You Use Hypnosis Everyday

You might call it “highway hypnosis” or “zoning out” or “spacing off” or “in the zone”. And, hypnosis is used on you everyday on radio and television. Even by your friends or family using guilt, blame, or joy to manipulate your decisions.

Hypnosis is NOT a secret power. It’s NOT a special Jedi mind state. It’s just the method your mind uses to access your emotions, memories, and learned behaviors. It generally feels relaxing, mellow and focused. But, can also feel distracting, angry, stressed, and depressed. That depends on your current mental state.

Hypnosis is used on most of us very effectively by politicians, and advertising executives. And used poorly by most “pre-owned” car salesman. And yes, it’s used on you by friends and family. And yes, you use it on them too.

Using hypnosis is about bypassing the analytical mind and stimulating a learned behavior response. A behavior response will tend to be more predictable. Like my wife gets mad at me for staying up late to write this article. I don’t want her to be mad because that makes me feel guilty. She unintentionally creates an emotional response in me that motivates me to do what she wants. Sounds complicated until you start seeing how common it is.

The beer advertisement shows video that stimulates feelings of happiness, satisfaction, and companionship. People like those things and now those good feelings will tend to be associated with the image of that particular beer brand. If you think of a remote, relaxing, sunny beach in Mexico, blue water, white sand, the sound of small, soft waves, two lounge chairs and maybe a slice of lime, do you think of a particular brand of beer? That’s emotional association at work.

This is evident in all aspects of your life. Your mind began collecting these associations soon after you were born. It is the same for all of us. Of course, it is common sense, but we don’t always realize how powerfully it influences our behaviors and choices.

The stronger the emotion is, the stronger the association. The stronger the association is, the more vivid the memory. The more vivid the memory, the more real it is to your mind and more influence it has on your behavior. Your mind does not have a real concept of time passing. What it sees in your imagination, or memory, it believes. At least, most of the time.

So, take this concept and apply it to someone with PTSD, or depression. Apply it to that person you know that can’t quite quit smoking or has a favorite comfort food. Apply it to your driving habits, your eating habits, and your stress level. At the risk of being boring, I’ll stop the examples and assume you get it.

Understanding this concept gives you the power to intentionally change your associations. Some you can do on your own. If you need help, find a professional you can trust and make it happen.