This article is all about inner harmony, but you are going to have to bear with me for a few paragraphs today if you are not into running. But this is all relevant to the personal development process I am sharing here today. It is something that I have used directly within the past week with amazing results.
I ran in a 20 mile race yesterday.
(Full report on my running blog)
I clocked a personal best time for 20 miles. I ran this same race 24 minutes slower last year. I took 5 minutes off my previous best time which I ran in 2007 when I was at my previous physical best level of fitness in my opinion. There was much for me to be pleased with as far as this was concerned.
Yet none of it would have been possible if I had let my head do what it tried doing in the week leading up to the race.
For my official schedule for the 5 marathons I am running in April and May this year, I just had to get the 20 miles run in 3 hours which is 9 minutes per mile. For the marathon, my race pace will need to be 8 minute miles in order for me to come in under 3 hours 30 minutes and I thought that as it was a race, I’d aim to complete this race at 8 minute miles as a way of motivating and reassuring myself before the marathons start.
As you can see, I ran the race averaging 7 minutes and 45 seconds per mile. Again, it would not have been possible if I had not organised my thoughts and attitude…
In the week, I started to worry that I had not done enough miles in preparation. I worried about whether I had been giving my all in my speed sessions and whether I had been disciplined enough with the hill runs. With the worry, I started to doubt that I would be able to complete the run at 8 minutes per mile and started to think about doing it in a different time… Yet there was another part of me saying, ‘no, I can do this, I need to practice what I preach and take some of my own advice and get a grip of my thoughts here’ – I had gone faster in tougher conditions at a full-blown marathon last year, what on earth was I doing letting niggling thoughts try and interfere with my performance?
Ok, I’ll quit with the discussion about miles per minute and running for now and get to the point and process of todays blog entry… Inner harmony!
You can spot the tenuous link here anyway, because this week I am sharing with you a technique accredited to the field of NLP and is known as a visual squash.
I often discuss and write about having congruence… that is, inner harmony, ensuring that all parts of you are aligned. Simple conflicts such as the one I cite in relation to running are not necessarily vastly problematic… But similar internal conflicts can occur that can create issues for us and our lives… And that is what today’s process is helping to alleviate.
Someone who says they want to stop smoking, a part of them wants to be healthier, yet another part of them enjoys the time alone in the garden spent indulging in the habit… Someone looking to reduce weight, has a part of them that wants to be shapelier, yet another part gets comfort from scoffing late at night in front of the telly. You know what I mean here, don’t you? Someone who wants to run in a certain time, may find that a part of them believes they can and another part looks for evidence that you can’t… Us crazy folk, eh?
6 Steps To Squash Some Inner Harmony Into Your Life:
Prior to this first step, you want to identify and choose any internal conflict that you may have, so that you are noticing the incongruent parts. Be aware of the kind of inner harmony you want in your life. As I did with the earlier examples and my own example with my belief in my ability to run a race in a certain time. You’ll have a part of you that thinks one thing and a part of you that thinks something else. Or A part of you that does one thing and a part of you that wants to do something.
Just be aware of and notice any internal conflict that you may have and identify the two incongruent directions that parts of you have.
Step One: I recommend you work through this in a comfortable place where you are likely to remain undisturbed for the period of time. Have your hands on your lap palms facing upwards for this session too.
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.
Once you have induced hypnosis, or just adopted the hypnotic mindset, move on to the next step.
Step Two: With the old, unwanted conflict in mind, and having entered hypnosis, imagine that you take the two parts that you identified prior to step one and place each one in each of your hands.
This can sound a bit odd at first. Imagine each part of yourself (that want different things) is a symbol, or an image, or a shape, or a ‘thing’ of some kind.
You decide which one feels comfortable in whichever hand… Then comes the fun…
Make each part sensory rich. By that I mean, given them the colours you feel suit, give them each a shape that suits them, any movements, sounds, textures or anything else… Really characterise each part of yourself as they sit in the palms of your hands.
Do take all the time necessary for this step, and get a really good sensory representation of each part. Here you are forming them into real, tangible ‘things.’
Once you have made each conflicting part of yourself into a thing that are then sat in the palm of each hand, move on to the net step.
Step Three: Now if you thought this was not being mad enough… Now you need to start chatting with these two parts that are formed in your hands… As if they have information and characteristics and are separate entities.
Communicate with each of the parts one at a time, and ask them to reveal what it’s positive intention is… that is, what good thing is it trying to do for you? Let ideas and thoughts roll around your mind as you think about this and imagine that the part is actually answering. Let your mind flow and enjoy the process… Make sure you have an idea of the positive intention… What it wants, not what it does not want… Nothing negative here. Take the right amount of time on this.
As you think of that positive intention of each part, start to think about how it has attempted to serve its intention. Think about all the resources that it has had. With my own situation, it was a stubborn thought, that stubbornness and tenacity was harming me at one point, but it was a strength and resource of that part. (It was actually doing quite well at being a negative thought! It started to influence and effect me detrimentally)
Once you have got an idea of the positive intention of each part and are aware of the resources and strengths of each part, move on to the next step.
Step Four: Now then, you may have already noticed this, or you may start noticing it now that I am mentioning it… There are likely to be some similarities, or some common ground in what the two parts’ positive intentions actually are… Notice that?
Aside for the similarities, now go to each of the parts again and ask each one what it could learn from the other… And what resources it might benefit from using, or even sharing. Go back and forth between the two parts you have in your hands and get this firmly established in your mind.
As each tells you what resources would be useful to share, imagine them being sent from one to the other… Maybe like colours, like clouds, or light or energy or whatever suits you best, just imagine sending the resources and qualities from each of the parts over to the other… So that they really are sharing!
At this stage, you might like to notice any changes in colour, texture, shape or feel as each part receives those resources… Maybe they start to change into something else, however subtly, just notice how having those resources affects each part.
This step is key, so spend all the time necessary on it before moving on to the next step.
Step Five: With each of these updated, and slightly altered parts in your hands, turn your palms to face each other and bring them together. Bring them together only as fast as it takes for you to fully integrate each of these parts into one wonderful new part.
You are creating a new single part, with all the positive intention and resources of the two old parts.
Bring them together and allow them to morph and meld and mould into a new part right there in front of you. See how this new part looks, feels, sounds, notice the weight of it, notice all the combined qualities. Create there in front of you an entirely new part, with all the best aspects of the two previous parts integrated and combined beautifully.
Let your imagination modify and create a truly special part that expresses the best intentions and resources of each of the previous two.
Take all the time necessary with this step of the process.
Step Six: With your hands still together, imagine and experience all the feelings involved, with this new image created of this new part, bring the image and the new part in it’s entirety to your chest.
Imagine it now integrating inside of you, imagine it making adjustments within you as you bring it all inside of you. Imagine the colours, the energy and the aspects of this new part being merged within you.
Now just start to think that with that new part fully integrated within you, consider the future, consider and imagine how you are going to behave now that you have this new part of you in harmony working for you. Think about how your life is going to be and think about an action you can take this very day that is proof that you have created a new level of harmony with you.
Once you are sure you have created some harmony within you and the conflict is resolved, then move on to the final step.
(For me, this was about combining the beliefs of each part, using the doggedness and tenacity of the unwanted old negative thought that was trying to protect me from potential failure, and combining that with all the real belief and understanding and experience that the positive part of me had and with that new part within me and the conflict resolved, I stopped worrying and ran the best 20 mile race of my life)
Step Seven: Take a nice deep breath and open your eyes, wiggle your toes and fingers and bring this session to an end.
Then go and take that action, go do it! Go and do something that shows you that you have made a change within yourself. Enjoy your inner harmony.
Have fun with this, it is a remarkable way to free yourself of internal conflict and achieve some remarkable things.
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Have some of themes here resonated with you? Then have a read of these pages:
1. Do you need help or support in a particular area of your life?
Coaching with Adam Eason Or Hypnotherapy with Adam Eason
2. Would you like a satisfying and meaningful career as a hypnotherapist helping others? Are you a hypnotherapist looking for stimulating and career enhancing continued professional development and advanced studies?
Adam Eason’s Anglo European training college.
3. Are you a hypnotherapist looking to fulfil your ambitions or advance your career?
Hypnotherapist Mentoring with Adam Eason.
Likewise, 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. Alternatively, go grab a copy of my Science of self-hypnosis book.
