Did you ever try to do away with a harmful behavior, only to fail? There is a lengthy list of widespread problem behaviors that people often try to alter or get rid of using self-hypnosis or NLP. Possibly the most common are: Overeating and weight loss; stop smoking; quit chewing tobacco; stop nail biting; increasing self-confidence; overcoming insomnia and sleeping better; improving memory; and managing stress.
WHAT THE MIND CAUSES, THE MIND CAN CURE:
The motivation for our behaviors starts in our thoughts. When you stop and think about it, all of these negative behaviors are the end result of negative thinking. In other words, you think and motivate yourself into all of these behaviors. Or at least you think yourself into feeling worried, and that can be the origin of these behaviors. And because you think and motivate yourself into these behaviors, you can think and motivate yourself out of them. In order to think and motivate yourself out of them, you will need to know the "Motivation Formula For Success."
DESIRE:
You're most likely reading this editorial because you want the motivation to make some personal changes. And that's handy because the first factor in the "Motivation Formula For Your Success" is that you must want or desire to change. If you have read this far, at least some part of you desires a change.
BELIEF IS REQUIRED FOR MOTIVATION:
Before anyone can alter a destructive behavior, that person must be motivated to do so. Merely wanting a behavior to change is insufficient.
Our motivation comes from the things that we believe. If we believe that something very important to us will get better or "become enhanced" if we alter our behavior, we will become motivated. Conversely, if we believe that something very important to us will be placed in jeopardy if we don't make a change in our behavior, we will also feel highly motivated to change.
Some plain examples of these motivational beliefs might be:
If I take some weight off, then I'll be able to find a companion.
If I stop smoking cigarettes, then I won't have to worry about cancer.
If I quit my nail biting, then my hands will look a lot more attractive.
TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN CREATE THE BELIEFS THAT LEAD TO MOTIVATION:
Neuro-Linguistic Programming - which is commonly known as NLP, provides methods that are able to instantaneously produce the element of belief. You can learn more concerning this by reading the articles "How To Get Motivated To Exercise Using Hypnosis And NLP" and "Motivation Theory - How To Quit Smoking Using NLP And Hypnosis For Motivation." These articles are both available in my free hypnosis research library.
DECISION:
The dictionary definition of the word "Decision" is making up one's mind / a verdict or judgment. When you believe a concept that gives you a powerful feeling of motivation to modify your behavior, you will feel a compulsion to make a decision to change a negative behavior. Decision is the key that unlocks the door to compelling action.
ACTION:
The dictionary definition of the word "Action" is an act or deed / to do or perform. Taking action means that instead of just thinking about making personal changes, you will actually take action and create your desired changes.
SELF-TALK:
One of the reasons that most individuals are unsuccessful at altering a negative behavior is because of what they say to themselves. Self-talk is important because frequently it is an important part of what caused the negative behavior in the first place.
I'd like you to think about this for a moment: Let us say that you want to quit smoking. Possibly the first thing that you are likely to say or think to yourself is: "I'm not going to smoke any longer."
It's common for people to tell themselves what they are not going to do. Unfortunately, when we tell ourselves what we aren't going to do, we are actually compelling ourselves to do it!
SELF-TALK EXERCISE:
Say the following to yourself: I can't see blue. I can't see polka dots . . . . . . .
I'll bet your mind showed you the color blue, and then it showed you polka dots. That's because when we tell ourselves what we don't want to do, or what we won't do, in order to make sense of it our mind must make a movie of us doing whatever it is that we wish to stop doing. And when we picture ourselves participating in a behavior, our mind gives us a compulsion to create that behavior.
SUMMARY:
In order to get rid of a negative behavior, we must want or DESIRE to eliminate it. BELIEF is the element that leads us to MOTIVATION. MOTIVATION is the drive that leads us to DECISION. DECISION is the trigger to ACTION. Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a method that we can use to facilitate beliefs, motivation, decisions, and actions.
When we tell ourselves what we aren't going to do, we make a mental picture of ourselves in the behavior that we want to modify. And that mental movie gives us an urge to generate the negative behavior. So if we want to get rid of a negative behavior, instead of telling ourselves what we won't do, we must always tell ourselves what we will do.
To quit smoking say: "I can live without them."
To erase cravings for food that will make you fat or to quit smokeless say: "I can live without it."
To reduce stress say: "I'm relaxed and calm, both mentally and physically."
To sleep better say: "I fall asleep promptly, and sleep soundly throughout the entire night."
Alan B. Densky, CH is an NLP Practitioner and certified hypnotherapist. He operates the Neuro-VISION Video Hypnosis website and the Video Self-Hypnosis Blog. He offers Hypnosis CDs for motivation. Visit his website for his free downloads of hypnosis & NLP MP3's, newsletters, and his hypnosis research library.