It is my job primarily, as a hypnotherapist, to help people change their habits and behaviours for the better. Very often it simply isn't good enough to declare a change and expect it to be done. We meet resistance and it's how we approach this resistance that determines how and if we will succeed.
And sometimes that means getting inside of our mind and understanding why we are doing what we are doing, and MORE importantly to understand why we want to make a change.
For me, personally, I have found it very hard to overcome some poor habits in the last few years. Even with the skills and training and research and knowledge I have, I couldn't help my own self. Until recently.
As you may or may not know, I am the mother of five sons, currently at the time I type this, aged between 3yrs old and 14 yrs old. I am the wife to a very busy husband whose career has soared and who is therefore very often at work or away with work. I have also pursued my business and completed a comprehensive and intense course to upskill this past year.
This has all left my hands very full...which I have few complaints about. But while my hands have been full, so has my head. I have found myself lacking the mental capacity or space to think straight and so unhealthy coping mechanisms have been leading the way for me.
However, this past year brought me spa days and holidays and other small snatches of time during which I could begin the process of clearing my head. And I learned, or rather I remembered, something about myself. I remembered, that at my core, I would genuinely prefer to be healthy, fit, organized, actually. And more than that, that I'd ENJOY that path more. And so as the new year approached, I began to sort my thoughts out. I finally had space in my brain to think of the things I needed to know and have in my mental back pocket in order to help me change some behaviours and habits. And that leads me to the title of this post. There are times when I simply don't feel like doing what I'm supposed to do, and I've found that I haven't then been doing these things...purely out of emotional and mental survival. I've taken the easiest routes, the comfortable ones. But I want to change now and I need to. So my motto or mantra or little voice in my head has been trained (by me and my hypnotherapy!) to remind me to do what needs doing...even when I don't feel like it. And so now, I'll eat well...even when I don't feel like it. And I'll drink water/herbal tea...even when I don't feel like it. And I'll organize an area of my house or my business...even when I don't feel like it. And I'll read books more...even when I don't feel like it. And I'll move my body more...even when I don't feel like it. (Although I can't right now due to injury, but I have medical support and I will when back to capable!) And I'll do so many other things...even when I don't feel like it.
It isn't always the case that when we know better, we do better. Sometimes, we can't bring ourselves to. But by surrounding ourselves with the better content, the type of person who inspires better behaviour, by not shutting those aspects of our lives away, there can come a point when eventually, it is possible to feel strong enough to make the change(s).
Knowing this, I will always take the time to stabilise my clients before I treat them. I'll always find out what the real driving force is for their desire for change, what knocked them off course in the first place, and I'll work hard to learn everything I can about them to ensure the hypnotherapy stabilisation process is efficient, so that we can move on the exciting phase of treatment, or otherwise called making the changes. And now, with a lot of social anxiety making me want to resist, I'll post this post...even though I don't feel like it. My hope is that at least one person who reads this, finds something that resonates and perhaps, just perhaps, they are pushed closer to their own goals.
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