Inside Secret Eating

No need to run & hide from disorder, no matter where it lives in your life. As you come to take care of it, just like magic, other things will fall into place".... Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

As far as writing markets go, one doesn't have to look far to find an emotional or disorderly eater. All I have to do is to look in the mirror, but as I look at myself I'm not really seeing the emotional eating part of me because it is hidden. While we all live behind masks, emotional eaters are especially good at this. Even though I've met thousands of people with this problem, I'm still taken aback by someone who looks "so together" who comes to tell me their unique story.

Take yesterday for instance. A beautiful thiry-something woman, Denise, came to my office to work on "some issues." As we got to know each other, I learned that she is a very successful television producer with a long, impressive resume. I also came to learn her deepest secret, that of being a serious closet binge eater who vomits every night before taking her antidepressant & a sleeping pill, so "they will work faster & take me away from my desire to eat more & more."

Secrets such as these form a big part of the problem, as well as being able to help individuals such as Denise. I remember a publisher telling me that "no one wants to be seen with a book whose cover reveals their secret." And so, the title of your book or audio may or may not speak to the person who needs to benefit from it, but the material must. This is one good thing about mp3's. They are simply downloaded to one's own computer or ipod & no one else but the listener "needs to know." Three of my biggest sellers in mp3 are Managing Bulimia & Emotional or Compulsive Eating. Next on the list comes Skin Picking & Nail Biting, most likely for the same reason.

What about diet books? It's seems to be ok to buy one of those, but for emotional or compulsive eaters, what they need is not going to be found in those books. In fact, some of them tend to make the problem even worse because it is very difficult for the emotional eater to stay with a plan, when the underlying issues are not addressed at the same time. Also, many people with emotional eating are not over-weight & believe because they are not, then it's ok to continue down their unhealthy eating path. Unfortunately, they are very mistaken. Luckily the television producer decided to take the "risk" & to bring her issues out into the open where she could learn to take care of them.

FACETS OF THE SECRET

Emotional & compulsive eaters tend to be disorderly in their nutritional & stress management care. If you've been following my blog, you know about the desire for perfection, the rigid thinking, the excessive need for approval, low self-esteem, extremely high expectgations of self & the need to be in control. And while they may bring this to other parts of their life & may even present themselves as "being in super-control of their eating" while others are watching, there is one part of their eating life that is for their eyes only. This is where the emotional release takes place & it is private & personal.

For Julie, another one of my patients, it means getting into her car at the end of a normal stress-filled workday & stopping at her favorite binge supermarket, usually where she is confident that she won't meet up with anyone she knows. What could be worse than having a shopping basket filled with binge foods & meeting up with someone from the office or church? Once she is safely out of the market, Julie repacks the bags in the trunk of her car. On the way out to the car, she grabs a few additional plastic bags, so the stash can be divided into groups & hidden under the seats of the car. That way, her husband will not see them or question her about them. Her husband who is very health-conscious, believes Julie to be the same. According to Julie, he would be horrified & lose all respect for her.

Julie takes one bag of chips to the front of the car. These are designated for the ride home, whatever left going under the seat & out of sight. Julie's ritual includes ripping the bag open with her teeth. Her thoughts & her body sensations are already deep into the "fix". She takes a solitary chip in her mouth before starting the ignition & sucks the salt, enjoying the sensation as much as the taste. Then she shoves a small handful into her mouth, moving them around with her tongue....finally relaxing, the sensation of satisfaction & safety entering her body, as she carefully reviews her stash in her mind. Ahhhh.....feeling so good, but lingering in the back of her mind is the voice of judgment. "What is wrong with you? Why do you do this? Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" Julie pushes the thoughts away, answering with another handful of chips.

Everything will be just fine now.....or will it? Julie knows better. Bingeing in the car presents all sorts of problems including crumbs on her clothing, on the floor of the car & grease on the steering wheel, but this binger is no amateur. She's walked this dangerous road before & was even caught once, or at least there were "suspicions" which of course, Julie flatly denied & then quickly dodges the trouble, by hurrying inside. As she tells it, "that was a close call." Julie pulls the car to the side of the road a few blocks before arriving home. The place is her favorite because it is quite safe. Few neighbors enter her subdivision from this entrance. Making sure she is unnoticed, she steps out, brushes off her clothes, checks the floor & the seat for evidence & then wipes the steering wheel with a packaged cloth she keeps in her purse for "such occasions." Mission accomplished.....so far.

After dinner, while her husband brushes his teeth, Julie moves the stash inside, artfully carrying it past her kids who are doing their homework. Some she places inside her blouse. Her heart pounds but her defiant part laughs as she heads for her carefully chosen hideouts. "It's all worth it....every bit of it."

Julie is a night binger. After everyone in the house is sleeping, including herself, part of Julie wakes her up. She carefully gets out of bed, looking back at her sleeping husband, measuring his breaths. No change.....good. She walks to her hiding places & makes her choices. Tonight it will be salt & crunch first & then sugar. Sitting in her favorite family room chair, she carefully opens each package, still keeping her ears on alert for any footsteps on the stairs, never letting her guard down. "Somehow it's part of the game & enjoy being with this devious part of myself. It's powerful, like some of the girls I knew in high school. No one knows this part of me & I've kept it a secret for as long as I can remember. I don't know if I can ever say good-bye to her."

The attention to detail is very important to the binger. Julie has stored a toothbrush & paste in the guest bathroom to use after her eating ritual. If the binge was big, she may use the toothbrush handle to induce vomiting, but this means be extra careful. No one can hear her & she cannot leave any signs of this; another thing to clean up. "I try not to vomit because of all the complications, but sometimes I know I'll never fall asleep unless I do. I'd truly like to get rid of this part, but then again, it does help me to relax deeply."

Not all binge or emotional eaters are women, nor do all have such complicated rituals as Julie. One of my clients, Harold, is a investment broker. He sought out my services as a clinical hypnotherapist because he had a medical condition called bruxism, meaning he mashes & grinds his teeth. During his assessment, Harold asked me if I could also help him manage an annoying problem. Just about every evening, precisely around 9PM, he would start having mad cravings for soft ice cream. Both Harold & his wife had sworn off sugar years ago & everything about their lifestyle spoke of health.

So, Harold started making up stories about needing to go out for gasoline or back to the office because he forgot something, etc. A good part of his waking time was spent thinking up new ways to get to his "stash." As he was telling me of his plight, I couldn't help but notice how excited he was, rather like a young boy telling me how he goes about fooling his mother.

SIMPLE EMOTIONAL OR DISORDERLY EATING

There are many people who maintain that they have emotional or compulsive eating issues, when what they really have is something I call "disorderly eating." Some eat continually, others having more of a pattern. In order to explain this way of managing their eating life, stress or the label of emotional eating is attached to the behavior. There is no discipline whatsoever; no plans for meals or snacks. I call this living by the seat of your pants & the numbers of people who participate in disorderly eating is huge. Just look around. You don't have to look far.

While all of this is very sad for adults, it is even more so for teens & kids because they are setting lifetime patterns. Their parents are their mentors & so this is seen as "normal." I see many of these children in my practice & sell more mp3's than I'd like to count that address some of the negative outcomes of disorderly eating. These include concentration, focus, sleep issues, early alcohol addiction, early smoking & many others.

NEXT BLOG - WRITING FOR SECRET & EMOTIONAL EATERS

Working with the Therapeutic Self

"We think we want to do things, but that simply isn't enough, for without emotional motivation, the thought won't go anywhere. It's like a car without gas."....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

As writers we have many, many unique opportunities to help our readers or listeners towards change, but that won't happen unless the written or spokenWord is well-marinated in hot-desire emotional images that speak directly to the therapeutic part of our audience's mature self. It's also not going to happen if we are not taking good care of ourselves, both physically & emotionally. This is especially important for those of us who write in the field of self-help & self-development, although well-written fiction has placed many a person on the road to change because the subconscious mind doesn't know the difference between truth or fiction.

MEET THE THERAPEUTIC SELF

Inside each of us is something called the therapeutic self. In the practice of nursing, this is a key element in designing the nursing care plan for the patient. In writing, I find this just as important. When someone says "your writing or your audio really speaks to me," you know that you have reached the door of the therapeutic self.

The concept of the therapeutic self plays a major role in the development of a positive attitudinal approach, both for the writer & the reader/listener. What you do, what you say, as well as what you think & feel make you unique & your uniqueness is the key to deep caring. The depth of the caring will impact on the ability to bring change. To achieve positive change, each of us, writer & reader/listener must be invited & then to be motivated to look at ourselves & to examine our assets & liabilities.

Without the knowledge gained from an honest appraisal of the personal self, the therapeutic self can be in jeopardy of being ineffective as a change agent. So yes, as writers, we have our own self-work to do, if we want to bring this depth to our audience.

To be therapeutic, you must be yourself. And so, you need to recognize your personal strengths, as well as your weaknesses & to work with them, bringing them to their highest levels. In the practice of Interactive Self-Hypnosis, this is accomplished with the help of the subconscious mind. Here's an inner working example:

Invite yourself to relax deeply into the moment. This is as simple as finding a quiet place, utilizing a few cleansing breaths & intending to bring this experience to yourself. Once settled in, tilt your closed eyes up about twenty degrees & view the mind-screen. If you are not a visual person, just pretend that you are sitting in the second row of a movie theater & put your limitations aside. On the screen place your mature or therapeutic self, perhaps sitting on a comfortable chair. On the right are chairs for your assets & on the left sit the chairs for your liabilities. Image them as children coming in & taking their appropriate places. Notice there is no voice of judgment.

Once everyone is settled down, notice the light filtering in through a big window & entering both the assets & the liabilities. Black drops exit the fingertips, transmuting into gold dust as they touch the floor. Notice the assets are becoming bigger & stronger; the liabilities smaller & less intensive. The gold dust is now presented to your therapeutic self to bring back to the workshop of your daily world.

Here you are being genuine, honest, open & flexible. There is no voice of judgment. Nothing here speaks to errors or mistakes or any other negatives. Here, the self-esteem grows strong. In allowing yourself to just be, you share feelings, as opposed to trying to mask or cover them. Sharing is a very meaningful part of honest & open communication, but before you can have it with others, you must be able to have it with yourSelf. This is the practice of being human & is the essence of professionalism, both with yourSelf & with your audience. This is mature growth.

POWER OF POSITIVE ATTITUDES

The therapeutic self needs specific positive attitudes for living at healthy levels. This is so for both writer & audience & so when writing, we come from our own therapeutic position & speak to the mutually mature aspect of our audience. Here are some powerful additudes to entertain, as well as to deliver in your writing:

Personal Worth: This is the viewpoint your hold about yourself & others. For example, staying aware & understanding such things as cultureal & social differences, respect for humanity, tolerance & patience towards human fraility. This is especially key when writing for addiction or other self-help areas. Whether it be the spokenWord or written word, the writer should demonstrate a conviction that dignity, individuality & equality of people must be protected.

Personal Integrity: I believe strongly that we must all maintain a sense of honesty towards ourselves & with others. We communicate on so many different levels & if we are living a dishonest life, then this will come through as well....not the type of delivery we want.

Open-Mindedness: We can model a willingness & ability to change, for it sits within all of us. As we practice, this will find itself in the work we deliver to our audience.

Hopefulness: As writers, we must practice looking at our own life situations from the bright side. This will then allow us to easily convey brightness to our audience, keeping in mind that we cannot give what we do not have to give.

So writing is not just about getting the words on paper, or the sounds on the disk. It's not just about deadlines & struggling with mental blocks. Writing is also about how we care for ourselves & the attitudes we hang around with, for like it or not, they are a part of what we share, consciously or subconsciously.

Designing Metaphors for Addiction

Your mind works as a servo-mechanism. That means it serves you whatever you request & those requests come from your visual & audio thoughts, as well as your automatic programs that reside in your subconscious. So....how appetizing is the platter you are being served today?....
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

TUNING IN...

The appetites or needs of those living under the darkness of addiction are very specific & so the sound-bites or written words need to be designed to meet these needs. As creative writers, we tend to work in metaphor or story telling & this is a perfect way to tempt the subconscious mind.

When writing in interactive self-hypnotic suggestion, I can cover lots of territory with a few simple images. When the listener or reader enters the image, the metaphor becomes multi-dimensional & therefore much more powerful. I'd like to introduce you to a sampling of my favorites:

THE CHILD & THE MULTIPLE COATS

While many of us have heard the term inner-child, few of us work with this concept on a daily basis. The child-self is separate from the mature-adult or higher self. This is an extremely important concept for my listener or reader. Just as he is not his thoughts, emotions or body sensations, he is also not his inner child. This technique is called disassociation.

The child-self remains with us throughout our life & right now, in this very moment, your child-self is with you. It doesn't matter what you are doing. The child is never far away & as you come to recognize it, you are then free to manage your emotions, because your child-self is wearing an emotional coat, or if you prefer because it is summer, a tee-shirt with the name of the emotion written across the front. There are all sorts of coats or tee-shirts. Some you have had for a very long time, perhaps almost from birth & others were placed on you as a young child. As you became older, more & more coats or shirts were placed on you perhaps by your parents, siblings, relatives, clergy, teachers, neighbors & even your community at large.

We all have a large variety of these. Some tend to be very controlling & rigid. Others may be woven from fearful threads or those colored with guilt or shame. When these are worn it is often difficult to think, much less dream freely about what you might like to have for yourself; what you might like to experience in life. When you are wearing one of these you might hear yourself thinking or saying out loud that "you can't do something or that might be ok for others but not for you." When these coats are worn one lives in a locked world. In this instance you curtail your inner gift of creativity, keeping yourself in the corner of life.

Those individuals harboring addiction often have a huge collection of rather dirty coats & so a shopping trip is definitely in the plans The listener is delighted to know that these coats can come off in an instant & new, colorful, light coats can be chosen instead.

When working inside this metaphor I like to spend time examining each of the new coats....admiring their qualities, the strength & durability of the fabric, the uniqueness of the design, as well as the great fit. I suggest a few very powerful new coats & perhaps a few that appear on the surface to be less important. This part of the metaphor is aiming towards balance, which of course is something that the addictive listener needs as well.

THE BALANCE BEAM

Balance is a key ingredient for healing addictive tendencies. The balance beam is a simple metaphor & most individuals have observed gymnasts performing on a balance beam & so they are familiar with what it is. The beam can be painted with the name of a particular issue & the listener can practice balancing in this area of life.

THE MATURE OR CORE SELF

The mature self is separate from the child-self & is completely free from emotional coats. Getting in touch with this powerful element of the personality is very important for the individual harboring addiction. There are many ways for the writer to introduce this part & literature is filled with examples. However, I like the listener to uncover their own mature or core self & so one way is to take them to one of the creative parts of the inner workshop where there is a block of valuable carrera marble, as well as a hammer & chisel.

As work begins, the chips fall away & the figure can be seen emerging. Then the listener notices that he is not the only worker on this project. The mature or core self is also chipping away, wanting to be free. I've found this metaphor to be extremely empowering as the relationship with maturity begins on a mutual working stage.

THOUGHTWARE OR CHOOSING WORDS

No matter how simple a word, it has intrinsic value when writing therapeutic material. Negatives are never utilized in any images, except for cleaning or clearing or manipulating in some positive way. It's important for the mature or core-self to understand that part of it's work is to clear or heal negatives, no matter how "old" they are.

All words flow towards building or suggesting strength, as well as what is the desired outcome. When an individual reads or listens the brain waves are slowed & so the door of the subconscious mind is opened, allowing even simple words that are self-affirming to perform at high levels.

COMPLIMENTARY METAPHORIC MP3

I've placed a complimentary mp3 SpokenWord program at the following link. The name of this program is The Life University.

You can make something happen today. Good things can happen to you & for you right now. As you learn to break your big plan for success into small steps, you can take the first step right away. Your success is a matter of your expectations. Once these are accepted by your own inner mind, the plans are placed on the drawing board. You are the one who stretches your horizons & then designs the roadway........Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

This program takes the listener or practitioner of self-hypnosis to the powerful Life University. The listener has the opportunity to visit skill building areas that may need more structure in his/her own life including emotional management, thought management, goal building & action classes, life balance, health, work ethics & motivation, relationship building, spiritual enhancing & opening, future pacing & planting & much more.

This program allows one to self-assess, to find areas that may benefit from change & to actually plant the mind programs to do so. This is an ideal program for those who truly want to move on & to truly make those changes that will greatly impact their lives.

Writing for the Addicted Listener

"We are not our stress, our thoughts, our out of control emotions, or our addictions, but this does not mean that we are not responsible for managing them."....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

While I write SpokenWord programs utilizing Interactive Self-Hypnosis, one does not need to be a therapist to write for these market. However, when doing so, it's important to truly get a feel for what this specific listener needs. This also holds true for the written word. Working with a therapeutic consultant may give you just the insight you need to write a successful program or book.

UNDERSTANDING ADDICTION

One of the reasons I began writing in this field was that I felt the existing material often stopped short of truly helping the reader or listener, who needs to fully participate in the written or spoken word in order to effect change in their life. To my mind this is why there are so many books on weight loss, but we still have an epidemic of obesity in our nation & in other parts of the industrialized world.

I've written & produced many programs for specific addictions, both for adults & children. Being at the mercy of addiction, no matter what kind, takes away from the beauty of life. The addicted individual stands in the corner of life, knowing that sooner or later the addiction will make it's appearance. While it may appear to be welcomed or even joked about, it is never an inside joke. Consciously or subconsciously, the participant does know that the addiction is harmful & usually has a growing fear that the nightmare is just around the corner. This underlying fear or anxiety is often blocked or at least tempered in order to keep some level of balance.

There are both physiological & emotional components to addiction. As the listener comes to understand this, some of the guilt & shame can be better channeled. Those who answer to stress with addictive substances or behaviors often have a high anxiety personality & while sounding negative, there are some positive virtues. In addition, when the high anxiety is managed correctly, taking into consideration both of the aforementioned components, the individual can gain healthy ground in many different arenas of life.

Here are some areas that the addicted listener might be experiencing:

Rigid Thinking - black & white, filled with "should's, musts & can'ts." Keep in mind that all thoughts are mini-subconscious mind programs & that each thought joins up with those already planted, while encouraging more to come forward. Bringing the listener into heightened awareness & presenting metaphor or suggestion for change is truly a necessity for success.

Excessive Need for Approval - this includes low-self-esteem, fear of rejection, sensitivity to criticism, difficulty saying "no" & tendency towards co-dependency. As the writer, it's important to create images & metaphor with this in mind. As the subconscious mind does not accept negatives, such as "I have no fear of rejection", the writer must plant a positive suggestion, but keeping in mind the negative that is being addressed.

Extremely High Expectations of Self - sometimes it's difficult to recognize the low self-esteem because those with high anxiety personalities tend to hide it very well. They are often high achievers, are very creative with a ton of imagination. These facets can be turned into assets with the right words, suggestions or metaphor. It's all a matter of bringing balance to the chosen words & painted images.

Perfectionism - this follows the areas highlighted above, but deserves it's own mention. The listener with excessively high expectations, all or nothing thinking when evaluating his own actions, also has a tendency to focus on small flaws & errors, making them into mountains. Again, this is an opportunity for the writer to present suggestion or metaphor for bringing balanced thinking. Working with mind images is very useful here & as the listener enters the clearly, defined image & begins to participate with the Spoken or written words, change ensues.

Excessive Need to Be in Control - the listener or reader wants control of every life facet & since this is impossible in real life, stress builds & release is sought with substance or addictive behaviors. There is also a tendency to try to control feelings & behaviors of others. Sometimes this is overt & other times it is held inside, appearing as completely normal & more than well-balanced. Knowing what may sit underneath, the writer can design very specific imagery or use the written or SpokenWord in ways that help to diminish these tendencies.

Tendency to Ignore the Body's Physical Needs - people who utilize addiction for managing stress usually have multiple addictions, some more potent than others. There is a tendency to disconnect from the body & it's needs & may not even sense things such as fatigue or other physical symptoms. There is usually a history of very poor self-care, except they may look very well indeed on the outside. This is why the writer of either the Spoken or written word has such a unique opportunity to help this large part of our population for the writer gets to go indoors.

As a writer, it's not necessary to address each of these issues in a "to do list fashion", but just knowing your audience at deeper levels, will allow you to help them to manage their multiple issues, for indeed, every writer is a therapist of sorts.

Complimentary mp3 download SpokenWork programs are available at the following link:

SpokenWord Audio

Writing for the Food & Sugar Addicted Listener

"Living in disorder or addiction is like existing in a room without air or light. It's time to change things."....Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht

Sometimes I forget that I'm a writer because I spend a good part of my day designing & delivering self-hypnosis metaphor & suggestion "in the moment" for my patients/clients. Then it's off to recording CD's & mp3's. Over the years I must have written & recorded over 1,000 programs. So, whether it be mind-writing or typing onto the computer screen, it's quite a bit of writing.

For me, mind-writing is the most challenging. I never work with scripts in my office, the reason being that I want to communicate with the patient or client hypnotically & so I had to come to trust the process. Rarely do I know how I will word things or even what metaphor may come to mind. It may be one that I've designed before, but most of the time it is highly original & very patient/client specific. It's in moments like these, when I'm able to touch that depth of creativity, that the heart beats a bit faster. Sometimes I sense a shudder or feel like laughing as these inner images jump out, seemingly having a life of their own. It's a time of true disassociation from mySelf. I'm out of my own way & now able to be free with the process.

Some people aren't familiar with what goes on in a project such as this. Here are some things to consider. When working with the SpokenWord, the vocal delivery is as important as the image itself. The famous quote, "timing is everything", also goes along with this genre of delivery. And then there are the facets of the tonality, including the emotional marinade. So, writing & delivering the SpokenWord is a bit complex, but when one is tuned into the subconscious, everything seems to take care of itself.

MEET THE FOOD & SUGAR ADDICTED LISTENER

The writer of SpokenWords writes & delivers to a listener, so the writing needs to take this into consideration. If one were to look at my physical writing, it might appear quite different from that written for someone who is reading the work. In my case, I write for listeners who have specific issues or needs. In this blog entry I've chosen to address listeners with very specific addictions....those having to do with disorderly eating, sugar & food addiction.

Addictive listeners, no matter what their addiction, often have short attention spans. Focus & concentration levels are often lacking. Much of this has to do with body & mind physiology of addiction. That is why those harboring addiction do so well with the SpokenWord being presented in Self-Hypnosis . In the case of my work, I deliver it in a special format I've designed called "Interactive Self-Hypnosis. This is especially palatable for the food addicted individual, as they are drawn into the actual images & get to play in the playground of their own minds. What could be better? There is no judging or co-dependency. They are calm & relaxed, detached from their thoughts & emotions, with an invitation to a special event where they get to pick & choose & to participate inside the images or metaphors that they willingly accept.

Disorderly eating listeners respond to a full plate of carefully crafted images to meet their specific needs. These need to be delivered at just the right time.....not too early & not too late. Those with food or sugar addiction, or other disorderly eating patterns are usually restless & disorganized in their thought processes. Their emotions run high, forcing the stress chemicals to be produced at very high levels. This usually means lots of physical & mental tension & while that may sound like a negative, it is actually a positive for work presented in the Self-Hypnotic SpokenWord format.

The body & mind of the listener DO WANT to slow down & relax deeply. The body & mind are eager to enter a state called homeostasis or balance & all that is needed is to get the listener "out of his own way." In the practice of medical hypnosis, it's common for an emergency room patient to go into a positive, self-hypnotic trance quite easily, simply because the body & mind do want to go to that place of balance. Blood pressure normalizes; heart beat normalizes; blood flow slows. It's quite remarkable to observe the power of the SpokenWord under these critical circumstances.

Once the listener is brought to deep relaxation, the creative work can begin. When writing & recording for the general public, the writing specialist needs to turn to generalizations about the subject matter. However, while sugar or food addicted individuals have many things in common, it's important for the writer to remember that each listener is a separate individual, with different life experiences & different needs. There is also the consideration of the amount of audio time & just as in writing books, editing is an important part of the process.

When dealing with this particular group of listeners, over-worked subject matter, such as food choices, meal planning, portion sizes, meal timing, etc., tend to get glazed over in book format, but not so in Interactive Self-Hypnotic Imagery. The right side of the brain, the subconscious or child-mind, can be brought to this Interactive exercise with new excitement. Here everything is possible. One can fall in love with the process of getting all of this organized & in place. It's fun again. Yes, it is possible to have a fresh start & to walk a healthy path.... the reason being that the listener is actually doing it & accompanied by positive & affirming emotions.

There are so many different images & metaphors for working through the food aspect of sugar & food addiction. All of them are "tasty." But, this listener needs to travel to other areas & also has quite a bit of clean-up to do. While this might sound "distasteful", it is not. In fact, it is more fun & games.

MEET THE EMOTIONS

Managing emotions is key for everyone. Sugar & food addicted listeners have their fair share of negative emotional states, many of them very old indeed, perhaps going way back to early childhood. It could take decades to take care of these in regular therapy, but with the power of the Self-Hypnotic SpokenWord, the listener can begin to tackle them right in the moment. The key is bringing the individual into the "identification center" & coming to understand the concept that he/she is NOT his or her emotions.

This technique of disassociation is made so much easier "in the moment". Through the power of SpokenImagery, the listener is now empowered to manage past failure, fear of failure, guilt, shame, powerlessness, anxiety, etc. & to bring forward, or actively entertain confidence, self-respect, self-forgiveness, self-love, creativity & a whole host of others, most of whom probably haven't been around through most of the individual's life.

Thoughts are now known as real "things"....that can be managed, thereby empowering the listener. Yes, it is a new day & life experiences will play on a different stage from now on.

CLEARING THE PAST EXPERIENCES

Creative metaphor gives the listener the opportunity to clean the attic & the basement & then all the other rooms in the house. One only keeps what one wants or needs. Making this abundantly clear to the now "past-addicted listener", invites in not only a new self-power, but a freedom to grow, create & achieve. Individuals in this category often have junk piled up that goes way back & for many reasons, these things have remained stock-piled. Presenting simple, but well-defined metaphors & bringing the listener into the action, can clear things up, often quicker & with less efforting.

This area of metaphor development is a joyful writing experience. My own mind feeds me one healthy image after the other. Road blocks move to the side & the way is clear.

FUTURE PACING METAPHORS

In this particular program, the metaphors for the future are all related to specifics for high level health. The listener participates "as if" this were all happening right now. The choice of words & descriptions become very important because one wants the listener to self-design & motivate his or her own program. This is key for long-term lifestyle change & it's most important to make it as complete & enticing as possible.

OTHER ASPECTS

I believe in teaching the listener the basics of Interactive Self-Hypnosis "in the moment" & have included these techniques on this program, as well as in every program I write & record. This is the nursing me who knows that the patient or listener, must be made to be independent of the professional & so it is with this SpokenWord writing project. What does this mean? Well, it means knowing how to identify & release emotions & their thoughts in the moment & to re-program the mind for the positive images that are presented on the program OR those that their own subconscious mind has developed for them, for the creative mind now knows the direction & will want to participate as well.

Oh no.....Let Go!

This truly wasn't my subject choice for the BlogAlong Workshop today, but sometimes life simply leads in a different direction. And so, I find myself addressing "letting go" & the many areas in which we need to apply this, some of them imposed & not chosen.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN ANYWAY?

Letting go is a phrase we hear frequently. Other people tell us to do it, but when we ask how to actually "do it", no one really seems to be able to tell us. In the past I would ask directly, "give me an example of how you actually let go of something & please be very specific." The answers were usually quite vague & unfortunately not very helpful.

Letting go is all about releasing. Think for a moment about the many things you release during the day. Actually, we spend a good part of our day releasing or letting go of things. For those of you who are following the Workshop, I'd like you to write a list of things you have already let go of today. The list might be a bit amusing, but the point of this exercise is to understand the concept of truly letting go.

Now, you might say that this is not very useful, because most of the things on the list are concrete, while the difficulty of letting go is usually in intangible areas such as relationships, emotions, thoughts & behaviors. While this is certainly true, remember that we are working with the subconscious mind on our mind-screen & so we can actually benefit from something as simple as "dropping a pen" or "putting down a coffee cup."

In short, when you choose to handle a problem or improve the quality of a life or even death experience, it is a means of creating a change in your habitual long-term response to a stressful situation.

This week I had to teach releasing techniques to a young woman who is dying, to a teen who is dangerously addicted to alcohol, as well as to a child who literally becomes mute when called on in class. There was also a woman who was leaving her husband & had to release some of her fear about going forward with the details of the divorce. I also had some of my own releasing work to do, the most difficult one being working with the young woman I mentioned above. Death & dying are big personal issues of mine that go way back to my early childhood when my father was killed in an automobile accident. It's amazing how the body sensations come forward from those long ago mind files, but they do & they hurt.

SO HOW DO YOU DO IT?

Some of us find this easier than others, but we can all get better at it, even myself. Each time we're asked to address our own issues, we can re-etch or edit our mind programs that include the emotional components that lead to the way we actually feel or sense our mind & body. The more we practice, the more proficient we become. Part of our work focuses on awareness & part on deep relaxation in that very moment of awareness. Once wse perform these two vital steps, we are free to utilize our subconscious mind & then to put whatever we want in place. I was telling someone this week about the importance of grieving in a healthy way. Many of us have work to do in that department, because grieving often leads us towards our favorite addictions.

We learn best by becoming aware of our efforting or not wanting to release or let go on small issues. Large It is just like skidding. Learn to turn the wheels with the skid & not fight against it. Learn to go with the problem to regain your emotional balance. Allow yourself to relax into the problem & place the problem on your mind screen.

Diminish it visually & now ask your subconscious mind to bring forth answsers to help you with this issue. You may receive them in the moment or later, but you will receive them. Whenever asking your subconscious mind for answers, be certain to spend quiet time that day, so you can receive the answers. Your subconscious mind cannot connect with you when you are in a highly emotional or run-away brain state.

Practice mental judo. The practice of judo teaches the student how to counter physical force directed against the person by a maneuver that at firs seems like yielding, but which is actually a disarming protective device. Mental judo leaves you steady & balanced in the face of confrontation. I suggest you practice exercises for focus & flexibility to implant these skills in your subconscious library. There are many different ways to do this & I'll be happy to help you choose the best way for you. Just send me an email.

Learn to let go of emotional intensity. You can use the pie technique here. If you are super frightened or angry, take your relaxing breath, go to your mind screen & show your mind the pie. You will change your body physiology almost immediately. When we do this, the mind clears.

The most important part of our work is to be in emotional control. We are no longer forced to respond automatically to someone pushing our anger button, or any other button. Having release, or being able to let go, allows us to be able to wait out the situation instead of letting it get you down. This is not a matter of surrendering to the other person, but instead you have placed yourself in your very own focused power-state of mind where you are in control & this is a very good place to be.

In order to help with the amount of information that is a part of the BlogAlong Workshop for High Level Health & Performance, I've set up a separate blog to house it in an orderly fashion. Here's the LINK.

NEW MEMBER INFORMATION

Welcome back to the BlogAlong Self-Development Workshop. This online workshop follows my books/programs including Sugar....the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It, Beyond Disorderly Eating, the Mind & Body Fitness Boot Camp, Stop Nail Biting Now: 4 Steps to Success, as well as many of my CD/mp3 programs. If you are new to the Workshop, please read the early entries because this is like any other workshop you might attend. If you are late, there are things you have missed that will interfere with your understanding of the process for the attainment of high level health & performance.

The BlogAlong workshop is both didactic & interactive. The latter includes active discussions, mp3 downloads from my available library, as well as some designed specifically for this workshop. To participate in the discussions you will need to join one of my email yahoogroups. There are ten of them, located on my website or you can email me for an invitation. I suggest you work with a three ring binder &/or a journal. This will reinfoce your subconscious mind programs.

Enter Food Stress

In order to help with the amount of information that is a part of the BlogAlong Workshop for High Level Health & Performance, I've set up a separate blog to house it in an orderly fashion. Here's the LINK.

This workshop is reviewing several of my books & CD/mp3 programs. The focus of my work has always been high level health & performance. This goes back decades into those years when I was the director of staff development in a large hospital setting. My "theme" was & still remains that no one gets away free. This includes hospital patients, as well as staff.

If you are working with my books or programs, you do know that no matter what you are choosing to accomplish, I'll always be taking you to the major area or garden on your goal-den path, called the mindbody health garden. This is where your body parts live. Sometimes, especially very left-brained people, find this type of wording or description "bothersome" or "child-like." However, in the practice of self-hypnosis we work with active imagery & affirmations. These are programs that speak directly to the subconscious mind which is the "child-mind" & so we need to get over this hurdle.

Back to the mindbody health garden now.......& to the body parts. If we take the time to think about it, even if we tend to be a very serious, left-brained person, it is quite obvious that if we don't take care of the body machine, it will not work correctly. How is it that we can understand about computers, cars, DVD's, cell phones, etc., but we have such difficulty in applying our intelligence & creativity to our body? Why are we so complacent? Why do we think that we can do whatever we want with our body & get away with it? Why is it so difficult to understand that wear & tear applies to body parts, as well as to cars & other machines?

The most horrendous stress to the body & to the mind is food stress. When the body & mind are under this kind of stress, the effect of other stressors, both inner & outer are greatly enhanced, sometimes leading to complete break-down of one or several systems. We see this in a body reaction called reactive hypoglycemia or hyperinsulinemia. People can die from these reactions, as well as be responsible for deaths of others if they are driving or operating equipment.

While many of us understand that what we eat & drink can harm our body, few of us care in the moment that we are indulging in whatever it is. The common thread is "I'll change tomorrow, or better still, "I really have to stop doing this." There is no thought to the internal damage that accumulates, almost as if the body had no true response in any shape or form to eating the donut, skipping breakfast, sipping sugared caffeine during the day, eating fast food or those two gigantic glasses of wine on the way home from work. Add the ice cream while watcing tv, just to relax before hitting the pillow. I was telling a patient today that if the body had a calculator that could be easily read, I wonder if we would act differently. Probably not....... we are simply children at heart who are interested in the world of "right now."

If this weren't enought, there is usually little thought or care to the effect of all of this on the mind, not in the present nor in the future. There have been some interesting studies on the effect of food stress related to depression, anxiety, panic, cognitive functioning & even creativity. Unfortunately, these studies rarely, if ever, reach the public. I wonder if you can guess why this is? Feel free to write to me if you think you know or send an email to your discussion group that is following this workshop.

OH WHAT TO DO ....

Yes, it is difficult to change things that we don't want to change & that is why we need motivators, both positive & negative. Some motivators come to us personally delivered, like the doctor saying that one has cancer of the lung, or that one is a heart attack waiting to happen. I had a patient like that this week. He was the most motivated person I ever met. Yes, he could & would move mountains if I told him to do so. However, my very next patient, a woman who was more than 200 pounds over-weight continued to argue about her night eating habits & diet soda consumption. She was unable to even consider that she could change.

We tend to see ourselves as victims or weaklings. Big, serious motivators allow us to jump through the hoops, but without one of those, we are artisans of excuses, dilly-dallying or even liking living the victim life. We can't see or feel our personal power, almost as if we didn't want to. It's like no one ever showed it to us & perhaps that is true, especially if we were brought up with parents who simply didn't know better or who were abusive. However, we all have oodles of personal power. We were born with it. That is called our authentic self. In this workshop we will get back in touch with that part through the mind screen. If you are working with my mp3 or CD called the Authentic Self, you are already well on your way.

Now a question for you. Suppose I had met the man with the potential for the heart attack before he visited his physician & heard the magic words. Do you think his motivation would have been different? Based on my experience, I tend to think it would have been. So, do we need to hear the worst case scenario before we can change? For some of us, perhaps. But, there are other ways to effect change.

Here are some points of awareness for the mind screen. Right now we're talking about food stress. This also includes beverages, so alcohol, soda & coffee drinkers .... pay attention here. Locate your mind screen & place the following....

If it enters my mouth, it will have an effect on my body & my mind. The effect will either help or hinder me, now & in the future.( Feel that now)

I have to become educated about foods & beverages & know what they do inside my body, not just in general, but to specific parts as well. In other words, I must remove my head from the sand. I do not have special permission to get past the gate-keeper that guards my mind & body. I will pay the piper.( Feel that now.)

I have to become honest with to myself. If not, I will pay the consequences. ( feel that now.)

You need to change through the development of self-discipline. Some of us were never taught these skills & so we know nothing about it. Others of us were brought up in rigid environments & so we've become rebellious. Both need awareness & change.( Feel that now.)

I am capable of much more than I think. It is not too late, or any other excuse my child-mind would like to share with me in this moment. It's all rubbish & dangerous rubbish at that. (Feel that now.)

I believe that I deserve the best that life has to offer, no matter what anyone else has told me. This includes my health, prosperity in my work, relationships & my level of creativity. Only I can deliver this to myself & so the choices from here on forward are up to me. I get to build your own life bank account. Any moments I choose to lose, could have been gains. ( Feel that now.)

NEW MEMBER INFORMATION

Welcome back to the BlogAlong Self-Development Workshop. This online workshop follows my books/programs including Sugar....the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It, Beyond Disorderly Eating, the Mind & Body Fitness Boot Camp, Stop Nail Biting Now: 4 Steps to Success, as well as many of my CD/mp3 programs. If you are new to the Workshop, please read the early entries because this is like any other workshop you might attend. If you are late, there are things you have missed that will interfere with your understanding of the process for the attainment of high level health & performance.

The BlogAlong workshop is both didactic & interactive. The latter includes active discussions, mp3 downloads from my available library, as well as some designed specifically for this workshop. To participate in the discussions you will need to join one of my email yahoogroups. There are ten of them, located on my website or you can email me for an invitation. I suggest you work with a three ring binder &/or a journal. This will reinfoce your subconscious mind programs.