It’s never just a bad habit.
Clients come to me all the time for issues such as smoking cessation, overeating, nail biting, and more. All of these are examples of bad habits which people hope can be overcome, very quickly, by using hypnosis. While hypnosis is an excellent tool for overcoming bad habits such as these, bad habits are always more than what they seem on the surface.
"Bad habits are always coping mechanisms for stress a person is experiencing in their lives."
Working with thousands of clients has shown me that regardless of the reason, bad habits are always coping mechanisms for stress a person is experiencing in their lives. This stress can come from any source such as repressed grief, anger, or sadness, workplace stress, physical pain and illness, familial dynamics, or limiting beliefs internalized from outside messages from well meaning people in our lives.
Bad habits do not discriminate. They affect everyone regardless of age, nationality, education, income level, religion, or gender and sex and, despite how you feel in this moment, if you have a bad habit (or several) there is nothing to be ashamed of. The reason you have nothing to be ashamed of is because, in actuality, everything we do, every activity we engage in, is a coping mechanism. It’s just that some coping mechanisms bring us closer to our true selves and other coping mechanisms take us further away. You are not alone in your struggle and it is something you can overcome.
Bad habits are everywhere and most are not what we would normally think of as a bad habit. Anything you cannot control and causes you distress is a bad habit, an addiction. This includes feelings you can’t control, words you can’t stop saying to yourself, activities you can’t stop partaking in, etc. Some bad habits and addictions are lionized by our society while others are reviled. Overexercising is often perceived as a good thing. Overeating not so much. Workaholism is often applauded. Alcoholism has been labeled a disease in attempts to mitigate the shame associated with it. Anything we can’t control or manage effectively is a bad habit, an addiction.
So, if you’re here because you’d like to break a bad habit such as smoking, or you’re doing research to help a family member who needs help stopping a bad habit, please remember that it’s not just about the bad habit. The bad habit is a symptom of other issues that may be hard to acknowledge. There may be guilt associated with the other issues, or shame, or fear, or hopelessness. It’s never actually about the bad habit. But the bad habit is a valuable tool to get you to the point where you’re willing to deal with the deeper issue.
We help with both. Our methods help you or your loved ones overcome their bad habits and neutralize the associated underlying issues. We do this reliably, consistently, and in a way that is enjoyable and fun. Our methods are appropriate for people of all ages and all demographics, and our programs are customized for each person’s unique situation and needs. Here’s how we do it.
Strategy
Most people fail to achieve change in their lives when working with a professional such as a coach or therapist because they start the change process by searching for change strategies. This is the wrong place to start because strategies can be found anywhere and usually for free. You or your loved ones don’t need a professional to find a strategy when you can find thousands of strategies that work on the Internet for everything from quitting smoking, eating better, exercising more, or breaking any other bad habit you or your loved ones may have. Don’t waste your money. Dig deeper.
Story
Your story is the driving force behind whether or not you or your loved ones find and implement the liberating strategy needed, whether you found it on the internet or through working with a professional. The key to implementing any successful habit breaking strategy is first divorcing yourself from limiting stories that hold you back. Rewriting your story of weakness, addiction and suffering, comes before strategy. In our office, we help you rewrite the story of limitation that has been keep you or your loved ones from reaching their ultimate potential. But empowering, resourceful stories spring forth from empowering resourceful emotional and mental states.
State
Emotional and mental states drive the stories that prevent you or your loved ones from reaching their ultimate potential. Most of us, however, believe that we are at the mercy of our emotions instead of in control of our emotions. This is absolutely not true. We teach and lock in place simple, effective, safe techniques you and your loved ones need to change emotional states and develop emotional mastery. When in a resourceful emotional state, you can write the story that allows you to apply the right strategy that gets you results and allows you to reach your ultimate potential.
"You are not your bad habits and your bad habits do not need to limit you from reaching your ultimate potential."
So, in summary, you are not your bad habits and your bad habits do not need to limit you from reaching your ultimate potential. This is also true for your kids, your spouse, your friends, your colleagues, and your neighbors. It’s our limiting stories that keep us from implementing the strategies that we already know work and it’s our lack of emotional mastery that keep us married to disempowering stories. It’s up to you. Are you ready to divorce your old, limiting story and step into your ultimate potential? Are you ready to help your family and friends to do the same?