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How a Vacation Changed My Life

Kaanapali Maui 2022

To be on vacation is wonderful isn’t it? Some vacations have been so busy that there was not enough time to really savor the experience.  Just sleep, eat and go. Sleep, eat and go and when we return, we are exhausted. Then there are others where there is a restful balance.  My last vacation gave me time for perspective on what is a healthy balanced life. 

This last vacation in Maui was wonderful. What’s not to like about Maui, right?  We had a balcony condo with a beautiful view of the beach.  The beach was no more than two hundred feet from our balcony.  We could hear the surf through the walls. We spent the morning having coffee and breakfast watching the surf. During the day we would either be active with excursions on the island or relaxing on the balcony or by the pool. Maui Life is so peaceful and relaxing. It was a perfect balance between activity and rest. I didn’t want the vacation to end. I just wanted to remain in this peaceful state forever. 

View of the beach from the balcony

Hawaii life

I awoke one morning and wondered what it would be like to live and work in Hawaii. Who wouldn’t want this life forever, right?  As I continued to wonder about life in Hawaii, I realized that the commitment of work and life would soon lead to the same lifestyle I have right here at home. 

I live in a beautiful area of the central coast of California. You could even call it paradise. I believe the city of Paso Robles put that on a billboard once. Here I am, living in paradise, the coast not more than 30 min away and I take for granted the beauty around me and I work work work. The beach is right there and yet I barely visit it two times a year. Wouldn’t I fall into the same habit even living in Maui. I fear so.  I mean It isn’t the place as much as it is my values and beliefs. 

Healthly Balanced Life

For example, our tour guide to the ‘Road to Hana’ is a native of Hawaii and he told us the Hawaii culture that is still taught today is a healthy work balance. Work yes and take time for yourself, family and community. It is taught to them. We, with our western mindset, might call their work ethic leisurely or lazy.  Is it? 

Time Out

As stress and anxiety and its chronic disease associates become the norm In America, we should be calling ‘time out’ at the top of our lungs. Rather than be critical of taking time for yourselves, we should embrace it. 

The week we spent in Maui was heavenly. We practiced a good balance between activities and rest.  There were a couple days of activities and days to just rest.

Healthy life should also be about a balance between activities and rest. Take time for self care, family and community. 

So many times, I feel I should go visit the beach and I don’t. I feel guilty taking time out for myself. There is always so much to do and not enough time. Right? 

Why do we’ as an American culture’ feel guilty about taking time for self care? What if I went to the beach to just zen, to regain perspective, to balance and reconnect with myself and nature?  Then I think, with so much to do, aren’t I being selfish? What would others think? Aren’t we just a little too worried about what ‘others think’?  I know I am just a little more than I should.   

Little Steps to Change

I do know that moving forward from our western work ethic to a more healthy life balance of work and rest could be a big step.  I also know that change works best and is longer lasting by creating an intention to change and then taking small steps.  Take a small step, be consistent with this change and when it becomes natural, take another small step. Continue moving forward one small step at a time.   

To this end, I have started a daily morning routine of meditation and journaling. When the beach calls me, I will schedule a visit as soon as I can.   I am worth it and so are you!

What small step could you commit to this week? Let me know in the comments


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STOP Exam Stress-Face the Exam & Succeed

Stop Exam/Test Stress & Anxiety NOW

3 Steps to Face the Exam & Succeed

The Exam or Stressful Situation

Have you ever had a test or exam or other stressful anxiety filled situation in your life and you didn’t know how you were going to get through it? Do you want to STOP exam stress NOW? Then read on. I have 3 steps to face the exam and succeed.

Let’s introduce my stress event “The Exam”

I wanted to have a commercial drivers license.  The driving exam at the dmv is on the calendar and this exam has three sections, many moving parts and a lot of memorization. The vehicle inspection test is the most difficult part for many people and was the most daunting for me. The inspection covers various parts of the vehicles starting at the front to the rear and the top to the bottom.  One has to show the examiner the part you are talking about and tell him why you are inspecting it.  So it has many elements of memorization and organization.  Once I pass this test, I move on to the driving skills, This is backing up, offset backing and parallel parking.  This is enough to throw some people and does and then on to the ‘on road’ driving test.  Going through such a 3 part test has many pitfalls. How did I get through it?  I found these 3 different anxiety busting steps to effectively prepare for the exam and to remain calm and engaged during each test section to a successful conclusion.

My first Step: Core breathing:

Whenever the stress, anxiety, feeling of doom or being overwhelmed began to arise, I stopped and took a few deep core breaths. When taking these core breaths, it is important to know that the breaths begin in the core. Why? When you breathe into the core first, it signals your ‘flight and fight’ part of your brain that you are safe. (Stress & anxiety activates the fight & flight response)  When your brain knows you are safe it begins to turn down and possibly even off the fight/flight chemicals such as epinephrine and adrenaline allowing your mind and body to begin to relax.  This is why core breathing is so important. Now that your mind and body is beginning to relax, because you are safe, you can move into the next step. 

Second Step: is Mindful Breathing:

After a few core breaths, I use this technique to continue to relax the mind and body. I know of no other technique that stops anxiety in its tracks like mindful meditation. It is simply amazing. In short, Mindful Breathing is to simply stop whatever you are doing and become aware of your breathing. Not to change the breathing in any way, just be aware of your breathing. Use mindful breathing as long as it takes for the anxiety to fall away and the mind and body to relax. As I relaxed deeper, I allowed my mind to now move into the next step. 


Third Step: Visualization. Watching the event:

This is where I get to provide my mind how I want the event to unfold. In the example of the exam, I would see myself in front of the examiner as he said, Mr. Kuhns you have passed. Congratulations.  I would allow myself to feel the emotions of success, satisfaction and joy of passing.  This is an important part of the 3 steps.  You must convince yourself that you deserve and believe you can accomplish the event successfully. If not, it opens the mind to self-sabotage and undermines your chances of success.

Practicing the Steps:

I was just having an anxiety trigger of ‘What If’ I fail episode and I had moved through the core breathing, the mindful breathing meditation and I was watching the exam in my mind. A ‘not so happy’ examinitor appeared in my scene and at first I saw myself become more nervous and intimidated by his attitude. That’s when it became clear that my anxiety was based on failing. (This is another benefit of this process, it helps find the core reason for the anxiety)

So then I asked myself, what is the worst case if I fail? Answer: I get to retake the test with the experience and lessons from my 1st attempt.  Is that acceptable? Answer: Yes. (Now, mind you, this is a conversation happening in my head) 

Let Go and Have Fun!

After I made that agreement with myself,  I then remembered my Toastmaster training and I just started saying to myself, let go of the results and have fun. Let go of the results and have fun. As I repeated it, I saw myself grow in confidence.  It didn’t matter if the examitor was unfriendly or intimidating.  The sting of his control was gone.  The inspection part of the exam became a presentation (just like the many I have given in Toastmasters) where I just ‘let go’ and have fun. Just like I was trained in Toastmasters.  From then on, I used this affirmation/mantra whenever the anxiety began to raise it ugly head and ruin my fun. I was also amazed at how easy preparing for the test became.  Gone was the procrastination and memory loss of important parts. I was relaxed, confident and motivated.

Preparing for the exam, from this point on, became easy and fun.

Mantra or Affirmation:

This is a bonus tool in my stress busting technique.  I like to use mantras or affirmations to overcome a core stressor.  In this case, the fear of failing.  The fear of failing was my core issue that was stealing my confidence and motivation.  So the mantra, ‘just let it go and have fun’ was born to remind me of the deal I made with myself.  It is okay to fail. Just have fun.  

Test Day

Now, fast forward, I am at the DMV, my confidence is high. I am ready. I am not going to be denied.

Right from the start I made a mistake that would have knocked my confidence and intimidated me. Instead, I laughed off, took a deep core breath, repeated my mantra ‘just let it go and have fun’ and continued on.

Several times during the test, I made errors. Each time, I laughed off, took a deep core breath, repeated my mantra ‘just let it go and have fun’ and continued on.

During the very long drive test, which I even commented to the examiner ‘this is one long ass road test’ I would take deep core breaths and repeat my mantra to stay focused and alert.

It worked, as I finally pulled back into the DMV, the examiner informed me that I had passed and I proceeded into the DMV to process the paperwork. 

The process from start to finish was almost 2 hours and it felt like 4. 

Conclusion:

I believe these 3 to 4 steps were crucial in my success.  If I wasn’t able to get my attitude turned from anxiety into fun, I wouldn’t have had the confidence to overcome the first few errors. Instead, I was able to let them go and move on.  And so can you! 

Perhaps you could try these steps for your next stressful event or situation.  Let me know how it turned out for you?

If you would like help in reducing and eliminating Anxiety in your life, reach out to me with the form below.  I offer a free 20 min consultation to determine if hypnosis is right for you.  You can even call me directly at 805-242-1649

Additional reading 5 Steps to Stop the ‘What If’s” can be read here:

You may find this audio helpful: Reduce Stress & Anxiety and Sleep Better

If you need assistance with your exam or stressful event, I am here to help. Contact me with the form below for your free 20 min consultation. Then you will know if hypnosis is a solution to your problem or not.

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Why Should YOU Choose Hypnosis

Have you ever wanted to change a behavior, belief, mind program or wanted to accomplish a goal, or overcome some fear and no matter how much effort or will power used, the old behavior, thought pattern, program and or fear remains?  There is a simple reason for why this happens.  It is in the difference between the ways our conscious and subconscious minds create and process change.  Interested in learning why hypnosis is so effective in creating change?  Perfect, let continue.

Our thoughts and will power originates from our conscious mind.  Your conscious mind makes up just 10% of your brain power. 

*See the iceberg picture below.  Notice that thoughts and will power are controlled by your conscious mind. 

However, habits and beliefs are in the subconscious mind which makes up a whopping 90% of your brain power. Understand now why thoughts and will power have failed you in the past. They, alone, are no match for the sub conscious mind. Thoughts and will power are a great start; they are not, however, strong enough to create lasting change in the sub conscious mind.  Good news though.  The subconscious can be easily changed with the right methods.

Habits, beliefs, programs and fears how do we change them?   Hypnosis is the key.  You see, these beliefs, programs and habits have been formed since birth and reinforced throughout your life.  They are incredibly strong Nero pathways in your mind like an eight lane interstate.  Lucky thing though that the sub conscious can be changed, fairly easily, by applying certain language, Power Language, directly into the subconscious mind.  How you ask?  Hypnosis!

What is so special about hypnosis?  In the hypnotic trance, the conscious mind is put into a ‘Pause’ mode.  It is not functioning, thinking, working.  This allows for the hypnotist to place suggestions, ‘power language’ into the subconscious mind that illicit change of one habit, belief, program to another of your choosing.  Change can happen very quickly. 

What is this Power language exactly?  Power Language of the subconscious mind is imagination and emotion. That is the language of the subconscious mind.   When you see yourself with the new change and experience the new change with emotion…. The sub conscious then begins to believe the change is possible and then works to create the new change. Then, through work on your part, you will continue to feed the wanted new behavior and stop feeding the unwanted old behavior. The new behavior grows and flourishes into the 8 lane interstate and the old behavior slowly returns to dust.

Now that you understand a little more about how thoughts-habits-change happens within the mind and how hypnosis is used to create change, are you ready to change? Are you struggling to make a change happen in your life and need some help?  Perhaps, it is time to try hypnosis.

Give me a call to schedule your free 20 min consultation or use the form below to contact me.   In those 20 mins, I will be able to give you a plan for your new change and you will know if I am the right hypnotherapist to work with you.

Art

Breaking Day Hypnotherapy

805-242-1649