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How to Hypnotize Yourself Using the Best Me Technique

(This posting is based upon a conference presentation at the Society for Clinical and Experimental

Hypnosis, entitled,Kicking it Up a Notch: Multimodal Hyperempiria.)

You can paint upon the canvas of your experiencealmost any masterpiece you may desire.

The "Best Me Technique" is a form of hyperempiria, or suggestion-enhanced experience, which involves

your whole personin the content of a suggested event. Every letter in "Best Me" corresponds with an

element of suggestion. These elements can be applied in a variety of ways, including visualization

exercises and other forms ofhypnosis and self hypnosis. Instead of merely picturing something in the

minds eye, high-responders to suggestion are able to use the Best Me Technique to exceedthe

limitations of "virtual reality" by utilizing allthe building blocks of experience.

Whether you experience it a higher form of reality or a guided daydream, the Best Me Technique is a

systematic, comprehensive way to harnessthe power of suggestionin your own life. So relax, and get

ready for some exciting new experiences!

Steps

Things to Keep in Mind

1. Find a quiet time and place to practice the Best Me Technique. An induction procedure is likethe theme music to a motion picture or a television drama. It allows us to shift our thinking

from a strictly logical mode of thought to a more flexible, more imaginative way of looking at

the world. And we can all do that!

o Unless you actually intend to do so, choose a time when you are not too sleepy ortired, so that you are not likely to doze off.

o Turn off your cell phone or pager, if you have one, and take the telephone off the hookor put it on answer mode with the ringer turned off.

o Sit down or lie down in a position which will enable you to relax deeply. If you shouldfind yourself becoming uncomfortable during the session, it should not disturb you to

gently adjust your position in order to keep yourself as comfortable as possible.

2. Guide yourself through the elements of the Best Me Technique using whatever words feel mostnatural to you. The following example is merely for purposes of illustration. In actual use, Best

Me suggestions may be presented in any order and varied as often as necessary, much as you

might vary the verses and choruses of a song. (You can make sure that you are including all the

steps of the Best Me Technique by silently counting them off on your fingers as you go along.)

o Belief systems.Picture yourself in a happy place, either real or imaginary, where youcan drift off into a calm and peaceful nap. For the sake of illustration, we will use the

example of lying on a blanket in the middle of a beautiful meadow, late on a warm

spring morning.

o Emotions.Let your entire being absorb the peacefulness which is all around you.o Sensations and physical perceptions.Feel the cool breeze upon your skin, and savour

the freshness of the pure, country air. Listen to the twitter of the birds in the distance,

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and the sound of the water quietly splashing against the rocks in the brook, as you

gently relax into the blanket and that warm, golden glow of the sunlight relaxes you

completely from head to toe.

o Thoughts and images.Sinking down and shutting down, and sinking down and shuttingdown. Sinking down and shutting down. Shutting down completely.

o Motives.Its so calm, and so peaceful that all you want to do is keep drifting, anddreaming, and floating on, and on, and on, into your own personal paradise.

o Expectations.And the deeper you go, the deeper you're able to go, and the deeper yougo, the deeper you want to go, and the more enjoyable the experience becomes."

o As you go through each step, believeit will happen,expectit to happen, and feel ithappening. The exact number of repetitions is not as important as the degree to which

you are able to believe inyour suggestions, as well as merely believing them.

3. If you are inclined to doubt whether or not you have achieved self-hypnosis after a fewminutes, you probably have. For many people, there is no such thing as a "hypnotized" feeling.

o A private paradise is like a private room. When you enter a private space, it's notunusual to close the door to leave all worries and cares outside. You've already done

this by closing your eyelids.

o Of course, you can lock that door so that you can be safe and secure anytime you want.Now, after locking a door, it's natural to check it by tugging in vain at the doorknob and

finding it locked tight. So, when you're certain you've locked your eyelids shut, make

sure by tugging in vain at the doorknob and finding you've locked those eyelids shut,

until you're ready to conclude your self-hypnosis session.

o As soon as you're certain, you can stop trying, relax the eyelids, and allow thatrelaxation to flow through your body as you feel a sense of pride that you have just

hypnotized yourself. You have given your body a suggestion, and your body has carried

it out.

4. Practice regularly. Just as people who practice meditation must incorporate it into their lifestyle in order to be able to benefit from it, and just as a driver does not turn off the ignition

until the destination has been reached, you also need to continue to use the Best Me Technique

as often as needed to maintain your desired level of performance. However, once you have

become sufficiently familiar with the elements of the Best Me Technique, you will be able to

use them automatically and seamlessly in order to provide yourself with a self-hypnosis

experience which is both enjoyable and effective.

Pre-Experiencing the Rewards of a Future Goal

1. Choose the goal.This example illustrates the accomplishment of a specific goal: graduation, inorder to provide the incentive to get there, reducing or eliminating the need for "will power."

o You can increase the incentive value of the Best Me Technique still further by pre-experiencing other rewarding aspects of your goal, such as celebrating at a graduation

party with friends and family, or relaxing on the deck of a cruise ship as you treat

yourself to a much-deserved vacation after your goal has been achieved.

o You may also want to pre-experience the rewards of sub-goals along the way, such ascompleting a unit of study, presenting a paper, or passing a major examination while

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overcoming the stress that goes with it, secure in the knowledge that you are on the

way to a pre-determined and inevitable success.

o The Best Me Technique can also be used to enhance performance in many other areas,such as singing, dance, athletics, creative writing, motivating yourself to work out, or

starting your own business. It may also be a helpful part of a program to lose weight,

stop smoking, or to rid yourself of other forms of addiction.2. Take all the time you need in order to thoroughly pre-experience the attainment of your goal.

Use whatever order and wording you prefer as long as you include all of the "Best Me" steps.

Allow yourself to experience each step as strongly as possible, but don't just daydream.

Hyperempiria is like riding a bicycle. It takes a while to get the hang of it, but after a bit of

practice it feels very natural. You can generally tell how well you are doing in your BMT

experience by how good it makes you feel.

o (B)Imagine yourself in the future, at the very moment you receive your diploma.o (E)Feel the admiring looks of your friends and family upon you, and enjoy to the

fullest your sense of pride and accomplishment as you dwell on the glow of your

success.

o (S)Seeit happen, hearit happen, andfeel it happening, as you allow yourself toexperience this thrill of achievement throughout every part of your body, from head to

toe.

o (T)Visualize this goal so clearly that it feels as if you were actually willing it intoexistence.

o (M)Let yourself believe that you are headed toward a certain and inevitable success.o (E)And as a result, allow yourself to act, think, andfeelas if it were impossible to fail.

If you can see it, you can believe it.If you can believe it, you can believe in it.

If you can believe in it, you can make it happen!

Re-Creating an Earlier Mood

1. You can also think of a time in your past when your confidence and motivation were at a levelwhere you want them to be right now.

2. Go through the steps of the Best Me Technique to allow yourself to experience this mood again.As before, you can generally tell how well you are doing in your BMT experience by how good it

makes you feel.

o (B)Imagine yourself in the past, when you were feeling the mood you want to feelnow, in the present.

o (E)Let yourself feel the emotion you were experiencing then as strongly as you can, asyou re-live those moments in your mind.

o (S)Seeit happen, hearit happen, andfeel it happening, as you allow yourself toexperience this feeling state once more throughout every part of your body, from head

to toe.

o (T)Visualize this mood, and the events which produced it, so clearly that it feels as ifyou were actually willing them back into existence.

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o (M)Let yourself believe that you are headed toward a certain and inevitable successonce again.

o (E)And as a result, allow yourself to act, think, andfeelas if it were impossible to fail.Turning it Up Even Higher

When you have created the mood you want, you can turn up the intensity to the level you desire by

picturing a dial such as a ship's speed indicator, and slowly moving it up to where you want it. While

allowing yourself a reasonable amount of time for breaks, if you should feel your motivation slipping

you can always pause for a moment to re-adjust the controls. You can also use an image like this to

slow down your sense of how fast time is passing when you have time off from your duties, and to

speed it up when you have work to do, so that it feels like your tasks will be over quickly.

Preparing to End Your Hyperempiric Session

1. Whenever you are ready, you can think to yourself that you will gradually emerge fromhyperempiria as you silently count from one to five, telling yourself that by the time you get to

five, you are going to be back in the normal, everyday frame of mind in which we spend most

of our waking lives.

2. You can also give yourself a suggestion that each time you enter hyperempiria, you will be ableto go in deeper and more rapidly, and derive even more benefits, from the experience, some

of which you may already know and some of which you may not yet realize. (This will allowyour unconscious to provide you with additional benefits which you may not yet be aware of.)

3. Conclude your hyperempiric session. Silently count from one to five, telling yourself that at thecount of five you will be back wide awake and feeling wonderful, using words like this:

o One.Beginning to return now, as your mind begins to return to its normal level offunctioning.

o Two.You will be smiling, happy, and confident as you prepare to resume your lifesadventure.

o Three.Coming back more and more now.o Four.Almost back.o Five.You can open your eyes now, feeling wonderful. You can open your eyes now,

feeling wonderful.

Tips

If you are inclined to doubt whether or not you have achieved self-hypnosis after a fewminutes, you probably have.

o For many people, there is no such thing as a "hypnotized" feeling.

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o An induction procedure is like the theme music to a motion picture or a televisiondrama. It allows us to shift our thinking from a strictly logical mode of thought to a

more flexible, more imaginative way of looking at the world. And we can all do that!

Regular practice using the Best Me Technique is essential until your long-term goal hasbeen achieved.

o People who want to realize the benefits of meditation make it a regular part of theirlife, and the same is true with hyperempiria.

o When you are driving a car, you don't want to turn off the ignition until you havearrived at your destination!.

Whenever you would like to increase your level of motivation,here's a neat suggestion thatyou can give to yourself at any time. Just picture a dial in your mind (a clock with only an hour

hand, with the hour hand set at one or a ship's speed indicator such as the one shown

previously), and turn this dial up to an even higher level as you raise your motivation along

with it. With a little practice, this can become a handy way to give your motivation an extra

push whenever you need it most.

As a general rule, it is better to use as few words as possible with your Best Me suggestions.The images and experiences you encounter at each step, and the conviction with which you

hold them, are much more important in determining the final outcome.

The building blocks of a Best Me experience need not be conceptually "pure." The purpose ofthe Best Me Technique is comprehensiveness; and each part of a Best Me experience may

contain elements of the others.

If you already know how to perform self-hypnosis, you may prefer to use your own induction atthe beginning, and then use the Best Me Technique for goal achievement.

You should focus on only one goal per session, rather than making up a "laundry list" of thingsto pursue. Having too many goals at once might tend to interfere with your ability to clearly

focus your imagination on the rewards of goal attainment.

If other thoughts should start to distract you during your BMT session, just passively observethem and let them go, as one might do while practicing meditation. Recordings are also used to

extend the effectiveness of hypnotic suggestions provided by someone else (or you can make

your own). You may need to experiment a bit to find which method or combination works best

for you.

You can also use the Best Me Technique to re-experience a time in the past when yourmotivation and confidence were at very high levels. When you have caught that mood, hold it

for a moment and then bring it into the present to power your present tasks.

If you should find that you need to build self-confidence in order to pursue a much-desiredgoal, and if self-help books and articles are not useful enough, you may need to seek the

services of a psychologist, counselor, clinical social worker, or life coach to provide the

necessary support and encouragement, and to help you sort out your goals more clearly.

If you are finding it difficult to put the necessary degree of conviction into your suggestions toaccomplish a goal, you may need to go back and analyze your goal to see if there are any

hidden conflicts which may be preventing you from focusing completely upon its achievement.

Don't forget the importance of "environmental engineering." In addition to using self-hypnosis,you need to make whatever changes you have to in yourself and in your daily life in order to

bring your goal to completion, such as learning to control your emotions, or to deal with

impossible people you may meet along the way.

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The potential applications of the Best Me Technique are quite large. When used correctly,suggestion may be regarded as an artistic medium which enables us to work directly with the

ultimate art form: human experience itself.

Warnings

The desire to take calculated risksis an important part of what makes us human.

There is an old saying which goes, "Be careful what you wish for, you may get it."Thingsalmost never turn out exactly as we expect them to. But the desire to take calculated risks, to

"dream the impossible dream," and, if necessary, to make our ownluck -- is part of what makes

us human -- and it's what having free will is all about!

o Suggestion should not be used to treat any type of mental condition, or to recover oldmemories, except under the direction and supervision of an appropriately qualified and

licensed mental health professional.

o Do not use the power of suggestion to eliminate pain or other physical symptoms,except under appropriate medical supervision. Such symptoms are often a natural

warning signal from your body that something is wrong (or that something may be

GOING wrong). Similarly, you should not attempt to use the power of suggestion to

overcome depression, mood swings, hearing voices or seeing things that do not exist.

And unless you are a physician or a licensed mental health professional yourself, there

are probably a large number of potentially serious conditions that you have never

evenheardof!

oYou should not stop taking any type of prescription medication while using self-suggestion without talking to your doctor.

Don't try to use the Best Me Technique to "scare yourself" into achieving your goal, anddon't include any shoulds,oughts,or mustsin your suggestions.Psychological research has

conclusively shown that human beings are motivated primarily by reward rather than by the

threat of punishment. Keep it positive!

Don't try to use positive suggestion to maintain a failing relationship, or to rescue arelationship which is in trouble.This is most likely to be a form of denial. See a therapist or

counselor.

Hypnosis and hyperempiria will not weaken your will, leave you susceptible to demonic oroccult influences, or turn you into someone else's willing servant.

Do not allow yourself to be misled by the exaggerated claims of advertisers, or by or phonyor unregulated degrees, accreditations, and "board certifications."

o Self-hypnosis is not difficult to learn. People can end up paying thousands of dollars toacquire these skills, but they can just as learn master them free of charge if they are

willing to put forth the necessary time and effort in order to do so.

Many self-improvement projects may require the additional professional assistance of alicensed psychologist, counselor, or social worker for their successful completion.

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o Psychiatrists can perform these services too, of course. But, with a few fortunateexceptions, the demands of today's marketplace have led many psychiatrists to

concentrate primarily on diagnosing mental illness and prescribing psychotropic

medication.

o Many insurance companies do not pay for consulting a hypnotist or hypnotherapist ifthis is their only professional qualification. If you have insurance which covers mentalhealth, you can call your State psychological, counseling, or social work association and

ask for the names of members near you who include hypnosis as one of their

specialties, or you can check your phone book listings under these headings.

o You may want to check ahead of time to see whether or not your particular need iscovered and, if so, which types of mental health providers your insurance carrier is

willing to recognize. You also need to determine whether or not the particular provider

you have chosen is in your insurance carrier's network or is able to accept out-of-

network reimbursement from that particular provider. Your insurance carrier or your

mental health services provider needs to inform you whether or not pre-authorization

is necessary, if there is a deductible which has to be met first, how many visits they

are willing to authorize, and how much the co-pay, if any, is going to be.

We must always retain the ability to recognize when a goal is really not worth pursuing, inorder to keep from wasting our lives in futile effort.

o If we can learn to overcome the discouragement which has protected us in from ourown mistakes in goal selection, we have an added responsibility to make certain that

the goals which we have chosen really areworth going after, and that they are within

the scope of our ability to attain them.

o The world is full of people whose "impossible dreams" will always be impossible. Butthere are many others for whom an iron determination can make all the difference, no

matter what the odds against them. As we put this powerful new technology into use,

it is up to each of us to decide just how idealistic or how practical we choose to be.

Finally, just as there are some people who are color blind cannot comprehend theexperience of color, some people are hypnosis blind and cannot comprehend the

experience of hypnosis.

o The ability to respond to suggestion is distributed in the general population in much thesame way that height, weight, and intelligence are. Some of us have a little, and some

of us have a lot, but most of us have enough to get by.

o But for everyone whose ability to respond to suggestion is extremely low or virtuallynonexistent, there is someone else who can harness the power of suggestion for many

areas of personal growth and self-improvement. Such is the potential and the promise

of hyperempiria for those who are able and willing to make use of it.

How to Get Thin and STAY Thin with Self-Hypnosis and Visualization

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Being overweight can be caused by a number of factors. When it is simply due to the habit of making

bad decisions concerning food, then an approach such as the one described here may be useful.

However, you should not make any changes in your regular eating habits without first consulting with

your physician.

A married woman in her mid-forties sought my help in order to lose weight. She had obtained clearance

from her physician to proceed with a weight loss program, along with a recommend diet; and she was

not currently taking any medication. She described her relationship with her husband and children as

warm and affectionate, and told me that her life was fundamentally happy, with no major stressors

which might serve to distract her from her weight loss goal.

Her anniversary was some eight months away. She was going to surprise her husband by arranging a

getaway weekend for him at a hotel. Her plans included dinner at a stylish restaurant where she would

like to be able to once more wear a treasured dress which she had saved from her honeymoon.

I taught her how to tohypnotize herself by using the Best Me Techniqueand topre-experience the

attainment of her weight loss goal,using the anniversary restaurant dinner as one of the settings in

which she could enjoy the multi-modal dimensions of its fulfillment.

Belief systemsinvolving suggestions of a change in place and time at the completion of the induction

prepared her to pre-experience the anniversary dinner as if it were already taking place.

Suggestions of Emotionincluded responses to both her husbands admiring glances and the increasing

physical attraction they felt towards each other as the evening wore on.

Suggestions of many different Sensations and physical perceptionsheightened the reality of the

experience still further: the lighted candles on the dinner table, the soft music, the sight and smell of

a bouquet of flowers, the taste of the dinner wine, etc.

Thoughts and imagesincluded suggestions of the couple sharing their mutual declarations of love as

they looked deeply into each others eyes.

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Motivesbecame stronger as the evening wore on and their warmth became desire.

Their Expectationsfor the rest of the night increased apace as the couple hurriedly paid their check

and made their way out the door and took an elevator to the hotel room in the same building which she

had rented for the remainder of the evening. . . .

The client had a rich imagination and that she responded well to suggestion. Once she had mastered

the technique of multimodal suggestion using the Best Me Technique for preliminary scenarios such as

the one just described. To increase her motivation still more, she was able to devise multimodal

autosuggestions for much more intimate experiences during the remainder of their anniversary evening

without additional coaching from me. She reported that these were also highly effective in maintaining

her motivation to diet at a high level.

Follow-up sessions were scheduled at progressively greater intervals as her self-imposed deadline drew

near, to ensure that her progress continued and that her goal was satisfactorily reached, which it was.

The secret of her success was that she was not just "fantasizing in a vacuum." She was selecting

visualizations which would increase the meaningfulness of her life story as it unfolded. These were

changes that she could not merely believe,but that she could also believe in. Whatever personal goal

you have set for yourself, look for ways to incorporate it into your own life story in such a way that you

can believeinit as well as merely believing it. If you can believe init deeply enough,you can make it

happen!

How to Overcome Procrastination? Let's get to it!

What we tellourselves about the things that we are doing determines how we experience our lives

from moment to moment, and whether or not those experiences will be pleasant ones. The following

WikiHow article provides an excellent summary of how to pick up the pace when discouraging thoughts

are getting in the way. You can also concentrate more effectively on your autosuggestions by

preparing the mind with various forms of meditation or self-hypnosis;but the most important thing is

the thoughts themselves.

How to Overcome Procrastination Using Self Talk

fromwikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

We talk to ourselves all the time in our minds. Even when we're not paying attention, these relentless

mental debates deeply influence our feelings and, ultimately, our behaviours and actions The good

news is that if you can become aware of these mental dialogues, notice the patterns, and turn them

intoproductive statements,then you are empowered to overcome many unwelcome feelings and

behaviors. Lets see how this can help us when it comes to procrastination.

Steps

1. Recognize the procrastinator's motto. Consider the following thought, which surely crosses ourminds many times in one form or another:I have to finish this important task. It should

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already be done by now and I just need to do it.This small, seemingly innocent thought

contains almost every mental block that encourages procrastination. We all use the

Procrastinators Motto (or variations of it) every once in a while. If youre a chronic

procrastinator, chances are you repeat it to yourself very frequently daily, perhaps.But

whats so wrong about the Procrastinators Motto? In what ways do these words

encourageprocrastinationso much and what can we do about it? Lets consider each part ofthis statement in turn, replacing each of them with an empowering alternative. In doing that,

well turn the original motto on its head and create a productive call to action: a Producers

Motto, if you like.

2. Remember that you don't 'have to' do anything. I have to is every procrastinators favoriteexpression. Its also the most disempowering. Every time you say to yourself that youhave todo

something, you imply that you dont have any choice, that you feel forced or coerced to do the

task that you dont really want to do it. That perception, of course, elicits a strong feeling of

being victimized and resistance toward doing the task. The solution to this problem is to

replace I have to with the immensely more empowering alternative I choose to or 'I will'.

Everything you do is ultimately a choice (yes, even completing tax forms). Using language that

expresses choice reminds you of that and brings the feeling of power back.

3. Focus on starting, rather than finishing. When you focus on finishing something, you direct yourattention to a vague, highly idealized future. Visualizing a finished project is motivating for

many people, but for someone whos having a hard time starting a task, visualizing a hard-to-

grasp future can be overwhelming even depressing. The solution in this case, then, is not to

focus on finishing, but on starting. Forget for a minute about the finish line, just concentrate

on giving your first step. Bring your focus from the future towhat can be done right now.We

all know that if we start something enough times, we'll eventually finish the task. Starting all

by itself is usually sufficient to build enough momentum to keep the ball rolling.[1]

4. Break a long project down into short tasks.Dwelling on the size and difficulty of a looming taskwill overwhelm us, and thus promote procrastination. Any undertaking, no matter how

daunting, can be broken down into smaller steps. The trick is with each step along the way

to focus solely on the next, achievable chunk of work. Ignore the big picture for a while and

just tackle that next small task. Make sure you can easily visualize the outcome of your small

task. Dont write a book; write a page. If it is still intimidating, commit yourself to work on it

for a specific period of time.Keep the big picture in mind, of course, but don't allow it to

frighten you. Use it for motivation and direction.

5. Don't place too much pressure on yourself. This project has to impress everyone; I really cantblow this opportunity. Placing such high hopes on a project only adds anxiety and fear of

failure.Perfectionismfuelsprocrastination.Overcome this mental block by simply giving

yourself permission to be human. Allow yourself to be imperfect with the next small task. You

can always refine your work later. If youre a serial perfectionist, go one step further and

commit yourself to doing a sloppy job on purpose at least at first. Instead of making every

step perfect, think of them as steps towardperfection. For instance, write a page or two now,

then proofread and correct them later.

6. Stop thinking about the way things 'should' be. The expression 'should' invokesblameandguilt.When you say you should be doing something (instead of what youre actually doing), you focus

on comparing an ideal reality with your current, bad reality. You focus not on what is, but on

what could have been.Misused 'shoulds' can elicit feelings of failure, depression and regret. The

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solution is not to focus on how you feel now, but on how good you will feelafter you begin to

take action.

7. Take some directed action. Even the tiniest progress is success moving toward agoalis thebest motivator. The trick is to bring that expected feeling of accomplishment into the present

and know that the real joy of progress is only a small task away. That small step is

success.Success is not the endof your task. Success is theprogressthat leads you to your nextstep.

8. Make itfun!Ive got to work all weekend. I am trapped in this laborious project. Longperiods of isolation can bring an enormous feeling of resentment. These feelings generate a

strong sense of deprivation and resistance toward the task.Overcome this mental block by

avoiding long stretches of work.Schedulefrequent and brief breaks. Plan small rewards along

the way. One idea is to work near a break area. Have something to look forward to not far

away and not at the end of a long stretch but in the very near future. When rewards are

small, frequent, and deserved, they work wonders. Truly commit to brief bursts

ofrelaxationand leisure time. In fact, go ahead and make it mandatory. This reverse-

psychology can, by itself, give you a more productive and enjoyable mindset.

9. Rephrase your internal dialog. Time to check what weve accomplished with all the wordsubstitutions. We started with:I have to finish this important task. It should already be done

by now and I just need to do it.And ended up with:Ichooseto start this task with a small,

imperfect step. Ill feel terrific and haveplenty of time for fun!Quite a change, eh? Every

time you catch yourself repeating any part of Procrastinators Motto to yourself, stop and

rephrase it. Then check how you feel. At first, it may seem to be a simple matter of word

choices. But when you try this simple way of reframing your thoughts, youll see how it

instantly changes your attitude toward your tasks. Moreover, if you turn it into a habit, youll

slowly reprogram your thoughts, and make a positive, permanent change in your mindset.

Tips

You can also provide yourself with an extra measure of motivation by using theBest MeTechniqueof self-hypnosis to pre-experience the rewards of a long-term goal, thereby reducing

or eliminating the need for "will power."

Some other "procrastinator phrases" include:[2]o "I just don't really feel like doing this right now. I will do it later." And say "If it can be

done tomorrow, it can be done today."

Say instead: Even if I cant get the whole thing done right now, I can start onthis part.

o "It's no big deal if it doesn't get done." Say instead: This is important to ME, so I choose to start now.

o "It won't take me that long." Say instead: This may take a long time, but I choose to start now and get part

of this done right away.

o "It's not fair." Say instead: I choose to do this.

http://www.wikihow.com/Accomplish-a-Goalhttp://www.wikihow.com/Accomplish-a-Goalhttp://www.wikihow.com/Accomplish-a-Goalhttp://www.wikihow.com/Have-Funhttp://www.wikihow.com/Have-Funhttp://www.wikihow.com/Have-Funhttp://www.wikihow.com/Schedule-Your-Dayhttp://www.wikihow.com/Schedule-Your-Dayhttp://www.wikihow.com/Schedule-Your-Dayhttp://www.wikihow.com/Relaxhttp://www.wikihow.com/Relaxhttp://www.wikihow.com/Relaxhttp://www.wikihow.com/Hypnotize-Yourself-Using-the-Best-Me-Techniquehttp://www.wikihow.com/Hypnotize-Yourself-Using-the-Best-Me-Techniquehttp://www.wikihow.com/Hypnotize-Yourself-Using-the-Best-Me-Techniquehttp://www.wikihow.com/Hypnotize-Yourself-Using-the-Best-Me-Techniquehttp://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=443506164555932844#_note-1http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=443506164555932844#_note-1http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=443506164555932844#_note-1http://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=443506164555932844#_note-1http://www.wikihow.com/Hypnotize-Yourself-Using-the-Best-Me-Techniquehttp://www.wikihow.com/Hypnotize-Yourself-Using-the-Best-Me-Techniquehttp://www.wikihow.com/Relaxhttp://www.wikihow.com/Schedule-Your-Dayhttp://www.wikihow.com/Have-Funhttp://www.wikihow.com/Accomplish-a-Goal

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Taking on a second-person view can also help. Tell yourself: "You know youre just putting thisoff. Take the time right now and get started on this part. Youll feel better and then you can

take a break, or start on another small part."[3]

Belief systems. Picture yourself in your happy place as clearly as you can, using as many sensesas possible. Try to visualize it so clearly that it is just as if you were really there.

Emotions. Let yourself absorb the peacefulness which is all around you. Sensations and physical perceptions.Feel your body relaxing with each thought, as you think to

yourself the following mantra or one that you have chosen: Deeper, down deeper, down

deeper, down deeper. Deeper, down deeper, down deeper, down deep.

Thoughts and images.Continue to interweave this mantra with the thought that you can feelyourself sinking down, and shutting down. Sinking down, and shutting down. Sinking down, and

shutting down. Shutting down completely.

Motives.Include the thought,And the deeper you go, the deeper you are able to go. And thedeeper you go, the deeper you want to go, and the more enjoyable the experience becomes.

Expectations. With every breath you take, feel yourself going deeper and deeper into abeautiful, peaceful sleep, which will leave you feeling refreshed and wonderfully rested.

How to Achieve Your Goals Without Using "Will Power"

"If you can fill the unforgiving minute

with sixty seconds' worth

of distance run,

Yours is the Earth, and all that's in it . Kipling

If we were being secretly observed by alien beings from afar, what would they be likely to notice aboutus first? Close to the top of the list is likely to be the fact that our evolutionary development has beenlopsided. Our highly developed forebrains have enabled us to form complex and distant goals. But, with

99% of the same genetic makeup as our closest monkey cousins, the chimpanzees, our ability toregulate our emotions and behavior well enough to achieve those goals frequently falls short of ouraspirations. As we work toward the goal we have chosen, without yet having the rewards of success tokeep us going, we experience a considerable amount of craving, frustration, and annoyance --especially if we have to work directly against other sources of pleasure in order to get to our goal. Ifwe smoke, for example, we know that smoking could take years away from our lives but we wantthatcigarette! If we are trying to lose weight, we know how much healthier and more attractive we wouldfeel if we could stick to the diet we have chosen -- but we wantthat extra dessert!

So we try to use will power in an attempt to spur ourselves onward. We tell ourselves how importantthe goal really is, congratulating ourselves when we are able to stay on track, and mentally beatingourselves up when we dont work as hard we think we ought to.We attempt to bridge this time gapbetween present efforts and future sources of satisfaction when we daydream about a goal which we

desire very much. But for most of us, daydreams still do not capture the full richness of the rewardswhich will one day be ours -- if only we can persist long enough to get there! Autosuggestion, "Positivethinking," affirmations, visualization, and fantasy techniques often don't help very much either,because they also don't do enough to involve thewhole personin the satisfactions of goal attainment.Eventually, even though our long-term goal remains as attractive as ever, if our efforts yield littleshort-term satisfaction and encouragement from other sources along the way, our motivation begins tofalter, and sooner or later we give up. But hyperempiria, or suggestion-enhanced experience, is thejourney that makes the destination worthwhile!

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By projecting clients mentally to a point in the future when their goal has already been attained, theywill have access to the rewards of these future goals now, in the present, when they are most neededfor motivation; and they will be able to act,think, and feel as if it were impossible to fail!

The Best Me Technique (Gibbons, 2001) is a method of suggestion-enhanced experience for involvingthe whole personin the content of a suggested event, which enables those who are properly trained in

this procedure to experience now, in the present and in concentrated form, the rewards andsatisfactions which would not normally be theirs until a goal has been achieved. This in turn canprovide the motivational fuel to pursue whatever goal we may have chosen, no matter how distant ordifficult that goal might otherwise appear.

Each element of the Best Me Technique corresponds with a dimension of experience(Beliefs, Emotions, Sensations and physical perceptions,Thoughts and images, Motives,and Expectations); and these elements can be combined in a variety of ways. In the hyperempiricepisode which follows, the Best Me Technique is used to pre-experience the rewards of a graduationceremony in order to enhance the motivation to purseue a course of study leading to an academicdegree. However, the Best Me Technique can also be used to as part of a comprehensive program toenhance performance in other areas, such as athletics, music, dance, and theater or, as previouslymentioned, as part of a program to lose weight or become a non-smoker, or to rid oneself of otherforms of addiction.

The suggestions are presented in B-E-S-T-M-E order for the sake of illustration; but in actual use, BestMe suggestions may be repeated in any order and varied and repeated as often as necessary in order tomaximize involvement with their content, much as one might repeat the verses and choruses of a song.Rather than memorizing a specific set of suggestions or reading them to the client as a script, I usuallycount out the steps of the Best Me Technique on my fingers as I am improvising an induction or atherapeutic suggestion, going back and forth to make sure that I have adequately covered them all.This gives me more freedom to individualize my suggestions to better meet the needs of eachindividual, and to use their body language to gauge the speed and content of my delivery.

The incentive value of the Best Me Technique can be further enhanced by pre-experiencing therewarding results of the goal, such as celebrating at a graduation party with friends and family, orrelaxing on the deck of a cruise ship on a much-deserved vacation after the degree is actually in hand.

It is also helpful to pre-experience the rewards of sub-goals along the way, such as doing well on anupcoming major examination, or enjoying semester the break in the certain knowledge that one is onthe way to a pre-determined and inevitable success.

Belief systems.Now you can feel your awareness of the present beginning to fade, as you become evermore clearly aware of yourself seated at your graduation ceremony, waiting to go up and receive yourdiploma. Just picture the scene, and imagine yourself excitedly waiting there, until it becomes just asreal and just as clear to you as if it is happening right now.

Emotions.Let yourself feel an ever increasing sense of pride and achievement as you savor thismoment to the fullest. As you look around at your fellow graduates and at the crowd of family, friends,and well wishers who have come to share in your success, you can truly rejoice in the thrill of all youhave worked so hard to accomplish.

Sensations and physical perceptions. The graduates are getting up one row at a time to form a line

beside the stage until their name is called. When it is your turn, you join the line and await your turn

to go up and shake hands with the Dean and receive your diploma.

Thoughts and images.And all the time, you are realizing how much this means to you, and how much

it has all been worthwhile.

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Motives.Now, as you walk across the stage and shake hands with the Dean, he smiles and hands youyour diploma, and you return to your seat, let yourself take a few moments now to bask in thesatisfaction of a job well done, and savor your achievement to the fullest. [Pause.]

Expectations.And each time that you return to this treasured memory of the future, it will becomeeasier for you to act,think,andfeelas if it were impossible to fail. Believeit will happen,expectit tohappen,feelit happening, and savor in advance the fruits of your success!

After allowing time to fully enjoy the experience for a few moments longer, the induction may beconcluded in an appropriate manner (Gibbons & Lynn, 2001). Methods of auto-induction should also betaught, so that the client can continue to practice at home while learning. Once the technique hasbeen mastered, it should be repeated daily as a form of experiential meditation until the goal isactually attained.

When there is no clearly-identified goal upon which to focus, or when existing goals are not desiredstrongly enough to fully motivate a person to achieve them, suggestions such as the following can begiven to increase the enjoyment of goal attainment in general.

Belief systems.Now we are going to help you to experience in concentrated form, both your desire to

achieve and your ability to feel the satisfactions you are going to feel in the future from the fulfillmentof a job well done.

Emotions.We are reaching down into the depths of your vast, untapped potential for feeling happiness

and joy. Great waves of happiness and joy are flooding out from the depths of your potential, growing

stronger and more beautiful and more intense with every passing second.

Sensations and physical perceptions.The waves of joy are becoming stronger and more intense, filling

and flooding every muscle, and fiber, and nerve of your entire body with a beauty and which is greater

than anything you could possibly imagine.

Thoughts and images.Your mind is filled with such beauty and such joy that it is impossible to think of

anything else, and all you can do is feel these waves of joy washing over you., growing in beauty and

intensity with every passing second.

Motives.This is the kind of fulfillment you will be able to feel when you put your whole self into doing

a job any job well. And you will have plenty of energy left over to enjoy every other aspect of life

to the fullest.

Expectations.And I dont know whether this experience will leave you with new goals, or with a re-

dedication to the ones you already have. But in either case it will be a transforming moment, for it will

have the power to change your life.

By using the Best Me Technique along with the necessary changes you need to make in yourenvironment in order to accomplish the goals you have chosen, you will be able to provide yourselfwith the inspiration and incentive for a lifetime of accomplishment and personal growth.

A Word of Caution

Of course, we must still be able to give up on goals which are really notworth pursuing, no mater howattractive they may seem at first, in order to protect ourselves from our own mistakes in judgment.

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The world is full of people who want to become a success as writers, actors, sports heroes, and a hostof other things, but are simply not cut out for that kind of work. On the other hand, many goals whichmay may seem impossible at first are attainable if we are willing to work long enough and hard enough.As we develop the ability to choose our motives as well as our goals, i.e., to have free will in the truestsense of the term, it is up to each of us to decide how practical or how idealistic we want to be.

Recently, Lenny Cavallaro and I have been suggesting to hypnotized clients that they are beingtransported to an alternate universe where time and space do not exist. After orienting them to thisuniverse and inducing emotions which are as pleasant as possible -- i.e., "dissolving into an ocean ofinfinite, unbounded, and everlasting love," we suggest the following: "with practice, you will be able tofeel this kind of fulfillment whenever you put your whole self into working towards a goal you havechosen. As you think about achieving the goal ahead of time, you can believe it will happen, expect itto happen, and feel it happening! And with practice, you will be able to act,think,andfeelas if itwere impossible to fail!" (see Gibbons & Cavallaro, 2013 in the Reference section of this posting.)

Clients have been saying things like, "I can't thank you enough!" and, "I'm at a point in my life nowwhere I think I can accomplish anything!" The changes which they are reporting in their lives seem tobear this out. It's too early for any hard data, as we have just begun to use these techniques. But wewould like to invite you to join us in exploring these fascinating new realms of experience, and sharingwith us in the thrill of discovery.