In hypnosis, like many therapies, the use of language is really important. It has an impact when the client is in hypnosis as well as building rapport while we are understanding the concerns.
However, in hypnosis the use of positive language has a very specific reason. It all has to do with the way your subconscious mind processes language.
If we think of the subconscious mind a bit like a literal tool. It does not have the type of functioning that the rational mind has. That’s because it does not really “rationalise” in that way. So the subconscious takes everything we say literally – this makes for some interesting “presenting issues”!
As a result, in hypnosis the hypnotherapist must be extremely cautious in their language. We learn to always state outcomes and desires in the positive.
Instead of saying “you will not feel anxious anymore” we say “you are enjoying a wonderful feeling of calmness and having a stable mood all day”. The reason we do that is because the subconscious mind will simply “grab” onto the negative word and resonate with that word. That’s not what we want to achieve.
However, even outside of hypnosis it is a good idea to get into the habit of stating in the positive. This is because even what we say rationally has a habit of sinking down into the subconscious mind and helping in turn to create our reality.
An exercise my clients do with me is we work out what is the optimal state they would like to be in. Then we develop an entire language for that. If a client says “I want to be more energetic” or “I want to feel more enthusiastic” a simple way to do this is to develop the language of those states.
Now it would be extremely boring to be repeating “enthusiastic” or “energetic” over and over so what I suggest to my clients is to use Google Thesaurus and develop 20 or more words that are synonyms of their desired state. So easy to do and then they just practice adding these words into their everyday conversations and talk. They can add more words as they go.
Did you know that when others hear words they feel the same state? This can be life changing for clients to experience. The more you use the words of energy, enthusiasm or whatever it is that you want to feel the more others around you start to feel like that. Soon you are reflecting all this everywhere and your life changes rapidly.
It is also a fun exercise to do – why not try this today?