Recent research suggests that willpower by itself is inherently limited. However most of us believe self control is largely a character issue. The area of the brain in charge of willpower, the prefrontal cortex (PFC), can become easily overtaxed; when it is overtaxed, willpower can decrease dramatically especially when you try to do too much too soon. Studies show that the PFC can be improved by focusing on 1 behavior change at a time which in turn can lead to other positive changes. One such study asked college students to improve their posture and over the course of two weeks noticed other improvements of self control happened as a consequence. The key take away here is that the PFC cannot process multiple requests to change at the same time. Some of my patients who attempted to do too many health goals at once were not successful.

Three simple steps to help you reach your health goals

1. The brain cannot handle multiple health goals at once For example, all it takes is 5 extra bits of information to decrease willpower in the PFC. One study tested willpower by having subjects choose a fruit salad or a slice of chocolate cake while keeping in mind a two digit or seven digit set of numbers. Those trying to juggle 7 digits were twice as likely to choose the cake over a fruit salad. The solution is to focus on only 1 health goal at a time. This way you not only start your health goal but continue to commit to it until it becomes a positive habit and is successful.

2. Calories do count but not in the way you think. Another study gave one set of students lemonade with artificial sweetener and the second set of students lemonade with sugar. After viewing a video all the students were tested on several self control tasks. Those given the lemonade with artificial sugar, which had 0 calories, performed tasks less successfully than those who had consumed the sugar lemonade, which contained calories. The conclusion suggests that calories are needed to supply the brain with food to function effectively and increase self control. Skipping meals to lose weight or because you are too busy only makes it harder to maintain your willpower and will often lead to overeating or eating snack foods. I recommend you plan your meals and eat at regular times throughout the day to maintain proper blood sugar levels, and nourish the brain so it supports your health goals.

3. Simple and easy exercise is more important than you think. By simple and easy exercise I mean just doing some daily physical activity to start. Why? Because exercise releases positive endorphins so you end up feeling better once you adhere to a regular activity routine. For example it could mean something as simple as a daily walk around the block or joining a gym. Exercise trigger the brain reward center which helps us feel positive, improves our mood, helps us sleep better and stimulates the flow blood to feed the brain.

Weight loss is a big issue for some of my patients. In fact many of my patients talk to me about losing weight and ask if acupuncture alone can help. I always make the joke that if acupuncture worked perfectly for weight loss by itself I wouldn’t have to work anymore. What I do know is acupuncture can help sustain your health goals in these areas:

* Feel more relaxed which reduces those anxiety induced cravings for the bad stuff * Improved focus and be better able to concentrate on your goals and daily tasks * Experience more energy that sustains your commitment to changing your behavior * Enhance your digestion which allows for a more efficient processing of your food

By combining the Three Health Goals Tips along with a series of acupuncture treatments, you will be better able to prioritize, stay committed and succeed with your health goals in 2010.

Susan Wallace is a licensed acupuncturist serving the San Francisco bay area for the last 25 years and specializes in combining acupuncture, herbs and western nutrition to maximize health. New patients receive 1 free treatment for each paid visit for the first month. For more information or to sign up for her monthly newsletter click here.

We all have our favorite comfort food. For me it’s Jack in the Box tacos and Wheat Thins. I am guessing you crave your comfort food or snack when you are tired, lonely sad or even happy. I know I do! If you had tasted this food as an adult, you most likely would never eat it again, but still you find yourself drawn to it. I know, it’s just not logical.

The logic is simple, you have an emotional attachment to the food you are craving. I can justify eating it because I think it will make me feel happy, content or calm, I am guessing you feel the same way. You may know it is not good for you, but subconsciously you think it will. After a while you start to believe the food will make you feel better and because our mind believes this, you do feel better, but the effect is not long lasting.

After a few bites, guilt kicks in. However this doesn’t stop me from finishing my first taco, or even my second. I know you know this feeling and it can be frustrating. I know I should not be eating this greasy, oddly textures taco but at the same time I really feel like eating it! I like you have the craving, desire, longing, and urge to devour that taco!

Annihilating the taco, is a habit and this habit was learned through different ways. For me, I remember being very young, seven or eight years old maybe. I was on the way to the beach in Southern California with my family. I remember my mom and aunt, talking about Jack in the Box tacos. They talked about how good and greasy they are. They would especially be perfect to buy and take to the beach to eat. We were all happy and having a good time. It was a warm, sunny day at the beach, and we were going to play and enjoy ourselves. We got the tacos and they were the most delicious tacos in the world. I remember some gritty sand getting onto some of my taco but it didn’t matter, we were having a fantastic day. Important memories which are vivid typically are more influential than the everyday mundane memories.

Even today, just the thought of getting a taco from Jack in the Box triggers good feelings which are associated with the memory. Sometimes the actual memory comes with it and sometimes it does not. It is important to understand how we relate feelings to different things in our lives, things like food, music or a voice.

For example, I used to love Aerosmith. I would listen to their songs over and over again, but never get sick of them. All this changed in the early 90’s when I took my then girlfriend to an Aerosmith concert. Things did not get well and since then I don’t care for Aerosmith much, each song reminds me of her.

It’s SoCal, the 70’s, my family has a van with pin stripes, and the interior was tangerine orange with matching carpet. Yes it makes me laugh too! I was about six years old and encountered a large black widow spider in this van. My parents made me and my brothers’ get out of the van quickly. For years I had an embarrassing fear of spiders. I was able to link it to this memory. I am now able to kill spiders, but if I see a big one I still get nervous, but nothing like it use to be.

I don’t know about you, but whenever I hear a stern voice, like my wife saying, Patrick Michael Glancy, I know I have either done something wrong or need to find something to do like hide in the garage. Most people feel like a child when they hear this tone of voice. Especially when someone uses your first, middle and last name!

The point of all this is to show you common sense examples of learned behaviors. Emotions associated with memories trigger very powerful, behind the scenes reactions and decisions in our minds. Take a moment and think about some powerful memories you have had and think about how they might relate to other things in your life.

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Relaxation plays in a key roll in leading a healthy happy life. Without relaxation it is difficult to stay on task, make good decisions, and be productive. Relaxation also has many physical benefits which include lower blood pressure, reduce muscle tension, and increased blood flow to muscle groups to name a few. Some people think relaxation takes hours, but relaxation can take place in as little as ten minutes a day.

Relaxation can happen anywhere, at work, at home or on a little deserted island off the coast of Mexico. Unfortunately not everyone can take a nice vacation to that dream island or a seven year sabbatical. Many need to learn to relax in the comfort of their own homes and lives. The key is to find something you enjoy and teach your mind to relax when you do it.

Finding the best method can be the hardest challenge on your road to relaxation. First you need to decide what sorts of things you enjoy. It could be a range of things such as surfing the web, reading, meditating or walking.

Watching TV, listening to music, surfing the web and reading all offer a break from regular day to day situations. They each create an alternative world that is entirely your own. Your mind visually escapes into a place that is different and exciting instead of dull, boring and always the same as so many of us think our lives are.

Meditation can help you learn to reflect on situations and to control your breathing to calm your mind. These techniques need to be learned and practiced in order to achieve the maximum result. Once mastered, you can relax at the drop of a hat and find inner control in as little as ten minutes.

The gym or fitness classes have an appeal to many as well. Some like to run, walk or lift weights in order to relax. Others might prefer a cycling, kick boxing or tai chi class. Running and walking burn off built up energy and are a great stress reliever, however not everyone wants to run a marathon. For them there are other classes and their purpose is relaxation, such as yoga. Many people choose to skip the classes and gym all together and simply walk their dogs in the park which offers equally as much stress relief.

The most important thing to remember when it comes to relaxation is practice. It is important to have patience! Listen to your mind and body, learn what is working for you and make note of what is not. Keep yourself motivated by remembering you are on your way to a happier and healthier lifestyle, also remember how good it feels to be doing something enjoyable.

Teaching your body something new is always a challenge, however once you get the hang of it, it is like riding a bike, your body won’t forget how. It is important to find an activity which you enjoy and know you will stick with, but you must make a conscious effort to remind and train your body to relax while performing this task. It may take time, but in the end the rewards will be fantastic for your mind, body and lifestyle.

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Conversational Hypnosis is to have the ability to induce trance in another person. Without this skill in sharp condition you will have a very difficult time improving the lives of those around you. The ability to alter the state of mind has been something you probably have been reading about and possibly practicing for some time now.

If this is true then the next logical step in your education will be to refine and sharpen the trance induction skills you have been learning. To do this you must take all the skills you have been learning and keep them as fresh in your mind as possible. Many of these skills you will be able to use in trance induction as you learn to broaden your knowledge in this area of hypnosis.

For now you let’s just focus on the basics of becoming an expert at Conversational Hypnosis. The 4 Stage Protocol along with a couple of secret tips will give you some important and basic specifics for inducing a hypnotic trance. The skills and tips in this article will nearly guarantee you the ability to send your subject and those around you into hypnotic trances. These are all skills you should already be familiar with and if you are not then a brief refresher may help before you carry on. On another note, remember that these are the basics and you will be learning many more layers of skills to add to these as your conversational hypnosis education continues.

The 4 Stage Protocol is really the meat and potatoes of getting someone into a hypnotic trance. This set of rules or concepts contain all you need in order to create hypnotic trance in another person. The first step is to Absorb Attention. No matter what hypnotic effect or process you want to do with your subject you must always first absorb their attention. Without the attention of your subject you will not be able to continue in the area of inducing a hypnosis trance. Now is the time to practice getting peoples attention.

You will learn more ways to do this as you go on to other conversational hypnosis articles, all you need to know now is you simply must be able to get a persons attention totally focused on you to bring them into an altered state of mind or hypnotic trance. The second stage in the 4 Stage Protocol is a very important one, Bypass the Critical Factor. As you have read before the critical factor is the filter of the conscious mind that criticizes and analyzes all the information being sent in from outside sources.

It is very imperative to make any type of progress with the betterment of life that you bypass the critical factor. Your listener must be able to agree and accept your suggestions on some level so you can not only seed them in but get a response from those suggestions. That brings us to the third stage, which is to Activate an Unconscious Response. This is simply getting any type of unconscious response from the person you are inducing. It can be any of the signals found in the signal recognitions system, an emotion or reaction to your suggestion that is communicated from an unconscious mind level.

A change in breathing, blinking and so on, as long as it is unconscious. This is important because without attaining the unconscious response you will have a difficult time leading it to a desired outcome. This brings you to the fourth and final stage in the 4 Stage Protocol, being to Lead the Unconscious Response to a Desired Result. When you recognize the different signals or unconscious responses you must take them and lead them to your desired end result.

That result can be a thought process, action, idea or anything you want that will help in the persons goals of life change. Now that you have been reminded of the four stages you can set those stages in the back of your mind and concentrate on how to get someones attention. The fixation of attention can be done in many different ways. The method you use largely depends on the person and circumstance you are currently in.

You can attract their attention by telling them something that will interest them. You can attract their attention by asking questions that instill some curiosity. You can attract them down the rabbit hole by showing them something they want so they in turn want to follow you. All these are ways of attracting attention. The above list of ways to attract attention is great but sometimes it is just good to be direct. Simply ask them to direct their attention to what it is you are saying, doing or asking them to do. Humans generally like to comply, most like to please others and in asking a very direct and easy thing will certainly get your listeners eager attention.

Being simple and direct in asking for attention may seem like a contradiction since in Conversational Hypnosis you are usually trying to learn how to be indirect. But if you take a step back and think about the greatest hypnotists like Milton Erickson and others even they knew when to be direct. They knew when to just simply make a direct request of a subject.

Being very direct is one of the best secrets in hypnosis. You should have no reason not to be direct, and often it can give you the best results. Making a clear concise request without embarrassment or hesitation is an important way to start in getting peoples attention. The second secret in hypnosis that relates to this is to learn how to move from being very direct to indirect as you improve your skill. After you have refined your ability to get attention with directness you will learn to move to more indirect ways of still getting the desired attention you need.

This is a way to make things less blatant and more smooth, more like they are taking place in the background of what you are really doing. You will learn how to accomplish the art of absorbing attention with more subtle communications. These things will happen in the background of conversation and be harder to spot by your listener. This is something that you will want to move on to after you have mastered the direct routes of absorbing attention. Do you want to learn more about hypnosis? If you can handle having real power over others conversational hypnosis training might just be for you.

If you can handle having power over people you might like this course called “The Power of Conversational Hypnosis which contains 16 CD’s worth of killer hypnosis secrets. This “ Power of Conversational Hypnosis Course” is brand new. There is nothing like this course anywhere.