Uncommon Hypnosis Master Series

Hypnosis for success

Every year I train thousands of people in hypnosis and the role of positive psychology
in overcoming difficulties and maximizing success. So I see every day how crucial
attitude is for human performance and happiness.

So why do I link attitude to hypnosis? Well, another word for ‘attitude’ is ‘focus’. And
when you narrow your focus – either inward or outward – you begin to go into a hyp-
notic trance. When your attitude is strong, then you have strong focus and a strong
focus is always hypnotic. Now the content of that focus is vitally important. A negative
attitude means you expect things to go wrong or to be difficult or unpleasant. A posi-
tive attitude, on the other hand, means you expect things to be fun or productive or
worth the effort. In other words, you expect success.

Hypnosis can help create success because hypnosis is about creating expectations.
These expectations aren’t the so called ‘positive thinking’, or just hoping for the best.
They are a part of you. They become your instincts. Now because your instincts work
for you automatically, this positive attitude means you’re freed from the effort of trying
to be positive – which never really works. You just can’t help it. You can’t help being
positive. You begin to expect the best quite naturally.

With hypnosis you can change unhelpful patterns so your expectations and instincts
start to work productively for you. The advantages are huge. Even setbacks are seen
in positive ways. Positive people learn from setbacks and often say afterwards that in
fact they didn’t see them as setbacks at all.

So where do you get your attitudes from? Well, you learn attitudes in two ways. Ei-
ther they get conditioned into you by others, or you condition yourself through natural
self-hypnotic experiences. Every time you learn something new to the extent that it
becomes automatic, then you’ve been hypnotized. Remember, hypnosis can last just
a few seconds and your eyes can be wide open. This is why we talk about anger,
pessimism, anxiety, addictions and depression as hypnotic trance states, because
they all require a restrictive, narrowed focus combined with a use (or misuse) of
imagination.

People trance out just as much when they’re being negative as when they’re strongly
positive, because your instincts are essentially programmed through natural hypnotic
focus states. So it’s perfectly possible to program yourself to believe unhelpful or lim-
iting things about yourself. The argument of pessimists usually comes back to what
they call realism. You know the kind of thing. I’m just being realistic. Things really are
that bad.

In our work we don’t use unrealistic and simplistic positive thinking ideas, but we do
encourage life transformation through developing productive creativity, optimism and
staying power. Remember, expectation is powerful. Your brain works towards what
it’s been programmed to expect. This principle can be much more powerful than you
may currently realize.

I’ve sometimes set my alarm clock for seven and then – due to high expectation in
my brain – I’ve woken up one minute before the alarm goes off. Friends and col-
leagues tell me of similar experiences. People often talk of consciously struggling to
remember someone’s name – so creating expectation for their brain to manifest.
Hours later they may have been mowing the lawn or taking a bath and suddenly the
name pops up, even though they were no longer thinking about it consciously. Ex-
pectation is powerful stuff and works below the level of your conscious mind.

It’s the power of unconscious expectation that determines your attitudes in life, and
attitude is really a subconscious expectation; and, as any medic will tell you, expecta-
tion can even cure some illnesses. This is why placebos work in reducing swelling or
pain even when they’re just sugar pills. Placebos also make excellent anti-
depressants. It’s the expectancy produced by the positive belief that these sub-
stances are powerful healing medications that produces the positive result.

Hypnosis is a medium through which positive subconscious expectancy can be pro-

grammed and maintained. The more the patient’s attention is locked onto the pla-
cebo and the more their imagination is engaged, the more successful the placebo will
be in actually reorganizing cellular structures in the patient’s body. This is the hyp-
notic part and the success of the placebo is the completion of the expectancy. Few
doctors understand that the working of a placebo pill is a post-hypnotic response, but
that’s exactly what it is.

If you truly believe that things are going to work out well, then you’ll feel confident
and have more staying power to keep trying longer. You’ll also have more energy
and enthusiasm, which is more likely to attract others to your project, and your crea-
tive mind will be working for you, so you’ll produce unexpected solutions and ideas.

Your subconscious mind will be constantly working towards manifesting the expecta-
tion and your brain is a powerful engine and what it is geared towards is absolutely
crucial. Research shows that optimists have better immune systems, live longer, be-
come less stressed by challenges and persevere longer, meaning they’re more likely
to ultimately succeed.

Hypnosis is a natural learning state and happens spontaneously and continually, and
most of the time we’re unaware of it happening. This means we can easily get hypno-
tized by the attitudes of people around us, and by TV and advertising.

Fortunately, optimism is a strategy that anyone can learn and the quickest way to do
this is also through hypnosis. Optimists see positive things as part of who they are –
permanent and relating to life as a whole. It’s as simple as this. The more times you
enter positive and productive hypnotic trance states relating to your life, the more
positive – and likely to be successful – you become.

Because negative emotional states also work on people in hypnotic ways, we can
use hypnosis as the optimum tool to overcoming depression, anger and other condi-
tions. Similarly, because determination, inspiration and the ability to enter perform-
ance flow states are also hypnotic, we can again use hypnosis to create and en-
hance positive states until they become a lasting way of relating to your life.

Of course, anything worthwhile takes perseverance. But individuals who can keep
creative, upbeat and determined and see through the limitations of negativity are the
ones who’ll thrive.

In summary
All psychological limitations are learned through natural trance states. Likewise, all
skills, abilities and positive attitudes become fixed through hypnotic experiences.
Negative attitudes produce negative expectations – which makes people give up too
early and miss opportunities. Positive expectation means more energy and likelihood
of success and happiness. Both optimism and pessimism tend to be infectious. Posi-
tive expectation and focus can be programmed through regular and effective hypno-
sis.

Mark Tyrrell

View this article online: Success of Hypnosis