Hypnosis & the Mind

The human mind has been traditionally separated into three layers or parts since the earliest days of philosophy through the modern era of psychology. More contemporary thinkers have made a useful comparison between the three aspect of mind and the inner workings of a computer.

 

Part of the Mind	Part of the Computer
Unconscious	Operating System
Subconscious	Hard Drive
Conscious	RAM

Each part or layer commands distinct tasks. The Unconscious mind, like the computer’s operating system, oversees automatic systems. In the body these are systems like the circulatory system or neurological system. They work in a way similar to a computer’s operating system, controlling all basic functions.

 

Like a computer’s hard drive the Subconscious mind stores files of all kinds The Subconscious mind collects all of your past experiences in an effort to accomplish it’s prime directive: protect you. The Conscious mind then is the aspect of mind overseeing day-to-day functions such as what to eat or drink and how to dress. The Conscious mind is the most autonomous. It gets to choose which information to act on in each instant. It behaves as a gatekeeper. For example as you drive your car many small tasks and decisions must go through your system like comparing things you see with familiar things from your memory banks (the Subconscious) to identify them. The Conscious oversees critical factor such as logic and reason. These are the very elements of the mind that hypnosis successfully ‘shuts off.’

To update a file on your computer hard drive the original file opens, the changes are made and then stored once again on the hard drive with the new information. The body ‘updates a file’ in a similar fashion. A file stored in the Subconscious memory is opened, let’s say the smell of Grandma’s muffins when the Unconscious mind cues the body from sensory information, in this case the scent. The Conscious mind weighs the new information against the old (from the Subconscious) and makes changes.

 

Only the Conscious mind ‘speaks’ and makes changes that are directly communicated to the Subconscious. Hypnosis however gives us access to the Subconscious storage system without the filter of the Conscious mind’s logic and reason. Once we gain entry to the Subconscious instruction for positive changes can be etched permanently without  so-called logical reasons playing a role. By neutralizing or re-writing negativity stored in the past we ‘fix’ our present.

 

The memories are not altered. Changes are ‘upgrades’ to alter how you feel about or react to these memories. Upgrades happen only in the Subconscious, where memories are stored. Hypnosis works because it bypasses the Conscious mind.

 
At its best all parts of the mind cooperate to protect you. But for the Subconscious self-protection is imperative. The Subconscious will protect you in any way it sees fit. The Subconscious may even lie to your Conscious mind to ‘convince’ it to take what it believes to be the proper ‘protective action.’ Your Subconscious will not hesitate to create ‘lies’ about others, about what you see, or what you hear, sometimes called auditory or visual hallucinations. The Subconscious may try to hide certain memories from you if it thinks doing so will protect you. We call that repression.  You can easily see if behaviors are driven by the Subconscious in the name of safety if they fall into general categories like:

•smoking (smoking anything)

•obesity

•habits like fingernail biting

•compulsive activities like spending or gambling

It may seem impossible that compulsive gambling could possibly ‘protect you.’ The truth is anything that succeeds in distracting you may be designed to ‘protect you’ by clamping a lid on boiling emotions. It becomes easier to see how a Subconscious tool of this kind gone awry could lead to addiction. Another way the Subconscious might protect you is by limiting your exposure to risk. When these ‘protective’ measures are finally recognizable as obstacles or resistance to growth in our day to day life we are motivated to seek change. Hypnosis achieves change by setting aside the Conscious mind and making changes via the Subconscious.

Because hypnosis overrides or dismisses the Unconscious you can alter how your memories are perceived. Changing the perception of your memories enables you to change how you perceive yourself…for the better. Hypnotherapists don’t alter the memory of events but instead ‘upgrade’ how you feel about those memories and events.

 

This ‘upgrades’ your everyday life. To understand why the Subconscious has determined a specific behavior successfully protects you we need to access that Subconscious file. Once the misunderstanding is resolved you and your hypnotherapist determine strategies to ‘upgrade’ those undesirable behaviors.

 

This is why change is so difficult. Only talking or thinking about change has no power against the Subconscious prime directive. Talking is a function of the Conscious mind which has no access to your Subconscious memory files. Change happens easily at the level of the Subconscious because the Subconscious always overrules the Conscious. The Subconscious is bigger, faster, and stronger in every way. The Subconscious laughs in the face of puny human willpower. Change will only be temporary unless the Subconscious agrees.

 

The Subconscious oversees and stores emotions. All emotions are the function of the Subconscious storage system. Feelings act as bits and bytes etching the experience of any event in the chemicals of the emotional reactions you experience.

 

Once you’ve had a single emotional reaction to danger, no matter if the danger was real, imagined, or exaggerated the chemical reactions from those emotions are etched into your Subconscious. Hypnosis allows you to accesses stored emotions, upgrade how you feel about them, and inspire changes in behavior. Your Subconscious must give its permission for change to be successful.

 

To be clear and eliminate any potential fears let’s take a good look at what hypnosis is and is not.

Hypnosis Is

• The US Government describes hypnosis as, “The bypass of the critical conscious mind to establish selective thinking.”

• A combination of extreme physical relaxation with extreme mental alertness.

• Focused concentration. The hypnotic state is so focused that only a few minutes of emotional release under hypnosis equals hours of emotional release in the every day waking state. The human mind is easily distracted by the functions and observations of the Conscious mind. Hypnosis conveniently puts the conscious mind to rest.

• Each time you are lulled to watch television longer than you anticipated, whenever you watch a movie, or lose time on an internet search you’ve entered a phase of hypnotic trance.

• When humans fall in love they are literally entranced. This experience is a form of hypnosis.

Hypnosis Is Not

·        Mind control

·        Sleep. Hypnosis is relaxation not sleep.

·        An unconscious state. During hypnosis you can hear and understand everything happening around you. You simply are distracted by it.

·        Regular ‘relaxation.’ Relaxed is a good place to start but is not hypnosis by itself.

·        Drugs. Hypnosis is not a drug-like experience.

·        Involuntary, accidental, or against your will. Hypnosis is like being enchanted by a song or story. Just as no one can ‘make’ you enjoy a song, no one can ‘make’ you become hypnotized. I teach clients self hypnosis at their first session. This helps them understand that they have the power to emerge from hypnosis whenever they like.

Please keep in mind that the media engages us in hypnosis almost constantly. Advertisers have been known test the hypnotic potential of their ads. Each time you enjoy watching television, a humming a melody, being engrossed in a book, get drawn into talk radio you enter a light stage of hypnotic trance. So why let the conglomerates have all the fun? Your nearby professional hypnotherapist offers you access to a complex and hidden world of possibilities far more practical and meaningful than the next blockbuster film. Why not give hypnosis a go?

 Full Circle Hypnosis

403-873-7501

www.fullcirclehypnosis.com

 

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