, the critical facilities are reduced, suggestibility greatly increased. The mind is in a state where it is much more receptive to new learnings, to new ideas, to new patterns. Your mind is always there to guard you from any danger, you may block some things out, just as you do anyway in day to day living, because you are so focused on the pleasant relaxing experience. 

Go to http://www.experiencetheworlddifferent.com for more details, or ring Daniel Madden on 085 1318344 to arrange your free consultation.

Email: dmadden@experiencetheworlddifferent.com

Download an explanatory brochure HERE.

Modalities and Submodalities

Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) makes heavy use of changing the ways we represent things in our minds. Modalities mean our senses and spatial awareness (Vision, Hearing, Touch, Taste, Smell, where we are in relation to things around us)  and submodalities - e.g submodalities of sight could be colour, black/white, in focus blurred, still picture, moving picture etc. Submodalities of hearing could be loudness, pitch, frequency, doppler effect (sounds moving nearer or further away), muffled, perfectly audible etc. Submodalities of touch include warm/cool, soft/hard, sharp/smooth, yielding/firm etc. Taste submodalities include bitter, sweet, sour, tangy etc. Smell also has submodalities which can use the same words as submodalities for taste, but have a different quality when represented by smell. Spatial awareness submodalities include near, far, above, below, right, left, behind, in front. Changing the ways we represent things in our mind can be very powerful, for example - public speaking. If someone represents an upcoming public speaking engagement in their mind as a vividly coloured in focus movie, with a vast sea of faces going into infinity, the crowd is shouting loud abuse, the sea of faces is right in front of the speakers nose, they can smell the acrid body odours associated with fear, and they can taste the bitterness of anticipated screw up ........ This person may not have an anticipatory tingle of eagerness towards the speaking event. A simple NLP technique is to change the mental representation - a bit of trial and error is involved, but in this case changing the mental representation as follows may make a huge difference: A black and white still picture which is blurred, of a couple of friendly faces, a hushed silence where the audience is listening carefully, you can smell the tea/coffee that is prepared for after the talk, you can taste the sweetness of a successful presentation where your audience is in the palm of your hand. 

Go to http://www.experiencetheworlddifferent.com for more details, or ring Daniel Madden on 085 1318344 to arrange your free consultation.

Email: dmadden@experiencetheworlddifferent.com

Download an explanatory brochure HERE.

Secrets

The Ombudsman, Emily O'Reilly today criticised the HSE for holding back information. The thing is, we all hold back information. Sometimes people bury something that they did or that happened to them at a time in their past. That memory can lurk there under the radar of consciousness, and may be too painful or traumatic to bring to the surface. That memory may bring memories of pain, trauma, guilt, fear etc. Those are emotions that can live in the mind like a sore that does not heal, and can manifest themselves in all sort of unpleasant ways including anxiety, depression, panic attacks, guilt, phobias, stress, physical bodily manifestations - the list is endless. Sometimes examining that memory, replaying it in hypnosis, while being dissociated from the memory can relieve the emotional charge that memory used to have. There are lots of gentle and interesting techniques that can be used while in hypnosis to change the power that memories and secrets have over you. In a safe, confidential and non-judgmental setting, you can fell free to find, relearn, and release the emotional charge of some memories. In therapy, people bring up things they thought was absolutely dreadful, but loses its power when looked at in a different light, when turned and examined a different way, when its re-tuned to harmonise with current wisdom and experience.