Author: Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis, Musings

New Year’s Resolve

Written by Connie
Happy 2011 To You!

Happy New Year!   Are you making some wonderful New Year’s Resolutions for 2011 for your health and success and prosperity?  I am!

Yes, I’ve been thinking about New Year’s Resolutions.  And the word “resolve.”  What does it really mean?   If you’re sort of wanting something, thinking about it, but doing little or nothing to achieve it, that equals a lack of resolve.   “Gee, that would be nice someday, but…”  If you’re half-heartedly doing something towards a goal for only  a day or two or three and then the desire drifts away, that’s a wishy-washy resolve.  Like a slap with a wet noodle–not much power in it.   I believe that half-hearted  determination is what most people bring to their New Year’s Resolve.  And that’s sad.

However, it doesn’t have to be that way!!  🙂  If weak resolve is not good enough for you, read on!  Hypnosis helps you create something absolutely different.  Hypnosis reaches into your inner workings and finds, reinforces and activates true resolve.  True resolve is a whole-hearted affair.  Heart and mind and body affair–every nerve and fiber of your being saying:  “YES, I’m going for it!!!”   Resolve and determination…think Rocky preparing for his big fight, eating raw eggs, and working out, running up those monument steps, triumphant (in advance) and focusing all his attention and actions on achieving his goal.

That’s real resolve.   It’s power, because you KNOW you’re going to get what you want and nothing and no one can deter you.  You do everything within your power and energy and creativity, with passion and motivation, to achieve it, that worthy outcome you desire.

Resolve is also a visual term.  When things come into focus, they resolve.  The blur resolves into a clear image.  When you resolve to do something, your goal is FOCUSED.  Sharp, sharp, sharp.  Clear.  Unmistakable.  How would you like to be sharply focused and motivated and moving on your goals with true resolve?  Yes, me, too.

Hypnosis, baby!  If your New Year’s desires already have the force of a pure and clear RESOLUTION,  yay!   I applaud you!  Go for it.  However, if you find that clarity of desire unfocused, or the resolve is not there to give you that OOMPH, that go for it power of actual sustained movement forward, then hypnosis is a tool to help you do just that.

It doesn’t matter WHAT you are resolving to do, hypnosis can give you that directed focus and acceleration, like stepping on the gas pedal in your car.  You select the destination, hypnosis is both the GPS  (how to get there) and the thrust forward of stepping on the gas.  Resolve.  Rocky was hypnotized.  He hypnotized himself into power.  We are all capable of this, but it’s a heck of a lot easier to have a professional communicator help it to happen faster and more easily.

Personally, I think it would be a massively wonderful gift to give yourself for the new year: a super powerful  hypnotic dose of accelerant for your goals, whatever they may be.  Quitting tobacco once and for all, getting in shape, finishing that project, beginning that project, whatever you’re resolving within yourself to do and be for 2011 and beyond.  The difference:  with hypnosis, the resolve STICKS, long and strong enough to get what you want.  How cool is that?

Resolve to make 2011 your best year ever, and begin to realize the control you do have over your life.  Over your actions, your habits, your very thoughts.

Warmest  Regards,
Connie

Connie on Dinner Cruise (2)

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Posted in: Hypnosis

Seattle Hypnosis for Confidence

Written by Connie

We have added a new website:
http://www.seattlehypnosisforconfidence.com.
Check it out! 🙂

I’ve been a website and video makin’ machine!!
We’ve added this week:
http://www.seattlehypnosisforstress.com
http://www.seattlehypnosisforphobias.com
http://www.seattlehypnosisforconfidence.com

I’ve purchased some more great web domain names (helps people find my biz) and I intend to use all of them. 🙂

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

Hypnosis Expands the Boundaries of Your Thinking

Written by Connie

Hi, Hypno-Friends!

Michael and I had some fun today, filming what we call “magic moments.”  They’re not hypnosis, per se, but they’re entertaining and they do illustrate something about hypnosis.  Watch this video carefully, and follow the directions to see something totally amazing!  You really do grow your brain with hypnosis, grow your resourcefulness, grow your joy, grow your life success.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis, NLP

Put a New Frame on it!

Written by Connie 1 Comment on Put a New Frame on it!

A problem is simply a frame of mind, a way of looking at things.  If it’s not a problem to YOU, it’s not a problem.  Think about flying on an airplane.  After all the hustle/bustle of travel arrangements, packing, airports, and etc. when I get on a plane, I settle into the seat and go:  “ahhhhhhhhh.”  Now it’s time to relax.  No worries.   All I have to do is sit here and enjoy myself.  Perhaps for someone else sitting down a few rows,  it’s churning turmoil inside, it’s white-knuckle time.  It’s visions of disaster.  It doesn’t have to be.  You can change your mind.  And experience life differently.  Yes, about flying, and pretty much about ANYTHING!  That’s what hypnosis can do!  It’s called “reframing.”

Perhaps you’re skeptical about those statements.   Here’s a few recent examples of reframing from my life, for further illustration.

I got caught up in the shopping frenzy last week.  My husband and I were at the mall, and I found a shirt I loved.  The color in particular was appealing to me.  Hypnotists have an “inside joke” about the color purple being hypnotic, because one of the most famous and successful hypnotists in the world, Milton Erickson, was fond of wearing bright purple jumpsuits.  Color analysis books describe purple as the dreamer color.

I found a purple shirt.  Not just any old purple, this was a rich, deep royal purple, a magically hypnotic jewel-tone purple.  I was excited to find it, and on sale!  🙂  As I was checking out at the department store, the clerk commented on the “grape” shirt.  Grape?  Yikes.  I almost put it back.  I don’t want a grape shirt, as that sounds utterly unappealing.  Purple, yes.  Grape, forget about it!  One word flipped my state of mind about the shirt, and not in a good way.  She reframed my shirt (negatively) and almost lost the sale.  This is something we teach in our NLP for Sales courses, how to reframe in a way that sells, not creates aversion.

Here’s another example of reframing.  This is a sign.

Crosswalk Sign

Perhaps you’re familiar with it.  It indicates a pedestrian crosswalk.  It’s a stylized guy crossing the street.  You can see that.

Here is a sign I saw today in a parking garage.

Pedestrian Crossing

They’ve shifted the sign slightly, and the meaning massively.  What it thinks it’s saying is “pedestrian crossing,” but what I see is a pedestrian falling, and flying through the air, obviously after being struck by a moving vehicle.  Yikes, again!  A different angle on the picture, and the whole meaning changes.  That’s reframing.

Here’s a classic example of reframing.  Imagine a roaring fire in a fireplace.  That elicits positive feelings, right?  Cozy, nice, warm.  Now, expand the picture’s parameter, and you see the house is on fire as well.  Oh, no, run for your lives!  Negative feelings.  Now expand the picture further and you see it’s all a movie set and they’re only filming a controlled reproduction of a house fire.  Positive feelings, again.  A shift of frame changes everything.

What makes this “reframing” process cool of course is changing things that are problems in your life to non-problems.  Like the fear of flying.  What if your experience of planes and flight became a frame of relaxation, like lounging on a tropical beach or sitting in your easy chair at home?  Hypnosis can do that.

Big secret:   How we feel and how we respond to things and the thoughts/frames we create around them:  it’s all moveable furniture.  Within our control.  If you want to rearrange your mental furniture in a way that creates more beauty and ease  and success in your life, I can help.  That is my gig.  My passion.  My joy.  Come see me and we’ll reframe those problems out of existence.

Warm Regards,
Connie

 

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Posted in: Hypnosis

Happy Holidays and Warm Wishes for 2011!

Written by Connie
Make 2011 your best year ever!
Make 2011 your best year ever!

Michael and I would like to extend warm, holiday wishes to everyone in the Mindworks Hypnosis extended family.  Our clients, our colleagues, interested parties, anyone who may be reading this.  EVERYONE deserves success and abundance and joy and fulfillment in their lives.  Here’s a wish that 2011 brings you more of that!

Love, Connie & Michael

PS:  I’m bringing this video out again, because it’s FUN!  🙂

Posted in: Hypnosis, Musings

It’s Just My Imagination

Written by Connie 1 Comment on It’s Just My Imagination

“Imagination.”  The other day I was driving and musing on words.  Words are, and have always been, “my thing.”  I love them!  When I was very young I’d sit and read the dictionary for enjoyment.  And, words are also the lifeblood of my career as a professional communicator.

Hypnosis is communication, on the deepest levels of the heart and mind.  🙂  I was musing in particular on the word “imagination.”

I was remembering how that word was used disparagingly when I was growing up.  “Well, she has QUITE an imagination, that one.” (She’s lying.) “It’s only your imagination.” (You’re wrong.) “He’s imagining things again!” (How can we get him back on track?)  When someone says:  “It’s JUST your imagination!”, they’re using the word “just” as a minimizer.  Expressing a lessening of value.  Why minimize magnificence?  In my book, imagination is absolutely essential to life and success.  It is something to be nurtured and appreciated, not treated as a problem.

Dream Imagine RelaxEinstein had it right when he said:  “Imagination is more powerful than knowledge.”  I absolutely agree.

To any of you that have been in my office, perhaps you noticed the wood blocks on the wall:  dream, imagine, relax.  Of those 3, imagine is the most important!  Why?  In our world, what we imagine successfully is what we get. It’s integral to creation. Why would anyone want to stomp down on or minimize or belittle the ability to create?  Hypnosis helps that act of creation to flourish.

How strange that imagine-ary means unreal when in truth imagine-ation makes things real.

Warm Regards & Happy Holidays to all,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis, NLP

A Touch of Calm!

Written by Connie

Hi, Hypno-Friends!

I hope you’re having some happy holidays, and more to come!  Wishing you and yours a fun and glorious 2011.  Resolve to enjoy life more and more every day.  I’m about to share with you all a simple technique that is the backbone and my favorite “magic” of NLP–something which drives home like a jackhammer the idea that you control your own life, mind and body.   Specifically, I’m going to share with you a touch of calm, for the holidays! 

NLPLOGONLP is Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™, a term coined by my teacher, Dr. Richard Bandler.  It’s a way of understanding the world and how we create reality.  And can change it.  It’s about enhancing communication, inside ourselves and with others.  For more info on what it is and the myriad of powerful and wonderful uses of NLP, you can check out my primary NLP website:  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com.

How would you like to communicate to your own mind:  “It’s time to relax!”  And have it actually happen in your body in an instant?  (Your wish is my command!)  Wouldn’t that be especially useful this time of year, with all the turbulence of wild weather, traffic, ice, work demands, family and extended family, parties, gift shopping, holidays, STRESS?

Here it is!  It’s called an “anchor” in NLP parlance.  It’s a stimulus-response mechanism, which we can capture and activate at will.  With intention.  So many times we are stimulated to a response (one we don’t particularly want or enjoy) by living and events.  Examples:  Your significant other starts using THAT critical tone of voice, and your body temperature rises.  You see a chocolate bar and the cravings kick in.  You smell popcorn, and you know you NEED a bucket.  How nice to create a stimulus-response in ourselves that we like.  And use it for…A Touch of Calm.  Apply as needed. 

Here’s a technique for you. 

Begin to remember a time in your life when you felt calm.  I mean REALLY calm.  Relaxed, with clarity of mind.  In that precise moment of time, nothing could ruffle your feathers.  Pick a memory from anywhere and anytime in your life, in any context, from childhood,  to adulthood.  In the hot tub, snuggled in bed, on the beach in Hawaii, in hypnotic trance, jogging, it doesn’t matter.  Let your mind remember CALM.  Now, put  yourself inside that memory, that experience.  Be there now!

Experience it.  What’s going on?  How do you feel?  What do you see?  What do you hear?  What do you smell?  Involve all your senses, fully and completely.  Let calm grow in you.  Feel  calm moving in your body.  Flow it, grow it.  Stronger.  When calm is just about at its peak, and you’re feeling really good, touch the tips of your thumb and ring finger of your left hand together and hold for one second.  Let go.  Think about something else for a moment or two, some neutral thing, and then imagine yourself again inside the calm memory.  Feel it.  Breathe it.  Once again, flow calm through every nerve and fiber of your body.  When you feel good and calm, touch the thumb and fingertip again.  Hold for a second, and let go.  This unique touch is now associated (anchored) with calm.  This touch will elicit calm!  In your body.  Forever.  Just that fast, you’ve trained your mind/body to do that!  How cool is that?  This is why Michael and I call NLP “The Magic of Instant Change.”

Now, whenever you want a dose of calm to flood your body, touch that same thumb and finger together and hold it (for a minute or so) in the way you’ve just anchored, and feel calm return.  Automatically!  Feeling stressed by Aunt Sue’s conversation at the party?  Touch and hold.  🙂  Stuck in mall traffic and beginning to grit your teeth?  Touch and hold.  Standing in an endless line at the supermarket and feeling irritated?  Touch and hold.  Joe at work pushing your buttons?  Push your own.  You now are armed with “a touch of calm” for the holidays.  And any time.  Enjoy!

Warm Regards,

Connie

Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotist
Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotist

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Posted in: Hypnosis

Positive Self-Talk in Action

Written by Connie

Enjoy this short video.  It is VERY cute!  Here’s someone demonstrating confidence and positive self-talk and focusing on what’s good in her life (“what I like”).  What a terrific way to feel good and do good.  “I can do anything good!  Better than anyone.”  🙂

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

Thank You, Unconscious Mind! Or…the story of The Lost Costco Rebate/Rewards Check

Written by Connie

Are any of you Costco members?  Costco is a wonderful place and Michael and I have been members for years, back from when it used to be called “Price Club.”  It’s a wholesale club, where you can buy things in bulk and at great prices, like industrial sized cans of olives, or 10 pound bags of rice.  Or optical services, or clothing.  Or furniture, or electronics.  Or fine jewelry.

It’s a giant warehouse FULL of good things.  One nice thing about membership is the Reward Gift Certificate that you earn as an Executive Member, it’s 2% rebate on your year’s purchases.

Well, here’s the story.  I forgot about the rebate.  They come yearly attached to the renewal notice, in the mail.  We typically renew our annual membership at the store, so don’t pay undue attention to the paper renewal notices.  I got one a few months back, and tucked it away, figuring “we’ll renew at the store.”  Forgot about it.  Never saw the attached MONEY, the rebate check for our account.

Today, I was shredding a pile of old documents, old paid bills, credit card receipts, drafts of our tax returns, and etc.  I found the Costco bill from 2 years ago.  And the REWARD check was attached.  Yahoooo!  No expiration date, apparently.  Free money!  Free money!  THEN, I remembered that I had seen the current year’s renewal, and I knew that that reward check, also attached, would be even bigger.  We shop at Costco A LOT!!  However, I couldn’t find it.  I thought (using my conscious mind) of every place that envelope could be, and looked.  Nothing.  I wondered if I had shredded it before, or tossed it, without ever seeing the money certificate inside.  Bottom line, I couldn’t find it. 🙁

Then I went to work.  Did my thing.  Didn’t think about it again.  Came home.  And went RIGHT to the spot where I had tucked the Costco renewal notice envelope.    (On a ledge underneath the paper tray on my computer’s printer.)  There it was!  Another rebate check–so now we have two to spend.  You can guess where I’m going tonight: shopping at COSTCO.  We’re talking a few hundred dollars, which is worth remembering and finding.  Who wouldn’t like a few hundred unexpected bucks to spend for the holidays!?

My unconscious mind had percolated on the problem of the lost envelope today while I was doing other things, and then gave me the answer of where to find it this evening.  I didn’t THINK again about looking for it, all of a sudden my hand was reaching under the printer there saying:  “What is this?”   Pulled out the Costco envelope, and found the check.  Amazing.  Powerful.  COOL!  Thank you, Unconscious Mind. I APPRECIATE YOU!! X O

The unconscious mind is wonderful for helping locate lost objects, like this story illustrates.  But it locates so much more–when asked.  It will find resourceful solutions to life’s biggest dilemmas, as well.   All we have to do is ask it in the right way.  That right way is absolutely hypnosis.  Let me talk to your unconscious mind…I’m good at it!  I’ll help you find what you’re looking for.  Because, the knowledge and answer and ability to DO IT is already in you.  You’re amazing.  Powerful.  And cool.  Let me prove it to you.

Warm Regards,
Connie

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Posted in: Hypnosis

Boots & Chain-store Hypnosis

Written by Connie

I was at the mall today, and I found it to be a red letter day to buy red leather boots.  Looking around the mall, I couldn’t help but notice boots upon boots upon boots–my reticular activating system was set on the boot channel, it seems.  In every store display window, and on the majority of feet marching past, old and young–EVERYONE in Seattle it seems was wearing boots today.  ‘Tis the season.  Shopping, and cold and wet.  BOOTS are the style.  Ankle boots, thigh high, and everything in between.  Fur, leather, rubber, knit.  Mostly black, but a few brights like my red out there.

Bombarded by the boots, I finally said:  “Ok, I’m in!”  The search was on, and I covered a lot of territory.  Shopping can take awhile, but when you find a real and valuable gem, you get to chortle with glee.  Now, the perfect new boots are in the bag.  My new red suede boots are very nice, and extremely well made.  Quality.  I think they’ll stand up to wear and last and look terrific long into the new year, and the next and the next.  It’s important to choose quality.   Cheapo and shoddy mass production don’t cut it. They tend to be ill fitting, cause blisters, and fall apart after walking in snow. You want fine crafted workmanship.  In footwear, and in hypnotists.

I think hypnosis should be as popular as boots.  That would be a GOOD thing for the world, with happier, healthier people running around enjoying life more and more and accomplishing their goals more and more and faster and easier.  That’s the power of hypnosis.  A helping tool deluxe!  When shopping, whether it’s  for shoes or for a hypnotist, and you’re looking for high quality, you’ve got to be alert to avoid weak and inferior product.  Unfortunately, it’s out there, as well.   Impersonal, and unskilled product.

Beware of hypnosis stores, with an eye on the bottom line, not the heart.  In the realm of your mind, you want somebody GOOD, somebody who can really help, with real and extensive training.  Hypnosis is an art, not a “cookie cutter” formula.  You want somebody with creativity  as well as skill.  You want somebody with presence and passion and heart, who’s been around the block and back again, and CARES.  You won’t find all that at the “here, put on these goggles and listen to this tape,  maybe you’ll be hypnotized and maybe not, maybe these suggestions will apply to your situation and maybe not” chain hypnosis store.

When you’re choosing a hypnotist, here are a few things to consider.  How many live, in-person trainings have they completed, and how recently?  What are the certifications earned?  Ask, and verify.  Are they from recognized, reputable schools, or is it Joe in his basement printing out  certs for his 2 hour internet course?  Are they committed to continuing education?  Do they have an explicit code of ethics to share with you?   How many different helping tools have they learned and mastered?   What  professional hypnosis affiliations, national and local, do they belong to?  How long have they been in business as a hypnotherapist?  Are there testimonials of proven success for issues similar to yours?  Do they have a business license?  Are they registered with the State of Washington as a hypnotherapist?  Also very important, trust your own vibe, how do they come across, look and/or sound (on the phone or face to face)–is the emphasis on “squeeze the money” or “I want to help!”?

Mindworks Hypnosis (in other words, me and Michael), we’re the real deal.  Michael and I want to help.  We can and we do.  Call us if you’re serious about improving your life.  The answers to all those questions are on our website:  http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net.  Our expertise.  Our trainings.  Our successes.  Our passion.  It’s like buying the best boots, the beautiful, well-formed ones that last and fit and bring joy and color to your life.

Warm Regards,
Connie

 

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Posted in: Hypnosis

Happy Thanksgiving!

Written by Connie

It’s a good time to pause and reflect on all the wonderful and positive people and things and happy events in our lives.  Remember, what you focus on expands, so here’s to MORE of that (the good things) for you in the days and weeks and months to come!

Warm Regards,
Connie & Michael

Posted in: Hypnosis, Musings

“Big Ass” Cookie

Written by Connie

Ok, this question is to the myriad of you (and I’m one as well) who battle with weight.  What do you do when you slip up?  When you fall off the “being good” wagon?   When that holiday treat calls to you, and you listen?  Do you beat yourself up?  Do you say:  “Well, the day is shot, the week is shot, I might as well eat another brownie and/or piece of pizza and I’ll start again Monday!”?  Do you say:  “Well, I failed, best forget the whole idea of ever getting thin!!”  Or do you say:  “Well, I did that.  It was a choice.  I’d rather choose and do something different, starting NOW.”?

The topic is recovery strategies.  You’ve got to shift your perception from diets, which tend to be all or nothing mindsets (you’re ON the diet, or you’re OFF the diet) to a lifestyle change orientation.  Success does not equal perfection.  Hypnosis helps!   Even if you make a decision you don’t like, you get to make a new one, and continue from there.  This essay is about cutting yourself some slack when you “goof up” (as we all do) and then continue your long term success.  I’ve lost 80+ pounds in the past couple years.  Is that success?  Hell, yes!  Was I perfect in my eating choices every moment of every day of that time?  Hell, no.

I’m going to tell the story of my own recent slip-up.  And recovery!  I call this story:  “Big ass” cookie.  My teacher, Dr. Richard Bandler, encourages us to make large, rich, 3D, vibrant goal pictures in our minds to motivate us to move in those desired directions.  He calls those:  “big ass pictures.”  Somehow, that phrase has embedded itself into my mind.  So, I use it, too, even if it’s slightly vulgar.  I’m going to tell the story, now, of the “big ass cookie.”  It wasn’t just a picture.  It was a reality.

We all have triggers in us, unconscious or conscious imprinted motivators which propel us into action.  I have an “eat sweets” trigger:  it’s called “Halloween.”  I have another:  it’s called “I’m on vacation, and it’s time to indulge myself.”  I have another:  it’s called “I’ve been working really hard so I deserve it.”  I have another:  it’s called “I’m on sale, buy me.”   All of these converged a few weeks ago while I was in Chicago.

Our hotel room had a kitchenette, so we went to the store looking for some food to put in there.  It was within a day or two of Halloween, and every aisle end display was full of bags of candy.  I ignored those.  But then…a bakery table.  And on this table were Halloween decorated cupcakes, cakes, and cookies, all on sale!  I was riveted by the beautiful dinner-plate sized chocolate chip, decorator-iced cookies with witches and goblins and ghosts sugar-smeared on top, the kind that ideally you cut up into about 20 serving slices.  Big Ass Cookies!!  My triggers converged.  The cookie called to me.  I bought it.  Just the one.  Of course, it was bigger than godzilla’s head.

I bought it, but I didn’t eat it.  Yet.  Then it was time to go home.  I should  have tossed it.  I couldn’t.  I put it in my suitcase, at a risk of making my suitcase over the weight limit–because it was already close.  I figure this cookie weighed 2 pounds.  I crammed it, this giant, hurkin’ cookie into my suitcase.  And I brought it home.  And I opened it.  It had gotten squished.  I didn’t care.  I ate a piece.  A big piece.  Probably about two–three servings worth–THEN I tossed it.  Nowhere no how is eating sugar-iced chocolate chip cookies on my  low carb plan.

But, here’s the key to success.  I began again.  On my healthy lifestyle eating program.  I had gained a few pounds while on vacation in Chicago, that “indulgence” thing kicking in–the last gasp being that cookie.  Home again, I didn’t beat myself up, I recovered.  Back on track!  In the past two weeks I’ve lost 8 pounds.

Here’s the deal.  Hypnosis is FANTASTIC for installing in you, me, all of us these recovery strategies.  How to keep going, in spite of momentary temptations or lapses or “failings.”  To keep focus on the big ass picture of lean and healthy, the goals that drive us.  If you find yourself dieting, and giving up, dieting and giving up, hypnosis will help you reframe a new lifestyle and keep it going.  Long term success.  Which is not necessarily perfection!  I know whereof I speak!

I am 2 pounds right now off of my all-time low adult weight, and I know I’ll get there next week.  And even lower.   That’s right, during the holidays, while most others are packing on the weight, I’m slenderizing.  If you’re ready for long term success with your weight, I’ll help!  Now is the perfect time. Call me:  (425) 564-8608.

Happy Holidays & Warm Regards,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt.
Connie Brannan, CHt.

http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net

http://www.loseweightseattle.com

http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

http://www.stopsmokingseattle.com

Posted in: Hypnosis, Musings

Rewire the Brain Through Hypnosis

Written by Connie

RewireHi, Hypno Friends!

Well, Michael and I attended another hypnosis training event this past weekend, because it’s always a good idea to learn more and increase skills.  It was fantastic!  As you may have noticed from my conversations here (and that’s what this blog is, me thinking out loud), I CARE about hypnosis.   And being good at it.  I LOVE hypnosis.  I live hypnosis.  I want to share the good word on hypnosis.  It is so positive and so powerful, so healing, and so mis-understood and underappreciated it the world.  (You may enjoy my blog entry on “Hollyweird.”)  https://mindworkshypnosis.net/hypnotizer/?p=202.  People are influenced by movies, TV, popular culture–and those media do not always portray the reality of hypnosis.

So, I have two stories I want to share in this blog entry.  1.  My recent efforts to combat “Hollyweird” by giving my professional input into a performance involving hypnosis and 2.  More about my hypnosis training and the cool and valuable things I learned there–how to help rewire the brain, specifically for stroke survivors.  However, rewiring is also applicable for so much more than that.  We also enhanced our knowledge on how to alleviate pain with hypnosis, and “emergency hypnosis” for those life and death situations such as car crashes or dealing with burn victims.

Story 1.  I had a fun new gig.  I consulted for a theater company.  They’re putting on a play in the Seattle area and it involves a scene of hypnosis.  They wanted to get it right, be authentic, so they contacted me.  I was happy to help.  I met with the director and several actors and explained the truth about hypnosis, what it is, how it feels, what it can do.  They acted out the scene for me and I critiqued.  (So much fun!)  More than just describing, I also hypnotized them to experience it live and first hand.  Because, experiencing is believing.  They’re believers now.  In the positive power and magic of hypnosis.  Yay!!  Take that, Hollyweird!  🙂  And Hollyweird’s continuing saga of evil, thieving, murdering, insane hypnotists with their armies of hypno-zombie slaves.

Here’s an entertainment source putting a more accurate depiction out there.  I approve!  Here’s the play, by the way, if you’re interested.  It opens this Friday:  http://thatgtheatre.com/now.html.  The play is “Shoreditch Madonna.”

Story 2.  Don Mottin 001 Cropped EnhancedMore about the training.  It was two days of continuing education, put on by the NGH (National Guild of Hypnotists, which is the oldest, largest and most respected professional organization of hypnotists in the US) and Michael and I both attended.  Yay!  We now have more tools to help with pain management, emergency hypnosis, and helping stroke survivors.  We learned to rewire the brain through hypnosis–which is something we do on a daily basis anyway, but now specifically targeted for helping stroke survivors.  After a stroke, there may be a loss of movement, vision, cognitive function, and so on.  These tools help stroke survivors to be more functional and regain capabilities!  A worthy goal, and wonderful hypnosis tools.

Here’s a picture of me and the instructor, Don Mottin.  Besides being a stroke survivor himself, He’s Vice President of the NGH.  That’s the national group, and we were darn lucky to have him travel to Seattle to offer this training.  It’s all in the family as Michael, my Michael, is President of our state’s local chapter of the NGH, the NGHWA.  http://www.nghwa.org.  One of the facets of the guild is to have a committment to continuing hypnosis education.  This is some of that!  Yes!  Learning, in my model of the world, is ongoing and forever.  That’s what I want and that’s what I do.  Learn and utilize.  My intention, of course, is to be the best and most helpful hypnotist I can be.  More tools is good tools.

If you know someone who has suffered a stroke, please do consider hypnosis and hypnotherapy as a tool to help them rewire their brain.  I know this works, and I’d be happy to work in conjuction with their medical MDs to enhance the healing process and regain their lives!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

The Devil and James Bond

Written by Connie

 

The other day Michael and I were driving, and I noticed the car ahead of me.  I said:  “There’s James Bond.”  (My sister had dated James Bond for awhile, but that’s another story.  🙂 )  The license plate number featured a familiar trio of numbers in it:  007.  Also, in the hot, red Ferrari next to me was the devil (or one of his henchmen) driving…that car featured 666.  Amusing?  Perhaps.  But WHY did those ideas pop into my mind…James Bond and the Devil?  I’ll tell you why!

Because our unconscious minds are amazing meaning-seeking devices.  Continuously looking for patterns!  And finding them.  You and me and each one of us, we are masters of pattern recognition.  It’s how we learn, and how we survive.  How we learn to recognize mom’s face as infants in the pixels of color dancing before our eyes, family, friends, a place of comfort, and how we learn to recognize danger as well.  THAT MEANS THIS.  That red and white octagon means lift my foot from the accelerator and move it to the de-accelerator.  Now!  So I don’t run into the tail end of James Bond.

The mind loves to take what might appear to be random chaos, and attach meaning.  Stars in the night sky, for instance.  Constellations.  To early astronomers, and to us, these are not just scattered blinking lights, these are mythological creatures with names and personalities, codified and recognized, parading across the sky.

I was in in Oregon giving a hypnosis talk a few weeks ago, and I saw my cousin Eddie’s face in the hotel bathroom wallpaper.  He was THERE, I tell you.  His exact profile.  His mouth, his nose, which is absolutely distinctive and recognizable!  Right next to the white rabbit.  Random shapes become patterns, with meaning.  We don’t struggle to make these associations happen, they just do! 

I invite you to read these sentences:

” Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde uinervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteres are at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a tatol mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.”

Your mind is effortlessly unscrambling the scramble.  🙂  Because our unconscious minds make sense out of non-sense.  And that’s a good thing!  And a useful thing.

 When it comes to problem solving, it’s massively useful.  When we’re feeling stuck/trapped/locked into a box of limited options (none of which may be appealing), our conscious mind is not much help.  It scours the box.  The solution to the problem is not there, in the conscious box.  It’s out there.  Somewhere else.  When we tap into the unconscious part of our mind, we are looking in a far, far, far broader spectrum, outside that box.  Somewhere else.  Everywhere else.  At everything.   And answers (meaning) are there in the larger jumble.  Our unconscious minds can and do find it.  And this changes everything and dissolves the box.

That’s what hypnosis is about, and how it is useful.  It’s a doorway into tapping into the massive pattern recognition and problem solving abilities of the unconscious mind.

In the news recently, a lady on the television game show “Wheel of Fortune” solved a 27 letter puzzle with only one letter showing, and 26 letters hidden.  Her mind, her unconscious mind, took the information available (how many words in the puzzle phrase and how many letters per word and another letter she knew was NOT there) and scoured the universe for meaning.  What English common phrase fits that criteria?  And, she found it!  Instantly, it seemed!  “I’ve got a good feeling about this.”  Her unconscious mind fed it to her conscious mind.  To those of you who viewed the footage of this amazing problem-solving feat, it did seem miraculous, did it not?  It wasn’t a miracle, it was simply her mind being good at what we all do.  Make sense and attach meaning.  In this case it was useful–she won a $6,000 trip to the Caribbean.

Not just this lady, I think we all should give a great big “THANK YOU, UNCONSCIOUS MIND!” shout out to our unconscious minds.  They keep us alive and thriving, and do solve life’s dilemmas when we get our conscious, linear thinking out of the way long enough for the useful and helpful patterns to reveal themselves.

If you’re interested in learning more about hypnosis and how to tap and direct this power within your own minds, I encourage you to check out:  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com.  One of the ways that Michael and I share our passion is through teaching hypnosis and NLP (which is a super duper high tech hypnosis). 

Warm Regards,

Connie

Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotist
Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotist
Posted in: Hypnosis

The box is ripped and the goods are damaged, give me my money back!

Written by Connie

I was riding a shuttle yesterday from my Chicago hotel to the airport, and overheard this bit of conversation.  A man was discussing his 13 year old daughter and used this phrase about her:  more than once:  “She’s damaged goods.”

Without even knowing the back story, I find that thought as expressed very limiting in a number of ways.

Number one, when you speak of a person as an object, as a static thing, like “goods,” that limits action, possibility.  A thing is a thing.   A cardboard box is a cardboard box.  A person is alive, breathing, shifting, infinitely creative.  We, with the creativity of our imaginations, can take things, even in damaged or broken condition, and make something new and  beautiful.  Take a “broken glass.”  Perhaps it’s got a chip missing from the lip.  No longer a useful item for drinking.  Throw it in the trash, right?  But wait, we can take that glass and make it into a vase for flowers, and it’s still useful and beautiful.  Or we can break it up into chunks of glass and put it together differently,  give it new, beautiful life as an artwork, a mosaic.  We can smooth out the rough edge and/or fill in the chip with another even stronger material and it will be useful for drinking again.  Choices for change.

Number two, and even more important:  people are not “damaged.”  They aren’t broken.  A person always does the best they can, which is always VERY resourceful, given the current state of their life.  And they have within themselves infinite choices.  To be something different when they want to be, and how they want to be.

In hypnotherapy, we don’t “fix people.”  We guide them to new choices.  I’m always impressed with the virtuosity of creativity that comes into my office, how people have developed behaviors and ideas, which once upon a time were useful, but no longer are.  They can be just as powerfully creative in changing.  And to me, “change” is a wonderful word, a positive word, worthy of cheerleaders jumping in the air or throwing confetti .  Yay!!

I don’t believe that when a thing (or person) is “damaged,” it’s “game over.”  This father’s tone and attitude were stuffed full of an obvious negative conviction of “and that’s the way it is.”  Au contraire!  I believe in change, an ever shifting and moving energy.  Infinite possibility!  Whatever this 13 year old girl has been through, she can be through it differently–in ways that are useful to her, her growth, and her life.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

“I’m Sick and Tired”

Written by Connie

My niece is on Facebook.  So am I.  I noticed her post today:  “I am so sick and tired of being sick and tired.”  I gave my Auntie Hypnotist unsolicited advice.  STOP IT!  Stop telling yourself TO be sick.  And that’s exactly what she is doing.  I told her:  “Hypno Hint: stop telling yourself that you’re sick and tired. Your brain hears you focusing on that (sick and tired) and says, “OK, I can do that!” It thinks that’s what you want, and your unconscious mind is VERY accommodating. How would you rather feel? Healthy? Energetic? Focus on that.”

 

It’s called “organ language.”  When you give your body instructions as to how to feel, your unconscious mind is listening attentively.  And does what you suggest.  Creates what you want.  Or, what it thinks you want.  Your unconscious mind is super literal.  What you focus on expands, or, expressed differently, you get what you think about.

“That makes me sick!”   You’re focusing on sick.  You’re telling yourself to get sick.  Direct language:  “make me sick.”  Don’t do that!!  “He gives me a pain in the neck, he’s a pain in the behind.”  You are telling yourself to have pain.  Don’t do that!!  “She makes me so mad I can’t see straight.”  You’re telling yourself to have vision problems.  “He makes my blood boil.”  You’re asking for high blood pressure.  Your mind/body can do that.   And will!  When you focus on illness “I’m sick and tired” your mind/body says, well, OK, if that’s what you want…I’ll get it for you!  Apparently, my niece is a very persuasive hypnotist inside herself.  It’s just time to change the hypnotic suggestion.

Hypno tip of the day:  Focus on the flip side of illness and physical distress in your language to self.  My first hypnosis teacher joked about upsetting situations:  “Well, that just UPS my metabolism.”  Could be useful!  🙂  What do you want?  Focus on healthy.  DO NOT tell yourself “it’s cold and flu season.”  That’s a suggestion to get ill.  “It’s healthy time!  I feel so good.  I always stay healthy.  That’s right!”  Listen to yourself and notice if/when you give yourself negative suggestions of pain and discomfort and illness which instructs your body to focus on and manifest more of that.  And then stop it, and think of what you’d rather feel.  Something good, I mean!

It couldn’t hurt.  Just do it!

Warm Regards,
Connie (who has only had one cold in 5 years)

Posted in: Hypnosis

“And I don’t want YAMS!”

Written by Connie 1 Comment on “And I don’t want YAMS!”

I had a crazy dream last night. My husband, Michael, and I were sitting in a restaurant, going out for dinner. There was a party of several people at a table next to us, engaged in a project, making quite a bit of noise. So we watched.

It was a project of intense thought and concentrated effort. The waitress was waiting to take their order. Instead of ordering, they had a large whiteboard standing on a frame and a person standing beside it writing on it. She was making a list, and checking it more than twice. The items on the list? What each person didn’t want for dinner that night. They would shout it out, randomly, as it occurred to them, and it got added to the communal list. The whiteboard person would write it all down. One girl shouted: “And I don’t want YAMS!” “yams” would appear on the board. The list was getting quite long. “I don’t want scrambled eggs with peanut butter on top.”

It occurred to me (in my dream) that this project was quite stupid. You walk into a restaurant. Rather than order what you do want from the menu, you’re creating your own menu, of what you DON’T want. How useful is that, if your goal is to eat something for dinner right now? I think the waitress wandered away, probably bored.

Crazy, right? Never happen in a million years, right? But this is precisely how so many people’s minds operate in the wide awake, day-to-day, “real world.” They focus on what they don’t want. That’s not going to move you forward. A shift of focus is called for, a shift to the postive. What DO you want? How would you rather feel? What would you rather do?

I had a client come in last night with a plethora of fears. A litany of fears. Being alone, the dark, airplanes, and more, creating panic attacks. I asked her how she would rather feel. She couldn’t answer that, she was so mired in what she currently feels and doesn’t want. Calm is not on the menu. Only fear. We’ve got to put calm and safe and happy on the menu. Then she can order it, and enjoy it!

What hypnosis does is focus your mind on positive change, and a desired outcome, in a way which stirs the magic of the universe (how’s that for technical jargon?) to actually creating that positive change. It IS magic. But you’ve got to know what you DO want in order to get there. I’ll help you make those shifts.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis, Musings, NLP

The Cup of Many Handles – or, Change is Easy

Written by Connie 1 Comment on The Cup of Many Handles – or, Change is Easy
Connie Brannan, Seattle's best hypnosis.
Connie Brannan, Licensed Trainer of NLP (tm)

A lot of people have questions about NLP.  “What’s THAT?”  They come to me for hypnosis, but rarely have heard of NLP.  Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™.  It’s a “high tech hypnosis,” according to my teacher and the inventor of those three letters, Dr. Richard Bandler.  Michael and I are both Licensed Trainers of NLP, and it’s a part of everything I do hypnotically with clients in the same way  that green is a part of grass.  I don’t offer a brown, dried lawn, with some patches of green, maybe.  My lawn is LUSH and alive and vibrant green.

NLP, Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™ is a way of looking at the world.  A very useful, empowering way.  It’s about how people think, how the mind works, and how change happens.  About the very experience of life.  How we create our personal worlds.   And how we can easily create new worlds for ourselves, to be more the way we want them and less the way we don’t want them to be–mentally, physically, behaviorally, emotionally, spiritually.  I love NLP more than anything else I’ve ever learned in my life.

NLP is based on our sensory experience of the world.  We see through our eyes, and we also create pictures in our mind’s eye.  We hear through our ears, and we create sound bites and audio loops and talk to ourselves in our mind’s ear.  We physically touch things with our fingers and bodies, a table, a piece of fabric, and experience smooth, rough, texture, warmth, and so on.  And we create feelings inside ourselves.  Love, joy, fear.  We can stick something in our mouth and taste it, and we can remember and relive tastes in our memory.  We can smell something under our nose, and we can re-create smells in our mind’s nose.

My Nana made the BEST chocolate cake.  I can taste it right now–in my imagination.  🙂  And smell it.  And see Nana’s kitchen, and her face and her voice while offering it to me, and get a warm feeling of love from it.  All at the same time.  Memories are multi-sensual.

Here’s the secret of life and what NLP has discovered:  those representations that we create in our minds, the pictures, sounds we play, etc. ARE our experience of life.  They drive us.  They are us.  If we change the pictures and sounds, etc, we are changing our experience of life itself.  We are changing our lives!  Changing habits, thoughts, behaviors, bodies.  And more!  This idea creates an absolutely magical control that you can take over your life to get the life you want.  NLP does that!

Regarding the multi-sensual nature of memory and experience, here’s how I describe some of my NLP work to clients.  I say:  imagine a cup filled with coffee.  A nice ceramic Starbucks coffee cup.  (I show them the very one sitting on my desk for ease of illustration.)  It’s got a handle.  Yes, it does.  You pick it up by the handle.  You’re holding the cup.  Now, imagine that cup has several handles, protruding in different directions all around the sides of the cup.  You could grab any of those handles.  And you’ve still got a hold of the cup.  You can raise it in the air.  You can wave it around.  You can drink from it.  (Yay!)  🙂

It doesn’t matter which handle as they all are attached.  Those handles are pieces of our representations of experience.   One handle is images in the mind.  One handle is sound bites.  One handle is feelings.  We have extra handles there for stuff we don’t even understand, yet.  Like the 6th sense.   Or energy.  There’s an awful lot going on in a moment of life and in a memory, some things we perceive, some we don’t, but we are grabbing ahold of IT by any handle.  Grabbing ahold of life!

If you come into my office wanting help with an irrational fear of spiders, for example, I may help you via helping you adjust pictures, sounds, feelings, tastes, smells.  I’ll grab a handle of the problem.  Maybe it’s a picture.  And we’ve got the fear.  And we can tweak it out of existence by tweaking the picture.  Maybe in your mind’s eye a spider is 10 feet tall, and 3 inches from your face.  (That would frighten anyone!)  If we take that picture and shrink it down to tiny, and push it off into the distance, the fear shrinks, too.  We tweak the pictures you make in your own brain, the sounds, the smells, and so on to help you re-create your experience of life.  Cool, huh?  It works!!  You can change your world.  Absolutely, positively magic.  NLP.

If you want to experience some of this magic, you know how.  Call me and come on into my office.  If you want to LEARN this magic, I can help you there, too.  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com.  Michael and I are damn good at this stuff, because we love it.   And have trained with the best.  Now, with all this talk of coffee cups, I need to go drink some!  🙂  Bye for now.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Events, Hypnosis

A Chance to Trance – Quit Smoking @ Bellevue College

Written by Connie 2 Comments on A Chance to Trance – Quit Smoking @ Bellevue College
Bellevue College offers adult continuing education.
Bellevue College offers adult continuing education.

Hi, Guys!

It’s interesting.  I’m offering a couple courses at Bellevue College this autumn.  One is Healthy Hypnosis:  Let Go of Weight and it’s filling up like gangbusters.  The other is Quit Smoking With Self Hypnosis, and there’s less interest in it, apparently.  I find that surprising!   This (self hypnosis) is SUCH a powerful tool for habit change, and the number one habit in the universe which should and can be changed easily is smoking.  As in, don’t do it.  Ever.   And so many people profess to want that!  I can help.  These tools offer massive help, which I share in my class.  The how-to!

All hypnosis is self hypnosis, even the guided work I do in my office with clients.  This course is even bigger than that.  It’s like the old saying.  Give a guy a fish, and he’s got a fish.  For dinner tonight.  That’s nice.   TEACH a guy to fish, and he’s got fish forever.  Bring on the tartar sauce!  🙂  That’s wonderful.  I want to teach you how to fish for change.  The course title is about one particular habit:  Smoking!  But it can be used for so much more than that.  And I want my students to use it for so much more than that.  Hypnosis is a life-changer, a life-enhancer, beyond quantification, really.

Here’s a chance.  Your chance. LEARN.  Grow.  Thrive.  It’s what I want for you, and I know it’s what you want for yourself.  It’s a chance to trance.  I wrote this in an earlier blog entry and you know, it’s so true that it bears repeating.  I said:  “The unconscious mind is the good guy—for all of us. The part of us that keeps us alive, breathing, blood flowing, healing, storehouses our learning, wants us to grow and thrive and be happy and healthy and successful.”  Yes!   In hypnosis, that’s what we do, converse with this part of ourselves, and improve the quality of our lives through these conversations.  Wouldn’t that ability be worth something to you?  To anyone?

There are still seats available in my self hypnosis courses at Bellevue College this autumn, where I share these tools of “mindwork.”  Here are the direct sign up links.

Quit Smoking With Self Hypnosis.  This takes you to Bellevue College’s webpage, course description, and shopping cart.  As always, if you want more information, you can contact me directly via the info. on my main webpage.  🙂
http://www.campusce.net/BC/course/course.aspx?C=12481&pc=1066&mc=1387&sc=

Healthy Hypnosis, Let Go of Weight. 
http://www.campusce.net/BC/course/course.aspx?C=11559&pc=1066&mc=1387&sc=

Quit Smoking With Self Hypnosis begins this month, September 27 and continues the following week on October 4th.  Do you have something better to do on a couple Monday nights than improve your life dramatically?

If I do say so myself the course is a lot of fun.  It spans the course of one week, and two evenings.  Six hours total.  VERY hands on.  Your mind grows.  Visually, and on the inside, too!  🙂  You will be hypnotized.  Repeatedly.  And learn to do it for yourself.  And learn what to do and how to communicate to yourself in that state of mind which makes the difference in your habits and your life.  You learn about language of influence.  You learn about how the mind works.  You learn the truth about hypnosis.  It’s all good, and it’s all useful.  I do hope some more of you will join me.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Events, Hypnosis

Hypnotic Power Speak in Oregon

Written by Connie
Connie's giving a talk to the OHA.
Connie's giving a talk to the OHA.

Hi, Hypno-Friends!

I’m giving a presentation this month to the Oregon Hypnotherapy Association, a next-state-over organization of hypnosis professionals.  I’m very excited that I’ve been invited to do so.  It’s terrific when we can share our knowledge, and further the professionalism of hypnosis.

Some people out there still think hypnosis is about barking like dogs and dancing like chickens.  Uh…no.  It’s about positive life change, it’s about programming your mind for success (which you get to define).  It’s a tool for change.  And I love it with a passion, as you know if you’ve been reading my bloggings, and now…I get to share some of my passion in Oregon with like-minded professionals.  Good stuff!

I was just in Oregon a few days ago, at the ocean.  Oregon is so beautiful, green, and fresh, much like home!  It’s a pleasure and a privilege to go share some of my hypno-know-how with other professionals.  🙂

In case any of my readers are in Oregon or will be on September 25th and are interested, here is more info:  http://www.hypnosis-oregon.com/news.   The language of influence.  I talk about effective communications with my favorite chat-partner:  the unconscious mind.

It’s another kudo for my “I love me wall,” and another opportunity to share and visit one of my favorite states.  States in geography, and states of mind.  Both!  Oregon and hypnosis, two great things that go great together.  Wish me luck, and join me if you’re so inclined!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt.
Connie Brannan, CHt.
Posted in: Hypnosis, Musings

The Cobbler’s Wife

Written by Connie

In my early days of learning hypnosis, I loved to have conversations with professional hypnotherapists.  Professional hypnotists.  Lucky for me, I found several very open and sharing professionals on a hypnosis forum.  They answered my questions.  Here’s one question I asked, and was answered.

I asked if hypnotists (and NLP people–those using that very specific brand of conversational hypnosis for positive change) were all supermen.  And superwomen.  Having worked on themselves to the point of perfect specimens of precision and excellence.  No limiting beliefs, no bad habits, perfect bodies, perfect lives.  These new tools seemed so miraculous to me (and they are) that I was “just askin’!”  I was beginning to experience success with hypnosis for weight loss, and I wondered how far these professionals were able to use these tools in their own lives, to improve their own lives.  The answer surprised me!

The consensus was, yes, we use them, but only a little, and only when there’s time.  Which, apparently, there wasn’t.  One friend told the story of the cobbler’s wife.  He, the cobbler, the shoe-maker, was so busy making shoes for other people his own family was running around without.  His wife had old, old tattered shoes.  He was wearing old shoes, himself.  Now, that’s sad.  🙁  🙂  I think it would have been of benefit to his business to make his wife some new, damn fine shoes.  For her to wear, love, show off, dance in.  People would notice.  Her shoes would attract attention, and get him MORE business.  “Wow, look at those beautiful shoes, where’d you get them?”  “My husband makes these shoes!”  “Wow, I’m coming in, I want shoes like that!”  🙂

I’ve decided to flaunt my shoes.  Only they aren’t shoes.  My personal success with hypnosis is manyfold, but the easily visible part is the weight loss.  I want people to notice that hypnosis works!  For weight loss and weight management.

Now, a cigarette-smoking hypnotist can probably help you with smoking cessation and an obese hypnotist can probably help you with weight loss–the tools are the same.  But wouldn’t you rather work with someone who truly KNOWS and lives this success day by day, month by month, year by year?  I would!  Look at my shoes!!  They sparkle!! I’ll make you a pair.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Connie on Dinner Cruise (2)

Posted in: Hypnosis

Fall into Change

Written by Connie

I drove past the Bravern (upscale shopping plaza) the other day and they had a GIANT banner splashed across the top of the building:  “Fall into Fashion.”  Indeed.  Those words are what’s known as “a multi level communication.”  There’s more meaning there than meets the eye, or lights up the thinking part of your mind.  There’s more communication happening, below the surface.  Fall into Fashion.  It’s a time, (fall, as in autumn, as in now!) it’s an activity (falling into), it implies a sense of ease (it’s as easy as falling off a log) it’s a state of being (fashionable), and more.  I also like:  Falling into Fall, which I came across the other day on a magazine cover.  Michael came up with another cool, similar communication appropriate to our business:  Fall into Change.

Fall into change.  Yes!  What if falling into a new lifestyle or new habits was as easy and natural as the changing of the seasons?  As a green leaf turning gold?  As a tree letting go of leaves?   Of the air becoming crisp and clean?   What if change was a natural, and easy process?  Big secret.  It is!

In addition to all my other tools, I use something called “indirect hypnosis.”  Storytelling.  It’s a shortcut to learning, and many cultures keep it alive as a way of keeping the learnings of lifetimes alive.  In hypnosis, I create and weave seemingly unrelated-to-your-issue stories, metaphors, images, sounds, and more which create new understandings in your mind, which helps you learn and change quickly.   And I do an assortment of word play, featuring multi level unconscious communications.  Your mind loves to learn, and does it exquisitely well.  It will take a word, and process every single possible meaning, literal and otherwise.   Multilevel communication.

I was watching a movie on the boob tube last night.  At one point a character is having a life crisis, and runs to her  psychotherapist for direction.  She says:  I know I’ve been coming here 2 times a week for 8 years, but now I need some real help.  Not surprisingly, he does not deliver it, and she ends up solving her own problem.

That is, and is not the hypnotic way.  Solving your own problems, yes.  Taking forever, IF ever, no!  These (hypnosis and NLP, Neuro-Linguistic Programming) are known as brief therapies, we’re talking minutes to hours, not years–and you do solve your own problems.  The premise of my work is that YOU have inside yourself everything you need to change your life for the better, whether it be changing your weight or changing your habits, or improving yourself in any number of ways.  I use hypnosis to help you tap into the power of YOU!  Fall into your own power.  Fall into change.  I  guide you to the positive resources within and attach them where needed.  When that happens, everything changes!  And it’s as natural as a leaf changing color and falling off a tree.  And as fast.  Hypnosis is not something external to you, it’s a doorway into your own power.

It seems that overnight the trees change, and the ground is covered with crispy piles of leaves.  The air grows cooler.  Autumn has always been my favorite season, long before I began my career as a “changeworker.”  I like change.  Natural, healthy change.  And now is the perfect time, where it’s visible all around us to stimulate our unconscious minds into saying:  “Me, too!  I’m ready, too.  It’s time!”  Fall.  Fall into change.  It’s easy to do, you start by picking up the phone and dialing (425) 564-8608 and asking for me, Connie.  I’ll guide you as you Fall into Change.  Positive changes, healthy changes, fun changes, happy changes.  The time is now.  Let’s do it!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

It’s About Time

Written by Connie
It’s Time for Hypnosis!

Hi, Hypno-Friends!

My car has her own personality. She’s playful. Yet reliable. Michael and I both LOVE this car. We call her “Midnight.” She’s black , which is the number two color for a car in the US, as I read today. 🙂 Anyway, Midnight has a new game she’s playing with us. It involves time. The clock. We have a digital clock readout in our car on the dashboard, and sometimes it’s brightly illuminated and sometimes it’s dim, and sometimes it’s not there at all. Midnight’s whim.

Now, you might just think this is a malfunction or defect of the clock. The time never used to vanish. But I imagine something else might be going on. Something with intentionality—Midnight has a purpose.

Let’s step back and talk about time. In NLP (that’s high-tech conversational hypnosis) we learn to experience time in different ways. There are (at least) two ways to experience time. In time. And through time. When a person is “in time,” they are living the moment, fully present in the here and now, enjoying the richness of life, immersed in experience. This is a good state for being on vacation. Or intimate moments. When a person is “through time,” they are separate from the heartbeat by heartbeat experience of time and life, and look at it from a slight distance. This is a good state for scheduling and planning. I do a lot of that! Probably too much of that!

Midnight wants me to experience time in a new way, to be more in time! “Stop worrying about the minutia of ‘what time is it?’ and enjoy life.” Because, I am a clock watcher. Always. I ALWAYS want to know what time it is. So I can know how much time I have to get to where I’m going. Midnight says: “Don’t worry about it!! You’re going to get there on time. Have I ever let you down?” No. 🙂 Midnight is teaching me flexibility. Flexibility is good!

Here’s a fun and easy process to shift your own internal perceptions of time to suit your current activities, which can be a very useful game.

How to flex your time sense: Imagine your past as a point in physical space around you. It may be to your left or right, or behind you, above, beyond, somewhere. Imagine yesterday, dinner yesterday, and point at it. There it is! 🙂 Now, think about the future, tomorrow morning, and point in that general direction. You’ve got two points sitting in space. Now, connect those two points. Remember those dot-to-dot games? This is like that, and you’ve now created a line between, through them and past them. This is your life. Your “timeline.”

So, now the question: does this line intersect your body? If yes, you are “in time.” If no, you are “through time.” Which is it? Just for fun, imagine this line differently. If it doesn’t touch you, move it so that it does cross through your body. You are now in the moment. If it does intersect your body, step back from it a step or two so that you can see your whole life separate from you. How does that feel? If the change is comfortable, try it on for awhile. You can always reset to current state of time/mind anytime you want.

Next time you have a project which demands a bigger picture of dates, interim and ultimate deadlines, cutoffs, drop dead completion, and etc, step away from your timeline and do your planning from that perspective. It helps!! You can see more. Next time you’re enjoying a day out with a loved one, step into your timeline, and relish every moment, feel and experience that richness, that joy, heartbeat by heartbeat.

Your choice! Midnight is one smart cookie.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotist
Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotist
Posted in: Hypnosis

More Office Photos!

Written by Connie
Inside Mindworks Hypnosis
Inside Mindworks Hypnosis

We’re getting settled into the new office, and it’s lookin’ good!  There’s more to do, of course.  The reception area is incomplete, awaiting delivery of a new leather couch.  The “I Love Me” Wall is incomplete, more certificates need framing and hanging.  More mom-art to put up on display (my mother was a professional artist and I have more wall space calling out for color).

The trance chair is in place, however.  So, clients are welcome at this time!  Call me!  The more the merrier.  Here are some more pics, to give the flavor of my space.  So far, I LOVE IT!!!  x o Connie

Fresh and green!
Fresh and green!
Posted in: Hypnosis

New Office!

Written by Connie

Hi, Hypno Friends.

Some people like new and exciting adventures, and some people like familiarity in events–lucky for me, I like both.  I’m getting both.

Heavy on the “new” actually.  I got some new trainings under my belt.  Florida.  July.  FANTASTIC experience.    The sameness was experiencing again my favorite teacher, Dr. Richard Bandler.  And also new but not so exciting, my primary/business computer crashed a week or two ago.  Died.  At least it was quick, no suffering.  Dead as a doornail.  I’m still reconstructing the missing data since my last system backup in June.  So, I have a new computer.  Which is a good new!  🙂 Fancy.  A TERRABYTE of space.  I remember 65 megabyte computer hard drives.  This is better.

I also have a new office.  Best “new” of all.   Like my computer, it’s also more space than before!  It’s a beautiful, larger, quieter, more private space.  Absolutely perfect.  I’m going to plaster pics and announcements of the “new digs” on the website proper when I get my programs back re-installed to do so.  It’s not quite all set up yet, or “dolled up” as my grandmother would say, but it’s lookin’ good!

Here are a few pics:

Office

I'm in Alderwood #103
I'm in Alderwood #103

It’s in the Bellefield Office Park right off of I405 on exit 12.  It’s a giant wetlands/greenbelt area, with 15 buildings or so on the property.  WOODSY.  I’m in the Alderwood Building.  #103.

I’m so excited!  The clients who’ve been in within the past couple days since we’ve been re-open for business all say:  VERY NICE!  It is.  🙂

The sameness here is a lot of my same touches:  my art, my desk, my books, my trance chair, my certificates on the wall, my plant.  I bought a plant at my last other world job before I had this joy filled career, and it was a tiny thing.  Now it’s huge, and has been repotted several times.  Just like me, it’s growing–in a good way.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Musings

Honing Skills on my Birthday Month

Written by Connie 1 Comment on Honing Skills on my Birthday Month

I like words. I like learning them, hearing them, using them. Words are “my thing” (which is terrific for a hypnotist). And they always have been my thing. Soon, I’ll be “honing.” My skills in hypnosis & NLP.  My tools, my abililty to HELP.  My FUN.  Honing. Sharpening. Making better. I also like dictionary.com. 🙂 “To make more acute, intense or effective; improve; perfect: to hone one’s skills.” Absolutely!  🙂  It also means “To move or advance toward a target or goal.” Hone in.

I’m doing both!

Because here’s what I’m honing towards, here’s what I want. To be the absolute best changeworker and hypnotist/hypnotherapist possible. I already am the best in the Pacific Northwest, but the world’s a big place. I want to be one of the absolute best in the universe. So, I’m continuing my education, and studying with and learning from the best of the best. Modeling genius. It’s time intensive, it’s money intensive, it takes committment. But I’m doing it! Michael and I both!

We’re off for a couple weeks of more hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming trainings. In Orlando, Florida, with the co-originator of NLP, and in my opinion, the best hypnotist living, Dr. Richard Bandler. We go where the geniuses perform/teach and it’s not always nearby. We’re doing it! It’s my joy, my passion, as well as my comittment to honing!  It’s also my birthday present to myself!  (I’m a July baby!)

A committment to excellence.  That’s a good thing!  🙂  I’m on Facebook (you can be my friend), and recently noticed an example of a differing attitude.  A fellow hypnotist and NLP-er posted on one of my teachers’ pages whining (or so it appeared to me) that her training certification, the actual certificate she earned from him had an expiration date on it.  Why, she asked.  The answer is simple.  Hypnosis and NLP is not something you learn once, and wham, done.  I guess some people do approach a profession this way.  “I know how to cut that piece of brick.  I’m done.”  Not me.  No way, Jose.  That certificate is only the beginning.

For me, learning is a never-ending unfolding process, and I’m ALWAYS desirous of improving my skills.   One can ALWAYS be better.  Sharper.  More inspired.  In the realm of the mind, there’s no hard and fast, “this is it.”  There are more things to LEARN!  When you bring in native intelligence and a passion for and committment to what you’re doing, and add the continued exposure to excellence, the continued honing (of something absolutely worth honing), you get someone who knows what they’re doing.

I know what I’m doing.  And that means I can help you better, faster, more efficiently, more creatively than other people can.  If you really want change, I certainly think you should seek out the best for that.  Aren’t you worth it? Another wonderful mentor/teacher of mine said to me once:  “It ain’t bragging, if it’s true.”  I’m not bragging.  I am extremely talented at this work, this art, and getting better all the time.

I hope to post here from Orlando and the trainings!   Michael and I send warm (upper 90’s) greetings!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis, Musings

Happy Fourth of July!

Written by Connie

Now is the time to declare YOUR independence…from undesired habits, negative feelings, and limiting beliefs. Hypnosis is “the big guns” of change. If you’re ready, so am I. 🙂

Regards, Rappin’ Connie

Celebrate your independence from tobacco, and more, with Seattle's best hypnotherapy.
Celebrate your independence from tobacco, and more, with Seattle's best hypnotherapy.
Posted in: Musings

Limiting beliefs – Pop Them Like Bubble Wrap

Written by Connie 2 Comments on Limiting beliefs – Pop Them Like Bubble Wrap
Connie Brannan, CHt. & Licensed Trainer of NLP
Connie Brannan, CHt. & Licensed Trainer of NLP

Well, I woke up in the middle of the night thinking about sequins.  About the girl I saw the other day.  She was a barista, a coffee-maker.  And she was working in a little kiosk-type coffee stand smack dab in the middle of a whole foods market.  Kind of a drab setting.  And she was wearing the most flashy, beautiful, black sequinned sweater.  We’re talkin’ Vegas-style evening-out-on-the-town sequins.  Elegant.  Fancy.  Fun.  And playful.  I looked at her and thought:  She knows how to have fun, how to live and squeeze enjoyment out of life.  Making coffee in sequins is more fun than making coffee in a cotton apron, I’ll bet.  I could see that, in her face and in her movements!

And then, a quick mental morph/segue to my own closet.  I have sequins, too.  Silk jackets and shirts massively decorated and sequinned.  Red with roses and trellises, black with textured clusters.  Royal blue.  I love them!  But I wear them SO RARELY.  Once in a blue moon.  I’m “saving them for special.”  They’re sitting there, gathering dust, as I wait for an “occasion” suitable for them.  Always waiting.  That has been (past tense) one of my limiting beliefs.  “You need a special occasion to justify wearing sequins.”  I just popped it–that belief.  It just hit me.  I could wear one of my sequinned jackets today!  Why not?  I could walk into that hotel, into that seminar room (I’m attending a training this weekend) wearing one of my flashy jackets.  And that would be FUN.

Limiting beliefs.  Those things that hold us back, make us catch our breath and feel LESS, less alive, less powerful, less fun.  The “I can’ts.”  Oh, I can’t do that!  Pop them.  Why not?  What would happen if you could and did do this “I can’t do” thing??  Hmmm?  Think about it.  Imagine beyond the boundaries.  That coffee-girl sure can!  I wonder what unexpected coffee combinations/flavors she comes up with?  I can tell, her life is rich and full-bodied.

Life should be fun.  Massively fun.  And it is.  Make it more so.  What’s holding you back?   How much joy can you stand?  It all comes down to running your own mind, and feeling what you want to feel.  Hypnosis and NLP teach us how to do that.  I’ve decided to feel good today.  I’m wearing my sequins.  🙂

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Events, Hypnosis

Serendipity

Written by Connie

What is the secret of successful people?  Well, there’re many internal qualities that assist:  passion, creativity, drive, stick-to-it-tiveness, confidence, and so on…but what really comes to my mind:  it’s the ability to notice and act on opportunities.  Carpe diem.  Seize the day.  Or night.  Or moment.  That’s what makes a winner, in business, and in life.

We’ve all heard the Nike credo.  “Just do it!”  But before you can do it, you need to know that there is an “it,” a thing you might do.  And there are.  The opportunities are out there.  An infinity of them.  The winner sees them.  The winner seizes them.  What does this have to do with hypnosis?  Everything.

Hypnosis is a useful way to tune your mind to notice opportunities.  When a mind is set, programmed to notice opportunities—we call that “serendipity.”  There are people who find things.  Lucky things, and those things turn out to be beneficial to them.  Only, it is not luck.  Simply stated:  success is the result of the mind, and the mind’s fine tuning.  Successful people are attuned to opportunities, and to moving forward on opportunities.  You can do this, too.

Hypnosis is a way to fine tune your mind to noticing opportunities, to receiving the messages which drive you towards success, to creative solutions to dilemmas, and to answers to questions, to movement, to success itself.  How cool is that?  Would you like to be tuned into that channel?  Me, too!   Actually, I already am—and here’s an example.

This just happened to me!  The lease on my current office is ending soon, and one of my shared-space-mates just moved out, and another is retiring, so the question arose about finding a new space.  I didn’t want to.  I love my office.   LOVE it!  But in no way did I want to lease the empty spaces myself (and pay for) 3 offices, and then have to try to rent them out, and all the rigmarole that that entails.  So, I set my mind to pondering “the space question.”   Move out?  Don’t move out?

I decided to directly and specifically ask my unconscious mind the question:  should I find a new office?  The answer came back instantly.  YES.  I trust my unconscious, because, in a Western movie of your mind, the unconscious would be the guy sitting on the white horse wearing a white hat.  The unconscious mind is the good guy—for all of us.  The part of us that keeps us alive, breathing, blood flowing, healing, storehouses our learning, wants us to grow and thrive and be happy and healthy and successful.  I call my unconscious mind “the superhero” and he (yes, it’s a he) wears a superhero outfit, including red tights and a red cape, but that’s a different movie.

When there’s a direction to choose, there’s usually several pointers or signposts pointing to success, congruent, aligning, converging in unmistakable terms.  I got back to my office next day and I tore off the page on my little desk calendar for Tuesday, June 8th.   It’s got different words of wisdom for each day.  As I tore off the page, these words revealed themselves and jumped out at me:  “move out.”  The entire message:  “Today I am willing to move out of my comfort zone and experience life in a new way.”  I started laughing out loud.  Here’s my serendipity.  The universe is absolutely saying YES, find a new office.  So, I did.

Within 2 days, I had found the perfect office space, which is decidedly an upgrade over my current situation.  A 2-room private office with more than double the square footage, and access to a training facility, with new carpet (I get to choose it) and fresh paint (I get to choose it) with an even larger wall of windows overlooking trees and greenery, which is closer to my home, still in Bellevue, and costs LESS than I am currently paying for my much smaller office space.  You’ve heard of a win-win situation?  Well, this is a win-win-win-win-win.  🙂

How did this happen so fast?  I opened my eyes and mind to opportunities.  Hypnosis is a way to do that!  A simple way:  self hypnosis.

Anyone who thinks programming their own mind to notice opportunities and strike! while the iron is hot would be a good thing in their lives, propelling them towards success, well, here’s another example of amazing serendipity:  I’m offering a seminar to teach you just that in about a week.  Self Hypnosis.  A chance to trance!

Join me (and my Master Hypnotist hubby, Michael) on Saturday, June 26th for a full-day seminar to learn the ins and outs, the what, why, and wherefores of self hypnosis.  To experience hypnosis!   Details are here:  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com.   I’ll tell you this much:   In this experiential workshop, you’ll learn to effect powerful and positive personal change, to tune your mind into “the success channel” where serendipity flows.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Events, Hypnosis

Bellevue College – Building Confidence through Self Hypnosis! starts 6/7/10 (Bring a pillow!)

Written by Connie
Learn Hypnosis at Bellevue College
Learn Hypnosis at Bellevue College

Hi, Hypnotic Enthusiasts!

Watch this! 🙂

This brief, and I mean BRIEF video gives you an overview of everything you need to know if you’d like to come on over to Bellevue and learn something life changing.  That, plus this sign up link, of course!  :

http://www.campusce.net/BC/course/course.aspx?C=11562&pc=1066&mc=1387&sc=

I’m offering a “taster course” in the power of your mind.  2 evenings, for 3 hours each.  To learn self hypnosis from me, to experience hypnosis, to learn how to craft well-formed outcomes, to empower you to change your mind and change your life.  The focus of this course is Confidence, but these tools can truly be used for so many things, habit change, weight management, stress release, and more!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Events, Hypnosis, NLP

Amazing 1-Day Seminar June 5th! “NLP for Sales & Business Success”

Written by Connie

connie Purple HoodieHi, Guys!

I talk a lot about NLP, Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™.  It’s super cool stuff, in my book, the most powerful tool I use.  It’s the primary thing that’s helped me re-shape my life!  And I use it with clients every day.  It IS hypnosis.  A very, very powerful, effective type of conversational hypnosis.

If you’d like to learn more, Michael and I have an exciting opportunity for you.  We’re offering a set of 3 1-day seminars which explore some of the magic of NLP, and hypnosis.  The first one is happening in one week, and there are still seats available.  It’s NLP for Sales and Business Success.  Saturday, June 5th.

Thing is, even though the “focus” is sales and business, these tools are FANTASTIC for every aspect of life.  It’s about people connections, rapport, communications, influence, and an understanding of how we all represent our worlds, and the power to change our worlds easily.  Amazingly easily.  It’s all very, very, very cool.  In my opinion!  And, since this is my blog, I’m sharing MY opinion!  🙂  It’s a strong one.  NLP is good stuff.  And as it says on one of the video testimonials on my other site,  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com, the world would be a much better and happier place if more people understood NLP.

Well, here’s your chance.  For an amazing low fee of $97 you can spend the ENTIRE day, 9 am to 5 pm with me and Michael and learn hands-on some NLP ideas and processes.  Expect transformations.  In your ability to understand and “read” others and communicate effectively.  What an asset in any aspect of life, but certainly a necessity in business!!  You can sign up now (while there’s still room) on our Mindworks NLP website.  We’ve got a “buy now” button, upper left column.  Here’s more details:

1 Day Seminar NLP for Business Success
June 5th, 2010, Bellevue, WA, 9 am to 5 pm

NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming) is an amazingly powerful set of tools that will enhance your rapport with clients and sales prospects, and employees, increase your persuasive abilities and influence, and skyrocket your bottom line. We’re talking SALES, we’re talking about positive influence, and motivation. This powerful seminar/workshop will focus on the language of influence, both verbal, and nonverbal, gestures, body language, tonality, physical space, and how language connects with behavior. You’ll learn quick techniques you can use right now, this minute, to enhance your business–and, indeed, your positive persuasive abilities in all aspects of your life.

Now is the time to build your wealth!! You’ll learn incredible subconscious communication tools for business (and personal) success–simple techniques you can use immediately to increase rapport, influence and power. Close those deals, so easily, and develop business relationships that will endure. Taught by Licensed Trainers of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, Connie & Michael Brannan.  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com

Our price for this seminar is $97, to enjoy the FULL day’s experience.  Free parking.  Refreshments provided.  Tell your friends.

This is a wonderful introduction to the magic of NLP! I hope to see you there!  Because I love sharing what I love–and this is very much it!

Warm Regards,
Connie
Posted in: Hypnosis, NLP

Super Secret NLP Habit-Busting Technique

Written by Connie 1 Comment on Super Secret NLP Habit-Busting Technique

Hello, Hypnotic Friends!

The topic today is habits — habitual behaviors that we engage in almost without thinking.  Learned behaviors which now flow.  Too easily, sometimes.  Sometimes habits are good.  Like bathing.  Like using deodorant.  Like brushing your teeth.

Like looking both ways before crossing the street.  Sometimes habits are bad.  Say, smoking.  Or a “cookie addiction.”  Or any other kind of addiction, sex, alcohol, spending, gambling, and so on.  Or any number of other unhealthy or unwanted or self destructive behaviors, which lead to an outcome we’d rather not come out to.  🙂
Actually, those words, bad and good habits, are misleading.  There are NO good habits and there are no bad habits.  I use those words for convenience and understanding because they’re out there in the vernacular, out there in common usage.  The truth is, there are only useful habits and non-useful habits.
Cool thing is, we get to decide what that is.  If a habit is useful, go with it.  Enjoy.  Live.  Love.  Be happy.  If a habit, however, is not useful, or no longer useful, we can identify that, know that, and change it!  Here’s another one of those self-empowering ideas.  We can change our habits.  Yes, we can.  We are not victims in this life–we make the rules.  You and me.  We can get into the habit of breaking habits, when it’s useful to do so.  And I’m going to lead you through a simple process in this essay to do just that!
We’ll take a “simple” unwanted behavior.  How about something from my own life.  Sugar?  Bakery goods?  Brownies?  Hmmm, I know–candy.  Chocolate.  Hershey bars.

I used to have a habit.  It was called “eat candy bars.”  Anytime, all the time, just about every day or so.  Primarily, Hershey’s with almonds.  I’d get the little bars, and I’d also get those giant sized bars, 8 oz, which I think nowadays cost more and are 4 oz.  Still called “giant” sized, however.  I guess it’s all in your perspective.  And I’d eat the whole thing–eventually.  In a day or two.  And then I’d buy more.  Bad habit, right?  Maybe, maybe not.  I’m sure the Hershey company, and the Nestle company, and the M&M Mars company, thought it was a GREAT habit, and loved me for it.  But for ME, I decided that it was not useful.  I decided to shift that habit, as it became a non-useful habit when I decided to get healthy and consume less calories and less sugar and transform my body.
I decided!  Eating candy bars:  non useful habit.  Let’s change it!
Here’s a simple NLP process to do just that.  NLP, again, is Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™ which is a “high tech hypnosis.”  It’s also been called, aptly, “hypnosis on steroids.”  I love my NLP, as taught to me by the Master of Masters, the creator, Dr. Richard Bandler.  He taught me, and I’m teaching you.  Here and now.  Behold!  A habit-busting technique that is so simple and straightforward, perhaps it will become a new habit of yours to use it.  And bust any non utilitarian habits.  Until they invent a Bad-habit-be-gone-spray-in-a-can, this is the next best thing.  Psssssst.
But, before I get into the process, one more story.  I went to a “weight loss hypnosis” talk the other day and it involved imagining bugs/maggots/disgusting vermin crawling on my donut to get me to change my behavior as regards donuts.  This is NOTHING like that.  I find THAT suggestion disgusting, the idea that we need to get uncomfortable about things in order to change.  False!  That’s ill-formed and wrong-directional.  You don’t need to do that.  Thing is, you may want to enjoy a donut or piece of donut sometime in your life.  I don’t believe in taking that opportunity away, or making people feel sick!!  We’re not attaching negativity to the thing, which decreases or limits your choices, we’re enlarging your choices so that it’s easier to choose healthy and useful habits.
Ok.  The chocolate bar.  I used to be able to put myself into a state of desire.  Wanting it.  Which then led to buying and eating it.  Create a picture in your mind that represents a negative habit and your wanting to do it.
We all have desires all the time that we don’t act on.  I had a co-worker once who would have benefited by a slap upside the head.  I wanted to do that, on occasion.  Did I?  No.  Never.
Sometimes I have a desire to stay in bed beyond an appropriate time.  Do I?  No.  I get up.  Sometimes, a scene in a movie is so absurd I want to shout something derogatory out at the screen in the theater.  Do I?  No.  Sometimes, I see a good looking stranger at the gym, and I feel like running up and squeezing his bicep…do I?  No.  We all have desires which we know perfectly well we will not act on.  Create a picture in your mind that represents a temptation or desired behavior that you KNOW you will not act on.
Notice everything about that picture–the thing you will not do, the line in the sand as it were.  You won’t cross it.  You know you won’t do this thing, even though you’d like to.  As you study the picture, notice it’s size, shape, location, color or black and white, movement, focus, brightness, clarity, everything.  Memorize those qualities of the picture.  Qualities of the picture are like the options in a photo editing software.  You’re not looking at the content in any way, you’re noticing the qualities such as focus and color.
Now, take the picture of the unwanted behavior, and match it to those qualities of the “won’t do it” picture.  Every one!  Size, color, focus, etc.  And stick this picture right in the space of the “won’t do it” picture, like two pieces of music on a music stand.  Imagine yourself not doing this thing, and the positive outcomes flowing from that change.  In my case, not eating the candy leads to a smaller body, more energy, more money in my pocket, and feeling good!  Lock in the picture of the unwanted behavior into the “won’t do it” position.  Click your teeth, or snap your fingers, or say “that’s right” and tell your mind to keep it there.  Sometimes I imagine splashing a bucket of shellac over the top of the picture as a sealant for the new qualities.
Top secret NLP insight:  When you change how you represent a situation or problem in your mind, the situation changes!  Read that sentence again.  Let it seep in.
Now, step back and think of yourself and the unwanted behavior.  In this case, you may notice that the temptation to do the thing that USED to be a bad habit has shifted, into something you simply won’t do.  Not a struggle.  Simply a sense of No!  I won’t do that.  Freedom!  You speak the holy word (for Star Trek officiandos, name that episode!).
Play with this and let me know how you do!  And, as always, if you’d like to learn more cool NLP techniques and processes, here’s how:  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com.  In fact, Michael and I have three 1-day seminars next month, which is a fabulous introduction to the power of NLP.  One seminar focuses on life change, one on sales and business success, and one on self hypnosis.  C’mon down and learn more.  You know you want to!
Warm Regards,
Connie
Posted in: Events, Hypnosis

Magnify Your Influence: “The Art of Hypno-Speak”

Written by Connie

Hi, guys!

I’m presenting a talk to the National Guild of Hypnotists this coming Friday, May 14th at 7:00 pm.  We’re a group of professional hypnotists and also interested parties, looking to enhance our skills and also further the good word on hypnosis.  If you qualify as an interested party, c’mon down and be a part of this!  I enjoy sharing what I know and love!

I’ll be talking about hypnotic language, simple ways to increase your influence through the words you use, and how you use them.  Now, who wouldn’t want that, to be more influential?  More details of the group and May meeting are here:  http://www.nghwa.org.  I’m on the Board of Directors for the Washington State Chapter of this national org., and this Friday, I’m the presenter as well.  🙂

Here’s the advertising spiel, and if you’re so moved, share this with your friends who may be interested:

Who wants to be more hypnotically influential in their language? Yes, me, too! Here’s an amazing opportunity for the general public to learn an insider’s secrets of hypnotic language and influence. This simple to learn and understand pattern of “hypno-speak” will magnify your influence, whatever the context–with friends, with family, at work, at play. You can communicate in powerful ways. Learn how from a Master Hypnotist at the NGHWA meeting this Friday, May 14th, in Edmonds, WA. A mere $10 entrance fee swings wide the doors of persuasive power. What a deal! Details are here: http://www.nghwa.org.

National Guild of Hypnotists - oldest & most prestigious hypnosis org in the US.
National Guild of Hypnotists - oldest & most prestigious hypnosis org in the US.

Learn to speak hypnotically in patterns that are effective and pack a wallop—EASILY! Learn how to weave simple hypnotic language around any topic and specific details of your interaction, the situation and motivations. Create powerful suggestions for change to inspire and excite your friends’ unconscious minds.

This simple method makes it so easy! And flowing with this method is just that, flowing, natural, simple, and persuasive. Join Connie Brannan, CHt, Master Hypnotist and Licensed Trainer of NLP ™ as she presents this simple hypno-speak method, with examples, demonstrations and hands-on audience participation to the National Guild of Hypnotists this Friday, May 14th.

Connie Brannan, CHt, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist and Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™, is a Seattle native, and is co-creator of Mindworks Hypnosis and NLP. Connie utilizes a unique blend of NLP and hypnosis, timeline work, parts therapy, reiki and other healing tools to help clients achieve the life changes they desire. She conducts NLP trainings with her husband, Michael Brannan, also a Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™ trained by Dr. Richard Bandler.

In addition, Connie is a published author. She teaches hypnosis at Bellevue College. She is a member in good standing of professional organizations including the NGH, National Guild of Hypnotists, is on the board of the NGHWA, Washington Chapter of the NGH, the IHA, the International Hypnosis Association, the Society of Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™, and the IAPCH, International Association of Professional Conversational Hypnotherapists. Connie’s additional certifications include: Design Human Engineer ™, Persuasion Engineer ™, Certified Stage Hypnotist, Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist, Usui Reiki Master/Teacher, Matrix Energetics Level 1 & 2   http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net

Warm Regards,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt., Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Connie Brannan, CHt., Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Posted in: Hypnosis

Chicago-Land’s Hypnotic Allure – Shifting Perceptions

Written by Connie
Hypnotic trance-inducing metal bean.
Hypnotic trance-inducing sculpture - Cloud Gate.

Hi, Hypno-Friends!

Michael and I sure can “sniff out” the hypnotic. We were just in Chicago and found this sculpture, called CLOUD GATE smack dab in the heart of the city, in a park. Extremely mesmerizing.

I’m in love. With Chicago. And with this hunk of metal which looks for all the world like a big drop of liquid mercury. Locals call it “the bean.” Thought I’d share some fun photos of “the bean.”  In Seattle, we have our own attraction to “the bean,” only it’s a bean of a different color – COFFEE beans.  Chicago-ans love those beans as well.  🙂

Perhaps we can sniff out the hypnotic, or perhaps everything is hypnotic, when you look at the world through our mindset. We see things not only as they are but as they can be.

Chicago adventure stories, and hypnotic insights to follow!

Warm Regards, Connie

Reflection
Reflection
The Bean and the City - Unexpected Shine
The Bean and the City - Unexpected Shine
Bean-scape, or Shifting Perceptions
Shifting Perceptions
Inside the hypnotic bean.
Inside the hypnotic bean.
Posted in: Hypnosis

Google Videos – or…more about what I do!

Written by Connie

Hi, Guys!

There are only 4 seats left for my self hypnosis training beginning next Monday, April 19th at Bellevue College! Who wants in? This course is amazing and FUN, two evenings, a total of 6 hours. C’mon down and get HYPNOTIZED. You know you want to! 🙂 Bring your pillows!

I made some more vids, too. I’m a video making MACHINE! 🙂

If you’re looking for more information on Michael and my services, trainings, office location, and more, here’s some of what google pulls up for you!

This was FUN to make, I like this jazzy music which is entitled “trance.” 🙂

Here’s another:

 

This one focuses on the topic of hypnosis for quick and powerful smoking cessation success. Check out another of my websites http://www.stopsmokingseattle.com for the facts.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

So, what does “trance” feel like?

Written by Connie
The hypnotic trance chair awaits you!
The hypnotic trance chair awaits you!

Hi, again, Hypno Friends!

I found this pillow at Ross, and you know, I HAD to have it!  It’s got that spiral design I like, which you may have noticed on my website as well.  It’s an “old-time hypnosis” symbol.  To me, it’s fun.  I call it:  Hypno-wheel.

So, this is the Hypno-wheel Pillow, sitting on the Trance Chair, my leather recliner, in my office in Bellevue.  It’s waiting for you!  You don’t actually sit ON the pillow, I move it when we get down to business, it’s really for “ambiance!”  🙂  The symbol also means “infinity.”

And that makes great sense to me…as hypnosis is an ancient art.  In the time of the Egytians, they had healing “sleep temples” where hypnosis was practiced.  Hypnosis and healing, that connection has long been known.   Hypnosis has been written about by well-known psychologists of the 1800’s, including William James.  In India in the 19th century, hypnosis was used on the battlefield to help with necessary amputations–without anesthesia, without pain.

Hypnosis is not new.  But, there’s a growing awareness and acceptance in the world for hypnosis as a mainstream healing art and science, which I find wonderful.   Holly-weird has done it’s best to create fear and a negative mystique surrounding hypnosis, but the truth has a way of coming out.   And the truth about hypnosis is wonderful.  What it can do for a person, and the pleasant nature of the experience itself.

Here are some actual quotations from my clients upon emerging from trance and commenting on the experience:  “That was delightful.”  (Gene, Mercer Island)  “Wow!!”  (Monica, Bellevue, and dozens and dozens of others–this is the most common response)  “Better than sex.”  (Andy, Seattle)   “I loved it!”  (Michael, Bellevue)  “That was amazing!”  (Jennifer, Kirkland)…   Some people are speechless, but the grateful smiles on their faces speak volumes.

When you’re in trance, in hypnosis, you are connecting to the best part of yourself.  That part of you that wants success and fulfillment and thriving and good feelings!  The part of you that can make those things reality. 

So, what does trance feel like?  In general, and for me personally, a  sense of well-being permeates trance, and stress packs its bags.  People do experience it differently.  To some, it’s very very similar to their natural waking state.  To some, it’s “otherworldly” and beyond words.  Some people find their limbs turning so heavy, heavy relaxed, so comfortable that they don’t want to move.  Some people feel light and floating, as though disconnected to their physical bodies.  Some people feel warmth and tinglings.  Some people get cold.  (I also offer “the dream blanket” during trancework.)  It has also been likened to those transitional moments before sleep. 

We experience trance every day of our lives, doing everyday, just-living-our-lives things.  Reading a book, playing on the computer, driving a car, daydreaming, watching television.   It’s nothing “woo-woo,” and it’s nothing bizarre.  It’s just us, activating our minds in a specific, natural way.  What’s cool, what’s magical, is how we can use this “hypnosis state of mind” to create change in ourselves and in our lives.  When you apply hypnosis, for a desired outcome, guided by a professional, that’s what is called hypnotherapy.  That’s what I do.

So, if you’re still wondering:  “What does trance feel like?  And what can it do for me?”  I’d like to show you.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

Some Orlando Pics!

Written by Connie
Seminar Hotel
Seminar Hotel

Hi, guys!

Michael and I have recently returned from some advanced NLP trainings in Orlando, Florida. It was great fun, and stuffed us full of exciting new ideas to use to help ourselves transform and help others, too. New ideas, new tools, new processes involving the “machinery” of the mind. All nicely installed in us by the KING of NLP himself, Dr. Richard Bandler.

It was two fantastic trainings, and a fantastic international group of new friends. Design Human Engineering ™ and Persuasion Engineering ™. Here are a few pics from our Orlando adventure. 🙂

 

Warm Regards,
Connie

Connie and Michael in Orlando
Connie and Michael in Orlando
Connie and Dr. Richard Bandler
Connie and Dr. Richard Bandler
Michael with Trainer John La Valle, and Connie
Michael with Trainer John La Valle, and Connie
Connie Brannan, Persuasion Engineer Connie Brannan, Persuasion Engineer
Posted in: Events, Hypnosis, NLP

“The Magic of Instant Change.”

Written by Connie

Want to learn something incredibly cool?  Want to hobnob with hypnotists?  Want to expand the horizons of what you thought possible in your life?  You can.  Come hear Michael speak on April 9th in Edmonds.  What would it be like to easily manipulate the structure of your reality, the pictures in your mind, the sound bites in your mind, the feelings in your body, your representations of the world, in such a way as to ALTER your reality?  Imagine that!  Alter your reality for the better.  We’re talking about “The Magic of Instant Change.”  Michael’s giving a talk in Edmonds on April 9th, 7:00 pm to the NGH-WA on just that!  Check out http://www.nghwa.org for details.

National Guild of Hypnotists
National Guild of Hypnotists

Michael is President of the NGH-WA, National Guild of Hypnotists, Washington State Chapter, again this year!  (I’m on the Board of Directors, too.)  🙂  We’re the local chapter of a national non-profit organization, the NGH, a professional organization dedicated to the futherance of hypnosis as a healing art, and the promotion of stage hypnosis as a profession as well.  It’s the oldest, largest, and most respected professional organization for hypnotists in the United States!  And Michael runs the show here in Washington!

We meet every month in Edmonds, and we typically have a professional give a talk on relevant hypnosis and NLP topics and April features the famously talented Michael Brannan, Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™, and Design Human Engineer ™.   These meetings are open to the public.  Come and visit us–there is a visitor fee of only $10 to attend, which is a bargain!

So, consider this your official invite!  I want you to come.  I want you to know about this stuff.  You’ll learn some things so mind-blowing, so easy, you’ll be amazed, awed, and delighted.  You can change your life.  You can get the life you want.  SO FAST!!  This is a taste, an example of the magic of NLP, “The Magic of Instant Change.”

And, if this taste becomes an addiction (a positive addiction), that would be a lucky, life-enriching thing for you, as there’s more learning available of course.  Michael and I have a teaching “wing” of our business, which offers NLP trainings and certifications.  It’s Mindworks NLP, and you can read all about it here:  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com.

It’s a little known fact that Michael’s a former university professor–he taught Philosophy at several universities.  Teaching has always been his bent, his passion.  He’s damn good at it!  He brings this expertise to his presentations, along with all the communication skills that NLP teaches as well.  Suffice it to say, he’s a lively, empassioned, entertaining speaker.  Give yourself a springtime treat, come hear Michael talk.  Some of that “Magic” might just rub off on you.

Hope to see you there.  It’s held at the PUD, rhymes with mud, on Aurora Avenue No.  Address, maps, details are here:  http://www.nghwa.org.  I’m excited!  🙂

Warm Regards,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt. Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Connie Brannan, CHt. Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Posted in: Hypnosis

Who wants to learn hypnosis? How to hypnotize and help…yourself and other people as well.

Written by Connie 3 Comments on Who wants to learn hypnosis? How to hypnotize and help…yourself and other people as well.
Michael and Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotists, Licensed Trainers of NLP (tm), Design Human Engineers (tm), and more!
Michael and Connie Brannan, Master Hypnotists, Licensed Trainers of NLP (tm), Design Human Engineers (tm), and more!

Hi!  Michael and I are offering a new course in the teaching side of what we do, through our licensed vocational school, Mindworks NLP.  We’re now teaching and training hypnosis!  Not necessarily self-hypnosis (though that’s involved) but HOW TO HYPNOTIZE.  Other people.  Formally.  And instantly.  We teach you many ways to induce trance.  Most importantly, we teach you what to do with people for easy, lasting and positive change once you get them there!

It’s about words.  It’s about language.  It’s about the mind, and how the mind works.  It’s about hypnosis and positive influence, unconscious influence.  It’s about well-forming goals.  It’s about attaching motivation to goals.  It’s about easy and powerful change.  And we teach you!  All this, and more!  🙂  Who wants to become a hypnotherapist?  Or learn more of the skills for your own personal enrichment?  Now’s your opportunity.

 And, as they say, when opportunity knocks, open that door and go in!  See what’s there for you.  This is for beginners as well as others who may want to improve their existing skills in hypnosis.  Become a “Certified Hypnotist!”

The training is 4 full days of lectures, demos, and experiential practice here in Bellevue, WA, beginning April 10th.  This year.  Soon.  As in, let’s do it!  The course is officially called:  “The Magic of Hypnosis – Introduction to Hypnotic Techniques and Therapeutic Suggestions for Change.”  But I have my own name for it.  🙂  I just call it “FUN!”  Maybe a couple more exclamation points.  FUN!!!

Here’s more info:

http://www.seattlenlptraining.com/

New:  Our Hypnosis Course:
“The Magic of Hypnosis – An Introduction to Hypnotic Techniques and Therapeutic Suggestions for Change.”

You’ll learn the fundamentals of hypnosis.  Powerful hypnotherapeutic processes.  What is hypnosis, how to hypnotize, how to influence the unconscious mind.  You’ll learn how to make lasting and powerful suggestions.  You’ll learn how to connect people’s motivations to their goals in irresistible ways.  You’ll learn how to create change that is easy, immediate and positive.

You’ll learn:
–how to hypnotize
–formal trance inductions
–instant inductions
–the art of hypno-babble
–direct suggestions that pack a whallop
–indirect suggestions (Ericksonian language)
–what is hypnosis, & how to recognize it
–the art of the “pretalk”
–guiding clients through well formed outcomes
–and more!

It’s cool stuff!  You can sign up for our hypnosis training right right now at http://www.seattlenlptraining.com (upper right column)!  The training dates are:  April 10, 11, 17 & 18, 2010 in Bellevue, Washington.  (more details to be emailed to participants).  We meet 9:00 am to 6:00 pm on those Saturdays and Sundays, which is perfect for residents of the Seattle metropolitan area who work during the week.

The price for this exciting 4 full days of training is only $795 to experience and master the magic of hypnosis.  It’s for the beginner and professional hypnotherapist alike.  Learn and hone existing skills through live experiential hands-on trainings with the best–Connie and Michael–both are master hypnotists!

Now, I don’t want to brag (well, yes, maybe I do!  Or maybe it’s not bragging when you can deliver what you offer), but Michael and I are fantastic at this.  Good at hypnosis.  Good at teaching.  Damn good.

So, that’s it.  You can sign up online.  Right now!  Or, if you’d like more information, you can email me at connie@seattlenlptraining.com or call!  Michael and I would be happy to answer any of your questions.  We’re limiting class size, of course, to assure personal attention.

If you’ve been reading my blog, you KNOW what I think about hypnosis.  It’s amazing, and it’s powerful, and it changes lives.  Doing this work makes me happier than I’ve ever been.  Maybe you’d like to discover that happiness for yourself as well.

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Events

Wanna be HYPNOTIZED? (At Bellevue College.)

Written by Connie
connie Purple Hoodie
Connie Brannan, Design Human Engineer (tm) and NLP Hypnotherapist.

Hi, Guys!  It’s that time again, I’m offering a couple courses for spring quarter at Bellevue College.  Self hypnosis!  Techniques for training your mind, and changing your life.  I share my secrets to enhancing confidence & self esteem and another course on weight loss!

And not only that, you get to LEARN the how-to and EXPERIENCE the power of trance for yourself.   Hypnosis.   It’s very, very cool. And it’s for everyone.  Even you!

These are sure to be smoking exciting classes.  Experiential.  C’mon down and get hypnotized.   A mere $89 for 2 evenings of training, a total of 6 hours. I teach self hypnosis to my clients one on one as well, but there, you’d pay a heck of a lot more. This is a DEAL not to be missed. If you’ve ever wondered about hypnosis, hop onto this extraordinary opportunity.

More about the courses:

Healthy Hypnosis: Let Go of Weight 
Imagine yourself in your “skinny jeans.” Hear the compliments of your family and friends. Like what you see when you look in the mirror! Feel the energy! The hypnosis skills taught in this workshop can help you unleash the infinite power within you to achieve all this! You’ll learn to reprogram your own mind to act in ways you desire: healthy choices, healthy eating, motivation to exercise. It won’t be a struggle, and it’s not a “diet,” it’s simply doing what you want to do. Your mind and your body will be working together–for your health!!

http://www.campusce.net/BC/course/course.aspx?C=11559&pc=1066&mc=1387&sc=

Building Confidence and Self-Esteem Through Self-Hypnosis
Do you fear public speaking, presentations, or approaching an attractive member of the opposite sex? Do you have an overall feeling of low self-esteem? Learn how to feel confident, comfortable and competent with a high level of self-esteem through self-hypnosis. Success is just a trance away! This experiential workshop is conducted by Connie Brannan, CHt, Design Human Engineer ™, Persuasion Engineer ™, Clinical Hypnotherapist, Professional Conversational Hypnotherapist and Licensed Trainer of Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™.

http://www.campusce.net/BC/course/course.aspx?C=11562&pc=1066&mc=1387&sc=

I’d love for you to learn this–as it’s something worth experiencing and worth knowing, and worth sharing!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis, Musings

Disney Hypnosis, Age Regression, and “Feelin’ good for no reason.”

Written by Connie
Connie and Michael at DisneyWorld.
Connie and Michael at DisneyWorld.

It was a “double whammy” of hypnosis!  🙂  Michael and I were in Orlando, Florida last week having the time of our lives in an advanced hypnosis training.  It’s called NLP, but according to Dr. Richard Bandler, the father and co-creator of NLP, NLP is  “high tech hypnosis.”  As the inventor of the thing, he should know!!  🙂  And that’s what we were learning.  More and more cool ways to run our minds the way we want them to run.  Creating designer brains.

Bandler is a master hypnotist. 

One of the cool things about hypnosis:  you learn best while IN hypnosis.  That’s my definition of hypnosis:  an accellerated learning state.  So, while we were sitting in this seminar room, the incredible and masterful Dr. Bandler was spinning his web of words and ideas and hypnotized us into learning more.  Hypnotized us into a state of FEEL GOOD.  Learning to feel good in our lives.  As he puts it:  “for no reason at all.”  Feelin’ good for no reason at all.  What an idea!!  🙂  Changing the neurology of our body to experience life differently.  Talking to our conscious minds enough to keep us engaged and entertained and loving it, talking to our unconscious minds a WHOLE LOT more.  Perhaps 5% conscious learning to 95% unconscious learning.

Bandler is a master hypnotist.  So was Walt Disney.  And the worlds he created are still hypnotizing us.

So, Michael and I were walking around in a wonderful learning trance for two weeks in Orlando, Florida.  We had a day off between trainings, and we decided to go to Disneyworld!   Layered with Bandler trance, we entered the “Magic Kingdom” and Disney Hypnosis took hold. 

Talk about age regression!  Another hypnotic phenomenon!  Age regression:  returning to an earlier time in your life, in your mind.  When you do this or see this, the person changes before your eyes.  Looks different, sounds different, and for sure, acts differently.  Have you ever seen a grown man stomping his feet and having a tantrum?–I had bosses like that.  How do you talk to a 3-year-old in an adult body?  At Disney, our regressions were all good feelings!

Look at the “ears” picture above.  How old are we?  Look at this picture.  How old is the person in the car, inside himself?
Go speed racer, go!
Go speed racer, go!

I asked Michael.  How old are you in this picture?  He said:  “10, 12 years old.”  🙂  I can see that.

You know how a song can “imprint” into your mind, and keeps running and keeps running?  We heard a song at Disney, and it imprinted on Michael.  And he’s been singing it for a week or two now so it’s sure as shooting imprinting into me as well.  “There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow.”  One of Walt’s theme songs.  It accompanies an exhibit called “Carousel of Progress.”  Here are the words:

“There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of ev’ryday
There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow
And tomorrow’s just a dream away

Man has a dream and that’s the start
He follows his dream with mind and heart
And when it becomes a reality
It’s a dream come true for you and me

So there’s a great big beautiful tomorrow
Shining at the end of ev’ryday
There’s a great big beautiful tomorrow
Just a dream away”

I mean, he wakes up singing this thing into my ear!  🙂  The today of right now is clearly the tomorrow he was dreaming of big and beautiful and bright and filling him with joy in the morning.  That’s a good thing–and quite different from his old “wake up” pattern!  The man’s been hypnotized!

Obviously, Disney was onto something.  Something compelling and powerful.  Hypnosis!  The hypnosis to feel good.  What would it be like if we all could experience life from a state of automatic FEEL GOOD?  What would it be like to enjoy life more and more, and feel like an 8 year old walking through the gates to Disneyland any time we wanted to?  Fill ourselves with passion and excitement, enthusiasm and joy?  What would it be like to experience life in that way, anyday, everyday, for no reason?

Feel good for no reason.  Expect great things.  Why not?  How much joy can you stand?  I admire Walt’s hypnotic magic.  I have some of my own, too.  I help people do this.  Bring good feelings where they’re useful and create positive change because when you feel differently you have different brain chemistry, and you think differently, you experience life differently, and you act differently.

Warm Regards & wishing you a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (and today),
Connie

Connie at Disney.
Connie at Disney.
Posted in: Hypnosis

Spring!

Written by Connie
It's spring in Seattle!
It's spring in Seattle!

I often use a lot of nature imagery with clients, it’s so easy to do and something we all experience and understand well – the changing of the seasons.  Spring in particular is perfect for a hypnotic metaphor.  It’s “new life,” it’s “new beginnings,”  it’s “change,” it’s “freshness,” it’s “growth,” it’s “color,” it’s full of promise and opportunity, it’s magnificent.  And it’s happening NOW.  Just like we want your own life changes to be doing.  Happening now.  Right now!  It’s time.

Michael and I were in rainy and cold Florida for two weeks getting our minds stuffed full of useful new hypnosis and NLP tools.  We both have two new certificates to add to the “I love me” wall:  per the King of hypnosis, Dr. Richard Bandler, we are now “Design Human Engineers,” and “Persuasion Engineers.”  TM (trademark) on both.  🙂  It’s interesting that the more STUFF I learn, the more tools I acquire and add to my healing toolbelt, the lighter it gets.  The lighter I feel.  These aren’t like hammers and anvils weighing me down, these are tools to LIFT and enhance life.  More!  And fine tools they are, for fine tuning life.

So, we arrived home to discover that spring has sprung.  How nice!  The trees outside my office window are blooming now, providing the perfect metaphor for the unconscious minds of my clients!

You don’t have to drive through the University of Washington Arboretum or walk through the cherry-blossom quad on campus to see some fresh blooming life, you can look in the mirror.  After seeing me, of course.  I’m ready.  Are you?

Warm Spring Regards,
Connie

Posted in: NLP

Design Human Engineering

Written by Connie
Connie and Michael with Dr. Richard Bandler, the KING!
Connie and Michael with Dr. Richard Bandler, the KING, in March of 2008!

Michael and I are off to Orlando, Florida to learn more TOOLS for change from the renowned co-originator of NLP — Dr. Richard Bandler. Strategies for personal change. And for helping our clients and students change. I’m so excited, been waiting for this training for 2 years! And now, it’s 2 days away. Time keeps on slippin, slippin, slippin into the fu-ture! That’s right. And it’s a good thing.

Learning is a never-ending process, and I’m so grateful for another opportunity to learn. From the best of the best. 🙂   We’re learning “Persuasion Engineering” and “Design Human Engineering.”  We studied with Dr. Bandler before, in his “Charisma Enhancement” (yes, it worked) and Licensed Trainer’s Training.

For more about NLP and Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™ and how amazing it is for life change, feel free to check out the training side of what Michael and I do:  http://www.seattlenlptraining.com.  We’re offering another Licensed Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™ training in April and May, 2010. 

I’ll be in touch, updating my blog and site(s) from the road and from the trainings.

Warmest Regards from warm and sunny Florida! (soon)
Connie

Posted in: NLP

Fear not

Written by Connie 2 Comments on Fear not

www.mindworkshypnosis.net to end fearHi, guys!

Lately, I’ve been thinking about fear.  And how unneccessary it is.  To feel it.  I had a spider phobia for a LONG time, long long long time.  Decades.  (I don’t really want to advertise how old I am, but I know precisely when and where I learned to be afraid of spiders–I was grade school age, probably around 7, at the bus stop on Mercer Island, off of 72nd street–while talking to a girl named Paige.)  It was a one-shot learning.  And, as I discovered a few years ago,  it can be unlearned just as quickly.

I was telling a story to Paige.  Not a nice story.  It was about spiders.  I was trying to scare HER.  With words.  And somehow, I scared myself so thoroughly and horrifically, that it STUCK.  I suppose that’s justice!  I was terrified of spiders for more than 30 years.  Seeing a spider would set me OFF–body recoiling, heart pounding, adrenalin pumping, an involuntary gasp or scream or two, and so on.  But not only that–I lived “on alert” for spiders.  Anytime I would enter a room, any room, but primarily bathrooms, I’d scan, the floor, the walls, the crevices, looking for danger.  Looking for spiders.   Any spider, regardless of size, would set off the same phobic response in me, even microscopic spiders.  If I’d see a speck or dot across the room on the wall, I’d have to wonder and worry:  “Is that a spider?”

I had what my hubby came to call “bug radar.”  If a spider was anywhere near, I’d know it.  And, freak out!

To lessen the tension of this horrific story about how I was tortured for decades with fear–let me tell a more pleasant spider anecdote!  When I first started dating my future hubby, I had an apartment.  He had an apartment.  Neither of us had cars.  One night, I was getting ready for bed, and found–horrors!!–a spider in my bathtub.  What to do?  I could not, no way, no how, just go to bed knowing a spider was around.  Nor could I touch it, or go near it.  I was distraught.  I called Michael.  That sweet man took a city bus across town (probably more than 1 bus) to come save me that night.  When he did that, I knew it was LOVE!   Then and there I decided to keep him, forever, and I am.  29 years and counting!!  🙂

So, anyway, everyone knew about my spider “thing” and some people laughed at me about it.  Like my mother.  We went camping and a spider was crawling up her leg at one point in one of those open-air-bathrooms in the woods.  She laughed, thinking how I would scream.  Yes, I would have.  I didn’t see or know any way out of this FEAR.  Yes, I knew it was unreasonable, spiders are tiny, I wasn’t, and yes, I could stomp the living daylights out of them, but that did not lessen the FEAR.  The panic response in my body.  The conscious mind wasn’t in charge of this thing.

NLPLOGO
Seal of the Society of Neuro-Linguistic Programming TM (your seal of the best).

Until 4 years ago.  I learned NLP.  And NLP can crush the daylights out of fear.  Quicker than you can imagine.  See, when you learn something, you’ve got a pattern running in you.  Mine was spider:  shriek!  spider:  recoil!  spider:  fear!  All three of those things together.  Well, NLP broke the pattern.  In about 15 minutes, conversationally, I learned something new, a new pattern.  A pattern called:  spider:  feel calm!  spider:  feel neutral!  spider:  feel clear-minded!  And that new pattern has been running for 4 years in me.  I’m not afraid anymore.

Of course, I was super skeptical—how could something that’s been such a terror to me just vanish?  Well, it did, and how I KNEW, how I came to believe was the next time I came face to face with a spider.  Nothing.  No reaction in my body.  I felt so amazingly free.  Calm gives me the clarity to see if the spider is actually a threat or not.  Some spiders ARE dangerous.  It’s miraculous, actually.  That’s what NLP is and does:  miracles on demand.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming ™.  Neuro meaning the neurology in your body, how you feel and function.  Linguistic meaning communications, spoken, unspoken, language, etc.  Programming to me means change.  Changing how you feel in your body via communication.  My spider fear was changed to my spider calm.  Neutral.  An absense of any negative feelings.  How wonderful.

NLP is miraculous on phobias.  Every kind.  It’s all just unconscious associations, stimulus response patterns which  get learned/installed.  I can help you learn something better, and more resourceful.  Because I’ve learned NLP.

I’ve worked with a wide variety of fears and anxieties with my clients, from claustrophobia, to fear of flying, to fear of public speaking, to fear of records stores, to fear of deep water, to fear of the wind, fear of heights, fear of spiders, and so on… with GREAT success.  NLP works!  Hypnosis works.  Together, they really, really work.

I declare 2010 the “free from fear” year.  I want to help people release fear.  Sometimes fear makes sense and is appropriate, but when it isn’t–let me help!  I’d love to.  And I know it works.  Every time I come face to face with a spider–a rare thing now–I know it.

I saw a spider on the floor of my bathroom about a month ago, sitting by the edge of some pants that I had thrown on the floor (don’t tell anybody), and it didn’t bother me at all.  Before, it would have been a FREAK OUT DELUXE that a spider might get into my clothes…here it was live and let live.  I didn’t care enough about the spider to even DO anything about it.  It was there for several days, sitting in the corner, and I noticed it calmly and ignored it. That’s freedom.

If you’ve got an irrational fear, think about this: How would you rather feel?  The tools I know can get you there, into that new feeling.  Rapido!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Connie Brannan, CHt., Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Connie Brannan, CHt., Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Posted in: Hypnosis

Candy Hallucinations…or, it’s all licorice!

Written by Connie

Hi, Hypno-Friends.

I’m my own guinea pig. 🙂 And that’s a good thing. I work on myself (hypnotically and NLP Nelp-notically) all the time to improve my life! And Michael works with me, too. I have a cute story from yesterday to share!

We were out and about on a Sunday running errands, and we ended up in a little arcade of shops that includes a candy store. One of those colorful “every-kind-of candy-you-can-imagine” in bulk bins stores. PLUS, it was also an ice cream shoppe and coffee shop. Not that I was drawn through any particular URGE into the candy store, but I thought: it’s a good time to test my responses. To chocolate, to sugar, to CANDY! So, I went in!

Now, you have to know my history a little. Candy was MY THING. All my life. Candy Connie. We’re talking addictive behavior. It was the focus of much of my life, pretty much. Eating it, finding it, buying it, hoarding it, making it, too. Having it around made me feel safe. But mostly, my focus was buying it and eating it. I think I learned that from my mom–she had candy every day of her life. It was always around. And I ate it every day, too. Too much of it. As a kid, Halloween was my favorite holiday. Candy!!! Yay!!! As an adult and bargain hunter, Halloween was still my favorite holiday, especially the day after Halloween and also the day after Valentine’s and other “chocolate holidays.” Half price candy! I was delirious with joy! 🙂

I remember those days, but I no longer feel the pull. Of sugar. Hypnosis is wonderful for focusing your mind on healthy choices, and I’ve been doing it for 3-4 years now. I don’t eat candy at all. And I don’t think about it–in general. But here was this candy store, so I thought: “Let’s go test!”

I went inside the store and looked around, and also looked INside me to see how I was feeling. The main question: “Did I want any? Did the candy look appealing to me? Was there a temptation to buy any?” No, no, and no. But here’s the funny thing. All these bins, all these choices, and the only thing I could notice were the candies I don’t like. The ones I’ve NEVER liked. Like root beer flavor (yuck!) gummies, like LICORICE. Black licorice. Hate it!!! I wouldn’t eat that in a million years–even before during my heydey of sugar abandon. Sweet-tart legos. Also yick. My mind was sorting for “yick,” and nothing looked good.

Suddenly, in my imagination, everything was licorice. Those horrid bins of black licorice “all sorts.” That’s what I saw, that’s what I felt (I would never eat that), and then I left the store. Somehow, all the nice, fancy chocolates never caught my eye or attention. The ice cream–didn’t notice it. It was a store full of black licorice all sorts. “Let me OUT of here!!”

A naturally occurring hypnotic phenomenon is hallucination. Both positive hallucinations (seeing something that isn’t there) and negative hallucinations (not seeing something that IS there.) I was having negative hallucinations. Standing in that candy store, I didn’t see anything appealing. It was kind of cool and kind of weird at the same time. This was never something directly suggested to me (the candy I used to like is invisible) but it seems to be how my new healthy eating focus is manifesting here. I like it!

One more quick story, similar in nature. I was in Las Vegas assisting with a conversational hypnosis training a couple months ago. I brought in some bags of M&M’s for the group. Giant bags containing many mini bags–those little treat size bags of M&M’s–like you get at Halloween! 🙂 Anyway, apparently they were tempting one of my friends there, named Kerry. His downfall: peanut M&M’s. He asked me to do some hypnosis and NLP with him to help him with the candy and sugar cravings. I did. He also reported a very interesting hallucination effect. Weirder even than mine! He told me that next morning he literally DID NOT SEE the packages of M&M’s on the table. He could see the fabric of the tablecloth underneath, kind of buckled and wrinkled like something was on it, but didn’t see the candy. He was freaked! And admiring. And happy. So, he didn’t eat any. You don’t eat what you don’t see.

The upshot of all this: when you choose healthy eating, your unconscious mind “makes it so.” Like Jean Luc Picard on the bridge of the Starship Enterprise. “Make it so!!” My unconscious mind was sure doing it in a very fascinating and creative way. Yes, if all candy was black licorice, I wouldn’t touch it. And I don’t. 🙂 Feelin’ good, still losing weight here.

Warm Regards, and Happy February!
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

How I discovered Hypnosis!

Written by Connie

For my hypno-friends!  Here’s a film clip from my recent presentation at Evergreen Hospital Medical Center, where I gave a talk about hypnosis and weight management.  That event was fun, as I LOVE to talk about hypnosis–my passion.

My presentation was filmed, and I hope to eventually share several video “snippets” with you, because I like a lot of what I say there.  🙂

However, it’s slow going to perform my own video editing given that I haven’t yet really given myself the time to LEARN thoroughly the editing program I’m using.  Yet, I can and have been doing it anyway.   I want to do it better, and more efficiently…and, of course, I will.  For now, I’ve created one Youtube video from Evergreen, where I tell a story about “How I Discovered Hypnosis!”  Here it is:  🙂

 

Let me know your impressions…  (As long as they’re positive!) 🙂

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Musings

“Too Stimulating”

Written by Connie
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net
http://www.mindworkshypnosis.net

Hi, here’s another “musing.”  🙂  I was on the phone today with a potential student for my NLP and hypnosis trainings, and she informed me that my website, Mindworks Hypnosis was overly “stimulating.”  I laughed out loud.  I’m doubtful that she meant something positive by it, but I see that comment as a good thing!  Oh, yes!

Stimulation is good in my book.  According to dictionary dot com, stimulation means:  arouse, activate, excite.  Those words all sound beautiful to me.  OVER-stimulation, well, that’s a sliding scale of subjectivity, and everyone is different.  Some people would be overstimulated sitting quiety in a dark room, and others might be UNDER-stimulated while riding a roller-coaster at the fair.  If there were no stimulation, life would be a flat line affair.

Arouse!  Activate!  Excite!  Yes, that’s what I want my website to do!  Yes, that’s what I want my words and stories to do, whether I’m teaching or working with clients, or just talking, or writing this blog.  And yes, that’s what hypnosis itself does.   Hypnosis = Stimulation.  In hypnosis, we stimulate the unconscious mind–to see that things can be different, and better.

In discussions with hypno-friends we discuss this idea of sleep.  Hypnosis as sleep.  How erroneous can an idea be??  What hypnosis does is wake a person up!!  Wake a person up to new possibilities and creativity and his/her own strengths and abilities to move in that direction.  Wake up!!   A lot of us live self-imposed limited lives, we trudge through a lot of our days on autopilot, with blinders on, robotic, zombie-like, and assuming what happened yesterday has to happen today and has to happen tomorrow.    Boxes, walls, trapped!  (I know this feeling, because I used to live this way, too.)  Trapped!  No way, Jose!  Wake up!!  Hypnosis wakes a person up to choice, and stimulates a recognition of the limitless vistas of possibility.

Things can be different.  Beginning now.

I’m happy to stimulate people to see beyond, to imagine more.  When that girl said my website was too “stimulating,” I think she meant it as a criticism.  I take it as a giant compliment!

Warm Regards,
Connie

Posted in: Hypnosis

Podcasts – Coming Soon!

Written by Connie
Connie Brannan, CHt., Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist
Connie Brannan, CHt., Neuro-Linguistic Hypnotherapist

Hi, friends!

I was just interviewed via podcast, for inclusion on a new website about everyday hypnosis.  Michael and I, both!  Stay turned for the podcasts which I will share with you all as soon as they are available. 

In the interview, I’m talking about the power of hypnosis for positive change, in my own life and health and for everyone.   I focus my remarks and stories primarily on weight loss!  Michael focuses on hypnosis for sports enhancement (in his case the martial arts–where he holds a black belt in karate) and learning enhancement.    That man is smart as a whip!  And guess what helps?  Hypnosis is a powerful tool for success in all these things.

Here’s my new tagline about hypnosis:  “It’s good stuff.”  Yes, it is!

The interviewer is a friend of mine, a gentleman hypnotist named David Karasek.  He’s another strong proponent, like me!, of hypnosis as a force for good in the world.  Yes, it is!

Warm Regards,
Connie

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