A Primitive Fear

Photo Courtesy of Microsoft

 

                I was born and spent the first few years of my life in the Midwest. I can still remember the way the clouds turned pea-green, almost the color of bile, in a summer sky just before they erupted into a big thunderstorm. There is nothing like the booming and cracking sounds of thunder during one of those Super-Cell thunder storms, and I was terrified of that thunder. My mother would comfort me when I got scared; when I got a little older she taught me how to count the seconds between flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder so I could determine how far away the storm was getting. At the time, this technique gave me an illusion of having control over the weather, I guess. It was certainly distracting—at least until a burst of thunder crackled at the same time a bright fork of lightning lit the sky brighter than the sunniest day. That combination was too much for me and would send me diving under my covers or under a bed for protection.

                Just when I was finally almost over my fear, I happened to watch two television shows that featured a thunderstorm in the storyline. The first was a movie about Frankenstein’s monster, or it had something to do with Frankenstein, but not the original story. I stopped watching the show right after the scene in which a prisoner was hoisted to the top of a mast on a ship during a thunderstorm: lightning flashed, thunder boomed and then only a skeleton remained where the prisoner’s body had been. Equally traumatic for me was an episode of the 1960s’ television series, Please Don’t Eat the Daisies. In it, the main characters sit out a tremendous storm called “The Big Train.” During this storm, which occurs every 10 years according to the legend, someone “disappears” and is never heard from or seen again. The family survived the event unscathed, but not my nerves. These shows almost permanently derailed my progress to overcome this fear.

                John Kappas, Ph.D., the founder of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, postulated that people learn every one of their beliefs and behaviors except for two: a fear of loud noises and a fear of falling. This leaves us plenty of opportunity to learn how to manage these reactions—or not. Maybe. Sort of? Since I completed my hypnotherapy training at HMI, I realize that my original fear of storms was originally a phobia since, at the time, I had never personally experienced lethal danger from a big storm. First, I watched those programs on television when I was probably less than eight years old. I would have been very suggestible at that age since the capacity for logic, powers of reasoning, decision-making and will-power had still not fully developed in my conscious mind. Combine that factor with the natural fear of loud noises with which everyone is born, I was understandably terrified by what I saw happen/heard about happening during big storms. It would be a natural next step to develop a phobia about them. Like kids tend to do, I would try to distract myself from my distress during severe weather with cookies and milk or by eating a bowl of ice cream during a storm. Ironically—and unbeknownst to me at that time—I was more likely exacerbating my symptoms of anxiety when I turned to these sugary snacks for comfort. (For more information about the relationship between nutrition and development of a phobia, check out my January 14, 2014 blog titled “Nutrition and Hypnotherapy.”)

                Another thing that really helped to ameliorate my anxiety during and about storms—which I actually started to do back then—was to learn about how, when and why they formed. When I found out that the sound of thunder is a by-product of lightning and not the other way around, the loud noise stopped scaring me so much. I pored over information about them in Encyclopedia Britannica; I watched documentaries about extreme weather on Leonard Nimoy’s In Search of series. Eventually, after repeated virtual exposure (systematic desensitization) to big storms via television documentaries about them, my fear turned to fascination and even exhilaration when I heard thunder. I learned which precautions I should take during a storm—stay indoors and away from windows, avoid using electric appliances, don’t swim or take a bath or shower, etc., so I could stay safe during them. (I still haven’t worked up the nerve to find out if that legend about The Big Train is more than an urban myth, though.)

                During the summer, even Southern California gets its share of extreme weather. Electric storms typically pop up in the local mountains and deserts, triggering flash floods and warnings about severe weather that could affect nearby regions. Occasionally, these storms also hit valley and beach communities; and on July 27, 2014, lighting killed one person and injured twelve others at Venice Beach when a freak storm blew in from the ocean. That news chilled me to the bone and instantly revived my old anxiety about being caught in thunderstorms. I have even had a few close calls myself. The first time, I was riding in a car when forked lightning almost hit the hood (bonnet) of the vehicle, thus transforming my phobia into a legitimate fear of thunder storms. The second time, a bolt struck a commuter jet I was flying in to Chicago. Obviously, I survived both events and was apparently never in any real danger either time. But the people who were affected by the storm that hit that Southern California beach community a few days ago were not so lucky, and I am truly sorry for their pain and unspeakable loss.

               

 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/

 

Heroes

 

“Your rescue is within you.” – Lauretta NgCobo, Nigerian Writer

 

 

I have been thinking about heroes a lot lately.

Another season of 24 is almost concluded, and once again I am thinking about how fantastic it would be if there really was a Jack Bauer to sweep in and save the world. Yes, he is very rough around the edges and sometimes takes a—well let’s just say he tends to go “rogue” when it comes to getting the job done. But he does get the job done. Whenever I hear Bonnie Tyler’s song, “Holding out for a hero,” I think of Jack.

                On a similar theme, another one of my favorite television hero-types is a disgraced detective-turned-cab-driver called Mike Olshansky on CBS’s short-lived series, Hack. The hero—or anti-hero, depending on your point of view—has a knack for turning up at the right time when someone (usually one of his fares) is in the wrong place. He saves the day and then quietly disappears. The only token of gratitude Olshansky ever wants is a promise that whomever he has just rescued will not reveal his role in the rescue or even his presence at the scene. The tagline for the series is, “When you need someone who answers to no one,” and that line still resonates with me.

                The television characters of Mike Olshansky and Jack Bauer use their experiences and skills in law-enforcement officers to rescue clients or, in Bauer’s case, save the world. As far-fetched as some of their actions and derring-do might seem, these abilities make sense when we think about all of these behavioral knowns stored in the mental script of each man’s subconscious mind.

When I saw Ms. NgCobo’s quote, it reminded me of times in my life when I have had to rely on myself to solve a problem or to get the job done. While I never went to any of the extremes that my television heroes did to save my day, looking back, I am very proud of those accomplishments. I even have a couple of songs to remind me about this on my iPod—Mariah Carey’s “Hero” and Whitney Houston’s “Greatest Love of All”—that still make me smile when I listen to them. The wistful lyrics, and the soaring voices of the women who deliver them, are like a mini pep-rally that remind me I still (and always did) have that can-do attitude.

My training at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute (www.hypnosis.edu) helped me to identify, refine and nurture the skills and beliefs that brought me to HMI in the first place. In a way, earning my hypnotherapy certification was a kind of “self” rescue. But this education also opened my eyes to the fact that every one of us is capable of stepping up to a challenge and becoming our own hero. We all possess a particular skill set that enables us to achieve great things, things that no one else can do the way we do them. We just have to be reminded or become aware of all those wonderful things we can do.

Guess what? When you are your own hero, no others need apply—and you might even get to help rescue someone else along the way. How cool is that?

 

 

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/.

Introduction to the Mental Bank Concept

The Mental Bank Concept is a powerful tool to help
you set and achieve your goals by changing
your subconscious mental script.

                According to John Kappas, Ph.D. everyone follows a subconscious mental script. This script is created very early in our lives, and we will behave and even think in ways that are consistent with it even when the script does not facilitate achievement of our personal goals. Fortunately, the Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder created The Mental Bank Concept, which posits that each of us can change the script from what we are, to what we want to or should be (www.hypnosis.edu).

In addition to the intended benefit of changing our mental script, he promised that by doing the ledger we would also start to earn more money, or even receive monetary gifts to boost our real income. I clearly remember the inference in current HMI Director George Kappas’s challenge to the class as he speculated about how many people would actually spend two minutes each night before bed writing in our Mental Bank Ledger. After all, is two minutes’ of writing before falling asleep too big a sacrifice to make to improve your life, especially when your efforts for self-improvement are measured by earning more money in the process? When the class broke up for a break, I was one of the first people in the room to rush down the corridor to purchase a ledger.

This is how the Mental Bank Concept works: Each night, right before you go to bed, you will allocate a value (symbolic money) to specific behaviors, activities or events that have occurred during the day. You can “pay” yourself for going to work, working out at the gym/exercising, spending time with your family, attending a religious service of your denomination, etc. It doesn’t matter what the activity is so long as they reflect your efforts to change your subconscious mental script and achieve your new, positive behavior or goals. Then, you will write an affirmation to reinforce these behaviors and encourage you to continue to make these changes.

In creating the Mental Bank Concept, Dr. Kappas intended that people write in the ledger just before going to sleep because this is one of the times during the day that we are most suggestible, or amenable to learning. (The other time is the first 30 minutes after waking up in the morning.) The suggestions for the desired behavioral change will bypass the critical mind and drop right into the subconscious mind; the SCM will continue to process these thoughts and behavioral changes throughout the night, he explained.

Although this process is very simple, many adults are very reluctant (subconscious resistance) to change their lives using the Mental Bank Concept, Dr. Kappas observed. “Only 30 percent of adults will ever change their original script. Everyone else passes the pattern on. To change the behavior, you must change the subconscious script,” he warned.

I have been following the Mental Bank Concept since 2004, and it does work. The more subconscious and conscious work I do to achieve my goals, the more self-confident I feel every time I accomplish one and the greater the tangential (monetary) rewards I receive. For more information about The Mental Bank Concept, check out the video link at http://www.hypnosis.edu/streaming/#Mental-Bank-Program.

Contact me today at (661) 433-9430 or send e-mail to calminsensehypnosis@yahoo.com to set up an appointment to experience how hypnotherapy and the Mental Bank Concept can help you achieve your goals. I will provide your first Mental Bank Ledger to help you get you started!

 

 

 

 

 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/

The Power of…Thinking



Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan

My first horse...and the first realization
of a subconscious script!

                The first time I saw my future dream home, I was riding in the back of a taxi on my way to a job interview for the Public Health Medicine Department at the University of Hull. Through the heavy rain, I spotted a three-story, Georgian-style home with bay windows set behind a brick wall on the main road. Lush, green ivy grew up a trellis on one of the walls. There was a circular, gravel driveway and a wrought-iron gate in front of the house which made the property look like it belonged in a Jane Austen novel. In my mind, the property was the epitome of “England.” I wonder who lives there. I would love to live there, I remember thinking. Three weeks later, I returned to the same neighborhood looking for a flat to rent when I started my new job at the university. I could hardly believe my luck when I found an advertisement for an apartment on the property I had so admired. The rent was even within my (new) budget, and I quickly signed the lease.

                Eight years later, a friend at work invited me to visit her property and meet her horse. I had loved horses since I was a very little girl, and always knew that somehow, some way, I would have one of my own. Within a month I started taking riding lessons at a property across the street (literally) from my colleague’s home; by the end of the year—thanks to her recommendation—I was buying my first horse from my new riding instructors.

By the end of the following year, I had also started my hypnotherapy certification at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute. An HMI representative told me about his work as a hypnotherapist and encouraged me to “try” the free introductory course at the college. The idea of hypnotizing people was definitely an “unknown” and even a little daunting to my conscious and subconscious minds when I started the class. However, everything about hypnotherapy resonated with what I imagined I would be doing when, at eight years old, I announced that I wanted to be a psychologist when I grew up. When I learned that I already had a connection with the college through the company where I was working at that time, I just knew that I was on the right path to fulfilling my destiny.

                Are these examples of good fortune? Were they products of divine intervention? Or, were they testimony to the power of the mind to actualize a subconscious desire or script at work? I say the power of the subconscious mind, every time.

                In his book, Success Is Not an Accident, HMI founder John Kappas, Ph.D., explains how the mental scripts we program into our subconscious mind determine the outcome of our actions. Whether we imagine a positive or negative result, the SCM follows that mental script to actualize the goal you “want.” If you tell yourself that it takes an hour to get to work every day or that you are bound to jam your knee on your friend’s coffee table again, that is what will happen. If you imagine that you will have a safe, easy commute to work or that you will find a great spot to park your call when you go to the mall, your SCM will work to make those things happen, too.  Moral of the story: be careful and specific in what you want and think about, because you are likely to end up with exactly that.

                Have you ever heard the Hollywood story about the time actor/comedian Jim Carrey wrote himself a $15 million check years before he became famous…?

 

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

 

What Is a Hypnotherapist Qualified to Do? Part 1

     At this time of year, many people make a list of their New Year's resolutions: I will give up smoking. I will stop procrastinating. I will start exercising more. I will lose weight. ... All of these goals are within the scope of what hypnotherapy can help you achieve.

     Hypnotherapy is a very powerful, alternative treatment tool that may be used to complement healing arts, such as medicine and psychology. According to Dr. John Kappas, a clinical psychologist and the founder of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, and his colleague, psychiatrist Dr. Ron Hodges, the scope of a hypnotherapist's expertise lies in his or her ability to help clients to deal with vocational and avocational self-improvement issues. These areas include the topics listed above, as well as general relaxation, increasing self-confidence, and improving study habits and sports performance. In addition to helping clients achieve those goals, I also work with equestrians to achieve their competition goals and improve their relationship with their equine partners.

     In some instances, hypnotherapists may also work with a client who is addressing other issues that ordinarily fall outside of the scope of vocational/avocational self-improvement, such as pain management or depression. In order to work with these clients, the hypnotherapist must first obtain a referral from the client's medical doctor, psychiatrist or psychologist. This referral protects both the client and the hypnotherapist: Hypnotherapists do not have the expertise to determine whether there is a medical reason why a person is experiencing a physical symptom, such as a headache or discomfort elsewhere in the body. When a person wants to lose a lot of weight (e.g., 25 pounds or more), it is always a good idea for the doctor to make sure that there is not a medical reason why their patient has gained the weight and that he or she may safely participate in an exercise or physical-fitness program.

     George Kappas, the current director of HMI, also insists that hypnotherapists may only work with someone who has a substance addiction if the client is also enrolled in an appropriate 12-Step program to help manage that addiction.

     Following is the Business and Professions Code 2908, which is the guideline of practice for hypnotherapists in California: "California law allows access by California residents to complementary and alternative health care practitioners who are not providing services that require medical training and credentials. The purpose of a program of hypnotherapy is for vocational and avocational self-improvement (Business and Professions Code 2908) and as alternative or complimentary treatment to healing arts services licensed by the state. A hypnotherapist is not a licensed physician or psychologist, and hypnotherapy services are not licensed by the state of California. Services are non-diagnostic and do not include the practice of medicine, neither should they be considered as a substitute for licensed medical or psychological services or procedures."

     I will discuss the way(s) in which hypnotherapy and therapeutic guided imagery can help you achieve your New Year's resolutions in the next blog.

    

    

     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/.