How I Became a Hypnotherapist and What is Hypnosis? Episode P448

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After 20 years in private practice as a hypnotherapist, Ted reflects on his journey and what it took for him to find his path. Ted also discusses the truth about what hypnosis really is, and what a typical session with a client looks like.

 

 

 

 

 

Listen to this podcast episode now:

I have attached a diagram, (courtesy of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute) this is what I use with every new client to explain how hypnosis and hypnotherapy works.

From the time we are born until about 8 years old, we are very suggestible. That just means that we take in everything as absolute truth. As children, we do not have the ability to analyze incoming information; we believe everything we are told. Most kids are walking around in hypnosis.

We learn likes and dislikes, what we are capable of, what we are not capable of, what is fearful, desirable, etc. This is the creation of our so called Life Script: a collection of beliefs and “knowns” that shape our behavior and thinking.  This happens at the level of our subconscious mind, so we are not aware that it is occurring. We all fall under the hypnosis of our culture, and adopt the beliefs of our parents, religion and society.

Between 7 and 9 years old, we begin to develop the “critical mind” which blocks suggestions into our subconscious minds. We began to question incoming information, we began to ask why, and to seek to understand the information presented to us. At this point we begin to develop our conscious minds, which we use for decision making, reasoning, analyzing, and logic. We start to think for ourselves.

As you can see from the diagram, the subconscious mind makes up 88% of our total “mind power” according to some estimates. The conscious mind, only about 12%. The subconscious mind has a much greater influence on our behavior.

What brings people into my office is the realization that they have a problem that they cannot seem to solve on their own. For instance, they can’t quit smoking, or get rid of anxiety or get motivated.

The reason for this is that that their subconscious minds contain the programming that keeps them anxious, or procrastinating, or smoking, or overeating. This programming comes from childhood. For instance, in the case of smoking,  someone may have seen their parents smoking, saw that they look relaxed when they were smoking, and maybe even saw commercials for smoking. (“Winston tastes good like a cigarette should”)

Their subconscious mind is familiar and comfortable with smoking, to the subconscious, it’s a “known”.

So even though they may want to quit smoking, the part that wants to quit is only 12 %: the conscious mind. But 88% wants to keep smoking. Which do you think will win out? Of course, the 88%.

Hypnosis as a tool for change.

This is where hypnosis comes in. When a person is in hypnosis, their critical mind, whose job is to be the gatekeeper to the subconscious mind, takes a break. They become very suggestible, or, open to suggestion.

So in a hypnotherapy session,  I can use the power of suggestion to get the subconscious mind familiar with what the goal is, so that the goal now becomes a “known” to the subconscious mind. With enough repetition and reinforcement, by coming to a few sessions or listening to recordings that I make for my clients, they can begin to reprogram their minds to stop smoking, be more calm and relaxed, or be more motivated. See how that works?

I’ve attached a diagram, (courtesy of the Hypnosis Motivation Institute) this is what I use with every new client to explain how hypnosis and hypnotherapy works.

From the time we are born until about 8 years old, we are very suggestible. That just means that we take in everything as absolute truth. As children, we do not have the ability to analyze incoming information; we believe everything we are told. Most kids are walking around in hypnosis.

We learn likes and dislikes, what we are capable of, what we are not capable of, what is fearful, desirable, etc. This is the creation of our so called Life Script: a collection of beliefs and “knowns” that shape our behavior and thinking.  This happens at the level of our subconscious mind, so we are not aware that it is occurring. We all fall under the hypnosis of our culture, and adopt the beliefs of our parents, religion and society.

Between 7 and 9 years old, we begin to develop the “critical mind” which blocks suggestions into our subconscious minds. We began to question incoming information, we began to ask why, and to seek to understand the information presented to us. At this point we begin to develop our conscious minds, which we use for decision making, reasoning, analyzing, and logic. We start to think for ourselves.

As you can see from the diagram, the subconscious mind makes up 88% of our total “mind power” according to some estimates. The conscious mind, only about 12%. The subconscious mind has a much greater influence on our behavior.

What brings people into my office is the realization that they have a problem that they cannot seem to solve on their own. For instance, they can’t quit smoking, or get rid of anxiety or get motivated.

The reason for this is that that their subconscious minds contain the programming that keeps them anxious, or procrastinating, or smoking, or overeating. This programming comes from childhood. For instance, in the case of smoking,  someone may have seen their parents smoking, saw that they look relaxed when they were smoking, and maybe even saw commercials for smoking. (“Winston tastes good like a cigarette should”)

Their subconscious mind is familiar and comfortable with smoking, to the subconscious, it’s a “known”.

So even though they may want to quit smoking, the part that wants to quit is only 12 %: the conscious mind. But 88% wants to keep smoking. Which do you think will win out? Of course, the 88%.

Hypnosis as a tool for change.

This is where hypnosis comes in. When a person is in hypnosis, their critical mind, whose job is to be the gatekeeper to the subconscious mind, takes a break. They become very suggestible, or, open to suggestion.

So in a hypnotherapy session,  I can use the power of suggestion to get the subconscious mind familiar with what the goal is, so that the goal now becomes a “known” to the subconscious mind. With enough repetition and reinforcement, by coming to a few sessions or listening to recordings that I make for my clients, they can begin to reprogram their minds to stop smoking, be more calm and relaxed, or be more motivated. See how that works?

Want to catch up on previous episodes?  Click Here >

Ted had to overcome his own negative programming to enroll in hypnotherapy school and start a private practice. If you need to change your path, or if you are still looking for the right path for you, Ted’s been down that road and can offer support and the subconscious re-programming you need for success. Request a complimentary consultation so that you can get your questions answered and find out if hypnotherapy and high performance coaching is right for you. Go to http://TedMoreno.com/contact, send an email and Ted will get back to you within 48 hours.

 

Step by Step: How to Start Exercising Regularly – Episode P447

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Getting regular exercise is good for your body and good for your brain. It helps to release stress and tension, gives you a feeling of accomplishment, and gives you greater energy. Getting regular exercise will help you to have more energy, be happier, more focused and effective, less stressed, more confident, look better and live longer.

But, if you’re not in the habit of regular exercise, it can be difficult to go from not doing anything to getting regular and consistent exercise.

In this episode. Ted shares practical step by step directions to help you begin and maintain a consistent exercise program. It doesn’t have to be hard and it’s probably not as hard as you think. If you have been trying to get more exercise more often, listen to this episode!

One of the most common reasons people come to my hypnotherapy practice is for help in finding the motivation to exercise. We all know exercise is essential to health and wellness. Getting regular exercise is good for your body and good for your brain. It helps to release stress and tension, gives you a feeling of accomplishment, and gives you greater energy. Getting regular exercise will help you to be happier, more focused and effective, less stressed, more confident, look better and live longer. But you knew that, right?

For those that are challenged by anxiety, exercise is a must to get out of your head and into your body on a regular basis. But, if you’re not in the habit or regular exercise, it can be difficult to go from not doing anything to getting regular and consistent exercise.

The purpose of this podcast episode is not to sell you on the benefits of exercise, but to help you get started. Now, we all have reasons why we can’t do it right: it’s sweaty, it’s uncomfortable, you don’t have time, you can’t afford a gym or a personal trainer, or you don’t like going to the gym, you don’t want people to look at you, etc. Let’s be clear that focusing on all the reasons why you can’t exercise won’t help you. We are looking for solutions here! Refocus your mind on reasons why you CAN achieve the fitness you want and begin looking for ways to make it happen. (This episode will help.) I suggest you adopt a different perspective and begin to ask yourself “How can I start to get regular exercise?”

Here’s the answer: step by step adherence to a plan. The mistake people make is when they say “I can’t find the motivation to exercise!”

Motivation is not something you find, like you find it on Amazon and it shows up at your doorstep. No, you must generate motivation, or you will forever be looking out the window waiting for the truck to bring it to you.

Here are some practical step by step directions to help you begin and maintain a consistent exercise program:

1. The first step is to make the decision that getting exercise is something you MUST do. Not would like to, not it would be cool, not sure wish I could, not maybe someday. Make it a must. You want to find a word that is acceptable to you that doesn’t have negative connotations. Some people hate or have a negative reaction to the words exercise, working out, gym, etc., so find a word that works for you. It might be moving your body, getting fit, physical activity, etc. This is important!

2. Make it a goal and write it down. For example, you might write down, “My goal is to begin and maintain a program of regular physical fitness.” Write down all the reasons why you must get exercise or whatever word that describes what you want to do. Not why you

should, but why you must. Take a couple of minutes to imagine how you would feel if you were getting physical activity regularly and how you would feel about yourself. Use supportive language. Be your own coach. Talk to yourself using encouraging and motivating language. Before you go to bed, use affirmations such as “My health is my top priority and I am committed to my plan to exercise tomorrow at 7 am!” When you wake up in the morning, say to yourself “I’m committed to making this happen today!” This is how you develop a success mindset around your fitness.

3. Find something that you can do and enjoy. If you absolutely can’t stand going to the gym, then forget about that. There are plenty of other ways to increase physical fitness. Just to name a few: walking, hiking, biking, yoga, pilates, tai chi, chi gong, jumping jacks, jumping rope or using a rebounder (mini trampoline). In addition, there are plenty of videos and CD programs available for purchase or free online that can guide you. If doing the same thing bores you, then mix it up. Walk one day, hike another, ride a bike the next, take a class once a week.

Getting a fitness or exercise partner can make it a lot easier and enjoyable. If you can find someone to walk, hike, bike, go to the gym or take a class with, you are much more likely to do it and enjoy it.

5. PLAN! This is probably the most important step. Remember that most people don’t plan to fail, they fail to plan. Be realistic as to when you can fit in your activity. To go from doing nothing to getting up at 6 am everyday and going to the gym is probably not realistic. Or maybe it’s just not possible to get it in before work. Maybe it’s the first thing you do after you get home from work. We’re busy people, so take some time to sit down and plan the days and times that will work for you. Try to make these times as consistent if possible. In other words, schedule the same days and times every week. We are trying to create a new habit. Write it down in your schedule book/app as an appointment and create reminders for yourself.

6. Start with easily achievable steps. Success by the inch is a cinch, by the yard it’s very hard. Shoot for 2 times a week, for 30 minutes each time, or even 15 minutes. Start small and work your way up. If you plan to get out and do something twice a week and you do it, congratulations you are a success! However, if you plan for 5 days a week and only do three, you might be tempted to beat yourself up.

Bonus tip: Hire a personal trainer. This will make you accountable and will most likely get you the best results. Do your homework and find someone reputable with good reviews or ask around for a good referral. Ask lots of questions of potential trainers and communicate

clearly what your goals are and how you want to be trained i.e. “I want someone to kick my butt” or “I want some to be gentle with me.”

You can do this. It may be a little uncomfortable at first, but discomfort becomes comfort if repeated enough. To reiterate, be clear about why you must start and the benefit you will receive. Getting into a regular schedule of consistent activity and feeling the benefits can be one of your greatest accomplishments.

Remember 12 vs 88! 12 percent of your mind is your conscious mind and it wants to exercise. 88% of your mind is your subconscious mind, and it does not want to exercise if exercise is not a known to your subconscious. That’s where I come in. As a hypnotherapist, I work at the level of the subconscious mind using the power of suggestion. If you need support getting into the exercise habit, you can get in touch with me be going to tedmoreno.com/contact. Send me an email or give me a call and we’ll have a nice complimentary phone consultation to answer your questions and see if hypnotherapy and high performance coaching is right for you.

Quotes:

Believe you can, and you’re halfway there. – Theodore Roosevelt

You don’t have to be extreme. Just consistent. – Unknown

Thank you for listening, get out there and make it happen and we’ll talk soon.

Ted

Want to catch up on previous episodes? Click Here >

Your conscious mind (12%) wants to exercise, but your subconscious mind (88%) does not want to exercise. As a hypnotherapist, Ted works at the level of the subconscious mind using the power of suggestion. If  you need support getting into the exercise habit, you can get in touch with Ted by going to http://tedmoreno.com/contact.You can request a complimentary phone consultation to answer your questions and see if hypnotherapy and high performance coaching is right for you.

 

Test Anxiety? 7 Tips to Prepare and Pass – Episode 446

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According to the American Test Anxiety Association, 38 percent of students have high or moderately high test anxiety. Test anxiety is where the test taker feels severe distress before, during and after the test. Test anxiety can not only interfere with information recall but may also cause some people to give up taking the text entirely or to keep putting it off, even though their career success depends on it. In this episode, Ted discusses test anxiety and offers 7 valuable tips for preparing for tests and taking tests while remaining calm, in control and able to recall the information needed to pass. It’s test time, so if you know someone who can benefit from listening to this podcast, please pass this along to them.

 

 

We’re getting into the spring and summer months and for students of all ages that means it’s time to take tests.  From 7 th grade final exams to the LSAT, many students will pass their tests, some will fail because they are not prepared, and some will fail, even though they’re prepared,  because of test anxiety.
Test anxiety can show up as early as first and second grades as well as in high school and beyond.

Did you know there is actually an American Test Anxiety Association? According to the ATAA:
*Roughly 16–20 percent of students have high test anxiety.
*Another 18 percent have moderately high test anxiety.
*Test anxiety is the most common academic impairment in grade school, high school, and college.

What is test anxiety?
Test anxiety is “the set of phenomenological, physiological, and behavioral responses that accompany concern about possible negative consequences or failure on an exam or similar evaluative situation.” That is from a book titled “Test Anxiety: The state of the art” by Moshe Zeidner.  Put another way, test anxiety is a combination of over-arousal, tension, worry, dread, fear of failure, and “catastrophizing” before or during test situations.

It is a psychological condition where the test taker feels severe distress before, during and after the test; one can get so nervous and anxious about doing well (or just passing), that performance on a test is negatively affected. If you have any experience as to how a college final can produce this type of anxiety, then imagine having test anxiety while taking the bar exam, or an exam for licensure, where the stakes are high and there has been a significant investment in both money and time. It’s normal to have some type of nervousness about taking a test and in fact, this nervousness can be helpful by getting us into a state where we are pumped up to do well. But when this nervousness escalates into test anxiety, however, it can not only interfere with recall of information but may create a reaction so intense that it causes some people to give up taking the exam entirely, or to continue to put it off until
“someday”.

 It’s important to understand that test anxiety is a form of performance anxiety.
Performance anxiety is where someone is extremely nervous about having to produce a result in a limited time or in front of people who are judging them. Test anxiety, stage fright, fear of public speaking and “choking” in sports performance fall into this category.

Symptoms of performance anxiety are like most other forms of anxiety reactions: rapid heartbeat, sweaty palms, shortness of breath, shakiness, confusion, or other physical aches or pains such as nausea or a stomachache. Like in the kind of stomachache your kid starts getting around final exam time.  In my work as a hypnotherapist with people who are challenged by test anxiety, I notice that many of these people share similar characteristics, such as being prone to high stress, having perfectionist tendencies, or worrying a lot.  The good news is that most instances of test anxiety can be dealt with in just a few hypnotherapy sessions, but here are some suggestions you can use right away to help you with deal with text anxiety.

Here are 7 tips to prepare and pass:
1. Diet can affect your ability to think and recall information. If you are skipping meals or eating meals or snacks high in carbs while studying for an exam, then you may be experiencing episodes of low blood sugar (blood glucose). Low blood sugar can trigger anxiety. Since the organ that uses the most glucose is the brain, a balanced diet can be helpful in creating optimal brain power. Have healthy snacks while you study and don’t skip meals.

2.  Sleep seems to go by the wayside when students are preparing for exams. Plan your study or help your child plan their study time for when you feel the most alert, which for most people is not usually late at night. But if that works for you, then make sure you’re getting the amount of sleep that’s right for you. It’s probably more than you think: 8 hours for adults and even more for children. It makes sense to be well rested in the days leading up to a major exam, wouldn’t you agree? Being sleep deprived can trigger anxiety. I understand that at crunch time, if you’re an adult studying for the NCLEX and you have a family and a job, that you might need to burn the midnight oil. But get the sleep that you can.

3. Schedule your study.  Not knowing when, where or how you can study can cause test anxiety. Last minute cramming can leave you feeling like you are not ready, also creating anxiety. Manage your time by organizing your schedule to give yourself the best conditions for learning. Decide ahead of time when, where, and for how long you will study. I suggest studying in periods of 50 minutes to one hour, with 10 to 15 minute breaks in between. Don’t sit in a chair for over an hour staring at a book, notes or videos, this can put you into a negative state of overwhelm which leads to a negative state of hypnosis. Overwhelm can be a real problem. Too much to do, too much to think about, and too much to handle, can be overwhelming. That’s why scheduling is a good thing to do. It enables you to chunk it down into bite size pieces. In other words, you would say to yourself:  “I’m going to study from this time to this time, then I’m going to watch a little tv, then go to bed.”

4.  Effective Preparation. Many people will only prepare for an exam by cramming the information into their heads. This is only half the equation; taking the test will involve recalling the information. Prepare for the exam by taking as many practice tests as you can as soon as you can. This will also clue you in as to what areas require more study. Remember the three Rs: Relax, Retain and Recall. The more relaxed you are, the more you will retain, and the more you will be able to recall. So, what would be ineffective preparation? Being tense and anxious while studying. Procrastinating. Putting it off. Worrying about failing.  Doing these things is a recipe for test anxiety. Oh, and another thing: if you have to go to a testing center to take the test, be sure that you know exactly how to get
there, where to park and where to go. It might even be worth taking a drive out there if possible so that you know what to expect. Make sure you prepare your materials the night before the exam. Don’t do anything the morning of except eat and go. If your drive to the testing center is a long way, say an hour or more, consider renting a cheap motel room near the testing center and spending the night there so that the next morning you just get up, eat and get to the testing center in a few minutes.

5. Watch your self-talk. Self-talk is your internal language or thoughts. For God’s sake, avoid scaring yourself with inner conversations like “I know I’m going to just blank out right in the middle of the test!” or “I just suck at taking tests!” or “I’m going to bomb this test!” This is not helpful. Give yourself encouragement and support. Use positive affirmations in the days and weeks leading up to the exam.

6. Mental visualization can be one of the most effective techniques you can use to mentally “rehearse” taking the test while feeling calm, relaxed and comfortable.  Remember that your mind can’t distinguish between what is real and what is vividly imagined. The more you vividly imagine the outcome you want, the more likely your mind will help you get it. Take 3 to 5 minutes to sit with eyes closed before you study and imagine, visualize or see yourself walking out of the testing location feeling good about your performance. Imagine receiving the information that you have passed. Setting a goal of passing with a particular score increases the chances that you will.  Take a 3×5 card or a piece of paper and write the score that you want to achieve. For instance, if you need to score a 70 to pass, aim for 79 or 81. Write on your card or piece of paper, “I am passing the bar exam on July 23 and 24th with a score of 79 or higher.” If the exam is pass or fail, say “Passing with a high score.”

7.  Extreme self-care Get a massage or two in the days or weeks before the exam to release excess tension and stress. Get a good night’s sleep the night before the exam, and don’t even think about showing up without eating a good meal with protein. Daily walking or any type of exercise can also be a great stress reliever. Remember, anxiety comes from prolonged stress and tension. Find ways to release it. Relax, retain, recall For the most part, test anxiety is a learned response. With practice, you can unlearn test anxiety and learn a different reaction. Have faith in your brain and cultivate a strong and abiding belief that you can and will pass!

I work a lot with people who have exam anxiety so if you are thinking that hypnosis and high-performance coaching might be the key to more relaxation, easier preparation and a passing score on your exam or exams, then reach out for a complimentary consultation. We’ll talk about what’s going on, I’ll answer any questions you might have and if you are ready, we’ll schedule your first session and start making it better. To request your complimentary consultation, go to https://tedmoreno.com/contact. I’ll get back to you within 48 hours.

Want to catch up on previous episodes? Click Here >

Here is your Episode Quote:
“Recipe for success: Study while others are sleeping; work while others are loafing; prepare while others are playing, and dream while others are wishing.” – that’s by the motivation author William A. Ward

Thanks for reading this and good luck!
Ted

 

Top 10 Reasons Why Walking Can Change Your Life – Episode 445

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Walking. So simple and so easy. Humans and their ancestors have been doing it for a million years. We are meant to walk. Our bodies are designed for upright, bipedal locomotion. Walking is a complex behavior that exercises our brains as well as our skeletal system. It is a harmonious integration of various body systems including the inner ear, eyes, touch receptors, muscles, tendons, and joints. The good news is that walking is really good for you and many physicians consider it the best form of exercise. In this episode, Ted, a dedicated walker, shares the top 10 reasons why starting a habit of daily walking can change you life. Are you trying to get some exercise but don’t want to go to a gym or walk on a boring treadmill? Check out this episode of the Ted in Your Head podcast.

It’s been a rainy winter and spring here in Southern California. There’s a song from the 70s called “It Never Rains in California” but let me tell you, when it does, it pours.

Anyway, after the rain we had last weekend, we had a day of sunny weather with temps in the mid-eighties. I couldn’t wait to get out and walk for the first time in a long time in a t shirt and shorts and let me tell you it felt good. All the wildflowers were blooming, the snowcapped San Gabriel Mountains loomed beautifully in the distance and the sun reflected of off of Puddingstone Lake in a thousand sparkling twinkles. It was glorious and I just soaked it all up with gratitude and a feeling of being incredibly blessed.

I’m a walker. I’ve walked more miles in my life than you can imagine. If you have been listening to my podcast or following me on social media, you know how much I love to walk. I have walked to some of the most wonderful, magical, and breathtaking places I’ve ever seen, where a car could not go.

I first started to walk after having some autoimmune eye problems and back problems as a young man. I asked my chiropractor what I could do to help my back other than stretching. He said walk every day.

I asked my eye doctor what I could do to prevent these recurring eye problems. She said walk every day. But I didn’t start walking consistently for exercise until I read a book by Dr. Andrew Weil called “Spontaneous Healing”. Dr. Weil suggests that the cross-pattern movement of your limbs when you walk generates electrical activity in the brain that has a harmonizing influence on the central nervous system. I was sold at that point, and I’ve been walking ever since every day if I can.

In my work as a hypnotherapist helping people to change, I deal with many issues such as smoking cessation, weight loss, anxiety, stress, and health issues, just to name a few. There’s lots of different tools, including hypnosis, of course, that I use to help them deal with these challenges. But one of the first things that I will recommend to my clients is to walk every day.

Think about how far we have come from the days before the automobile when everyone walked. The car has only been in large scale production for a little over 100 years. We humans and our ancestors have been walking for over a million years.

We are meant to walk. Our bodies are designed for upright, bipedal locomotion. Walking is a complex behavior that exercises our brains as well as our skeletal system. It is a harmonious integration of various body systems including the inner ear, eyes, touch receptors, muscles, tendons, and joints.

Walking requires no skill or special equipment except a good pair of shoes. You can do it anywhere, indoors, or out. It doesn’t cost anything, and the chance of injury is slight. It’s simple, yet many health professionals consider it the best form of exercise.

According to Dr. Andrew Weil, for an ideal aerobic workout, your walks should last 45 minutes, and you should be able to cover three miles in that time. But you don’t have to walk for very long to get some benefit. Studies show that a brisk, 30-minute walk five days a week can help you live a longer, healthier life.

Walking has positive benefits for both mind and body. Walking outside connects you with sky and ground, sun and earth, wind, and water. It’s from these things that we are made of, after all. Walking is visually stimulating. Walking can break up the monotony of the same house, same office, same freeway. Walking can give you relief from SSDD (same stuff, different day.)

Have you ever walked on a moonlit night when the full moon lit everything up so bright that it looked like day? When was the last time you walked barefoot in the grass? Have you ever not been able to walk for any length of time? Walking gets pretty valuable right about then.

Here are the top 10 reasons why walking can change your life.

1. Walking can improve your mood. A California State University, Long Beach, study showed that the more steps people took during the day, the better their moods were. Walking can decrease feelings of anger and hostility especially if you walk near greenery, like in a park and in the sun. Research shows that just 10 minutes a day of walking can lighten your mood and lift your spirits. So, walking can make you

happier. I don’t know about you, but I think that there’s a lot of grouchy people out there that can sure use those 10 minutes.

2. Walking burns calories and helps you maintain a healthy weight. Taking brisk walks daily can help you drop as much as a pound a week. Not only that, but some studies have suggested that walking can help you control sugar cravings. And of course, walking is good for heart health. Walking 30 minutes a day 5 days a week can decrease your risk for heart disease by almost 20%.

3. Walking can lower your risk for chronic diseases. A 2022 study published in Nature Medicine shows that walking can reduce your risk for a variety of chronic diseases. One study showed that walking 8,200 steps effectively reduced the risk of chronic conditions, including: obesity, sleep apnea, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), major depressive disorder (MDD), type 2 diabetes, and hypertension.

4. Walking can help you sleep better. People that walk are less likely to have insomnia than people who don’t walk. Any physical activity will boost melatonin, the sleep hormone.

5. Walking is good for your brain. Walking increases blood flow to the brain, improving brain function. Some studies have shown that walking can increase your decision-making abilities. Walking can slow down mental decline and lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.

6. Walking keeps your bones strong and reduces joint pain. Walking increases blood flow to the joints, strengthens muscles and ligaments and can reduce the risk of osteoporosis. We’re talking about 30 minutes, 3 time a week. Not a lot. There are studies that also suggest that walking is a safe and convenient activity for those with arthritis.

7. Walking strengthens your immune system. That’s why I started walking, I was diagnosed with some autoimmune issues when I was young. There are numerous studies that show the people that walk daily get sick less and get fewer respiratory infections. If they do get sick, it’s not as severe. People that walk spend less time in hospitals.

8. Walking improves your digestive health by encouraging movement in the GI system resulting in better bowel movements. That might not be a big deal to you now but talk to me when you get into your 60s about how important a good poop can be. 9. Walking can enhance your creativity. A 2014 study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Learning, Memory, and Cognition, suggests that going for a walk can spark creativity. I’ve had great ideas for podcasts while walking as well as coming up with creative ideas to overcome challenges in my life. Furthermore, if we look back into the history of our most famous creative thinkers, you can find numerous accounts of those that had their most important creative ideas while taking a stroll.

10. Walking can help you live longer. According to the Arthritis Foundation website, research finds that people who exercise regularly in their fifties and sixties are 35% less likely to die over the next eight years than people who don’t walk. According to the CDC, The Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend that adults get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic physical activity such as walking. According to the Prevention.com website: “People who completed the recommended 150 minutes of weekly exercise in at least 10-minute spurts had a 31% lower risk of death. Other research shows the faster you walk, the more your risk drops.”

Are you convinced? What else do you need to know to put on your walking shoes and get out there? Start small, such as 2 or 3 days a week walking for 10 or 15 minutes. Work your way up to 5 or 7 days a week for 30 minutes. Make sure you have a good pair of shoes, and if you’re going to walk at night for God’s sake make sure you are visible and have a flashlight. Find a nice place to walk, if possible, where there is natural beauty and where you feel safe.

Many of the things that can change our lives are those things that we commit to doing consistently. If you want better health, a more comfortable body and a calmer, clearer mind, then do the simple thing that humans and their ancestors have been doing for a million years: walk.

If you need some motivation and support to get out there and start walking or exercising in general, I can help you. I invite you to request a complimentary consultation by going to https://tedmoreno.com/contact.

Here’s a quote by Gary Snyder: “Walking is the rhythm of life.”

“An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.”

That’s by Henry David Thoreau.

Have a blessed day

Want to catch up on previous episodes? Click Here >
–
If you need some motivation and support to get out there and start walking or exercising in general, I can help you.  I invite you to request a complimentary consultation by going to https://tedmoreno.com/contact.

 

Anticipatory Anxiety: How to Stop Fearing What Hasn’t Happened: Episode 444

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Anticipatory anxiety is the anxiety we experience in anticipation of doing things that frighten us. Call it the fear of being afraid. If we perceive something will be fearful for us, or if we have found that situation fearful in the past, we can become so unwilling to go through that fear again that we start making ourselves afraid or anxious even before anything’s happened. Anticipatory anxiety can shut us down and stop us cold. So, what can we do to keep anticipatory anxiety at bay? In this episode, Ted talks about how to stop creating fear and anxiety for yourself about something that has not happened. If you have driving anxiety, social anxiety or any kind of anxiety, check out this episode.

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I bought the house I live in in the middle of the recession in 2009. My hypnotherapy practice was very slow. A scary thought started eating its way into my mind like a parasite. It went like this: “Because of this recession, I’m going to lose my house and I just bought it.” This thought grew in intensity and fear as I continued to feed the parasite with negative scenarios, such as imagining me and my wife packing up our stuff and moving back into an apartment, feeling ashamed and embarrassed. I had been in tough financial situations in the past which had caused me a lot of anxiety and fear.

It got to the point where I found myself expecting something bad to happen. Because of the negative vibes I was sending out, my business phone stopped ringing almost completely, which made the situation even worse. I was as nervous as a snail crossing the highway. I was experiencing anticipatory anxiety which is the fear of what might happen.

One night I was lying in bed kind of freaking out, thinking about all the past pickles I’d found myself in. All of a sudden it occurred to me that I had been in situations much more dire and had managed to make it through. I’d never been homeless, always had enough to eat, and always had people willing to help me out. I realized that I had been creating frightening images in my mind that simply had not happened. I was scaring the crap out of myself. (I call this scatpooy, by the way, which stands for scaring the poop out of yourself.)

The truth was, I was not even close to losing my house. Yet, I was imagining it as if it was already happening. Because the mind cannot distinguish between what is real and what is vividly imagined, these scary scenarios were creating fear and anxiety in me. That night, I stopped focusing on what I didn’t want. I wrote some goals down, and started to focus and think about what I wanted, which was prosperity, abundance and happiness.

We think that worry will protect us. It won’t. We think that having anxiety will prepare us. It won’t. In fact, all anxiety does is shut us down.

It’s good to be concerned, and it’s wise to plan for eventualities. It’s smart to see the writing on the wall and be prepared with a contingency plan. It’s another thing entirely to create fear and worry over something that doesn’t exist or that hasn’t happened yet. To imagine something bad happening before it’s happened is not helpful.

In my work with clients, typically people who have anticipatory anxiety are already anxious about things like driving, social situations, test taking, or even being able to perform in bed. The thought that creates anticipatory anxiety is “What if…”

For example, someone who is anxious while driving might avoid driving altogether because of the thought “What if I have a panic attack while driving?” even though it may have been years since they had a panic attack. Of course, this kind of thinking makes anxiety and even a panic attack more likely to happen. It’s a vicious cycle of fear.

Someone who has social anxiety might think “What if I get self-conscious and turn red and people notice that I’m uncomfortable?”

Call it the fear of being afraid. If we perceive something will be fearful for us, or if we have found that situation fearful in the past, we can become so unwilling to go through that fear again that we start making ourselves afraid or anxious even before anything’s happened. There’s a great article on Psychology today titled “Anticipatory Anxiety: Bleeding Before You Are Cut.” It goes on to say that:

· Anticipatory anxiety is the anxiety we experience in anticipation of doing things that frighten us.

· Anticipatory anxiety is the third layer of anxiety—the avoidance aspect.

Anticipatory anxiety can shut us down and stop us cold. So, what can we do to keep anticipatory anxiety at bay?

The first thing to do is to be clear about what you want, and not focus on what you don’t want. You might say “My intention is to be calm and comfortable while driving.” Or “I want to feel calm and in control in social situations. Write it down like a goal. Start to direct your mind towards the outcome you want to see and get your mind more familiar with that. Ask yourself “How would my life be better if I can be free from this fear or anxiety?”

Second, try to see reality clearly if you can. Anticipatory anxiety can cloud your vision. Get present to what’s happening now, instead of the disaster that you think will happen. Then deal with what is in front of you. If you can do that, you’ll see that it’s probably not as bad as the horror film in your head. Get out of your head and into your body. Breathe and take some steps to calm yourself down in the moment. Are you exaggerating? Are you catastrophizing a little too much? Can you step back just a bit and say, “Well, it probably won’t be that bad?”

Next, change your language. Check what you’re saying to yourself. Does it sound something like this “Oh my god, I just know that this is going to be terrible?” If so then, stop and ask yourself: “How do I know that? Can I predict the future? How do I know that it’s going to be terrible?” Answer: you don’t. Even if it has been that way before, remember the past does not have to equal the future. Every thought is a prayer to the universe and all human creation starts in the mind. Use daily affirmations to change your pattern of self-talk. My favorite affirmation is this: “Right here, right now, everything is ok.” Practice calming yourself now as you think about the situation that’s coming up. This will help to associate calm and relaxation with the situation. It’s easier than calming yourself when you are in the middle of it.

The next step is to determine what actions you can take now to prepare, remedy, or plan for the situation that’s worrying you. Ask “How can I make this more manageable for myself?” Realize that for every problem, there is a solution. It may not be the ideal solution but try something. Doing nothing leaves you even more paralyzed and stuck with that churning feeling in your gut.

Lastly, see if you can cultivate trust and confidence in your ability to overcome fear. I can assure you of this: you have no idea how resilient you can be. Sometimes we need to be put to the test to force us to reach deep down inside for courage, resourcefulness and plain ole grit. You’ve got to tell yourself every day” I refuse to use the immense power of my imagination to create fear and anxiety for myself. I’m up for this challenge; it may not go my way but I won’t let it take me down.” Accept that some things are scary and that your mind is doing what it needs to do to keep you safe. Don’t beat yourself up for being afraid. The key is to face the fear and move through it.

We have these amazing imaginations that allow us to imagine things that don’t exist. This allows us to create first in our minds, then in reality, amazing accomplishments, dreams and desires. Or using that same amazing imagination, we can create the most frightful scenarios that leave us trembling and disempowered.

It all starts in the mind. How will you use the incredible power of your mind?

Speaking of the incredible power of your mind, if you need some help tapping into that power to overcome fear and anxiety, I invite you to reach out and request a complimentary consultation. Go to tedmoreno.com/contact, send me an email and I’ll get back to you within 48 hours. We’ll have a conversation to see if hypnotherapy and high-performance coaching is right for you and if it is, we’ll get started with your first hypnotherapy session.

In closing, let me leave you with a quote by Alfred Hitchcock:

“There is no terror in the bang, only in the anticipation of it.”

Thanks for reading this and have a great day.

Ted

Want to catch up on previous episodes? Click Here >

If you need some help tapping into your mindpower to overcome fear and anxiety, reach out and request a complimentary consultation. Go to TedMoreno.com/contact., send an email and Ted will get back to you within 48 hours. You’ll have a conversation to see if hypnotherapy and high-performance coaching is right for you and if it is, you can get started with your first hypnotherapy session

 

7 Steps to Change Scarcity Consciousness to an Abundance Mindset – Episode 443

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Scarcity consciousness or a “lack” mentality is often the result of childhood programming and decisions that we make subconsciously. To shift into an abundance mindset requires an awareness of this programming and taking steps to counteract it and create a new way of looking at prosperity. In this episode, Ted shares his experience with having years of scarcity consciousness and how he managed to break out of it. He discusses the 7 steps he took to make it happen. If he can do it, you so can you.

In Deepak Chopra’s book “The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success”, he tells a story about the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the guy that founded Transcendental Meditation as well as the guy the Beatles hung out with in India.

The Maharishi wanted to organize a massive pilgrimage and attract hundreds of thousands of people to the event. However, the Maharishi was poor and didn’t have a lot of money. Nevertheless, he continued to plan for the event. One of his organizers, seeing the clear lack of financial resources, approached him. “Sir”, he said, “This is a noble effort, yet it is significant in size and cost. Where will the money come from?” The Maharishi replied, “From wherever it is now.

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When I read this, I was blown away. Talk about faith. Talk about confidence. Talk about a totally different mindset from what most people have.

I don’t know too many people that have this kind of “abundance consciousness”. What seems much more common is “scarcity consciousness”: the feeling that there is not enough. What’s interesting is that this scarcity consciousness seems to have little to do with how much what we actually have.

Examining Scarcity Consciousness

Examining my own life, I’m able to identify some reasons for my own scarcity consciousness in the past. I wonder if any of you can relate.

There were 8 kids in my family, and until I was in the 6th grade my mom stayed at home while my dad worked at his own business. Dad spent a lot of time at work to support eight kids.

As a child, I could see that he was stressed out. It seemed to me that to own a business and try to make money was not a good thing, as it meant you would be stressed out and not be able to spend time with your kids.

I went to a Catholic grammar school and high school. In 12 years of my schooling, there was never any discussion of success, money, how to make it, what to do with it, or why we should even care. In fact, the message I received was quite the opposite: money is the root of all evil, if you want money, you are greedy, and it’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter heaven.

I entered college with no real goals and certainly no desire to make a lot of money. After slumming my way through college and eventually dropping out, I had a succession of in-home sales jobs which left me struggling financially and in debt.

I got a “real” job in a mall at a Things Remembered store, but got fired because I kept forgetting to turn on the revolving tower of key blanks. When I got into my car to drive home, my car wouldn’t start.

That night I found an ad in the employment section of the newspaper promising “High pay in a rock and roll atmosphere!”

To make a long story short, I took the job, (another in- home sales gig) started making a lot of money, gave my beater car away and bought a used Pontiac Fiero. After a few more months, I lent the Fiero to a friend, and started driving a Porsche. Then I found out that the owners of the company were con men. I quit the job, turned in the Porsche, got back the Fiero (payments were not kept up) and was struggling again. My girlfriend dumped me, I got evicted from my apartment, and my Fiero got repossessed. (Check out episode 439 of my podcast to get the full story.)

At that point, (1987, 27 years old) I remember making five decisions which would reinforce whatever scarcity consciousness I had and impact my life for more than a decade:

· To aspire to make a lot of money means you must cheat people.

· It’s better to be poor (maybe I’ll become a monk…)

· I never want to own a business.

· I never want to get married or have kids.

· I never want to own a house.

In the years that followed, I struggled constantly with a lack of money, but I also did a lot of work on my own personal self development. Somehow, in spite of those experiences and decisions, from 2003 to 2009 I managed to start a business, get married, have kids and buy a house. I had let go of a lot of my scarcity consciousness.

What changed? Here’s what I did:

1. I created desire. I wanted more. I said “I’m tired of being poor.” I started writing down goals. I began to create in my mind what I wanted. Instead of looking at people that had more than me with resentment and envy, I started to ask myself, how can I do that? 2. I started studying the principles of success. I started reading books like Think and Grow Rich, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, and Busting Loose from the Money Game. I started listening to audio recordings by Tony Robbins, Les Brown, Deepak Chopra, Bob Proctor, Jim Rohn. I started learning.

3. I started to talk to myself differently. I stopped calling myself names. I stopped complaining. I stopped being so negative and tried to be more positive. I would say affirmations first thing in the morning and late thing at night. I stopped saying things like I’m broke, I can’t afford it, I have no money. I started to reprogram my mind for abundance by changing what I said in my head and out loud.

4. I started taking better care of myself. I started eating better. I had always put the credit card companies, rent, and car payment first before I bought groceries. I changed that and started buying good food and having food in my fridge. This made such a huge difference. I took myself out occasionally for dinner or lunch at a nice place and that made me feel abundant. Interestingly, I started taking better care of my stuff too, like my car and my apartment.

5. I started to donate money. I figured that I had enough money to donate 15 bucks a month to a children’s charity. That made me feel good. As I looked at how other people in the world lived with much less than me, this made me feel like I was making a difference in the world. It made me feel that I had enough money that I could give some away. This was a game changer.

6. I started seeing myself as abundant. I stopped seeing myself as a broke college kid and started seeing myself as already possessing abundance. I saw a quote recently that said “If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your body, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you’re richer than 75% of the entire world.” It appears that all things being equal, this is true for the most part. Instead of focusing on what I lacked, I started to focus on what I had and how I make my life better.

7. Gratitude. You knew this was coming didn’t you? I became grateful for everything and started affirming how grateful I was daily. Not only for what I had as far as material possessions, which were meager, but for my family, for my health, for the beauty in the world, for my friends, for the good times, and for my life.

But the effects of subconscious programming run deep and exist at a level most of us are not aware of. I’ve become aware that I still have work to do to counteract the negative programming of my early years.

I can’t blame anyone or anything for whatever scarcity consciousness I created for myself. I continue to read, study, do affirmations, seminars, self-reflection, self-hypnosis and a lot of hard work to create a higher level of “abundance consciousness”.

Want to catch up on previous episodes? Click Here >

If you have a lack mentality or scarcity consciousness and you are aware of that, you can do something about it. If you need help, request a free complimentary consultation with me by going to TedMoreno.com/contact. We’ll talk and see if hypnotherapy and high-performance coaching is the right path for you.

The Privilege of Growing Older – Episode 442

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There comes a point, somewhere in your late 40’s or early 50’s, where you look in the mirror and I becomes clear to you that you are not a kid anymore. What happened? Life happened the way it  should. The only powerful choice we can make in the face of aging is to accept our ongoing journey with grace and dignity. If we can do that, we will find what it takes to continue growing, exploring and living in a way that is always inspiring.

 


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This morning I took my car into the dealership to get the oil changed. While I was standing around in the waiting room eating one of the free donuts, a young lady from the sales department walked up to me. She said “Hi, How are you?”

I said “Ok.”

She said, “Would you do me a favor?”

I said “Ok.”

She said, “I’d like to offer you a demo ride in one of our new cars.”

Now, I didn’t go there for a test drive, but I am thinking about getting another car and giving my car to my daughter who is driving now, and my wife’s been bugging me about dragging my feet about that, so I said sure.

We went for a test drive, and she told me that she had been working there for 3 months. I told her she had a lot of courage to just walk up to someone and offer them a test drive. I sold cars once and it had never occurred to me to do that.

She was maybe in her 20s. She said she was determined to be successful but that she still had a lot to learn. I told her that if she persisted and continued to have confidence that she would be ok. I told her that selling cars can be a cutthroat business and you need to be tough. I told her that she already had the grit and guts to make it happen if she wanted to.

Right then I felt the benefit of all my 64 years of experience. She was at the beginning of her journey, and I already had a lot of miles behind me.

I thought back to my days selling cars and how scary it could be to just walk up to someone and start talking to them. I was shy and kind of introverted, but I was able to move beyond those limitations as I grew older.

Getting older is a privilege, it’s a gift. You get to get old. Growing old is a privilege that’s not available to everyone. Many are “Done too soon” to quote a Neil Diamond song. When informed of their youthful passing, we say, “How sad, they had their whole life ahead of them.” Yet, many of us, when we reach the place of obvious and apparent aging, are more likely to quote the words of MickJagger: “What a drag it is getting old.”

There comes a point, different for everybody, somewhere in your late 40’s maybe early 50s. You look in the mirror and it becomes clear to you, you are not a kid anymore. Or you see a photo of yourself, 10 years ago, obviously looking much different. What happened?

Life happened, as it should, and the only powerful choice we can make is so to accept our ongoing journeys with grace and dignity. I’m talking about being present to all of it, and fully embracing the inevitability of the natural course of life.

Why not celebrate the fact that we have arrived at a chapter of seniority in our story, and commit or re-commit to living life fully and passionately each and every day? After all, there is no guarantee of tomorrow.

I’m in no way suggesting that we embrace slowing down, or that we give up activities that we love, or be resigned in the face of our mortality. I’m suggesting that we have gratitude for however many years of life we have been given.

Aging is challenging, that’s a fact. Aches and pains, necessary surgeries, gaining weight, less energy, friends and family members pass away. We lose things in the process of aging – most obviously youth, a precious commodity in our culture. How can we celebrate the loss of these things that have become so vital to our lives?

I think the key is to step back and see what we have gained: wisdom, experience, life lessons, maybe children, or grown children that are finally able to give back to you. Hopefully, we have gained love, experiences (both good and bad), and a perspective gained only from walking the walk, through the up and down, thick, and thin, rain or snow.

Think about what people go through to stay connected to life, which seems to get more precious when it might not last as long as you thought.

At one time I volunteered at a senior facility, reading the newspaper for a woman, eighty something, who had no practical use of her body. Trapped in her useless body was an incredibly sharp mind; she had been an educator with a master’s degree.

Her family was back east and rarely visited, so she looked forward to our time together. We would talk a lot, and one time I asked her: “Would you rather not be alive?”

She said “I like being alive, in spite of it all. I can still hear the birds and listen to music. I can see the sunlight and trees through the window. I want to live.”

I don’t know if I would have the same attitude. I don’t know if I would be able to celebrate aging if I was chronically sick, or in constant pain or sorrow or depression or hopeless.

But for the grace of God, I’m not. Chances are, neither are you. And if you are, maybe that could change.

I like to look to the natural world for inspiration wisdom. It’s spring now, and things are blooming after a long, cold rainy winter here in Southern California. The trees on my street that are many years older than me have woken from their winter slumber and are starting to bud. This time of year corresponds with the Easter holiday for Christians, which is a time of renewal, new life, and re-birth as celebrated by the resurrection of Jesus. The word Easter comes from the word Oestre, the Germanic spring goddess.

We all have the opportunity for renewal, regardless of how old we are. We still have the ability to change, to grow and to learn something new. The perspective of age can help us to see more clearly what is important and what needs to be released.

I know at least three men, one older than me and two slightly younger who are coming to the realization that spending time with loved ones is more important than working to pay off nice stuff like cars and big houses.

At 64 years of age I’ve started lifting weights, reading more, and exploring new interests.

You can’t allow yourself to get cynical and resigned. As long as you breathe, there is hope for a better day, for a new way and for a new way to play in the fields of your life.

There’s hope for a greater ability to endure the hard times with peace, grace, and dignity, along with the hope of continuing exploration, growth, and joy. I wish this for you and for me.

I’m glad I’ve made it this far, 64 years. At least for today, I’m enjoying the privilege of getting older.

Are you having trouble again gracefully? Maybe a shift of perspective is all that’s needed. If I can be of any help, reach out for a complimentary phone consultation to see if hypnotherapy is right for you. You can get in touch with me at tedmoreno.com/contact. You are not too old and it is not too late to dive into your increasing depths where life calmly gives out it’s own secret. ~ Rainer Maria Rilke

Thanks for reading this and take good care,

Ted

Want to catch up on previous episodes? Click Here >

Are you having trouble again gracefully? Maybe a shift of perspective is all that’s needed. Reach out for a complimentary phone consultation with Ted to see if hypnotherapy is right for you. You can get in touch with Ted at tedmoreno.com/contact. He’ll get back to you asap.

 

5 Ways to Get Free from a Funk – Episode 441

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Have  you ever been in a funk? You know: unmotivated, lethargic, something’s off, feeling deflated, sad and not right? We all have, and it’s not fun, so we want to get out of the funk as soon as possible.

Ted Moreno, the Funkmeister himself, has spent more time in funks than you can imagine. In this episode, Ted shares from his own experience,  5 ways to free yourself from the funk and get unstuck from the muck so you can move forward and get stuff done and have some fun. Don’t beat yourself up for being a funker, instead, listen to this episode!

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Have you ever had one of those days or weeks where you just feel stuck? Unable to act? Unmotivated, lethargic, not right? A bit burned out? If so, then you know how it feels to be in a funk.

I’m not talking about being funky, like funky music. I’m talking about feeling kind of down, deflated, sad, a little depressed, and melancholy, like you’ve got the blues. Feeling stuck.

Or maybe you wake up one day and you’re not feeling well rested; somethings off, something hurts, you’re not feeling well but it’s not really a cold or some kind of sickness, it’s just, you know, feeling stuck in a funk.

Well guess what, you are in good company, because everyone feels this way sometimes.

I used to be a real funkster, like, in a funk like all the time.

When I was in my teens and early 20s, I was the Funkmeister and not in a good way. I was kind of blue a lot of the time, just feeling funked up. (Read about it in my book.) That changed when I started to really work on myself using the following strategies that I’ll share with you here. I still find myself in a funk occasionally, but it never lasts more than a few hours now.

Being in a funk is no fun; it can stop us from doing what we need to do, feeling the way we want to feel and being who we want to be. So, here are 5 ways to get free from a funk and get unstuck from the muck.

1. Acknowledge, Accept and Ask. This first step is really important. You want to sit down, take a breath, and say to yourself “I am in a funk. I accept that I’m in this place, and I am asking my mind, what’s going on, and what can I do to get out of this.”

You don’t want to beat yourself up and make it worse by saying “I suck because I’m in this funk” or “I’m such a stupid funcker for feeling this way.” No, be nice to yourself.

You want to breathe, get connected to your body’s wisdom, and allow your mind and body to give you some information that might be helpful. You also want to give yourself some positive affirmations such as, “I’ll get through this, this is temporary, this too will pass.” Be there for yourself.

So for instance,

· You might realize that it’s the anniversary of losing someone you loved, as in a death or breakup.

· If you’re a woman, you might realize that you are going to start your period soon.

· Or maybe something happened. Somebody said or did something that is still stuck in your head, like a pebble in your shoe; you’re kind of ignoring it or repressing it.

· Perhaps you saw or heard something on the radio or social media that made you feel sad or fearful or insecure.

If you take the time to AAA, you might find that something bubbles up to the surface as to why you are feeling this way, and if that happens, you can address it consciously instead of letting it run you. If nothing bubbles up, it’s still ok. Sometimes it’s sunny and sometimes it’s gloomy and sometimes we don’t know why. That’s the way life is and that’s where acceptance comes in. Either way, move on to take step number 2.

2. Become Number 1. In other words, prioritize yourself and your self-care. Start by asking yourself: “Am I doing the things I know I need to do to feel my best?” If not, get back to doing those things by doing as many of them as you can even if you can’t do all of them.

· Basic stuff such as good sleep, good nutrition and moving your body. Are you drinking enough water? Dehydration can leave us feeling low on energy and achy and fatigued.

· How about supplementation? Have you fallen out of the habit of taking your supplements? If supplementation is not your habit, consider that it might help and be a good thing to do for a while. Consider getting more electrolytes, iron, vitamin B, or Vitamin D.

· Speaking of vitamin D, are you getting enough sunlight and fresh air? We tend to forgot how important these things are. If you live in a cold climate where you can’t go outside, consider getting a happy light, which is a full spectrum light that prompts your body’s natural energy enhancers to help you relax, focus and feel revitalized. This can be helpful if you are subject to SAD, seasonal affective disorder, which some people suffer from when there is a lack of sunlight due to the change in seasons.

· Moving your body is so important to get free from the funk. Don’t go crazy and hurt yourself or over-stress your body. If you are in a funk, you are in a bit of a weakened state so take it easy and don’t overdo it. Walking, jogging, yoga, whatever you can do, even if it’s not as much as you do, do something.

· And when it comes to taking good care of yourself when you are in a funk, you want to avoid alcohol and smoking marijuana which could make things worse because these are depressants and will add to your lethargy and lack of energy. Try not to medicate unless it’s over the counter stuff for cramps

and/or pain. Be aware and conscious of what your body is telling you. And avoid doom scrolling on social media.

3. Clear the deck. This means creating space by removing unnecessary things so that you are ready for action.

· For example, cleaning out a desk drawer or closet and getting rid of stuff or uncluttering. We think we own our stuff but often it owns us and has the tendency to create clutter in our homes and in our minds. Letting go of stuff allows flow to happen.

· You might need to clear engagements or appointments that you are not ready for or really don’t want to do.

· Maybe you need to let someone go in your life that is bringing you down, such as a partner, friend, or associate. This could potentially be a big decision so put some thought and consideration into it.

· Journaling can be a great way to create space in your mind. Getting all the head stuff and head trash out and onto paper can be a way of unburdening yourself. Explore thoughts, feelings, past experiences, and future expectations. Create or reinforce outcomes such as goals, dreams, and desires. Balance this with gratitude for the good fortune you now have in your life.

4. Open the curtains, let the light in and the funk out. What inspires you? What prompts you to be your best self? What makes you laugh and feel good?

· Is it going out with friends that are positive, encouraging, and supportive or maybe just lunch with your mentor or best friend? Don’t show up and throw up all your troubles, just hang out and be free from them for a while.

· Is it dancing, playing music, or making art?

· Getting out in nature has been a prescription for what ails you since recorded history. Even just sitting in a park with lots of trees. As you know, I walk around a lake most days of the week.

· How about your favorite feel-good movies that leave you feeling positive and upbeat? Or a good book?

· Bring in something new. A new class. A new project. Do something you haven’t done before. The key to burnout is novelty.

· Don’t forget the power of positive affirmations and self-talk including gratitude.

5. Hack a pathway out of the funk. Structure, planning, scheduling, and organizing sound boring but they are some of the keys to success. You might have to spend a

few hours or a day sitting around feeling funky but as soon as you can, make a plan to do something. Make a list before you go to bed at night, so you have something to reach for when you wake up. Give yourself some direction. Get an accountability partner to help you. Do what you can to take some action because when you are in a funk the best thing to do is something. Make it something good.

So there, do you feel that funk lifting just a bit? I hope so. If you need some help freeing yourself from feeling stuck in a funk, reach out to me at tedmoreno.com/contact and we’ll talk and see if hypnotherapy and high performance coaching is right for you.

Want to catch up on previous episodes? Click here >

If you need some help freeing yourself from feeling stuck in a funk, reach out to Ted at TedMoreno.com/contact and request a complimentary consultation to talk and see if hypnotherapy and high performance coaching is right for you.

Here’s a quote:

“Never fear to deliberately walk through dark places, for that is how you reach the light on the other side.” — Vernon Howard

Thanks for reading this!

Ted

 

The Link Between Pain and Anxiety– Episode 440

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Chronic pain and anxiety have a strong relationship to each other. Anxiety can cause or increase pain and pain can cause anxiety. This can cause a “negative feedback loop” making life increasingly unbearable for those that suffer from pain and anxiety.

Understanding the possibility of anxiety as the cause of unexplainable pain is the first step to healing. In addition, addressing the anxiety caused by chronic pain make pain more manageable. In this episode, Ted discusses the link between anxiety and pain as well as what you can do to feel better.

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I work a lot with people who come in with chronic pain but can’t figure out why. Things like back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, stomach pain. They’ve been to all the doctors, done all the tests, taken the meds, but still can’t get the pain to go away and can’t find a reason for it. As a hypnotherapist, in these types of cases I’m always looking for an emotional reason for the pain and there are many. Anxiety is one very common reason why people have pain.

Chronic pain and anxiety have a strong relationship with each other. Anxiety can cause or exacerbate chronic pain in some people. But chronic pain can also cause anxiety. According to an article titled “Depression and Anxiety in Pain” by Adam KM Woo on the National Library of Medicine website:

· Mood disorders, especially depression and anxiety, play an important role in the exacerbation of pain perception in all clinical settings.

· Anxiety negatively affects thoughts and behaviors which hinders rehabilitation.

This article goes on to make the really important point that pain is no longer seen as a problem in the body such as a lesion that is perceived by the brain as pain. Today, pain is seen from what is called a biopsychosocial model. This model for understanding pain considers not only tissue damage, (physical damage to the body), but also, psychological and environmental factors that are interacting to create the pain experience. According to an article on the Twin Cities Pain Clinic website:

People with chronic pain are three times more likely to develop symptoms of anxiety. Researchers have found that experiencing a chronic illness puts a person at increased risk for developing anxiety or an anxiety disorder.

In other words, anxiety can cause pain, and pain can cause anxiety and depression as well.

Anybody that has ever suffered from chronic pain knows that it’s very stressful. Pain can affect our jobs, our relationships and ultimately our ability to be happy. Especially if the people around you can’t understand your pain or think that you’re imagining it or that it’s “all in your head.”

Chronic, persistent anxiety can also make people more sensitive to any pain they already have. The more they focus or obsess on the pain, the worse it gets, which can in turn increase anxiety which is what we might call the negative feedback loop.

Anxiety can cause pain such as chest pains from panic attacks, stress headaches, and muscle pain.

There are several reasons for this. When we’re stressed, we feel tension in the body; our muscles are tense. This can lead to back, neck and shoulder pain. Chronic tension in the body can also lead to joint pain, as well as headaches and even migraines.

In addition, anxiety and stress trigger hormones that cause inflammation in the body which is one of the most common reasons for pain.

There’s a very popular book by an author by the name of John Sarno called Healing Back Pain, the Mind Body Connection. If you have chronic back pain, I recommend you check out this book. Sarno came up with the term Tension Myositis Syndrome or TMS. According to Wikipedia, Sarno claims that TMS is a psychosomatic illness causing chronic back, neck, and limb pain which is not relieved by standard medical treatments. (Psychosomatic medicine studies physical diseases that are believed to have a mental component derived from stresses and strains of everyday living.)

His theory is that unexplainable pain is a distraction to help people continue to repress unconscious emotional issues.

The TMS syndrome diagnosis is not accepted by the mainstream medical community but then again, the idea of the mind body connection is still not fully understood by mainstream medicine.

The idea of pain being caused by repressed emotional issues is a completely different topic that requires its own deep dive and I’m not going to go there in this episode. But if you listened to my recent podcast Episode 438 titled “5 Hidden Costs of Living with Chronic Anxiety”, then you know that some people don’t even know that they have anxiety. Could it be possible that chronic pain is the result of repressed anxiety or fear that someone may not even know that they have? I think it is possible.

In the same way, there are people that are in pain that don’t want to take the time or effort to deal with it and choose to live with it. They just block it out or try to medicate it with pain meds or other substances. This can create anxiety. This is not a recipe for a healthy happy life.

So many of us are so busy and so overwhelmed that we have lost touch with what we are feeling both physically and emotionally. We owe it to ourselves to pay attention to the signals that our body and our mind are giving us. I’ve devoted a lot of podcasts and blog posts to dealing with anxiety. Here are 3 things that I think are important for dealing with both pain and anxiety.

First, make a commitment to take better care of yourself. Good sleep, good food, exercise, and sufficient downtime can all go a long way towards mitigating or lessening pain and anxiety. I personally feel that chiropractic, acupuncture, and massage can be incredibly helpful for both body pain and anxiety.

Second, mindfulness practices such as yoga, tai chi, meditation, and deep breathing exercises are practices that are thousands of years old and proven to support a higher level of mental and physical health. There’s a yoga joint now in every city, go check one out. Every heard of Reiki? Check it out.

Third, ask for help. I know it’s hard sometimes. I know you’ve already got too much going on. I know that you feel that you don’t have the time or energy or the financial resources to get help. However, let’s focus on what’s possible instead of looking at what’s impossible. If we look for a way to make it happen, usually we can find a way. Find a therapist to help you with your anxieties and fears. Or start by seeking out a pain management specialist or start by going to your doctor if you’ve been putting that off. Start somewhere to make life better by feeling less anxious and more comfortable in your body.

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And of course, if this podcast episode resonated with you and got you thinking and possibly motivated to start addressing both pain and anxiety using the powerful tools of hypnotherapy and high-performance coaching, I invite you to request a complimentary consultation to see if what I do is a good fit for you. You can do that by going to TedMoreno.com/contact.

Here is today’s awesome quote by John Sarno:

We must learn to recognize nature’s truths even though we don’t understand them, for some of those truths may still be beyond the ability of the human mind to comprehend. What we need is a compound prescription of humility, imagination, devotion to the truth and, above all, confidence in the eternal wisdom of nature.

Thanks for being here!

Ted

The Power of Asking for What You Want– Episode 439

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I was speaking with a client last night and I told him the following story. It’s a great story, so I thought I would share it with you.

In 1987 I had a sales job that involved going into people’s homes and trying to sell them stuff. It was a very tough gig. It was the kind of deal where the managers of the business wore flashy jewelry, drove flashier cars, and yelled a lot.

I had just started on my own personal development journey and was reading books like “Think and Grow Rich”. I started to make a list of goals, and I decided that I wanted to drive a Porsche.

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Now, at this point in my life I was barely able to make my $250 rent, and this sales job was not helping. But I did what one of the books suggested and cut out a picture of a Porsche and hung it on my wall. I even knew enough to write it down, and it went something like this: “I’m driving a Porsche down I-10 listening to a Dire Straits cassette” (One of my favorite bands at the time, when everyone was using cassettes). Now, please keep in mind that I was in my 20’s, single, naïve, and a little bit of a knucklehead.

Somehow, a few months later, I managed to win a sales contest during a period of “feast” in my sales (as opposed to famine). The prize was that the winners would get flown from Phoenix, Arizona, where I lived at the time, to Huntington Beach, CA, where the owner of the company lived. We would sail with him on his yacht to Catalina Island off the coast of California, where he would treat us to a nice dinner and put us up in a hotel for the night. So we did. The next day, on the yacht while sailing back to the mainland, the owner of the company and I were talking. “So, Ted,” he asked me “What kind of car do you see yourself driving?” I definitely had an answer to that question so I told him. “I would like to drive a Porsche!”

So, we made a deal. If I agreed to open a franchise in Tucson in the next few months, he would put me in a Porsche today. “Sure!” I replied. He got on his boat phone and made a short call during which he asked me “What color?” “Red” I said.

When we arrived at Huntington Harbor, there, sitting on the dock, was a brand new, 1987 Porsche 930. Seventy-five thousand dollars’ worth of the world’s finest driving machinery, red as the blood that flows through my veins.

The owner of the company handed me the keys, I got in, and immediately drove to my parent’s house in Los Angeles to show off. I asked my dad if he had any music for me to listen to, and he gave me, you guessed it, a Dire Straits cassette. I drove back to Phoenix on I-10.

True story. Looking back, what I find interesting is that I wasn’t amazed that someone had given me the keys to a Porsche 930 to drive as my own. It didn’t occur to me that I had manifested what I wanted using visualization and affirmation. All I did was ask and I got what I asked for. When I hung the picture of the Porsche on the wall, I wasn’t feeling anxious, or wondering how I was going to get it, or worried that I wouldn’t. I just hung it there, thinking that it was a cool thing to do, visualizing myself driving this car and having fun doing it.

But there’s more to the story. The car was not given to me. The owner (a multi-millionaire) leased it and gave it to me to drive. It was my responsibility to come up with $1100 each month which included the insurance and the lease payment. That wasn’t easy with the feast or famine sales job I had.

Be Careful of What You Ask For

A few months later, in the parking lot of a pool hall where I was hanging out (a place few respectable Porsche owners would want to go), someone mangled the rear window wiper and kicked off the driver’s side view mirror. I didn’t have the $350 deductible to replace them.

I was living in an apartment complex where I was parking a $75,000 car in the parking lot. One day someone smashed the side window in a failed attempt to steal the car stereo. About a month later, I got a flat tire, but I couldn’t afford to replace it, so I drove around on the spare donut tire until I finally turned the car back in to the owner, a mere six months after I got it. It was in bad shape, and I was glad to be done with it.

The Moral of The Story

What I should have asked for was an income that allowed me to own a Porsche as well as maintain it. Instead, I asked to drive one down I-10 listening to a Dire Straits cassette, which I did. I got what I asked for.

About 20 years later, I’m looking at my hypnotherapy appointments for the week and things are looking slow. I’m feeling just a bit of anxiety. I check my email and someone I hadn’t talked to in a long time sends me a link to a Tony Robbins video. It’s a good video where Robbins talks about the use of “incantations”, which are affirmations with lots of emotion. I wrote down verbatim one that he uses, and it goes like this: “The abundance of God’s wealth is circulating in my life now. It’s wealth flows to me in avalanches of abundance. All my needs and desires and goals are met instantaneously by Infinite Intelligence where I am one with God and God is everything. ” (By the way this is something I still say every day.)

After writing this down and tweaking it a bit to match my personal belief system, I proclaimed my version of this affirmation with all the passion and energy I could muster. I also added, “My passion is helping people. People that I can help are calling me for hypnotherapy appointments.”

Within two hours two people called me to book appointments. Was it a coincidence? Maybe, but it didn’t feel like it.

I began to wonder: Why are so many of us afraid to ask for what we want and what we need?

As children we ask incessantly for what we want. Then we grow up, learn how we think the world really works, and stop asking because of resignation, cynicism, fear of rejection and fear of disappointment. Sometimes we are taught, “If someone offers to give you something you should politely decline.”

What if everyone started asking, or even demanding, what they wanted, including: an end to poverty and war, quality schools, a working health care system, health, wealth, happiness, love?

Maybe it’s all true: Ask and you will receive. Knock and the door will be opened. Think and grow rich. What you focus on expands. When you visualize you materialize. The how’s are the domain of the universe. Energy goes where attention flows. You become what you think about.

Every once in a while, I make an attempt to go back to being naive. I try to go back and re-consider the things I learned in my 20’s not as truths, but as possibilities. Such as:

· I can get what I want /need even though I might not deserve it. (check out my podcast Episode 426: What You Deserve Has Got Nothing to Do with It.)

· It’s ok for me to ask repeatedly for what I want / need because I might just get it.

· I can get what I want / need even if I don’t have the money for it.

· I might not have to work hard for what I want and need. Maybe I’ll get it just because I asked for it.

· I can take action to get what I want/need even if I don’t do it perfectly.

· The Universe, God, Infinite Intelligence, whatever you want to call it, wants to help me get what I want and need.

· Maybe, just maybe, I am the Creative Power in the flesh. Maybe I do have the power to manifest whatever I want quickly, possibly instantaneously and I just don’t know it or learned how to do that yet.

· Maybe I don’t have to worry. Maybe I just need to ask and believe. Maybe worry and anxiety is the problem when I perceive that I’m not getting what I want.

It’s not easy to train your mind to have faith in your ability to create what you want when it looks like it’s not going to happen to you. But at 64 years old, I’m still in training. I’ll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for listening, I appreciate you. Are you having trouble believing you can get what you want? Are you having trouble taking the actions you need? If so, I invite you to request a complimentary consultation to explore if working together is the best path forward for you. You can do that by going to tedmoreno.com/contact. I’ll get back to you within 48 hours.

I have two quotes for you this week. First one is from Norman Vincent Peale:

“The great secret of getting what you want from life is to know what you want and believe you can have it.”

Here’s the second one: “You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” That’s Oprah Winfrey.

Have a great day!

Ted

Want to catch up on previous episodes? Click here >

Are you having trouble believing you can get what you want? Are you having trouble taking the actions you need? If so, request a complimentary consultation to explore if working with Ted is the best path forward for you. You can do that by going to tedmoreno.com/contact.  Ted will get back to you within 48 hours.