The Positive Pause – 30th May 2016 – The Miracle of You!

miracle of youAt the weekend I went to see Derren Brown, the famous mentalist and illusionist, for the first time. In both my work and personal life I am fascinated with the mind and  have  been interested in his work  on “mind control.” Miracle of you

Part of what Derren Brown does could be considered to be “stage hypnosis”. This is a million miles away from what I do with my clients as a hypnotherapist.  Stage hypnosis is responsible for the creation of myths and misinformation about what hypnosis really is. As a result, the common misconception that the hypnotist has full control over your mind and can make you do anything they want is a daunting prospect for anyone.

However, Derren Brown is actually all about debunking  ‘magic’ or ‘mind control’ and he explains and shows his audience how he does such incredible things. I really admire his transparency and openness.

Ultimately, it  all comes down to you and your incredible mind!  The belief systems, early conditioning and the stories we tell ourselves can define us if we allow them to.  Derren Browne simply gives people a safe space to open their minds and to suspend unhelpful belief systems.  This is exactly what I do in my work as a hypnotherapist.

Growth mindset is about opening your mind to new experiences.  Your subconscious does not know the difference between reality and imagination and will accept the story that you tell it.  Harnessing the power of your  imagination to your favour will allow you to reach your full potential.  However, it is detrimental when your imagination works against you: catastrophising and imagining the worst possible outcomes is where a lot of anxiety and fear stems from.   It is estimated that ninety two per cent of what people fear never happens or is something they cannot control and it is therefore futile spending energy worrying about it.

Derren Brown worked hard to leave his audience on a high and the show had so many positive suggestions to encourage the audience to have faith in themselves, to let go of their past conditioning, to focus on the present moment and to remind us all of the miracle of our lives and our minds.

This week, as Derren Brown pointed out, please remember that you can only control two things –  your thoughts and your actions. You are capable of achieving more than you may ever have thought possible but only if you think it so.

Please take the time to have a look at my new online, self-help, digital programme, www.thepositivehabit.com which launches today and is featured the Health and Living Section of the Irish Independent.

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Miracle of you

Positive Pause – 17th August, 2015 – Imagination is the Key

imaginationWe humans  are unique in our ability to imagine.  When we close our eyes and imagine something our body will respond as if the event is really happening. Numerous experiments have shown that people can increase their physical skills by imagining themselves practising the skill.  For example, in one experiment, two groups of people were taught a series of notes on the piano.  Neither group had ever played before.  One group practised playing the notes for five days, two hours per day.  The second group simply imagined playing the notes for the same amount of time.  At the end of the experiment, the “imagining” group had improved almost as much as the “practising” group.  In fact, they had completely caught up after two hours of hands-on practice.  Further, their brains showed objective changes in the neurons that control the skills.

This can be used to our advantage – we can start to create our lives in the way that we wish them to be by using the power of imagination.  There are no limits to the power of imagination.