Channelling Angelina

This pic appeared in Cristina's Blog
pictures via: celebrity-gossip.net/justjared.buzznet.com

Angelina Jolie, she of the pillowy, ruby red matte lips and catlike sweep of eyeliner at the Golden Globes 2012 stands regally overseeing her domain. The red slash blazoned across her collarbones, skims her left shoulder and then disappears into the white fabric wrapping around her torso and under her right arm adding a swanlike length to her neck. There can be no mistake who's in charge at this event nor in my dream of Friday night.

However in my dream, after a day of hard work alongside others in the fields and schools she stands hair-tousled in the drab, dusty brown garb of a soldier. Only her regal bearing reveals who she really is. She surveys the scene as all hurry about her organizing the troops for her inspection because SHE HAS ARRIVED.

What a contrast to the Angie of her early days rife with rebellious, distasteful images: Billy Bob Thornton's blood in a vial on a chain hanging around her neck, the steamy hot kiss shared with her brother at the 2000 Oscars, the home wrecker who stole the heart of the husband of America's sweetheart.

Action hero, adopted Mom of 3, birth mother to 3 more (a set of twins included) who tows her international brood around the world for work and education, movie star with clout, actress, director, humanitarian spokesperson and benefactor paired with another godlike yet down to earth alpha being.

Whether the "real life"Angelina knows or cares who she was, how she was perceived and how far she's come matters little to me. What matters is how I feel slipping into the role of the dream Angelina. I'm pleased with who I've become and my strength. I've discovered who I really am. I've dropped away all the games and roles. Be myself, follow where my heart leads and others will be inspired to support the work and do the same for themselves.

The action for the day...channel Angelina.

Greet the day from "her" vantage point. How does it feel? Does it change my actions and reactions? Will I be blessed with a new point of view; more optimism and self-confidence?

It's perhaps not surprising that this is also a technique sometimes used in hypnosis to help you reach your goals. Become who you want to become, or at least discover who you admire or who inspires you. By mimicking how it "feels" you are on your way. Walk around in their skin to find out how they got there and what it takes for them to continue being who they are. Back up this "fake it to make it" route with research, work and effort in order to achieve your goals. And use the feeling SHE HAS ARRIVED to inspire you on your way.

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"REAL LIFE" SYNCHRONICITY:

The next morning (Sat) still working on "Angelinafying" myself.
Saturday morning - I send out an e-mail to a friend/fellow therapist confirming my appointment with her.
Saturday night - I receive an e-mail from her that starts...
Alpha Nance...
Sunday morning - I respond...
LMAO re: the alpha comment. She has no idea about this dream or my adventures in being the very "ALPHA" Algelina Jolie.
Sunday night - She responds.
This was a spell check error on the part of my i-phone. I typed in Aloha Nance and it got changed to Alpha Nance.

I love it! At least part of the universe got my message. I think I've still got a lot more work to do.

BRAINSTORM - the power of words

Continuing on from my previous post WHAT DO YOU WANT?

My teacher Swami Radha used to say that the way we use our words forms our reality.

Using hypnosis and self-hypnosis to achieve goals involves: goal setting, imagining, brainstorming, listening, reflection, restating goals from insights gained, taking stepwise action and reward (sometimes the action or the results are the reward).

In reality these are artificial divisions, aspects that shift and weave during an ongoing process of self evolution. Having said that, I believe it may prove helpful to explore the nuances contained in each aspect.

Brainstorming involves fact finding through questioning and listening to the words that we say and becoming aware of our body/mind responses to these messages.

This process develops clarity around the behavioural, thought and emotional patterns surrounding our challenge. Ask yourself questions and get specific about the answers; let the answer initiate more in depth questioning. Probe like DRAGNET’S Joe Friday – “just the facts ma’am” but with a little more warmth. Question like an insatiably curious innocent child whose response to any answer you give will always be “why?” or “why not?” Since we know the ultimate answer to why is “because”, phrase your questions in terms of: how, when, where or who to give yourself something to work with.

Taking a hypothetical example of a woman who wants to get rid of 20 lbs of excess weight let’s explore one of many goal setting questions – “What keeps you from achieving your ideal weight right now?”

Her answer is, “I have an uncontrollable urge to eat excessively at 3 p.m.”
What do you mean by this statement? Is there someone or some situation forcing you to eat? What do you mean uncontrollable? Are you aware as you are eating that you are eating excessively? When does this awareness kick in? Could you choose to stop once you become aware? What’s going on physically, mentally, emotionally around that time within and around you? How do you feel in your body at this time? What are you thinking about yourself or your situation as you feel the uncontrollable urge? Can you not physically remove yourself from the situation – what would happen if you did? What would happen if you didn’t eat? Is your initial assessment of the situation an exaggeration? And so on.

Seek more clarity regarding your challenge. Listen to yourself speak, to the words you choose. Observe emotional reactions, resistance to change, uncomfortable physical feelings as you answer goal setting questions – note these and move on to other goal setting questions to get an overview.

Most importantly, give yourself space between discoveries to allow new perspectives, awareness and possible solutions to surface. As you listen through the nonjudgmental wisdom of your body/mind you will be aware of a “feeling sense” about your answers. When there is clarity and authenticity there is a feeling of a grounded calmness and a “knowing” - that aha or light bulb moment.

As you become clearer rephrase your statement to more accurately reflect your new awareness of the situation. Using our example, “I have an uncontrollable urge to eat excessively at 3 p.m.” our new statement is filled with accurate information and contains the seeds of ideas for change.

“At 3 p.m. I feel extremely drowsy after sitting at my desk all day. I work in a high powered environment. We all eat our lunches at our desks. I can’t just lie down and relax for a few minutes as I don’t think that that would be acceptable at work. So since I need an energy boost I get a few cookies, which leads to more cookies and a cup of coffee. I realize maybe I’m dehydrated, that maybe I need to drink more water, but I think then I’ll have to pee all of the time. I commute an hour each way to work. When I get home from work I nibble while I make dinner for us and the kids. I clean up and by the time I get the kids into bed I’m just too tired to do anything so I relax in front of the T.V. and sometimes have some chips and pop."

As we can see in our hypothetical example, fatigue and hydration needs to be addressed but this new statement reveals many other challenges that she can address to help her balance her weight. The seeds of potential problem solving measures and actions are contained within her own words! Possibilities she would have otherwise not considered if she had accepted her initial assessment of the situation as uncontrollable.

WHAT DO YOU WANT? Imagine, Brainstorm...and ACTION

In my practice as a Consulting Hypnotist I work one-on-one to help well people make desired changes to enable them to meet life’s challenges such as: weight management, speaking in public, smoking cessation, managing stress and decreasing anxiety and goal setting amongst other things.

In my capacity as a hypnotist I am one who first and foremost listens.

I also guide clients through the goal setting process; help them clarify their experience and gather information, stated in their own words, from which to formulate the script for the hypnosis session that follows the intake. During the hypnosis session my voice helps clients focus and guides them through their subconscious mind encouraging them to explore, be comfortable in and trust the wisdom of that inner realm. I teach clients the techniques of self-hypnosis to help them lead the life they envision for themselves and become the person they want to be.

A session begins with the question, “What do you want?” not what do others want for you but, what do you want for yourself. This seems simple enough as people generally come to me thinking that they know what their challenge and their goal is. But if you are going to move towards your goal it will take more than thinking. You will need to explore your heart’s desire; it will take imagining.

First ask yourself “What do I want?” Write it down in a simple, positive statement.

On a scale of 1 – 10, how strongly do you desire it? Any answer above 7 shows you’re your desire is strong enough for you to meet your goal with the help of hypnosis. A score of lower than 7 indicates that: you either need to ramp up your desire or, though you have a strong urge for change, you have not yet hit upon exactly what it is that you desire. Don’t despair. In either case, working with imagination will help you clarify and move towards your goals.

Now let’s try it again, only this time I give you permission to recapture that magical childhood pastime of daydreaming. As adults we often claim to be too busy to indulge in daydreams. We judge it as time wasted. Yet, how much time do we spend in front of the T.V. or watching movies allowing ourselves to become immersed in the products of the daydreams of others? Many scientific discoveries began as a daydream – an opening up to the possibility contained within “what if?”

Ask yourself, “What do I want?” and just imagine.

Allow yourself to daydream, use all of your senses in imagining as fully as you can that you have already achieved your goal. Even though you are not formally going into hypnosis with a hypnotist to guide you, by utilizing your imagination the process of self-hypnosis begins.

Imagine what achieving your goal will do for you. Another way of looking at it is to consider what kind of person you will become – if you have a role model in mind recall as fully as possible times and situations in which you admired them. What qualities exactly did you admire? Imagine yourself now possessing all the qualities that impressed you so much. Embellish the scenario further as you explore how your new self interacts with challenges and other aspects and people in your life.

Now, some people imagine by “seeing” scenes playing out in their mind’s eye; others “hear” conversations or words; some simply “feel” and there are those who just “know” without the other senses being very distinct. It is ideal if you can bring as many of your senses to the imagination process: see, hear, feel, smell and taste; but whatever your experience is, it is enough for the process of self-hypnosis to begin. It is enough to allow yourself to feel positively inspired.

Now, after the daydream session is complete answer again, “What do I want?” and before you write anything down, consider your answer.

Has your goal changed or become refined by your daydream? This is perfectly O.K. and is part of the goal setting process. Re-state and write down your goal in a simple, positive statement and re-assess the strength of your desire. Moving closer towards 10 on our scale of desire indicates you are moving in the right direction.

Next step: brainstorming…