Irritability

(This blog was originally posted on August 20, 2014)

 

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

From the moment you wake up and get out of bed, the day goes from bad to worse. It’s like everything that can go wrong, does. Just thinking about doing something is all the Universe needs to know to turn the tables on you and make your good intentions a fail. Following are some tips to help you get through the frustration and take positive steps to turn your situation around.

1.       Diaphragmatic breathing. Draw a slow, deep breath through your nose; hold it four three or four seconds and then release the air through your mouth. Breathing this way not only relaxes the tension in your physical body; it also provides a tangible example (proof) that you can control a specific physical behavior. Repeat this exercise several times until you notice that your pulse/heartbeat returns to its normal (resting) rate.

2.       Watch your diet. Good nutrition is a very important component when it comes to how you deal with frustration. John Kappas, Ph.D., founder of the HypnosisMotivation Institute, observed the way a fluctuation in blood-sugar level can influence our mood and suggestibility and the development of phobias. Reduce your caffeine intake and eat healthy meals that include protein to keep your mood stable, increase your patience and shake off your bad mood.

3.       Focus on your options/solutions. When your physical body is relaxed and your mind is calm, you can turn your attention to figuring out what is annoying you. Once your subconscious mind has created new associations (knowns­) between feeling relaxed and your ability to solve a problem, it is easier to access previously proved (success) mental scripts to manage your frustration.

4.       Imagery and visualization. Imagery exercises such as “Special Place” enable you to temporarily escape from whatever is frustrating or irritating you, and mentally someplace where you can feel completely comfortable, calm and relaxed. Anchor these feelings of calm, comfort and relaxation by pressing or rubbing your thumb and index (pointing) finger of your right hand so you can and immediately access this comfortable state.

5.       Tap it out. Use the Emotional Freedom Technique to neutralize your irritability/bad mood: “Even though I feel irritable/I am in a bad mood/etc. …”

For more information about how hypnotherapy and therapeutic guided imagery can help you relax and manage your mood, or to set up an appointment with me, please contact me at the calminsensehypnosis@yahoo.com or call me at (661) 433-9430.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2015

Jumping to Conclusions

(This blog was originally posted on August 7, 2014)

Photo courtesy of Fotolia

Children are cautioned to not jump to any conclusions about what they might have seen or heard on the playground because it might not be accurate or true. Scientists must follow specific research guidelines when they conduct an experiment to ensure that what they observe in the lab is a legitimate result and not a fluke produced by confounding data. Criminal investigators are also expected to follow a protocol when they collect clues so they can correctly deduce not only who committed a crime but also know when and how it was done. Without this information, there can be no case to prosecute; and if the evidence is incorrect or prejudiced, the mystery will not be solved. Despite these warnings, it can be very hard to resist the temptation to fill in the blanks and provide some kind of answer to an unusual situation, even if our explanation is equally likely to be wrong. 

Two stories have been featured in the news recently that likely fall into the category of erroneous conclusions versus actual fact. Around this time last year (2014), speculation was rife that the Duchess of Cambridge might be pregnant with her second child really amped up a couple of days ago when some photographs were released that showed Kate clutching a handbag in front of her abdomen. The fact that she and Prince William were apparently planning to stay at their new home that month only added fuel to people’s new-baby theory. Why else would they stay home, right? Then, just a few weeks ago the rumor mills were at it again: having just given birth to Princess Charlotte in early May of this year, the Duchess has seemingly “disappeared” from public view. Apparently, she even missed attending a friend’s nuptials, sending her younger sister to the event as Prince William’s plus-one on the invitation. Could her absence mean she is suffering from acute morning sickness again? the tabloid headlines scream.¹

In the second story, a security camera recently filmed a grainy image of a large cat- or dog-like animal was prowling a neighborhood in Norwalk, California.² Local residents and wildlife experts have pitched different explanations for the creature: it’s a cougar; no it’s a large dog; uh-uh, it’s an African lion that escaped from the zoo, and so on. Television viewers and social media are also discussing a possible identity of the mystery animal; I have even heard speculations about it being a cross between a large dog and a mountain lion (unlikely). Having said that, at the time I wrote that blog no one had identified the animal. One biologist speculated that it could even be an African lion, which someone is keeping illegally as an exotic pet. Then, on July 22, 2015 reports surfaced that a large cat—also possibly an African lion—was prowling the neighborhood streets of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.³ Human mythology is rife with tales about mysterious creatures of the night. It is fun to imagine what this one is and how it got here. We ultimately may learn that it is just a very large dog that jumped out of its yard, or a mountain lion that came down from wherever to scavenge for food and water. However, the grainy quality of the surveillance video combined with the eerie night lighting and the ambiguous form prowling around a peaceful neighborhood set our imaginations into overdrive. The fact that no one knew what it was gave us license to imagine what it could be.

I am fascinated with these stories not because of their content, but how people react and respond to them. I am interested in which message units and subconscious knowns these news reports trigger in us that we want to look for reasons, information and explanations to support our beliefs about what is really going on in these situations. Not knowing something or not having a believable explanation is uncomfortable, even painful. As John Kappas, Ph.D. explained in his Theory of Mind, the subconscious mind will default to a story or mental script that it already knows and is comfortable with to avoid the discomfort of not knowing, said the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder. This is true even when the conscious mind also doubts that this script is accurate. The mindset seems to be, “Well, that’s our story, and we’re sticking to it,” regardless of the facts. “The truth is out there,” as they used to say in The X-Files. Well, it’s out there somewhere.

Stay tuned…

1. Where Is Kate Middleton? http://www.eonline.com/news/687906/where-is-kate-middleton-on-the-trail-of-the-missing-royal-wedding-guest

2. Big Cat Prowling Streets of Norwalk, CA: http://blogs.discovery.com/animal_oddities/2014/08/is-an-african-lion-roaming-the-city-streets.html

3. Big Cat Prowling Streets of Milwaukee, WI: www.foxnews.com/us/2015/07/23/milwaukee...report-lion-roaming-streets

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2015

A Different Perspective

(This blog was originally posted on August 8, 2014)

 

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

    It’s uncanny how spending time and distance away from something gives you a brand new perspective on that situation when you come back. For example, as I finish re-reading Night Fall by Nelson DeMille, just about every page is yielding new details or references to the looming Al Qaeda attacks of 2001 than I remember reading before. The words on the pages and the plot twists in the book have not changed. However, my familiarity with the story, protagonists and the author’s writing style has probably enabled me to notice details I overlooked before.

     One explanation for this phenomenon could be that I am actually more relaxed than I was the first time I read the novel. This makes sense: Night Fall is a very exciting and fast read. I still remember how hard my heart pounded as I got swept up into the action. I couldn’t read fast enough to find out what would happen next, and it was all I could do to not turn to the next page before I finished the one I was on. Even though reading is typically relaxing for me, my physiological response indicated that I was actually agitated—even anxious or stressed—than relaxed. My conscious mind knew that I was not in imminent danger, but DeMille’s writing conjured specific images in my subconscious mind and convinced it that the opposite was true. In other words, my SCM translated the anxiety/excitement I felt while reading the novel as “danger” and my sympathetic nervous system probably went into fight/flight mode to protect me (my body). I couldn’t take the extra time to consider and digest each word on the page because I was literally “running” away from the danger my SCM believed I was in. Without intending to do this, I started skipping words or phrases that my mind identified as triggers of my anxiety before my conscious mind could process their meaning or implication.

     Now that I am reading the book for the third or fourth time, I am more desensitized to some of the more shocking scenes in it. Since my conscious and subconscious mind know what is coming next, I can allow myself to linger over or even re-read a paragraph that I don’t remember from the last time(s) I was on that page. Night Fall is still a thrilling thriller for me, but now that I am able to be more relaxed as I read it, I am able to enjoy each and every word of it.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014