Return to Work Sample: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (71)

I see so many honest, reliable and conscientious people overcome with self-doubt and lack of confidence when it comes to going back to work after a long period of absence. Some people seem to assume that just because they have been raising kids, or caring for a parent, or even off travelling for five years, that they are now some how ‘out of date’ and have nothing to offer the workplace.

But they have.

The modern workplace is all about transferable skills.

We live in a youth obsessed culture. Enough said. But if you buy into the idea that once you are over thirty you can never be as quick or quicker, as smart or smarter. or as wise (or much wiser) than the pubescent whiz kids around you, then you are doing yourself a disservice.

Advantages of aging

Yes, that’s right. As we age we lose brain cells, it’s true, but the connections between the cells (neurons) we do have increases - meaning we literally have more potential brain power at fifty-five than we did at twenty-five. This scientific proven fact has long been acknowledged by the popular traditional sentiment that we become wiser with age.

Your transferable skills

A parent needs a whole range of skills, including emotional self-management, planning and organisation, persuasion and influence, time management and patience. All these skills are huge boons to any workplace. If you have spent years travelling, you will likewise have needed to manage time, plan and organise. You also needed to focus on long term goals and ‘read people’ to communicate your needs etc.

If you’ve been away from work from illness or stress, then you will have had to manage that illness/stress, to compromise and work round it in your life. There are enough techies in the world. What workplaces need are people with ‘emotional intelligence’ skills. Of course, you may have to learn new practical skills on the job, but the time away from work will have helped you to acquire so many other skills too.

This new hypnosis session created for hypnosisdownlaods.com is called ‘Going back to work’ and is for all those people who lack confidence in going back to work, whatever the reason they have been away.

I hope it helps get people to feel confident again and really shine in the workplace.

Mark

Full hypnosis download Finding an identity

‘First say to yourself what you would be; and then do what you have to do.’ Epictetus

I do love quoting ancient Greek philosophers, and you must admit that the old stoic chap had a point. ‘Just be yourself!’ people say. Do you know how to do that?

Having a strong sense of identity isn’t always easy, I reckon. Why? Because there is just no clear consensus on what a human being, man or woman, should be like. Men often complain that they can’t really express their masculinity because somehow it’s frowned upon to display ‘masculine behaviour’. Women can find themselves struggling to live up to impossible standards of slenderness, say, or to juggle the conflicting demands of home, work, relationships and child-rearing.

And just what is an identity?

Your identity is more than just your name and where you live and who your relations are.

Your identity is made up of your values, your sense of autonomy, and your confidence to be your own person – able to do your own thing rather than feeling you have to go with the herd. Your identity is built up around what you do and what you can do, and – importantly – what your vision is.

If you are stuck in a job you don’t like, or you feel your relationships aren’t working as well as they could, then you may have an ‘identity’ issue. When I was compiling this particular hypnotic session for hypnosisdownloads.com, I really focused on encouraging the unconscious mind to begin to build a strong sense of what is really important to you, and how you can begin to naturally build that into your future.

I wish you the greatest success.

Mark

 Stop Nervous Talking Sample [2:56m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (203)

Have you ever found yourself chattering about nothing?

I have, and I’ve actually told myself, inwardly of course, to ‘shut up!’ When anxious or excited, I’ve sometimes found my mouth has run away with itself and gibberish is flowing out of it. I don’t think I’ve done this for a long time now (although others might have a different take on that). It’s happened occasionally but not often. Mostly (unless overdosed on coffee), I have tended to zip up, go quiet and press mute. Long gone are the days when I’d experience any level of social anxiety, thank goodness, but when I did feel terribly anxious as a young teenager, my personal strategy was just to stand there like a statue. I hoped this would convey the impression that I was a mysterious, even enigmatic, sort of chap, but looking back now, I doubt it.

Nowadays I love a good conversation.

Some people never take the mute button option though. And the more excitable they become, the more random words they spray into the atmosphere, to be picked up by any stray ears that happen to be parked nearby.

Our new hypnotic download ‘Stop nervous talking’ is for the other end of the social anxiety problem. It’s been designed for hypnosisdownloads.com for those who chitter chatter when socially anxious.

Don’t get me wrong, by the way. I like talkative people, people who have something to say. But when talking is a knee jerk reaction to anxiety and nerves then, well, let’s just say that the content suffers a little in transmission!

Calming and slowing down

Many clients (and friends) have told me they chatter nervously and feel like they can’t put the brakes on. Social confidence doesn’t just mean being able to speak calmly and fluently. It also means knowing how to relax with breaks in the conversation. If you desperately feel you have to ‘fill the gaps’, then conversation becomes a huge pressure.

Learning about hypnotic communication was a huge social confidence booster for me, because we use pauses and spaces all the time when using hypnosis. The occasional silence gives a person’s unconscious mind a chance to respond to ideas and suggestions.

I created the hypnotic download session Stop Nervous talking for hynosisdownloads.com with the idea of minimizing nervous chatter for people so they can

Anxiety speeds you up

If someone doesn’t feel confident around other people, they can become anxious. Anxiety basically speeds things up – like heart rate, breathing and running (if you are running from a bear or similar threat). So if you get too anxious when talking to others, your talking may speed up too. In fact, it may be hard to shut up and let the other person get a word in.

Nervous talkers tend to:

Hypnosis is used to calm people right down when they encounter social situations. I’m hoping the new Stop nervous talking download is going to help a lot of people become more confident when talking to others and to calm down that nervous chatter for the good of all.

I think I’ve probably said enough on this subject now…

Mark

 Stop Being so Self Conscious Sample [3:17m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (186)

I don’t know whether you recall a particular Charlie Brown cartoon. For some reason, Charlie has to walk up onto a stage (if you can recall why, please let me know). Anyway, he becomes terribly self-conscious and finds that suddenly he’s very aware of how he’s walking! He slows right down and is practically dragging his feet – like in slow motion – in front of the crowd. We laugh at this scene because we recognise a universal truth in poor Charlie Brown’s experience.

Stop being so conscious!We human types are supposed to have some sense of how we present to other people. This allows us to be sociable, considerate and… well, not too selfish and obnoxious. The dawning of self-consciousness in humans would have been one of the precipitating factors that led to the evolution of ‘civilisation’. We need to have some awareness of how we must (or might) seem to others. This is a tool to be used by us – but it’s not so good to use against ourselves. 

We human types are supposed to have some sense of how we present to other people. This allows us to be sociable, considerate and… well, not selfish and obnoxious. The dawning of self-consciousness in humans would have been one of the precipitating factors that led to the evolution of ‘civilisation’. We need to have some awareness of how we must (or might) seem to others. This is a tool to be used by us – but it’s not so good to use against ourselves. Because when we become too consciously aware of processes which are normally (and best left to) the province of the unconscious ‘automatic’ mind, then that self-consciousness often disrupts the very process itself.

Take having a conversation. If we are trying too hard to impress our listeners, our words may begin to stumble as we focus too much conscious attention on what and how we are saying things. The communication promptly becomes stilted. We don’t want to rant either (see our nervous talking download for help with that), but we need to relax and ‘forget ourselves’ enough to flow. This is trusting your unconscious.

Too anxious to perform

Performance anxiety is all about the self-consciousness which hijacks ‘going with the flow’. This can happen, for example, in sexual relations, or during sports performance (And you can stop sniggering at the back! I know the two can be connected. Stop distracting me!). Musicians, actors, surgeons, lovers and would-be public presenters have all told me how self-consciousness has interfered with their ability to be the best they can be when they feel that others are watching and judging them.

The key to overcoming self consciousness

In order to relax, we need to focus on some things and forget about others. If I am playing the guitar, I need to ‘forget’ about you listening and instead flow with the activity of plucking the strings. If I am speaking to an audience, I need to ‘forget’ in large part what you might be thinking about me and just focus on the material I am presenting. I can remember you up to a point, but this should never outweigh how much I focus on what I am actually doing.

Hypnosis and self consciousness

Hypnosis is a great way to encourage the mind to remember some things while forgetting others. Using hypnosis well, we can sometimes even get people to completely forget about their physical pain, for instance, and focus on or ‘remember’ feelings of comfort or healing instead.

Charlie Brown needed to forget about all the people watching him and focus instead on receiving his award (yes, I think that’s what he was doing there). The new self-consciousness hypnotic download session from Hypnosisdownloads.com will, I hope, help all of us who have ever felt like Charlie Brown and would rather not.

Cheers for now.

Mark

 Stop Being a Workaholic Sample [2:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (285)

The term ‘workaholic’ isn’t a medical one, but it’s a fact that all work and no play makes Jack (and Jill) an unstable boy (and girl).

Like any addiction, when you’re not ‘doing it’ you can still be preoccupied with it, so that you are effectively ‘absent’ from your partner, family, friends and other activities.

I was inspired to create the Stop being a workaholic hypnotic download session for hypnosisdownloads.com after one man came to me who worked up to 18 hours a day, seven days a week. Even on Christmas Day he would be thinking about work!

This workaholic actually cried as he told me about the deterioration of his marriage and the fact that he had missed his son’s graduation ceremony. He felt he just couldn’t let go.

But he could and he did… and when – with the help of hypnosis – he eased off work at last, the scales of his life balanced out again. Hey presto! he found he was a lot happier and, on top of that, the quality of his work actually improved.

Being driven is great in its place, and gets you to where you want to go, but no athlete trains all the time. The rest of an athlete is just as important as the effort.

Hypnosis is ideal for redressing balance and getting emotions and attitudes into line with common sense.

I work hard, but I sure know how to do nothing and I think I’m rather good at it. In fact, it’s often when I’ve been ‘doing nothing’ that my best ideas have been conceived. I also know how to completely forget about work.

Being a workaholic makes you lose your perspective and your sense of humour. In a world where stress levels are rising like the sea around the Titanic after ‘that iceberg incident’, I really hope this session will help many over-stressed, over-worked individuals literally get their lives back.

Right I’m off to sunbathe.

Mark