December 2022 – Allison Biel

Happy 2023

I hope you all had an enjoyable and peaceful Christmas period regardless of how you celebrated the time of year.

The New Year looks uncertain and does not seem that it will be any better year than 2020, 2021 or 2022. The pandemic has, thankfully, become less deadly but the war in Ukraine has caused financial and energy insecurity virtually worldwide.

While you can’t always change your environment, you can change yourself. So, New Year – new you? This can be a good time to make changes to your life style and mind set. As Benjamin Franklin (Founding Fathers of the United States) said, “Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbours, and let every New Year find you a better man”.

What would you change about yourself if you could? Perhaps stop smoking, lose weight, be less stressed and anxious, be more confident, overcome a fear or phobia, tackle your insomnia, start / grow your business or delve into past lives?

Hypnotherapy can help with all these things. As Monty Don (British Horticulturist, Broadcaster and Writer) put it, “I use the period between Christmas and New Year to potter about, think and completely change my mind set. In that easy no-man’s-land between Boxing Day and New Year, loins are girded and mettle readied. It is time, as we voyagers bid farewell to the old year, to fare forward”.

So happy New Year everyone. And if you think Hypnotherapy can help you make changes to your life then contact me to discuss it further.

Christmas Time

If you live in a Christian dominated country or community you will not have escaped the fact that it’s nearly Christmas. So, I wanted to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy, prosperous, New Year. Although it is a Christian festival many people of different faiths enjoy this time and join in.

If you live in the northern hemisphere it’s associated with winter and brings some much needed light and joy to a cold and dark time of year. In the southern hemisphere, where I grow up, it’s more about holidays and barbeques on the beach.

But at this time of year it is also important to remember that not everyone enjoys Christmas. Perhaps you have to work during this time or it’s because of circumstances (financial worries, loneliness or loss) or you just dislike Christmas. So, I wanted to explore some of the alternative festivals at this time of year.

Firstly, Festivus is a secular holiday celebrated on December 23 as an alternative to the tradition and commercialism of the Christmas season. It was originally created in 1966 by author Daniel O’Keefe, (American writer) and entered popular culture after it was made the focus of the 1997 Seinfeld episode ‘The Strike’ which O’Keefe’s son, Dan O’Keefe (American television writer and producer), co-wrote. As depicted in Seinfeld it includes a Festivus dinner, an unadorned aluminium Festivus pole as well as practices such as the “airing of grievances” , “feats of strength” and the labelling of easily explainable events as “Festivus miracles’. The episode also refers to it as “a Festivus for the rest of us”.

Next, Kwanzaa lasts from December 26 until January 1 and it values and celebrates African customs and culture. It was started by Maulana Karenga in 1966 who was then the professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University. Concerned by events in America at the time, including civil unrest, he created Kwanzaa as an attempt to bring African-Americans closer together. It seeks to celebrate and remember the traditional values of their ancestors. It is also a way of fighting the commercialism of Christmas.

Traditionally, each family has its own Kinara, a candle holder for seven candles. Each candle represents a values of the African Culture one of the principles that is celebrated. The first candle to be lit is the black candle that stands at the centre of the Kinara. This candle represents the principle of unity. The other principles are self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.

As Winston Churchill (British Statesman) said, “Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection”. So, regardless of how you choose to spend this time of year, try to have fun, rest and reflect on the year past. Be with friends and family and try to remember those not as fortunate as yourself.

Bright Side Day

Look on the Bright Side Day is a yearly event celebrated on December 21. This day is all about being positive and optimistic. And it comes at a very suitable time of the year in the northern hemisphere as the date is also the winter solstice when the days are shortest. Basically this is the darkest and often most depressing point of winter. From here the days get longer each day and spring will soon be on the horizon.

The day is about trying to help you to not be negative and encourages us to look for the positive side to any situation or circumstance. And there are benefits from being more optimistic in life. Not only does it benefit you mentally, but it can also improve your physical health as well. Research has shown that in the long run, being more optimistic can lead to greater personal success, greater longevity and decreased stress.

As Margaret Trudeau (Canadian Activist) said, “We can choose to wake up and grumble all day and be bitter and angry and judge others and find satisfaction in others doing bad instead of good. Or we can we wake up with optimism and love and say, ‘Just what is this beautiful day going to bring me?’”.

This year has been a difficult and challenging one for many of us. But now is a time to think about the New Year with optimism and make plans to improve your life and those of the people around you.

But it’s not always so easy to remain positive. What do you do when you feel sorry for yourself or that life is not being fair to you? Well, you might not always think so, but things could be worse. Psychologists have confirmed that remembering what we’re grateful for promotes cheerful emotions. Another idea is to write a gratitude journal so that you think about the positive things that happen in your life and can more easily remember them.

Now this is all good advice, but we won’t be happy and positive all the time. If you are struggling, there are some things you can do to help yourself. Firstly, realise it’s OK to not be OK. Remember you are not alone. Tell someone you trust, perhaps a friend or family member, how you feel. Make sure you get the basics right – make time for yourself, eat as healthily as possible, get plenty of sleep, exercise and connect with loved ones. These should help you to feel better. And if necessary, seek professional help. If you are in need of immediate help, then click here for a list of crisis lines from around the world.

If you or someone you know is struggling with low mood, depression, anxiety or stress then Hypnotherapy can help. Contact me for more information.

Monthly Meditation

I have been asked to give a monthly meditation for the North East of England Connecting Consciousness group over Zoom. Each month I will do a meditation with a useful and interesting theme, such as healing or relaxation.

The Connecting Consciousness Group is a grass roots organisation for people who recognise that the development on this planet is not always to the benefit of all mankind. Specifically, they recognise that current structures are not necessarily responsive to people or the planet, and they seek to solve global challenges through physical and spiritual development, education and governance.

The Connecting Consciousness group seeks to encourage and support people on their learning journey to become awakened to the world around them, to develop their understanding of who they are and their true position within the world, and thus to help humanity and all life move forward in a positive way.

I will be putting each mediation on my You Tube channel. Each is about forty to fifty minutes long because as Francis de Sales (1567 – 1622. Bishop of Geneva and saint of the Catholic Church) said, “Half an hour’s meditation each day is essential, except when you are busy. Then a full hour is needed”.

I hope you all find them useful. Below are two of the first three meditation. One is about healing and victimisation, while the second one is about relaxation and the release of negative energy. Each one is free, but please remember to like and subscribe.

Creativity – the Power of Sleep

I have been doing some work recently with a client to help them boost their creativity and I thought I would share some of my thoughts and experience. I have also written recently about the different types of brainwaves and how they reflect what the brain is doing and the great Thomas Edison who used sleep and other techniques to sustain his amazing pace of invention.

We all have had situations where you are trying to solve a problem or remember something and we just can’t do. So, we stop thinking about it and do something else and the answer comes to us. Be it driving on the motorway, showering or brushing our teeth anytime you are doing something you don’t have to think too deeply about your theta brainwaves rise and your subconscious is engages. And then, Eureka! That’s your subconscious working on the problem and serving up the answer.

And letting your subconscious work on a problem is a very powerful way to come up with new ideas and solve problems. Albert Einstein (German born Theoretical Physicist) clearly knew about this as he said, “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it”.

Another time when we can unleash this creative power is when we are half asleep, either when waking or falling asleep. I recently wrote about Thomas Edison and how he used sleep. So, mentally run through the day’s challenges first thing in the morning while you are still in this state or last thing at night as you start to fall asleep. This sets the agenda for your subconscious and can bring incredible results.

If you have a specific problem then just as you become conscious in the morning, but while your eyes are closed and your brain’s still dreamy, think of the issue. Don’t try to force your thoughts but do remain focused and relaxed. You might get a few useful ideas or perhaps a flash of inspiration. These ideas can come in a rush and are usually free of internal censorship. You might need your conscious mind to polish them up a little.

A word of advice, these ideas and inspirations, because they are born of theta waves can be short lived and fleeting. So, have a notepad by your bed or quickly grab your phone and take notes or make a voice recording.

It is possible to have periods of theta wave activity and creativity during the waking hours. This can be when your mind is not activate, perhaps while watching TV or exercising. These periods typically last up to 15 minutes before the conscious mind checks in for a bit. This can be an extremely productive time and can be a period of meaningful and creative mental activity.

So, in summary, eat, sleep, solve problems and repeat. If you are struggling with a lack of creativity or sleep then hypnotherapy can help. Contact me for more details.

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Decision Fatigue

Decision fatigue is a phrase made popular by John Tierney (American Journalist). It refers to the declining quality of choices made by an individual over a long session of decision making. It is one of the causes of irrational trade-offs in decision making. Decision fatigue may also lead to consumers making poor purchase choices.

Decision fatigue is thought to be a result of unconscious, psychobiological processes and is a reaction to prolonged cognitive, emotional or decisional load. Decision fatigue is an emergent idea, but his does have potential application in fields of industry, psychology and healthcare.

There is an interesting paradox to do with choice. Namely, that if we lack choice we want more choice and may even fight for it. But, people that have too much choice can become stressed and mentally exhausted. In the book The Paradox of Choice – Why More Is Less, by American psychologist Barry Schwartz he argues that eliminating consumer choices can significantly reduce anxiety in shoppers. The book analyses the behaviour of different types of people facing broad choice and concludes that paradoxically choice becomes a problem instead of a solution. This feelings right to me as you can worry that you may not have made the right choice, make decisions more slowly and can quickly become exhausted and “just pick one”.

One solution to this problem, adopted by such people as Barack Obama (Former President of the united States, Steve Jobs (co-founder and former Chairman, and CEO of Apple) and Mark Zuckerberg (co-founding the social media company Facebook), is to reduce their everyday as much as possible. This included having just one or two clothing choices in order to limit the number of decisions they make in a day.

A friend of mine has adopted this approach to low level, unimportant, decisions. He eats the same breakfast and lunch each working day and wears similar suits, shirts and ties. And he reports that eliminating these trivial decisions has meant he is less fatigued and fresher at the end of the day. It’s only at weekends or on his days off that he really lives a vibrant and varied life.

And there is some scientific merit to this idea. It has been suggested that decision fatigue is a symptom, or perhaps a result of ego depletion. This is the idea that your self-control or willpower draws upon a limited amount of mental resources that can become used up. When the energy for mental activity is low, self-control is typically impaired and this would be considered a state of ego depletion.

Interestingly, Salt Bae (Turkish Chef) put is quite well when he said, “Being tired isn’t anything. What’s important is the mind. The body being tired isn’t important. You can get over the body being tired by resting for a half-hour or an hour. What’s important is whether the mind is tired”.

So, in the spirit of Henry David Thoreau (American icon, Author, Environmentalist, and Abolitionist), keep things simple and uncomplicated. Thoreau was an advocate of living simply and wrote a number of books on the subject. He followed the philosophies of simplifying life in both mental and material ways. It’s certainly something to think about.