Welcome to the Alan Gray Scarborough Hypnotherapy Blog!

4th May 2010

The Law of Attraction

In this issue Alan comments on the Personal Development concept the Law of Attraction (LOA), sometimes referred to as the 'Law of Abundance'. Now for those people who want to make progress in their lives, the LOA has many virtues. Simply put, it means we attract to us what we perceive and believe. This is because we can programme our subconscious mind to literally achieve whatever we want in our life. This can be abundance in a broad sense, material things, good health, wealth, better relationships, relief from stress, career development, lifestyle changes, and last, but by know means least, Happiness.

In fact LOA is not a new concept, but initially stems from Hinduism. Since ancient days it has evolved into a practical approach to developing the power of the mind. More particularly, it programmes the subconscious mind to change your life in a positive way. It's based on the belief that you get what you expect to get. To achieve at a higher level you should importantly bring the power of your emotions into your life expectations.

Combine this with the focus of visualisation and you have strong motivation and magnetic attraction. Indeed a logical reason for seeking goals is rarely sufficient, you need emotions to be turbocharged! There are, of course, a number of steps in this process and I would recommend reading You Can Attract It (Using the Law of Attraction to Get What You Want) by Steve G Jones & Frank Mangano. Both of these authors have very successfully applied the technique to their own lives.

Anti-Ageing Strategies

The second subject of this blog is Anti-Ageing. Of course, we all want to live a long life. That long life should however also be active both mentally and physically. We want to age slowly and hold on to good health.

Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. World Health Organisation, 1948

Although your body may appear just as a physical entity, it is also a creation of your thoughts. At the basic level it is pure energy. Your mind and your thoughts have a considerable influence in controlling your body in every sense - from muscles, to hormones, to physical & emotional feelings.

We can exert control over our thoughts and emotions in a way which actually improves our health, well-being and longevity. The mind is all powerful and what the mind believes the body tends to obey. To optimise our health naturally we need to take account of the totality of our human condition. This includes nutrition, exercise, stress reduction and positive thinking. Such a preventative approach to longevity will also minimise our increasing dependence on medications. All of these actions take a little practice, but are achievable and worthwhile by everyone seeking health, success and happiness in their life.

9th June

From time to time we need to be reminded how precious life is - and how important the many things we take for granted are. A week last Sunday I thought my life had reached an end! No, I'm not in bad health, in fact I've never felt better. I was involved in a yachting incident with two friends. In gale force winds our 40ft boat was rolling around without steering - the mechanism developed a mechanical fault. My friend, who has 35 years experience of sailing and been around the world on yachts, said it was the worst situation he'd been in! We called out the Humber lifeboat and very thankfully got back to land at 5am on the Bank Holiday Monday. So I'm pleased to be alive and completely well! When I was last on Scarborough South Bay you bet I put some money in the lifeboat fund - they all do a fantastic job!!

It will not have ascaped your attention that David Cameron wants and needs to cut public spending in a big way. The NHS spends £8,000 million a year on drugs (some 11% of the total health spend). I just wonder how much of this massive expendure is wasted. Take anti-depressants. Recent research by Hull University has shown them to be of very limited value in resolving (or even masking) clinical depression. Many give unpleasant side-effects and it is not uncommon for patients just to take them for a few days. The result is dumped and wasted resources. The drug companies might count these dumped pills as a 'sale', it fact it's wasted public money. The same comment might also apply to some other medications. Should our health service be driven by drugs? It's a health form of overborrowing, an illusion of progress. There are more natural solutions. Yes, drugs can be beneficial in certain conditions. I've been glad of antibiotics more than once, but we need to view them realistically.

Another area I find fascinating is that of the role of the so-called unconscious mind. Now we can't actually pinpoint where it is in our brain, but it's there and has a massive influence on our lives. Those 'little voices' determine our individual belief system and, often through the mind-body connect, our health. Psychosomatic illness is very common and the unconscious is central to this. I see and help many clients who are unconsciously troubled. So next weekend I'm spending time with Robert Nairn one of the world experts in unconscious matters, in particular the growing body of evidence to support the concept of Mindfulness. What I learn here will be integrated into sessions with clients. Our unconscious has evolved for a purpose. Our automatic thoughts move around through the past, present and future and can taint our enjoyment of life itself - the reality of the present. We can, however, do something about this and gain more control in our lives. Enter hypnotherapy.