Center Point - Newsletter of the Center for Self-Change: April 2011

There's an important secret to lasting, successful change when it comes to ending any unwanted behavior—and I'm going to tell you what it is.

Before laying it out, however, I should take a moment to lay down a little background first.

A recent study has shown that when a candy bowl was placed on the reception counter in a large office many employees dropped by several times a day to take a piece or two.

Most of them were surprised when they learned how frequently they took candy from the bowl.

Moreover, the average weight gain among the candy takers at the end of the yearlong study was seven pounds!

And while that may seem hard to imagine, most of us are actually acquainted with someone who could stand to lose seventy pounds.

It's the same with cigarettes. The best way to avoid the deadly consequences (and all the other negatives) of cigarette smoking is to never begin smoking in the first place.

The next best way is to stop now. Make that last cigarette the last cigarette.

Even people in their 60s live longer after quitting that those who continue to smoke.*

What's the next thing to do after we've stopped eating the candy, or smoking, or doing whatever it is we were doing before we stopped doing it?

Remember when, perhaps it was today, you were driving toward an intersection and the red stop light came on? What did you do? You applied the brake. Then once you came to a stop, you kept on applying it.

Think of that intersection as a crossroad in life. There's a limit line beyond which we must not go.

If we stop stopping we'll start starting again—idling our way into a collision of one kind or another.

There it is: That's the secret to successful, lasting change when it comes to ending any unwanted behavior.

It really is as easy as it sounds—once we have internalized the mindset for it.

That can come as the result of a shock. Perhaps someone we love dies, or we have a heart attack, as a result of smoking or overweight.

Or we discover that we are about to miss out on an important promotion because we haven't yet stopped refusing to engage in public speaking.

If these things (or any number of others) shock us enough, then that may be all we need to internalize the "stop and don't stop stopping" mindset.

Hypnosis helps because it really works. And recent discoveries have given us a better grasp of the way it works.

Three factors, deep rest, mental imagery, and the power of suggestion operate together in hypnosis to create important changes in how we are able to live our lives.

In that state, words (as suggestions) and images have a remarkable effect on the entire body/mind system. Actual biochemical changes are produced in the brain through the stimulation of substances called neurotransmitters which are involved in controlling what we desire, the way we behave, and what we can achieve.

Based on this new understanding, a fully qualified hypnotherapist can now create far more effective change for many more people and in much less time than in the past.

For my part, I suggest that brief hypnotherapy really is the best way to internalize the "stop and don't stop stopping mind set" for good.

If you like that suggestion, call me at 619-561-9012 to get started on stopping right away.

The way down the
Dark ladder is the
Way back up again;
Each of us must choose
Recovery or caducity:
Whether to arise or
Continue to descend.

It's easy. Every Wednesday
for a few minutes between
10:00 and Noon sit down and
turn inward - through prayer,
meditation, self-hypnosis or
any modality you choose -
and send out good thoughts
to everyone else in the circle.

J. Kingston Cowart
619.561.9012
Post Office Box 19005
San Diego CA 92159
jkcowart@self-change.com

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Keywords: Candy, crossroad, deep rest, lasting change, hypnotherapy, mental imagery, mindset, neurotransmitters, power of suggestion, smoking, successful change, unwanted behavior, weight gain.