Fear and Self-Doubt: Get Rid of Them and Go Achieve Some Things

Why is it that some people achieve seemingly impossible things while others shy away at the smallest challenge? Why is it that only a tiny percentage of the world population go on to accomplish some extraordinary things in their lifetime, while the rest simply tick along from birth to death?
I wonder what it is that we are so afraid of, and how we can break through the barriers that are keeping us safe, but not necessarily happy, so that we can go accomplish some amazing things.
Now, when I say "accomplish some amazing things" I am not saying we all have to head for the Arctic, climb the highest mountain possible, or cross the most treacherous desert... I am talking about those things you've always wanted to do: lose that extra weight, get a new job, speak at that event, meet that special person, travel around the world... whatever it is that you really want to do, what's stopping you?
My guess is that it is not lack of desire. I am sure you want it, badly. Maybe you need some resources, may be you need some skills, a little direction or support to help you along the way. But even if you had everything you need, would you actually get into action and make things happen? My experience with clients has led me to believe that even when they have everything they need, most people still hesitate.
There are two types of people I deal with in my practice. The first type will say "Anna, just tell me what to do and I'll do it". So I tell them what to do, and they go do it. This is a rare occurrence.
The second type can have all the money they need, all the time, all the resources and support... and still, they are paralysed, crippled by fear and self-doubt.
The infamous "what if": what if I lose weight and then I put it all back on? What if I go for that job and I don't get it? What if I talk to that girl and she rejects me? etc...
Some of the most ridiculous questions one could ask oneself. Not very useful at all, especially if you want to succeed at anything.
See, according to scientists we are born with only two innate fears: the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises, every other fear we've learned. Fear of failure, fear of embarrassment, fear of rejection... It's not any of those things that make us afraid. It is the meaning we have learned to give those things.
Throughout history, fear has played an important role in taming the masses. Religion, the government, the education system, the media, our own families... they all have contributed to building many of the irrational fears we hold on to.
I was brought up in a household full of those: fear of what other people will think or say, fear of taking risks or doing anything out of the ordinary, fear of poverty, fear of failure... all the ingredients necessary for a lifetime full of misery!
But we don't want to be miserable. We want to be happy. So it's time we free ourselves of whatever bullshit we've been holding on to, it's time to get over our fears and self doubt so we can finally go achieve those things we want to achieve.
Some fears have been so ingrained in our subconscious that it takes time and effort to recondition our mind into thinking more usefully. However, from my experience with clients, the main factor in overcoming any fear is reaching a point when you've just had enough. A point when you think about whatever it is that makes you afraid and you go "this is ridiculous!".
I left Spain for Ireland almost fourteen years ago, at age twenty two, with a one way plane ticket and three hundred pounds in my pocket. To this day clients and friends ask me: weren't you afraid to come over on your own to a new country where you didn't know anyone? Hell yes I was afraid! But I was more afraid to go back to what I'd left behind: a life of mediocrity, negativity, and stupid fears that made no sense to me. The thought of having to go back was enough of a propulsion system for me to do anything, anything to make it work for myself here.
Sometimes, as author Susan Jeffers says, you have to feel the fear and do it anyway. Because once you've taken action, the closer you get to your objective, the more you're going to want it. And any silly fears you may have left, will simply dissipate.
Also, you have to be willing to fail and don't let failure affect your ego. Because failure is not a reflection of who you are, it's just a message to try again and do something different this time.
If you're struggling with an issue, if you really want to do something that self-doubt or fear has been keeping you from doing, I recommend you take it head on. Don't let past failures, other people's fears or insecurities, the economy, or whatever excuse you've been making get in your way.
Failure is necessary for success. Anyone who has succeeded at anything has had to take risks. With risk comes failure. And with failure comes success.
So, if you've failed before, so what! You better try as much as you can in this life, because once you die, you'll have no more chances.

Anna Aparicio is regarded as Ireland's top female IINLP/Hypnosis Coach. She uses Neuro-linguistic Programming, Hypnosis and other psychology tools to develop profound and lasting changes in your life. As a Self-image and Confidence Expert, she specialises in: weight loss, eliminating cravings and overeating, boosting confidence and motivation, time management... Anna has featured on RTE's The Afternoon Show as The Confidence Coach, is regularly published in top Irish lifestyle publications, and is highly recommended by The Irish Institute of NLP.

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Should Hypnosis Be Used To Recover Memories? Can Hypnosis Induce False Memory Syndrome?

Ok... In a nutshell... No, hypnosis should not be used to recover memories and yes, hypnosis does increase the chances of false memory syndrome.
With those two statements stated, I better explain myself, hadn't I?
Hypnosis is at the centre of this debate, and a hearty one it is too, mainly because it is one of the most researched and most popular techniques used for recovering memories.
In fact, in 1995, Poole, Lindsay, Memon and Bull conducted a survey that demonstrated that roughly a third of all psychologists in the US used hypnosis to help their patients to recall memories of sexual abuse.
There is a growing body of evidence to suggest that there are many problems of false recall associated with hypnosis, yet many of the hypnotherapists I encounter today still think hypnosis should be used to recover memories. In fact, at the recent NCH extravaganza, when Irving Kirsch was speaking, he asked the audience of hypnotherapists to raise their hands if they used regression techniques, my students reported that they all kept their hands down despite most in the room having them raised.
Hypnotherapists need to know that using hypnosis to recover memories can actually lead to the patient creating new material and adding it to the existing memories they have. There is a huge body of scientific and medical information available that shows the very nature of memory being so malleable means that hypnosis usage could result in the creation and implanting of false memories. Studies by both Lynn and McConkey in 1998 and Lynn and Nash in 1994 demonstrate this clearly.
In other articles I have written about regression, I mentioned the reconstructive nature of memory and do refer to the Lynn and McConkey study of 1998 for more information on this. It is very much the consensus among cognitive scientists that this is the case.
You see, not only is memory unreliable, but people have such belief in the reliability of their memories to such an extent that we are capable of creating false memories, even if a therapist is greatly skilled at not leading the patient in any way, shape or form. Further studies that confirm this have been conducted by Laurence and Perry in 1983 and Barnier and Sheehan in 1998.
False memories can easily be created without hypnosis, of course they can. Yet many therapists continue to believe that hypnosis somehow brandishes the absolute truth when it comes to memory recall, and the truth is actually a tad more sinister.
In 1994 Erdelyi reviewed 34 studies, and Steblay and Bothwell reviewed 24 studies and throughout they showed that hypnosis does increase the actual volume of recall... With that volume of recall comes much more incorrect as well as correct information and data! The studies revealed however, that hypnotic recall is no more accurate than nonhypnotic recall... But, when recalled hypnotically, people tended to be more confident in the reliability of the memory! Uh-oh!
The Steblay and Bothwell study showed that hypnosis produces a lot more errors in memory recall and more volume of memories that had false information in them. There are lots more studies that support this.
Even researchers and individuals that openly state hypnosis is good for aiding recall have been unable to prove it! Some of these proponents have suggested that emotional arousal is required, yet a study in 997 by Lynn et al, showed that hypnosis does not improve recall of emotionally arousing events and what's more... Being highly emotional does not affect hypnotic recall either!
Out of everything that I have read and examined, probably the most damning evidence for using hypnosis to recall memories comes from the research conducted by Nash, Drake, Wiley, Khalsa and Lynn in 1986. In this study, they attempted to match up (prove) memories of participants who had been age-regressed using hypnosis.
The participants were regressed using hypnosis (there was a control group too) and taken to the age of 3 to a scene where they were with their mothers. The participants described items and objects that were present. The actual mothers were then asked to verify what was in the scene. The hypnotised participants in the study were less able than those in the control group (the nonhypnotised people asked to do the same thing) to accurately match the reports of their parents. In fact, the control group were far more accurate!
A similar study conducted in 1997 by Sivec, Lynn and Malinowski regressed the participants to 5 years old with very similar results!
This is why the vast majority of countries today no longer allow hypnosis to be used in testimony in courts of law. In fact, in some states in the US, if you have used hypnosis to retrieve the memory, because of the evidence I have mentioned, the use of hypnosis makes the testimony null and void!
Evidence suggests that when the hypnotherapist believes strongly in the efficacy of hypnosis for memory recall, then the patient has much more confidence in the reliability of the memory! This is a problem people!
I cannot help it, I know I am using loads exclamation marks today, but when you see the mounting body of evidence against this stuff, it beggars belief that some people still think to the contrary. You know what, I still get emails from people saying that in their experience as a hypnotherapist, they find hypnosis to be very useful at retrieving memories and regressing is a good thing and the best way to resolve inner conflict etc,etc.
I always reply that if you examine the evidence, I mean properly look at it, you'd be inclined to alter your stance to some degree I believe.

Adam Eason is a best selling author, hypnotherapist and trainer. Please visit his website for for your free, instantly downloadable, mind-blowing hypnosis session to use in the comfort of your own home, and get many more resources, articles, audios from the world of hypnosis and self-hypnosis. http://www.adam-eason.com

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Your Brain has maps do you know that!!!!!

Your Brain Has Maps That Can Be Changed
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Jons]Sarah Jons

Gerald Edelman is an American Biologist Nobel Prize winner and one of the theories he is noted for involves consciousness. Edelman argues that the mind and consciousness are biological processes that arise from complex cellular processes within the brain.

Edelman suggest that every memory, every piece of data, idea, habit, though, is actually made up of a set of connections among neurons, like a map of connecting roadways in our brain. Each of these maps can involve up to 50,000 neurons.

We create maps for everything. This includes maps for sight, sound, language, face, ideas and memories that we remember, whether consciously or not. We sometimes form temporary maps. For example when driving a car, we do not hold in our mind ever building we drive past on our way to work. But after taking that journey even once, we will have formed a basic map of the route.

After driving this route many times, we will easily remember it; with enough repetitions, we will follow it even when we are not consciously attending to it. The map of the buildings becomes lost, while the map of the route becomes hardwired into the brain. There are maps of maps and the map of maps, and so forth. This application of maps is why revision is so key to learning processes. The more familiar you are with something, the easier you will be able to recall it.

So maps are our internal representations of the way the external world works for us. These enable us to understand and interact with that world. The maps that convey information that is used the most, get further hardwired into our brain and become more likely to be activated in the future.

You may wonder why this is so important and the relevance with hypnotherapy. In practical terms this theory supports so much of the work that is done in my application of cognitive hypnotherapy. My clients come to see me with a variety of problems that are their very own constructed maps. There are individual smoking maps, fear or phobia maps, maps of anxiety, maps of compulsive behaviours, maps of eating disorders and so on.

During the history take which is normally the first session of meeting at my, I map out my clients problem. The longer the client has had the problem the more hardwired the problem is in the brain. Just take a moment to think of a young child. How many very young children have phobias? Phobias and fears are developed over time. The more you get exposed to the stimulus the more hardwired the problem becomes.

The good news is that these problems maps can be simply deconstructed by using many of the hypnotherapy techniques I have at my disposal. You can quickly learn a new map of behaviour that replaces any unwanted old maps of behaviours. Do it enough and then that becomes hardwired. Or another way is to change the memory of the map in some way, if you remove part of the map it won't be the same map anymore.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Your-Brain-Has-Maps-That-Can-Be-Changed&id=5367366] Your Brain Has Maps That Can Be Changed