Congratulations. You’ve downloaded the hypnosis you will listen to every day (or more!) for the next two weeks (or more!) so that you can bring on feel good emotions wherever and whenever you want.
The next step is to power up that hypnosis by making your personalised Mind Movie visualisation.
A Mind Movie is a visualisation in the form of imagined moving images – just like in a movie – which you create to watch inside your mind when you listen to your download. The “Feel Good” Fix Mind Movie should show moving images representing a moment, experience or event which made you feel really good.
We are going to use the brain’s “conditioning” function to create a trigger to bring on those same “feel good” emotions at any time you need them.
Our lives contain experiences which, if repeated, trigger an automatic response in our behaviour. In the most famous example, Pavlov, the Russian scientist, rang a bell every time he fed his dogs. After a while, just hearing the bell would trigger his dogs to salivate. An otherwise neutral stimulus like a bell ringing took on a positive meaning for the dogs.
Other examples of classic conditioning might be: standing up when the school bell is rung; or feeling tearful at the sight of a needle because of past painful injections; or a song from the happy moments in the past putting you in a good mood. Put simply, two stimuli are linked together to produce a learned response.
What is the trigger? Lifting your head, lengthening your neck and spine and standing up straight and proud (you can stretch out long even if you are listening to your download lying down).
“Feel Good” Fix Mind Movie: moving images representing a moment, experience or event which made you feel really good.
Think about a time in your life when you were doing something which made you feel unequivocally good.
Engage all your senses to identify:
What were you doing?
Where were you?
What could you see and hear?
How did it feel?
Who were you with?
How did you look and sound?
Were there particular smells and tastes?
Close your eyes.
Find somewhere comfortable to relax.
Take five deep breaths (inhale through your nose for four or five counts, exhale through your mouth at a slower pace).
Then breathe deeply in a way that is comfortable for you, taking breaths from low down in your abdomen. Place your hand on your stomach to check that it is moving up and down as you breathe.
Create a Mind Movie in which you imagine moving images (just like in a movie) showing yourself enjoying that feel good experience
The moving images in your Mind Movie should be in full colour (turn up the dial on the brightness) and last about 20 seconds.
Imagine you have a control board in front of you which allows you to play with your Mind Movie.
Practice watching yourself on the screen, as well as experiencing it through your own eyes (so jump into your body in the movie).
Engage your Trigger: while you watch your “Feel Good” Mind Movie, make sure your head is lifted, your neck and spine are lengthened and you are stretched tall
Your brain will make the association between your confident, upright posture and those feel good emotions in your Mind Movie
Play your Mind Movie repeatedly.
Work it into your every day activities: e.g. when you brush your teeth, your hair, when you have a hot drink, or take a loo break and so on.
Remember to make a conscious effort to lift your head and stand up tall whenever you play your Mind Movie.
Chloe made a Feel Good Mind Movie of the moment her daughter was born. She saw herself in the final stages of giving birth and holding her baby for the first time.
Dev made a Feel Good Mind Movie of the moment he won the first prize in a writing competition. He saw himself at the awards dinner, his name being called out for first place, walking up to the stage and receiving his award.