The whole idea of eye fixation has some merit. It’s true that concentration and focus are key ingredients in achieving hypnosis. And eye fixation was in fact used commonly, decades ago, in inducing hypnosis. The desired state of a hypnotic subject is to have them completely relaxed, eyes closed, so that their focus is internal, rather than external. To really shut out the external channels, you need to eliminate your visual sense temporarily, your external visual sense that is. Eliminate what you see on the outside, so that you can focus on what you see inside your own psyche. So that means having your eyes closed. Eye fixation achieves this. It helps someone’s eyes to become tired, and eventually close. A hypnotist might ask a client to focus on any specific object or point in the room. Obviously something above eye level will tire the eyes more quickly, and that’s the whole point of using eye fixation. Some clients expect that I will ask them to look straight into my eyes during an induction, or that I will produce some sort of visual tool like a swinging watch to induce hypnosis and begin their therapy session. I personally do not usually employ this method of induction. The theory that there needs to be complete visual focus in order to achieve hypnosis is essentially false. It doesn’t get you there any faster nor does it induce a deeper state of trance. In the event a client expects to be subjected to that visual focus, or believes it will help in some way, I do carry around something in my briefcase, which I have in fact used once or twice. The image of the swinging watch is a visual reference that most people readily associate with hypnotic induction. It’s a pop culture classic, really. That’s because it’s been frequently used in television and movies, and for many people who’ve never experienced hypnosis or self-hypnosis, they know only what they’ve seen or been exposed to. Watching an induction on television would be rather boring if it didn’t have some sort of visual element for the audience to witness and capture. Watching someone lying silently on a sofa with their eyes closed is not nearly as engaging as the image of the swinging watch. A viewer almost feels like he is part of the experience too. There have been many variations represented as well, it’s not always a watch or pendulum, but all have the same basic premise, which is that eye fixation is the route to achieving that hypnotic state. In the movies it’s always done in such a way that it suggests an element of strangeness, or mystery, almost fear. I personally believe that there is a strong connection between the eyes and the brain. But I don’t think eye fixation is necessary to induce hypnosis. In fact I know that it is not. I’ve induced hundreds of clients to various levels of hypnotic depth without the use of any visual concentration off the top. None of our recordings dictate any kind of eye fixation, either. It’s a method that hasn’t been used in years. In fact, rather than advancing the hypnotic state, it actually takes longer to achieve it when you use eye fixation because you are starting with the eyes open. Most current methods of induction simply require that the client start by closing their eyes. This essentially bypasses that whole stage, the whole process of getting the eyes to shut. We skip right over that and go straight to vocal induction with eyes already closed, thereby achieving hypnosis much more quickly and deeply. There are many different methods of induction. Verbal induction can sometimes include what I call the internal external experience, to help with hypnosis. This is where I might suggest to my client during induction that he should concentrate on how the palm of his hand feels, for example, as he listens to my voice. No matter the approach, the common practice in inducing hypnosis is progressive relaxation. The more relaxed your subject becomes, the deeper the hypnotic state they will achieve. And progressive relaxation can be achieved in different ways, including with the use of eye fixation. When someone asks me about eye fixation or the swinging pendulum, I just tell them what I truly believe: that it’s an old fashioned approach, and that it takes time, and has no benefit in terms of improving the outcome. It may have been thought to be necessary at one time, but it isn’t so in modern times, and can be bypassed in favor of a simpler and more rapid execution. There is absolutely no benefit to the results in using eye fixation, nor is there any compromise in not using it.

My oldest son and I watched a movie from his great collection “Robin Hood Prince of Thieves.” There is a great quote in the movie which I was eager to use this week where Kevin Costner playing Robin Hood says, “Nobility is not a birth-right; it is defined by one’s actions.” The term “Nobility” refers to people who were “known” or “notable” and the word was applied to the highest social classes in medieval times. One had to be born into families of the upper classes to be considered a noble. Because those of nobility were also wealthy, they could afford the best of everything the world had to offer including education. Those who were noble were expected to act noble. But as is the case with all societies throughout history, those of noble birth seldom acted nobly. In the classic movie Robin Hood, a once young prince of such a noble class found himself imprisoned by the enemy in Jerusalem for fighting on England’s side in the holy wars. After escaping he returned home only to find his property and family destroyed by the greedy sheriff of Nottingham who has misused his appointment to gain riches in the King’s absence. Robin of Locksley soon gathers a group of peasant farmers willing to fight and Robin along with his companions begins a campaign of stealing from the rich and giving to the poor and winds up confronting the larger than life philosophical issue concerning the meaning of nobility. The movie makes for great entertainment as my son would surely know as he has only the best of best movies in his collection. The quote in the movie which concerns itself with people’s actions, is the epitome of the movie in my humble opinion. The way we act towards one another should be of vital interest for us all. The term nobility has many definitions. In Robin Hood, Costner’s character shows us what nobility really is as he portrays the actions of a true noble throughout the movie. I believe this is why the story of Robin Hood has such universal appeal. We have, all of us, born within us a secret yearning for excellence of being. That is what nobility should be; a principle, a way of acting that sets high standards. Nobility is not a class of people; it is people with class. It is action of a higher order. It is embodied in what the Greeks called “Arete”. It is the notion of personal excellence. It is the act of living up to one’s full potential. Nobility is what the great Greeks philosophers interpreted as virtue. From Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, II vi 15, “virtue (or nobility) is a settled disposition of the mind determining the choice of actions and emotions, consisting essentially in the observance of the mean relative to us, this being determined by principle, that is, as the prudent man would determine it.” Don’t let the lush language used here confuse you as to the simple meaning of nobility. Nobility means living the best you can in what ever circumstance you find yourself. In Robin Hood, Costner’s character exhibited behavior of an excellent nature. He was kind, yet he was not afraid to fight for what is right. He was not condescending towards others but was considerate. He was chivalrous and meek, yet he was bold and self asserting. He was a man’s man. He was a woman’s man. What we should derive from the story of Robin Hood is that humankind should strive to be excellent in all that we do. If sales is your occupation, are you ethical in what we do for customers? If you are a physician, do you treat your patients in the best possible way exhibiting excellence in your bed-side manner? If you are a teacher, do you strive to teach so that students will understand you easily? If you are a judge, do you put prejudice aside when you are judging a case in court? If you are a psychologist or therapist, do you practice confidentiality and do you seek the patient’s best interest at all times? As a parent, are you patient with your children and do you treat your children with respect? As a spouse, are you honorable in the way you treat your spouse? All these questions can be summarized using one; do you seek excellence in all that you do? It is a mind set. It is not one action. It affects all your actions. It is a way of being. If you seek this way of living, you will see many doors of opportunity open for you. You will have the power of the universe on your side. You will be tested though because we live in a world that is for the most part exactly opposite of excellence or nobility. Nobility is a journey you will never regret. You will be empowered when you begin to live the life of nobility; and you put yourself in the best place to acquire wealth and success if you strive to live a life of excellence. It is my goal and desire and I hope it is yours too.

Being grateful on a daily basis for just one week is clinically proven to have had benefits lasting for six months or more by studies by clinical psychologists in the academic field of positive psychology. Spiritual masters have known and advocated gratitude for literally millenia. Personal development gurus also state that gratitude is a practice works for success, happiness and abundance. But how do you “be grateful?” The simple answer is do the opposite of being ungrateful or feeling that there is nothing to be grateful for. There are always millions of reasons to be grateful. The opportunity for gratitude is limitlessly abundant. You can never run out of things to be grateful for, because the universe never ceases to support you, even when it seems things are going wrong. In fact, things seeming that they are going wrong is simply the universe pointing out that there is a big reason to be grateful! Why don’t people get the lesson and continue to act as victims of a cruel and unfair world? It is just a valuable life lesson – a lesson in gratitude. Gratitude is not limited to winning the lottery, getting on TV or passing the exams. To be grateful can mean to be abundant and rich, right now with what you have got. I personally guarantee that around you, right now, you have more than 50 things you could be grateful for. You see, gratitude is a choice. Choosing to be grateful activates positive thoughts and feelings. It is even proven to improve spiritual connection by clinical psychological studies. For a start, you are reading this article at a computer most likely. Can’t you be grateful for the technology? Of course you can. How about having food on the table? What about clothes? Do you have any friends? What if you could be grateful for those things you take for grantid? This is not an excuse to beat yourself up, or a criticism that says you “ought to be” grateful. This can be counterproductive. The old cliche of telling your children to “think of the poor starving children in Ethiopia” to get them to finish their plate never served those children in Ethiopia. If anything it taught children to stuff themselves beyond their physical need, worse yet created food addictions and obesity. What this article is saying is that if you do choose to be grateful, even and especially, starting with the small things, that maybe have been taken for grantid, then increased happiness in some capacity is actually guaranteed if it is formed into a daily habit over the course, preferably of 21 days or more. If you don’t know how to be grateful, start today. If you have ANY worries in your life, start being grateful today. It will powerfully shift your focus allowing those problems that you have been holding onto to be resolved by you or dissolved by you… Probably the best way to start the habit of gratitude in a world that is dominated by a media negativity for a majority of people is to get pen onto paper. This will get your cortical brain working again and take you out of the arousal state into calm composure. You’ll be thinking again. Getting down on paper 10 things that you could be grateful for – even if you feel there is nothing to be grateful for is like planting a seed that will alter your destiny. Maybe the changes will be subtle at first, but there will be changes. Here is an example gratitude list of small and big things that anyone could be grateful for, especially when your holding on to stuff which serves little sane or real purpose in order to complain, to worry or to gain sympathy for the problem that noone created but you in the first place. This is a random list. It is advised that you make your own list. Starting now. Right now. Not later. Not when you’ve finished the article, checked your email or anything else. But right now. Put gratitude into action and see what it does for you. 1. Having a computer and having the time to read an article on it. 2. Food on the table all the life so far – wouldn’t be alive if that was not true. 3. Living in a country with good health care and a stable society. 4. Being able to improve myself using a proven technique – gratitude 5. To be able to be grateful just for nature – not needing material riches in order to be happy – happiness is a choice and I choose to be happy today 6. Cashflow and having the money to be able to do what I want if I really choose to do it 7. Hands, arms, legs, feet, eyes, ears, voice that work well. 8. Knowledge about X subject 9. A family that loves and cares about me. 10. Movies that have cost millions to make that I can watch for a minute fraction of that cost Ok, its possible that not all of those do apply to you, but for the majority of people, most of those things are fairly modest things to be grateful for. You see, you can always be grateful. Not because you should or you ought. Not because God will punish you if you are not grateful. But because it will increase your own personal abundance, success and happiness. Do it for you! Be grateful today and everyday and watch how your life begins to improve in every area. One last thing. Let’s say you’ve got a really bad challenge on at the moment that seems like it just cannot be resolved. Maybe its a longstanding health issue, or maybe you’ve been stuck in a self created or “natural disaster” created financial situation that has been bugging you. Sometimes, these seemingly unfortunate events can be completely turned around when looking for the good in the situation. Ask youself: what in this situation could I be grateful for? Keep digging for answers to this question and similar other questions… In this way you will find positive and start off on a new track towards the already expansive realms of solution – and excitement, enthusiasm, peace of mind and joy, instead of into the expanding problem and what comes with it – anxiety, unhappiness, frustration etc. Maybe it is an opportunity for you to learn. Or to meet someone, or to get your life finally into gear in the way you really wanted. Maybe the challenge will enable you to help others once you have got through it yourself. The more reasons you can find to be grateful, right here and now, the more quickly you will find a way to resolve your challenge in a way that is for your highest good. Surprise yourself today by making a big list of things you could feel gratitude about and cultivate those feelings of gratitude. You’ll find gratitude is a pleasure rather than a pain. And a gift rather than a chore. Go for it!

One of the better means that can be employed to beat procrastination is being aware of how to manage time in the best and most effective manner and though procrastination is a very common occurrence in our lives, there is still a need to overcome procrastination so that many of the adverse consequences of procrastinating do not end up spoiling your life. Thus, any help you can get cure your procrastination would be welcome and so there is a need to look at some of these steps that can do the trick for you. A very simple step you can take in order to beat procrastination is to do the task that you consider is the worst at the top of all your other tasks and the advantage of taking this option is that much like swallowing a frog, once you get that into your system the rest of the tasks will pass off much better and will be easier to do. A second step that you can take if you want to cure procrastination is to break down tasks into easily manageable smaller tasks, and if you remember that the best way to climb a mountain is to take one step at a time then the wisdom of breaking down tasks into smaller tasks will make more sense to you and thus prove an effective remedy to procrastination. Those putting off exceptionally difficult tasks can learn how to overcome procrastination by thinking of the task in small pieces rather than a large problem. Think back to other projects that were completed and relate them to the existing one. To help learn how to overcome procrastination avoid planning long projects, start with ones that can be done in five or ten minutes and do not stop until the either the time expires of the job is complete. Either way it will be a positive step in the right direction. You can also beat procrastination by delegating work to others including friends, and once you get a task begun, the rest of the task becomes easier to perform and in the same vein you can also try and do parts of a particular task that is more pleasing to do first and then do the rest of the task later. That way, the unpleasant tasks don’t seem so unpleasant and you will have taken a step forward which often is the hardest part about doing your work on time. Another useful method that can be employed at conquering procrastination is taking just fifteen minutes on every task that needs to be performed in which time you can get the task moved ahead and then a momentum can be built that will make the rest of the task easier to complete. Other steps that you can take to beat procrastination include tracking your goals and trying your best to keep the tasks moving ahead, and best of all you should have a system of reward and punishment for tasks completed on time and those have remained unfinished respectively. The best part of procrastination is that it is something that is not permanent and though you may be successful, procrastination can still affect you, and remember that with some of these simple tips, you can easily beat procrastination.

I was in the middle of lunch when the email came through. Julie had some news she was absolutely bursting to share. She’d just had one of those moments of excitement where everything made sense and she wanted to share it. ‘You know Neil,’ she said, ‘I thought you were joking. Here I was in debt, trying to work around kids, and to be honest struggling because I felt like a hypocrite – I mean, whose going to come to a stressed holistic therapist for relaxation!’ It was a few minutes later, as I returned to my salad, that I actually got the power my work had on her. Because later in that email she said, ‘Suddenly things you told me about clicked into place – about time you’re probably thinking! I mean it is a few weeks since we last spoke!’ Julie went on, ‘When I got things straight in my head, I began to do things differently and suddenly the debts are reducing, the kids are playing nicely and five new clients have found me.’ Julie agreed that I could share her personal story with you, because she felt – and I agree with her – that maybe you or some people you know will find inspiration from it. Personally, I’m always moved by people overcoming the odds whether that’s: how a woman from Rwanda escaped, learned English and wrote a book that told her story; or an ordinary woman from the Midlands mastered some fundamentals. You see, a lot of people relate to Julie: an “ordinary” mum of two while struggling to balance the kids, self-emplyment and cash flow. But she changed it all around. With Julie we’re talking big picture, life changes. But last night I had to practice what I preach to improve my own state of mind. Because to be honest, at 7.30pm it wasn’t looking good. You see, I’d had a busy day of meetings and when I got home I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was tired and I’m sorry to say, I was a bit grumpy. The TV was on and it would have been easy to just accept it’s programming and sleep with my eyes open for a few hours. But I thought to myself, ‘No, I am really alive and my brain does work and there must therefore be something better than this to do.’ So I sat back and had a fantasy about what would be better than staring at the TV. I played out the fantasies in my mind and began to feel more energized and happier. I then did some gentle exercise and took a bath. Come 9pm, having spent almost 90 minutes caring and nurturing me, I had a buzz again (which I doubt TV would have given me – unless I put my fingers in the back of it! . With Julie it was more of a ‘holistic-overhaul’ than a one day choice. What I worked on her with Julie was her goals, then we worked on her awareness of what was in the way of their achievement. Julie is just one example of a process that works like a dream. With love and good wishes Neil