The thought of self hypnosis to quit smoking brings forth many varied reactions from different people. Some think the entire idea is ridiculous when the thought of hypnosis are conjured, others may by the process and also the results of this quit smoking technique and others still are completely confused about the whole thing! Whatever camp you may fall into, self hypnosis has been around for hundreds if not thousands of years under guises and names; Meditation and NLP come to mind as commonly known examples.
OK, what is this self hypnosis stuff anyway?
Being hypnotized is the same as self hypnosis except that someone else is doing it of course. The explanation for hypnotism is a little trickier however.
Hypnotism is not magic, it is not mind control and it is not faked. Hypnotism is at its core just a focused relaxation technique that allows the body and mind to relax in an effort to shut off the conscious mind and open the gate to the unconscious mind that lies below.
A quick explanation:
If we can gain access to the unconscious mind without the conscious one hindering it we can do more than set logical goals, we can actually implant positive thoughts that can adjust ingrained behavior so that we react differently to circumstances.
EG: You may think 'I will not smoke again' but when we get stressed and cravings hit this actually make you really WANT to smoke. With self hypnosis to give up smoking you can think these same thoughts and your behavior will not WANT to smoke as much on an emotive level.
OK, what is this self hypnosis stuff anyway?
Being hypnotized is the same as self hypnosis except that someone else is doing it of course. The explanation for hypnotism is a little trickier however.
Hypnotism is not magic, it is not mind control and it is not faked. Hypnotism is at its core just a focused relaxation technique that allows the body and mind to relax in an effort to shut off the conscious mind and open the gate to the unconscious mind that lies below.
A quick explanation:
- The conscious mind is the part of the brain that sifts through all the complicated input of the world with an analytical and logical thought process. This is a lot slower than the unconscious mind but allows us our defining abilities that other animals lack. You are reading this with your conscious mind in fact.
- The unconscious mind exists below the surface of the conscious one. This part of the brain is a little more primitive and deals with emotions and feelings a lot more and actually works a lot faster! While we like to think the conscious mind is what drives us we often do not realize just how much this unconscious mind makes all out decisions with emotion and instinct.
If we can gain access to the unconscious mind without the conscious one hindering it we can do more than set logical goals, we can actually implant positive thoughts that can adjust ingrained behavior so that we react differently to circumstances.
EG: You may think 'I will not smoke again' but when we get stressed and cravings hit this actually make you really WANT to smoke. With self hypnosis to give up smoking you can think these same thoughts and your behavior will not WANT to smoke as much on an emotive level.