Hypnosis & Self-Help Articles
The Mental Mini-Vacation
by C. Roy Hunter, M.S., FAPHP
How often do we let stress get the best of
us? Have you ever tried to stay calm when people push your buttons, only to
find your subconscious taking control? The Mental Mini-Vacation may
become your key to staying calm in a sea of stress! Mastering this simple
mental exercise may easily provide benefits to you personally, socially, and
professionally.
WHAT Is It?
This simple mental exercise involves
constructive use of the imagination to fantasize an ideal, peaceful place.
While doing so, we may establish a "peaceful place" trigger as a reminder
to stay calm when our buttons get pushed. The technique is easy to learn and
easy to use!
WHY Learn It?
Often we react too quickly to stress and
end up dealing with the consequences. The subconscious is our mental
computer, and must be programmed to allow us to maintain self-control in
order to avoid reacting without thinking. Whenever willpower and imagination are
in conflict, the imagination usually wins out. Would you walk across a
1-foot-wide plank between two skyscrapers? How much easier
would it be to walk that same plank if it were only one inch off the ground?
HOW Do We Program the Subconscious?
Imagination is the language of the
subconscious. To demonstrate this to yourself, hold your arms out in front of
you, close your eyes, and imagine that you hold a bucket in one hand and
100 helium balloons in the other hand. Imagine water pouring into the bucket...see
the water, hear it splashing, and feel the bucket getting heavier
and heavier. Also imagine the helium balloons holding up the other hand, and in
less than a minute most people notice a difference between their two arms. This
demonstrates the power of imagination!
Here Are Some Potential BENEFITS...
Others who successfully utilize the Mental
Mini-Vacation have reported the ability to maintain greater self-control during
times of stress, resulting in making wiser decisions. Managers have found their
people-skills enhanced by their increased ability to remain calm. Sales people
have increased their incomes by staying calm while overcoming objections. Some
have enjoyed better family relationships at home. Which benefits might you
enjoy by mastering this mental exercise?
DOING It...
Find a comfortable place to relax: seated,
reclined, or lying down. With your eyes closed, imagine an ideal, peaceful and
pleasant place. You may use the sample script reprinted below from my
self-hypnosis book, Master the Power of Self-Hypnosis (Sterling
Publishing, 1998). Modify it as needed. I suggest that you practice several
times weekly until you master the technique. Remember to establish your
"peaceful place" trigger as instructed in the script.
Excerpt from Chapter 8
of Master the Power of Self-Hypnosis
(Sterling Publishing, 1998) by C. Roy Hunter
Your imagination is like the rehearsal
room of your mind, where you have the ability to practice being the person you
wish to be! You can imagine what you plan on doing tomorrow, or you can replay
what happened yesterday by re-living those experiences in the imagination.
We use the imagination quite frequently to
imagine our anticipated pleasure for a planned long-weekend - when we finally
get out to the lake, or out on the golf course, or the campground, or the
beach, etc., etc. Couples dating can attest to the fact that anticipation influences
both the mind and body! I'll avoid describing what frequently takes place in
the imagination during a date; yet I'll remind the reader that both the mind
and body will respond to the imagination! Both mind and body also respond to
fantasized places of peace and beauty.
Consider your own imagination to be your
own private place, where you can travel through time and space. Star Trek
viewers can compare the imagination to the holodeck
of the mind, because you can create your own program! You can BE anywhere
you wish, and DO anything you wish...in your imagination. You can re-live any
memory (happy or sad), or you can experience any fantasy. Although many of our
parents taught us not to daydream, we can't avoid daydreaming occasionally. The
question is whether you control your daydreams, or vice versa.
The mental mini-vacation utilizes your
ability to daydream. You may enjoy going back in time to a favorite vacation
spot, or you may imagine going forward in time to a future vacation. You have
the choice! Remember that you have total power, total freedom, and total
privacy in your imagination. You can do anything you wish, and go anywhere you
wish. Are you ready?
Enter self-hypnosis using your chosen
induction, then adapt the following script to your own
words. Again, notice that the simple wording means more to the subconscious
than good grammar...
I'm going to count backwards now from ten to one. As I do, it becomes easier and easier for me to imagine sights, sounds and feelings in my beautiful peaceful place...
Number Ten - deeper and deeper, relaxing physically... With each breath, it's easier to imagine my peaceful place...
Number Nine - deeper and deeper, relaxing mentally... With each sound, it's easier to imagine pleasant sights, sounds and feelings...
Number Eight - deeper and deeper, relaxing emotionally... The deeper I go, the better I feel, and the deeper I want to go...
Number Seven - deeper and deeper, relaxing totally... The deeper I go, the easier it is to go even deeper, imagining my peaceful place...
Number Six - every nerve and muscle relaxes completely... as if I'm becoming a part of the peace that I imagine...
Number Five - each number making it easier and easier to go deeper and deeper... and it feels SO good to just relax...
Number Four - as I go deeper, it becomes easier and easier to imagine sights, sounds and feelings that are so calm, and so peaceful...
Number Three - just drifting into total relaxation... into my place of total peace... where I can enjoy being anywhere I wish now...
Number Two - just relaxing at my ideal peaceful place now...
Number One - waaaaaaaaaaaaay down deep... Relaxing into a very deep, inner peace... a very deep, inner peace...
As I touch my finger to my thumb, or take a deep breath and think the word RELAX, it's an automatic reminder of my inner peace. [Touch a finger to your thumb, and take a deep breath.] Whenever I do this in the waking state, I feel calm and composed, free to think with a clear mind... but for now, I can just enjoy going even deeper into relaxation... deeper and deeper...
With each breath I take, it's easier and easier to enjoy my freedom of imagination, to go to a favorite vacation spot now... and imagine my IDEAL vacation... doing what I enjoy doing, and relaxing as well...
In my mind, as much time as I wish can pass... and I feel as though I've enjoyed an hour's nap... I feel like I enjoyed an hour's nap...
Before emerging from trance, imagine
feeling the way you wish to feel! Then, when ready, count forward from one to
five and awaken yourself.
Most hypnotherapists use a similar method
to help clients establish a peaceful place. The act of taking the deep breath
(or touching your thumb and finger) WHILE imagining your peaceful place anchors
a sense of inner peace to that act. Anchoring your peaceful place into your
trigger during trance compares to programming your computer. Activating your
trigger during the conscious state compares to pushing the "Execute"
button on your computer. Your deep breath (and/or touching thumb and finger)
will now become a trigger for inner peace!
Reprinted from a portion of Chapter 8 of Master the Power of
Self-Hypnosis
©1998 by C. Roy Hunter, all rights reserved. Published by
Do you wish the above meditation on
CD?
“The 10-Minute Mindpower Nap” and other CD's are available at:
www.royhunter.com/selfhelp.htm
***
Roy Hunter, M.S., FAPHP, practices hypnotherapy near
For more info, visit: http://www.royhunter.com/consulting.htm
You may
purchase
http://www.royhunter.com/hypnosis_books.htm
Last
updated: January 8, 2008
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Originally posted:
September 21, 2001.