New year, new you?

Our new Hypnotherapist and NLP practitioner Matthew Etherington has these tips for those of you planning to make some changes in 2013…

Stuffed full of turkey and chocolates, it’s at this time of the year that we start making our New Year resolutions. What change will you be making?

When deciding on the changes you will make next year, it can be useful to start with the end result in mind. If your goal is to lose a few pounds or tone up or stop smoking, then take a moment to picture in your mind that new slimmer you, step into that healthier you and try it on like a new set of clothes, look what you can see and hear and then notice how that new you makes you feel. See yourself doing the things you currently do but without that cigarette and feeling great as you do them.

When you make your resolutions, write them down and make sure they are stated in the positive. Lots of us focus on the things we want to change instead of the things we want to achieve; for example we don’t want to be fat, we don’t want to be a smoker, we don’t want to be poor.

The mind is always working towards a positive outcome for you so it has difficulty understanding negatives. When it hears them it does a simple thing – it deletes the negative in the sentence instead of struggling to make sense of it. Have you ever had someone say to you “don’t think of a pink elephant” and then noticed that the next image in your mind is that pink elephant you were told not to think about?! This is because the brain deleted the word “don’t” instead of struggling to understand it, and therefore focused on the rest of the sentence “think of a pink elephant”. So when setting your resolutions for next year focus on what you want, make it specific and give your resolution a due date for greater chance of success.

When you’ve decided on your resolution and written it down, ask yourself if there are smaller goals you can do that will help you in achieving the final outcome. For example if your resolution is “it’s 1st April 2013 and I weigh 11st 5lbs” your smaller goals could be things like “planning meals in advance”, “joining a gym or doing another kind of daily activity” or “weighing yourself each week.”
Finally remember to keep reviewing your resolution. Ask yourself am I still on target to achieving it?, is it still relevant?, do I need to make some more smaller goals to help me achieve it?

Whatever useful changes you decide to make in 2013 remember to have fun making them a reality!! Have a fantastic 2013 everyone!