When most people hear the word “hypnosis” they get a little unsettled. They usually get unsettled as a result of some fantasy about what hypnosis is or is not. Some associate it to stage hypnosis on the Vegas strip. Others are afraid of what someone might do to them when they are unconscious. Still others are afraid of clucking like a chicken when the phone rings. Others my simply roll their eyes thinking that hypnosis is more mumbo-jumbo for the woo-woo set who wear patchouli oil and live on the West Coast or in Boulder Colorado.

Hypnosis Defined

So what is “hypnosis”? For our purposes, hypnosis is simply the use of language and imagination to direct experience. If you have ever watched television and felt enraptured in a show, you were in a hypnotic trance. When it seems like time flew by, you were in a hypnotic trance. If someone has ever told you a story and you began to visualize aspects of it, you were in a hypnotic trance. If you have ever fantasized about someone or something positively or negatively, you were in a hypnotic trance. If someone has ever asked “how are you today?” and you took a moment to truly consider it, they had put you in a hypnotic trance.

And the list goes on.

The truth is, we are in a state of hypnotic trance more than we are out of it.

That is the good news. Once you notice it, and have enough facility to intervene in the process, it becomes a tremendously powerful opportunity to harness the power of your mind. Once you notice it, you can be more respectful of other people’s experience and avoid adding anything negative. The truth is, we are directing each other’s experience all the time. We are hypnotizing each other all the time. Are you adding beauty and joy? Or are we directing people to their internal struggles or pain out of ignorance and “empathy”?

One of my favorite jokes to play in a partially full elevator is to look at the floor, placing both my hands on the side of my head, slapping lightly while say, “Shut up. All of you shut up!” What fun. However, there is an unfortunate kernel of truth in this joke for most of us.

Recent studies have indicated that over 77% of our self-talk or internal dialogue is negative. This is a stunning number. That is also an average from largely untrained minds.

You Notice What You Think About

The Law of Attraction has been one of the mainstays of personal development since its inception. That is, that we are likely to get what we focus on. Like a search engine, we put something in it, hit return, and we get ranked results. Our mind goes looking for what we often unintentionally tasked it with. And yet, we are often telling ourselves and our minds things that are negative, will not help us realize our potential, and will not serve our ultimate happiness.

There is a resurgent interest in and focus on this Law as a result of the movie The Secret. There is no magic to this. When we set our intention or focus on something, our reticular formation goes into action.

Some common examples:

• You decide on a new car you like and want to purchase; suddenly you see that model everywhere
• You make a decision to start a new business venture, and you overhear a stranger at a restaurant who may be helpful
• You make a commitment to a change in your life change and within the next week you see and/or hear multiple marketing messages offering solutions to the very problem you have decided to overcome

The results of the Law of Attraction can be traced to both the power of tens of thousands of years of evolution as well as the inherent limitations of our biology.

People who do not understand the science of the mind and body behind this will say things like “I manifested that/them”, and similar formulations that say more about their stage of development that any particular objective reality, After all, we interpret the world through–and react from–our stage of development and its accompanying filters and value memes.

The truth is, the thing we suddenly see or the opportunity that arises was already there, we just notice it now. Not only is our unconscious mind sorting for what it has been tasked with, but as a function of our biology, our senses have to reduce and filter out the majority of the stimulus we are exposed to for processing. We do not have the ability to process it all. Particularly visually and auditorally in an urban environment. In addition, our mind “fills in” information, again, as a function of how we are wired.

So our mind notices what we have consciously or unconsciously set it to notice. I recommend the conscious option as much as possible. becoming more and more intentional about this tool rather than leaving it to chance.

How do we train this powerful tool? How do we harness the full power of our minds for our benefit, rather than allowing it to run roughshod over us? How do we leverage this aspect of our consciousness to create a life in which we thrive?

…read about that in part 2 in a few days.