Sep 23 2012

Journaling: A Great Way To Clear Your Mind, Lengthen Your Life and Bring in Miracles – Vol. 167, Sept. 22, 2012

Writing

Writing (Photo credit: jjpacres)

There was a study in 1996 that was done with patients with asthma and rheumatoid arthritis who after writing about the most stressful event of their lives, experienced a decrease in symptoms.

In my practice I work with many clients who have had emotional issues come up that have blocked them from feeling happy, content, or even worthy of love. I share with each of them the manner in which I have found daily journarling has helped me to clear the negative feelings that I may have had. Even more profoundly I have found answers to the questions of how to get done that which I wanted to do and didn’t really know how to accomplish before doing the writing.

It is a simple practice to do. One person who is always spoken of regarding journaling is the Morning Pages mentioned in “The Artist’s Way” by Julia Cameron, She tells people to set aside 10 minutes each morning to write without a thought as to the spelling or grammar. Just write whatever comes to mind. The interesting thing about this process from the aspect of being a hypnotist is that this is actually known as “automatic writing”, a form of writing that allows one to access one’s unconscious mind, the part of you that accesses the answers one needs to solve any problems.

One can do journaling in many different ways.

1) Decide on if you would like to do it as Ms. Cameron suggest in the morning or  if you  would rather do it at the end of the day. I personally do it at both times.

2) Go ahead and purchase a journal or notebook to write in. It is best if you write your journal by hand because of the way the movement of the hand across the paper releases deeper self-expression than doing this on the computer. Legibility doesn’t matter. The ideas are what matter. You will remember the “aha” moments that come through doing the process.

3) Next go ahead and write until there is nothing more for you to express. You will know when that time has arrived. There just won’t be any more to write.

4) Notice the calmness that comes over you as you let go of any negative issues while bringing about solutions to overcome any situation that may be creating some angst in  your life.

5) Act on any of the ideas that come through and you will be amazed at what you
can overcome and create for your life.

One example of how this worked in my own life was my desire to get to Israel a few years ago. At the time I felt the need to get over there to meet my extended family. I also was going through a difficult physical health issue at the time and needed time away from my day-to-day life to process what was going on with me. I focused my writing for a couple of months on how to get myself over there without the funds to do it on my own. The answer came up in who I could contact who may be willing to help me make the trip. In the end that person did indeed help me to meet the relatives that he had found over there. He thought it was important for me not only to go over there to meet my relatives, he wanted me to be able to spend a few months there, become a part of the culture really having the full experience. He also realized that the trip would allow me to heal, something that I hadn’t really focused on myself.

If you are willing to really do this you too can bring some miracles into your life.

 

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Sep 16 2012

Hypnosis Can Clear Traumas

Vol. 47, February 2007

When people are victims of trauma they are already in a state close to hypnosis as they are unable to escape the fearful thoughts that are running through their minds. It makes sense to use this same state to help them to free themselves of these painful memories thus over coming their fears and recover their lives.

Many of the clients that have come in to see me with presenting problems that looked like over eating, alcoholism, depression, anger, fear, etc. went back to traumas that they suffered during their childhoods. Continue reading

Sep 16 2012

10 Signs of workplace harassment and the 8 things you can do about it.

Workplace harassment

Workplace harassment

Vol. 166, Sept. 16, 2012

The numbers of people being targeted by workplace bullying are exploding according to the Workplace Bullying Institute’s report “Effectiveness of Bullied Target Resolution Strategies, April, 2012”. According to their research 58% of the 1,604 employees surveyed say they are being bullied currently and 39% said they have been bullied. Of those being bullied 79.2% are women and 20.8% are male. Interestingly enough 62.8% of those doing the bullying are female and 37.2% were male. Regardless of what was done to stop the mistreatment 54% of all respondents said that the interventions were ineffective with the bullying continuing. Forty-one percent of women targeted for bullying quit and another 25% were terminated which includes those who were forced out of their jobs. Sadly the effectiveness of telling a boss or going to human resources was as ineffective as doing nothing stopping the bullying 3% of the time. Sadly 75% of those being bullied are of higher rank, 18% are of the same rank and 7% are of a lesser rank.

The largest part of the problem is that unless you are the one being targeted it is difficult to realize. This is a terrible situation for employees to be put into sinking them into a very low emotional state decreasing the job performance, killing moral at work and worse of all creating health issues such as: cardiovascular problems, an impaired immune system, debilitating anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. This means higher absenteeism. Forty-five percent of those being bullied suffer some sort stress related health problem. Bullying is a larger problem than sexual harassment.

For the company it means difficulty with moral and recruitment as word gets around that people are leaving in droves. Less workplace commitment along with increased workers’ comp claims increase cost to companies.

How do you know if you are being bullied? 10 Signs You are being bullied from Forbes Magazine:

1) You will feel anxious, maybe feeling like throwing up the night before your workweek starts.

2) Being constantly criticized by your boss or co-worker despite your history of competence at your job.

3 )Many instances where the bully is frequently yelling at you or insulting and humiliating you in front of others.

4 )Your boss or co-worker constantly refers to prior mistakes of yours without and constructive reason.

5) Spreading destructive gossip and lies about you.

6) You feel singled out by your boss or co-workers by having your desk moved or not being invited to meetings or even lunch.

7) All your time off is being spent on mental health days or your days off feeling lifeless or your family members showing frustration with you obsessing about work.

8) Having your work sabotaged by changing the rules, or performing task not critical to your success.

9) A boss that is changing your schedule knowing that it will conflict with your out of work activities making your life more difficult.

10) Your boss or co-worker stealing credit for your work

The first thing you need to do is stay calm because the bully is looking to get a reaction from you. Document the actions that the bully is taking against you so you can report it. If the bully is really impacting you negatively tell them that you have no interest in interacting with them and that they are on a strictly work based relationship.

For your own mental health journal about your feelings to get them out. Spend time with people who love and care about you. Focus you attention on them. And by all means, do those things that bring you joy and contentment. Tell you co-workers bosses and human resources your story while managing your emotions.

If things are getting out of hand and your employer seems to condone this sort of negative behavior the best response may be to leave your job for your own health and sanity.

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Sep 08 2012

Wake Up Doc! You May Be Killing your Patients By Not Hearing them! – Vol. 165, Sept. 8, 2012

I wonder how many of you who have a mental health history needing health care for a physiological problem have been treated like a child. That mental health diagnosis getting in the way of the treatment you may need because the doctor sitting in front of you can’t see your “whole self” – all that is seen is the psych history.
The sad truth is that it is very difficult to get an unbiased diagnosis when one has a psych history even when one has a an infection, broken bone and hardest of all fighting fatigue which can be caused by a multitude of issues from sleep apnea, to malnourishment from being unable to metabolize the nutrients from the foods you are eating, conditions that cause a lot of physical pain, to dealing with a loss of some sort. Too many doctors think it is all in your head and it many times is not.

You know that you are a victim of this poor treatment when you are finding yourself complaining of the same symptoms over and over again from never finding the “cause” of your problem.

As a patient if you feel more frustrated than when you came in, with more prescriptions than causes to your problem, you need to change doctors.

If your doc says “let’s try this” without any scientific testing to back up their ideas, you are being used as a human guinea pig. Change doctors.

If your doc is unwilling to send you for the scans that are necessary to see what is going on inside you, especially with ongoing pain, you need to change doctors.

If your doctor tells you that “nobody died of lack of sleep” and that is one of your main symptoms, you are in trouble. Your doc is taking it to lightly – Ambien IS NOT the answer! Change doctors.

If you seem to know more than your doc about what is going on with you, change doctors.

If your doctor doesn’t ask you if you have a history of drug addiction before giving your a prescription change doctors.

If you undergo a surgery and your doctor gives you over a 100 pills of addictive opiates to help with the pain, change doctors.

These are the complaints that I hear over and over again from my clients when they are looking for treatment from their medical providers. Unfortunately more times than I would like to admit, their doctors don’t take them seriously and in some cases it has caused their patients to find themselves in precarious positions.

Several have found themselves unwittingly addicted to narcotics after surgeries. Some have been unable to find out why it is that they are always tired – not depressed, just tired all of the time making it difficult to make it through their work day. Others have never been given the requisite testing or scans to find out what may be at the cause of the problem just handing over prescriptions without any thought as to what the long term consequences may be for the patient.

By far the worst is when a normal child or teen is seen as over active is placed on medications to sedate them when a conversation to find out what the real issue is would have gone a long way to clearing up the problem.

Hormones are the basis of your body being able to function. When one hormone is out of balance, it throws of the balance of other hormones creating the symptoms that are dragging down your quality of life. Few doctors really understand the science of hormones which is sad. It is probably the first place to look if you are feeling fatigued and out of sorts over a very long period and there are no other obvious causes.

One needs to check out precursor hormones which are the building blocks to the common hormones doctors check for to see what the deal is such as pregnenolone and DHEA are the precursor hormones for the sex hormones.

Food allergies and sensitivities can create great damage to the gut which is where the immune system does the majority of its work. Unfortunately many doctors fail to test for these issues as well.

Proper nutrition is the number one thing that you can do to take care of your health. If your doctor is not willing to speak to you about this, change doctors.

It is so much easier in the 7 ½ minute appointment for the doctor to stare at the computer and hand you a prescription. Ask yourself if this is the sort of treatment that you are willing to settle for.

If you have been diagnosed with a mental health issue it is a good idea to start over with a new doctor who is better able to see the “whole you” to form an unbiased diagnosis.

Don’t let insurance hassles and money issues be a reason to not get appropriate health care. See a functional or integrative doctor who will see you as a “whole person.” As you know without good health life is really not worth living. Many of these treatments that integrative (holistic practitioners) treat may not be covered under your health insurance regardless of how much you are already spending on it. Go ahead and have the work done anyway so that you can reclaim your life.

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Sep 04 2012

Who Do You Go To, To Get Your Problem Resolved? – Vol. 142, March 15, 2012

These days there are many titles that helping professionals have: therapist and hypnotist and NLP practitioners, coaches, trainers, teachers and mentors, job coaches and business coaches and life coaches. How do you know who to go to to get you issue resolved? Well, I have to tell you that if I weren’t in the business of helping people having spent too many hours to count paying for the services of many of these professionals for my own growth and development both personally and professionally I wouldn’t know the differences between them either. Now, do understand that these are my own definitions based on my own experiences so you may not totally agree. However, I am most certain that you will find my train of thought her helpful when you are making a the very important decision as to who to invest your limited resources of time and money to help you to get “unstuck” in whatever it is that may be holding you back at the moment.

First of all I being a Trainer and Master Practitioner of hypnosis and NLP I would like to clarify for you what these titles actually mean versus what a therapist is thought to be.

NLP (neuro-linguistic programming) is first and foremost a form of hypnosis, it using the bypassing of the conscious mind to work in the unconscious or subconscious mind. NLP is based on the work of Milton Erickson a psychiatrist that used hypnosis in his practice, Virginia Satir, a family therapist and Fritz Perls and his Gestalt Therapy among others. Bandler and Grinder researched the best therapists of the day to find out how they got the excellent results they got and formed the techniques that taken together are now known as NLP. Hypnosis is more often thought of as the relaxed state that one sees in the stage hypnosis volunteers who seemed to be passed out when they are merely so relaxed as to be resting on one another. Do believe me when I tell you that they are hyper aware of everything that is going on and can and do decide which skits they will participate in. It is up to the stage hypnotist to realize in seconds flat if the volunteers are in the hypnotic state or need to return to the audience not having taken to the hypnosis either through the fear of what they do not understand hypnosis to be or because they may be drunk and unable to focus or could cause distractions to the show.

Hypnosis is actually the same state that one would be in while in meditation and so as one of my teachers of hypnosis explained it: hypnosis is meditation with a purpose. That  purpose being to resolve the issues that the client has come in to hypnotist to work on. Because it is the meditative state that is being worked on, the client is in a dissociated state making it much less emotionally traumatic the client feeling lighter and brighter once emerged from the hypnotic state.

Therapy is working in the conscious state and though there are a few therapist who may have taken a hypnosis weekend of training do not generally specialize in doing hypnotic work. They have a different angle to their work with their client usually relying on the theory that they have learned in their psychology degree work, without much exposure or knowledge about the inner workings of the unconscious mind which requires a very different technique then regular therapy given the different manner in which the conscious and unconscious/subconscious mind processes the same information. If you choose to see a therapist to do hypnotic technique with you do make sure that they have made it a priority to truly understand what they are doing or they can create more harm to you without even realizing it.

A coach is a person who is hired to help people to attain goals in their lives without any real training for the most part (unless the professional has come to coaching after completing more formalized training in therapeutic or hypnotic technique) to be more of an accountability partner and objective source from which you can gain new insights and perspectives on reaching your goals. A business coach or job coach will work with you on gaining a better career for yourself (though job coaches are also known to be the people to work with disabled folks in non-competitive work environments).

Executive coaches usually work in or for businesses to help the employee to do their job better or with those who are given promotions to learn how to reach the objectives of the new position.

Life coaches will help you in every area of you life, personal and professional so these folks can be seen as the generalists of the world of coaching.

Teachers and trainers create another interesting distinction. A teacher is someone who is employed to teach you something which you may or may not be able to emulate. A trainer is someone who is employed to train you to emulate that which they have taught you usually having real life experience with which to help you learn the practical application of that which you are being trained to do.

Mentors and therapist are yet another distinction that can be made. A mentor is a person that is either hired or who offers to help another to successfully pursue one’s purpose in life usually based on their life’s mission. The basis of the relationship is the positive attainment of the goals desired by the mentored.

A therapist is hired to deal usually with psycho-pathologies of disturbed thought and destructive behaviors due to an emotionally based issue. A therapist is most often interested in helping their patient to either be rid of the negative ramifications of the pathology or help the patient to manage the issues of their diagnosis.

Each professional has their place among the needs and concerns of the general population as you can see. The question that one must ask is what is the outcome that is desired and who is the best professional to use to achieve that result.

I can tell you that for myself I would much prefer to use hypnotic technique to take care of anything in the emotional and even many physical ailments if you find one that specializes in your area of need. I will always work with a trainer to learn specific tools and techniques to add to my tool chest of knowledge to assist my clients to reach their goals. And I would use a business coach that specializes in the area of business that I am focusing on learning about to give me the marketing, publicity, writing, speaking and other business related knowledge that one needs in this day and age to be successful.

So again, ask yourself what it is that you are working to achieve and then go to the correct professional to help you to achieve that particular outcome.

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Sep 04 2012

Your Boss Stressing You Out: The Cost To You Can Be Much Larger Than You Realize – Vol. 164, September 1, 2012

It isn’t in your head if you feel as if you are feeling unhappy and stressed out by your immediate boss. USA Today reported that 75% of working adults say that their immediate boss is the most stressful aspect of their job. Part of the problem is the type of personality it takes for a person to make it to top management. They are very ambitious, selfish and aggressive people. As such they can be very tough on the employees leading to poor staff moral. Many times when employees state their unhappiness to their boss they find they no longer have a job. In the great majority of cases, having a bad boss was stated as being more stressful than either money or family problems.

With the tight economy many new hires are taking jobs that are not suitable for them which also creates work related stress. This creates problems between the employee, manager and job. If an employee has taken a job that s/he doesn’t like ways will be found to not do the job or take sick time off leaving the manager in a terrible position.

According to the World Health Organization stress will cost American business $300 billion per year with the rising cost of health care.

Some things that you can do to help with the stress you are feeling on the job are by taking care of your health:

1) Eat healthy foods full of good nutrition throughout the day.
2)Take 10 minute exercise breaks every hour to help you keep your focus  while you are  working.
3) Learn to meditate or do some self-hypnosis to help to take your stress away.
4)Drink plenty of water.
5)Keep your work space clear and ready for work.

If you are starting to feel depressed or agitated or find that you have physical health issues arising it may be time for you to seek other opportunities elsewhere. Yes, it can be tough to find a job in this market but dropping dead on the job is a worse option.

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Aug 29 2012

The One Action you Must Do Now to avoid Psychosomatic Illness

A Doctor treating psychosomatic illness

A Doctor treating psychosomatic illness (The Doctor painted by Samuel Luke Fildes

What creates true health and wellbeing? Is it seeing your doctor every year? Eating healthy food? Exercising every day? Yes, taking these things into consideration is very important. There is something that is more important than all of these according to the research that Brene Brown Ph.D. and Lissa Rankin, M.D. have done on this issue.

There are many people out there who are ill with aches and pains, with feelings of anxiety and perhaps depression and yet as Dr. Rankin found out over her medical career there is no test that will show what the real problem is for it isn’t medical. It is of the mind. She states very clearly that she too had her own “perfect storm” when she lost her brother to liver failure, her father to a brain tumor and her husband cutting off two of his fingers in an accident as he was to be the “stay at home dad” to her new born baby.
What she realized after all of this was that with all the masks she was wearing she wasn’t being true to who she was. Sure she was a doctor, mom, wife, etc. She had a career and plenty of money in her retirement with all the trappings of success and yet, she was not happy in the life she was living. She was doing all the “shoulds” instead of focusing on what mattered to her most. In her career as a doctor she felt helpless in her work because the conventional medical system never taught her in her twelve years of training how to help people that were in this unhappy state of being. And, then it dawned on her to learn integrative types of treatment like acupuncture, healing with herbs. But something was still missing. Then she realized that the answers for her patients weren’t “out there” somewhere, they were in the patients’ minds. They needed to be true to who they were and do what they knew mattered to them as she had to do for herself.

Brene Brown states quite emphatically that one of the dangers that we are doing to our kids these days is telling them that they are perfect and making life easy for them. Why is this a problem? Because it leads them to believe that being less than perfect makes them feel they are unworthy of love and care. Instead what we need to teach our children is that they are imperfect and that they will have struggles and are still worthy of love and attention.

Why is this such a problem. According to Dr. Brown it has everything to do with our own issues of vulnerability. Our need to pretend to be what we feel society is asking of us to be instead of following our hearts. Being true to who we are and living our truths. She found through her research that happy people allow themselves to be vulnerable being willing to take the risks to love even if it isn’t returned. To try new things though they may not be successful knowing that they are indeed “good enough” just as they are.

Without the ability to be vulnerable Dr. Brown is quite clear that of joy, gratitude, happiness and creativity get numbed out which brings in the feelings of unhappiness and unworthiness. It’s an endless cycle.

I have found in my practice that both these woman are correct in their findings. I challenge my clients to look at themselves with love and compassion for it is with the ability to love the self that one can be lovable to others. With compassion for the self, one can be compassionate for others. This too is part Dr. Brown’s message.

If you are a person whose body is telling you that perhaps you are doing all the “shoulds” in life yet leaving out all the “heart’s desires” take a deeper look at how you are living your life. It is a not just a matter of quality of life, it is a matter of your health itself.

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