| Why does it work?: Characteristics of the Subconscious
"Alright," we may say, "Now that I know what
hypnosis is and I'm in it, what good is it?!"
The ways in which the mind operates in its subconscious mode
provide the answer.
It is instructive to note that our autonomic system is in the
subconscious. That's the system which tells our hearts to beat
and our lungs to breathe. It is because of this we don't have
to think (conscious mind), "Oops! Gotta take a breath now!"
or "Time for another heart beat!" Fortunately this
is all taken care of by our subconscious----- automatically.
Everything that is done for our benefit, originates here. Therefore
should a hypnotist make an inappropriate suggestion of any kind,
it would be rejected by the client.
A colleague of mine explains to his clients that if he should
ask them in hypnosis to rob every bank in town and bring the
money back to him, they wouldn't do it. He points out that if
this would work, he'd be a very wealthy hypnotherapist! Which
he isn't! Our subconscious always has our best interest as its
main concern.
It does other things for us, too. We are bombarded by 60,000
stimuli per second every minute of our lives. In one minute
we receive 3,600,000! One can only speculate what would happen
if they would flood our consciousness! Especially when we know
that our conscious mind can only be aware of five to seven pieces
of information or "clumps" of information at a time.
When it works with one of them that's all it can handle-one
thing at a time.
Emotions and the imagination reside in the subconscious. In
an emotional state, we are motivated to proceed in the direction
of what we are imagining. Emotion is the fuel of the subconscious
while imagination is the language.
Habits by definition are those repetitive behaviors that you
do "without thinking." Thinking is a function of the
conscious; everything else is in the subconscious. A habit is
usually eliminated by replacing it with another. Some habits
are easier to eliminate than others and if they are firmly held
in the subconscious may require finding the causes and remove
them.
The subconscious doesn't "think" in the usual way;
it reacts. And it can't distinguish between reality and unreality;
it absorbs all the information received through the senses as
true - as real.
Generally speaking, if two or more emotions are in conflict,
the dominate one wins out over the weaker; imagination wins
out over will power; emotions win out over logic; the subconscious
wins out over the conscious.
The subconscious can be your master or your greatest ally in
your quest for success and self-improvement.
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Hypnotherapist Bill Williams can help you harness the power
of your subconscious mind through his CDs, tapes and personal
sessions.
Riley, G. Edward and C. Newton.
Hypnosis, Hpynotherapy, and Hpynotherapists
TherapistFinder.net MentalHealth Journal. April, 2001.
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