Overwhelmed with decisions?

Is this how you're feeling these days?

Not to get political here on my health and wellness hypnosis blog, but I would ask everyone to think about what that means and how it applies in my life and practice today.

Contemplating the enormous problems before us; knowing that there are NO easy answers, I have retreated to my position that I know nothing for absolute sure.  In this I have found wisdom and maturity.

It’s easy to fuss, fight, throw sticks and stones as well as a lot of unsubstantiated accusations back and forth.

I have an opinion and I think I know who I trust more than others from their track records of truthfulness.  My opinion is not what matters.

In making your important governmental decisions, it’s essential to find substantiated information and to avoid listening to zealots…especially those who make a lot of money being zealous.

Making decisions about how to vote and who’s word to trust is not so far from handling any relationship, whether it is in your community or in your home.  So are good guidelines for effective communication:

1.   Listen to hear the other’s point-of-view, whether you agree or not.

2.   Listen with as open a mind as you can manage, not to agree but to hear.

3.   Try to stay calm.  When we get angry, our IQ actually goes down, our memory is interfered with chemically, and we are unable to be rational and objective.

4.   Dealing with anyone who has an agenda, which is any political viewpoint, especially those who have something to gain monetarily, check facts and be alert for covert persuasion tricks.

Whether we are talking about the injustice of leaving people out of healthcare, no matter what solution we favor, is no better than leaving people to die in streets as in the Dark Ages and third world countries.

There is much, much at stake here for all of us.  Do your best.  I try to do so as well.

If this is all too overwhelming and you need some stress management, help with insomnia, help with anger management or panic attacks, hypnosis can help you find peace and serenity in your own skin.

Here’s to your success…

Susan French

www.hypno4success.com/blog

Your comments are welcomed.

As an esteemed colleague of mine once said of patients/clients: “laughter is a sign that healing has begun.” It’s so very true.

Norman Cousins is probably our best known example of this Truth. Norman Cousins (June 24, 1915 – November 30, 1990) was an American political journalist, author, professor, and world peace advocate.

At age 11, he was misdiagnosed with tuberculosis and placed in a sanatorium. Despite this, he was an athletic young man, displaying early on the optimistic character that ultimately gave him years of life, long past the “expiration date” given
to him by his doctors.

It was as a professor at UCLA, where he did research on the biochemistry of human emotions, that led him to his belief that positive emotions held the key to healing.

He wrote a collection of best-selling non-fiction books on illness and healing, as well as a 1980 autobiographical memoir, Human Options: An Autobiographical Notebook.

Late in life Cousins the diagnosis was changed to ankylosing spondylitis (AS), a form of crippling arthritis. Though it was later speculated that he actually had reactive arthritis instead, but the result was the same: chronic debilitating pain and disability.

His struggle with this illness is detailed in the book and movie “Anatomy of an Illness,” about illness as perceived by the patient: reflections on healing and regeneration.

Told that he had little chance of surviving Cousins developed his own recovery program incorporating megadoses of Vitamin C, along with a positive attitude, love, faith, hope, and laughter induced by Marx Brothers

It was this belief that allowed him to fight the ravages of his illnesses, even his later diagnosed heart disease. He fought both by taking massive doses of Vitamin C and,
according to him, by training himself to laugh.

Taking his own advice, he prescribed for himself a program of laughter daily: “I made the joyous discovery that ten minutes of genuine belly laughter had an anesthetic effect and would give me at least two hours of pain-free sleep,” he reported.

“When the pain-killing effect of the laughter wore off, we would switch on the motion picture projector again and not infrequently, it would lead to another pain-free interval.”

He died of heart failure on November of 1990, having survived years longer than his doctors predicted: 10 years after his first heart attack, 26 years after his collagen illness, and 36 years after his doctors first diagnosed his heart disease.

He proved his theory by being his own best doctor, leaving us a legacy that proves that “laughter really is our best medicine.”

Medical science has come a long way since then, proving more and more completely that our bodies follow the pictures, attitudes and emotions in our minds. Of course, there is no better way to utilize these ideas than with hypnotherapy.

If you’re struggling with illness in any form, hypnosis provides a sturdy vehicle for wellness.

Here’s to your success…

Susan French

http://www.hypno4success.com

Boost your optimism score

Hard to remember when you’re facing a bump in the road or a temporary setback.  Clinical research has shown that attitude and optimism are a far better indicator of success than any other qualities.  Martin Seligman (“Learned Optimism”) did major studies of this phenomenon.

When I stumble in life, particular on an important project, I give myself five to fifteen minutes to sit in the  corner and suck my thumb.  ”I pick myself up, dust myself off and start all over ” as the song goes.

I have a personal saying for times like these: “You might  get me down but you can’t keep me down.”  This is directed at the obstacle, the driver of the obstacle or God/Higher Power and sometimes just at the Outer Darkness.

You haven’t failed until you breathed your  last breath, and even then you haven’t failed because you were almost there.  You just didn’t know it.

If you are having difficulties falling into depression, lethargy, the “I don’t wanna’s,” being your own worst critic, a few sessions of ego-strengthening through hypnotherapy can help.

To your success…

Susan

www.hypno4success.com

It’s a new year, which always starts out with my birthday, on Jan 3. I won’t say how old I am but let’s just say I’ve witnessed my own share of history.

I’m noticing all the articles about how to keep resolutions. Hah! I don’t even make them any more. What’s the point? Especially if you make them when you’re bloated with sugar, fat and alcohol and ground down emotionally by fatigue, anxiety about money, the flu, and the cold, darkness of yucky winter. And this with such hubris from a southern california girl where we scream “I’m cold” when the weather hit’s 68 degrees.

I wish I had the integrity to feel ashamed.

I don’t. I like being warm. I like being comfortable. I like having it my way. Shoot me. Call me names…lol.

Ah well. Another year another dollar, we fervently hope.

Happy New Year Everyone.

Susan

http://www.hypno4success.com

A man lost in thought.

Anyone who knows me knows that I use the phrase “Today is the first day of the rest of your life” a lot. I like it because it reminds me (so I remind my friends, family and clients), that every day you get a do-over, you can start fresh.

Anyone who know me knows that I also use the phrase “There is no reality, only perception” a lot. It reminds me (so I remind my friends, family and clients) that every time I find a new perspective (therefore new perception) my entire life changes for the better…exponentially.

I have also come to realize that my life’s wisdom often presents itself in the best turn of phrase I can remember on any subject at any given moment. “One day at a time” serves me well and serves me well often. “Let me sleep on it” is another. I LOVE quotes, especially the ones that make me laugh.

In fact, I just created a new one that I really like: “if you want to know what’s wrong with your children, look in the mirror.”

It was natural that “Today is a New Yesterday” struck me. Because these little cliches, these little thought-bytes, are what rescue me in real-time. These little thought-bytes guide my day without much conscious awareness. Their real value is that they bring me smack back into the present, which is where ease of living (often called happiness) is usually found.

“Today is a New Yesterday” is like that. It seems like an advanced version of “How you live today is how you create your tomorrow’s.” Because it reminds me that everything I do in my life is woven indelibly into the tapestry of my life. It is like a blog entry or forum comment that will live forever in viral cyberspace, forever to haunt me if I make a lapse in judgement.

My tapestry is made up of many things: things I’m proud of, things I regret, things I wish I had done differently. “Today is a New Yesterday” is my new cliche reminder that my choices today, in the present, more importantly, in this present moment, matter more than I realise.

In 12-Step philosophy, a great source of many of my cliche’s, there is a saying that goes like this “…and you clean up the wreckage of your past…” That thought always leads me to my own version: “I’m a happy camper if I can manage not to be creating the wreckage of my future.”

Sometimes it’s good to peek at the future before making a choice that will live forever in your tapestry. Yes, I think “Today is a new yesterday” might be a keeper.

If you find yourself having a hard time creating satisfying yesterdays, call me and let me help.

Susan

www.hypno4success.com

877-583-2026