| As I tried coping with breakup, I wondered what | | | | perpetual sleep, a kind of coma? With more |
| could I do to get my girlfriend back? This question | | | | reading I discovered that there was a definite |
| was burning in my mind. On the phone she had | | | | design for self hypnosis. |
| said she thought we should move on with our | | | | Here is a pattern that works: |
| lives. I asked what she meant and got the | | | | Prepare an affirmation and print it on a card. It |
| answer I was dreading: "I don't think we should | | | | should be brief, in the present tense and contain |
| see one another anymore," she said. "But we can | | | | no negative terms. An example would be "I am |
| still be friends." I remember freezing. I tried to | | | | always confident." |
| speak, but became tongue tied. My lack of | | | | *Sit in a chair facing a wall. Gaze at an imaginary |
| confidence was apparent. All this time I was | | | | spot on the wall. |
| thinking: I don't want to lose my girlfriend, and if I | | | | *Hold up the card with your affirmation, reading |
| do, how can I get my girlfriend back? | | | | the card silently. |
| After much pleading with my girl to explain her | | | | *Begin counting backward from 10 to 1. Take |
| change of heart, she finally spelled it out for me. I | | | | deep breaths slowly. |
| lacked confidence. In short, I was a wimp. The | | | | *When you reach one, you tell yourself that you |
| question now posed was how would I gain | | | | are entering a relaxed state and your head falls |
| confidence? It so happened that around this time | | | | forward. |
| I had developed an interest in self hypnosis. I had | | | | *You drop the affirmation card, but the |
| read several volumes on the subject but had | | | | affirmation continues to circulate in your |
| never actually tried it out on myself. | | | | consciousness. |
| This was an opportunity. I could increase my self | | | | *You tell yourself you will go deeply into this state |
| confidence through self hypnosis. Why not? There | | | | and that in three-five minutes you will feel a |
| were documented cases of women giving birth in | | | | strong urge to wake up. It is a though someone |
| a hypnotic state. There were even amputations | | | | is calling you. |
| performed, using only hypnosis. Esdaile, for | | | | *You begin counting up from 5 to 1 and when |
| example, had practiced as a surgeon in India | | | | you reach one, you will be wide awake and feel |
| during the 1830s, and he had performed hundreds | | | | super confident. |
| of amputations using only hypnosis as an | | | | I tried this for two weeks and made periodic |
| anesthetic. | | | | checks on my confidence level. I discovered I |
| Chloroform was not available to Esdaile. When he | | | | was doing things I never thought I could do. I |
| returned to England, he was severely criticized for | | | | discovered that I loved downhill skiing, jujitsu |
| using a practice not recognized by the medical | | | | training, and mastering Italian so I could better |
| establishment. So I reasoned that if hypnosis could | | | | appreciate some operas I loved. |
| be used with such phenomenal results, why could | | | | I began to discover new ways to earn money |
| it not be used to build confidence? How would it | | | | and developed a passion for traveling. After while |
| work? I vaguely understood hypnosis, but I had | | | | I was having so much fun that I virtually forgot |
| questions about self-hypnosis. | | | | that my original goal was to find a way to get |
| Even if I could put myself in a trance, how would | | | | my girlfriend back. |
| I get out of it? Did I run the risk of staying in a | | | | |