Learning from 2009

As the few remaining days of 2009 tick by, I wonder how this year, and the last decade will be viewed by history. I wonder how history will view world events; view our country, our politicians, and our society? I wonder if we will be brave enough to look at ourselves and what we have and haven’t done.

Time will tell, I hope our leaders will learn from it. I hope we as individuals will learn from our past too, because it is only by remembering our past actions and our inaction that we can feel sure footed enough going into our future. As long as we learn from the mistakes, and avoid them in the future, as long as we build on the positive times, we can move into the next year and decade better than we leave this one.

Those of us who take an interest in the news headlines and look a little deeper, will not be surprised that our society is going to have some testing times over the coming few years. Economically we can expect hardships, those who are hoping to avoid those hardships will, in the main be disappointed, for only a small percentage of individuals will be untouched by the pending economic storm.

For the rest of us, it will be a case of heads down and hard work. We will need to develop innovative products and services for our businesses to survive. We will have to learn self development methods to meet the challenges which will inevitable be faced, and we will have to take responsibility for our selves.

None of the above however is beyond us; we are more than capable of meeting the economic storm which is gathering. We have done so in the past, and we will do so again. On a personal level, I developed my IBS Audio Program 100 because there was a real need for it, and the many other programs I have developed over the years were developed because there is a real need for them. Some of them I hope will be used to help us to rise to the challenges to come. Dealing with the disappointments and negative emotions of being made redundant is an obvious example. Developing greater confidence and self esteem will be necessary for many people. Dealing with anxiety should be high on the to do list too. For those who struggle with irritable bowel syndrome IBS and its physical and emotional symptoms may well find the symptoms become worse during stressful times and events and considering new options of choice may be needed.

Every day of my working life I meet and work with people who are prepared to learn, to let go of old negative thought patterns, who invest in their own self development, learning to meet challenges in their every day lives and relationships.

Meeting the challenges of highly stressful events at work, and out of work, I work with people who have chosen to take responsibility for them selves, and to help themselves to live a happier, more comfortable and more balanced life.

Some of them come from difficult backgrounds and up bringing, others just setting out on life, in their teens and early twenties but all of them exhibit one thing, a common thread through them all, and that is one of an inner strength, an inner resource which has helped them to over come, sometimes even the word survive is not to strong for some of their journeys, but that strength is there, and they have chosen to use it to help them to move on, to something better, and invariably they are successful, because they know and realise that they can do, and be better, than they are when we first meet.

And that same strength I believe is in each and every one of us. I believe that each and every one of us, regardless of background can achieve more, if we first identify the need and desire to move on, and then act upon it. Finding what we need to help us to move on, identify what we want to achieve and then find the help, in whatever form to help us be more balanced and productive human beings.

So when we see the headlines in the papers and on the news in the coming months, let us remind ourselves that headlines sell papers, and grab attention, but let us remember that we can choose to be victors or victims, we can choose to wait and see, or we can choose to go out and grab what we want, and as long are we are not scared of hard work, and don’t always expect a quick fix, if we have patience, but also a drive to move on, then we can look forward to something better.

I see the possibilities very day with patients, and receive emails from people using my programs who have trusted themselves to make a difference. And usually it all starts by acknowledging the past, and learning from it, and then moving on in a different way to create a better life for themselves and their families, and therefore a better future too. And this often ripples out and touches those around them too.

My hope for 2010 and beyond is that we use what we have learned from the past, to map a better, brighter future for ourselves and society in general.

2010 New Year, New Hope?

What do you expect 2010 to bring you and those you love?

Are you one of those people who simply ‘go with the flow’ and believes you just have to put up with whatever life throws at you? Or are you someone who decides what you want and goes out and gets it?

Which ever type of personality you are, both individual types have the ability to achieve what you want to achieve?

The secret, if it is a secret is to simply believe what you want is achievable, learn the skills needed to help you on your journey and go for your goal.
If you are out of work for example, do something to help yourself stand out from the crowd, to make yourself a more attractive selection to a new employer. Consider becoming self employed, can you adapt a hobby or pass time into a business venture? What do you need to help yourself in the job market?

My audio program ‘Laid Off, Move On’ for those made jobless through redundancy is perhaps something for you to consider.

What impact would it make on your CV and in your job interview if you could say:
“You realised, while unemployed you had to stand out from the crowd, to become a better proposition to a new employer, and so you invested in yourself (both in time and money) by learning about releasing negative thought patterns and destructive self limiting beliefs related to being unemployed, so you could concentrate better, become more confident in your abilities recognising that you are valuable and that you have retained those skills and talents and experience”.

How would that sound, especially if this investment in yourself reduced the time it took for you to be trained in your new role, integrating more quickly, learning new policy and procedures more readily, and generally having no baggage from the previous period of joblessness, helping you to be a more rounded and balanced individual.

Another plus for your new employer would be reducing the time spent managing or over-seeing you in your new job role, not only making you productive more quickly, but also reducing the dilution of existing resources within the new company, returning the individual training you to full productivity more quickly, this is a definite win-win situation for your, your employer and your future and loved ones.

And at least something to consider! If you have found this useful, visit my Hypnotes section of writings which may help to inspire you, or at least give you ‘food for thought’.

Visit my site Healthy Audio

2010 the begining of the Decade of Anxiety

One newspaper article today has called the next decade ‘the decade of anxiety’. With the continuing demands and pressures which most ordinary individuals have been facing through much of last year, all of this year, and with the same or worse to look forward to over the next few years it might be a fair comment.

But, I really do hope that we don’t talk ourselves into even more doom and gloom, we seem to have done a good job of doing that when the recession was looming, all the headlines of doom and gloom, the widely off the mark projected deaths due to swine flu which fortunately were drastically reduced when level headedness returned, all contributed to high levels of anxiety in the general population.

However it is fair to say the next few years will be difficult for most of us, anxiety will be running high, especially if interest rates start to rise in the spring as predicted. Unemployment rates are also not expected to get any better in the next 12-18 months, even if the UK comes out of recession soon.

So I can see the foundations of the statement of the decade of anxiety, but one thing the writer did not mention is what we can do for ourselves. We can help our selves, we don’t have to simply sit by and let circumstances over take us. For those who do feel anxious help is available though my Anxiety Audio Program 120, a major self help anxiety treatment program.

For those that are jobless, the first step to getting back into employment or self employment is to acknowledge the negative and harmful emotions that are so often associated to being laid off, if these are not acknowledged there is a risk of secondary or causal depression to creep in, sabotaging recovery and ability to move one. My Laid Off, Move On program was developed specifically to help in such situations.

For many, whether employed or not, confidence and self esteem are often affected by circumstances at home, in the work place or due to economic or social circumstances. Without confidence and self esteem life can be difficult, self limiting and self sabotaging. See my confidence and self esteem program to help you structure a new or re-learned approach to developing your confidence again.

2010 will be full of opportunity as well as some challenges and it is for each and every one of us to embrace the opportunities, and equip ourselves with the skills to enhance our already existing talents, gifts and knowledge to help us overcome or get around the challenges.

Whatever you do this Christmas, I wish you peace and happiness and good health and prosperity in the New Year.

Hypnotherapy & Cancer workshop

After a very busy couple of weeks my feet have finally touched the ground again and I felt had to write about my visit to Swansea on the weekend of 5 / 6 December to deliver my workshop on working with cancer patients. A workshop for hypnotherapists in practice who want to know more about the benefits and uses of hypnotherapy with cancer patients.

At the request of Alan & Bridgette of Zodiac Therapy of Swansea
I re-visited them again after a trip in the summer when I delivered a workshop on the benefits and uses of hypnotherapy with Irritable Bowel Syndrome patients.

The feedback from attendees has been welcome and positive, and I look forward to my visits again in Swansea in 2010 (see Zodiac Therapy website) for cancer and IBS workshops. If you can't make it to Swansea see my site for information

Watch out for my new workshop on IBS in Children and also practice development.
To all those who attended the workshop many thanks for your kind words.