Is there really an easy way to ‘manage’ the vast network of interlinking images, memories and associated feelings sparking through my head all the time? Is it truly possible to keep focused on positive up-beat thoughts?

Bet the Dalai Lama has off-days.

One solution is an NLP exercise called ‘The Stalker’, described by Robert Dilts. It involves imagining that you’re observing yourself being yourself.

Imagine you are tracking yourself just as a stalker stalks his prey. Observe your thoughts, feelings, reactions and breathing rate….I’ve found it’s excellent device when I am in tricky meetings and want to keep a lid on wayward emotions. Takes concentration though – and, after a while, I just get bored of being vigilant about me.

So, my current strategy is to ‘enjoy the ride’.

When I come across a thought that’s fun, I ‘ride’ it for all it’s worth. Given that a thought is merely an electrochemical reaction my head, I let most move on through my mind, without spending time on them. In other words, I’m learning to choose what thoughts to focus on, just as I might pick the most enjoyable rides to go on at a funfair.

Let’s get over it, please! Trance is an efficient way to discover what’s going on inside your mind and changing it.  Lots of the NLP tools designed ‘to build resourceful states of excellence’ only work properly once we add hypnosis into the mix. Some of them even get you into a trance just by doing them.

The ‘visual squash’, the ‘swish’, the ‘fast phobia cure’ etc. etc. all demand that you make pictures in your mind’s eye. And that’s the first step to a hypnotic state, right there.

How do you do that?  Perhaps you could start by smiling broadly, or think fondly of some good times you’ve had. You could imagine some pleasurable event you already have planned. Once you are filled with a sense of well-being and happiness, do this experiment – think about a memory that isn’t so pleasant. Find a recent incident that irritated you, for example.

Could you find an irritating memory? If you did, notice what happened to your mood. Did it stay the same? If so, just how irritating was that memory?

It’s difficult to hold two opposing moods in your head at the same time. Something has to change – your mood or your memory. That’s how our brains store information.

A miserable mood will connect with your miserable memories; an energetic mood will connect with lots of energetic thoughts. So, if you feel lethargic but want to feel energetic, start remembering all those times when you felt full of beans. As you do, your spirit will lift, your mood will improve and you’ll be raring to go.

Check this out for yourself. It’s a top tip.

Later, as the yachtsman sailed away, he heard a shout. Turning, he saw the old man coming towards the boat, walking on the water. ‘Wait’ shouted the old man. ‘What was that word again?’

(An oldie – but a goodie)

Criticism hurts, but that hurt doesn’t have to last for long. First step is to realise that everyone criticises from their own perspective. What people see in other people, they always have in themselves. If you don’t believe that, check it out. Next time someone tells you that you are thoughtless, lazy, unprepared, annoying etc. consider how thoughtless, lazy, unprepared, or annoying. the critic themselves might be. They may not have these traits in the same way you do, but there will be some aspect of their criticism of you that they will have in themselves.

Remember, it truly does ‘take one to know one’.

Over the past 10 years, since the development of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) technology, Neuroscientists have made enormous strides in mapping activity in the brain. They continue to shed light on how we think. Of particular interest to communication specialists, therapists and hypnosis practitioners, brain research has shown that MOST thinking happens in our unconscious.

Conservative estimates put the unconscious mindʼs contribution to thinking at approximately 95%. But, according to research quoted in ʻThe New Unconsciousʼ (Editors: Hassin, Uleman and Bargh), whilst consciousness processes 50 bits of information per second, the rest of the brain processes 11 million bits per second!

Lisa reviewed these and other findings from recent research and, through group exercises, examined their impact on hypnosis practice.

This workshop includes plenty of opportunity for experimentation, inner exploration and discussion.