I wrote yesterday about having an emotional spring clean. I have written before about a great many ways to help do that, and all of these processes in these articles are going to help you wonderfully when it comes to having a good emotional and mental spring clean and letting go of what you no longer want, use these to really kickstart your de-cluttering:

1. Wanting Too Much, Letting Go, And More Self-Hypnosis.
2. Letting Go Of Emotional Pain With Self-Hypnosis.
3. Using Hypnosis To Let Go Of Anger: With A Clenched Fist?!
4. Using Self-Hypnosis To Enhance The Body’s Natural Ability To Detox and Recover.

Today, I am offering up a self-hypnosis process that is going to use mental imagery and metaphor which you will interpret in the best way for you and use it to have an emotional spring clean just as I have been describing in my previous blog entry here.

First of all, refer to yesterday’s article and have a preparatory audit. That is, consider elements of the past that you need to let go, concerns of the future you need to let go of, and start to think about the kinds of feelings and thoughts that you think would give you more space and would serve you well to let go of.

With that preparation complete, proceed through the following steps:

Step One: Induce hypnosis.

You can do so by any means you desire or know of. You can use the process in my Science of self-hypnosis book, use the free audio we give away on this website to practice or have a look at the following articles as and when you need them; they are basic processes to help you simply open the door of your mind:

Heavy Arm Self-Hypnosis Induction Method
Using Eye Fixation for Self-Hypnosis
The Chiasson Self-Hypnosis Method
Hand to Face Self-Hypnosis Induction
Using Magnetic Hands for Self-Hypnosis
The Coin Drop Self-Hypnosis Induction

Once you have induced hypnosis, move on to step three.

Step Two: Deepener.
Imagine being in nature. Following a pathway. As you walk, perhaps imagine feeling a little weighed down with all the clutter and activity in your mind and body, notice how it effects your movement and thinking as you walk.

Follow the pathway. The pathway is the path of your life. Each step you take, you go deeper and deeper down. Get a sense that your goals are up ahead of you and you are walking towards them.

See the sights, hear the sounds, feel the feelings of this place of your own creation or somewhere you have been to in real life. Really imagine being there to your satisfaction. When you really feel connected to this place and the surroundings, move on to the next step.

Step Three: The clutter presents itself!
As you walk, your pathway becomes blocked by a huge and majorly overgrown tree. Your goals beyond become obscured and unaccessible as a result.

As you look closer you begin to see the tree is weighed down with fruits, flowers, thick branches and heavy foliage. All of these things symbolically represent elements of your past, elements of your future, non-useful thoughts and emotions that have been cluttering your mind.

When you really get a sense of this tree and can recognise how burdened it clearly is, move on to the next step.

Step Four: Engage your imagination.
Using scissors, or secateurs, or any other device, start to prune the tree. Start to prune it so that it no longer obscures the pathway forwards. You might not need to use an instrument of any kind and might simply imagine unwanted parts just falling off, or vanishing.

Prune away, do this diligently and methodically and take all the time necessary to complete it well. Imagine getting a sense of lightness, pleasantness, enjoyment each time you prune a particular section of the tree, and likewise, start to notice that the tree itself starts to look more comfortable and less burdened.

Once this is done, stand back and admire your work, breathe comfortably and move on to the next step.

Step Five: Moving forward.
As your pathway forward is clear, you begin to walk forward into the landscape of your life. You move beyond the tree and into nature and notice how beautiful the scene is, and start to get excited about walking towards your goals and an unencumbered future.

Notice how much lighter you feel, notice how energised you are, your arms and legs feel lighter and your mind is freer. You feel creative, you feel focused upon what is important and far less distracted than ever before. You have a renewed sense of purpose and vigour.

Take all the time necessary to really feel that sense of liberation and then move on to the next step.

Step Six: Use your cognitions.
Use your internal dialogue and start to affirm to yourself one or more of the following affirmations/self-suggestions. Here, you are installing your belief in the process. Say it like you really mean it, like you really believe it, be undeniably convincing with yourself when you deliver these words, repeating them over and over again.

“I am letting go of what I no longer need”
“I feel my mind becoming freer and freer”
“I feel more alive and able to access more of my minds resources”

Or any other suggestion that you believe fits you and your situation or circumstance.

Step Seven: Relax.
I wrote yesterday about a number of ways to relax progressively, simply do any or many of the following:

a) Use your internal dialogue and simply tell yourself that each part of your body is relaxing. For example “my toes are relaxing deeper… and now my ankles… moving into my lower legs…” and so on.
b) As you work your way through your body, you may like to use a colour or light or imagined warming sensation and spread that through the muscles and imagine the colour (ideally one you associate with relaxing) spreading through the muscles as you reach each part of your body.
c) Additional cognitions. Richard Bandler uses the word “soften” as he relaxes parts of the body. He focuses on each muscle and then says “soften” as he works through, you might like to do the same.
d) You may imagine a relaxing sound moving through your body.
e) You may imagine the muscles limp, loose, dormant; maybe like a loose rubber band, or a rag doll, or whatever else you can imagine to indicate the relaxation spreading. I learned a great technique from a hypnotherapy trainer who suggested imagining the body as a candle and as the candle softened and got warm and liquid-like, so the muscles of the body got warm and softened and so on.

Bask in the relaxation you create, enjoy it and when you feel a sense of healthy relaxation all over your mind and body, then move on to the next step.

Step Eight: While relaxed, just reflect.
Think about how different life is going to be now that you have made space in your mind. Think of how liberating it is to have de-cluttered yourself mentally and emotionally in this way. Think about all the other advantages to you of having done this. Start to think about actions you’ll now take and what you’ll start to do with a renewed sense of purpose and liberation.

Allow this to create a sense of accomplishment about this session, and give you a sense of enthusiasm going forward with your life and working towards your goals in life. Then bring the session to an end in the next step.

Step Nine: Exit hypnosis.
If you use my own protocol as shown in my science of self-hypnosis book, count yourself up and out from one through to five. Otherwise, open your eyes, wiggle your toes and get oriented to the place you are in.

Practice this process a few times to be thorough. Use the cognitions in your daily life to boost your belief and enjoyment and as a reminder of the space you’ve created.

There you have it…. Go have yourself an emotional Spring clean, enjoy!