Dominant Laws of Suggestibility: Law of Delayed Action

(This blog was originally posted on February 23, 2015

Photo by Rick Hustead

One of the most effective suggestibility techniques I use is the law of “Delayed Action.” Here, I provide a specific suggestion that is designed to work at some point after the hypnosis session in which it is introduced. The timing may be several hours or even week(s) after I have introduced it during the hypnotherapy session.

 For example, if a client’s most significant “trigger” to smoke a cigarette is after eating the evening meal I will create the hypnotic script that incorporates suggestions that the person engages in a specific alternative behavior at that time. At the beginning of the session I will ask the client about various activities that he or she enjoys doing, such as going for a walk or playing a board game with the kids, etc., to replace that undesired behavior. When the person is in hypnosis I will drop a suggestion into the person’s subconscious mind that he or she will engage in that desired, enjoyable behavior after eating instead of lighting up. The key to this technique is that the hypnotic suggestion only kicks in when the specific situation presents itself: in this case, after a meal. 

Depending on the client’s suggestibility (how the person learns), I will use a direct and literal suggestion for the physical suggestible client or a more inferential one for an emotional suggestible person. The key is to use language to which the person’s subconscious mind will most readily and easily respond whenever a subconscious trigger “kicks in” the delayed-action suggestion.

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

Thoughts of the Day

Photo by Sara Fogan

      Every now and then I like (and need) to take a few moments and remind myself about what is really important to me, in my life. If you follow me on my Calminsense Hypnotherapy Facebook page you may have seen some of these quotes before on this page, or will in the future. Many of these Quotes of the Day are beautiful examples and illustrations of the work I do as a hypnotherapist, so I will probably draw on them in future essays.

• “All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.” – Mark Twain

• “The path to wisdom is paved with humility.” – Tim Fargo

• “An ounce of action is worth a ton of theory.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

• “Storms have a tendency to remove the dead branches, and eventually, the sun comes out to grow new ones.” – Chris LoCurto

• “Sometimes it is the people no one imagines anything of who do the things that no one can imagine.” – Alan Turing, The Imitation Game

• “Gold medals aren't really made of gold. They're made of sweat, determination, and a hard-to-find alloy called guts.” – Dan Gable

• “After climbing a great hill, one only finds that there are many more hills to climb.” – Nelson Mandela

• “The reward is in doing, but doing without expecting anything...doing unselfishly.” – Dr. Brian Weiss

• “The distance between dreams and reality is called action.” – Unknown

• “There are no limitations except those we create for ourselves.” – Lolly Daskal

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

Recreating the Family of Origin

(This blog was originally posted on May 19, 2016)

Photo by Rick Hustead

When I was a freshman at Occidental College, I noticed something very interesting: all of the students looked the same. Well, not exactly the same, as in identical; but our similarity in physical features and even social backgrounds struck me as uncanny. One of my favorite instructors reminded me of my mother, from her general physique and gentle demeanor to the curly, salt-and-pepper dark hair they wore in a similar style. Maybe that resemblance contributed to her being one of my favorite professors. I remember that my fourth-grade teacher reminded me of one of my grandmothers; Mrs. Payne also happened to be one of my favorite grammar-school teachers. I don’t think that was a coincidence. One of the first good friends I made at Goldsmiths College in London, during my junior year abroad reminded me of my sister; they both even shared the same major in English literature.

On Tuesday, May 17, 2016, KFI AM 640 radio host Gary Hoffman and his featured guest, Wendy Walsh, Ph.D., discussed people’s subconscious tendency to recreate the “home” or family environment/social schema where they work. Dr. Walsh’s description of this behavior sounded a lot like Hypnosis Motivation Institute founder John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind. No matter where we are or who we are with, we subconsciously want to return to those early experiences where we felt comfortable (subconscious known)—even if we were experiencing pain in that situation. Both models made total sense.

Many people spend a majority of their waking day at work or at school/college. Whether it is a youngster’s first day in kindergarten or the first time newly minted CEO walks into the boardroom to facilitate a meeting, anxiety (pain) is usually the dominant emotion experienced. To alleviate this discomfort, we subconsciously look for any similarity between what he or she knows/knows how to do and other people with whom we have shared this previous environment or space. I remember the anxiety I experienced when the original owner of Black Belt magazine sold the company in 2001. All of the staff was anxious about our job security, even the senior editors and art directors. We all knew that the new line manager could easily decide this was a chance to “refresh” the current business model and get new writers and editors. Would our possible replacements actually be more skilled at our job or just a better social “fit” for the new boss? As it turned out, most of us kept our job and even got promotions when Black Belt magazine’s current owners bought and expanded the company a few years later. However, it was easy to see that new writers and editors that were hired were much more “like” and compatible with the new executive staff.

When I interviewed for college and, later, future jobs, I subconsciously looked for an environment where I already felt comfortable and shared interests/goals as the people with whom I would be sharing that environment. I have no doubt that Oxy’s college-acceptance board and my prospective employers had similar criteria when they considered how well I would fit in with them. The same could also be said of how I was originally recruited to join NRG—the business-network group to which I belong—and even, to some extent, how my clients “choose” to work with me as their hypnotherapist. What is similar? What is familiar? That is where we ultimately go—and 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® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2017