Affirmations are ideas packaged into neat phrases that are used for the purpose of self-improvement. They are typically used as meditations just before sleeping or immediately upon awakening. The theory is that the idea will act upon the subconscious, causing desired changes. This effect has been produced and replicated hundreds of times in clinical studies.

But what if your affirmation isn’t working? It might be because the exact wording doesn’t match your suggestibility. Suggestibility varies greatly among all of us, so when it comes to affirmations, one size does not fit all. Not even close.

Are you the type of person who bristles when being told what to do? If so, it’s possible that your subconscious will reject a direct suggestion. However, even if your subconscious resists authority, there’s a way that you can present it with new ideas that it will accept readily.

Think of your subconscious as a child of about 10 years old. Even a stubborn child can be motivated—it’s all in your presentation. If you let a child think they came up with an idea on their own, they’ll probably jump all over it. Keep in mind that approximately half the population is very OK with authoritarian affirmations (direct suggestions), and can accept them at face value and get results, no problem.

How can you determine your own suggestibility? That part isn’t so simple for the uninitiated, but it’s possible. If you are highly empathetic or sympathetic, if you can easily imagine physical sensations in your body, and if you are usually outgoing and eager to converse, it’s likely that you will respond to direct suggestions. Conversely, if your emotions don’t translate quickly into physical sensations, or if you tend to have difficulty connecting immediately with someone else’s emotional state, it’s likely that you’ll have more success with indirect suggestions.

Coué’s affirmation above is a direct suggestion. If you don’t have success with it, change it to an indirect suggestion and try it again for a week or so. Here are some examples: “Every day, I can get better…” or “It’s possible that every day, I am getting better…” Does your subconscious require a super indirect suggestion? Here you go: “Every day, in every way, I can give myself permission to allow myself to consider that I am getting better and better.”

Remember, your subconscious mind doesn’t analyze or evaluate, it just does what you tell it to do when you’re speaking its language. So try your affirmations as both direct and indirect suggestions, and see which one works better!

As we long for change and new beginnings, we also resist change at some level. People who resist change manage to hang onto the old, reject the new, and repeat their previous experiences with each new season and setting.

Most of your behaviors are automatic, or subconscious. These include bodily functions such as heartbeat, breathing, and blinking—plus a range of unwanted behaviors. How do you know which behaviors are automatic? Simple: they are the ones you can’t explain. You simply don’t know why you can’t stop or replace them with behaviors you desire. Sometimes you make up reasons and excuses such as, “I was raised that way,” or “I’m just too old to change,” but deep down you know that the subconscious desire is too strong for you to change with just plain willpower.

Your subconscious is the part of your mind that has always paid attention and never sleeps. It has learned many lessons, and it likes to act on those lessons at all times. Unfortunately, the subconscious also learns lessons that might not be good for us.

Over the years many of us learn to over-eat, for example. We learn to rely on any number of quick fixes and mood-altering situations. If you can relate to this and are having a devil of a time reforming your behaviors, welcome to your Subconscious Mind! It’s where your hidden desires demand to be satisfied. It’s an amazing and wonderful place. I know, because I work there full-time.

There’s another way: Hypnotherapy. Hypnotherapy is a way into the subconscious in order to remove unwanted behaviors, alter your Life Script, and improve general wellness.

Hypnosis is science, although it seems like magic. In the hands of a skilled, educated professional working with a motivated client, the results are fascinating. When you succeed with hypnotherapy, you understand the infinite power of your own subconscious wisdom, and you recognize that you are powerful. At the moment that your conscious desires and subconscious capacity for learning align, you become unstoppable! Right now, whatever condition you are in, I assure you that your internal resources are abundant, and they are accessible to you.

Hypnosis is commonly known to work wonders for people who want to quit smoking or lose weight. It’s also great for reducing stress and anxiety. Did you know it can help you re-write your Life Script? Yes, you can change your subconscious expectations of how much you earn annually, general health and conditioning, even the kind of people you will attract into your life. You can use hypnosis to improve your golf game, heal faster from surgery, and deal with grief. The subconscious, while in hypnosis, is ready to learn new lessons and change the course of your life.

If this sounds hard to believe, it’s because you’re thinking about this with your conscious mind. Your conscious mind is the part that reasons, analyzes, and uses willpower. Your subconscious, on the other hand, only does what you tell it to do—when it opens up for learning.

For a professionally trained hypnotist, the process is simple, short term, and highly effective. We can help you unlock your subconscious, because we have the keys to the front door.

It’s true!  I can do anything, go anywhere, get anything, and meet anyone I desire.

This, for me, is the beginning of all the positive changes I make in my Life.  It seems paradoxical, but in order to push past my limitations, I first consider the range of abundance before me in all directions.

How do I know it works?  Because it works for my clients!

Using the example of clients who want to lose weight, it’s pretty common that clients don’t want to have “rules” about what they can and can’t eat, or time of day, or volume, etc.  Yes, they want help, and Yes, they hate being told what to do.  It’s not that they’re too resistant to change; it’s that their nature is to rebel against an authoritarian voice.

Even if they are willing to do what they have to do to reach their goals, their natural inclination to resist will also cause their subconscious to reject suggestions that are authoritarian.  So how do I help them?  Simple—I begin by letting them know that they are in control, they make their own decisions, and they are allowed to make any decision they want.  Once they master the idea that they are in control and no one can make them do anything they don’t want to do, they become more willing to make positive changes.

In a hypnotic trance, a client can go through this process in just a few seconds, or it may take several minutes at most.  I give them whatever time they need.

Clients always let me know what their level of resistance is, and what their style of suggestibility is.  In fact, everyone I encounter displays this information in their body language, eye movement, tone of voice, dozens of verbal cues, and responses to questions and questioning.  There is usually no question about how to proceed once they sit down in The Trance Chair!  By that time we have become partners, and their trance induction is already underway.

So, after the sessions are over and the clients have all left for the day, after I’ve taken notes and put away all their case folders, when I am alone with my thoughts, I eventually get to the One Big Question that guides my existence:  How can I use today’s experience to make me better?  Here it is…

I can do anything I want.  I can do anything, go anywhere, get anything, and meet anyone I desire.  Once I master that thought, I can quickly identify what I really need, and I begin another path to align my conscious and subconscious desires.

I’ve heard the relationship called “trance partners,” and that makes sense to me. Whenever I conduct a session, I always go into a light trance. I can’t go deep because I’m the guide. That means I always go first. I lead you in, and at the end I lead you out again.

Hypnotic trance isn’t the same as relaxation or meditation. Trance indicates subconscious suggestibility, and suggestibility can be attained without relaxation. For clinical sessions, hypnotic trance includes relaxation. Some sessions, usually the first one, begin with the induction, then relaxation. When I know that the client is suggestible, we proceed with the script and suggestions.

I like to ask my clients what hypnosis is like for them. It’s a question I used to ask out of curiosity, although at some point I realized that I can use the answer therapeutically. If I know what it’s like for them, I can incorporate that description into their subsequent inductions—and they go into hypnosis much more quickly.

Every client describes it differently, and each according to their individual style. Visual people tell me what they see, including colors. Kinesthetics tell me how it feels—body temperature, extremities, and internal sensations. Auditory people are interesting because their experience is so centered on what they hear, their conscious minds become confused when they return from deep trances. Without a concrete memory of what my voice sounded like, all other memories become distorted, and they seem to have the greatest sense of time distortion. Some clients talk about aromas and taste, but olfactory and gustatory reports aren’t as common.

In my own case, as a visual, I experience hypnosis as being in a very dark tunnel, with only me on one end, and the hypnotist’s voice at the other end. Nothing else exists except images that come and go. I am not aware of my body at all while in a trance.

When conducting a therapeutic session, I don’t always know what my client is experiencing, so I ask for responses along the way. The qualities of the responses let me know what stage of depth they’re in, or if they are asleep. I’ve learned to bring my client’s level up from sleep to medium trance or light trance.

Depth testing is essential, because the subconscious mind must open up and come to the forefront in order for the client to be successful. Although I don’t know what they are experiencing at any given moment, I make sure to be aware of their depth and suggestibility. That’s what makes a difference between clinical effectiveness and relaxation/meditation. One can be relaxed without being suggestible; clinical hypnosis accomplishes both.

As the seasons change in a temperate climate, one day the temperature drops considerably, suddenly getting our attention.  If we had been watching more closely, we would have seen the signs of change all along.  The first day of autumn can seem like a typical summer day.  Then a day comes that’s nothing like summer, and we become conscious that the seasons are changing all the time.

I have this theory that people are seasonal, too.

Societies condition us to changes that most people don’t question or rebel against.  In September, we go back to school.  For those who don’t attend classes, there are other effects to be considered, such as changing traffic patterns and volume, school buses and pedestrians, and changes in sporting events and cycles in television programming.

There are subtle changes that go on within us, too.  We tend to go inward during the colder seasons.  If you decide to go with the flow of our seasonal society, this is the time to choose a project and begin to plan it by visualizing the outcome, the process, and gathering resources.

Autumn and winter are the seasons when it seems more natural to spend more time with our inner thoughts—developing, planning, and producing.  Not only do we stay indoors more, but we also go inward, listening more to our inner voices of creativity.

Stresses that are commonplace during the summer months seem different these days.  There seems to be more pressure.  Why?  Because we are seasoned to begin bigger projects in September.  Society has taught us to choose, plan, stay on track.  Don’t fall behind!  Get good grades and keep up with expectations.  And when, at a certain age, attendance at school stops for most people, we are still left with seasonal expectations that we are to be productive and conventionally successful.

Fortunately for clients, consulting hypnotists are subconscious behaviorists.  We can  understand the forces that drive them.  All we have to do is learn to understand the trance that they’re already in, and help them learn to break their undesired pattern so that they can go on with their conscious desires.

Seasonal change can be used as a metaphor for creative cycles and productivity.  Anyone can understand that different seasons have different expectations and challenges—as well as rewards.  If we choose worthy goals in autumn, we can work on them throughout the winter, and in spring everything will turn green.  Our efforts blossom as the frost fades and buds appear all around.

So what’s in store for all of us this year?  Something different for each of us!  Something that we’re already building, consciously and subconsciously.  Let me ask you a question: Do you consult a hypnotist for help in achieving your goals?  If not, why not?  I wish you much success this winter, while we create our successes and embrace the changes that are inevitable.!