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Negative hypnosis
By now you may be thinking that hypnosis sounds fantastic. And indeed
it is. But we are only able to go into hypnosis because trance is
part of our natural makeup as human beings. Without the ability
to focus our attention, we wouldn’t be able to concentrate, learn,
remember, recall, form memories and so on.
And this ability to focus also gets us into trouble.
Imagine for a moment that you have been told you have to speak in
front of 100 people next Wednesday. If you are an under-confident
public speaker, you might start with the negative self-hypnosis
right away. (If you are, you might want to have a look at our Public
Speaking article.) It would go something like this:
- Be aware of next Wednesday approaching.
- Focus your attention inward.
- Imagine being on stage.
- Imagine a hostile audience.
- Feel anxious and hence create and association between the event and anxiety.
And lo and behold, when you stand up to speak, your unconscious mind is very well trained. It says: ‘Hey! We’ve been here before and we know what response is required'
A big part of your mental rehearsal has been to feel fear. You have, through self-hypnosis, forged an association between fear and the public speaking event. This happens because the unconscious mind works on pattern matching (see the knowledge page on panic attacks).
If you want to know how to prepare for an event like this (or any other anxiety-provoking situation), our Self Confidence Trainer should help.
Next, Using Hypnosis
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