Happy Thoughts, Ericksonian Hypnosis Cards

Photo by Ali Brohi

One of the most powerful ways to get happy is with self-hypnosis. Milton Erickson one of the early lead developers of hypnosis believed that hypnotic trance is a common, everyday occurrence. For example when watching television, a movie, reading or listening and even being involved in strenuous physical exercise, people become immersed and go into a trance state. These states are so familiar that most people do not consciously recognise them as hypnotic states.

Use your internal dialogue to raise your happy meter! I have really only done a few things with self-hypnosis. One of the reasons for this is that I found this deck of cards and it works so well for me I haven’t needed to look into self-hypnosis more, because I’m already getting such great results. Here’s how they work: On each card is a hypnosis phrase on one side and an explanation of how that phrase works on the other side. They come in an 52 card set just like a regular deck of cards. The cards were created by Jamie Smart and are called Ericksonian Hypnosis Salad Cards.

Salad - Ericksonian Hypnosis Card Deck by Jamie Smart

I’ve got them as an app for my iPhone, they are also sold as a deck of cards.

So here’s a little taste of the self-hypnosis goodness. It is one thing to hypnotize another person…The real challenge is how well can you hypnotize Yourself…Here are some tips on how to be effective with your self-hypnosis.

1. When you are performing self-hypnosis or any other form of persuasion you need to have rapport. With self-hypnosis rapport is gained with internal vocal tone and emotion. (If you’re speaking out loud then it includes your external vocal tone) You must match your tone to how you are actually feeling. This means no odd monotone hypnotic voice, you want to use your normal voice as well as your actual emotional state. This means if I start hypnosis and I am feeling annoyed, I say the phrase in my mind sounding annoyed. Continue to follow your emotions with your vocal tone throughout the session.

2. The hypnosis phrase: A person can ___________ . You fill in the blank with something that you would like to be experiencing. For example: A person can feel really good right now. A person can start to notice happiness spreading throughout their entire body.

3. Continue to say each phrase with rapport, then notice what you feel and what thoughts you have. Be observant, this is where it gets interesting. For example I say: A person can start to notice how relaxed and happy they’re feeling right now.

Then we add the next thread in the cloth, I notice what feel and I think to myself after that hypnotic phrase and respond with: A person can notice how relaxed their spine is and how happiness is coursing through every cell in their body. Then I continue until I can rate myself at a ten. On a scale of one to ten, one being muy mal, very bad and ten being muy bien, very excellent.

And that’s it…well there are many, many more self-hypnosis phrases so here are a few to keep you going for a while ; )

A person could __________ . (ie. a person could do self-hypnosis and increased their happiness.)

A person doesn’t have to ____________.

A person is able to____________.

I wouldn’t tell you to___________because____________. (ie I wouldn’t tell you to feel amazing because you’re already noticing how incredibly amazing you’re feeling right now.)

Can you imagine____________.

Don’t _____________ too quickly. (ie. don’t get happy too quickly.)

Eventually_____________. (ie. eventually you’ll wake up happy everyday.)

How does it feel when you____________? (ie. how does it feel when you get happy easier than you expected?)

How quickly can you____________?

I could say__________but____________. (ie. I could say you’re feeling really amazing but you already know that don’t you.)

Try and resist______________. (ie. try and resist seeing yourself happy for the entire next week.)

Happy Heart, The HeartMath Solution

Photo by Inoc

One of my favorite books is The Heartmath Solution by Doc Childre and Howard Martin, I am amazed about these incredible breakthroughs in the science of the heart. These two authors have really come up with a wonderful solution to experience more love and happiness daily.  The technique is called Heartmath.

The writers embarked on a journey studying the power of the heart, soon they had discovered more than they ever dreamed possible. They found that very interesting things happen when the heart and the brain communicate. For example when the brain sends a signal to the heart, the heart may choose to follow what the brain says or it may do something different, completely independent from the brain’s commands.

While looking into this unusual new finding, they discovered that the same neurons that you find in the brain are also present in the heart. There are around forty thousand neurons in the heart. That’s as many neurons as are found in parts of the brain (in the subcortical centers)! The heart has an independent nervous system. This gives the heart the ability to think, therefore the ability to convey intelligence to the rest of your body. In The Heartmath Solution they call this Heart Intelligence.

The book talks about the best state for your mind and body, and calls this Coherence. Coherence is when your brain waves and heart are in sync. In this state there are many healthy benefits including being able to make better heart guided decisions, experience more happiness and positive emotions.

Thru testing the authors have created techniques to enhance the power of the heart and create Coherence. These techniques are especially helpful when you have big decisions to make, when find yourself in a stressful situation, when you are solving a disagreement and when you are in a place where you want to feel more connected to others and the world. These are just a few benefits of having your heart and brain in sync with one another, there are so many more than I could cover here. I encourage all to pick up the book and learn about these remarkable discoveries!

Heart Lock In, aka Super Charge Your Heart Power:

1. Gently focus on the area of your heart and think of something that makes you feel happy, love, gratitude and smile. Relax and breathe focusing on feeling these good emotions for 5 minutes.

2. After 5 minutes start to send love from your heart to yourself. When you are ready proceed to send love to other important people in your life. One at a time. Imagine that the love you are sending is connecting directly to their heart. You can even visualize a beam connecting your two hearts. Do this for another 5 to 10 minutes.

HeartMath Technique

1. Focus on the area of your heart. Breath in for about 5 to 10 seconds. Imagine that your breath is going directly into your body at your heart area. Some people find it helps to visualize their mouth breathing in and out right at the heart area. I prefer to focus on feeling physical sensations of the breath as if it is entering and exiting at my heart area.

2. Breath out for the same amount of time 5 to 10 seconds imaging that the breath is now exiting your body at the heart area. So your breath is going in your heart and out your heart.

3. Now here is the key in activating the HeartMath state, coherence between the brain and the heart. Think about something that makes you feel happiness and other pleasant emotions like love, joy and gratitude. Continue to do the directed breathing in step 1 & 2 while focusing on these emotions. Do this for as long as you like!

In any situation that life brings this is an excellent way to get centered and use your full intelligence. It has been remarkable help for me over the years so I’m curious just how much it can expand happiness for you! Enjoy and use in large doses over the holidays!

Wake Up Happy! Powerful Morning & Evening Questions

Photo by laurakgibbs

In those first moments when you wake up sometimes your mind is thinking about those things that are going to make today hell..O. I believe it’s Tony Robbins who says “The quality of your life is the quality of the questions you ask yourself daily”. So asking quality questions upon waking and before sleeping is one of the most powerful ways to enhance the good emotions in your life. Making it a daily ritual before sleep and when you awake will provide great rewards when done right. Here’s what you’ll need:

1. A brain, a memory. Chose 3 of the questions below or if you’re really wild do the whole list. Memorize them or put them on a note card, or make a note in your phone, or a note where ever it is that you make your notes. Have it by your bedside so that you can easily reach it for morning or evening reference.

2. Honesty. When you ask yourself these questions go with the answer that makes you feel. It can be tricky sometimes our mind will say something logical, for example:  “What am I grateful for about today?” and our mind has answered this question for the past week so it goes to a canned answer like “My home”. Now one could continue with this answer or really get keyed in to what it really is that one is Really grateful for like “My amazing relationship”. So be aware of this when answering the questions and be honest with yourself. It pays off, trust me.

3. Persistence. They say it takes 21 days of doing something daily/consistently for it to truly become a habit. So stick with it, put an alarm on your phone to remind you to ask your questions and soon enough you won’t need the reminder anymore!

Here are the questions. Each one is composed of three parts, the question and then two sub questions that get your emotions involved.  If you are stumped for an answer add the word “could” for example: “What could I be most happy about in my life now?”. Also these questions are not limited to morning and evening, they can be asked at anytime! I recommend saying the questions out loud if you can, I believe somehow it magnifies the results when you both hear it and think it.

THE QUESTIONS:

1. What am I most happy about in my life right now?

What about that makes me happy? How does that make me feel?

2. What am I most excited about in my life right now?

What about that makes me excited? How does that make me feel?

3. What am I most proud about in my life right now?

What about that makes me proud? How does that make me feel?

4. What am I most grateful about in my life right now?

What about that makes me grateful? How does that make me feel?

5. What am I enjoying most in my life right now?

What about that do I enjoy? How does that make me feel?

6. What am I committed to in my life right now?

What about that makes me committed? How does that make me feel?

7. Who do I love? Who loves me?

What about that makes me loving? How does that make me feel?

That’s it! Hope you enjoyed today’s tasty bloggity  goodness!

*This is an adapted technique from Tony Robbins.

Random Acts of Kindness

Boost your happiness and self-worth and be a true giver all in one fowl swoop! Studies have shown that both an increase in happiness and self-worth is achieved by doing a simple act of kindness for another. They have also found that observers of an act of kindness have twice the increase of happiness (aka serotonin) as the person doing the kind act. Pretty wonderful! So the tip for today is, make someone feel truly special and restore an observer’s faith in humanity by unabashedly going out of your way to make someone’s day!

Photo by SwedishCarlina

I’m Lovin’ It, How McDonald’s Can Change Your Life

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Maybe it’s time to face it, advertisers are brilliant and they know how our brains work. Companies spend millions of dollars on advertisement campaigns like “I’m Lovin’ It” (McDonald’s), “Just Do It” (Nike), and many many more we see everyday. They don’t do it because it’s fun or just a cute slogan. These companies spend millions of dollars a year because that slogan will get you to change your behavior and buy their product. How could we do to guard ourselves from being mindless McDrones?  Is there a way we could actually benefit from the advertising hypnosis that is all around us? What if we could use their expertise and research in persuasion for what we really want?  Here is a simple step by step process Maria and I created that has continuely made our life better.

Step 1 Respect

We got respect all advancements advertising companies have made in the field persuasion. Know that they’ve paid millions of dollars just to bring a small little slogan to our attention. They do it because that exact slogan will change our behavior and get us to buy their product, it works time and time again.

Step 2 Break the Mold

Here is how to stop been one of the herd craving McDonald’s every time they flash “I’m Lovin’ It” in your face. Every time you see a McDonald’s ad think or say “I’m disgusted by it”, “I’m grossed out by it”, or “I’m lovin’eating somewhere else”.  I know it sounds silly,  so just try it and judge by results. If you find yourself craving McD’s you can just remember to change it to McDon’t.

Nike example “Just do it”, to “Just don’t!”.

Step 3 Abolish bad habits

Potato chip cravings? Eat one then say “I’m hatin’ it!”, “I’m grossed out by it!”, or  “Just don’t”. Try it and see what happens. Bet you can eat just one!

Step 4 Use It

Use the years of research and millions of dollars they spend developing a single slogan to your advantage . Let’s say you really want to play guitar, but you never get around to it. Try this! Say out loud (really try this say it!) “Playing Guitar I’m Loving It”, “Playing Guitar JUST DO IT!”,”Playing Guitar JUST DO IT I’m Lovin’ it!”  Now you might notice a subtle shift in how good you feel about guitar. You could do this with everything you want change your behavior at. Use the advertisers knowledge to your advantage. Here is the play by play:

1. Pick something you want or need to complete.
2. Say the desire out loud or in your mind.
3. Immediately followed by the Slogan, “I’m Lovin’ It” “Just Do It” etc.
4. Do it again and again.

Examples:

• “Broccoli JUST DO IT! I’m Lovin’ it!”
• “Workout I’m Lovin’ It! JUST DO IT!”
• “Start a Business JUST DO IT! I’m Lovin’ It!”

Remember companies flash these slogan’s over and over on billboards, TV commercials, banner ads and more. Do the same for what you want, repeat your slogans over and over. Persuade yourself to get really desire and deserve.

Simple, now I’m sure your really understand that advertisers are smart, and you can use their brains as well as the MILLIONS of dollars they have spent to make your life better. On your terms not theirs! Have fun and “JUST DO IT!”

The Feel Good iPhone App : )

Enjoy endless compliments created by real people. Give your own creative compliments to others.

At a boy

The At A Boy app was created by Psychologist, Behavior Economist and Author Dan Ariely and the Duke University’s Center of Behavioral Economics team. Because when you feel good about yourself you experience behavior changes. So the research team created this app to enhance the good feelings. I give it a thumbs up, because You are great!

Happy Words!

Studies have shown that the words we read, hear, say and think affect us at a profound level. Words even contribute to how our body moves and what we feel.

erin MC Hammer

In an experiment mentioned in the book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely they tested the way that the body responds to words. The experiment primed participants by having them complete scrambled-sentence tasks that had “elderly” connotations and included the words: Florida, bingo, ancient. They then left the room believing they had completed the experiment, but the study was just beginning. The researchers were actually watching the participants as they left the building and timing how long it would take for them to walk down the hall. Sure enough, the subjects who were given the “elderly” words had a  considerably slower walking speed than the other control group that had not been primed with “elderly” words. The full study information can be found in the book Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely.

Upon reading this I decided to do some research of my own. I found a list of positive adjectives and decided to read it everyday.  Then I discovered that someone was already doing something very similar. They use a positive adjective list to create increased happiness in a method in which they call the APACHE Method. I took little snip-its from their method, using what worked for me. I read a list each day. Anytime I was feeling less than my best I would pull out the list. Sometimes I would go thru the list a couple of times and add in “I am feeling” before each word. Other times I would just read the list as is. To my delight I experienced an immediate shift in my mood, sometimes small other times dramatic. My overall findings where that reading the positive adjectives really did improve my mood a considerable amount! So I keep this technique in my Happiness Toolbox. Here is a start to get your own list going.

Happy Adjective List:

Happy, Professional, Grateful, Determined, Swell, Sincere, Helpful, Authentic, Focused, Content, Extraordinary, Imaginative, Delightful, Reverent, Heroic Successful, Cheerful, Unique, Inventive, Upright, Open minded, Talented, Blissful, Desirable, Glad, Valiant, Modest, Fair minded, Ingenious, Courageous, Solid, Profound, Worthy, Adaptable, Colorful, Joyful, Cute, Laudable, Delectable, Remarkable, Dependable, Confident, Free, Funny, Jolly, Ready, Enlightened, Magnetic, Enterprising, Victorious, Luminous, Calm, Ecstatic, Exact, Lovely, Inspired, Entertaining, Thorough, Prosperous, Decent, Convincing, Witty, Beautiful, Sexy, Assured, Progressive, Competent, Comedic, Hilarious, Articulate, Sublime, Commendable, Sympathetic, Influential, Compatible, Efficient, Engaging, Humorous, Civil, Merry, Believable, Lucky, Gentle, Knowledgeable, Ernest, Serene, Faithful, Sweet, Exultant, Hospitable, Passionate, Joyous, Super, Awesome, Amazing, Fantastic, Colorful, Adorable, Coherent, Powerful, Gleeful, Cordial, Sparkling, Appreciative, Spontaneous, Soulful, Fascinating, Brilliant, Constant, Keen, Natural, Eloquent, Comfortable, Sensible, Relaxed, Casual, Stable, Loyal, Alive, Receptive, Charming, Truthful, Good Looking, Industrious, Perfect, Brave, Hardy, Enchanted, Noble, Diligent, Athletic, Precious, Cozy, Deep, Agile, Healthy, Creative, Just, Genteel, Learned, Approachable, Lucid, Harmonious, Nice, Fun, Rich, Bold, Tender, Accommodating, Jolly, Defined, Refined, Whimsical, Immaculate, Bright, Diplomatic, Chatty, Vigorous, Wonderful, Alluring, Reflective, Punctual, Credible, Impressive, Companionable, Elated, Playful, Original, Intelligent, Devoted, Superb, Warm, Pleasant, Powerful, Fabulous, Altruistic, Gracious, Affirmative, Loved.