I write this letter as a son, a husband, and a father of three great children. My wife and I participate in many charities, primarily focused on helping abused or under-privileged children, and abused or sexually assaulted mothers. We also raise bison in Colorado and annually donate bison to Native American tribes that are interested in re-starting a bison herd. I also write this letter as a 22 year veteran and Executive in the high-technology industry.
Greg Reyes and I met roughly three years ago. I have known of Greg and have worked for a business partner of Brocade for the past nine years. We share many of the same friends and I was introduced to Greg socially by one of these mutual friends. My conversations with Greg over the past couple of years have focused on Greg's family, who I have been lucky enough to spend time with, and the impact the case was having on his family.
My impression of Greg is as a great husband, great son, a great father, and good, solid friend to many. From a business perspective, Greg was part of the leadership of a complete category within the data storage industry, the storage area network.
The allegations of this case have been surprising to me regarding the implications of Greg's character. In every discussion I have had with Greg, it is clear that Greg possesses a strong character to always attempt to do what is right as a husband, as a father, and in business.
Based on the facts presented during this case, it is tough for me to understand who the actual Victims are. It feels to me that the people receiving the greatest negative impact art Greg and his family. Respectfully, I ask that as you consider the sentencing in this case, that compassion to the impact to Greg and his family is a strong considering factor.
Greg Reyes
Friday, March 26, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Barbie Games to Play With Your Child
Barbies are fun for children to play with and offer many options for games and activities. If your daughter and you play Barbies together chances are you have played one of these three popular Barbie games loved by children everywhere.
Playing Dress Up
Usually, girls spend most of their time with Barbie dolls trying new clothes on them and accessorizing outfits. You can find Barbie clothes in all shapes, styles, colors and patterns so you can have an endless fashion show with your unique creations. Some children learn skills that help them dress themselves while playing Barbies. Most just enjoy the Barbie outfits and have fun putting them together.
If your daughter has a few Barbies already and you want to surprise her with a cool present, try a new outfit for her Barbie instead of a new Barbie which will be more expensive. For the price of a Barbie you can get several different fun outfits. She'll love trying new outfits on Barbie and mixing and matching with her older Barbie clothes.
Barbie Character Play
As children grow and their imaginations develop they start acting out stories with their Barbies. They talk for the Barbies and have each Barbie act as a certain person in their creative story. They can often do this for hours at a time without running out of ideas. You may see them having Nurse Barbie save Good Barbie after she tried to stop Bad Barbie from stealing her baby or something similar.
If you are going to participate in this kind of character play with Barbies it is good to listen to your child and get a feeling for what is going on with their story so you can fit in with their game. Your child might get irritated if you try and play but get the story wrong or are not paying attention to the details of the story. Instead of taking a doll and deciding what its roll will be yourself, try asking your child how they want to incorporate you into their play.
Barbie Games Online
The newest addition to the many Barbie games played by children is online Barbie games. You can find lots of games online where your child can choose clothes and accessories for a Barbie doll. Online games usually have an endless supply of clothes and accessories and are always adding new items to their games to keep things interesting. With all the doll and clothes options available in online Barbie games it is no surprise that girls love to play the games!
Your daughter can probably play the Barbie games online without your help. If you want to get involved try talking to her about the clothes and accessories to see what the story is behind her choices. You can also print her final creations out and cut them out to make a paper doll she can use to act out a story with you. She'll love the puppets you create out of her online Barbie creations.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Colocation Hosting
What’s colocation hosting?
Colocation hosting wherein multiple customers locate network, server and storage gear and interconnects to a volley of telecommunications and various other network service provider thus minimizes the complexity and cost. Have a dedicated hosting right away and enjoy complete freedom.
Added features of dedicated hosting!
Data centers should be monitored 24-7. Your systems should be housed in a state-of-the-art data center, with redundant air cooling and filtering systems, designed to operate even in the event of a power failure. Data centers should be located and built to withstand natural disasters, and other emergencies. Don’t you want to safeguard your data centre too. Evaluate your business's power, cooling and security requirements and design a solution that meets your need and scales to allow you to adapt in the future. Appropriate to businesses both large and small, co-location is a highly flexible, cost-effective and best practice solution to ensuring your business' IT service uptime.
Be one among the world’s leading players or excel them with secure and well managed colocation. Colocation pricing queries can be dealt with our online professionals with just a click or a phone call. Have a single rack or a dedicated private suite, your servers and core systems need to be housed in a secure, well managed, and environmentally controlled environment. Sometimes the server is hosted with one and the other provides the Internet connectivity. Here, there are issues with cross-connection fees, which can complicate the matter. The host must be able to provide uninterrupted connectivity without any major hiccups.
Colocation hosting can offer reliable power with clean, uninterruptible power, through a combination of multiple power grids, generators, and best-of-breed maintenance practices. Colocation facilities manage their climate with two kinds of dedicated cooling systems, chillers and CRAC units. Chillers are systems of pipes which circulate chilled water throughout the server rooms. CRAC units (computer room air-conditioning units) are targets air conditioners which never shut off. Servers generate enough heat to overheat a several-thousand square foot room in only a few minutes; by continuously cycling, CRAC units prevent heat buildup in server rooms.
• Single rack to full private suite options
• Fully complemented value-added connectivity and managed service solutions
• Have high bandwidth on-net network connectivity to tier one carrier backbones for Internet access and private network connectivity
• Ensuring maximum security and uptime
Meet the requirements of your business! Get on to the online route and find a Colocation Hosting provider for your business.
Dallas Cabling Service | data center
Colocation hosting wherein multiple customers locate network, server and storage gear and interconnects to a volley of telecommunications and various other network service provider thus minimizes the complexity and cost. Have a dedicated hosting right away and enjoy complete freedom.
Added features of dedicated hosting!
Data centers should be monitored 24-7. Your systems should be housed in a state-of-the-art data center, with redundant air cooling and filtering systems, designed to operate even in the event of a power failure. Data centers should be located and built to withstand natural disasters, and other emergencies. Don’t you want to safeguard your data centre too. Evaluate your business's power, cooling and security requirements and design a solution that meets your need and scales to allow you to adapt in the future. Appropriate to businesses both large and small, co-location is a highly flexible, cost-effective and best practice solution to ensuring your business' IT service uptime.
Be one among the world’s leading players or excel them with secure and well managed colocation. Colocation pricing queries can be dealt with our online professionals with just a click or a phone call. Have a single rack or a dedicated private suite, your servers and core systems need to be housed in a secure, well managed, and environmentally controlled environment. Sometimes the server is hosted with one and the other provides the Internet connectivity. Here, there are issues with cross-connection fees, which can complicate the matter. The host must be able to provide uninterrupted connectivity without any major hiccups.
Colocation hosting can offer reliable power with clean, uninterruptible power, through a combination of multiple power grids, generators, and best-of-breed maintenance practices. Colocation facilities manage their climate with two kinds of dedicated cooling systems, chillers and CRAC units. Chillers are systems of pipes which circulate chilled water throughout the server rooms. CRAC units (computer room air-conditioning units) are targets air conditioners which never shut off. Servers generate enough heat to overheat a several-thousand square foot room in only a few minutes; by continuously cycling, CRAC units prevent heat buildup in server rooms.
• Single rack to full private suite options
• Fully complemented value-added connectivity and managed service solutions
• Have high bandwidth on-net network connectivity to tier one carrier backbones for Internet access and private network connectivity
• Ensuring maximum security and uptime
Meet the requirements of your business! Get on to the online route and find a Colocation Hosting provider for your business.
Dallas Cabling Service | data center
Saturday, March 20, 2010
I Didn't Hear You, Can You Repeat That
Pardon? Say what? Come again? Say that again? Eh? Can you repeat that? Sorry? You what? Aye? I missed that? Hmm?
It doesn't matter how you say it, they all mean the same thing: you didn't hear what was just said.
I've been thinking recently about how often I don't hear what someone has said and how often I ask them to repeat themselves. In some situations I will ask repeatedly, no matter how many time it takes, until I hear. In others, I will only ask once or twice. And, in others, I will not ask at all.
With family and close friends I am happy to ask repeatedly; most, if not all, of them know I am partially deaf and they are usually happy to repeat themselves until the cows come home. Sometimes, and I guess it depends on their mood, they don't want to repeat themselves - this annoys me quite a bit, if what they just said is not worth repeating why was it worth saying in the first place?
The people I really struggle with are the quietly and soft spoken ones. Some people just refuse to speak up and it will not matter how many times I ask them to repeat it, I will never hear them properly! I find myself avoiding speaking to people who I know speak really quietly, just to avoid the hassle - I wish I didn't do this because I'm sure it looks rude to them and I'm no doubt missing out on some good conversation. The obvious answer here is to tell them that I have trouble hearing what they say; I really don't feel comfortable doing that and I can't remember a time when I ever have done. I really should make the effort to start in future.
In the opening paragraph I said that in some cases I will never ask the person to repeat themselves. I used to do this a lot - I used to be too embarrassed about my hearing loss, I tried to hide it as much as possible - I would either try and guess what they said based on the odd word I'd heard or the context of the conversation or simply nod, laugh or give a short answer like "yes" or "no". I realised some years ago that this was a stupid thing to do, I cringe at the amount of times I must have given stupid and meaningless answers. I'm sure a lot of people do this exact thing all the time, it's an easy way out.
It's rarely uncomfortable to ask someone to repeat themselves in a one-to-one conversation; a group conversation can, on the other hand, be very difficult. It is a good idea to position yourself somewhere where you will have the best chance of hearing; this is something you can do when you know that one person in the group is going to be doing most of the talking: the teacher at school/college, someone giving a presentation to a group, and so on. It's not so easy when you don't have a single person to concentrate on: when you are chatting with friends or in an office meeting, it is particularly difficult if there is also background noise such as background chatter or office air-conditioning. It is too easy to loose the conversation when you are having to listen for voices coming from all directions.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
How To Distinguish Public Speaking Problems
Phobia is defined as a persistent or intense fear of a certain object, activity or situation.
Fear of public speaking is one type of social phobia which is often associated or developed through a person's adolescence.
How would you react if your boss suddenly tells you that you have to do a presentation in front of your colleagues?
If the mere thought of having to stand and speak in front of a crowd is enough to give you panic attacks, then you have this type of phobia.
As with all types of fears, you can learn to cope with your public speaking anxiety by recognizing the symptoms first.
Who knows? Once you are up there, you might eventually realize that you are good at giving speeches or addressing the public, and even make a living out of it.
People are always hungry for information and there is no to better way of keeping them informed than by conducting presentations and giving out speeches about certain topics which you have already "mastered".
First, take a look at the physical and mental manifestations of a person who experiences fear of public speaking.
>Nervousness
Being nervous before the day of your speech has several physical symptoms, which are as follows:
1. You have butterflies in your stomach.
2. Your palms are sweating.
3. Your hands are shaking.
4. Your knees are also shaking and you feel as if your legs are about to collapse.
5. Your heart beats much faster than normal.
6. You experience a slight dizziness or you have a "fainting" feeling.
7. You have a stomach disorder.
6. Your face is flushed and your mouth is dry.
7. You have "cold sweat" all over.
8. 'Panicky' thoughts.
Any of the above symptoms are quite normal, in certain situations. However, if you experience them in excess, you might have to seek professional help.
Public speaking anxiety would also lead to a lot of 'panicky thoughts'.
You might be afraid that someone in the audience knows more about the topic than you do.
You are afraid that there is a question to come up that you are unable to answer.
You are afraid of committing a blunder for everyone to witness.
You can actually channel these negative thoughts into a more positive output, resulting in a spontaneous, very informative and even humorous speech.
By recognizing the symptoms and learning how to deal with your fear, you will eventually learn how to address the public and make it enjoyable and informative, both to yourself and your audience.
Public Speaking Training | Overcome Your Fear of Public Speaking
Monday, March 15, 2010
The Ups and Downs of Downloadable DS Games
What is a DS?
The DS, or Nintendo DS, is an advanced technology apparatus that plays video games on a duel screen monitor. It is a handheld game system that allows gaming enthusiasts to bring high quality games with them when they are on the road or otherwise unable to play a counsel system. However, with the DS, has become a standalone system that has most gamers itching to try it. It was developed and produced by the Nintendo organization and was released in 2004 in multiple countries including Canada, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. The clamshell design is similar to the Game Boy Advance, which was the predecessor to the Nintendo DS, but the Nintendo DS has duel screens with the lower one being designed as a touch screen.
Download DS Games
Though there are some problems with downloadable DS games, they hardly outweigh the possible positives when it comes to these games. Downloadable DS games are games that can be downloaded off the wireless internet that is available for the Nintendo DS. These games are similar to WiiWare games in that they are not usually full length games, but they are still fantastically composed and capable of providing hours of gaming fun. There are even some free downloadable DS games available, but these are rarer than the purchased ones.
A few cons to downloadable DS games include the fact that the download speed is relatively poor. When downloading a game for the DS, it can take many minutes, even hours in some extreme cases. This can be more than a little frustrating for those that want to just play the game.
Another problem is that there is a possibility for an adware infiltration which can potentially do damage to the DS. However, this is only caused by poor usage of the wireless internet system.
These few cons are not enough to make the whole of the system poor. The Nintendo DS has many games online that may be downloaded on the SD card of the system. This can allow numerous downloadable games to be purchased or downloaded on a single system. The downloadable games for the DS are also very fun and very addicting. They can provide just as much if not more fun that any retail game for the DS or a consol alike. Once the games are downloaded there are usually no problems with operation.
Learn about the best DS Download sites. Find out where to download unlimited DS games without being afraid of viruses or adware. Go to DS Downloads
The DS, or Nintendo DS, is an advanced technology apparatus that plays video games on a duel screen monitor. It is a handheld game system that allows gaming enthusiasts to bring high quality games with them when they are on the road or otherwise unable to play a counsel system. However, with the DS, has become a standalone system that has most gamers itching to try it. It was developed and produced by the Nintendo organization and was released in 2004 in multiple countries including Canada, Japan, the United States and the United Kingdom. The clamshell design is similar to the Game Boy Advance, which was the predecessor to the Nintendo DS, but the Nintendo DS has duel screens with the lower one being designed as a touch screen.
Download DS Games
Though there are some problems with downloadable DS games, they hardly outweigh the possible positives when it comes to these games. Downloadable DS games are games that can be downloaded off the wireless internet that is available for the Nintendo DS. These games are similar to WiiWare games in that they are not usually full length games, but they are still fantastically composed and capable of providing hours of gaming fun. There are even some free downloadable DS games available, but these are rarer than the purchased ones.
A few cons to downloadable DS games include the fact that the download speed is relatively poor. When downloading a game for the DS, it can take many minutes, even hours in some extreme cases. This can be more than a little frustrating for those that want to just play the game.
Another problem is that there is a possibility for an adware infiltration which can potentially do damage to the DS. However, this is only caused by poor usage of the wireless internet system.
These few cons are not enough to make the whole of the system poor. The Nintendo DS has many games online that may be downloaded on the SD card of the system. This can allow numerous downloadable games to be purchased or downloaded on a single system. The downloadable games for the DS are also very fun and very addicting. They can provide just as much if not more fun that any retail game for the DS or a consol alike. Once the games are downloaded there are usually no problems with operation.
Learn about the best DS Download sites. Find out where to download unlimited DS games without being afraid of viruses or adware. Go to DS Downloads
Sunday, March 14, 2010
What is Hypnosis?
Before anyone experiences hypnosis and starts using it to make wonderful, beneficial changes in their life, this article is designed to perhaps to answer a few questions you may have and also to dispel a few myths and misconceptions about hypnosis.
You know, I still meet people that believe that experiencing hypnosis is like being unconscious. I always reply, “What would be the point of that? Spending money and time to be unconscious in someone else’s company?? If I wanted you to be unconscious we would simply bash you over the head!” So it is important that you also know that hypnosis is not about being unconscious and that you have the correct expectations about the hypnotic experience that you are going to have, should you choose to invest in one of our products or experience hypnosis for yourself with a hypnotist.
In order to understand hypnosis, it is important to understand and differentiate between our minds. By that I am referring to our conscious mind, where we are now and just below that level of awareness is our unconscious mind (also known as the subconscious mind, for the purpose of easy understanding they are the same thing).
The conscious mind is where we usually spend most of our waking time, you know that internal dialogue we have that thinks “hmmm, what shoes shall I wear today” that is your conscious mind. Your conscious mind basically does four things;
Firstly, your conscious mind analyses. What is that? Well that is the part of us that looks at problems, analyses them and tries to create solutions to those problems. It is that part of us that makes decisions all day every day “shall I open the door?”, “Shall I have something to eat”, even though they are automatic behaviours, we make a conscious decision about whether or not to do these things.
The second part of our conscious mind is our rationale, the part of us that, especially in western cultures, always has to know “Why” things happen and “Why” we behave in particular ways. This can cause us so many problems as we give any problems more and more credence and power. More conventional and traditional methods of counselling or psychotherapy are often very much concerned with looking at causes of our problems and it is my opinion that all this does is teaches us “why” they happen as opposed to giving us the skills required to changing unwanted habits and behaviours. The more we think about “why” we do things the more we seem to embed the unwanted behaviour into our psyches!
The third part of our conscious mind is will power, that teeth-gritted determination that so many of us are proud to demonstrate. How many times have we used our will power alone to make changes and found that our will power weakens and that change is temporary or non-existent.
The final part of our conscious mind is your short-term memory. By that I am referring to the things that you need to remember to function on a day-to-day basis, so that when your phone rings you know to answer it rather than stare at it wondering it is, or ensuring that you cross the road without being run over.
That is the conscious part of your mind, it is logical, rational and analytical, a bit like Mr Spock from the Start Trek series and as much as it pains me to say it, our conscious mind is frequently wrong about things.
Your conscious mind is wherever you happen to be pointing it at any given time. I am sure you have been in a busy, noisy environment, such as a restaurant or a bar and have been engaged in a conversation with another individual, and all the sounds going on around you just seem to blend into the background. Then someone else ten metres away can punctuate their sentence with your name and you pick it out as if it was being spoken to you. This illustrates that unconsciously, you are aware of many, many pieces of information every second of your life, sounds, colours, thoughts etc, yet your conscious mind allows you to focus upon what is pertinent or relevant to you at that moment.
If you take that conscious awareness and point it inside of yourself instead of outside into the world, you begin to become aware of your inner self, your unconscious self, which is the part of you that we work with in hypnosis.
Your unconscious mind is tremendously powerful and automates as much behaviour as it possibly can so that we do not have to think about it. For example, there was a time in your life when you had to be shown how to tie your shoelaces, and you concentrated on doing this. I suspect that by this stage in your life you know how tie your shoelaces very well and you don’t even think about doing it, you just do it. I have a lonely Auntie who as a boy, my mother would ask me to phone on a weekly basis as she thought this would make her happy and I vividly remember hearing her lighting up a cigarette and heavily exhaling the smoke while on the phone, she didn’t even think about what she was doing, she just associated smoking with being on the phone.
We are amazing learning machines and we learn behaviours and habits and then our unconscious mind automates them and does them on auto pilot so that we do not have to think about doing them.
Your unconscious mind has within it all your long-term memory. Just about every blade of grass that you have seen in your entire lifetime is stored away in your long-term memory that serves as an amazing storage centre. These memories affect us in varying ways, some more than others. Sometimes our ability to remember them is not as fluid as we need, as it is often not necessary to have all our memory in the forefront of our minds. For example, right now you are unlikely to be thinking about everything that happened to you on your last birthday, however, me just mentioning it, you can dig into your unconscious, long-term memory and remember.
Another example is if you have ever seen a live stand up comedy show. You watch the comedian and laugh (or not as the case may be!) heartily as you listen to lots and lots of jokes. Then when you leave the venue, you can remember none of them, or one or two at best! Then, a week later, a friend that you were with can say to you “do you remember such and such a joke from last weeks comedian” and you think “oh yeeeaaah!” as you bring that information out from your long-term memory. You know that you know the joke, it was just not at the forefront of your conscious mind, it was tucked away in the deeper unconscious.
Your unconscious mind knows more about you than you consciously that you know. Sound confusing? Well, just think, you are currently breathing, your heart is beating (I do hope!) you are digesting, your body is regulating its body temperature, it is doing a range of wonderful things without you having to consciously think about it. You are not sat around thinking “I really must remember to breathe”. We are not machines, there is an intelligence within us that knows how to do these things, and it is that intelligence that we tap into with hypnosis.
Your unconscious mind is where you get your gut feelings, your instincts and intuition that communicates with you sporadically from time to time. Like when sometimes, someone can be saying all the right words to you, but you get a different feeling about them.
Your unconscious mind is a bit like a computer. Throughout your entire lifetime it has been programmed with all your experiences, relationships, interpretations of the world, influences and all this has culminated in your computer functioning with that programming. Hypnosis is simply a way of accessing that computer and updating that programming so that it becomes instinctive and intuitive for you to make the changes that please you.
Your unconscious mind is the seat of your emotions and where your behaviours exist and it is the part of you that we work with in hypnosis. Hypnosis is a way of us stepping over your conscious mind and accessing the unconscious mind to make powerful and profound changes.
Now, I am sure that you have experienced natural trance states many times before, in fact I know it. For example, when you have been driving in a car and thought to yourself “ooh, how did I get here?” or when you have been reading a book and you’ve turned the page and thought “I have no idea what I have just read, I am going to have to read it all again”. I can remember being at school watching my history teacher teach me, yet my mind was a million miles away wishing I was doing something else. All common experiences, daydream like states that we all experience, many times a day. The only difference between these naturally occurring states and those that we use in therapeutic hypnosis, is that with the hypnosis, you intend to enter the state, you are in control of it and it is just like a slightly amplified, deeper version of the state. That is it. Sometimes it is simply like sitting in a chair with your eyes closed, not the magical mystical or unusual experience that some people are led to believe it is.
It is important here to know that you cannot be made to do anything that you don’t want to do. Very important. I had a guy that a doctor referred to me, came to see me and said to me “my doctor told me come and see you as I have emphysema and am going to die of it unless I stop smoking”. I said to him, well I presume you want to stop, he said “oh, no, I love smoking, it is one of few remaining pleasures.” I had to send him away as I cannot make him do something that he does not want to. Can you imagine if I could do that!! Wow. I could go and see my bank manager and make him give me million pounds without returning it! You never read about “Baddy hypnotists” making people rob banks or anything else absurd, because it cannot be done.
People usually then say to me “ok Adam, I hear and understand what you are saying and it all makes sense”. However, I have seen stage hypnosis and seen people dancing like chickens, are you telling me that they want to do that?” I am saying that these people are not being made to do things that they don’t want to do.
When someone buys tickets to a stage hypnosis show, they are being permissive to the notion that they are going to see hypnosis for entertainment; they expect certain things to happen. Secondly, when the stage hypnotist asks the audience “who wants to come on stage” the people that agree to do so or put their hands up are saying “yes, I want to be hypnotised”, they are not being made to do anything they don’t want to do. The stage hypnotist ensures that the individuals on the show are receptive and follow a large number of compliance exercises and it begins to create the illusion that these people are doing things that they don’t want to do, when they are not. The hypnosis can step over the inhibitions of the conscious mind, so that the individuals behave with more openness, they just cannot be made to do things they don’t want to do.
Anyone can be hypnotised. I work with insomniacs, heroin addicts, schizophrenics, people experiencing chemotherapy, these are all people that are often convinced that they cannot relax or cannot be hypnotised, and as long as they want to, they all can and they all do.
All that is required is that you have an open mind, that you expect it to work and have progressive, motivated thoughts about the processes, follow the sessions and allow them to help you help yourself to make the changes you want and deserve.
Finally, at the beginning of the recorded hypnosis sessions and/or individual NLP or hypnosis sessions with me (I cannot speak for other therapists, we all do things differently) individually, you may be asked to do a number of different things with your mind and you can be forgiven for thinking, “well, he asked me to do this, and now something else, and now another thing, what exactly am I supposed to be listening to?” The simple answer is that you listen and follow as much or as little as you want to, remember that is your conscious mind thinking those thoughts and that is not the part of you that we are working with and making the change with. I am sure that there will also be times when you’ll be thinking “hmmm… am I in hypnosis, what am I supposed to be thinking or feeling.” Again that is your conscious mind thinking that thought and does not matter what it is thinking. It can be attempting to follow everything that I am saying or just wandering off and thinking about whatever you like, just trust that your unconscious mind is absorbing all that you want it to.
There will be times in the sessions when you may be asked to imagine things. Imagining things does not have to mean visualising. If I ask you to think of a favourite place, you can imagine what it would be like, you don’t have to be seeing a picture perfect cinema version of it in your mind. You can imagine, sense, think, or just know it without seeing it or picturing it in every detail. If I asked you to imagine the sound your feet make when you walk across gravel, you know the sound I am talking about and you can imagine it, but you are not necessarily hearing it in your ears, you can imagine it. That is all you'll need.
So, hypnosis is not like being unconscious, it is almost like having heightened awareness, it requires you to want the change, have an open, positive mind, as best as you can, and allow whatever happens to happen, without trying to grasp at what you think should happen, just letting it happen.
I wish you all the very best with whichever hypnosis product, or with any consultative sessions you are considering having with any qualified therapist or any training you plan to attend and I just know that having come this far, you really can do it, and make the changes that you want to make with hypnosis.
http://www.josephclough.com Hypnosis CD’s and Hypnosis MP3 Downloads by Celebrity Hypnotherapist Joseph Clough
You know, I still meet people that believe that experiencing hypnosis is like being unconscious. I always reply, “What would be the point of that? Spending money and time to be unconscious in someone else’s company?? If I wanted you to be unconscious we would simply bash you over the head!” So it is important that you also know that hypnosis is not about being unconscious and that you have the correct expectations about the hypnotic experience that you are going to have, should you choose to invest in one of our products or experience hypnosis for yourself with a hypnotist.
In order to understand hypnosis, it is important to understand and differentiate between our minds. By that I am referring to our conscious mind, where we are now and just below that level of awareness is our unconscious mind (also known as the subconscious mind, for the purpose of easy understanding they are the same thing).
The conscious mind is where we usually spend most of our waking time, you know that internal dialogue we have that thinks “hmmm, what shoes shall I wear today” that is your conscious mind. Your conscious mind basically does four things;
Firstly, your conscious mind analyses. What is that? Well that is the part of us that looks at problems, analyses them and tries to create solutions to those problems. It is that part of us that makes decisions all day every day “shall I open the door?”, “Shall I have something to eat”, even though they are automatic behaviours, we make a conscious decision about whether or not to do these things.
The second part of our conscious mind is our rationale, the part of us that, especially in western cultures, always has to know “Why” things happen and “Why” we behave in particular ways. This can cause us so many problems as we give any problems more and more credence and power. More conventional and traditional methods of counselling or psychotherapy are often very much concerned with looking at causes of our problems and it is my opinion that all this does is teaches us “why” they happen as opposed to giving us the skills required to changing unwanted habits and behaviours. The more we think about “why” we do things the more we seem to embed the unwanted behaviour into our psyches!
The third part of our conscious mind is will power, that teeth-gritted determination that so many of us are proud to demonstrate. How many times have we used our will power alone to make changes and found that our will power weakens and that change is temporary or non-existent.
The final part of our conscious mind is your short-term memory. By that I am referring to the things that you need to remember to function on a day-to-day basis, so that when your phone rings you know to answer it rather than stare at it wondering it is, or ensuring that you cross the road without being run over.
That is the conscious part of your mind, it is logical, rational and analytical, a bit like Mr Spock from the Start Trek series and as much as it pains me to say it, our conscious mind is frequently wrong about things.
Your conscious mind is wherever you happen to be pointing it at any given time. I am sure you have been in a busy, noisy environment, such as a restaurant or a bar and have been engaged in a conversation with another individual, and all the sounds going on around you just seem to blend into the background. Then someone else ten metres away can punctuate their sentence with your name and you pick it out as if it was being spoken to you. This illustrates that unconsciously, you are aware of many, many pieces of information every second of your life, sounds, colours, thoughts etc, yet your conscious mind allows you to focus upon what is pertinent or relevant to you at that moment.
If you take that conscious awareness and point it inside of yourself instead of outside into the world, you begin to become aware of your inner self, your unconscious self, which is the part of you that we work with in hypnosis.
Your unconscious mind is tremendously powerful and automates as much behaviour as it possibly can so that we do not have to think about it. For example, there was a time in your life when you had to be shown how to tie your shoelaces, and you concentrated on doing this. I suspect that by this stage in your life you know how tie your shoelaces very well and you don’t even think about doing it, you just do it. I have a lonely Auntie who as a boy, my mother would ask me to phone on a weekly basis as she thought this would make her happy and I vividly remember hearing her lighting up a cigarette and heavily exhaling the smoke while on the phone, she didn’t even think about what she was doing, she just associated smoking with being on the phone.
We are amazing learning machines and we learn behaviours and habits and then our unconscious mind automates them and does them on auto pilot so that we do not have to think about doing them.
Your unconscious mind has within it all your long-term memory. Just about every blade of grass that you have seen in your entire lifetime is stored away in your long-term memory that serves as an amazing storage centre. These memories affect us in varying ways, some more than others. Sometimes our ability to remember them is not as fluid as we need, as it is often not necessary to have all our memory in the forefront of our minds. For example, right now you are unlikely to be thinking about everything that happened to you on your last birthday, however, me just mentioning it, you can dig into your unconscious, long-term memory and remember.
Another example is if you have ever seen a live stand up comedy show. You watch the comedian and laugh (or not as the case may be!) heartily as you listen to lots and lots of jokes. Then when you leave the venue, you can remember none of them, or one or two at best! Then, a week later, a friend that you were with can say to you “do you remember such and such a joke from last weeks comedian” and you think “oh yeeeaaah!” as you bring that information out from your long-term memory. You know that you know the joke, it was just not at the forefront of your conscious mind, it was tucked away in the deeper unconscious.
Your unconscious mind knows more about you than you consciously that you know. Sound confusing? Well, just think, you are currently breathing, your heart is beating (I do hope!) you are digesting, your body is regulating its body temperature, it is doing a range of wonderful things without you having to consciously think about it. You are not sat around thinking “I really must remember to breathe”. We are not machines, there is an intelligence within us that knows how to do these things, and it is that intelligence that we tap into with hypnosis.
Your unconscious mind is where you get your gut feelings, your instincts and intuition that communicates with you sporadically from time to time. Like when sometimes, someone can be saying all the right words to you, but you get a different feeling about them.
Your unconscious mind is a bit like a computer. Throughout your entire lifetime it has been programmed with all your experiences, relationships, interpretations of the world, influences and all this has culminated in your computer functioning with that programming. Hypnosis is simply a way of accessing that computer and updating that programming so that it becomes instinctive and intuitive for you to make the changes that please you.
Your unconscious mind is the seat of your emotions and where your behaviours exist and it is the part of you that we work with in hypnosis. Hypnosis is a way of us stepping over your conscious mind and accessing the unconscious mind to make powerful and profound changes.
Now, I am sure that you have experienced natural trance states many times before, in fact I know it. For example, when you have been driving in a car and thought to yourself “ooh, how did I get here?” or when you have been reading a book and you’ve turned the page and thought “I have no idea what I have just read, I am going to have to read it all again”. I can remember being at school watching my history teacher teach me, yet my mind was a million miles away wishing I was doing something else. All common experiences, daydream like states that we all experience, many times a day. The only difference between these naturally occurring states and those that we use in therapeutic hypnosis, is that with the hypnosis, you intend to enter the state, you are in control of it and it is just like a slightly amplified, deeper version of the state. That is it. Sometimes it is simply like sitting in a chair with your eyes closed, not the magical mystical or unusual experience that some people are led to believe it is.
It is important here to know that you cannot be made to do anything that you don’t want to do. Very important. I had a guy that a doctor referred to me, came to see me and said to me “my doctor told me come and see you as I have emphysema and am going to die of it unless I stop smoking”. I said to him, well I presume you want to stop, he said “oh, no, I love smoking, it is one of few remaining pleasures.” I had to send him away as I cannot make him do something that he does not want to. Can you imagine if I could do that!! Wow. I could go and see my bank manager and make him give me million pounds without returning it! You never read about “Baddy hypnotists” making people rob banks or anything else absurd, because it cannot be done.
People usually then say to me “ok Adam, I hear and understand what you are saying and it all makes sense”. However, I have seen stage hypnosis and seen people dancing like chickens, are you telling me that they want to do that?” I am saying that these people are not being made to do things that they don’t want to do.
When someone buys tickets to a stage hypnosis show, they are being permissive to the notion that they are going to see hypnosis for entertainment; they expect certain things to happen. Secondly, when the stage hypnotist asks the audience “who wants to come on stage” the people that agree to do so or put their hands up are saying “yes, I want to be hypnotised”, they are not being made to do anything they don’t want to do. The stage hypnotist ensures that the individuals on the show are receptive and follow a large number of compliance exercises and it begins to create the illusion that these people are doing things that they don’t want to do, when they are not. The hypnosis can step over the inhibitions of the conscious mind, so that the individuals behave with more openness, they just cannot be made to do things they don’t want to do.
Anyone can be hypnotised. I work with insomniacs, heroin addicts, schizophrenics, people experiencing chemotherapy, these are all people that are often convinced that they cannot relax or cannot be hypnotised, and as long as they want to, they all can and they all do.
All that is required is that you have an open mind, that you expect it to work and have progressive, motivated thoughts about the processes, follow the sessions and allow them to help you help yourself to make the changes you want and deserve.
Finally, at the beginning of the recorded hypnosis sessions and/or individual NLP or hypnosis sessions with me (I cannot speak for other therapists, we all do things differently) individually, you may be asked to do a number of different things with your mind and you can be forgiven for thinking, “well, he asked me to do this, and now something else, and now another thing, what exactly am I supposed to be listening to?” The simple answer is that you listen and follow as much or as little as you want to, remember that is your conscious mind thinking those thoughts and that is not the part of you that we are working with and making the change with. I am sure that there will also be times when you’ll be thinking “hmmm… am I in hypnosis, what am I supposed to be thinking or feeling.” Again that is your conscious mind thinking that thought and does not matter what it is thinking. It can be attempting to follow everything that I am saying or just wandering off and thinking about whatever you like, just trust that your unconscious mind is absorbing all that you want it to.
There will be times in the sessions when you may be asked to imagine things. Imagining things does not have to mean visualising. If I ask you to think of a favourite place, you can imagine what it would be like, you don’t have to be seeing a picture perfect cinema version of it in your mind. You can imagine, sense, think, or just know it without seeing it or picturing it in every detail. If I asked you to imagine the sound your feet make when you walk across gravel, you know the sound I am talking about and you can imagine it, but you are not necessarily hearing it in your ears, you can imagine it. That is all you'll need.
So, hypnosis is not like being unconscious, it is almost like having heightened awareness, it requires you to want the change, have an open, positive mind, as best as you can, and allow whatever happens to happen, without trying to grasp at what you think should happen, just letting it happen.
I wish you all the very best with whichever hypnosis product, or with any consultative sessions you are considering having with any qualified therapist or any training you plan to attend and I just know that having come this far, you really can do it, and make the changes that you want to make with hypnosis.
http://www.josephclough.com Hypnosis CD’s and Hypnosis MP3 Downloads by Celebrity Hypnotherapist Joseph Clough
http://www.josephcloughtrainings.co.uk - Affordable Accredited NLP, Hypnosis, Time Line Therapy Trainings ™ and Coaching trainings and courses and self development seminars.
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