When I was first cleaning up my body machine, I was all about hypnosis.
(Mmyes – that’s close – but a bit more modern. As in free and on Youtube.)
In fact, true to addict form, I got about a billion, put ‘em all on a playlist, and went on a lucid dreaming, outta body, slumber bender, peppered with narratives to lure my brain into a Frankensteinian new belief system of which prescriptions weren’t part. (Might explain my schizophrenic style nowadays, but let’s just go with it for now).
In any case, I noticed that some of them worked wonders by morning, while others were about as helpful as having it read aloud by Ben Stein set to a backdrop of elevator muzak. And while some of that may have had to do with how effective the narrator or script was, in retrospect, I realize far more of it probably had to do with me. How willing was I to let go of whatever I was trying to change? Stuff having to do with chemical dependency? Sure, I’d been ready to quit and tapering myself down for a year. This was a long time coming. But what I didn’t realize initially was that chemicals weren’t the only addiction. My thought habits were just as bad. And in order to tweak those other, more ingrained habits, it meant I had to combat laziness, fear, or both. Needless to say, I didn’t do so well initially. Mostly because I wasn’t able to accept that bloody abject terror was at the center of my unwillingness to alter my internal compulsions. But once I did come to understand that, I understood something else. Something very important: that if I didn’t drag that fear by the balls out into the light to change these other habits, the chemical ones would likely come back.
I dunno if this is backed by science, but ask yourself this: how often – when you’re obsessing over a bad thought – does a freight train full of other, seemingly unrelated ones seem to follow? Wouldn’t it make sense, then, that in order to change one – you have to address them all? It’s like a van full of children who inspire the others to start wailing when one starts doing it. Sure, you can just beat the thoughts into submission, but (theoretically) much like the children, they’ll just cry harder. So, what do you do? Give them candy to get them to STFU – or in our case, a redirected focus. I avoid the term “distraction” because it doesn’t necessarily mean supplanting an old thought with an improved one. A distraction could be porn or food or both (which, if you’re an addict, may just land you a combo case of carpal tunnel, a computer virus, and obesity). What hypnosis, on the contrary, can allow is putting you into an open enough mode to modify these things.
Or, as the Hypnotherapy Directory puts it:
Hypnosis involves being in a focused state of attention internally. While under hypnosis, suggestions are directed to the unconscious mind, which is normally not possible because of the interference from the conscious mind. Recreational drugs do not have to be what people turn to when they need an outlet and hypnosis can help you find these different paths.
However, open state or not –you must enter the sesh with a willingness (from the conscious mind) to change before any good can happen. It sounds nice in theory – being willing and open and all. But what that means is that if something is really hard (like entertaining new thoughts or beliefs versus ones that’re currently failing you), you do it anyway. (This can be especially hard if you get that one Scottish narrator with a lisp, can’t take him seriously, and start laughing so hard at 1 in the morning that your neighbors can hear you). And that’s where the integrity comes in – not just “what you’re doing when no one’s looking” – but the concept of being willing to integrate what you truly want to change into all facets of your life. Consciously. As humans, we just have to resolve that we do indeed want those long term things more than we want the instant-gratification stuff.
That’s why, while hypnosis can be great, I feel like (at least when it comes to addiction) it’s not the only answer. On the surface, it seems like a first class golden ticket out of a hard habit (because you get to be unconscious while you have the software installed), but it doesn’t necessarily stick when you do it that way. I’m not saying it can’t. I’m just saying that I’ve noticed how the only changes that’ve stuck for me have been the ones I supplement with a proactive interest, diligent openness to recognize my defects, and willingness to change them while I’m awake.
If that sounds like you too, then mayhaps buy some books on how to spark the change you want. Listen to TED talks about it. See if any non-hypnotists on Youtube have anything to enlighten you with on the topic. See a shrink or hit up a support group. (Also, if you’re trying to use it to come off a chemical dependency versus just avoiding craving one you’ve quit, know that you’ll need to handle the physical as well as psychological side of it with a real doc.) The idea is to supplement your subconscious foundation with some resonating truth you can jibe with. Something that clicks. That way, you’ll actually have lessons filed away to reflect on when life hits you in the face like a slingshot launched cinder block.
A lesson itself that took me more than a few swings of the Youtube pocketwatch to realize.