mindSCRABBLE

2005-09-30T06:23:00.000-07:00

What Employers Want - What Real People Need

All doors are open to courtesy....Thomas Fuller.
Self-courtesy, as well as courtesy delivered by others, is connected to optimum heath & performance...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

A few days ago I decided to approach my blog in a new way. Perhaps it will help my readers to know me better, as well as my work. I am not new to this & have actually been an RN for over 35 years, practicing medical & self-development hypnosis for just about all of those.

I work with & write books, as well as CD programs for two different groups of people; employers/businesses/corporate executives & then the everyone else group. The two groups are very different, having completely separate goals. However, when the employer or corporate executive takes off the business-related hat, they then move to the group of everyone else ,sharing the goals of that group. It's actually quite extraordinary to observe this in a therapeutic setting.....a true Dr. Jeckyl & Mr. Hyde.

Although I worked with these two separate groups through my entire career, their division became more obvious to me in 1983 when I was appointed the Director of Staff Development of a large gero-psychiatric facility in Delmar, New York, just outside Albany, the capital of New York State. My job description included training the staff, as well as reversing the employee turnover, absentee & accident rate that was literally ruining the bottom line of the corporation. I was also asked to enhance the creativity & employee performance at all levels. I also remember being told that it would be an added bonus if people were more civil to each other. It's interesting to note that I was never actually asked to do anything for the employee, but just for the employer. Keep this is mind because it is a very important point & one that shouldn't go unnoticed.

I spent my first few weeks meeting each employee, as well as observing & reviewing the programs already in place. Of course, everyone was on their best behavior, carefully hiding their true selves & secrets. I knew it would take time for the employees to trust me enough to allow me to truly know them, but I had the advantage of being a skilled psych nurse......I was an excellent observer of very small details, some even unknown to the owner.

UNDER THE UMBRELLA

Corporations, big or small, are like families. Most of them are dysfunctional & why shouldn't they be? And it truly isn't a negative thing at all......if everyone is taken under the wing & get's what they need to succeed personally & then can apply this to the workplace.

Think about it for a moment. Each employee was raised by different parents, walking different paths, taking care of themselves or not in different ways, all bringing along their own problems & methods of trying to solve them. Policies & educational programs within corporations are like the basic rules of the family. They are usually always about the over-arching unit & not the individuals. In the workplace, they are usually only about the employer..... the employee expected to fit into them, like a perfect puzzle piece. Little or no consideration is given to the individual needs in order for this to happen. This is a major crux & one that can truly upset the apple cart.

In this particular workplace, the programs or policies were also dysfunctional, as they did not take care of helping the employees to gain the skills or lifestyle behaviors they needed to be good employees under this umbrella. Certainly there was no room for becoming better or excellent. The programs or policies may have looked OK on paper, but they had little to do with what makes employees healthy & able to function at their highest levels & even beyond. They certainly did not build creativity, even for the healthiest employee.

WHAT'S REALLY WRONG

If we look at the number of people in our country who suffer from physical or emotional problems, it becomes easier to understand why corporate life can be so difficult & why there is so much turnover. People are hired on their resumes, with little known about what is going on inside of them. Sometimes it is possible to see some past problems, but certainly not all of them & quite honestly, who is without problems? Certainly no one that I know. In addition, some of the most creative people are beset with problems, many that can be solved by correcting lifestyle behaviors. A smart corporation with good in-house education can truly reap the very best with just a few smart strokes.

As human being, we all pretend at some level. The more problems a person has, the more frequently he/she tends to move. Most of this mobility is not upward, but instead it is on the same level. That person has very special reasons for changing jobs. Everyone, including the problematic person on the move, comes to a new job with the hope that he can have a fresh start & believing that the grass will be greener on this side of the fence, but after several experiences, he does know that this is just a fantasy thought & so he must pretend even more, hoping to hide behind a better designed mask. There is tremendous fear of being found out & so of course, stress levels are quite high. It's interesting to know that 60-80% of diseases are stress-related & if one works or lives in a stress-loaded environment.....well you can do the math. It's no surprise that changing jobs is right at the top of the highest stress producer experiences, quite close to the death of a loved one.

WHAT I FOUND

I was taken aback with how the staff treated each other & as I came to know them, I was able to uncover the plethora of addictions, eating disorders, unhealthy lifestyle behaviors, emotional management issues, poor self-image, self-esteem, lack of confidence & especially lack of hope, all of these connected to the tone of the workplace. To me, the lack of hope was the saddest part. Many of the employees couldn't imagine their lives getting any better than they were & a large percentage truly believed that their life conditions would become worse. This wasn't just among those on the lower rungs of the ladder, although that would have been sad enough. I found it across the board & even into the board room. In nursing we call this the hopeless-helpless downward spiral & it not only causes illness, but it can kill. It can also kill the bottom line in the workplace.

In this particular situation, despite all of this being quite obvious, the employer wanted these very same people to be high achievers, to be creative, to stay healthy, to come to work on time & in other words, to be model employees to foster their bottom line. Talk about being lost in a dream world!

SO WHAT TO DO

I began to design an entire new educational program for all employees. I called this the MindBody Fitness Boot Camp....an attempt to make it a bit more appealing, like giving out lollipops in a doctor's office. I was about to bring in literally hundreds of new things & you know how people love change! I was going to need to get these individuals to be willing to truly look at themselves, to let go of their own self-cruelty & to desire change. For those of you who downloaded the first track of creativity, you have a little idea of one of the magical places I had to build for them.

We are all grown up children, some more mature than others, but most of us less mature than we think we are. Many of these employees were literally starving for some ray of creativity that would lead them to their own authentic selves. I had to help them take off their old belief coats, many that were placed there by other people. They needed new lifestyle behaviors, including healthy eating plans, deep relaxation & they needed tools to teach them how to think in new ways. That is when I designed all of the CD programs that are found on my website & many of which I will share with you.

My purpose is to walk you through a good part of this program & hopefully help some of you. I'm also looking for a publisher, editor or agent or can share this vision with me & help me to take it where it needs to go. One thing I know for sure......I fully intend to find the way.

AFFIRMATION

Never, never give up. People are depending on you....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-09-26T08:14:00.000-07:00

The Realm of Heightened Creativity

We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men, and along those fibers as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects....Herman Melville

It's amazing what a fall or injury can do! For those of you who read my blog, you might remember that I fell off of my desk & injured my back. Last week I wondered if I would walk again. That thought truly bothered me, especially knowing what I know about the power of words, whether they be verbalized or in the form of thoughts. Luckily for me, I knew what to do & took care of it quite rapidly. My life work & passion is to teach others how to do this for themselves. But, I want much more for them.

We each have our own realm of heightened creativity. It's like a special city or place on our map of life. It is here that we can actively move past pain & problems & then into our own passion or desires. For many of us the roads to this city are unknown or completely blocked by old business, low expectations or thoughts of impossibility......negative fiction. But no matter what happened in the past, we can all go there. I know ithis because I've not only experienced it personally, but over the many years that I've been in the practice of medical & personal development hypnosis, I've had the privilege to witness this road opening over & over again.

I went back to work last Tuesday, just for a short day. It didn't take me long to realize that I'd changed in some rather profound way. Let me share a bit of this with you, because it does have importance to the changes I am currently making.

When one practices hypnotherapy, it is always a different experience with each patient, for each patient is different. There may be twenty who want to lose weight or stop smoking, or improve their memory or reduce their stress...and while the problems appear to be quite general, the person behind the problem is always different, thereby making the problem different in each case. Each of us has traveled a different road, collected different strengths & weaknesses that have etched a special effect on the generalized problem, rather like the problem had been soaked in an original marinade, perhaps for decades.

So Tuesday morning was like any other morning for me....but then a very strong & heightened creative part of me began conversing, not only with my patients, but with me. I don't know how much you as the reader know about hypnotherapy, but suggestions are usually designed "right in the moment" & come from the subconscious mind of the therapist. They are beautifully pin-pointed towards the specialized needs of the patient.

It happened that my Tuesday morning patients were all well-known to me & so I was progressing down their particular road when all of a sudden the focus shifted slightly. I found myself talking about unexpected accidents & the importance of the body & the mind being prepared to take on the healing from the position of an expert healer & not from the position of a victim. There was more urgency in the suggestions....All victim thoughts needed to be recognized immediately & removed right then & there. There is no time ever for hanging out in victim stuff. The patient I was working with in that moment happens to be over-weight & has been meandering on her path towards wellness. In truth, she is going forward, but rather just drifting along in a slow sing-song rhythm.

As I re-organized her suggestions, I became intensly aware that I also meander in certain areas of my own life & certainly can get into my own victim thing. My writing & the producing of my CD programs is one of those areas. Over the years I've written & produced over 350 programs in different genres to meet the needs of my patients & students. Whenever I send these out to mainstream publishers, editors or agents, I tend to hide behind rejections as if I'm guilty of something & then make excuses as to why I cannot find a publisher to market my work in bookstores, etc. as if this were the most important thing in my life......a true Sarah Bernhardt.

Unfortunately, or so I've been told, my work is not considered mainstream by many publishers, editors or agents....rather odd because I sell these very successfully from my website, in fact, all over the world.. I've been in my field for over 30 years & each day I communicate with hundreds of people who go to work each day, but suffer in their own silent jails. I have tremendous compassion for them, for while they are seen, they not truly seen or they are judged in a way that is unjust, perhaps even cruel.

Why does this happen & to so many? As I've studied this part of human behavior, I've come to realize that we are all so lost in our own lives, that we simply have no time or even desire to see the obvious in others. It can truly be a lonely world & because of this lonliness, small problems grow into big ones. These problems we can see & not only do we notice them, but we take the position of judge & jury...

We see fat people, anorexic people, compulsive & obsessive people, nail biters, skin pickers, hair pullers, emotionally weak or stressed out people, uncooperative people, alcoholics, smokers, poor performers, shy people, those who appear lazy & tend to sleep-walk through the day. We see people with latent talent who refuse to be motivated. We see frightened people, some who can't leave their homes & others who simply can't stand up & make a presentation at work. This is just a short list of what we can see if we bother to look.

While these problems & their solutions appear obvious to us as judge & jury, it is not as simple as that. There are underlying reasons for all of this & more. Much has to do with simply not knowing how to become face the problem, release it & then manage stress in a healthier fashion. These are things that should have been taught in childhod, but most of the time parents did not have the skills themselves & so there was little or nothing to pass on to the infant, child & teen. While sometimes psychotherapy is required, in many instances all that is needed is to uncover the blocks, bring the awareness free of emotion, release & then plant new images. So, my work is to work as detective along with the problem-owner. Then we are ready to free the guilt & shame & enter the realm of heightened creativity. This is where the good stuff resides.

I've come to understand & accept that the large majority of professionals in the publishing field aren't familiar with exactly what I do because perhaps they have no reason to know this. I hope you don't misinterpret this. It is not an ego thing........it just the way it is.

Back to last Tuesday. Just as my weight management patient needed to take off her heavy shoes that were interfering with the speed of her travels, I realized that I must do the same. I must also speed up....

Here are some of the things I've done....

1. I changed the name of my blog & will change the second part of the name every few weeks, as I open my work to more people.

2. I have uploaded all of my CD programs to my xdrive & will provide complimentary download links to readers of my blog.

3. I have made an extra-ordinary offer to people who truly want to learn self-hypnosis & apply it to the many different areas of their lives. If they purchase one CD or download from me, I will send them a full self-hypnosis mp3 session every month for one year. Unfortunately I cannot send a disk through the mail because I don't have funds or a grant for this, but even if someone doesn't have capability to burn a CD, I'm sure they can find someone to do this for them. I truly want people to understand the power of working with the mind & body, as well as opening the road to their creative realm.

4. I will utilize this blog & my discussion groups to teach self-hypnosis tools, techniques & applications & not worry about publishers, editors or agents. I'll simply go ahead & self-publish my work. I feel free now.
The link below is from my xdrive. When you click on the link you will have the opportunity to download the first self-hypnosis session for the development of creativity. I hope you enjoy it. You can certainly take this opportunity to build your own self-hypnosis library. Within a short time I'm sure you will find changes coming your way!

If you have any questions about anything, please feel free to contact me. I'm actually very user-friendly!

Beginning Heightened Creativity

2005-09-21T11:16:00.000-07:00

Recovery Words...

Truth be known, we are always in the state of recovery. Sometimes it's quite obvious & other times it's barely discernable, but it is recovery never the less... Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

Related Words - reclamation, recoupment, repossession, retrieval, recruitment, replenishment, redemption, rescue

Two weeks ago I fell off the top of my desk while changing a cartridge in my fax......a rather silly thing....OH put down the silly word.... I'm not about to hide behind myself.....it was a rather stupid thing to do. As a result of this extremely bad moment of judgment, my life took quite a few turns, some more major than others. I couldn't walk, I couldn't put weight on my left leg, I couldn't stand, I couldn't sit, I couldn't lie down.

It was quite amazing to have absolutely no where to go to experience even a moments relief. And so, I couldn't go to work, nor cook or do anything else. On a somewhat lesser note, I became "unblogged" which may sound like a small thing, but it was not. Writing my blog is part of my life, perhaps not one that sustains me in any financial way, but it is meaningful never the less.

My life changed in many ways over the past two weeks. I'm a different person now. Accidents change people. Active recovery changes people. Nothing about it is fun, nor would I care to repeat any of it. HOWEVER, it has been an excellent learning experience & in a way, I'm a better person for falling off my desk.

I'm now out of the acute phase & into what is known as recovery.. Recovery is an interesting word. Truth be known, we are always involved in recovery. Either we are recovering actively from something, or we are involved in designing a recovery plan for some part of our work or life. As a nursing administrator I've worked on many potential disaster or recovery committees. As a wife & mother, I do the same at home.

Recovery begins long before any episode that may or may not happen. We have a ongoing mind folder that is labeled disaster plan or recovery plan. Some of us do understand this folder very well, perhaps because we have actually lived through disasters & found the weaknesses in our programs. Those weaknesses became our motivators.....we listened well, accepted our errors & became creative in not only correcting, but making things much better than before. In case you are wondering, I now have a mind folder for changing the ink jet in my fax machine. To be sure, the plan is very different from the one I carried out.

It does help to make mistakes. This is how we get better, but. some lessons are definitely harder than others. The people in who were hit by Katrina & now Rita know plenty about this. When all is said & done, these people will be very different in many ways. Children become adults overnight, seeing & experiencing things that are not meant for their eyes or psyches. Trust is lost, perhaps never to be gained again. Laughter, abandonment & pure joy will be more difficult to find & perhaps feeling wrong for a very long time. This is all part of the grieving process, some of which will never end.

So, what do we do in order to find & accept a new normal? If you have faith in a Higher Power, turn to that for solace, as well as for direction & motivation to get moving again. Take your mountainous problems & break them into smaller, more manageable pieces. For me, it is one baby step at a time.

I must put my old life on a back burner & work towards my new normal, knowing that once I've achieved that, then I'll be ready to go up a few pegs, hopefully nearer to my old normal OR even better. I stop moaning about what I can't do & do what I can. I trust in my body. I've taken good care of it for a very long time & now is the time to reap the benefits of that work. If you are not caring for yourself at optimum levels, begin today. You never know when you might do something stupid without thinking. Work on paying attention to what you do. We are all vulnerable.

Don't let the levies remain weak. I was just listening to the news about the levies in Galveston & I couldn't believe my ears. Some of them are cracked & very vulnerable! How could this have been ignored. Hurricanes happen.........accidents happen! Be prepared. Take good care of yourself & your environment. Fight, fight, fight. Don't be a quiet observer. You may live to regret it. Once you fall off the desk, the rest is history. Lucky for me my levies were in good condition from years of excellent self-maintenance. Yes, I'm injured, but I'm going to recover & hopefully to be much better than before.

Victims usually don't happen overnight. Take time today to check in on yourself. Where are you weak? What do you need to do? What will you do today? Do it now.

ARCHIVED BLOG

I have active recovery plans for different areas of my life. I stay alert & awake to what needs to change. I don't just think about it.....I do it & I do it now. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

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Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents

Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop

mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want

It's Time to Stop...Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

Winning the Mind Game - A Total Sports Advantage - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-09-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

Personal Hell Words...

The weak sinews become strong by their conflict with difficulties...Frederic Chopin

Related Words - the hot place, infernal regions, place of torment

Even though we may not live in the devastated areas, as we experience the images on our television sets & in our newspapers, we often find ourselves in our own personal hell. Here are some quotes from my patients this week -
How can I think about my measly problems when people I see people struggling for their lives?

What does it really matter if I smoke or not?

This is no time to stop biting my nails!

Working to organize myself & my goals seems sinfull in light of what is going on.

I feel like a spoiled child who should be ashamed.

I can't enjoy any part of my life knowing that in those very same moments people are suffering.

I feel like it's not ok to laugh or tell a joke.

Nothing seems important.

My fears seem meaningless, almost as if I should shut-up about them.
I'm on a short fuse these days.

I can't eat without feeling guilty.

One minute my kids are driving me bonkers & the next minute I can't stop hugging them.

I keep having flashbacks from my childhood. I feel like life as I know it is over.

It's very easy to be dragged down into a tragedy, even though we may live thousands of miles away. The images we see & the words that accompany them are all triggers for our own subconscious mind programs, perhaps our own hellish history. These images & words can make us feel very uncomfortable, even guilty & filled with shame. There is anger & disbelief to contend with as well. Anger at others & strangly enough, anger at ourselves, sometimes even a desire for self-punishment. Why were we spared? And so, are witnesses to the fragility of life & how quickly things can change. We realize that we are simply not grateful enough for all the things we have, both big & small.

This continual pounding can be very frightening & at the very least, unnerving to the psyche. In addition, if you grew up in a dysfunctional home, or live in one now, your own emotions can connect with the painful images & stories, taking you back to your own personal experiences. Perhaps you will find yourself thinking of things that happened in the past & maybe those that happened a very long time ago. You may not realize why you are thinking about those things now, but once you realize that the mind works like radar & will work to bring like memories to meet the images on your television or newspaper, you can begin your own healing process.

Nurses meet up with this every day. It is often more difficult to be the relative of the sick & dying patient, than it is to be the patient. I wish I was lying there instead of you. I wish I could carry your pain for you. Perhaps you have also been in this position. This is a part of the grieving process & before the process is over, we must go through all of the stages, exactly as we are doing now.

Here are some of the things I suggested to my patients.

1. It helps to recognize the grief for what it is. Then one can begin to release it. Moving into action is the very best antidote. Simply do something for someone else & you own grieving process will move through quicker. You can see that happening now as people are sending donations or even traveling to the disaster area & offering to help.

2. Meditate several times a day to bring yourself back to physiological, as well as emotional balance. I suggest to relax the body deeply at least six times a day, at least for 2-3 minutes. I call this fractionation & it is a powerful way to break through emotional resistance.

3. Return to your own self-disciplines & enhance them. Be gentle with yourself, but don't go towards the emotional victim state. Listen for it & stay aware. Release it & move back into action. Living through disasters is an excellent time to become stronger & more resilient. Bounce off stories that move your soul. They are all around us right now.

4. Commit to being a better human being & citizen. Spend some time thinking how you can do this. For example, everyone can call their elected officials & let them know what they think about the way the disaster has been managed. One person, one phone call or email at a time can make a difference. Be a mover & a shaker. Row the boat. Speak up & speak out. This will build your own self-confidence & self-esteem while keeping you out of the victim state. Remember those affirmations of the other day.... I AM....I CAN....I WILL....I DID...FOR I AM.

ARCHIVED BLOG

I am a resilient human being. I wake up to powerlessness & activate my resilient bank account. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents

Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop

mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want

It's Time to Stop...Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

Winning the Mind Game - A Total Sports Advantage - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-09-04T06:30:00.000-07:00

Powerless Words...

Only a strong tree can stand alone...Arnold Glasow

Related Words - Powerless - helpless, impotent, inactive, inert, passive, supine; decrepit, feeble, infirm, weak, incapable, incompetent, ineffective, unfit

Just sitting here & reading the related words to powerlessness depletes me. It's so easy to notice how powerful language can be & especially when coupled with past experiences & negative suggestions from others. It certainly isn't difficult to become self-paralyzed.

I turn on the television & see the such difficult images coming out of areas devastated by hurricane Katrina. Then I notice those individuals that are showing strength & conviction. They are truly empowering....as I listen to their words, I'm reminded that we get our muscle from beliefs that reside inside our selves, as well as from beliefs that reside inside others.

I read my email messages & find them filled with people feeling powerless about this, that or the other. My patient schedule for tomorrow reports the same. I look at my desk, wondering if the projects sitting there will ever be completed. My own brand of powerless- thinking. How easy it is to be lost in this quagmire. Yes, it helps to remind myself that my life is good today. I could be spending the day standing on my roof waiting to be rescued. This kind of awareness works, but just for the moment.

I need something much more to nibble away at this old automatic pilot thought pattern. I take some time just for me even though my desk looms large in front of me. I've been around long enough to know how deadly powerlessness can be & so I must give the time to the priority of the moment, even though my child-self wants to do other things. Do we have any chocolate ice cream? When do we get to go home? Can we have pizza for dinner? I'll feel better if I take a nap. Can I read that catalog & order something? I don't want to go to school tonight. Perhaps just one cup of coffee?

It's not uncommon to be visited by the addictions or other stress-release mechanisms, most of which are not healthy. But when I notice their arrival, I'm even more certain that it is time to relax deeply & touch base with my inner strengths or core-Self. True, I don't live in the area hit by Katrina, but my mind & body are responding in a sympathetic dance to the images. I can feel my own paralysis, much of which is connected to memories of when I was in very difficult situations that I perceived as helpless & hopeless.

It's no accident that I was remembering an entire decade that I lost to a chronic illness. The images were so vivid AS IF it were happening right now. I was reliving the fear of dying along with the exhaustion of living, just as if I was clinging onto one of those roofs. This is how the mind works & this is why it is so very important to wake-up to what's going on & to set things in better order.

One might say that it's normal to react like this. After all, it is a terrible tragedy. I would say that it is better to if I handle my emotions in a way that releases negative stress chemicals, for there is nothing positive about that. Then, I'm free to move into a position of strength & compassion....set for action.

We all have areas of strength located in the library of our mind. These areas were constructed right from the beginning....birth. If you have ever been witness to an actual birth, I'm sure you would agree that the infant shows incredible power & tenacity as she/he moves through the birth canal. This definitely isn't for wimps! Each & every day the infant becomes more & more resilient, surmounting all sorts of challenges from day one.

It's a good idea to think about your own resilience bank account, paying attention to all of the times you survived your experiences. Of course, all of them weren't huge like my decade long illness or standing on a roof after a hurricane, but they are survivals never the less & you do have a resilience bank account. This is your equity when powerlessness comes knocking at the door.

As I visit this area in my mind, I physically tune into the accumulated resilience, allowing it to enter my being. In the practice of hypnosis it is very important to foster positive, chemical changes in the body. On occasion, we may foster negative chemical changes, but only for very special reasons & never for a long period of time. For example, I can visit an experience when I made myself sick from over-eating chocolate. I may decide to visit or sense the nausea, just to wake myself up to what will happen if I do the same thing again.

Yes, this is a form of resilience & I'm sure you all have similar memories that you could choose to visit. However, stick to your positive survival power & save the negatives for when you need a shot of motivation that only that negative can provide.
Once you feel your inner strength or resilience, take it back into the moment or future-pace it. It's like a postage stamp. You can take it & place it wherever you might need it. Truly sense it in those moments. This is what people do when faced with tremendous tragedy or difficulty. They go & round up their beliefs & resilience. The affirmations go like this. As you repeat these, truly feel them entering your mind, as well as your body.....I AM. I CAN. I WILL. I DID. I AM.

ARCHIVED BLOG

I am a resilient human being. I wake up to powerlessness & activate my resilient bank account. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents

Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop

mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want

It's Time to Stop...Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

Winning the Mind Game - A Total Sports Advantage - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-29T11:39:00.000-07:00

New Beginning Words...

Begin. To have commenced is half the deed. Half yet remains; Begin again on this and thou wilt finish all...Ausonius

Related Words - resume, continue, pick up, reopen, recommence, renew, reopen, take up

Labor Day & back to school....It's that special time of year for beginning again, children or not. For me, this date has always been a restarting point for things unfinished....rather like New Year's Day. Labor Day is a bit different though. There is no new resolution. It's more like a personal fall cleaning up or clearing out. Underneath the disorder I can sense my desire & willingness to pick up where I left off.

For some reason, Labor Day has a gentler, friendlier restart button. Perhaps it's because no one talks about it very much, so the fear of being criticized for failure or not achieving is less. After all, it's not a resolution or anything. It's simply something that was left unfinished & perhaps no one will even notice that you restarted whatever it is.

Truth be known, very little gets finished in life.... at least in my life. For me that includes managing my weight, minimizing my pile of magazines, completing my writing assignments, my love for icing, or having my home dust free & the bathrooms completely clean. I'm so glad to know this because then now I can stop efforting & striving over so many things. Perhaps I can even begin enjoying them.

It's easy to see why I had spent a good part of my previous life bogged down, almost to the point of burnout. With my new definition, I am free to simply relax, picking up any challenge where I left it untended, no longer racked by shame or guilt. No need to hide anymore, from myself or the judging eyes of others. What a relief !

As a clinical hypnotherapist & writer, I'm geared to thinking within hypnotic metaphor. Here are some areas in my mind that had something to say to me this morning...

1. It's a good idea to put some things down for awhile. As I mentally walked through the areas of my life, noticing what was left unattended, I couldn't help but notice that some areas were doing better on their own since I left them alone. I'm not surprised, acknowledging that I have a tendency to beat things to death, or smother them with attention if they are not responding in the way I think best. Sometimes I can become breathless in the process, even if there is no aerobic activity involved. Talk about efforting !

2. There are 24 hours in a day & that includes 8 that should be dedicated to sleep. No one gets more or less. I'm just like anyone else with owning too much to do. On the days I can't breathe I know I'm in trouble. For some deep & hidden reason, this a big learning curve for me.

I have some ideas about why this is, but what is truly important is waking up to it & getting practical. I don't have to look far to know what has to go. It's vital for me to be ruthless in my clearing & cleaning, not just with my possessions, but with the intangibles as well. This is never easy, but it is incredibly rewarding. Even throwing away socks with holes can seem like a break-through moment.

3. Choosing what is truly important to me can focus my mind. Just like cleaning & clearing is vital, so is deciding on exactly what I want. It's amazing that we can have so much of so many things & still not have what we want. How does this happen? For me, it's always been about not clearly defining what I want. In order to do this, it's necessary to truly slow down, to clear, to be still & then to begin to define. When I work with myself I utilize automatic writing. For my patients, it's easy to go into the workshop of the mind with guided imagery, enter the metaphor, perhaps shopping for the details. In both scenarios, the subconscious mind joins in the creative goal building & then sets a plan of action.

4. I can always be healthier. Eating correctly for my body needs, excercising, managing my addictions & a host of other areas can all benefit from beginning again. Exploring ways to do this always triggers additional areas to present themselves. This morning I was having a look at my nutritional areas when I heard from my skin department. When we become purposefully still, either in meditation, hypnosis or automatic writing, the messages begin to flow, but never in a way of becoming overwhelmed. The subconscious mind understands the need for balance or homeostasis & takes one towards that. If anxiety is in the way, it simply means that you have to release & go deeper down to pass that obstruction.

5. I don't have to be perfect. I just need to be present. Growing up in a critical household, I developed many automatic mind programs about the need for perfection. This was one of many that kept me locked in my personal prison for decades. For me, it is very important to begin the mangement of these automatic programs over & over again. This is how they weaken or diminish. Some of mine that could do with some refreshing or clear eyes include approval seeking & self-doubting. Do I have others? Of course I do. I'm human. But, once again the subconscious mind is kind & prefers balance. When we take the initiative to work in one area, the others will simply follow suit.

So, enjoy Labor Day....a perfect day for reflection & an opportunity to wake-up & enjoy the fresh air that surrounds new beginnings.

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Everything is in process. I put things down & I pick things up. I enjoy the act of beginning again. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

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Winning the Mind Game - A Total Sports Advantage - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-24T16:13:00.000-07:00

Critical Words...

Blessed is the man who can take bricks thrown at him & build a sound foundation....Tom Pryor

Related Words - captious, carping, caviling, cavillous, censorious, critic, faultfinding, hypercritical, overcriticaldiscerning, discriminating, penetrating; finicky, fussy, particular; belittling, demeaning, disparaging, humbling, lowering.

Over the past few days I found myself journaling about criticism...self-delivered & delivered by others. I learned from one of my patients that Gemini was in retrograde or something like that, meaning that communication is off. Of course this made me feel better immediately, knowing I had little to do with all the criticism floating around me.

Automatic writing or journaling is very helpful for me personally & I often recommend it to my patients as well, even if they balk about writing. The balking is usually fear-related. Yes, writing is committing ink to paper....or at least it was in the past. I still journal with real paper & pen. It helps to slow the mind down, allowing the images or ideas to form.

After so many years of working in this field, I'm still amazed at how the subconscious mind will cooperate with emotional reframing & healing. Sometimes all I really need is a good metaphor to manage my heavy-air days.

As I broached the subject of critical words, here are some things that came off of my pen....delivered directly from my subconscious mind.

1. Criticism can be a good thing, even if the person delivering it does not mean it as such.....myself included. Of course we are our biggest critic. That's no secret. I'm also well aware of constructive vs destructive criticism. However, I often have a problem with accepting the term constructive criticism, especially when it is delivered in what appears to be a destructive way. Or, is this just a matter of Gemini in retrograde?

2. It doesn't really matter if the criticism is constructive or destructive, nor if Gemini is having a problem or not. I can benefit from all of it... & if there is plenty of it around, it follows that I would could have a wealth of benefits, if I just did what I needed to do. Hmmm....

3. The subconscious mind often connects things in strange ways in order to make it's point. I was brought back to my time of nursing in Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center & to the memory of debriding wounds. Wounds cannot heal properly until the dead or infected tissue is removed, often speck by speck. The job of the wound care nurse is to utilize different techniques to achieve this. However, it cannot be done all at once. It is a process, sometimes taking months, depending on the depth or complexity of the wound. The metaphor is forming....

4. Emotional wounds are similar to physical ones. They must also be debrided. Criticism is like pouring acid into certain emotional wounds. Anyone who has experienced this phenomena is certainly familiar with the combination of physical & emotional pain that results. I know that I am....

5. Many of us were born into a very critical environments, thus making us highly sensitive to critical words. Simple words, even if delivered in a constructive way, can be very frightening & debilitating. As a child I had no power & had to develop ways to survive this type of environment, but as an adult I do have power & so it is my responsibility to debride mywounds so I can heal & continue my self-growth.

6. Managing stress is not the same as debriding wounds. While it is very important to eat correctly, meditate, exercise & practice mindfulness, if I truly want to heal & manage my emotions at higher levels, I must be willing to cleanse & debride my wounds.

7. Emotional wounds are debrided through awareness & timely releasing. When criticism is painful, there is a wound that needs to be cleaned. The process is simple, but not always easy. I remember that when treating a patient's wound, I'd often tell them, Yes, it hurts & no, it won't hurt forever. I remember....the patient learns to bring his/her attention to the breath & to ride it, just like riding gentle waves in the sea. The physical pain begins to move to the side & then diminishes. The patient learns to see/sense the wound healing from the bottom up.

8. The same holds true for emotional healing. As the wound heals from the bottom up, the mind will often send fragments of the debris. These may be in the form of old memories or emotions that need to be released. Opening & healing is now in process...

More About Criticism & Connected Conflicts...

There are other things that are helpful for me to remember. First off the bat, conflicts & criticism are inevitable, as long as I'm willing or interested in standing up for what I believe are my rights or beliefs.

It does help to simply the actual word conflict or criticism. The subconscious meaning of words can be so powerful as to disallow any scrutiny because of the attached, automatic mind fear patterns. Conflicts are simply two sets of demands, goals or motives that appear to be incompatible. I must remind myself that I deal with conflicts all day long. Some might be small & I may not even label these as conflicts, but they are nevertheless. This is a very important awareness because as I view them under the conflict or criticism label, I'll come to know that I have been developing excellent resolution skills for a very long time, some actually from early childhood.

Conflicts & accompanying criticisms come in sizes including small, medium & large. Some are more uncomfortable than others. The more uncomfortable tend to be connected to deeper wounds or more sensitive areas in the subconscious mind. Keep in mind that these are very valuable as debriding tools.

The conflicts or critiques I play in the theater of my mind tend to be more frequent & often larger. It's important for me not to forget that these also effect my body physiology & bring more debris to old, deep wounds. Engaging the thought process in awfulizing is a very bad habit & one that can have serious physical & emotional consequences.

This happens to be one of my habits & so I've asked my own subconscious mind to wake me when I'm doing this, so I have the opportunity to break the habit & release the stress. At the same time, I'll take advantage of the self-criticism & do a very more steps to debride any old wounds.

Simple Metaphors for Managing Criticisms...

Here's one I utilize for myself quite often. When someone is critical of me, I change those words in my mind. They are critical of something I've done. This simply means that we have a difference of opinion about this something. That is easier for me to accept & curbs the production of stress chemicals. Remember, I was born into a very critical environment, so I am very sensitive.

Next, in the theater of my mind, I take the "something" & rinse it off under my very beautiful golden faucet. I want to remove the emotional component that was part of the delivery. This way, I am free to examine the "something" & decide if I want to change anything about my part or my beliefs. I may do this immediately, or decide to wait. Then, I might simply thank the other person for bringing this to my attention & to let them know that I'll think about it. This moves me out of a defensive position, into one of maturity & self-control.

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I sense my personal pain & work with it directly to heal my deepest wounds. I have choices in any & all conflicts. I'm the writer, director & producer of my own life. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
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Winning the Mind Game - A Total Sports Advantage - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

Failure Words...

Don't let life discourage you; everyone who got where he is had to begin where he was...Richard L. Evans

Related Words - default, delinquency, dereliction, neglect, oversight, laxity, negligence, remissness, slackness, indifference, unconcern

What we think or what we entertain is what we get & the same goes double for failure. Unfortunately failure mindsets are a dime a dozen. You don't have to look far to find them...in others or more importantly, in yourself. It's rather amazing that we succeed at anything, given our usual interior weather. Look closely; it's usually either raining, storming, blowing, snowing, cloudy or completely parched & drought-ridden.

Thoughtout this blog I've reminded you to look for emotional carriers, especially those that attempt to color your life with negative mind states. Pay attention to the word attempt. No one can do anything without your permission. Mind-underline that for yourself, for most of us tend to forget it. Just because someone in your environment is coloring in a negative fashion, you do not have to breathe it in. It's like second-hand smoke. You do not have to breathe it in. You have choices.

Even though I can't see or hear you, I have a good idea as to what you are thinking right now, the reason being that in the past, I've said most of those things to myself or to others in relation to myself OR I've heard it from others in my work as a clinical hypnotherapist.

So, let me tell you this...

Changing mindsets is a skill, just like anything else. Think for a moment about how many things you have learned from the time you were just a baby. Take a mind-visit back to your early childhood & find the time when you simply didn't entertain failure. That time is there......so go find it & then sense yourself reconnecting. However you might like to imagine that....do it. Notice that during this time you were also independent of the negative-crayoning of others. Take your time in this area of self-exploration for it is very important & can work to change your life experiences considerably.

In short, you need to know that you can achieve things. You can work through perceived failure. You can recognize negative-emotional crayoning of others & that you can choose not to accept it.

Now about the definition of failure.... I'm sure that you already know that failing at something just means that you haven't figured out how to do it yet. That is all that it is. Now others might have more to say about it, but again, that is their negative crayoning & you already know what to do about that. In case you have forgotten, or haven't read those blog entries....when you don't want to accept negative-crayoning your task is to ...

1. notice or wake-up
2. breathe from center & relax your body
3. release the image or emotion
4. place a new mind program on your mind screen

When you experiencing a perceived failure, it's time to go back to the drawing board. For most of us, we take too big a chunk & so of course, we tend to choke. Now what would you do if you were choking on something? Well, if it were me, I'd do whatever I had to do to get the offender out of my mouth asap.

It's the same with anything else. Break the perceived failure into pieces & study them independently. It's best to do this in deep relaxation. That way, your own subconscious mind will assist you in finding a better way. If you experience mind-confusion when you try to do this.....the chunk is simply too big OR you haven't quieted the mind sufficiently.

Most of you have heard about your intuition or inner knowing. That is your subconscious mind in action. In order to take full advantage of it, you must relax very deeply & then you will be gifted with eureka break-through thoughts or ideas or serendipity. Nothing is free in life. As I tell my patients, the piper must be paid. If you want your own mind to assist you, it is up to you to change your internal weather system.

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I wake to my perceived failures & mind-edit them easily. I am aware of my internal weather systems. I stay keenly aware of negative-crayoning & make good choices for myself. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
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Winning the Mind Game - A Total Sports Advantage - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-19T15:56:00.000-07:00

Royal Funk Words...

Related Words - coward, chicken, craven, dastard, funker, poltroon, quitter, yellowbelly

My first patient today told me that she was in a royal funk, rather like a burn-out in her recovery program. I've known her for quite awhile now & while she is doing very well, she is in one of the more difficult parts of her path...where big changes are not seen, but the daily disciplines must continue to be in place if change is to happen down the path.

When I first met her she was almost knocking on the door of diabetes. Her body fat percentage was quite high & her lifestyle behaviors were typical of a person in her path position. Of course, she needed to make lots of changes, not only in the practical sense, but emotionally & behaviorally as well.

In her behalf, she was highly motivated.....in my opinion, mainly by fear of becoming diabetic or having a heart attack. Fear is usually a great motivator. The sicker the individual, the easier the changes. However, when someone hasn't experienced a motivating level of fear, they are less likely to participate in the change mechanism.

They may even refuse, or make up & accept excuses that will get in their way. We call this denial, rationalization or avoidance of the truth. That's why a person who just wants to lose weight to get into a smaller size is not likely to be successful.......especially if they have a high body fat percentage. What has to happen on a daily basis just doesn't seem worth it, but when you add fear into the equation, the desire to be compliant rises to the level of fear.

I find this quite often in smokers, especially those looking for the magician or wizard. They would like to stop smoking, but they really don't want to work at it......but, if hypnosis will just allow them to stop thinking about wanting a cigarette, they will consider it. Obviously, this person is not going to stop smoking until the fear-factor increases.

But, back to my patient with the royal funk. It's funny how things happen. I was thinking about her before her appointment & had made up my mind to push her into some changes that probably she wouldn't want to make. I was a little nervous about this, but had definitely made up my mind to go for it. This was before I knew about the royal funk. & how happy I was to hear that this accompanied her into the office today.

Let me explain why I was so happy. Royal funks are precursors of major change! The subconscious mind is alerting the individual that there is an uncomfortable level of dissatisfaction with this, that or the other. The individual is coming out of automatic-pilot stagnation! How perfect for what I had in mind. In this instance, my patient had made her primary changes very well, but the body & the mind needed more. She was ready to enter a new level of self-care, one that she would not have been able to manage earlier in her recovery.

The time was right & the mind was ready. When someone has the primary changes in place, the next avenue is to enhance the exercise program, as well as to introduce the person to the segment of the population who works diligently on a daily basis to bring their bodies beyond the norm.

You will find this segment of the population at your local gym. Day in & day out, there they are........& not just the svelte younger set. In our local gym, the one that I frequent, you will find people of all ages, including the quite elderly, each focused on their own exercise program & goals. To use an excellent metaphor, it is really very moving to observe them....& this environment is definitely contageous in a very positive sense.

It would not be enough to give her direct suggestions about going to the gym. I needed to take her there hypnotically & motivate the entire daily process. I also needed to take her into the future where she could truly feel all the gifts she would be receiving. I decided that these gifts had to be beyond what she was already working towards. In other words, I had to make a supercalifragilisticexpealadious experience for her to try on for size.

This meant some very powerful imagery that was emotionally charged. I also had to order the parts of the change. She had to commit to visiting the gym, getting the paperwork, signing up, organizing her orientation, moving past the fears of this & into her first day, including organizing her clothes for work, etc. In hypnosis, this is done in a matter of minutes. The die is cast & the motivation is placed...

Now, we all have royal funk experiences, myself included. Instead of smoldering with them, recognize them for what they are & get excited about the power & energy they hold. Decide to open them & go for the gold.

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I recognize my royal funks easily. I move through them quickly & transmute their energy into positive, creative outcomes. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

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2005-08-18T08:42:00.000-07:00

Self-Discipline Words...

Life is tons of discipline...Robert Frost

Related Words - self-will, self-command, self-control, self-government, self-mastery, self-restraint, willpower

We all know about self-discipline....or do we? I know we are familiar with the term & probably can even define it, but when it comes to the application, the meaning of self-discipline seems to evade most of us. Some of my patients refuse to acknowledge that they have any self-discipline at all........as if accepting that fact would mean that they should/could have it in any & all areas of their life!

Let's review normal for a moment. While it's true that each of us is certainly disciplined in certain areas of life, no one has it across the board. So, why should we care about this? Well, it's actually quite important to realize that if you are disciplined in a particular area of your life, you can utilize that discipline subconsciously by applying it to another area where you may need more of it.

Most people who come to my private practice are seeking magic. In a way, it's so pleasingly child-like to share conversations with them, but on the other hand, one would think that by the time one reaches adult-hood we would be able to separate fantasy from reality. I've come to the conclusion that just about all of us, myself included, hold out hope for the manifestation of our very own wizard.

The most difficult part of my work is to break the magic spell & introduce the truths about self-discipline & wake people up to what they already have in place. I usually have to work quite hard to make this sale to my patients. It's so hard to let go of the wizard. It's sad in a way, because the truth is that self-discipline is actually very enjoyable.

If we weren't disciplined in so many areas, life would be a horrendous daily struggle. Think of some areas of your own life where you are disciplined. How about getting up in the morning, having breakfast, organizing your clothes & papers for work, brushing your teeth, organizing your home, etc. More than likely you have more disciplined areas than non-disciplined ones & this is good news.

Take a moment to think of some areas in your own life that you would like to bring over to the disciplined column. A few of mine include my exercise program, my book writing & weeding the garden. Just identifying these puts the subconscious mind on notice & a motivational plan is already in the works. That's the power of Interactive Awareness & Self-hypnosis.

We tend to plant negative motivational programs quite easily. Sometimes we aren't even aware that we are doing so. Here's an example....For some reason the term self-discipline receives a bad rap & a negative motivational code. Just saying it can scare people into the corner. This is irrational because self-discipline actually makes life easier.

My job as a clinical hypnotherapistis to gently bring my patients out of hiding & onto the particular goal path that needs the discipline. Once in motion, they will see & sense that this path is already lined with all sorts of motivational images & affirmations.

Most people think about self-hypnosis in relation to developing self-discipline to stop smoking or to lose weight. This is like saying that a fork is only used to eat meat or salad. There are actually hundreds of applications for self-hypnosis from medicine to sports to self-development & then some.

You know the old saying, it's all in how you look at something. In the practice of self-hypnosis, Self-discipline is a KEY MINDSET. In actuality it is a MASTER KEY MINDSETto success & high level achievement, as well as high level health. And so, we applaud this MINDSET right from the get-go. In the practice of interactive self-hypnosis we develop a new self-profile of success, as well as a strong sense of purpose.

While words are the tools of the hypnotherapist, the words form images that are emotionally fired. It's rather like relaxing deeply & then walking into the new self-profile & experiencing the many aspects of it. An experienced hypnotherapist can truly design an extraordinary experience that will/can program the subconscious mind in hundreds of ways. And while a picture paints a thousand words, a self-hypnotic image paints a thousand subconsicous mind suggestions.

Here are some self-discipline suggestions I planted today. Some were for patients & others were for myself...

1. Weight Loss - the images that my patient needed to experience were all about ordering her new discipline, as well as being comfortable & happy with this for many calendar months. In the past she had failed simply because of her disorder & lack of discipline.

2. Exercise Program - I visited myself in my mind's eye & positively experienced the full hour on the treadmill. I also experienced increased endurance on my weight circuit. I removed some negative-based emotional states that don't enjoy being in the gym & brought in my fun-self. I also removed the clocks that interfere with my discipline by telling me to hurry-up.

3. Lifestyle Changes - this patient needs to make a series of changes due to a serious medical diagnosis. This includes stopping smoking, losing weight & exercising. This is over-whelming for the patient & adds to the fear around the diagnosis. The images designed for her were very gentle, rather like kindergarten. New beginnings....building the different disciplines easily, playing with their parts. The patient became the student of the disciplines & sensed her own enjoyment at putting them together.

Spend some time thinking about your own issues now & allow your own subconscious mind to send up some suggestions. Just reading this material is enough to stimulate that happening.

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I enjoy building disciplines in my life. I easily see/sense areas that would benefit from this KEY MINDSET & provide it for myself. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

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2005-08-17T08:19:00.000-07:00

Self-Anxiety...

You can turn the tide of your life from negative to positive results through your constructive words...Winston Churchill

Related Words - panic, concern, concernment, disquiet, disquietude, solicitude, unease, uneasiness, worry, doubt, mistrust, dread, uncertainty; distress, misery, suffering; dread;

Oh....where to begin on the subject of anxiety. Why do I feel that I must write about this today? This morning I was doing some automatic journaling for myself & my own anxiety issues came off the end of my pen, completely uninvited, but obviously wanting to roost on my desk. After writing yesterday's blog on the theme of the day, I couldn't help but hope that anxiety was not going to be today's theme.

Since I've been practicing automatic journaling for decades now, I know to trust it & that means to just go with the flow without judging or fear. For those of you who aren't familiar with this type of journaling, I suggest that you give it a whirl. It's quite simple. Open a new journal or notebook that is dedicated to this task only. I use a spiral notebook......I actually have two sizes, one 5 by 8.5 & the other 8.5 by 11. I prefer to write in the larger one because there is more space, but sometimes I like to pop the smaller one in my briefcase & take it on the road with me.

To begin, put a decent amount of time aside for yourself. For me, that means at least 15 minutes & preferably more like 30. Sometimes I'll get to the office a bit early, specifically for this purpose. Next....open the journal & have your pen ready. Don't use the computer for this. The mind will gift more to you if you put the pen to paper. Relax deeply, just for a few minutes. I call this settling in..........& then begin to write.
Don't be concerned about sentence structure, grammar, etc. Just let the pen flow. Write whatever comes. Stay out of judgment. If the mind sends ramblings, so be it. Write them.... & if nothing comes, write that as well. Keep going for the length of time you have decided to write or fill the amount of space you have decided to fill. Keep to the discipline. And once you have finished, put it away.

Here are some journal entries of mine from today - see how many themes you can spot. Look beyond the obvious. Remember, this is coming directly from my own subconscious mind. Also, look for the affirmations; the positive mind programs that were given to me through the end of my pen.

Changes in the wind. Patients leaving. Wondering where this will leave me. Remembering the other big change time after my mother died. I had next to no professional practice. The phones were quiet. My emotions ran away with me...fear...not knowing what to do. I was gifted that time with the idea to design audio programs. That came on the rear of a tear. Here I am once again....but it is not quite the same. Life has not been static. I have things to do & places to go. I'm busy. New patients are coming. I'm satisfied. Book ideas are coming. I'm challenged. It's time for something new. The nail biting book will be ready soon. It appears unfinished, but it isn't. Putting my ducks in a row. Organizing things that don't invite organizing, like relationships & my decision to change my soap. I need something new, perhaps the seminars that came to me while in Spain.............

My first patient arrived. I've been seeing her for over four years. She was only fourteen when she first walked into my office. She sat in the pink chair & hid behind her hands. She only weighed 90 pounds. I've known her at 65 pounds & now, while she is only 102 pounds, she is different. She leaves for college next week. I'll miss her tremendously, just like a daughter. I even tear as I write this.

She's very anxious about so many aspects of college. Her parents are anxious, imaging all the worst. It's been more than four anxiety-filled years for them & they are rightfully frightened. But today she sits before me & we discuss her dorm-room decor & her new room-mate who is coming with the refrigerator. Simple, but important things to a girl who has made such a journey.

Changes & anxiety coupled together. Fear of the known & unknown. Fleeting little thoughts having the power to turn our blood to ice, often not understood by others who might even laugh at our dilemma. Babies....oh grow up ! Feelings of walking alone on new paths, excited but frightened just the same. Our thoughts connecting up with other past experiences, some good & others not so good. What kinds of memories will we be making? Oh, why can't things just stay as they are, even if they aren't very good? At least they are familiar!

Here are some things my young patient & I did today...

1. Anxiety & excitement are very close in their chemical composition. What's important here is the labeling. It only takes 1/200th of a second to change the label from a fear state, to a positive exciting state.

2. You have the choice & the power to diminish all fears & all thoughts that are fear-related. Take out your re-framing tools or use the pie-cutter. The latter is a releasing tool for diminishing a portion of a fear or anxiety that may present itself as too big to manage.

3. Emotions are like children that wear tee-shirts with their names on the front. You are not your emotions, but you are in charge of them. You have the choice & the power to diminish any & all emotions that are not benefiting you & you have the choice & the power to invite in or enhance any & all emotions that do benefit you. Remember to keep your eye on your mind-assets & utilize them to their fullest. Don't let them get rusty from disuse!

4. Managing yourself & your life is fun! The better you get at a task, the better for you in the long-run. This is how champions are made. If you feel the desire to run & hide behind an old, impotent behavior pattern, wake-up & come forward instead. Meet the bully-factor & disassemble it. Observe it losing power as you gain power. Pay attention to the power of your mindWORDS. They are all coated with chemicals that change the outcomes of your entire mind & body. The more positive-task-orientated you are, the more power you will harvest.

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My thoughts & emotions are things that can be managed. I am not my thoughts, nor my emotions. I have power over the workings of my mind & body. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop

mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want

It's Time to Stop...Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-15T16:28:00.000-07:00

Assertive Words...

Look well into thyself; there is a source of strength that will always spring up if thou wilt always look there... Marcus Aurelius Antoninus

Related Words - emphatic, forceful, insistent, resounding

I must be developing some sort of blog-obsession. When I wake in the morning I find myself searching for my blog-subject of the day. While this is a bit annoying, I can satisfy my mind quite quickly with a quick decision. And then.....the day officially opens & I find myself changing that easily determined subject idea. I know you don't know me, but I can assure you that I'm not a flip-flopper. It's just that each day seems to have it's own the theme of the day that begs to be addressed & sometimes that need is big. It certainly was today.......& the day isn't over yet!

Usually themes really hang out. When they come to visit, they tend to stay. I'm sure you've noticed this in your own life. The theme may roll in gently OR it may arrive with a bang. This morning it was a bang. I had planned on blogging more on dreams for they are favorite subjects of mine & I've gotten fairly good at programming specific dreams, as well as remembering them in good detail. I just love writing about this part of my work, especially because I know how helpful it can be for healing & enhancing creativity. But that will have to wait for another day.

I opened the computer to begin working & decided to check my email. There it was........the theme. I opened three emails & found it smiling out at me. When you've been working in a field as long as I have, you do know when a theme has knocked at the door. This particular theme had to do with the verbal victimization of adult-children by parents or significant others & those adult-children cowering to it. For me, it is like rubbing salt in a wound.

I had to run some errands & found myself in the presence of adults with young children. There was the theme again.... only this time real children were being verbally victimized by their parents. It was like I was viewing the coming attractions to the adult-lives of the young children I was observing. How easy it is to harm a young mind & how long those programs can play out into adulthood causing all kinds of havoc. Adult-children still cowering, just like the young ones I was watching. I truly felt sick.

I went to the office & met up with a new patient. You guessed it.......the theme again. This particular patient came for weight management, but it became abundantly clear that her food bingeing was all about early verbal abuses that were never addressed & she still was accepting them, as if she didn't have a choice in the matter. While her mother, the original deliverer was deceased, she had a new deliverer, her husband. The messages were almost the same. She never learned along the way that while the doorbell may ring, one doesn't have to answer it. In addition, if there is a deliver, one doesn't have to accept the package ......unless one truly wants it.
In my experience we can all do with some assertiveness training work.

Being assertive does not mean being aggressive, although, I was just very aggressive & assertive on the phone a few minutes ago. Years ago I wouldn't have been able to do that & if I did, I'd probably be telling myself what I terrible person I am & no wonder no one liked me. Think about those mind programs! Not very healthy & certainly not very helpful.

So, this is what I help my patients to program in Interactive Self-Hypnosis...

1. We will work to enhance your ability to be assertive. Framing something as an ability says a lot to the subconscious mind. Becoming assertive is a skill that we get good at by practice. Remember, practice makes perfect....or almost.

2. We will work to enhance your ability to speak up for what you need, to speak up for what you want, to set boundaries, to learn to say now, to see yourself being in charge of the quality of your life in your mind's eye & knowing/believing that you deserve the very best.

3. We will work to enhance your inner programming to expect to receive the very best for you from others & also from yourself....& to give the very best to yourself in each moment.

4. It's important to know that defects in programming begin very early in your life & these defects have been closely tied to the development of your self-image & self-esteem. In other words, how you see yourself & feel/believe about yourself.

5. Early programming defects present false beliefs as truths, disallowing you from seeing yourself as you truly are....a human being with rights, with needs, with desires....a dignified human being harboring the rightful expectation of being treated with respect. Many people may have assisted with placing defective programs in your inner library & often this was not intentional, but actually followed their automatic behaviors that were out of balance in some way. While this isn't an excuse, knowing this can give us the power we need to change these very old programs.

In the practice of Interactive Self-Hypnosis we build new models for representing & caring for ourselves with respect & dignity. We expect this from ourselves & from others. If others miss the mark, we make it clear that this is not acceptable. We don't have to shout or get into our child-self to do this. Actually this is never a position of power. In Interactive Self-Hypnosis we are always in direct communication with the Higher Part or Mature Part of ourselves that takes charge when the going gets rough for the inner-child.

We were born alone & we will die alone. What we achieve & how we achieve it is up to us. We teach people how to treat us & it is never too late to get these lessons straight.

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I respect & honor myself. I teach others to do the same through my healthy beliefs, my healthy actions & by setting healthy boundaries. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

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Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents

Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop

mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want

It's Time to Stop...Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

Self-Cluttering Words...

There are days when all we can see is clutter. Do know that those are good days, for we cannot change what we cannot see. Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

Related Words - confusion, ataxia, ballup, chaos, disarray, disorder, huddle, muddle, snarl, topsy-turviness, hash, hugger-mugger, jumble, jungle, litter, mash, mishmash, muddle, rummage, scramble, shuffle, tumble, hodgepodge, macédoine, medley, mélange; disarray, mess, muss, ruck

Even the related words for clutter tend to clutter ! Today I so wanted to write about dreams, but my own personal clutter won out. I even received several emails about clutter.........so clutter it is.

I truly shouldn't be writing this blog entry because my entire office is a mess. For the past week I've been working on a variety of projects, most of which required pulling my filing cabinets apart. As I searched for things I needed, I was struck by how disorganized my files had become. When did this happen? It seems to me that I had re-structured them not all that long ago.........or was it?

Once we begin to notice clutter it tends to turn up everywhere. I walked into my office closet & there it was........every shelf & drawer. Piles of things that I have little recollection of placing there. How is it that I can be with these piles every day, yet not see or remember anything about them?

I noticed that I was actually afraid to look around the rest of my life with my eyes of the day. What if I found this everywhere? Could I possibly be that lost in my life.......AGAIN?

My memories went back to the late 80's when I had a clutter-wake-up. We were living in the Albany, NY area & my husband was re-locating to Oklahoma & I was to stay to market the house & finish up some work projects. Our sons had just left for college & even the dog had run away. Yes....I was alone with myself, something that I preferred not to experience. During those years my bingeing issues were big & unresolved, usually waiting around any corner to take over my life.

To complicate matters, my husband suggested, quite strongly, that I clear out the house. I was stunned by this because to me, the house was just fine. It was clean. I was a good homemaker. We needed all the things that were there & I certainly wasn't about to get rid of the things I'd collected & loved.

I remember the cold & snowy night I returned from Oklahoma, feeling alone & frightened for some reason. As I waited for the house to warm up, I began thinking about what my husband had said. I decided to have a look in one cupboard in the kitchen to see if he could possibly be right. I couldn't believe what happened next. It was like I never, ever truly looked inside that cupboard, yet I was in & out of there at least a dozen times a day. I was especially stunned by the piles of margarine containers that were bent out of shape & yellowed. There must have been 50 or so.......

Why did I own these? I seemed to remember that I collected them for leftovers. Quite honestly, I don't like leftovers & certainly these were the most depressing containers I'd ever seen. I remember tearing... What had happened to me? How widespread was this pattern of disorganization & not-remembering? I opened a few kitchen drawers & realized that they contained things that I didn't even recognize. I had no idea what to do with some of the gadgets that lived there. I began to feel surrealistic, like I was a visitor in my own life. Since I was working in gerontology with Alzheimer's patients at the time, I began fantasizing about perhaps being in the early stages. Not very funny. For some reason my bingeing came to mind.........yes, it was like my entire life & home were on some sort of bender.

By this time I knew I was on to something, intuition perhaps & I had a slight twinge of awareness that this was going to be a very important something. My inner mind suggested that I make some spot visits to other rooms..........no matter where I went, the same was waiting for me. My goodness. Think further.....And if this was the case with my home, what about the other parts of my life? I thought about my work, my hobbies, my goals & my dreams....my relationships. Were they also full of clutter & detachment? What couldn't I see? What was I missing?

Of course, this idea added to my earlier uneasy feelings about being alone & being afraid of myself, but sometimes when fear mounts, it does reach it's peak & thank goodness, that is what happened for me. I reached the top of the fear- mountain & now I could sense the release. I was willing to see & so now I was free to take care of things.

How does one begin when there is so much clutter, confusion & disorganization? Here are some things I did. They may sound a bit excessive, but I needed a plan to set me free.

1. I rented a copy of Ghandi. I knew that he had gotten down to one loin cloth & his glasses. I thought he would be a good mentor for me. I watched it twice !

2. I decided to set up 3 categories to help me evaluate my possessions & those I had ownership over. These included garbage, things I didn't really need or had too much of & had to go & then, group 3....things I needed or truly loved. The last was a tricky category because the binge part of me could say this about anything. For this reason I set up a temporary area in the garage. I could place things there & after a week I could re-evaluate. There is something positive about getting things out of the house. This is the beginning of releasing......

3. I made a folder for each room & listed every area separately, including each drawer, closet, shelf, etc. When I began a room, I had to stay with it until it was finished. Of course, some rooms took me a week or so. The basement took me several weeks. What I mean by staying with it was that I didn't allow myself to do a drawer in the kitchen & then one in the bedroom. I noticed the tremendous desire to do this........it seemed far too related to my troublesome behaviors of the past & so it was disallowed.

4. I made myself actually touch or handle everything I owned. Then I decided it's category. And yes, this was very time-consuming, but as I look back, it was a very important rule. I learned much from this exercise & it translated into changed behaviors that follow me to this day. Rarely do I purchase things I don't really love or need. I used to buy more compulsively & so this was a tremendous benefit for me. I learned to appreciate what I had & of course, realized that I had far too much. I didn't need all of these things to live happily. In fact, they had gotten in my way.

5. I allowed myself one job & two hobbies. One hobbie had to be a physical activity & the other one could be whatever I wanted. The reason for this rule for me was that I had tons of hobbies. I started things, but didn't finish them. I'm a person who is interested in just about everything. I love to knit, sew, embroider, do needlepoint, do beadwork, do crafts, etc., etc. As for work, I had several jobs going, yet I wasn't truly doing what I wanted to do. I came to realize that unless I stopped this binge behavior, I would never come to do what I really wanted to do. In other words, I was pushing my subconscious mind to focus hard. My mind had gotten lazy through the years & so my goals had wandered away.

6. I rewarded myself each day with something non-tangible. I had forgotten how to do this & so for me this was another adventure in getting to know myself better.

It took me about 3 months to complete this task. It was truly a journey to find myself & to get to know myself, perhaps for the very first time in my adulthood. I did end up reviewing my relationships & actually ended a few friendships that truly weren't. I shortened my Christmas card list..... & enhanced my most important relationships.

So, how long did this last? Well, at the beginning of this blog I mentioned that I was surrounded by clutter. Obviously, this is an ongoing process, but it is very rewarding. I do the house thing every year or so........or when it speaks to me. Once you have done the big process, more frequent messages are received.

If you are motivated to do this, don't be surprised if you get some big releases & creative break-throughs ! I'm expecting one once I clear out this closet!

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The true & creative me is located under that pile of clutter. As I come out of hiding & direct my attention to my clutter, I come directly in contact with my true self. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

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Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents

Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop

mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want

It's Time to Stop...Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

Future-Pacing Words...

My future belongs to me. I am the writer, director & producer of my own life. Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

Related Words - time that is to come,aftertime, afterward, by-and-by, hereafter, offing, to-be, beyond the present

We tend to mimic sailboats....blown this way & that, our directions decided by something out of our control. In this metaphor, the wind representing life. Unfortunately this is a very stressful way to go through life. In addition, it is next to impossible to reach our deepest desires if we continue to choose this way of living.

In the previous blog entry we discussed the power of regression. The entry before that focused on tweaking different areas of our life, thereby requesting our subconscious minds to give us suggestions & connected plans for making things better. I've been trying to write the blogs in some sort of order, so those of you who might be interested in working with these creative tools could follow along. If anyone is having difficulty, I'm very available online. You can email me here or visit one of my websites where more than likely you can jump right on my desk through the human-click button.

Future-pacing is another time-line tool that is very valuable & quite easy to commandeer. While it is certainly possible to simply jump on the time-line & go forward, I prefer to do some pre-time-line work beforehand. I will, however, do this pre-work in a light hypnosis. In other words, I'll plan some quiet time & then relax deeply.....slowing my brain waves down below the alpha level. I've written about this before & it is very simple to do.

For those of you who need a quick review, here it is:

Find a chair that is comfortable & settle down into it. Sense the chair holding you up. Now allow your body to sink into it, just as if magnets were pulling you down. You might like to take a few yawn breaths & sense your breath sitting in your lower abdomen, just as if it contained a merry-go-round horse. Pay quiet attention as it goes gently up & down.

Have a journal available or even a piece of paper will do. I rather like journals because they seem to attract the subconscious mind. Make a little map that represents your future. Purposefully think about yourself in that area..... begin with the near future, perhaps tomorrow & then move on to next week.....followed by a month down the road. See/sense a calendar turning gently, noticing that small images of your successes are stamped on each date. You don't have to see them in any detail.........just notice their existence.

Some thoughts will be coming into your mind right about now. You might want to write them down or even ask them some questions. It's important to notice your future as a real thing....not just some nebulous time down the road. That's why I suggest that you draw out some sort of image to represent it. This will give you a mind-focus for respecting it, etc. Never again will you treat it in any negative fashion or disregard it as if it didn't truly exist. It does exist & will come to pass.......& you will guide it gently towards what you want to happen.

We get what we think about all day long. Think in negative terms & guess what you will receive? Of course, you may think this is obvious & why should you spend time reading or thinking about this. Don't be fooled. You may know it, but there isn't one of us who doesn't fall into this mind-trap, myself included. But, the more you future-pace, the less you will find yourself programming your mind for negative experiences.

Once you have journaled & explored some thoughts about your future, start detailing the things you would like to experience. Yes, this does take time. However, your time is much better spent programming what you want, then letting the winds blow you without your direction. That is poor time management, besides making it more difficult to get back in the direction you want to go. For many people, the trip back is perceived as being too much work, so guess what? They stay wherever they end up, thanks to the wind.

Future-pacing is all about planning the details of what you want as if you already had it. Certainly you can add dates, etc. Make it as specific as you like, but truly image & emotionalize it. Treat your future-paced images with a host of affirmations. I like to detail my images in writing & then visit them in the theater of my mind, especially before I go to sleep at night. I want my subconscious mind to play with these images during my dream states. This is a powerful time for accessing your deepest levels of problem solving & creativity.

In the next blog I'll touch base with dream programming. Keep in touch & if there is something you might like me to write about here, I'm only a click away.

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My future falls off the end of my pen. I communicate easily with my future-selves. They help me to comprehend what is possible & then to plant it. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

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Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents
Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop
mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want
It's Time to Stop...Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

Time-Line Words

We all have a past path & a future path. One is filled with treasures waiting to be gleaned, the other waiting to receive the new plantings. Elizabeth Bohorquez RN, C.Ht

Related Words - Review, revert. turn back, go back, reverse, recall, remember, bring forward, go forward, think forward

Who wouldn't like to adventure in a time-machine? Most of us love the thought of going back in time or forward into the future. In the practice of Interactive Self-Hypnosis we experience this daily. It's known as working your time-line.

Even if you don't practice self-hypnosis as part of your creative life, you do work on your time-line. You just don't do this purposefully. Indeed, it is much better to use this powerful tool well, for if not, you may find yourself hanging around in negative trash while inhaling the toxic fumes. Instead, you could be transforming the negative trash into powerful, positive fertilizer to expand growth for one or several of your current or future goals.

If you doubt that you hang out on your time-line, start to pay attention to your thoughts as they speed through your mind. Just think about the last few hours inner activity. Did you have any thoughts about something that happened in the past? Could you feel/sense the emotions that were connected to those happenings? Did you have any thoughts about something in the future, either something you are planning or something you don't want to happen? Again, could you feel/sense the emotions connected to those happenings?

OK.....this is time-line work. These thoughts came on automatic pilot. Most likely you experienced emotions or physical sensations while you were inner-exploring these thoughts. It's important to know that these emotions, or chemical experiences, were etching those thought programs into your subconscious mind....they were becoming your goals or strengthening already present ones.

Because you weren't working purposefully with your time-line, you may have programmed your mind for goals or happenings that you don't want. Even when interacting with past memories or experiences, you will actually etch them further into your mind IF you don't choose to release them in the moment they are playing. It's so important to pay attention to your thought genres & your attitudes or emotional states. They can either play havoc OR help you enormously.

REGRESSION POINTERS

In my work as an RN, medical, sports & self-development hypnotherapist, I don't get into past-life regression. Quite honestly, I don't even discuss it. Everyone has their own thoughts about this & since it doesn't have to do with my clinical work or writing, I like to leave it to those who are in that field. The regression work that I practice with my clients & within my own life experiences, has to do with the time going forward from birth. On the future time-line, we go forward to the end of life.

Here are some of the areas I like to explore in regression. You can also practice doing the same by relaxing very deeply & spending some quality time with your younger Selves...

1. Going back to the day of your birth. Seeing/sensing your parents holding you. Pay attention to how young they appear, perhaps immature. Introducing your adult-self to them & noticing how amazed they are at your growth & maturity. This is also the time when you take possession the infant & begin your journey of self-responsibility.

2. Visiting your infant & early-childhood selves. Noticing how you were parented in these very early years & then stepping in & taking responsibility, perhaps improving or updating your early care. In self-hypnosis the mind accepts the last suggestion presented & so this is an opportunity to have a very early fresh start. You can also pay attention to your achievements in this area of your time-line. Notice how you learned to turn over, to sit, to stand, to walk, to eat, to speak, to play, to toilet train, etc. You can begin to collect or glean your successes right here. The attached affirmation could be, I know how to be successful.

3. Middle childhood & teen years. Perhaps you would like to make some editing changes here. Pay attention to parenting, school experiences, siblings & other relationships. Collect successes & re-edit learning-failure experiences to benefit you. Place some powerful affirmations here as well. An example, As I grow, I learn. Every experience is a growing & learning experience.

4. Early adult years. - Pay attention to your Selves during these years. Notice that you can interview each of them. Ask them what they need. Bring them gifts from their future. Notice that they have successes to share with you. Glean these. Wash off any learning-failure experiences, leaving the inner success-core jewels intact. Affirmation - There is success in every learning-failure. I know how to clean it & access it.

5. Adult years. Practice entering all kinds of experiences. Look for the successes & learning-failures. Tend to them. Interview your Selves. Ask questions & bring some gifts. Notice how they are opened to taking you deeper into the experiences, allowing you to remember from your current adult-self. Knowing that you have come for the inner success-cores.

6. Re-editing the past. Take the position of writer, producer, director of your past & re-edit or re-stage it to your liking. Manage emotions both positive & negative. You can do this in your mind's eye OR you can do some automatic writing/journaling. This is my favorite method & I'm always surprised at some of the gifts that leave the end of my pen.

In the next blog entry I'll do some future-pacing with you.

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I enjoy visiting my past Selves. We communicate easily. They help me to uncover & harvest my inner-success-core jewels. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

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Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents

Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop

mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want

It's Time to Stop...Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-10T08:53:00.000-07:00

Tweaking Words...

Nothing is static. Everything can be made better by enhancing focus & upgrading desire. Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

Tweak Related Words - adjust pull off, pluck, pick off, fine-tune, pinch, nip, squeeze, tweet, twinge.

Everyone wants to progress.... that's a given, but because we have so many different areas to manage.....all containing a multitude of goals, both big & small, it's a wonder that we do as much as we do. For most areas of life & for most goals, we have a tendency to be lost in very powerful automatic pilot programs.

I was brought to this line of thinking today by a client of mine who is leaving for a trip abroad. When planning her session, I decided to help her install a subconscious mind tweaking program that would benefit the many areas we are working on together. It helps to know that when one leaves home, a large portion of automatic pilot programs get left behind as well.

Even something as mundane as brushing the teeth, takes on a new pattern. Take a moment to think about how many areas will change for my client.....you might be surprised. Those of us who work in the field of focus, flow, concentration & clarity know the value of changing.........even little things. So, when one goes abroad lots of little things will simply change. It's like a gift waiting to happen.

When old patterns are broken, even if just temporarily, creative-opportunity spaces appear. These spaces are very valuable assets & afford a perfect opportunity to revamp different areas of life that might benefit from some re-thinking or re-direction. I call this tweaking. The re-direction or re-editing can be accomplished in large or small areas.

Tweaking can be a conscious or subconscious mind activity. I personally like to explore both avenues. In the past, some of my best break-through ideas came through subconscious mind tweaking, although conscious planning also has tremendous benefits. While this is a big subject for this blog, I can certainly touch on some areas that may actually tweak your desire to learn more.

What areas are best to tweak?

I actually like to program my own subconscious mind to tweak in all major areas of my life, because I never know where the most powerful gifts are coming to come from. This is exactly what I did with my client. Break-through idea may appear small on the surface, but can have big ramifications. This happened to me when I was tweaking my food & beverage intake. I got the idea that I truly could stop drinking caffeinated coffee. While this may not sound like a big thing, trust me it was. I had been addicted to caffeine for over 30 years & so, there wasn't an area of my life that was not affected by the absence of this substance.

It is often difficult to tweak without slowing the brain waves due to mind-turbulance. I also call this run-away brain syndrome. Take a moment to tune into your own thought processes & take notice of their speed. Think of them as traffic & you might be shocked at how fast it is going. Think about catching one of those thoughts & you'll get the idea of how necessary it is to slow the brain waves.

Once the brain waves are slowed, not only can you catch the thought, but there are other benefits as well. Stress chemical production is diminished. It is then possible to access the door to the subconscious mind. This only takes about 1/200th of a second. Now you are ready to program the subconscious mind for a good tweaking session.

Here are some areas my client tweaked....

1. Weight Management - As we entered this area of her subconscious mind programs, we noticed the many different aspects of her self-discipline. Some appeared to be working quite well, others not so well. However, we asked the mind to tweak all areas, the reason being that everything can be made better. We just may not know this consciously. For imagery we utilized a laser light & focused it on food shopping, refrigerator, cupboards, exercise circuit training, walking & swimming programs & her emotional component. The process is as simple as "notice or call attention to, laser light, tweak." The subconscious mind will respond to this by sending suggestions or new action programs.

2. General Health- We separated her general health from her weight management program because we wanted her subconscious mind to highlight that important area. As we walked through her body departments, we simply "noticed, laser light & tweaked." The mind will simply produce improved self-care programs in the different areas. Perhaps some areas won't have any, but most will.

3. Relationship with Self - This is the most important relationship area & often the most ignored. My client needs lots more work in this area including building her self-image & self-esteem. As we located her different object-goals in this area, she "noticed, laser light & tweaked." These included caring for her personal needs, having fun, building interesting work, hobbies, self-thoughts, choosing more emotions that build, etc. Because this was done hypnotically, her subconscious mind will bring forth new ideas, along with the organized plans.

4. Financial - Like all of us, my client certainly needs some tweaking in the area of money management. When we are over-loaded with daily tasks, we often miss out on making corrections or building new opportunities. The subconscious mind is never too busy to work things out for us. All we need to do is ask, so we tweaked her budget, bank account, spending habits & investments. It will be interesting to see what gifts she receives in this department.

5. Home - This is a very easy area to tweak. My client & I visited all the rooms in her home, as well as her car & pool/garden, pointing the laser at all sorts of things. Her subconscious mind will send her a multitude of suggestions for making her life better in these areas. It's so common to stay on automatic pilot in relation to our home environment, for this is where we come to rest & recover from our work & social life. Whenever I tweak my home area, I find myself removing clutter & organizing areas that have been ignored for quite some time.

6. Relationships - My client has many relationships including her family & friends. It's not uncommon to take these for granted, so tweaking will usually improve their quality. My client is ready to think about some additional relationships & so we asked her subconscious mind to make a note of this & bring forth some suggestions. I won't be surprised if she begins to be more open to meeting new people.

6. Future - Tweaking the future is great fun & filled with possibilities of all kinds. This is a great opportunity to let her subconscious mind know what sorts of experiences she would like to have. We simply brought forth images & gave them a super-charged laser tweak. And, we left the following affirmation in this
area......THIS OR BETTER !

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I welcome change in all areas of my life. I enjoy it. I'm ready for it. ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents

Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop

mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want

It's Time to Stop...Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-07T12:25:00.000-07:00

Striving Words...

Take the gentle path...George Herbert

How hard we all try to achieve things.......& how many different things we try to achieve. No wonder so many of us are so tired. Sometimes life is like a continuous uphill climb. So, no matter what you are looking to achieve in your personal & business life or in creative endeavors, be they at your computer or on the playing field, it's a good idea to keep a look-out for this potentially dangerous mind-state.

Often when we are alone or in our regular life-patterns, it isn't as noticeable, unless someone draws our attention to it, at which point most of us would become defensive. Here are some catch-phrases that come my way....This is just the way I am or If I don't keep working hard, I'll never amount to anything. Or.......Leave me alone. I know what I'm doing. Do you?

I just came back from spending a weekend with 35 strivers, all under one roof. It was a meeting of publishers & writers, each one on a separate mission for success, including myself. Quite frankly, I'm mentally & physically exhausted. And while the meeting was excellent & had a very positive energy, being around any striving-energy can be depleting & especially when it is your own.

Like many meetings, this one was filled with so much information, that I could feel my mind setting up protective blocks....actually backing up from the continuous barrage being thrown at it. To make matters worse, it was Saturday & my creative mind is not used to this type of treatment once Friday has passed. But, this was an important meeting, so of course, I wanted & needed to stay focused. However, the more I pushed myself to do this, the more my mind rejected my personal demands.

Perhaps you've found yourself in a similar scenario. Most of my patients & students tend to strive & then to suffer from the striving, some actually burning out, for as I mentioned above, striving is contagious, even within ourselves. The more we tend to strive, the quicker we seem to burn!

Here are some suggestions for dealing with a striving-nature....

1. Watch out for it. Most of us have the tendency to effort or push ourselves & ifyou are an A-type personality, you will have higher levels of this trait. It's important to be honest with yourself & avoid defending what you know to be true. Keep in mind that you are the person who will pay the piper.

2. Make plans for it. I don't go to many meetings & so, sometimes I forget about it until I'm in the middle of the problem. However, once it rears it's head, I'm ready. First, I need to realign my goals for being at the meeting. I may need to remind myself that it isn't necessary for me to absorb everything that is presented or discussed. This is a letting-go subconscious mind suggestion & a very powerful one. It tends to break that perfectionistic, obsessive-compulsive, tension-building mind & body set.....an enemy to creativity, concentration & focus.

3. Lighten up. While this is a bit like step 2, it is more in keeping with the mind programs of having fun & actually enjoying the learning process. When I'm working with clients of mine who are in school, no matter what the level, I find that they often need new or restructured mind programs in this department. So, how do we purposefully lighten up?

A very simple exercise is to take a cleansing breath, sense magnets pulling you down into the chair, tilt your eyes up just about 20 degrees & see/sense yourself having a good time, of course, appropriate for the place & time. It's not necessary to image this as a Disneyland experience! Remember that the mind will follow the body.........so a good emotionalized image is all that is necessary.

4. Watch what you eat & drink. Always have a good nutritious breakfast that includes protein & whole grains. Limit your caffeine & sugar intake. It's almost par for the course that meeting break foods will include plenty of caffeinated drinks, sugars & refined foods. Watch those candies & mints that are often placed on the writing tables. These types of foods play havoc with blood sugar levels & therefore build emotional roller-coasters. They make it more difficult to stay relaxed & focued...........thus increasing the desire to strive.

5. Observe your communication skills. Are you spending more time speaking than actively listening? Are you feeling the need to sell yourself to others? This is a good opportunity to stay in awareness & inhance your listening. Sense yourself enjoying this & if the little mind voices come to tell you that you are missing opportunities, remind yourself that this is not so. A good listener tends to make a better impression that one who talks to much. If you tend to have social anxiety, make note of this. Bring back that earlier image of being deeply relaxed & enjoying the party.

6. Trust your mind to do the necessary listening. When the mind & body is well-nourished & relaxed, you can program it to do the listening for you. Here is how to place those suggestions..... as above, take a cleansing breath, deepen & tilt your eyes up gently. See & sense the information coming from the speaker & entering your own mind. Notice how relaxed you are & how easy this process is for you. Celebrate this.

Know that this is not New Age but instead, suggestions relating to emotional crayons that energize the imagery on the mind screen. Keep in mind that the right side of the brain likes emotion in relation to any suggestion. However, it's in your best interest to keep the suggestions & the emotions positive. It's just as easy to program your mind for what you don't want & then to emotionalize it in a negative fashion. Not a good idea, so pay attention to what you are doing...

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I'm awake for any & all striving. As I let go, my creativity enhances....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

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Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents

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It's Time to Stop...Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-03T16:46:00.000-07:00

Letting Go Words...

Letting go is not easy, but nature demands it...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

The nests are busy this time of year. Young children are heading off to their first school experience, while the newly graduated seniors are packing for their first college experience. Others are moving into their first apartment & beginning a new job. So.....the nests are empying & my office is filling up with the problems of those left behind.

Many of us couldn't wait for the day when the kids would leave. Perhaps, like me, they put their perceived creative lives on hold, placing family first. I met a woman yesterday who can't find time in her day to wash her face.....forget taking a relaxing bath. While I'm always stunned by confessions such as these, I truly shouldn't be. I'm still young enough to remember many of the ways in the past that I ignored my Self, but yet never saying no to anyone about anything they may have wanted from me.....a true push-over, if there ever was one.

Another interesting phenomenon is the number of patients who make appointments to manage their weight or to stop smoking, after their children have left for school or left the nest completely. It's like there is no time available to pay attention to one's Self when the children are around.

These individuals, mainly women by the way, tend to have yo-yo weight or stress-related problems. Their pattern is to wait until there is less pressure from demanding family members & then give themselves an ounce of permission to quickly attend to whatever they have been ignoring, perhaps for years. Hurry-up is the name of the game. "Let's get this corrected now, because I won't have any time once we get into the holidays."

For me, as a health care professional & as well as someone who has been there as a mother, daughter, wife, colleague, etc.....these are scary patterns with a potential for danger. They need to be corraled, taken apart & then put back together in a healthier way. So, just as we let go of our children, we can take this opportunity to let go of our old sick patterns of caring for our Self.

We don't seem to forget that we are parents or employees or even the boss, but for some reason we do have a tendency to forget that we are individuals that need personal attention....& on a daily basis. Besides having physiological needs, we have emotional & creative needs. These need to be provided to ourselves, by ourselves.

While this may sound like a lot of jibberish, trust me on this one. In my profession I get to see the outcomes that happen when these things are missing. You can see them too, if you look. Pay attention to how many drug advertisements are on television or in magazines. Notice what they are for. Most are prescribed for stress-related diseases, or for losing weight, sleep disorder, chronic pain, irritable bowel syndrome, GERD, lack of energy, depression or anxiety disorder.

Back to the nests for a moment. When nests empty, there is often an increase in relationship problems between those that are left, especially if all children have flown away. Conversations are often stilted, or halt all together. Husbands & wives may run for cover. Who is this man? Who is this woman? Where are the things you had in common so long ago? Where did they go? Do I still love this person, or is he/she just a convenience you've gotten used to?

Perhaps for the first time you notice that all you ever talked about were your children & their activities. With these things gone, depression often enters. It's not uncommon for alcohol usage to increase or eating disorders to surface. Perhaps the children were the buffer to relationship problems that were ignored over the years. Empty nest often means additional expenses & new worries. Plenty of things to think about here....

It's good to know that we are not alone for these problems are universal. I suggest that my patients take this time to learn about who they are & what they want for themselves. This is a good time of life to re-build old dreams. Just about anything is possible. Take the problems out from where they have been hiding & put them up on the table where you can see them clearly. Don't be afraid.....they won't bite you. Take your time as you observe them carefully.

Notice what works & what doesn't work. Bring in forgiveness & compassion. Use images for these. Pretend that you are in a workshop & have all sorts of tools available. Go ahead & fix what needs fixing. These are interactive self-hypnotic suggestions & your own mind will work it's magic, once you take the initiative.

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I focus on the many areas of my life where letting go will be beneficial. I'm getting good at this... Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents

Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop
mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want
It's Time to Stop....Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-02T16:30:00.000-07:00

Moment Words...

The ancestor of every action is a thought...Ralph Waldo Emerson

I was just having a conversation with a young patient of mine who has a history of anorexia. She was telling me that she doesn't think of herself as being too thin. So, of course, her actions match her thoughts. She is not about to eat what her body needs IF she believes what her thoughts tell her.

So, it becomes important to change her frame of thinking & then to motivate within the new frame. It's also important for her to work with dissecting her momentary experiences, especially those that are cementing her potentially dangerous thoughts.
Here is a bit of what I had to say in this regard...

A strange as it sounds, we only have a vague idea of what we look like on the outside. Many of us can't bear looking at self-photographs & work hard to keep cameras away. Of course not everyone is the same. Even if we like the way we look & view photographs of ourselves, what we get to see is only a momentary image caught by the lens, now seen through our own perception & inner judging program. For certain, we do remain a mystery, both outside and inside! Therefore, it is important to have someone you trust to tell you the truth.

A very large percentage of what resides inside of us, physical or emotional, tends to remain mysterious for most of our lives, mainly because we're not attentive to the clues sent up by the body departments, our thought processes, or our momentary experiences. Sometimes we awaken if the body part screams loud enough, but even then, little is done about the underlying cause. Sometimes we notice a mood flucuation caused by negative-thoughts, but may not choose to release these in a healthy way.

We may turn to medication to obliterate the symptom, or to another substance or controlling behavior, to mask the truths. If the family history pulls towards addiction, these symptoms then become the hooks & an unhealthy pattern of behavior is etched into the subconscious mind.

Managing the mind & body connection takes skill & practice. Although knowledge & awareness are valuable, they are not enough. There must be action that will change the body physiology, as well as open the mind for re-programming.

My patients utilize two different tools. It takes a bit of practice to develop skill, but once they do, they can apply these tools to all different aspects of their lives. These two tools interface with each other, so sometimes it isn't clear as to which tool is being utilized. It's rather like driving a car, or performing any other automatic experience.

The first tool, called interactive awareness, calls us to attention. We awaken & catch the moment. Once the moment is caught, we can accomplish a number of things, including entering the moment & changing whatever we want. In this step we are utilizing the second tool, that of Interactive Self-Hypnosis.. We can notice how quickly they interface. This can take as little as 1/200th of a second.

When someone becomes skillful with these tools, it is possible to simply notice & change an outcome very quickly indeed. This is powerful in sports, as well as in other areas where optimum performance is desired. For myself, I find this useful in the practice of my profession, as well as in the unfolding of my daily experiences, including my relationships. The day is only half over & I can't count how many times I've pulled into my moments & edited some old mind program that was getting in my way, or used it to open my mind in a creative endeavor.

My patient needed to pull into moments that were acting as triggers for her anorexia. I've known her for quite some time & so I'm aware of her triggers, but each time we work together, different life experiences light up different aspects of her triggers. The same is true for all of us, including myself. Of course, I'm aware that I'm stress-triggered by chaos & the need to control, or my undying need to be right. However, each day I get to see these old issues in a new light....depending on what I'm experiencing in any given moment.

It is helpful to have a working image tool, representative of an actual moment. The reason for this is that moments are difficult to catch, especially in the beginning of your mind-body work.

Like everyone else, I tend to auto-pilot through life. So, I notice my thoughts & connected moments as DVD programs that play in my mind. I sense them as being separate from me....this is a form of detachment or disassociation. This is a very workable image because my subconscious mind already understands what a DVD is & accepts that it can be removed if I don't enjoy the program.

To help me wake up to mind programs that are negative, or as I like to call them....unskillful, I employ my subconscious mind librarian. Mine happens to be a she. In deep relaxation I have asked her to show me any & all DVD thought & connected moment programs that take me away from any of my major goals, that I have previously outlined for her.

It's really quite amazing to experience some of the awakenings. Some are small & some are big....but the subconscious mind librarian is always on target, for indeed, each one of them is capable of programming my mind for outcomes that keep me off goal course. In fact, I've had a few DVD wake-up calls while writing this blog entry!

Once you are awake, it's simply a matter of taking a cleansing breath from the lower belly, relaxing into the moment.......sensing letting go.........& then......tilting your eyes up just about 20 degrees, locating the inner mind screen & seeing/sensing an emotionalized image of what you want, just as if you already had it.

As for my patient, she left the office today seeing/sensing herself at her healthy weight & enjoying giving herself this gift of health. She visited her future-Self & received a big thank you for not complicating her life.

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I easily awaken to moments & their imbedded thoughts. I mind-edit for what I want, as if I already had it in the palm of my hand ...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents

Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop

mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want

It's Time to Stop....Nail Biting - Book & Interactive Self-Hypnosis CD

2005-08-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

Monday Words...

The world is moving so fast these days that the man who says it can't be done is generally interrupted by someone doing it....Harry Emerson Fosdick

Most of us start building Monday stressors on Sunday. I read a study a few years ago that reported the highest number of heart attacks occurring on Sunday night & not Monday morning. Such is the power of the mind & body connection...

A recent patient of mine was admitted to the ER with a stroke-potential blood pressure brought on by fright.......this particular fear having to do with performance anxiety. Such is the power of the mind & body connection.

When I worked as Director of Staff Development in a large corporation, Monday's were days filled with incidents of all sorts including employees making multiple errors & even accidents. The number of people calling in sick was highest on Monday.......those calls often recorded on Sunday night. People just not able to face the stressors of the workplace. Such is the power of the mind & body connection.
The power of the mind & body connection infiltrates every corner of the Self. The level of job performance & creative thinking seems to sink on Monday. Those of us who studied this found that it often took a good two days or more for an employee to truly settle down, fire up & begin working at his potential.

Then there is the matter of stress-storage impacting on the perceived potential of an individual. This then begs the question.....what could someone achieve IF the stressors were released earlier & if that individual was taught techniques for working within the subconscious mind? What would happen if the body & the mind were well-tended? And, if this were to happen, would there be a change in the development of stress-related diseases? Would this also effect the emotional health & well-being of this individual across the board? Would there be less work-place, spousal or child-abuse? Would the dog get kicked less often?

Here are some things I need to pass on to my patients & students...

Even before we wake in the morning, stress chemicals are being produced. Most of us are unaware of the amount of body tension we hold from stress. It's like putting on a stress-coat and not even recognizing the weight of it.

As we get on with the day, stress mounts and then most of us tend to release it through an addictive substance such as coffee, smoking, sugaring or bingeing. Many of these substances, cigarettes for example, have multiple properties, making them even more dangerous and more addictive.

The day continues in this unhealthy fashion and adding to the already present stress-related problems of the body departments and of the mind or cognitive functioning. Bedtime is the only healthy stress-release time and for most it is usually insufficient with frequent night-waking, interrupting stress-reducing dream states.

Most people who choose alcohol as their choice for releasing may begin their drinking day early as well. However, most tend to begin in the evening, or on their way home from work. Most of us are well-versed on the dangers of this habit. Alcohol is one of those substances that greatly effects others. Alcohol-related abuse is rampant, both for the spouse and children.

Those who grow up in a home where alcohol problems exist tend to have difficulties throughout all stages of their lives.While there are many happy stories of those alcoholics who became sober & stayed sober, the memories of the alcoholic times are not so easily forgotten by those who experienced them.

Its not uncommon for children of alcoholics to develop their own disorderly patterns, even if alcohol isn't one of them. There are many studies linking alcoholic households with eating disorders, addictions and other emotional disorders. If you grew up in a household such as this, even if there is a long family history of alcohol, all is not lost. You can break the pattern by building a new high-level functioning life for yourself.

It is so important to clear the air here. Yes, we are born on the path of our path of our predecessors, but we are each given the opportunity to change our outer & inner experiences...both in the present & in the future. We do not have to be smokers, or alcoholics or diabetics. We do not have to walk towards chronic or killer diseases. We have lots of choices & even though Monday morning may not seem like a good time to begin these changes, it is as good a time as any. So, if you are practicing any potential killer-disease behaviors today, do know that they are being added to your internal bank account.

ABOUT MAKING CHANGES... here are some things we need to consider. The following paragraphs are KNOWLEDGE HOOKS. That means that your own subconscious mind will hook to these & bring up possibilities for you to consider.

You already know that most of your mind programs are on automatic pilot, woven into the fabric of your life. The subconscious mind is available to help wake you, but you are going to need to know how to communicate with your subconscious mind in a very specific fashion, about what you want, as well as what you don't want.

For this you will need special data collection. This is what assessment is about; collecting data for careful examination without judgment. This opens your mind, giving you the opportunity to decide if you would like to change or mind-edit "your data" before returning it to your subconscious mind library. This is experiential interactive self-hypnosis.

Most likely, you do not know all the things you need to know to make changes in your lifestyle behaviors. Like the octopus, the head of the behavior may be above water, but the tentacles or roots of the behavior are below the surface. You may sense or experience these as blocks, resistance or procrastination.

You may want to change, thinking you know what needs to change, but until you identify and own the tentacles below the surface, it will be very difficult or next to impossible. It's not uncommon to have a physical sensation of being unable to move, just as if your feet were stuck in tar or cement. You may recognize this as anxiety or depression.

In order to move out of the tar, you will be needing additional information that may not be in your current memory bank, but waiting for you in your subconscious mind library. Some of these things will pertain to your family of origin, as well as from your own health, emotional and behavioral history starting from the time you were an infant, and up through this very moment. You will also be reclaiming memory files about your beliefs, how you got them, and whether or not they are blocking your current progress.

Beliefs are like coats, many that were placed on you when you were a child, or perhaps as an adult when you were unaware. Someone who appeared stronger than you in thamoment may have forced them on you. But that was then, and now is now. Through this work you are taking back your personal power. You will be choosing only those belief coats that you want to own. This is your life and this is your performance.

You will be guiding yourself with images of what you do want. That is why we must spend time in thinking about this. It's important to review your life and notice the areas, both big and small, that do not reflect what you want & also to notice areas that do reflect those positive aspects. They need to be divided, just as if you were cleaning and clearing your home.

When you have accomplished this, you can enter any area of your Inner Library and start inner exploring. The lights will go on, and it will easier to see in the corners of your belief closet, and the past experiences that are connected to these. When your "subconscious mind librarian" spots something that may be of interest for a self-review, you will find yourself receiving the message. This is rather like having a wonderful personal assistant who is completely attuned to you.

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It may be Monday, but I'm in charge now. My only limits are those of my inner vision....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-31T11:03:00.000-07:00

Emotional Insight Words...

Your emotions color your experiences...so check your crayons! Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

Living in disorder or addiction is like existing in a room without air or light. It's time to change things. As I write & teach in this field, I must also walk the walk. It's rather like enforced self-discipline. However, I'm not complaining. Like everyone else, I've been through dark & light experiences in my own life & while it does take work to go towards or stay in the light, this is the way I prefer to pay the piper.

My patients & students come to know that there are 4 steps to self-managing, & while all are equally important, the order of progression is also important. Just like in the game of baseball, first base comes first.

We get out of all disorders or messes in the same way...climbing the same 4 steps, over & over. These include high level nutrition, heightened awareness or focus, thought & emotion managing & interactive self-hypnotic imagery.

But before any climbing, we must wake up....& then we can bring the steps of organization to all the facets of our problems & issues, including addictions.

When one area of a life is in disarray, you won't have to look far to find another. Disorder & stress go hand in hand, bringing imbalance to the mind and body. Addictions become the easy answer for managing the discomfort. We can grow to like, even love our addictions & like any other bad relationship, they can consume us. It is important to understand that while we may have genetic tendencies towards addictions, we do have choices in the matter. We can choose to stop.

Changing disorderly life patterns & addictions means giving up those dangerous relationships while managing stress in new ways. This is where most people make their mistake when looking to stop smoking, drinking, bingeing, etc. First order of business is to have a very good stress management program in place, one that includes the 4 steps of this program.

Managing emotions is key to managing addictions & disorder. From the time you were born, you have been developing your own brand of emotional-patterning. Some of the patterns have been heavily etched & are super-automatic. You may have mentored some of these from others, especially when you were very young & more sponge-like. At that time of life you absorbed everything, even if you didn't like it or agree to it.

A good exercise is to become aware of what you dislike, or what annoys you about your parents or siblings, then look for those tendencies in yourself. You can do the same exercise with your significant other relationship, or your relationship with your children. Try the same mind game with your work relationships. They will be there as well. It's not uncommon to be blind to one's own patterns, as well as to the emotional states that automatically attach to them.

Once a negative pattern has been self-embedded, it must be removed subconsciously. If not, the pattern will have a tendency to adhere to other experiences "in the moment" or even to future experiences..

Let's work with this example.

Suppose you are thinking about meeting someone you know. You have a history of being annoyed with this person's idiosyncrasies. In your present thoughts, your emotional state crayons are already engaged, coloring your expectations. Even if that person isn't demonstrating the irksome traits in the real-time meeting, you will probably find yourself in your old programmed mind-state anyway, responding "as if" there were.

Let's work with a different future-paced example.

Suppose you are going on vacation. On the last vacation you had difficulty adjusting to a non-working relaxed state, finding the vacation finished before you really began enjoying yourself. Even though your current vacation is not for some time, you are already anticipating this, probably playing it in the theater of your mind. This is a special kind of mind program called a negative expectation. If you play this over and over, you will actually pre-program enhanced mind and body tension. Other negative emotions may choose to join in with their negative color crayons. The chances of an enjoyable vacation is becoming slimmer with each negative mind-etching.

If you have been reading this blog, you are familiar with Knowledge Hooks. Let's program one here. Remember, because we have categorized the following in a special mind container, the subconscious mind will file it differently.

KNOWLEDGE HOOK. Working with emotional states is a skill just like anything else. We have emotions that work in a positive way for us & others that don't. These are often called negative emotions, but it's important to keep in mind that even negative ones also have their good points & can be useful in certain situations. You'll come to understand that these emotions can help to open the subconscious mind through releasing.

When looking at emotional states it's a good idea to know that there are hundreds of them. Few people can name more than twenty. . Some emotions are experienced as having negative high-power such as anger. You also have positive high-powered emotions as well, for example ecstasy could be considered in that group. You also have negative lower-powered emotions, for example annoyance & on the positive side you might consider the emotion of being pleasant.
Sometimes the momentary experience is about the choice of emotion & other times it's about the intensity of the crayoning.

Interactive awareness practice helps you to see the details & what is truly unfolding in the moment. How good are your self-observation skills? While most of us can name or describe our high-powered positive & negative emotions, most of us fall short when it comes to the lower-powered ones. This is most unfortunate because these are the emotions that hang around more frequently, coloring daily experiences & are usually the ones responsible for stress related diseases, as well as interfering with goal achievement. We often call them our personality traits, often believing that they can't be changed because "they are who we are."

This in itself conjures up some interesting images. For example, what would happen if one's anger, resentment & failure programs were diminished or removed? Would they evaporate? This is a living example of how "nonsense language" finds it's way into our subconscious mind programs.

MIND EXERCISE

Just imagine how much power you have given to your emotions over the years & still tend to give! Think about today. Can you locate any moment or group of moments forming a remembered experience when your emotional child-self was in charge & not your mature self? Sit back and view this happening on your mind screen? How would you rate this production? The library of your mind is filled with these experiences.

The good news is that if you have been following this blog, you know how to release these programs. If you have missed any blog entries, please click on the BLOG ARCHIVE LINK below. The entire blog is located there.

In future blog entries, we'll climb up to step four, where you will be able to re-edit old mind programs with future-paced images of what you truly want to have & experience.

Here's another KNOWLEDGE HOOK for your subconscious mind:

Most of us are not in touch with our emotions, especially the subtle ones. Emotions can present themselves in a clear fashion, making them easier to identify or name, or they can be muted.. Some trigger big physical sensations, while others tend to play under the surface, but they are there if you look.

Some are regulars and play on automatic pilot. Others are new to a particular experience, often surprising us with their outbursts and connected thought patterns. We can invite emotions through simple conversation, so it is important to watch your patterns.

As you begin to notice the emotions you entertain, you may be surprised. Victim is one of those that is so common place, it reminds me of the flu season. Pay attention to how people tend to moan and groan, even about simple things. Ask the next person you know "how they are doing" Don't be surprised if you meet up with the victim emotion. Listen to the tonality. It can be quite dramatic. Sometimes we dub this "drama queen or king." We all have it !

The more emotions you can spot, the better for you. Make it a life-game. Look for them in yourself, as well as in others. See them in a detached way, as children wearing tee shirts. Some work well for you, while others do not. Remember, they come in different strengths, so stay awake.

Playing with images in this way will not only empower you, but will help you in your relationships with others. When you actively practice disassociation, you separate the emotions in other individuals as well. Then you can program your mind to see the higher parts of that person, as well as the separated negative emotions, making it easier to handle conflicts & negotiations.

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I now understand that I choose my emotions, my thoughts, my attitudes & my outcomes...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Offerings for Publishers, Editors & Agents
Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop
mindSCRABBLE...The Game of Programming Your Mind for What You Want

2005-07-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

Affirmational Plant Words

The most effective way to cope with change is to help to create it....L.W. Lynett

Affirmations are complete mind programs, setting the stage for inner self-interaction & change. You can weave them in many different ways throughout your daily life. Thought-talk is very powerful. What you think is what you get. Earlier on you learned that every thought is a goal waiting to happen. You also know that your thoughts are actual goals, ignited by your emotions and their crayons. The more tools you have, the better for you.

KNOWLEDGE HOOKS are educational mind-programs that attach themselves to subconscious mind files already in place OR file themselves in new file-folders in the library of the mind. Let's work with one here.

Change is always a matter of choice. Awareness or knowledge is usually not enough to motivate change. As you walk through the workshop of the world you will hear people who have identified their problems, but not the tentacles under the surface, having no motivational or action programs to propel them into the actual desire to change. Sometimes they will begin, but if the programs for persistence and consistency are missing from their tools belts, they will end up quitting at the first road-block opportunity.

You might even notice that they appear "happy" to see the road-block, as they have been looking for some excuse along the path to assist in their rationalization of not pushing forward. You will hear it in their language and see it in their expressions, both big and small. If you look closely you might see a secondary emotion underneath the presenting one. For example, in the heat of rationalization look for a glimmer in the eye, or a small "almost smile" sitting on the lips. You may have even felt this in one of your moments!

The higher your awareness, the easier it is to keep the path clear and to stay open to choice. Keep in mind that both conscious and subconscious thought can lead you down the path of unimaginable incredible success if you so choose.

Affirmations, or self-talk help to keep the path clear and aid in the heightening of awareness. These are mini-mind programs that can be utilized independently, right in the moment. For instance, if you want to build motivation in a particular goal area, you might work with affirmations designed for that particular goal.

There are thousands of affirmations already written and ready to be planted. Your local bookstore is filled with choices for you. But, once again, it is not enough to simply read or have knowledge. It's like holding a packet of seeds in your hand. No matter how long you hold it, the flowers will never grow there. They have to be planted and nurtured.

Why do affirmations work for some people and not for others? What can you do to get great results from your affirmation planting? As with everything else, it's best to start at the beginning. If you have worked with affirmations in the past, review in your mind why you decided to do so, as well as how you went about it. Also check out your attitude and energy.

There are some very common mistakes that people make in working with affirmations. It is certainly not sufficient to just say something to yourself over and over. If you were your subconscious mind, how impressed would you be with that delivery?

It is absolutely vital to literally sell the affirmation to the inner mind, conveying belief in what you say and what you want. Without this kind of energy backing the planting, you could go along mumbling affirmations to yourself forever without ever seeing any change at all. If you've given up on affirmations, have another look for they are a great investment in your time.

MIND EXERCISE

In our work here, you will be sending Affirmational Plants to your Inner Librarian & firing them with hot imagery. Always choose one that is meaningful to you. You might also like to write them out on individual cards to be placed within your view throughout the day. Once the accompanying imagery is planted, all you need is a cue card to remind you to play the mini-program. I'll give you some suggestions for imagery, but your own subconscious mind may prefer to build your own , so go along with it as long as it is positive. Never, ever plant a negative affirmation!

Approach each affirmation as if it were a gift sitting on the table, waiting for you to open. it. I suggest you work in the level of deep relax. Each time you sit down to work with affirmational planting, simply place your fingertips on your lower abdomen and allow it to fill with a deep yawn breath. Quietly observe as your fingers ride up and down on your lower abdomen. Now allow your body to become heavy in the chair where you are resting. After reading this paragraph close your eyes gently and tilt them up about 20 degrees, just as if you were sitting in the second row of a movie theater. You will begin feeling the internal changes in your body. This is relaxation.

Your brain waves will have slowed, stress chemicals will have diminished and you will be at the door of your subconscious mind. Stay here for a few moments and enjoy how easy it is for you to go even deeper down, allowing your body to become even heavier than before. You can then open your eyes and choose to feel alert, focused and ready to begin subconscious exploration.

Remember, practice makes perfect. Take your time and don't rush the process. Sell these to your subconscious mind as if you life depended on it. Whatever your mind comes away believing you will achieve! Make certain it is what you truly want!

Let's practice with a simple affirmation:

I AM ADAPTABLE. Ask yourself what it means to you to be adaptable. Think about your work in managing any current problem or issue. Image the word adaptable next to the subject of your work. Verbalize this to yourself internally &also speak out loud. With your eyes tilted up slightly, go back in time and find a memory link where you adapted easily to some situation. Now mind-write the word adaptable over this memory picture. Bring the picture forward, making it brighter. Perhaps see it as a memory-movie. Allow yourself to feel the emotion of self-power as you view this.

Repeat the affirmation with animation and emotion connected. Now future pace. See yourself sometime in the future or in a particular area of your life being adaptable & feeling the emotion of the memory. Image your current problem or issue work & connect the feeling memory file with these images. You have now placed a future mind program into your subconscious mind that is energy and emotion driven.

Try this one. I AM RECEPTIVE TO CHANGE. There are two key words in this affirmation. One is receptive & the other is change. In a way they are two different programs. To be receptive is to welcome. This is a particular action with a certain emotional marinade. It is upbeat & accepting. One must mean what they say. If not, the subconscious mind does not understand what you want. The word tends to be meaningless without the proper chemical code. Let's take receptive separately & go back into your memory base looking for inner files when you were displaying high end receptivity.

Divide your mind screen into two parts and place the example of receptivity on one side. Now let's work with the second word. Change is a super-charged word & for many people this is negative-based. If you tend towards negativity in relation to change, see yourself washing off the word "change." Clean it up.

Go back into your memory bank, finding a file representing a positive change. Place this image up on your mind screen next to receptive. Repeat the affirmation now as you view the double screen, allowing the emotional chemical code to flow in your mind-body. Now place the words representing your problem or issue up on the mind screen, allowing the chemical code to flow over the image, as well as through your body. Feel it. Well done.

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I'm learning to work inside my mind images. I perform mind-changes with mental skill & dexterity...Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-29T11:02:00.000-07:00

Excuse Words

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else...Benjamin Franklin

Excuse making is a bad habit & one best brought to heightened awareness & dealt with on a regular basis. Having a habit means that something lives on automatic pilot. Interactive self-hypnosis is a great way to deal with all sorts of habits, but today I'm going to focus on my own excuse catalog & share some of the ways I work with myself introspectively.

My patients are often surprised when I share my own life experiences with them. For some reason they think that I should be without issues or problems, in other words perfect. Sharing battles, lessons learned & strategies for building success works as a good rapport builder. As I mentioned in an early blog entry, we are both teachers & students at the same time.

The need or desire to be perfect is filled with potential for disaster. Much of my experience in excuse making came from the years when I thought that I needed to meet this unattainable position. Growing up in a critical household, along with others who deemed themselves flawless, set the stage for my own journey in this unfortunate direction.

As a young child, I can remember lying through my teeth to self-protect. I was well motivated by internal movies of what would happen to me if my imperfect authentic self was seen for who she was. And so, I became expert at deception & excuse-making. I would happily accept my successes, but find ways to hide my failures, no matter what their size. I clearly remember the fear that surrounded this hiding activity, how it added to my body tension, eventually causing a myraid of physical problems that even lead to hospitalization.

Here's some things that I know after years of working on my own introspection. Making excuses robbed me of self-authenticity. It allowed me to negate responsibility & blocked my path to success in so many areas of my life. I was not free to learn from my mistakes, perceived or real. I became locked in my excuses, instead of being involved in my creative thought processes that could have assisted me in solving the problems, therefore learning more about the world. Obviously, making excuses is a bad habit & one over which we want to have better control.

After awhile, I found that I believed many of the excuses I designed. I saw myself as incapable of doing many things, afraid to begin, so I could avoid failure. That seemed easier than failing & then having to hide it. When I was accused of procrastinating, I simply hid away, hoping that others would just forget about me.....leaving me alone. I'm sure this frequented scenario let to my issues with social anxiety that followed me into adulthood.

Heightened awareness has helped me, over the years, to uncover the fears underneath my excuses. I've asked my subconscious mind librarian to bring these to my attention. I remember placing these suggestions & then being bombarded with fear-awareness. I never realized how much fear I actually had already programmed.

You know the old saying, "be careful what you ask for"..... Part of me wished that I wouldn't see all that I was seeing, but I knew enough to understand that these were gifts from my own inner-self, for in order to diminish an emotion, or to change a mind program, one has to be able to see or own it. I now owned plenty! If fear were money, I was a rich person.

In any given day I have the opportunity to work with my fears, my excuses & my rationalizations. They are all in the same negative bank account. Each time one surfaces, I can transition it & then deposit it in a more favorable account, preferably one of creativity & success.

It's quite easy to transition an emotion or a behavior with interactive self-hypnosis. The first step is to be willing to see it & own it. The second step is to release it, either totally or in small segments. This is the most common way, especially if the fear or behavior is big, or has been around for awhile. Next, relax deeply & access the mind programming screen. If you tilt your closed eyes up about 20 degrees, it's sitting right there, just as if you were in a movie theater.

Image what you want on the screen as if you already had it. Energize it with positive & powerful emotion & there....you have transitioned a negative into a positive!

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I welcome the noticing of my fears, excuses & rationalizations. I systematically release & transition them in goal-orientated active images. I'm taking care of myself in new ways..... Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-29T04:18:00.000-07:00

Authentic Words

Our eyes are not responsible when the mind does the seeing...Publius Syrus

Each of us has our own optical collection.

We see things through the lenses we have collected over the years. Some were given to us by others when we were very young. As we became older we produced additional lenses from our experiences, but these often contained particles or frames from those earlier lenses.

Each day we continue to etch lenses. If we tend to be a follower, those lenses seem to appear automatically in our collection, often without even checking them out. We begin to think like those in our circle, even if this way of being is opposite to our authenic self.

This type of lense conflict often causes great stress in the mind & body, as we are pulled by the opposing forces. This is easily seen in teens & young adults who want to belong to their peer group, no matter what the cost, but still want to be close to family. You can also spot this happening when someone moves to a new job or even to a new neighborhood. It's like they are two completely different people. Pay attention to this tendency in your Self. While we all have it, what's important is the degree. Yes, we want to fit it, but no, we don't want to lose our authentic Self.

I remember looking in the mirror one day & not knowing who was looking back at me. After a moment I realized that I was looking at myself. That moment still stings me. I came to know that I truly had lost touch with me. Somewhere along the line I had grown old & so serious.

A rather peculiar thought entered my mind. When was the last time I played hop-scotch? What ever happened to my pogo-stick? Where were my skates? I don't remember making a conscious choice to rid my life of these things. When was the last time I sang out loud, just for my own enjoyment, without even thinking what other's would think? Where did that part of me go?

So, do we ever know when we are doing something for the last time? Do we take the time to honor these important aspects of our lives? Do we even consider their importance?

These thoughts began some change reaction thinking on my part, some of it a bit un-nerving. The end result was that I realized the level to which I had ignored or lost my authentic Self. Once again, how can someone not recognize their reflection in a mirror?

In my private practice I meet up with lost people every day. As my patients are telling me the complications of their situations, I can actually see the young child who became disengaged, just as I had become. When did the child despair & turn to alcohol? Why did the child stop eating healthy foods that allowed him to run so fast & jump so high? Why wasn't that important anymore? When & why did life get so heavy that the child had to run for cover? Where is the child now & what has to happen to bring the child out of hiding & to integrate with his authentic self?

Working with interactive heightened awareness & interactive self-hypnosis gives us many frames to do just this. As the body & mind relax deeply, it is easier to enter the images of the past & to reclaim the authentic child. In an earlier blog entry we did just this. But taking possession of the child, is just the beginning.

Next we must learn to love & care for our young authentic self at the deepest & most subtle levels. Besides loving & honoring, we must provide the practical things of life, including nutrition, deep relaxation, care of emotions, as well as delivering healthy, detailed images to work towards. We know these as goals. Each goal, big or small, is seen as a gift to be studied & cultivated.

In interactive imagery we can clean up the past. In a previous exercise we removed layers that had been placed by others. Now, as we stay in heightened awareness, we can easily see & sense further details, perhaps habits & behaviors that are like dirt under the fingernails. Not for our authentic self !! The more we become aware, the more power we have & as we release these seemingly small, but important specks of dirt, we are free to look at the detailed goals that we've designed as gifts for ourselves.

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I keep my fingernails clean. My goals are gifts that open their details before me.... Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-29T04:14:00.000-07:00

Self-Observing Words

It is necessary to try to surpass one's self always; this occupation ought to last as long as life....Queen Christina

Self-observations from yesterday....it was a day like all the rest, but it was also completely different from any day I've ever had.

This is a truism for all of us. Days may appear to be the same on the surface, but they are never the same. We are entertained by different happenings, different thoughts & always different emotional visitors or marinades. We meet up with different people, or the same people who share different words & different moods. We always learn new things & hopefully teach new things as well. Remember, we are all students & teachers at the same time.

Self-observing is a major key to self-growth. If we fail to pay attention to the day at hand, it has the tendency to slip through our fingers, taking the gifts of the day with it. Sometimes gifts of the day are wrapped in strange ways & so only the most keen observer can spot them. These are usually the most powerful gifts & so developing a high level of awareness both for your Self & in relation to others has the potential for changing life in big ways.

So, how do you go about doing this when the day only has 24 hours & for some reason, it is always completely filled with things to do? Enter your own inner-coaching system or your cooperative & powerful subconscious mind.

I might have mentioned in an early blog entry that less than 2% of the population knows how to utilize the power of the subconscious mind to any great degree. This is very sad, because it isn't all that difficult. In a more perfect world, children would learn these mind-tools in school & as they matured, they would teach their own children, establishing a new pattern of parenting. Back in the 80's I did some of this teaching in our local school system & remember how eager the children were, as well as how well they did. Unfortunately, the funds were not there & so the program fizzled.

One begins awareness training by practicing stillness. In my private practice, once the initial interview with the patient is completed, I begin to teach this first step. It never ceases to amaze me how much resistance there is to becoming still & quiet. Even if the individual wants to, the body & mind may set up a parade of reasons why they cannot do this.

Pay attention to how much noise we entertain & how much we invite into our lives. I remember my first meditation teacher telling me to keep my house free of invited noise for the first hour or so after waking. This meant no television or radio. I remember my own personal resistance to this. At that time I had a television or radio in every room, including one in the shower. The idea of listening to my own thoughts was actually frightening to me. I was shocked to find this out about myself. To this day I keep all invited noise out of my life until I'm in my office, or if I'm at home, none for the first few hours.

Driving to work without radio or CD playing allows my mind to present creative ideas. The same happens in the shower or on a morning walk. If you belong to a gym, observe how many people need to be entertained my music or even television programs piped into the treadmill. The message this delivers to the subconscious mind is similar to a parent who is always too busy to listen to their child. If the mind cannot find space to communicate, it simply will stop doing that.

And so, the first part of our awareness work is to build in quiet places, not just in the morning, but throughout the day. In my work I call this fractionation. These are simply mini-islands of purposeful quiet or stillness. Once one becomes adept at doing these, it is possible to enter a mini-island at any time, even in front of others or while in conversation. This is like having direct contact with your most powerful source or heightened intuition, right in the middle of any moment at all.
When we have established this type of inner-self rapport, we are free to request whatever we want or need, or to ask the subconsicous mind to present us with plans or details, as well as to put them in order for us.

Suppose for a moment that you were writing an article or a chapter in a book & you experienced some blocking. How would you like it if your personal inner-assistant would take over your creative process for you, not only making it good, but even better. Suppose the words simply flowed off the ends of your fingers, just as if someone else were placing them on your computer screen or paper. We have all had this experience. It's called focus & flow or being in the groove, etc. How would you like it, if you could have this focus-flow state on demand?

Keep in mind that today you will have the opportunity to receive lots of gifts from those you meet during your day. Practice being still, paying close attention, observing & listening. Look for the gifts. They are there. See if you can spot them & identify them. Ask your own inner-assistant to help you do this. Simply relax deeply, right now.......take a few cleansing breaths & contact this part of yourself. Think what you need or want & do remember to say please & thank you.

I don't have barriers, only wake-up calls to release & learn... Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-27T06:05:00.000-07:00

Self-Image Building Words

Inward ho!...Christopher Morley

Whether you are developing characters for your latest novel or working on your own self-development, it's important to go inside, for that's where all the goodies are located.

Since beginning this blog, I've heard from many of you who have questions about how you can utilize self-hypnosis in different areas of life & especially in your creative endeavors. I certainly welcome your questions & I'm more than happy to build a blog entry around any that you might have. It's not necessary for you to utilize the comment area if you don't want to. You can just write to me directly.

Someone asked me what I considered the single most important focus in the area of self-development. I would have to say, without a doubt, the area of self-image & self-esteem. Of course, self-worth is included in those areas.

In yesterday's blog entry I included a link to an mp3 CD download that does focus on self-image. I hope that you have the opportunity to either listen online or to download this track. This would also give you the opportunity of observing how interactive self-hypnosis is designed & how specific metaphors are utilized. It's just another way of writing & utilizing the power of words & images.

As you see yourself, so you are. As mentioned above, self-image is perhaps the single most important force directing your life, as well as determining what you can & cannot do. It determines whether you walk towards failure or success, fulfillment or frustration, illness or health. There is little that isn't touched by your self-image. Your relationships, your work, your financial position, even your mental, emotiona & physical well-being are under direct control of the pictures & connected beliefs that you have stored in your subconscious mind.

When designing programs, or working directly with patients or students, I must teach them how to enhance & diminish subconscious mind programs. On the mp3 you will come to know how to do the same. In the future, I'll post some additional mp3 techniques for this most important aspect of self-development & high level achievement, especially if someone reminds me.

Once we have this under our belt, we want to have an inner look at the development of our personal self-image, including how it was layered over the years, who layered it, as well as how those layers may continue to influence our lives as we live them today. We can work directly within these metaphorical images & learn to self-examine the layers, then deciding which ones to keep & which ones to toss out.

We can also become aware of which ones do not belong to us & most likely never did. We all have plenty of these. Those were attached, layer upon layer, by those who mentored or parented us in our earliest years & perhaps right up through today, especially if our self-image, self-esteem & self-worth are not in good stead. If you know anyone who grew up in a dysfunctional type of family, you can easily see some of those early layers still playing out, no matter what the chronological age of the person.

When we work with self-image imagery, it's not about blame or guilt or shame. It's about getting it right, once & for all. It's also about deciding what new layers you might like to apply to yourself. Here, within these images, you envision the life you have decided to live & experience. So, in short, this is your life & you are the writer, director & producer.

If you are a writer of fiction, these are ideal techniques for building additional facets for your characters. If you are a non-fiction writer, such as myself, then you want to clear up any old business that may be keeping you hostage & out of the flow of writing. No one needs old layers telling you want is not possible because of this, that or the other reason.

A question I am often asked by my clients & students is how do I choose what I might want to have for myself. For me, this is a very sad question. This individual hasn't even window-shopped in life, much less experienced life out of the shadows.

So, we must come up with some simple questions to present to the subconscious mind, such as... What characteristics do you admire in others? Start to think about role models for yourself. In interactive self-hypnosis, you can choose different aspects from different models. Sort of like building a Mr. Potato Head....but instead of choosing a nose, eyes & hair, you are going to choose aspects of personality & behavior, including some new strengths.

Consider all aspects of your life including work, relationships, personal, financial, spiritual & any others that come to mind. Take quiet time for yourself & truly expect to enjoy this work. My clients & students work in journals utilizing automatic writing for this purpose.

I'm going to utilize the rest of my space today with a particular subconscious mind exercise that is very beneficial to opening the mind for change in the area of self-image.

Relax deeply into the chair where you are resting. Let your body be heavy in the chair, as if magnets were pulling you down. We are going to work in one of my containment images of a goal-den path.

Take some quiet time and enter the door leading to your goal-den path. As you enjoy a short stroll through the gardens, locate a table on your right. There sits your big white book. It has a leather cover with your name written in gold embossed letters. Place your hand on your name and feel it.

Open the book to the first page. This is the day of your birth. There is a picture there of a woman holding a baby wrapped in a blanket. The father sits by the side of the mother. If you only had one parent present at your birth, you may choose to only see that parent. If a parent was missing, but you would like to image that parent, please do so. In reality, the other parent is present because he/she was instrumental in your conception.
You may enter the picture in the book. Simply tap on the upper right hand corner, get the attention of the parents and notice your are standing in front of them. Tell them who you are and where you come from in the life of their child.

Sit in the chair provided. Your Mother will place the baby in your arms. Feel the weight. Smell the smell. Touch the skin, feeling it's softness. The baby is wrapped in a flannel blanket. Open the blanket, observing the baby in its nakedness. See how perfect it is. Admire and touch the baby gently. This is you on the day of your birth.......pure and whole.

Take the baby, placing it's heart over yours. Feel the heartbeat touching you. Hold the baby firmly to your heart, allowing the image to enter. Feel it entering, imaging the baby in your heart. You have now taken control over the management of your inner baby.

As you continue your work the baby will grow strong, without incumbrances. From this time forward, you will make all choices as to what is acceptable to cover your baby.

This is an ideal moment to place some affirmations such as, I'm in control now. I'm designing a life for myself & my earliest self. I've taken back my power. I decide what layers are placed on my baby.

Even if the images sound a bit rediculous & unlike the way you would normally speak, do move past these mind obstacles. Remember, this is communication with the subconscious or child-mind. You are not at a board meeting in the office !

We are all multi-layered, but the choice in layers is up to us. ....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

Creative Thinking Words

Thinking is the art & craft of the human brain....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

This is a continuation of the earlier blog on creativity. Like the lungs, heart, stomach, etc., the brain has work to do & one of it's jobs is transforming energy. We feed the brain, along with our other body departments, through high level nutrition ( hopefully ). This is carried through the blood. We also feed the brain through high level ideas....what we read in books, observe on TV, learn from other people & experience in sight, sound, touch, smell, movement & emotion.

Every stimulus throuout our lives is stored in the subconscious mind, waiting to be accessed. Now about stimulus...few would argue that what goes into our mouths, affects our over-all health & well-being. However, fewer seem convinced that what goes into & comes out of our minds is every bit as important. We are repulsed by rotten food, stagnant water, air pollution, etc., but we tolerate a good deal of rotten, stangnant & polluted thinking.

It is important to remember that the images & energies that fill our minds will change our body physiology, as well as influence the people around us & tends to move the world at large. Wellness in thinking means attuning ourselves to the life-giving or death-dealing of our thoughts.

Our thought processes are influenced by many factors in our environment. This is a form of self-hypnosis or automatic-pilot. We have learned to pay attention to some things, while being inattentive to others. Most of the day we are asleep to our thoughts & the emotions that marinade them. This can turn out to be quite dangerous. Remember that creative thought can either help or hinder you. Now I'm suggesting that it can give you life or bring on poor health, perhaps even death.
We have extraordinary choice in life. Most of us stay unaware of our possibilities & this is very sad. Less than 2% of our population understands how to access their own creative process & edit it for high level health & performance. For example, you have a part in choosing which factors will influence you in different arenas of your life, including your thought arena.

You can choose to change the genre of thoughts that come forward, designing them to benefit you, instead of taking you away from what you want to achieve. Just because a thought comes, it doesn't mean that you have to entertain it. Think of a thought as being a guest who is ringing your doorbell. Would you invite in someone who is going to harm your mind & body? I think not. So, it is the same with thoughts. We learn to train the mind to be thought selective. This is accomplished through interactive heightened awareness & interactive self-hypnosis.

It is easy to get stuck in genres that don't work for us. So many challenges of life are about getting unstuck. Stuck is like finding a brick wall on your life-path & then retracing your steps only to find that you took the same old path. This is where creativity comes into play. If you are used to limiting your options to what has, perhaps, worked in the past, then you might feel that you don't have other alternatives. Perhaps you feel safe, even though safe has a resemblance to procrastination.

You may have even developed a habit of being stuck or getting stuck. Maybe your program your mind to do just this. Listen to the language of your thought processes, as well as how you address others in daily conversation. Become a good detection of Self. What can you find out about you? Have a look at useless values, fear of risk, negative brain storming or even false ego. What keeps you locked up in your jail cell? We all have these tendencies, so stay out of victim mode. Those who are willing to see, will succeed in climbing the mountain.

Breaking habitual ways of thinking can get you unstuck. In addition, whenever you break a habit of sorts, positive & powerful energy is released. You can now apply this to whatever images you want to enhance. Perhaps to a project you are involved in creating, maybe to a relationship, or to any other achievement that is on the drawing board of your life plans.

I've thought about placing a link to some self-hypnosis mp3 programs I have online for my patients & clients. The links will change, perhaps each week, so to find the latest link, look to the latest blog posting. Here is the one that is currently available.

Self-Image Download Link - Track 1

This audio is designed to guide you on an inner journey of change where you will enhance your self-image, the inner programming for how you see yourself. You will be working with your inner coach on your personal development. You will be introduced to many new tools that will open new perspectives. You will go into the files of your mind where your self-image was formed. There you will be able to see how this unfolded, who placed what messages in your file & how appropriate these messages are for you now. You will work as the writer/producer/director & edit all files in relation to the formation of your self-image.

You will learn to be aware of inner messages you currently place during your day & how these color experiences, both past & present. Your work on your inner-time line will allow you to take power stamps from the past memory bank & apply these to future goals, even those in the distant future. You will be learning new tools that will assist you in utilizing these powerful images & affirmations for enhancing your self esteem. Includes stress management, thought & emotional management, as well as mental biofeedback training.

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The golden opportunity I am seeking resides inside myself in this very moment in time. I can work to access this opportunity....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

Creative Words

You are a creative being. Open your mind & have a look.....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

Who is creative & who is not? I often need to answer this question in my work as a clinical hypnotherapist. Beliefs in this area, are like beliefs in any other. They either help or hinder. So, let's get some things straight from from the get-go...

Creativity is within everyone. We are born with it. Those who choose to wake up & utilize it through balance will climb to the lop of the ladder without burning out. So first we must locate theladder & then begin the upward climb.

For most people, the word creativity is more easily applicable to art than to business. In addition, it is rare for one to think of creativity when looking to manage disorderly eating, addiction issues, or any other personal problem. It's important to understand that wherever you find yourself, you are currently working with dynamic & creative mind tools. Just keep in mind that they are either working for you or against you, but they are working.

These tools have lives of their own, so to take conscious ownership of them, to work with them, to recognize them in new & different ways, turns out to be a very creative process. Whether your field of endeavor be painting, writing, publishing, business development, bookkeeping, computer programming, parenting, or managing your own lifestyle behaviors, the tools remain the same.

And so, let me repeat this here... Creativity is within everyone. We are born with it. Sometimes we create problems by allowing our creativity to stay dormant, by not offering it the means of subconscious release. I hope that this blog entry helps you to wake up in this regard.

If you are like any of my patients or students, you might be asking, "What happened to my early creativity? Where did it actually go?" These are important questions, because when we understand the past, we can apply that knowledge to the present & future. Let's explore this a bit. Sometimes we are taught to be uncreative by our parents, teachers, our society, our workplace or our home environment.

So, how is was this accomplished? Here are a few examples for you to extrapolate. Often we are told to stay in the lines or that there is only one right answer or that play is frivolous. We may have even been told that we are not creative & that creativity doesn't belong in our job description. Of course, these are lies!

Let's practice some awareness work & see if we can recognize a creative person in action. Creative people become totally immersed in expressing their inner visions, knowing that their chief challenge is to organize familiar materials in a fresh way. They are curious, adventurous, experimental, willing to take risks. You will find them absorbed in meeting the challenges of their working day.

Creativity is a way of life. It is an ongoing process, not a series of isolated aberrations. It is a productive attitude developed by individuals throughout their lifetimes, not a random good idea that happens to work.

I always tell my patients & students that they can live their life as a work of art. In fact, during hypnosis I often utilize work of art images such as having the person paint images of their own success, or chisel themselves out of a block of carrera marble. It's important for them to realize that creativity is not a destination, but a journey. And so, their weight loss, smoking cessation, behavioral management is all part of a creative journey. This active image now takes on it's own life, breaking up any idea of being hopeless & helpless, instead bringing the individual into an upward spiral of success.

To be creative is a physical & emotional need. When patients ask me why it's important to be creative, they need to know that creativity keeps stress chemical production low & that is excellent news. Over 65% of disease states are known to be stress-connected. So creativity must thrive at all levels in the workplace if it is to be health & achievement orientated. Managers must accept that everyone can be creative & should be encouraged. It's in the best interest of both employer & employee.

So what if you work in a place that does not foster creativity? Obviously, it is much easier to practice creativity in a company whose policies invite it, but corporate policy is not a requirement for individual creative expression. One can bring creative thought & application to any moment of life, whether at work or at home or anywhere else. It's simply a matter of developing some creative mind programs & placing them into the subconscious mind library.

More to come on this subject....

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I design my world in the theater of my mind. I am the writer, director & producer of my chosen outcomes.....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-23T12:17:00.000-07:00

Prosperous Words

In adversity assume the countenance of prosperity, and in prosperity moderate the temper and desires. Livy

I've never met anyone who didn't want to prosper & while they might not verbalize it as such, it will be there if one knows how & where to look. However, it's not uncommon to think small & to negate receiving, especially if one has a low self-worth & self-image. If one grew up in a home where there was a combination of abusive, addiction & lack, then chances are that individual will have less thoughts of prosperity. Those are homes where the child merely looks to survive.

If you were to visit such experiences, you might sense a prosperous feeling when the abuse stops for a period of time. These are recorded as pure joy & reason for celebration. Another example is when the child or even an adult, in such a family of origin is given a very small token or gift resulting in an out-pouring of gratitude. Sometimes the gift may be intangible, such as a smile or kind joke ..... a semblance of normality.

Most of us have no problem giving, but find it difficult to receive. Again, this is attached to low self-worth. It can also be connected to co-dependent living. In the practice of interactive self-hypnosis, we can change these patterns, even if they are very deeply mind-etched from childhood. It's important to remember that old & deeply etched patterns continue to play out no matter how old or even mature the individual may appear.

There is, indeed, a secret inner life within all of us. We may not present this Self to the outside world, but it is there & it is always active. We all live behind masks, but in our privacy we come to know what truly is real for us. That is why it is so important to stay awake, aware, ready to forgive the Self, have compassion for the Self & be ready, willing & able to work with specialized mind & body tools for inner change.

As writers, getting to see beyond the mask makes us better at our craft. It is certainly more difficult, if not impossible, to get truly inside a character, if indeed we haven't done our own awareness work. For me, that is why writing is so therapeutic. Of course, when I work directly with patients, it is absolutely necessary for me to open my own subconscious mind, if I am to help any of my patients open theirs.

Some readers of this blog have asked me for specific examples of how to do this type of self-introspection. I am certainly happy to do so, as space allows. The two most important tools are something I call interactive heightened awareness & interactive self-hypnosis . We can also deem this active imagery or imaginology. Let's go ahead & apply these two keys to the subject of prosperity.

In the practice of interactive self-hypnosis, it is important to relax the mind & the body. This is very different from sitting in front of the TV or playing solitare on your computer. We want to purposefully slow the brain waves to the alpha level. If you have practiced meditation or yoga, you may have experienced this level of brain wave activity. Once you have trained your mind & body, you can actually change brain wave speed in 1/200th of a second. This is often practiced by athletes or others in competitive play or performance. Obviously, if one is having performance anxiety, it's usually not the moment to go into a deep meditative or self-hypnotic trance.

Once the brain waves are slowed, then the door to the subconscious mind is open & available. Since we are working with prosperity, we will want to design some active imagery for this purpose. I like to develop my mind stage-sets around powerful affirmations. They form the frame-work for the stage-sets. Here is a clip from a CD program I designed to enhance prosperity. Keep in mind that the participant is deeply relaxed & already into the subconscious mind library. As the individual participates, the new images are being etched or installed into the subconscious mind.

.....in the clearing we will find the right path leading to the Crystal Cathedral....as we go up the few steps leading to the Cathedral, focus on the rainbows embedded in the crystal blocks....these are rainbows of prosperity....choose one of the blocks & press the palm of your hand against it....real hard now like you are taking a hand print....now find the little pot of gold...remove it gently & notice you can take the coins out, one by one....they are beautifully engraved. I'm giving you a magnifying glass so you can read the inscriptions & as you do, these will enter your own mind library for they are now yours...

I am now seeing new ways of living & new methods of working....I am not confined to the ways & methods of the past...prosperity touches all parts of my life & in ways never experienced before. Titly your eys up just about 20 degrees & locate the screning cloud over there....the cloud opens & you can see yourself in this beautiful new production.....observe your new ways or living.....& now, locate the cloud ladder & climb up....enter the stage & engage yourself in the cloud activity.

We can have anything we can mentally accept, but first we must be able to mentally accept it. Working with interactive self-hypnosis not only gives us this opportunity, but it also allows the subconscious mind to connect to any & all old mind etching that may not have been supporting prosperity & re-program those. Remember that the subconscious mind will take the most recent mind program & super-impose that over any old programs.

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The air around me twinkles with gold dust....confidence dust....properity dust. It feels so good to be touched in this way.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-22T10:59:00.000-07:00

Pleasure Words

Do not bite at the bait of pleasure till you know there is no hook beneath it. Thomas Jefferson

It's so easy to fall in love.....& with so many choices, one must be careful to look for that hook. As a clinical hypnotherapist, I work all day, removing hooks & healing the wounds. Some people are so in love with a particular brand of hook, that they actually go out to find another one just like the one that was previously removed. This can even happen before the old wounds are healed, as if the new one will help that process along.

While the love-ordained bait may change, one's hook-preference often remains the same. This is very common in the realm of addictions, be they chemical, food-related or even in relationships. Stop smoking & eat sugar. Stop drinking & drink more coffee. Cut out the coffee & increase the soda. Stop buying shoes & hang out in the book store. Divorce an abusive mate & find another one.

People find pleasure in the strangest things. One of my anorexic patients finds her joy in keeping her weight as low as possible. It doesn't seem to matter that her body is suffering & some of the damage she is causing is permanent, or is setting her up for plenty of displeasure down the road. For her, it is unacceptable to change this hook for a healthier one.

Helping this patient to move away from this pleasure-state & into something would be much more difficult without utilizing hypnotherapy. In hypnotic trance the patient's resistance & defensiveness can be lowered. Here is where the power of choice words & metaphor comes into play.

Fear of letting go the hook is always a hypnotherapeutic consideration. It's not uncommon for pleasure-words to cover this particular emotional barrier. The individual can actually set up a belief that the activity or behavior is pleasurable, when subconsciously they are simply frightened of letting go of it.

I have experienced this myself, in relation to a few of my own pleasures. Shopping was one of these. It wasn't until I self-examined my shopping behaviors & habits that I uncovered how truly tense they made me. Certainly that tension increased when my credit card arrived. Working with spending habits often opens the subconscious library for indepth personal development work. What one finds beneath the surface is often quite illuminating.

Why do so many people have unhealthy pleasures? That's a question I've often asked myself & especially when I meet up with such a vast variety of these in my office practice. An answer, or at least a partial answer, to this question can be found in lack of knowledge & practice of stress management. Take a look at how you release your stress on a given day. You will find the patterns there. Check if they are healthy or harmful. Try to be honest.

While stopping for a drink on the way home may not appear to be a big thing, check this behavior for frequency, as well as the level of desire. How would you respond if you couldn't do it anymore? I heard a lady tell her friend that she would absolutely die if she couldn't binge on popcorn in the movie theater. While that might sound like an exaggeration, this is not the first time I've heard words such as these connected to stopping a potentially harmful behavior.

So, check out your pleasures & give them the litmus test. If they need some cleaning up, decide how you will go about doing this for yourself. At the same time, make certain that you are developing new stress management techniques that will grow into healthy pleasures......if you give them a fair shot.

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My mind is my most important digestive organ. If I put junk food in my mind, I will be malnourished. I'm willing to let go & to make changes. It's time.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-20T11:12:00.000-07:00

Successful Words

The toughest thing about success is that you've got to keep on being a success. Talent is only a starting point in business. You've got to keep working that talent. Irving Berlin

The whole idea of needing to work at something is quite unpopular. Individuals who seek my help as a clinical hypnotherapist often come with the hope that I have a magic wand in my closet. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. While self-hypnosis is a powerful resource, it is not magic. One must build skill, practice regularly & also work to build heightened awareness of Self. It helps to fall in love with the process.

I hear a lot about wanting to be successful at this, that or the other. There are those who want to lose weight or to be motivated to exercise, or to write a book, or to perform in some sport, perhaps professionally. It's so easy & enjoyable to chat about being successful. I enjoy observing these conversations, especially when the deliverer is very animated about what they want or how they view the actual success. Money & fame seems to flow with little or no obstruction. Few, if any, discuss the consistent & persistent work that will be involved.

Yesterday I received a call from someone who was thinking about becoming a hypnotherapist. They had visited my websites & thought that they might like to develop CD programs, as I have done. They wanted to know how to go about all of this & here is the punch line.........how long it would take because they really need to generate some income, like yesterday.

Ouch....

Whenever I hear this question, I do know that the person on the other end of the question isn't going to be a happy camper when they receive the answer. Success takes time. Ideas need to germinate. Creating with a gun to the head usually doesn't work. The idea of working continually for ten to fifteen years on something is not usually what someone has in mind when wanting to experience success.

It's the same with weight loss & management. How long do I have to eat like this? My automatic response to this is usually " how about forever." The idea that the body & mind only need high level nutrition some of the time is a totally rediculous comment, yet I hear it over & over.

Once again, it's easy to talk about success in the realm of weight management & the practice of disorderly eating. If you were a fly on the wall in my office, here are some of the things you would overhear.

I want to be a size 6. I want to weigh 110 pounds. My daughter is getting married & I need to look good for the wedding. Summer is coming & I want to wear my bikini. I need to get this over & done with. How long will it take to drop 2 sizes?

And then...

I need to be able to eat what my husband eats, because I don't have time to cook twice. I don't know how to cook & I have no time to do so. I don't like healthy food. I can't swallow vegetables. There is candy in my office. Others bring in cookies & cakes. I go to lots of parties & I have to eat what the hostess prepares. I don't have any control about food choices because of my family. I have to go out to lunch every day & all that is available is fast food. I can't exercise because I'm too busy, it's too hot, it's dark in the morning, it's dark in the evening, I need a partner, I don't like it, etc.

And then....

Can't you just hypnotize me so the weight comes off, so I lose my belly, so my hips desolve, so my thighs don't rub, etc. etc.? So what do you think of those fat burning pills that work when you sleep. That's sounds about right for me.

While I've been finger-pointing at my disorderly eating groupies, I find the same mindset to successful achieving in just about all areas of desire.

It's one thing to want & quite another to work continually to get it. Whether one wants to write & publish a book, or to win the Olympics, the rules remain the same. Follow Irving Berlin's quote at the top of the blog. It's not enough to just have talent. If you want to be a writer, you have to write. If you want to publish your writing, you need to do the things necessary to accomplish that. Want to win the Olympics? Well, first you need to lace your skates & step on the ice or do whatever your sport of choice demands...... And, you must do these things over & over, as well as fall in love with Self competition.

So what about success in other areas of life, like relationships? Mr. Berlin's advice fits the bill here as well. In every relationship there are at least three separate relationships. And so... stay in awareness of what you need, as well as the needs of the other or others & what you need as a relationship unit.

So magic is out...........awareness & consistent work is in. This is the road to success.

Today is the day I start on the road to success. The seeds to my success are in my imagination in this very moment. I work within those seeds & materialize strong roots.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-19T13:51:00.000-07:00

Regenerative Words

Ideas are the mightiest influence on earth. One great thought breathed into a man may regenerate him. William Ellery Channing

How wonderful it is to be in a field of endeavor that has the potential for touching so many minds & bodies. I've always loved being a nurse & can't remember a day when I didn't delight in going to work. While that might sound a bit "Pollyanna-ish", it truly isn't. I started in my education & career in psychiatric nursing, moving to oncology following graduation. The meeting of those two specialties took me towards my current career as a hypnotherapist.

Working with the power of suggestion & the multiple applications of interactive self-hypnosis are absolute treats. No matter how difficult the patient, there is always tremendous hope for imparting change on the wings of a well defined & delivered set of words. I've seen these changes "in the moment", some of them potential life-savers when delivered in the emergency room, OR, or following an accident. I've witnessed fear moving to the side, so a baby could be born with less pain for the mother. Today I watched a partially locked-jaw open for the first time in two years.

I've observed individuals with addictions accepting the straw of freedom, as they are given tools to release their basically useless guilt & shame. I'm rather fond of addicted people, as well as those with eating disorders. It will always excite me to build an image for someone who has failed repeatedly at something, or has lost faith in his or her own power.

Writers can & do experience the same. Real people with real problems & issues will hold your very words in their hands. Simple words can make huge changes. We are never fully aware of what a simple phrase or image will do & how a life will change because you thought to write it. If you are a writer & not feeling the human connection to your potential readers, I'd suggest that you work with creative self-hypnosis to achieve this. It truly doesn't matter what you are writing. If someone is going to read it, you do want to feel that connection as you create.

Today I had the pleasure of working with a young writer who has been experiencing creative blocking. She is very talented, but her blocks tend to be big, besides harboring aggressive behavior. During our session today, the blocks were actually conversing with me....of course through the patient. It was, indeed, my pleasure to work with her in their dismantling them & in so doing we were able to free her creative work from the prison where it had been held hostage by the poorly behaved blocks.

As I mentioned before in this blog, I have my own creative & emotional blocks that would love to have their way with me. Fortunately, I'm able to spot them quite easily now, before they get too settled in. Once I spot-light them, they are mine for the duration that I allow them to remain. My power returns, just like a genie. I'm now free to diminish them, and/or open them for the presentation of inner clues. All negative, all blocks do contain worthwhile positive aspects. As one learns to harvest these, creativity soars.

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I consider myself on a very long journey. I sustain my personal vision of success until I achieve it....and then I continue right along.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-19T06:39:00.000-07:00

Tired Words

Woe unto them that are thired of everything, for everything will certainly be tired of them.
CK. Chesterton

The landscaper placed some new plants in the front of our home. Like a new doting parent, I wanted to know everything about helping the young plant towards a long & healthy life.

After going through the feeding & watering schedule, he reminded me to pay attention for any signs of plant-tiring. This certainly caught the attention of the new mother. "What does that mean?" "Simply put"...said the landcaper, "the plant isn't getting what it needs & so that must be corrected. Remember to pay attention to the small details. Watch how the leaves turn inward, rolling on themselves. Feel them. Notice if any mold has appeared."

I'm not new to tiredness. In any given day, I am surrounded by a multitude of tired people & this in itself can be a tiring experience. It's so easy to be sucked up in a sea of tired words or physical expression, especially when presented by experts in the field of being tired. Perhaps you know some of them. Even the word "hello" can be drenched in the stuff.

I have some patients who phone me regularly. It takes all the strength I can muster to stay out of their drowning pool. One woman, in particular, has a very toxic voice- tonality. When she speaks, I can sense my own neurological system going out of balance. As the hormones surge, my back & shoulders tense. My heart beat quickens, along with my respirations. It's all I can do to sit still. This is a living example of the true mind-body connection & as a health care professional, I do know to pay attention.

Stress chemicals are stored in the body, rather like a bank account. The body doesn't forget. Changes are always taking place. Some things we sense immediately & others will not present themselves until some time down the road. This is how stress-related diseases come to be. Few of us are without these, including myself. As the old cliche goes, if I new then what I know now, things would be different.

Back to the tired plant & the wisdom of the landscaper. "Give it what it needs."

My inner voice absorbs this & connects it to myself. What do I need & where do I get it?
It's brought to my attention that "As for the plants, one needs to provide that for them because they can't up-root & go to get what they need. But being a self-responsible adult, I can find out what I need & provide it to myself. "

Few of us think in this way. We tend towards dependence, like the plant, waiting for someone to notice that we are uncomfortable or needy & then blaming or resenting if our needs are not meant. We become tired of it all.

This is stressful living.

Individuals who choose to follow this path usually go on to practice unhealthy release, mainly through addiction of some sort, or the presentation of emotional imbalance. Walking around, housing unsavory emotions & sharing them with others is one form of this. At the very least, it is unpleasant, rather like serving spoiled food to your guests. It is also an attempt at controlling. And, if you are alone with your spoiled food, you are simply serving it to yourself.

Make no mistake....the body & mind will be responding, both now & down the path. The piper will be paid.

I just looked at my schedule for today.....and yes, it is filled with tired people & so I'll have special needs to provide for myself. Paying attention to my own inner chemistry & responding accordingly. Remembering the inner bank account & not wanting to over-draw on my reserves. Actually writing my blog entry has already helped me. I'm focused & in heightened awareness of the possible elements that will make my day.

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I learn to face my difficulties directly & I always win. I easily empower myself.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-18T11:32:00.000-07:00

Persevering Words

Courage and perseverance have a magical talisman, before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish into air. John Quincy Adams

In the practice of clinical hypnotherapy it is important to energize words with emotionally-cured active imagery/imaginology that truly cause them to take on their own life. Otherwise, the words tend to flow through the mind, without taking hold.

Be they positive or negative, emotions are powerful anchors. If one has experienced negative anchoring, especially over-time or toxic exposure, it becomes more difficult to stay in a healthy & productive persevering mind state. It helps to think of experiences being etched into the subconscious mind by way of emotional exposure. It's really quite logical........but in the real world we have to actually "work the experience," enhancing what we want & diminishing what we don't want. This is the song of the individual working with the powerful tools of interactive self-hypnosis.

Hypnotherapy allows us to work in highly creative ways with our experiences & the emotions that coat them. We are able to take very minute portions of the whole & allow the subconscious mind to work it's magic.

As a clinical hypnotherapist, I get to do this all day long, whether working with patients or writing CD scripts, books or articles. However, this isn't the same as doing my own Self development work. In fact, there are times when I'm working with someone on a particular issue & part of me senses the critical finger pointing directly at me. In the past this used to blow my mind, as it can be truly spooky, but now I consider it a finger-string-reminder & I am grateful for this less than subtle wake-up call.

As a parent, I remember asking my sons, "How many times do I have to tell you the same thing?" How difficult it is to persevere in real life!

I just finished a session with parents of an anorexic patient of mine who is in recovery. The father told me that all he wants to know is "How many times he will have to tell his daughter the same thing?" How difficult it is to persevere, even when we love the other person & only want the best for them.

Today I find myself in the same boat, needing to persevere, but having inner Self arguments.

Here's the scenario.

I happen to have some very emotionally negative mind etching in the area of publishing my work. These programs play even louder when my desk is clear of clutter. The more organized I become, the louder those programs play. The accompanying images aren't very pretty either.

It takes quite a bit of courage to confront this kind of mindSCRABBLE & to diminish what inner garbage doesn't fit the desired end-goal, which of course, is to see my books on the best seller list. I also have to grow the images, keeping in mind that thinking big is part of subconscious mind programming. In the midst of negative mind-etching, this is rather like doing a double back flip on a full stomach.

Thinking something isn't enough. I wish it was, but it simply isn't. In clinical hypnosis we go behind the finished goal-image & walk the action path. We may not see the plants on the side of the path that represent each needed activity, but just knowing that they are present is enough to program the subconscious mind for action. This type of image also lets the mind know that you would like the action-steps to be presented in order. The mind works backwards. First, one enters the end goal & then walks the action steps back to front.

The most challenging part of this activity is to find the courage to meet the problem & face off with it. This is where the parents of my patient are having their difficulty. They are still finger-pointing & blame-tossing. This is the same as negative mind-etching. Over time it becomes even more difficult to move into the positive imaginology & walk the plan path. To complicate matters, working with another individual in the same problem area tends to multiply & snarl the offending weeds. We know this as "power-playing."

And so, I see/sense my own publishing issues today & enter the image of my books being on the best seller list. I've mind-clipped the list & framed it. It's now located on the inner-wall of my subconscious mind library. I'm about to open the door & go down the action path. It will be interesting for me to see how I will spend the rest of my work day.

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I cherish my dreams & respect their purpose. My dreams are the blueprints to my ultimate success.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

Decision Words - Yes & No

Quick decisions are unsafe decisions. Sophocles

I've spent a good part of today thinking about decision making. Since I'm prone, like most of us, to procrastinating, I "decided" to review my patterns/beliefs/behaviors in this genre of my mindSCRABBLING.
Here are some questions I have for mySelf. What kinds of thoughts live in my mind bank & how are they organized? Are there particular "words" that generate action or send me running for cover? How do I view decisions of others? Am I open to learning or do I just think that I observe from my automatic-pilot, waking-sleep state?

Yesterday a local man made a bad decision that ended his life. He decided to cool off in a local river after cutting the lawn. According to the newspaper, a 1200 pound alligator ate him.

Just the thought of this makes me ill. I'm a northern-suburban girl living in the south. I had no idea that alligators came that big. Also, I can't imagine jumping into any water down here. Even wading in the Gulf of Mexico has proved to be deadly at this time of year when the sharks seem more aggressive.

I once took care of a young woman, just eighteen years old, who made a bad decision that changed her life forever. She dove into a swimming pool with insufficient water & ended up a quadriplegic. I remember her telling me about the moment before she decided to dive. A voice told her not to do it. In that split second she could have moved away from decision & into deliberation. I believe that voice was her intuition or subconscious mind attempting to guide her. Unfortunately she decided not to pay attention. I was wondering if the man who jumped into the river had a moment of self-communication with his intuition or was he just driven by the heat & humidity?

I need to question my Self again. What is the state of my own intuition? What can I do to enhance my inner communication levels? I've been thinking about how easy it is to do something totally foolish & seemingly small that can impact so greatly. On the other hand, I don't want to live a life on procrastination-hold. Where can I find this balance?

I was remembering the audio CD programs I designed on decision making Sometimes I'm so busy that I forget about my own programs. Sounds like the plumber with a leaky faucet.

Of course.... I need to work on my concentration & focus, remembering to practice moving out of automatic-pilot & into sensory imaging outcomes. My skill level used to be pretty good with these tools, but I've become a bit complacent over the years.

I remember how the sensory imaging also enhanced my levels of creativity, not only in work, but in relationships & in my sports performance. Concentration combined with the right amount of relaxation, both mentally & physically holds the key to enhanced intuition. The subconscious mind is a great safety & guide, as long as the channels open to allow the communication.

The negative aspects of my mind are trying to debate this conversation I'm having with myself. I'm being reminded that I am far too busy for this kind of self-work. I have programs to write, patients to see, classes to organize & teach. I already know that "I can't do everything", so why not just stop this nonsense & do what's sitting on my desk. "Now, that would be a good decision, wouldn't it?"

How many times I've fallen prey to this part of my mindSCRABBLE. I see this in my patients & students. Always feverishly tasking. Never giving the Self permission to stop & review, assess, plan & then incorporate action steps into motivation-imagery.

My negative mind-states are not going to win today. And....that is good news for me, as well as for my projects waiting for me on my desk. They will be there when I'm finished taking care of myself.

I enhance my intuition by building a strong relationship with my subconscious mind librarian. I relax & see outcomes before they happen. I make wise decisions.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-17T16:15:00.000-07:00

Future Words

If you do not think about the future, you cannot have one. John Galsworthy

My manuscript in progress is grateful today, for the Florida storms are big & never-ending. Weather like this means that it is comfortable to be glued to the computer, for the mind has few places to suggest going. Usual weekend garden work can't call out. Even the snakes are searching for the high ground. While I'm not a fan of snakes, I do admire how they innovate & motivate themselves. I don't know anyone who ever saw a snake procrastinating when the moment was right. Should we or shouldn't we? simply isn't a part of snake vocabulary. We can learn much if we just open our eyes & observe those around us, reptiles or not.

My book manuscript, Beyond Disorderly Eating: The Truth About Sugar & Bingeing & How to Stop is completed. It sits on the "finished for the moment" shelf, next to Sugar...the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It. They remind me of two girls waiting to be asked to the prom, only instead of desiring a date with the coveted football team quarterback, they are hoping for a "come hither glance" from a creative & energetic editor who will fall deeply in love with them.

Sometimes they don't "get it." Why wouldn't a publisher, editor, or agent want to connect up with their subject matter that is so pertinent to the major problems of life? It's not like there isn't a market or people who need/want to know what is between their pages. A walk in any mall or a look in just about any shopping cart will put that idea to rest.

No....it's not that at all. Instead, it's about their author who isn't known "on the street." She may have worked in the clinical field for over 30 years, but she doesn't have a book on the shelf in a major bookstore. I often hear them discussing how to accomplish this "on their own." Sometimes I think I'll walk into Barnes & Noble & find them sitting there, waiting to brag about how they did this for me.

I don't like rejection words on my mindSCRABBLE board. I used to have lots of them, but one day I simply dumped the board & disallowed all letters to form words that weren't in keeping with what I want. Sometimes I notice that I don't have enough success words at my fingertips. Old regulars seem to have lost their emotional punch, either from blind-usage or complete disuse. Time to open the Thesaurus & refurbish the word-pile.

I remind myself that I'm a clinical hypnotherapist & I do know the power of mind images & future-paced metaphor. I know that I will bring towards me, whatever I play in the theater of my mind, especially if I load it with powerful, positive-flavored emotion.

So, today I will have a chat with my "girls", letting them know that I take full responsibility for getting them where they want to go. I also open my client/patient files & give my word to those who have disorderly eating & addiction issues. I may not be a snake, but I can get up a tree. I've done it many times before & I'm still ready for the challenge.

I work to move my mindset from low-power to high-power. I locate the courage necessary to overcome any & all obstacles.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-17T16:08:00.000-07:00

Orderly & Disorderly Words

The art of progress is to preserve order amid change and to preserve change amid order. Alfred North Whitehead

Who would say "no" to progress? Truth be known, I know plenty of people who would & who do. Many are private patients of mine & while I might "tut-tut" at that & enjoy some good old finger-pointing, that very finger often turns around, pointing right back at me. As for the life-game of mindSCRABBLE, as I inwardly giggle at my own disorderly behaviors, my subconscious mind is busily mind-etching those even deeper.

If I was paid for cluttering, I'd be quite wealthy. Of course, I deny cluttering & as for hoarding.....well now, certainly not me.

My issues with all of this go back to early childhood. My father died when I was three & I learned to make every attempt to keep what was mine. This was my little attempt at buidling a secure life. While it does help to know the origin of issues, it certainly doesn't diminish the decades of closet & drawer stuffing. I've become so good at this that I can clutter just about anywhere & with just about anything. Yes....I would be quite wealthy.

I've learned that letting go is a good thing & so I go through emptying & releasing episodes. My main reasoning is that I've come to realize that prosperity doesn't flow into cluttered space, so I must release if I choose to prosper. It also helps to find things. Just the process of clearing is creative & it never surprises me what catalysts sit in that last bulging file.

Ordering disorder is a very emotional experience for me. I truly have issues with letting go & today I decided to write about these, instead of just noticing them. It is true that my things do bring me joy. I love all sorts of things including my scraps of paper. So, is there something wrong with that? After all, I'm basically a good person. Just because I feel connected to scraps of paper, does that make me a loser of sorts. Of course not, I tell myself. Don't be so dramatic.

I do want to be able to let go & release with more ease. I've noticed that whenever I go through periods of cleaning, clearing & letting go, that it does become easier. In fact, it actually begets itself. So, I guess the goal needs to be to practice more often. Is it possible that I might actually become good at this & even learn to like it?

My priorities are numbered in my mind's eye & present themselves as such. I'm in charge.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-17T16:05:00.000-07:00

Hateful Word Games

We hate some persons because we do not know them; and we will not know them because we hate them. Charles Caleb Colton

When playing mindScrabble it is important to watch out for hateful words. They often just creep onto the playing board of life, as if they were living things, having a life of their own. It does help, however, to stay in heightened awareness around negative mind states, whether they be self-owned, or carried by others.

I came across both types this weekend. A mother telling me of her deep anger, resentment & hate for her own child. A patient sharing her deep negative feelings for a man she thought she knew & loved. And as I clean my office, sensing my deep self-anger for the piles of papers, magazines, books, etc. that I haven't read or even organized.....still unable to trash them.

Keep in mind that the actual word hate doesn't have to be uttered unto itself. Other words or images/metaphors are often marinated in it. Goodness, it is distasteful & because the mind & body are connected, my entire gut reacts.

I need to remind myself the one brings emotions, moods, thoughts, happenings forward, depending on the specific genre played. Play anxiety/tension & more will appear as if by magic. Play relax, happiness, gratitude & these will knock at my door.

Right now, in this very moment, I'm busy releasing the anger, displeasure & actual hate that was delivered to me in quite a bit of detail. And....the phone rings.....a phone call all about someone elses anger, disenchantments, anxiety entering my already over-burdened ears.
It's so important to know how to release, both emotionally & physiologically.

As I'm writing this, I'm in the process. Heightened awareness is key, as well as the actual sensing in the body. Scanning down the body, opening with imagery & letting go. Observing the emotions calming first & then changing their soiled shirts. Choosing new ones....bright colors with delightful images on the fronts. Sensing these images inside the released body. Moving into the images & mind-playing just for a moment. Doing what it takes, even though I don't want to take the time.

I am free to choose my own emotional states. I stay awake & aware.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

2005-07-17T15:57:00.000-07:00

BEGINNING....

The last thing one knows---is what to put first. Blaise Pascal

Yes, it is difficult to know how & where to begin. In my work as an RN, clinical medical, sports & personal development hypnotherapist, I'm continually doing battle with beginning issues. Patients come to my office because they don't know where, or how to begin to unravel their problems. In short, they are experiencing disorderly mind programs, many of which are seriously affecting their body function.

Clinical hypnotherapy is word work, in the moment. In real time, it is a form of improvisation theater....becoming still, paying attention, while trusting your own mind to find the best words for designing powerful metaphors for change. I'm always amazed at how the subconscious mind serves the soul when the environment is just right.

Beginning this blog was not an easy decision for me, but a part of me was intent on doing this. I spent some time with this particular part of myself, investigating the reasoning behind the mind suggestion to do this. In my professional practice I'm very comfortable in allowing my patients to view my life issues & to visit inside my mind. This type of sharing is therapeutic in patient relationships.

However, the blog approach is very different. I don't know who, if anyone, will read my self-exploration, nor how I'll be judged. That is my insecure self speaking. It is one of my many negative-based emotional states that have been around for decades & it is because of these very emotions that I've decided to go forward with this type of blog.

I believe strongly that we learn from each other. We are teachers & students at the same time. My work with patients over the years has provided me with enough reflections to explore my own inner life in quite a bit of detail. I've journaled hypnotically for years, but just for myself, so this will be a very different challenge.

I just told a patient yesterday that it is important to keep practicing the beginning of new things & not to get stale in this department of life. Guess I was also speaking to myself.
So, I'm looking at this as a self-analysis therapeutic tool & I'm rather excited as to where it may take me creatively. In fact, I had some dreams about this last night & woke up with a change in the name for the blog presenting itself to me. So I can see that my own subconscious mind is already involved in this process.

My only limits are those of my inner vision. I learn to think big.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht