Maybe we expect more today… It seems that increasingly more people are currently lacking satisfaction as far as their moods are concerned. Therapists of varying kinds that I encounter are reporting that more people are coming to see them and reporting being depressed or having a withering level of positivity… So I thought today we’d go for a process to lift your mood.
Now for some, a dip in mood could well be some sort of biological issue in the brain, the chemical make-up of the individual or hormones of the body, so I always make sure people are consulting with their GP as well. That said, there are many things we can address before we start popping green pills and start to succumb to formal diagnosis.
There are basic things that we can all examine in relation to enhancing our moods; levels of quality sleep, regularity of exercise, the kind of diet, the amount of natural light you encounter, whether you have meaningful relationships in your life and a sense that choices you make in this life reflect what is important to you are other factors that determine your general wellbeing, the stability of your moods and your levels of positivity.
Even if you have a medical condition that affects your moods, as diagnosed by a medical professional, looking at the above mentioned factors will help you. I have encountered therapists that firmly believe managing these areas of your life and incorporating relaxation or meditative practices into your life along with some good quality therapy, is the full recipe for lifting your mood in general terms.
Additionally, mastering your cognitions can vastly alter mood.
When I refer to cognitions, I am talking about anything inside of your head; such as ideas, thoughts, beliefs etc that can be verbalised. Those are your cognitions. More than just the internal dialogue.
So I thought this week, I’d simple share with you the process I use with many of my hypnotherapy clients. It can be used in so many aspects of life and is very simple, but incredibly effective. The vast majority of the individuals I encounter in therapy state that they feel hugely better as a result of running through this process.
Six Steps For Cognitive Mood Enhancement:
Before you actually run through this process, work out, create, design and write down a statement (A positive cognition) that you think will be undeniably convincing to you to say to yourself to enhance your moods in certain situations and circumstances of your life. You’ll need it later in this exercise, and ensure it is in the present tense i.e. It is happening now. With that written down in your own words, run through these set of steps:
Step One: First of all, get yourself into a comfortable position where you’ll be undisturbed for the period of this exercise. Then start to think about typical situations whereby you used to feel low, lack positivity and have a dip in mood.
ideally, pick a single situation, where you have negative conditions that accompany the dip in mood.
Step Two: With that in mind, with your eyes now closed, picture yourself in that typical situation that you thought of in step one. Really immerse yourself in it. See what you see, hear what you hear, tune in to the place you are in. As much as is possible, imagine it as if it’s happening right now.
As unusual as this may initially seem, repeat the old, negative cognition to yourself like you really mean it. It is likely that this will bring on some of the old unwanted low mood sensation, and it is ok to tap into that as much as is useful for this technique.
Then just carry on repeating those negative thoughts to yourself in your imagination. When you’ve noticed the negative feeling increasing within you, start to examine your current experience. Tell yourself how that feels, just explain it to yourself in your own head.
Ideally, you will be noticing, that when you believe what goes on in your head, it can make you feel bad and can dip your mood to uncomfortable and unhealthy levels. When you have got a real sense of this, move on to the next step.
Step Three: The plan from here is to now undermine that old, unwanted thought process and accompanying unpleasant feeling by gradually removing it from your mind. That is the reason we developed the positive suggestion before we started this… You wrote that down immediately prior to step one, remember?
Keeping your eyes comfortably closed, continue to imagine that you are immersed in that typical situation. Right now though, start to say the new, positive cognition to yourself inside your mind. Don’t just repeat it in a drab fashion… Really mean it. Put some ooomph into it! Say it in your mind in a way that you find to be beautifully irresistible, undeniably convincing that this is who and how you choose to be now!
Keep repeating that to yourself in your imagination. Over and over with some conviction.
When you say it with really meaning and conviction, you should start to notice that you start to feel different. Tell yourself how it feels different. Tell yourself how it feels better. Start to increase the good feelings you notice and continue to repeat the new positive thought process with meaning.
Just as before, you should also now be learning and noticing that when you think these kinds of thoughts and allow these cognitions to dominate your mind, you feel better… Additionally, when you say it to yourself in a way that makes you believe it, you feel even better.
This can now be reinforced and built upon. You repeat this process over and over until it becomes a habit. That is, it becomes your instant reaction in real-life when you enter those situations – you repeat that cognition and get it lodged firmly inside of your mind.
Step Four: At this stage, if you know self-hypnosis, do the rest of the exercise and the repetition of this process in self-hypnosis.
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
However, with this process, an induction is potentially too much activity, so I teach my clients how to adopt a hypnotic mindset and simply have a mindset that is positive and expectant. Again, to really understand the cognitive set of the hypnotic mindset, go grab a copy of my Science of self-hypnosis book where it is explained in simple but comprehensive terms.
Ideally in self-hypnosis, or just with some focus and your eyes closed, now proceed to repeat that process of turning the negative thoughts into positive, progressive thoughts…
The repetition ensures the learning is getting better lodged into your mind and forming a habit that’ll influence your feelings more in the future.
As you did earlier, picture yourself in that typical situation that you thought of in step one. Really immerse yourself in it. See what you see, hear what you hear, tune in to the place you are in. As much as is possible, imagine it as if it’s happening right now.
Repeat the old, negative cognition to yourself like you really mean it. It is likely that this will bring on some of the old unwanted low mood sensation, and do allow yourself to really evoke those old accompanying unwanted feelings.
Then just carry on repeating those negative thoughts to yourself in your imagination. When you’ve noticed the negative feeling increasing within you, start to examine your current experience. Tell yourself how that feels, just explain it to yourself in your own head.
Now you’re going to banish those old, negative thoughts and feelings and replace them with the new, positive ones…
As you did earlier, start to say the new, positive cognition to yourself inside your mind. Don’t just repeat it in a fashion that makes it seem like a chore… Really mean it. Put some ooomph into it! Say it in your mind in a way that you find to be beautifully irresistible, undeniably convincing that this is who and how you choose to be now!
Keep repeating that to yourself in your imagination. Over and over with some conviction.
When you say it with really meaning and conviction, you should start to notice that you start to feel different. Tell yourself how it feels different. Tell yourself how it feels better. Start to increase the good feelings you notice and continue to repeat the new positive thought process with meaning.
Just as before, you should also now be learning and noticing that when you think these kinds of thoughts and allow these cognitions to dominate your mind, you feel better… Additionally, when you say it to yourself in a way that makes you believe it, you feel even better.
As much as is possible, repeat it until you believe in it. Really believe in it.
Repeat this step of the process as many times as you can and until you feel that the positive cognition and new thought process is firmly lodged in your mind. If you are unsure, then do it some more to be sure. Repetition is key here.
Step Five: Once you have run through that enough times and you feel that you have truly learned the new cognitions and got them installed in your mind, tell yourself that this is going to advance and enhance your mood in a wide variety of situations and that the good feelings begin to generalise into many other areas of your life.
You may consider running through the process for a number of other typical situations from your life too. You could choose to use this skill and process in a variety of other aspects of your life – for your confidence, self-assuredness, for example as well as mood enhancement and satisfaction as we have done here today.
The key learning here is being aware of how to turn that negative thought process automatically into positive thoughts and feelings… And it gets easier the more you do it.
Step Six: Open your eyes. Wiggle your fingers and toes. Go and take some action that is proof to you that you made this change. Challenge yourself to go and test this and use it.
Enjoy enhancing your mood and taking control of your mind!
If you’d like to learn more or if this has resonated with you in some way, then visit these pages:
1. Have frequent low moods held you back and/or is it still doing so now?
Coaching with Adam Eason Or Hypnotherapy with Adam Eason.
2. Would you like a satisfying and meaningful career as a hypnotherapist helping others to elevate their mood?
Adam Eason’s Anglo European training college.
3. Are you a hypnotherapist for whom a negative thought process is detrimentally effecting the success of your business?
Hypnotherapist Mentoring with Adam Eason.
Self-hypnosis is a great way to help elevate mood. If you’d like to learn more about self-hypnosis, understand the evidence based principles of it from a scientific perspective and learn how to apply it to many areas of your life while having fun and in a safe environment and have the opportunity to test everything you learn, then come and join me for my one day seminar which does all that and more, have a read here: The Science of Self-Hypnosis Seminar.
