“The fish would be the last creature to discover water.”
Clyde Kluchholn

We are all better hypnotists than we realize. In fact, the hypnotic process is so embedded in the human experience that people tend to be oblivious to it. Starting today, we’re going to explore some of the ways you can wake up from the hypnotic trances that don’t serve you, & start using hypnotic processes to enrich your life. But first, a story…

I was flying home from Canada the other day, & the woman sitting next to me asked me what I do for a living. I have a variety of answers to the question, but on this occasion I said “I teach people hypnosis”.

“Oh!” she said. “I don’t actually believe in hypnosis.”

“Neither do I”, I replied. “In fact, if it didn’t work so well, I’d have nothing to do with it.” At this point her eyes defocused as she tranced out while trying to make sense of what I’d just said.

Hypnosis is a natural human process

Hypnosis is a natural human process. We each have the ability to go into a variety of altered states. And we all have the ability to translate words into sensory representations (images, sounds, feelings, smells & tastes) that “make sense” to our deeper body-mind. Furthermore, when we learned language as children, we entered into the nested hypnotic trance of

• Our culture
• Our ancestors
• Our parents
• Our neighborhood

Think about it. When you learned language, you weren’t just learning that the sound “Mummy” meant that creature who cuddled you, & the sound “Daddy” meant that creature that cuddled mummy. You were also learning a number of other things, including:

• The nature of human relationships
• What different gestures & voice tones “meant”
• What was expected of you and for you
• What your place in the world was and would be
• And much, much more

This hypnotic process is so subtle and pervasive, that we don’t necessarily even recognize it as such. When the anthropologist Clyde Kluchholn said “The fish would be the last creature to discover water”, it was a metaphor for the human relationship to our culture. But I think the metaphor applies even more deeply to the human relationship with hypnosis.

We’ve all been hypnotized to think of ourselves, our world, & our potentials in certain ways; some of them life-affirming & others less-so. The first step to taking control of what Stephen Wolinsky calls “The trances people live” is to become aware of this hypnotic reality:

1) Open to the possibility that you & everyone you know has been ‘hypnotized’ to perceive reality & themselves in a certain way.

There is no dark conspiracy

I’m not suggesting some dark conspiracy; hypnosis is a natural process, & our ability to enter into the trance of our families & our cultures has given us an evolutionary advantage; the ability to pass information, learning & knowledge from one generation to the next. However…

The cumulative effect of this ability to pass information from one generation to the next is progress. The world is speeding up. Many of the “truths” which one generation relies upon as “wisdom” are obsolete to the next one.

2) When you encounter a “rule” about the way the world is, it can be useful to question it. Ask “Who says?”

• “You need money to make money” > “Who says?”
• “Wealthy people are greedy” > “Who says?”
• “I’ll never be any good at [x/y/z]” > “Who says?”
• “You can’t expect to get paid for doing what you love” > “Who says”
• “It’s difficult to change beliefs” > “Who says?”

It’s time to wake up

The solution is to start choosing our hypnotic realities more and more purposefully. As progress continues to speed up, & the rate of change gets faster & faster, the most successful people will be those most able to change their beliefs & update their mental models. The ones who prosper will be those who can move easily from one hypnotic trance to another.

3) Ask yourself “What beliefs / frames of mind will be most useful to me in this situation?”

Many of us learned that rigid beliefs were a sign of reliability – that our beliefs need to be entirely consistent, inflexible & unchanging.

Get comfortable with paradoxes

However, many studies have shown that the most successful people are actually able to hold conflicting beliefs. They are comfortable with paradoxes.

But our beliefs about the world are just a map. The world is changing, so our maps need to keep changing. Learning to use the power of hypnosis is a great way to increase your own flexibility, & increase your success.

“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change.”
Author Unknown (apparently it’s not by Charles Darwin)

To sign up to receive my free hypnosis language patterns please go to http://www.saladltd.co.uk/hypnosis_course_free_signup.htm

Have a great week!

To your success!

Your friend,
Jamie Smart

Jamie Smart
CEO
jamie.smart@saladltd.co.uk

Jamie Smart is one of the UK’s finest NLP trainers, an experienced hypnotist, & CEO of Salad. Salad is one of the world’s leading source of training & products for developing NLP, influence & hypnosis skills. He believes that people are capable of far more than they think they are, and that changing your beliefs and attitudes is the fastest way to attract the success and fulfillment you desire.

Jamie is passionate about people, NLP, hypnosis, happiness and language, and is the creator of Ericksonian Hypnosis Cards, NLP Coaching Cards, and Irresistible Influence Cards, the fastest way there is to learn the language of NLP. His weekly NLP & hypnosis newsletters are read by over 30,000 hypnotherapists, coaches, managers, therapists and personal development enthusiasts worldwide. Check out more from Jamie at www.saladltd.co.uk and www.mynlpresources.com

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