Browsed by
Tag: beliefs

Are You Ready For A Better Life?

Are You Ready For A Better Life?

When you have a difficult situation arise in your life, does it cause anxiety, fear or depression? That’s a normal reaction, but not one that allows you the creativity and resources you need to find a solution. But there is a solution that will help you deal with difficult situations and feel empowered.

Linda-Ann Stewart, life coach, hypnotherapist and speaker, is presenting a free teleclass to help deal with life’s challenges with a better attitude, which opens the door for greater opportunities of success.  The teleclass will address how you filter new situations through old experiences, which shuts down the possibility of discovering better outcomes. You’ll learn how your thinking can lead you to success or defeat you before you’ve begun.

“I’ll share one simple technique that could transform your life,” Ms. Stewart says. It’s one I’ve used for decades, and have shared with many people.” It’ll shift your attention from the worst case scenario to a more positive possibility. And she’ll explain why it works.

This teleclass will give you insights about transforming your attitude to be more constructive, giving your creative mind more energy to uncover hidden benefits from the challenge you’re facing.

Join Ms. Stewart for the one-hour teleclass, “Create Something Good Out Of Life’s Challenges” on Thursday, February 24, 2011 at 5:30 PST. Space is limited. To learn more and to register, visit Linda-AnnStewart.com/creategoodteleclass.html.

“Will the subconcious mind accept negative or false suggestions during hypnosis?”

“Will the subconcious mind accept negative or false suggestions during hypnosis?”

Question: Will the subconscious mind accept negative or false suggestions during hypnosis?

Answer: Your subconscious will accept anything that you tell it and believe to be true. There are many documented cases in which a person with an allergy to a rose, for instance, is hypnotized and told that a plastic flower is a rose. They experience the same allergic symptoms to that plastic flower as they would to a real rose.

However, your subconscious won’t accept suggestions that go against a strong principle or belief for survival. For instance, if you have an imprinted belief that success will harm you in some way, your subconscious will reject any suggestions for success.

In hypnosis, you suggest ideas that currently aren’t so, to create a new reality for yourself. Your subconscious can’t distinguish between what is positive or negative, so be sure to phrase things positively and know what it is you really want.

Copyright 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

“Are You Afraid Of Accepting More Good?”

“Are You Afraid Of Accepting More Good?”

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Many years ago, I participated in an exercise at a workshop to show us how at ease we were with allowing good into our lives. As I imagined a little extra good flowing in, I was fine. But when I visualized a lot more good, I started to get anxious, even scared.

The exercise continued, expanding the amount of good I would let in. When I got past that first barrier, I was once again comfortable with the concept of letting more good into my life. It was an interesting exercise for me, showing, that for some reason, I was fearful of allowing more Universal good flow into me.

Why would anyone be afraid of more good? Imagine heaven smiling down upon you, living in grace, everything falling into place in your life. Why would that create anxiety? Isn’t that exactly what you want?

Since the time of the exercise, I’ve discovered that many people share the fear I experienced. It comes in various shapes and forms, and from multiple causes. And it’s one reason you unconsciously block your desires. Because of past experiences, you don’t know what catastrophe will happen if you actually achieve what you say you want in life.

Over the years, I’ve identified a few reasons for that concern:

Fear of a backlash. If you receive more good, you fear that somehow it will be taken away. It’s almost a superstition that one hand will give the good, and another hand will take it away. Sometimes, this comes from childhood. You might have received something you really wanted, but then had a cherished toy taken from you because your parent decided that you’d outgrown it.

Have to give it away. I’ve known several people who deliberately kept their income at a low level so they wouldn’t have to give their extra money to indigent relatives. They couldn’t say “No” to the relatives, and save the extra for a rainy day in their own life. From a young age, they were trained that they had to give all their extra toys and cherished possessions to their siblings or cousins. They were the “Cinderella” of the family, and haven’t realized that things can be different now.

Fear of punishment. Somehow, you fear that more good will bring some punishment upon you. Some force will come down and make you pay for having something great happen. You’re receiving more good than you deserve and should be flogged for it. The only thing that punishes you is your old programming. You deserve all the good you receive.

This is one of the issues I discovered I had. I once had a childhood friend who would put me down whenever I had something nice happen in my life. She once told me that she wanted to make sure I didn’t exaggerate my importance. So I stopped telling her of any positives that occurred.

To begin to overcome this irrational fear that more good is scary, examine what happened when you were a child. When you got some toy or reward that others didn’t get, how did you feel? What happened? Did you get beat up, was it taken away, were you emotionally abandoned, resented or attacked? Maybe you always had to share, and when you got the toy back, it was damaged or destroyed.

Whatever happened to you, it set up a pattern in your subconscious to expect this type of reaction every time you received something good in your life. And it probably continues to this day. To begin to combat that programming, remind yourself that you’re the grownup now, and you have the power to say “Yes” or “No” or “Take a hike.” And that you have the strength, ability, knowledge and resources to take care of your own inner self and worth.

I still practice the workshop exercise occasionally. It gives me feedback as to where I might be blocking myself, and to expand my acceptance of more good. When I feel the fear, I talk to it, letting it know that it doesn’t have to protect me anymore. You can do the same thing, and allow yourself to open your mind to receive more good every day.

Copyright 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

“While I am in hypnosis, can I use one or more affirmations?”

“While I am in hypnosis, can I use one or more affirmations?”

Question: While I am in hypnosis, can I use one or more affirmations?

Answer: You can use more than one affirmation in a session, as long as the affirmation still focuses on one particular subject. If you try to deal with too many areas of change at one time, it overwhelms the subconscious and you won’t get anywhere.

In my newsletter, each article I write has an accompanying affirmation that is several sentences long. As long as the phrase isn’t so long that you forget what is says, or don’t understand it, it’s great to use an affirmation with more than a single sentence. This helps to build up expectation and address other areas within that one main topic that you want to change.

Copyright 2011 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

It’s All About Choice

It’s All About Choice

by Linda Ann Stewart

Every moment of every day, you are making choices, from the moment of awakening to the time you go to bed at night. Your strongest thought determines what you’ll do at any given time, whether it’s conscious or habitual. In the morning, do you get up when the alarm buzzes or hit the snooze button? Do you cook eggs or oatmeal for breakfast? Which route do you take to work? Every moment is a fork in the road, and you travel one way or the other.

Your attitudes and actions have been created by your past choices that have become automatic over time. As a youngster, you could either accept or reject your caregivers’ assessments of you. One person would believe it when a father accused them of being “worthless,” while another would consider the source and discard the label.

Sometimes, you don’t even realize that you have options. When you were young, other people made decisions for you. Or maybe you accepted the attitudes of those around you to be able to cope in your environment. After you grew up, you lived on autopilot without assessing those old ideas. This resulted in struggling through a life based on those outdated concepts.

There may have been times when you felt that you had no alternatives. That only meant that the other choices would have been harder to live with. A person in an awful job may feel they have to stay in it, no matter what. However, they could always find another job, even if it would be at a lower pay scale. Or even work two jobs to earn an equivalent income. Peace of mind and satisfaction may be worth having less or working more.

You choose what your thoughts are, even when they seem to be reflexive. If negative thoughts arise spontaneously, you can challenge them and change them. George Eliot said, “The strongest principle of growth lies in human choice.” If a situation doesn’t end up like you want, you can always change your mind and go in a different direction.

The key lies in recognizing that you were always the one who made a choice. You’ve done so even when you don’t like the outcome or feel stuck. Making no decision is a decision in itself. Going along with what someone else wants is also under your control.

By realizing you’ve always chosen your thoughts, beliefs and actions, even if by default, eliminates the feeling of victimhood and hopelessness. This puts the sense of power back with you, where it belongs.

Be aware that every moment of every day, you’re making choices. If they are made automatically, without thought, then it might be time to evaluate them to see if they’re still valid. By switching from habitual decisions to making intentional ones, you transform from being unaware to being more conscious. When you become aware that there are other options, you can then select a better way.

When you recognize you have choice, even if the alternative doesn’t seem to be of equal benefit, then you open up a wide range of possibilities. It’s the difference between always looking down at your feet and raising your gaze to the horizon. Doing so takes your power back and allows your subconscious to discover better opportunities.

Affirmation

I always choose my thoughts, beliefs and actions. Even when I’m on autopilot, I decided my direction long ago. Now I bring those automatic ideas out of the shadows to assess whether they’re still useful. If I don’t like my current situation, I know that I can make a different choice and improve my life. Realizing that I always have a choice, I reclaim my power and set my subconscious to search for better opportunities.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

, , , , ,

“Money Is Power” – Not

“Money Is Power” – Not

by Linda-Ann Stewart

Over the years, I’ve heard a lot of attitudes about money that block prosperity. For instance, “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” “(The love of) money is the root of all evil,” “Wealthy people are greedy,” and so forth. For the person who holds an idea like this, they will restrict their abundance because they have to be congruent with their beliefs. They may want to be more prosperous, but they can’t violate their deeply held negative belief about it, or become like a person whose values they revile.

I heard another restrictive idea recently. An artist was being interviewed, and he said that “Money is power,” and since he didn’t want power, he would only make as much as he needed to live on.

Money isn’t power. It’s an agreed upon system that exchanges products or services for other products or services, like groceries, housing, clothing, etc. Money is simply a tool, it does what we tell it to do. If we tell it to pay our bills, it does. It can’t do it without our direction. Like a hammer, it can tear down a house or build one.

The power that people attribute to money actually comes from the intention and the character of the person holding it. If their intention is to have control over others, they’ll find a way to do that even if they’re poverty stricken. Mother Teresa had power, and she was poor. So money itself has no power of its own. Money is simply a means to an end, and the purpose for it is up to you.

Copyright 2010 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

, , ,

Book Review – “The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence”

Book Review – “The Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence”

Total Self-ConfidenceThe Ultimate Secrets of Total Self-Confidence
by Robert Anthony

I was introduced to this book over thirty years ago, when I heard the author speak. It’s a wonderful book that covers many basic tenets of how the conscious/subconscious/superconscious minds work.

One of the chapters is titled, “Dehypnotizing Yourself.” As a hypnotherapist, I tell people that my job isn’t so much to hypnotize them, as to de-hypnotize them of their outdated beliefs. Dr. Anthony explains that very clearly in this book.

Other areas he covers are letting go of the need to conform, self-acceptance, how to treat yourself gently, how to get over feeling guilty, loving yourself, and THEN he begins to address the deep stuff. He explains about the subconscious, how to program it, setting goals, meditation, affirmations, and much more.

If you’re ready to really begin to transform your life, and want great, easy to read guidebook, check this one out.

Book Review – “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind”

Book Review – “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind”

The Power of Your Subconscious MindThe Power Of Your Subconscious Mind
by Joseph Murphy

This book has been one of my inspirations over the years. It was one of the first books I read about the subconscious mind. It addresses how your subconscious mind works, how affirmations work to transform your life. It has chapters dealing with various aspects of life, and how to change them. It is a classic, and is a very easy read.

Many years ago, I took a cab to a conference, and started talking with the cab driver. It turned out that he used this book as his bible. I’ve heard this same sentiment from many other people over the years. I keep returning to this book time and time again, whenever I need to align myself with my Source.