(This blog was originally posted on
December 25, 2013)
For many
of us, doing something new or unfamiliar can be
very scary. But, you know what? After you do that thing just one
time it loses that essence of being scary. It becomes “known” to your
subconscious mind and is integrated with your repertoire of behaviors. Your
subconscious mind will file away the memory of that sensation, experience, or
associated emotion for future reference for future behaviors the rest of your
life—even if you never repeat the specific behavior. (Advanced calculus,
anyone?)
John G.
Kappas, Ph.D., and Alex G. Kappas Ph.D., revolutionized the practice of
hypnotherapy based on their findings that not everyone receives hypnotic
suggestions the same way (suggestibility). Suggestibility refers to how you
learn, and it influences how you interpret every experience. In Kappasinian Hypnotherapy
there are two categories of “known” (learned) experiences:
·
Pain: Anything
new or unfamiliar (unknown). It may also refer to a physically or
emotionally painful experience.
·
Pleasure: An experience that is known and
familiar, although it may not necessarily be pleasurable. “Pleasure” can be a positive or a negative emotional/physical experience.
When you first
learned how to walk, the first step or two was probably wobbly. You probably
held onto a parent’s hand for dear life for the first attempts; it may have
taken a week before you could make it across a room without stumbling and
falling down (Pain). Fast-forward a week, a year, 20 years to today. Now you
are able to skip, jump and run without even thinking about it (Pleasure)
because these activities are familiar and comfortable.
Just
imagine all of the New Year’s Resolutions you will achieve when your
subconscious mind recognizes and accepts that these new behaviors are now “knowns”
and they are here to stay!
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®,
please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
