How Hypnotherapy Can Alleviate Fear of Failure

I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. However, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

 

(This blog was originally posted on February 22, 2016)

 

Photo by Rick Hustead

 

At some point during our lifetime, we will fail at something. Whether it’s a geometry test in high school, not waking up when the alarm goes off in the morning, a relationship doesn’t blossom the way we hoped, etc., failure of some kind is likely to touch us all. Despite the negative connotations and associations with this term, however, failing at something can actually be one of life’s greatest gifts because it usually presents an opportunity to try something else that suits us better. Dr. John Kappas, the founder of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, used to advise his hypnotherapy students and clients to think or say “I like it!” even when the situation was unfavorable. Allowing ourselves to see the opportunity in perceived misfortune or inconvenience is a chance to look for and find that alternative path.

However, fear of failure is also a very real phenomenon that affects many, many people to the point of their becoming unwilling or even unable to pursue a goal or complete a task in case something goes wrong. Of course, consciously we know that not taking an action to realize that goal is another and more reliable way to guarantee failing at it. However, the subconscious mind is secretly relieved because this state of immobility is comfortable, familiar and “known.” Hypnotherapy can help you manage and overcome this fear to get back on track to pursue desired goals.

When I work with someone who has a fear of failure, one of the first things I want to do is help the client identify where and how this fear evolved. If the individual does not know or can’t remember its origin, I might suggest that the person will have a venting dream about the incident to analyze in a future hypnotherapy session. I would also desensitize the person to this fear and any stimuli that trigger this anxiety and replace the fear of failure with smiling or laughing, whenever he or she thinks about it.

Another effective strategy is to employ plenty of imagery/visualization exercises to prepare the client to get rid of this fear, and tie a stronger relaxation response to override the fear/anxiety. “You need to double-bind the client by substituting a positive suggestion for negative feelings or fear,” Dr. Kappas advised. For example, tie the client’s fear of success with the image of actually achieving that desired goal. If the person does not have any recent experiences or memories of achievement, I would work with him or her to choose and set small, achievable task to start this process. As the person continues to succeed at these projects, I would reinforce the association between relaxation and increasing confidence with achieving these new and increasingly challenging goals. Ultimately, eventually, the “fear of failure” will be replaced with a new subconscious known: enjoyment of success.

 

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. Sara has been voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California, four years in a row (2019-2022). For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/

© 2023

 

When Denial Causes Sleeping Problems

I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy sessions with me in my office. However, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE! 

 

(This blog was originally posted on September 13, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

 

Have you ever had problems sleeping after ending a romantic relationship? If so, you are not alone. According to Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D., continuing to hold onto the former partner and unresolved grief about the ended relationship is often the cause of this problem.

Sleeping problems can take the form of interrupted sleep or insomnia. The hypnotherapist deduced that denial of the emotional and even physical pain an individual can experience at the end of a relationship produces this sleep pattern. Indeed, this behavior may be a subconscious defense mechanism to interrupt a dream that would confirm the relationship is really over. “Denial covers up depression, and you’re really covering up depressive sleep,” Dr. Kappas explained.

Sometimes, it is only until some time has passed after a relationship has ended that a person truly realizes that it is over, the hypnotherapist explained. Continuing to “hang onto” an emotional attachment to the former partner inhibits or even prevents going through the grief and depression stages of loss that would facilitate letting go of the relationship. In this situation, the person is likely to get stuck in the denial stage of this process.

“As long as you’re in the denial stage, it’s next to impossible to replace [the lost relationship]. You have to go through the stages of loss in order to go forward and start developing another relationship,” Dr. Kappas said. To facilitate this process, he advised giving a client specific suggestions to have a venting dream that will allow the person to release, or “vent out,” unresolved feelings and work through the end of the former relationship: “You’re going to sleep soundly and deeply throughout the night, and the reason you’re going to sleep soundly and deeply is that you’re going to prepare to let something go. You’ve made a decision that you’re going to relax the denial mechanism on [the specified date].”

Dr. Kappas said it is important to include a specific date by which the client has the venting dream, such as to coincide with the next (follow-up) hypnotherapy session, to start working through the various stages of loss. This process should help reinstate the person’s normal sleeping pattern and come to terms with the end of the previous relationship, he explained.

 

 

Special Offer: Free 30-Minute Phone or Zoom Consultation

This is a great opportunity to find out why hypnosis is so effective and how hypnotherapy can help you achieve your self-improvement goals. Call or text me at (661) 433-9430 or send me an e-mail at calminsensehypnosis@yahoo.com to set up your free, 30-minute phone or Zoom consultation* today! 

*This is not a full hypnotherapy session. Hypnosis will not be provided during this consultation. This offer is not redeemable for cash and may not be combined with any other promotion.

 

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. Sara has been voted the Best Hypnotherapist in Santa Clarita, California, four years in a row (2019-2022). For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/

© 2023

 

How Hypnotherapy Can Alleviate Fear of Failure

(This blog was originally posted on February 22, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

At some point during our lifetime, we will fail at something. Whether it’s a geometry test in high school, not waking up when the alarm goes off in the morning, a relationship doesn’t blossom the way we hoped, etc., failure of some kind is likely to touch us all. Despite the negative connotations and associations with this term, however, failing at something can actually be one of life’s greatest gifts because it usually presents an opportunity to try something else that suits us better. Dr. John Kappas, the founder of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, used to advise his hypnotherapy students and clients to think or say “I like it!” even when the situation was unfavorable. Allowing ourselves to see the opportunity in perceived misfortune or inconvenience is a chance to look for and find that alternative path.

However, fear of failure is also a very real phenomenon that affects many, many people to the point of their becoming unwilling or even unable to pursue a goal or complete a task in case something goes wrong. Of course, consciously we know that not taking an action to realize that goal is another and more reliable way to guarantee failing at it. However, the subconscious mind is secretly relieved because this state of immobility is comfortable, familiar and “known.” Hypnotherapy can help you manage and overcome this fear to get back on track to pursue desired goals.

When I work with someone who has a fear of failure, one of the first things I want to do is help the client identify where and how this fear evolved. If the individual does not know or can’t remember its origin, I might suggest that the person will have a venting dream about the incident to analyze in a future hypnotherapy session. I would also desensitize the person to this fear and any stimuli that trigger this anxiety and replace the fear of failure with smiling or laughing, whenever he or she thinks about it. 

Another effective strategy is to employ plenty of imagery/visualization exercises to prepare the client to get rid of this fear, and tie a stronger relaxation response to override the fear/anxiety. “You need to double-bind the client by substituting a positive suggestion for negative feelings or fear,” Dr. Kappas advised. For example, tie the client’s fear of success with the image of actually achieving that desired goal. If the person does not have any recent experiences or memories of achievement, I would work with him or her to choose and set small, achievable task to start this process. As the person continues to succeed at these projects, I would reinforce the association between relaxation and increasing confidence with achieving these new and increasingly challenging goals. Ultimately, eventually, the “fear of failure” will be replaced with a new subconscious known: enjoyment of success.

Limited Special Offer!

Save an additional 10 percent on the 10-week hypnosis for weight-loss package.

This discount only applies to the 10-week weight-loss program and may not be combined with any other offer. It is valid through February 15, 2019 

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/.

© 2019

Addressing the Other Issues

(This blog was originally posted on November 1, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

To facilitate a positive therapeutic outcome, from time to time, it is necessary to identify and address other issues besides the goal a client wants to work on before we can focus on the stated self-improvement goal. Examples of such conflicts include low blood-sugar levels, passive-aggressive behavior, low self-esteem/low self-confidence and even addiction to alcohol or other substances. Following is a summary of some therapeutic approaches to resolve these other issues.

• Prevent “bunching” the problems by helping the hypnotherapy client identify and separate each issue and deal with it separately.

• During the pre-induction speech, incorporate Theory of Mind and the role of suggestibility in learning and unlearning beliefs and behaviors. “Expose why/when/how the problem started, and give hope it can be changed,” advised Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D. “[Provide] logical reasons why the problem started and solutions for what can be done to help him.”

• Test the client’s suggestibility and sexual personality traits to identify how and which hypnotic suggestions will work best to communicate with the person cognitively and while in hypnosis.

• Work on changing the person’s negative mental script and any passive-aggressive behaviors by explaining how and why they develop. Explain to the client how building the person’s self-esteem and self-confidence to correct the passive-aggressive act. client

• Explain to the client how and why nutrition affects emotions and behavior. Discuss the benefits of good eating habits and nutrition. (In some cases it may be necessary to refer the person to a licensed medical doctor for a blood-sugar level test before continuing with the hypnotherapy.)

• While the client is in hypnosis, suggest that the person will have a venting dream to continue working out the issues being addressed in hypnotherapy, Dr. Kappas advised.

• Block the client’s suggestibility and make the person receptive only to the hypnotherapist’s hypnotic suggestions. “We want to suggest him deeper and deeper so we could give him ideas that wouldn’t depreciate,” the hypnotherapist said.

• Introduce the Mental Bank to help the client work toward achievable goals and replace the unconscious negative script with a positive one.

• If the client is dealing with an addiction to alcohol or drugs, hypnosis and hypnotherapy are great tools to help a person follow Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous, etc. guidelines during rehabilitation from a substance addiction. However, when I work with an individual to help break this addictive curve I ask that the person continues to receive support from a sponsor and/or 12-step program during this process.*

*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.

Hypnotherapy for Weight Loss

This 10-week weight-loss package is designed to help you shed extra pounds using hypnosis and therapeutic guided-imagery techniques. It is customized to your specific weight-loss goal, and materials are provided at each weekly session to help you keep track of your progress and maintain motivation throughout this program. In addition, a complimentary recording of the hypnosis portion of each session (CD or digital file) is provided at the end of each appointment to reinforce what you worked on that week. 

$1,250 for 10-week series. (This is a $250 savings!)  

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/.

© 2018

The Ultimate Venting Dream

(This blog was originally posted on August 23, 2016)

Image courtesy of Flickr

The Wizard of Oz is the ultimate venting dream.

Readers who are familiar with this story know that it features a myriad of fantastic images. In addition to those magical ruby slippers, there is an army of flying monkeys, the constant threat of a vindictive witch intent on exacting revenge for her sister and a city made entirely of emerald. Dorothy Gale’s new friends are not even human but a scarecrow, a tin man and a lion that not only walk and talk but are also in search of something important to them: a brain, a heart and courage, respectively. Fortunately, the entire Land of Oz is in Technicolor—Dorothy’s home in Kansas was symbolically in black and white—which should make it all the easier for the group to find their symbolic treasures.

Of course, the final portion of their journey to the Emerald City is fraught with new dangers, including having to cross a field of sleep-inducing poppies that seduce Dorothy into much-needed slumber—actually a temporary escape—from her worries. When she awakes, her beloved dog is in the clutches of the Wicked Witch. Dorothy accidentally dispatches the witch by throwing a bucket of water on her, rescues her dog and runs back to meet her friends to find the Wizard. When Toto pulls back the curtain to reveal a little man manipulating various levers and controls to simulate the mystical “Wizard,” Dorothy and her friends are immediately disheartened and disappointed. How can their dreams possibly come true, now?

Fortunately, like the charlatan who correctly warned Dorothy about the storm in Kansas, this wizard can still help Dorothy by spiriting her home to Kansas in his hot-air balloon. But when he accidentally launches the balloon and takes off without her. Glinda the Good Witch makes another appearance at this point. She points out that the Scarecrow obviously has a brain; how else could he have helped his friends find the Emerald City? The Tin Man already has a heart, or he wouldn’t have been able to feel sad and cry when he thought of Dorothy going away. As for the Cowardly Lion, he had so bravely faced every danger with his friends as they made their way to find the Wizard. Of course, he was very brave indeed. And Dorothy only needed to click her heels together three times repeating the heartfelt sentiment, “There’s no place like home” and she would be reunited with Auntie Em and Uncle Henry on the family farm.

When Dorothy next opens her eyes she is in her own bed, surrounded by everyone she knows and loves, the film returned to its original black-and-white from its Technicolor dreamscape. There is no telling how long she has slept, but the pseudo-realistic/symbolic experiences she had in Oz are compelling evidence that she had one doozy of a venting dream.

The concept of the Gales’ home being picked up by the wind and being symbolically dropped in Oz could easily have been triggered by a physical stimulus: the tornado that hit the property and likely knocked Dorothy out in the first place. The similarities between Miss Gulch’s physical appearance and Dorothy’s perception of the woman’s personality as being a witch are very strong to the Wicked Witch. Indeed, Dorothy called the woman a “witch” when Miss Gulch packed Toto into the basket on her bicycle because the dog chased her cats. When the tornado hits, the girl looks out her bedroom window to see her nemesis riding her bicycle as it transforms into a witch riding a broomstick on the swirling wind.

Other people in Dorothy’s daily life were also represented in her dream, including several of her uncle’s farm hands who showed up as the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion, respectively. Furthermore, the things these characters wanted to find in Oz—a brain (intelligence), heart and courage were traits that Dorothy would have needed to run away from home and, more important, find her way back. As for the ruby (red) slippers and Emerald (green) City, these might have symbolically represented what and the people whom Dorothy loved, and the fantastic, trouble-free, “grass is always greener” land she imagined running to before the storm hit. Even the fortune-teller she met before the storm had shown up in her dream as the Wizard of Oz.

Finally, the biggest “tell” that her experience was a venting dream was the representation of Dorothy’s subconscious mind as Glinda, the Good Witch. Although Glinda is only seen a few times, always arriving in a bubble of golden light (Dorothy’s higher self), her gentle counsel and advice are felt throughout. Glinda is the one who sets Dorothy down that Yellow Brick Road to find the way home; which the girl does, even though she really has no idea where this road will truly lead. The love and protective instinct Dorothy has for her dog has her reach for the nearest weapon to hand—a seemingly innocuous bucket of water—to ultimately defeat the Wicked Witch and rescue her Toto. Finally, it is Glinda who reminds Dorothy that she always had the power to go home when she wanted to, all she needed to do was click the heels of those magical ruby slippers together three times and say “There’s no place like home.”

Fortunately, Dorothy ultimately, gratefully, understood.

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/.

© 2017