Research validates that 70 percent of Australians use Complimentary Alternative Medications (CAM).    For this reason, some doctors are keen to see research into CAM because of the consumer push to medicate themselves with products that are more natural.

The Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) in Australia recently posted an article where a lobby group  (MORE than 400 doctors, medical researchers and scientists) who call themselves Friends of Science in Medicine (FSM) have formed a powerful lobby group to pressure universities to close down alternative medicine degrees.

The Alliance for Health Freedom Australia (AHFA) say; Quote” With 54 Cochrane reviews the evidence supporting acupuncture is clearly much stronger than that which supports surgery or psychiatry, again not because these orthodox medical therapies are ineffective but because they also have problems with double-blinded placebo-controlled trials as a research methodology. But never the less there are more studies confirming acupunctures efficacy – but Prof Dwyer won’t admit to this as it doesn’t suit his argument. He has a different agenda and it’s not about evidence, it’s about monopoly.”

“Prof Dwyer’s comments are misleading and misinforming the public. At worst they are deliberate outright lies. “The groundswell of protest from medical professionals comes after a decision in Britain that means from this year it will no longer be possible to receive a degree from a publicly-funded university in areas of alternative medicine, including homeopathy and naturopathy.” “The UK has passed no such law. There was a motion put to Parliament but it failed. This is such obvious pseudo-researched bias and unfair reporting from the SMH and Prof Dwyer. “ Unquote

Two articles that I have read advised The Australian Medical Association (AMA) President, Steve Hambleton, has withdrawn his signature and it is expected that more academics and professionals will follow as soon as they realise they are being used for other political and propaganda purposes.

Whilst hypnotherapy is not mentioned, it is an indication of the thinking of this newly formed FSM lobby group.  You can see the SMH article at this link: http://www.smh.com.au/national/tertiary-education/scientists-urge-unis-to-axe-alternative-medicine-courses-20120125-1qhtm.html

The Universities are hitting back as well as many other complementary health practitioners.   It is said that the number of votes in this poll (the Sydney Morning Herald poll) are much higher than normal, suggesting they may have been a pre-planned, co-ordinated attempt to skew the results in their favour.

Other groups are mounting a defence in favour of complementary alternative medicine (CAM) – like these here:

http://www.healthpetitions.com.au/do-not-withdraw-cam/petition/ref/13347

http://www.change.org/petitions/protect-university-education-in-natural-medicine

Some of the Universities are unimpressed as to this assault on their curriculum’s and have also faced up to this group.

http://www.scu.edu.au/news/media.php?item_id=3661&action=show_item&type=M

http://theconversation.edu.au/why-universities-should-teach-alternative-medicine-5159

Vast volumes of research conducted in universities in Australia and abroad over the past thirty years has overwhelming proved the efficacy of natural therapies, which FSM do not acknowledge or prefer to keep out of the equation, to support their own propaganda and real reasons, which certainly aren’t for the benefit of the consumer.

A good point put forward is that should natural therapies courses be banned in universities, this will prevent further research on natural therapies to be undertaken (and that of course that would meet the FSM criteria of what this lobby group wants to happen).  It is important that we strongly oppose this move for the benefit of our own future health options.

FSM do not acknowledge that over 5000 years of continual use of natural therapies in every culture across the globe, was already working.  In China today because of the acknowledgement that these methods work, Traditional and CAM methods are being used alongside Allopathic medicine.  That is what we should all be doing – looking for the best options from both sides of the fence, not trying to protect our own.

It is interesting to note that from further afield – Andrew Hardwick, a colleague on Linked in posted a comment worth sharing here -

Quote” I agree that some medical doctors and researchers have gone too far when trying to take on Chinese Medicine. Here in Wellington we have the New Zealand School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, and it is going from strength to strength. Here is the link http://www.acupuncture.ac.nz/index.php/courses-a-programmes

There is something that even the financial might of western medicine may not be prepared for though, and that’s the current trend of world politics. The People’s Republic of China are the world’s fastest growing economy, and if you can’t do business with them sooner or later, you’re probably finished on the world stage. They are proud of their traditional medicines. What if they refused to do business with any country who stamp out Chinese Medicine? Such a move by any Western medical practitioner or research group could be political and/or career suicide! Chinese medicine was here long before Western medicine, and I suspect it will be here long after it has gone too.  “Unquote.  http://nz.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-hardwick/21/25a/870

Be careful of wolves in sheep’s clothing…

Some quotes to consider –

“Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner. — James Bovard, Civil Libertarian (1994)

“If you don’t read the newspaper you are uninformed, if you do read the newspaper you are misinformed.” — Mark Twain

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.”~Albert Einstein
 

I received this information as I was buying my train ticket at the station.  I could feel the tension in my stomach.  What if I missed the flight?  I was on the way to give a workshop and I had worked it all out so that I would arrive at the airport a half hour early and enjoy a cup of coffee whilst waiting to embark on my designated flight.  I had already downloaded my boarding pass  – and now this!

Instead of arriving early before check in, I now found that I needed to get off the train and wait for a bus that would take me to the airport and according to the man at the embarking train station; I would arrive 7 minutes before I needed to board the plane.  The tension was now moving up into my chest.  The bus could be wrong or held up and I could miss the flight – then what?  I reasoned that it was an inconvenience, but hardly earth shattering.  Nevertheless, they would have expected me to check – how unprofessional was that?  I took a few deep diaphragmatic breaths to still the butterflies in my stomach and pulled my mind away from my dilemma hoping the train and bus would not be late.  NO good crying over spilt milk that hasn’t yet spilled I reasoned.  Fortunately, I did arrive in time with barely minutes to spare and the rest of the journey was uneventful.  I do check for track work now to avoid any future such situations.

I was waiting to board a flight recently (having made sure to get there in plenty of time before boarding) and was ruminating as our thoughts will.  The workshop I was giving was on irritable bowel syndrome and irritable bowel disease.  I reflected on some of my own clients that had come to me with these problems.  The woman who found she had Chlamydia, her fear of what a future partner might think about her when she had to tell him her secret.  Her relationship where the partner had a gambling problem that wasn’t going anywhere – he wasn’t going to change.  She could not see a happy future with him, but part of her ached to be with him. Months of emotional turmoil led to her gut problem.

I had seen many people over the years with IBS, (less with IBD that was more severe).  Most people it started with a significant negative event in their lives.  In fact, many health events started with an emotional unresolved  reason.  It seemed that whilst some people find they develop an irritable bowel, with others, their weak point in the body might create a migraine headache, or their band-aid solution might go into an addiction.

I turned my thoughts to a research I read that said we all get angry sometimes, but some people turn that anger into violence. Scientists are discovering that this may be partly due to genetics.

The study also found that a variation in this gene, called the L version of MAO-A, disproportionately affects men, because this gene is located on the X-chromosome, which determines sex. Since men only have one X chromosome, they are more prone to the effects of the gene. Women have two X chromosomes, but the chances of having the gene variation on both chromosomes is very rare.

It seemed though, those people that did have those violent genes who were brought up in a loving environment, did not turn on the switch of violence, whereas those that were brought up in a less than desirable violent environment did.  ¹

In another research, David Goldman at National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism in Maryland, US, said; “Interestingly, we found that the genetic variant alone was insufficient to cause people to act in such ways.”  “Carriers of the HTR2B variant who had committed impulsive crimes were male, and all had become violent only while drunk from alcohol, which itself leads to behavioural disinhibition.”

Some people when they return from war find it difficult to overcome post traumatic stress which turns them to alcohol, and some of these men then become physically abusive.  To release their war anger they drink which causes them to loose touch with reality and find a reason to vent this pent up feeling inside of them.  I remember dealing with a case of insomnia that medication couldn’t help.  12 years after her husband died, she was still waiting for the key in the door, fearful of that abuse.

In collaboration with researchers in Finland and France, Goldman and his colleagues studied a sample of violent criminal offenders in Finland.  The hallmark of the violent crimes committed by individuals in the study sample was that they were spontaneous and purposeless.  They found the association with HTR2B gene and then conducted studies in mice and found that when the equivalent gene is knocked out or turned off, mice also become more impulsive.

“Impulsivity, or action without foresight, is a factor in many pathological behaviours including suicide, aggression, and addiction,” said Goldman. ²

My mind went back to a client I was dealing with who had took himself to hospital.  He was stopped from committing suicide by a friend who called him on the phone, just as he was about to commit the felony.  What was so fearful for him was that he knew he would have gone through with this act if his friend had not phoned him at that time.  “It was almost as if I was on auto-pilot, without a thought about if I should or shouldn’t.”  “It scared the hell out of me… what if it happens again?”  One act in his life took him back to his childhood where he had felt useless and no good, enough to make him feel his life wasn’t worth anything.  Fortunately, we were able to work through this.

Just observing life can answer many questions.  I can’t recall how many clients I have seen that have involved themselves in relationships that were either violent or selfish.  In hypnosis I ask them to go back to the early time they first met person and to tell me; “Using your gut feeling through what you were aware of regarding this person, were there any warning signals that you ignored… a feeling something wasn’t quite right?”  I have only ever had one client that didn’t have a forewarning.  Most tended to dismiss that controlling nature as though things would change.  The little tell-tale signs of things like; “I will marry you when you give up smoking.”  Or insisting they buy and wear the clothes they want to see you wear.  They don’t want you to see your friends any more, or any other control issues.

I had a client today that still has occasional nightmares where she still hears her mother screaming from being physically abused.  Partner after partner in her early childhood… many men in her mother’s life – all physical and emotional abusers.  Leaving her worried and helpless in helping her mother, who was looking for love in the wrong places.  And I pondered on where this had taken my client in her life that had led her to her own abuse and subsequent way of handling it through the use of band-aids to mask the outcome of her feelings and emotions.

All of us struggling to make sense of our world.  I sometimes say to a client; “If people do things to you when you were little, that’s sad.  If you still do that to yourself when you are grown up,  that is even sadder.”

Cited: ¹ http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?article_id=218392771

Cited: ² http://psychcentral.com/news/2011/01/03/genetic-variant-alcohol-may-trigger-impulsive-violent-behavior/22202.html

In therapy we like to assume, that ‘evidence based’ practice has a strong evidence base – but as one of my previous post questioned – does it, or is it merely that people get themselves into a position of authority and make those decisions for the majority?  Having done that, should we now follow their advice like sheep as they have given themselves the label of ‘expert’?

Am I an ‘expert’?  I believe so, but I am still learning – even after 22+ years of practice in hypnotherapy and related information.

Wikipedia’s definition of an ‘expert’ more generally, says; is a person with extensive knowledge or ability based on research, experience, or occupation and in a particular area of study.  An expert can be, by virtue of credential, training, education, profession, publication, or experience, believed to have special knowledge of a subject beyond that of the average person, sufficient that others may officially (and legally) rely upon the individual’s opinion.    Historically, an expert was referred to as a sage.   The individual was usually a profound thinker distinguished for wisdom and sound judgement.

Experts have a prolonged or intense experience through practice and education in a particular field. In specific fields, the definition of expert is well established by consensus, and therefore it is not necessary for an individual to have a professional or academic qualification for them to be accepted as an expert. In this respect, a shepherd with 50 years of experience tending flocks would be widely recognized as having complete expertise in the use and training of sheep dogs and the care of sheep.

Who knows more about you, then you?  And if it isn’t you, shouldn’t it be?

We have to have a starting point somewhere, hence credentialing and the like.  I remember a prospective member telling us that they didn’t need to learn counselling to become a member for they had been a hairdresser for 20 years and had counselled clients for that length of time.  Would you agree with that, or had he been giving his own opinion to his customers for over 20 years?  Let me not be too harsh here in general, but that man knew how to market himself, he was seen in a bright red car, which had been painted garishly for all to see that he was a hypnotherapist, even though he was never accepted into the association for lack of requirements to become a member.  Will he be seen by others as an ‘expert’?

There is no doubt that we do need to be careful that we don’t lose the plot, where it becomes more important to tick the boxes than to actually help our clients.   But clients have to play their part as well.

As a consumer, isn’t it your responsibility to become your own expert…  to weigh up what people say and whether you believe that to be correct?  If you leave that for someone else to do that for you, aren’t you giving away the responsibility that is yours?

Just after Christmas my computer monitor died on me.  I was lucky enough that I was able to use my husband’s laptop to look what was on offer.  I sourced different stores and came up with the least expensive model.  I wasn’t looking for a large screen.  My previous model was a mere 17” and had served me well. I don’t require a large screen for what I use the computer for.  I came up with a price of $145.00.  Not only that, but they had one in stock not too far away.  Feeling quite pleased with myself I told my husband about my find.

Mr. Logic… (husband), said; “Did you look on ebay or on a seconds shop to see if you can get it cheaper… do you really need a new one?”  Hey! Most shops would be closed between now and the New Year I responded.  I could not possibly wait that long.  Nonetheless, I could see the value of at least looking.  It made sense to me to do that.

And guess what?  I found a ‘seconds’ computer screen, never been used, exactly the same model as I had right now.  It had been sitting in some computer shop and was now an old model and needed to be got rid of.  In addition, I was able to be pick it up the next morning from the supplier at a cost of $30.00.  WOW! What a saving, and here I am looking at it right now while I am writing this post.  The supplier sold many other monitors, but this was a one-off and the others were of different models and about double the price, this was just perfect for me.  I was even able to hook it all up within minutes by myself when we got home.  If I had not taken the responsibility to check, I would have missed this bargain.

This vehicle (our body) that we travel in to experience the Universe, is our responsibility to do the best with that we can.  If we don’t look after ourselves, who else will?

I had a client that came to me to see in 1998 to see if I could assist him with a condition called Arrhythmia.  I was very impressed with him when he came to his first session carrying a sheath of papers to show me that he had researched his condition and wanted to share with me what he had downloaded from the internet about his condition, and what he understood the problem to be.

He had suffered a heart attack, which had triggered off this condition where his heartbeat could be going at 30 beats a minute and then change to be doing 200 beats a minute.  Now it would be scary enough just to have a heart attack in the first instance, but he was now a prime target for a stroke.  Each time his heart went as high as 200 beats, he would feel as though he was about to have another heart attack.  You can read about his story on my website here:  http://www.bbbenefits.com.au/therapy/heart-attack.htm.  Will (not his real name) has kept in touch with me over the past 14 years.  In medical terms, if someone survives for 7 years after medical intervention, it is a success.  So can I call Will a double successJ?

Will sent me an email over Christmas and I want to tell you that he is still fine, no arrhythmia since our sessions all those years ago.  He never underwent the operation suggested by his surgeon – he didn’t have to; instead, Will used his mind to achieve his results.  Nevertheless, he occasionally gets a slight numbness in his hand at which time he takes half an aspirin to eliminate this.  He is also on a low dose of warfarin as prescribed by his doctor.

In his last contact, Will told me that since he had developed gout, he had been spending time on working out what was causing it.  He had allowed himself to suffer with minor pain trying to prove a point one way or another.  He had worked out what gout was and why he felt he had gout and then researched the foods that were acidic and alkaline.  Through trial and error and some pain, he worked out what he needed to eliminate from his diet for the gout to go away. He knew the body needed acid, but felt the fact he had gout, confirmed that he had an excess of acid.  He felt that acid levels do not go down in hours or days and felt that it usually would take two weeks.  Through eliminating this or that from his diet, until the pain had gone away he discovered what foods to avoid.  In due course with the pain gone, he reintroduced himself back to certain acid foods “slowly” and all has been well to the present time.  Will is still taking responsibility for his health, as he has done on many occasions over the years since his heart attack.

Many people have their own stories to tell of how they overcame their own obstacles.  Some from the past that have written books to encourage others.  Others like Will, that succeed without fanfare quietly working out what needs to happen to put things right for them.

When we over the years start noticing that we are not breathing too easy… get tired too quickly… or are sad and depressed.  It is the Universe giving us a nudge saying; “Hey there! Are you listening?  You need to do something here.”  And if you ignore the smaller signs, then the nudge turns into a shove… and if you ignore the shove… well! don’t say you haven’t been warned.

We can’t always avoid suffering, but we can learn how to live with it to the best of our ability.  I am reminded how some years ago, every morning I (and my Rhodesian Ridgeback) used to religiously run 8 times around the perimeter of two side by side soccer pitches.  Then one day I had an accident that damaged the ligaments in both my knees.  Jogging is but a memory now – sigh!  However, I am fortunate that I am still able to walk – remember the story about the “Hare and the Tortoise”?  All it has done is slow me down a bit. ♥

As a therapist, I am here to help you to take control by assisting you in releasing fears and emotions, by making it easier to feel full up and encouraging you to have the ‘want’ to look after yourself to exercise moderately to lose weight, or release cravings to give up smoking, alcohol or gambling, and teaching you how to use your mind to boost your immune system, release panic attacks, fears and phobia.  I give you the kick-start to get your life back on track…

The question is; “Will you be taking responsibility for your life?”  That is the bottom line for all of us.  Let us make that our New Year’s resolution.  How can we help others if we do not help ourselves first – or as my Step Dad used to say; “Charity begins at home.”  Your mind and body is your home.

When people come for therapy how much do they tell you about what is really going on inside?  For some, pretending is an art that is second nature to them.   They give the impression that they are secure, unruffled, confident and cool.  That is their surface, the mask they show you, as they laugh and joke with you.  However, what is underneath?  What is really going on inside, the real them?  Their experiences that may talk about physical and psychological abuse. They don’t tell you about the bullying at school, the alcoholic father, the gambling mother and more.  They often hide this, they don’t want to show any weakness, anxiety, guilt, shame or fear, or be exposed to their inner most feelings, just in case you would look down your nose at them, or think they are not good enough, and so they create a mask to hide behind.  Consequently, they (all of us) do this – we wear different masks at work compared to at home with our spouses, with our grandchildren, or with friends etc.

Yet, that is exactly what we; the therapist needs to know from our clients, so that we are able to release any feelings for them to create the outcome they wish to attain.  Even although they know they need to tell you, they are scared that you may think less of them nor accept their past, and sometimes they don’t tell you, they don’t dare to.  They are afraid to.

Therefore, they play their game, showing confidence outside and feeling like an anxious child inside.  In addition, they parade a face of masks, which often lead to behaviour, such as drinking heavily, or gambling all their money away, or smoking heavily, or eating too much.

It is the therapist’s job to assist clients to understand that what is past is indeed history.  It is something that happened but is over now.  It is only a memory.  It is not who they are today.  The feelings and emotions that they experienced was a happening in the NOW time at THAT time in their life – but it is not happening NOW in the PRESENT time.  These feelings are OLD feelings.  These feelings are no longer needed to keep them safe, or make them shelter or run away to keep safe.

Or, if what I am saying is not strictly true, perhaps they are still living that life?  Were they abused as a child and made the wrong decision in their life as they grew up and chose a partner, who is still abusing them?  Or, perhaps they chose the right partner who was kind and gentle and fun loving and his job took him to fight for his country and he has come back with PTSD (posttraumatic stress disorder).  Now he has fear and anger and therefore he drinks heavily, loses his reasoning when he is drunk and lashes out at everyone.

I can remember a client who 12 years after her husband had died, still couldn’t sleep, despite her doctor’s medication – her subconscious was listening for the key in the door that would tell her that her husband was coming into the house.  The whole family would go to bed at 8.00pm and switch off the lights in the hope that he in his drunkenness he would go to his room and collapse onto his bed and go into a drunkenness sleep of oblivion.  Nevertheless, that didn’t always happen.  Sometimes he would be so drunk that he could not get the key in the door.  In his irrational mind, he would vent his anger, saying things like; “I know you’re trying to keep me out… you just wait till I get in there… I’ll show you whose boss…” and he would become so violent that she had the children run next door to the neighbours out of harm’s way.  We sorted this issue in hypnotherapy in 2 sessions.  The client now sleeps well.  I would imagine that the brain changed itself, wouldn’t you?

There are many client’s that have come to release their destructive behaviours as well as those that have come to release the feelings and emotions this has caused them on the receiving end of that behaviour.  All these people’s brains will have changed from what they were previously.

ASSAM (The American Society of Addiction Medicine) is redefining the definition of addiction, grouping all destructive addictive behaviour in the same melting pot, be it a gambling addiction, an alcohol addiction, a cigarette addiction (and marijuana), food etc. etc.⁽¹⁾

How can we acknowledge that each person has a unique fingerprint, yet assume that each person’s brain is the same when they are addicted?  I would hypothesize that in years to come with the invention of better imaging, in line with the current Stanford University invention of ‘array tomography’⁽²⁾, we will find what looks similar in the brain will be as different in each person as their fingerprint.  To say we can judge a person by the brain anatomy and physiology does no more than give them a label for convenience sake – and no doubt there will be a good multimillion dollar chemical pill introduced that will take care of that label.

ASSAM state that research shows that both behavioural and chemical addictions entail the same major alterations in brain anatomy and physiology.  Two decades of advancements in neurosciences convinced ASAM that addiction needed to be redefined by what’s going on in the brain.⁽¹⁾

A typical, healthy brain houses some 200 billion nerve cells, which are connected to one another via hundreds of trillions of synapses. Each synapse functions like a microprocessor, and tens of thousands of them can connect a single neuron to other nerve cells. In the cerebral cortex alone, there are roughly 125 trillion synapses, which is about how many stars fill 1,500 Milky Way galaxies.  These synapses are, of course, so tiny (less than a thousandth of a millimeter in diameter) that humans haven’t been able to see with great clarity what exactly they do and how, beyond knowing that their numbers vary over time. ⁽²⁾

What would happen to my client who had a gambling addiction for many years, yet stopped in one session when we released the anger and resulting relationship and stress problems from the gambling habit (caused from a happening 22 years earlier)?  If they now did that neuroimaging would they find that his brain had changed itself in a matter of one and a half hours? Where would that leave the client that had been classified in a melting pot of addiction labeling?

This type of transformation happens repeatedly with different addictions such as weight issues, alcohol issues, cigarette and marijuana issues…  yet we will classify them with a mental health disorder that requires medication.  How many of these people will be walking around like zombies believing that there is no alternative?  How many Doctors will prescribe medication believing that there is no alternative?  Quite frightening really, wouldn’t you agree?

We already have research that shows the mere act of laughing causes changes in the brain… meditation causes changes in the brain… releasing fears and emotions causes changes in the brain… placebo causes changes in the brain…  You can change the neurons in the brain by tricking phantom limb behaviour through looking into a box with a mirror in it…

If this is the best specialists can come up with after decades of their own thinking, then perhaps it is time to change what we call scientific research, into a more appropriate common sense approach.

Let us get rid of this tunnel vision and understand that the whole person is comprised of Mind, Body and Spirit.  You cannot take into account just one aspect of the person and ignore the others.

(1)   http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/cupids-poisoned-arrow/201109/toss-your-textbooks-docs-redefine-sexual-behavior-addictions

(2)   http://news.cnet.com/8301-27083_3-20023112-247.html?tag=contentMain;contentBody;1n

One example might be that when we start smoking cigarettes, it does not really matter why we started, or what we think it does for us – what matters is that we have started a chain of events.  The chain in this case might be: Smoking →  Feel one of the Group ↔ Gives a sense of relaxation ↔ starts to affect the lungs ↔ shortness of breath ↔ Lack of energy ↔ bronchitis ↔ damage lungs further ↔ beginning of emphysema ↔ difficulty getting air into the lungs ↔ possible cancer (lungs, throat, lips etc), ↔ or (heart problems, cardiovascular problems, leg amputation and the list goes on).  Unless you listen to the universe when it sends you the messages through presenting you with a milder symptom, and you listen and decide to change that chain of events, the symptoms progressively go worse.

Any substance abuse, food, alcohol, marijuana, other drugs, including medication over a long-term use will present you with side effects.  You need to listen to your body that is continually giving you feedback as to what these things are doing to you.  In addition, if you are hearing (feeling) this feedback or seeing the effects visually, that you seek professional help to put this right.

However, the chain of events happens not only in what you ingest.  Let us look at the possible chain of events of other problems –

GAMBLING:  ↔ excitement ↔ winning ↔ losing ↔ chasing the feeling ↔ losing more ↔ anger ↔ disappointment ↔ huge losses ↔ addiction ↔ no money ↔ borrowing with promises to pay back ↔ more loses ↔ guilty ↔ loss of friends ↔ family having to go without ↔ fear of coming home to verbal abuse ↔ staying out and gambling more in the hope of recouping ↔ losing even more ↔ loss of self esteem ↔ feeling worthless ↔ feeling helpless ↔ and possibly more…

ALCOHOL: ↔ go into a pleasant altered state ↔ get further inebriated ↔ feel a high ↔ confident ↔ male a fool of yourself ↔ more drinking ↔ affects the brain further ↔ losing judgement ability ↔ drinking more ↔ releasing repressed emotions (anger, fear, crying etc.) ↔ feeling sick or passing out ↔ and possibly more…

ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP: ↔ you argue ↔ feel put down ↔ hurt ↔ angry ↔ feel helpless ↔ you put up with it for the sake of the kids ↔ it happens again ↔ you get anxious ↔ it happens again ↔ you get depressed ↔ you get anxious ↔ and so on…

DEPRESSION: ↔ you know why you are depressed ↔ you go to counselling ↔ you are still depressed ↔ you understand but things don’t change ↔ you go on medication ↔ you are coping but you are still depressed ↔ months or years have passed and nothing has changed…

WEIGHT: ↔ you go on a diet and exercise ↔ you use willpower and determination ↔ you binge ↔ you try something else ↔ same thing happens ↔ you feel guilty ↔ helpless ↔ frumpy ↔ you eat more ↔ you become a yo-yo dieter ↔ nothing works ↔ and so on…

INSOMNIA – FEARS – PHOBIA – COMPULSIVE DISORDERS – etc. etc. we could go on.

Each chain of events is giving you a message along the way, and if you are unable to make the change yourself to take steps to stop the chain of events, the symptoms progressively go worse unless you seek professional help to put this right.

There is nothing new about any of this.  Your conscious mind is only equipped to use willpower, analytical thinking or rational thinking.  Your feelings and emotions reside inside.  If what you do serves a purpose to your sub-conscious, it will not let go of the habit.  Alternatively, if you are unable to put things right, then the offending act will continue.

Often all it takes is to remove old outdated feelings and emotions by a hypnotherapist, or you learn how to get your needs met, for example, a communication model that allows you to get a different response, or the process of study, concentration and memory techniques to help you recall information more easily.

Remember the saying – There is no such thing as failure, there are just ways of doing things that do not work.  It is our job to work out what we need to change.

This got me thinking about life and death and how some of my clients came for past life regression and some others came for different reasons and how some of these also experienced a previous life even though they were not asked to do so.  I pondered on the possibility that perhaps we were like those plants and trees.  That my life was an extension of the main original plant or tree, and like the new buds and leaves, I was nothing more than a new shoot from the original and occasionally if the climate was right, I would remember my previous death and rebirth just as was happening to everything that I was looking at in front of me now.  Did they too have the ability to perceive the life and death that went before them?

Is there such a thing as reincarnation, and if so what is it?  Or is it nothing more than a false memory syndrome?

One of the most compelling verifications of past life is the website that talks about Scientific Evidence for Survival of consciousness after death. There are many stories with citations seen on this site.   These are from people of prominence that have studied this phenomenon for many years, looking for validation to understand further the mystery of life and death.

One of the citations is on xenoglossy, which is the ability to speak or write a foreign language a person never learned.   After thorough investigation and exoneration of fraud, genetic memory, telepathy and cryptomnesia (the remembering of a foreign language learned earlier), psychic investigators, such as the highly credible Dr. Ian Stevenson, who used scientific method to illustrate xenoglossy claim that there are only two possible explanations — either spirit contact or past life memory both of which are evidence for the afterlife.

Others which involved not only the person that died on the operating table, but the person they visited before returning into their own body.  Hitherto skeptics that experienced a near death experience, now are totally transformed.  There are so many stories told that it can keep the reader mesmerised for quite a considerable time. ¹

Another website by Victor Zammit is also in line with afterlife evidence.  It refers to the television show Sensing Murder that I remember seeing with Deb Webber and Kelvin Qruickshank who each independently were able to give some 43 correct variables, accurately describing a murder, where the killing took place, why and who murdered the victim – naming the murderers.  Many years after the event of the unsolved murder, we would need to ask ourselves, where did this information come from?²

Edgar Cayce (1877 – 1945) is a much written about psychic that would put himself into a self hypnotic trance state and help people through diagnosing health problems, prescribing dietary regimens, deal with psychic disorders, and predict future events.  He spoke of reincarnations.  Enough of his diagnoses and predictions proved true to silence many skeptics and to develop a wide following.

In 1900, Cayce was struck by severed laryngitis that resulted in complete loss of his speech.  Unable to work any longer as an insurance salesman, he took up the trade of photography.  A travelling stage hypnotist and entertainer called “Hart – The Laugh Man” offered to attempt a cure.  Cayce accepted, and the attempted cure took place on stage in front of an audience.  It was said that remarkably, Cayce’s voice returned while in hypnosis but allegedly disappeared on awakening.  Even although Hart put in a posthypnotic suggestion that his voice would continue to function after the trance, this proved unsuccessful.  As Hart needed to leave for commitments elsewhere, a local hypnotist, Al Layne took over.  In hypnosis Layne suggested that Cayce describe what caused the problem he had, and Cayce described his own ailment.  According to the reading, his voice loss was due to psychological paralysis and described his cure.  On awakening, his voice was alleged to have remained normal.  There were relapses that eventually using the same methods, worked permanently.

Cayce said that his trance statements should be taken into account only to the extent that they led to a better life for the recipient. Moreover, he invited his audience to test his suggestions rather than accept them on faith.  He never charged for his readings.

There have been many followers and stories about Cayce’s work as well as skeptics, which is able to be found on the citation below.⁴

I remember reading a book from my local library many years ago.    One of the stories that stayed in my mind was one of a daughter whose father had been a gentle man, but some six months earlier he became violent and aggressive and was put into a mental institution.  The daughter had told her boss who wrote to Cayce giving his name, date of birth and where he was.  In his hypnosis state Cayce came up with the reading that the father had fallen on his coccyx on the ice.  He gave a particular course of action to put the man right again and within a few months he recovered.

I could find many sites on the Internet and write a book on everyone’s thoughts about people’s experiences and thoughts, but that is not my intention here which is merely to point out a number of thoughts.

Predominantly there are three main trains of thought about death –

1. We live our life, die and that’s it.  Nothing, zilch, zero, nought – like a light switch turned off.
2. We live our life, die and then our soul leaves our body and goes to heaven.
3. We live our life, die and then in due course, we reincarnate to experience another life.

In any scenario above there is really nothing to worry about dying – how you die, now that could be another matter.  In accidents, our own release of chemicals help us through the process in a state of shock that does not feel pain.  Perhaps not so easily if we don’t take good care of ourselves and illness lingers on, or we have chosen to experience pain (as a client once told me was her purpose in this life).

Here are a few things that have happened in my hypnosis sessions:

Example 1.

I said to a client; When I count, back from 5 to 0 you will go to a time when you were a non-smoker… (The idea being that the client had come to give up smoking and I wanted them to experience how well they managed before taking on the habit.)

Client:  Goes back into a past life, sees herself dead on the ground.  Two people walk over to her and one was her uncle.  He picked her up and carried her to the car then drove to the hospital.  They walk down some stairs and he lays her on a stone slab.  As she looks up at her uncle, she says; “That’s my son in this life.”

Example 2.

Client says that she woke up in her bedroom feeling a presence.  She sees her father standing at the end of her bed who tells her not to worry as he is all right.

Example 3.

Client who has an alcohol problem feels it has something to do with a past life and asks me to do a past life regression.  The past life she experiences is nothing notable and client is instructed to continue viewing and go forward past her life.  The client feels a wonderful feeling of love, warmth and comfort.  She didn’t wish to reincarnate.  I asked the reason for her return.  She responds; “Because he told me to.”  As we counselled this, a decision was made to stop drinking.

Example 4.

A Client is being choked to death and feels herself leaving her body.  It is a most wonderful feeling to float out of this nightmare, but three people await the ascent, and give instructions to go back… that it is not time yet.

Example 5.

The clock stops each day at precisely 12.00 noon.  On occasions, the doorbell rings.  When client goes to answer it, no one is there.  Client feels there is a presence – in one room it is icy cold.  A woman was murdered in the house prior to the client purchasing the house.  A conversation takes place between the client and the murdered woman, who describing how she died… told her to move an item from the house… have the icy cold room cleansed from the evil in it.  She was also told some things that would occur in the future.

And there have been many other occasions…  Understand that I have been in practice for over 20 years, and whilst these are not frequent occurrences, the clients who do a spontaneous regression vividly see. Feel and recall these incidences without prompting.  Those clients who wished to see if they are able to access a past life are only led in so far that they are guided further back in this life until they step through a light into a previous time which they describe as they experience this.

I do not advertise that I do past life regression as it may deter clients from coming to see me who would be concerned about such events and who really need my help.   But when a client specifically requests this service, I am quite fascinated by it all.

I go through the possibilities with the client that we do not know if what they will experience is real, whether it could be something they may have read in a book, heard someone talk about, and watched in a movie or even simply imagination… I explain research that has proven people to have a false memory syndrome and I describe to them an actual case where a participant interviewed after a mock hold up described in the first interview that the robber had been wearing a balaclava.  In the second interview, the participant said that the robber wore a beanie.  The counsellor pointed out to him the discrepancy, but the participant insisted that the first counsellor had written it down wrong.  The second counsellor was able to show him that he was the one who got it wrong as she showed him the first interview that had been videoed confirmed that the error was his.  I also warn clients that some people are not able to access a past life (one of these being myself) and to have something in mind to deal with if this is the case for them.

So is there an afterlife and reincarnation?  I will let you the reader decide that as you investigate the resources mentioned below.

Sources:

¹ cited at: http://www.near-death.com/evidence.html#a3 Scientific Evidence for Survival of Consciousness after Death.

² cited at: http://www.victorzammit.com/  After Life Evidence

³ cited at:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edgar_Cayce Edgar Cayce 1877–1945

⁴ cited at: http://www.intuitive-connections.net/2004/caycenotpsychic.htm

I read an article showing that Scientific research may be in decline across the globe simply because the scientific study found that many studies contradicted scientific hypotheses.  The findings were that scientific journals tend to reject such research because; a) they attract fewer readers and citations, and b) because of the fierce competition in science is growing and grants are given to scientists who publish frequently in high-ranking journals.

The article rightly predicts that many researchers, therefore, have speculated that scientists will increasingly pursue predictable outcomes and produce positive results through re-interpretation, selection or even manipulation of data.¹

We have certainly seen that within the pharmaceutical industry where not only has the placebo been as affective as the manufactured chemical intervention, but the outcome data manipulated to show otherwise.  Although called evidence based,  the side effects found out some years later show they are anything but safe and people taking the medication have suffered the consequence.^{2-12 Plus others}

What Exactly is Evidence Based?

A peer reviewed article by Barry Dunstan in Counselling Australia says, that it usually means an approach that has established itself better than placebo or treatment as usual in two clinical trials.  Duncan says; “Such demonstrations are nothing to write home about; intervention of nearly any kind has demonstrated its superiority over placebo for 50 years!”

When you say “Evidence-based treatment,” whose evidence is it?  If I were to want to do a research into hypnotherapy, then I would want to show a positive outcome towards hypnosis, after all, it is what I practice and get great results with.  Duncan states that in such circumstances, up to 40% of the results can be attributed to what is called “allegiance effects,” or the researchers’ bias toward their own models.  He doesn’t say that means the researchers are dishonest, but the results should be interpreted with this in mind.

So is research a lot of humbug?  Thousands of studies have found no difference among approaches,  while a few studies have reported a favourable finding for one approach or another.  Duncan pointed an example that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) proponents often point to 15 comparisons showing an advantage for CBT – however, there are 2985 comparisons that show no difference (Wampold, 2001).

So, shouldn’t we be seeing the results of all research – or are if not, are we dishonest and providing false evidence?

There is no way that we would be able to include all the research in one article, and as has been stated, how true are they anyway?  The parameters included in one research to the next would take so much work it hardly seems worth the effort. And to be honest, what works in our practice works best.

It also doesn’t mean that we should not write articles about our successes, no matter how small, of those things that have worked in our practices.  Most of us (therapists) go to workshops to learn ‘accepted’ theories and studies, and then mould them to fit our way of doing things.

An example would be that I went to two workshops to learn EFT, yet I use it within the hypnosis trance state where I do the tapping on the client.  When I use EMDR, the only original teaching that I have kept is the movement of the eyes from one side of the head to the other.  I also use this in the hypnosis trance state and have incorporated some simple techniques of my own.  Either one of these can often remove trauma in the one session.  It works for me!  Other therapists I know don’t like working with either of these modalities, yet their practices are working well also.

It is in our own practices that we do our own research however, as all research seems to point out, there are two people in therapy – the therapist and the client.  There are additional considerations such as the client’s belief system, the medication they are on, the situation of their life currently and the alliance with their therapist.

As I say to my clients; “There is no such thing as failures, there are just ways of doing things that don’t work – for you.”  They might work for someone else, and it is the client who should find out what works best for them.

References:

¹University of Edinburgh (2011, September 13). Pressure for positive results puts science under threat, study shows. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 25, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2011/09/110912143353.htm

²E. Cho, G. Curhan, S. E. Hankinson, P. Kantoff, M. B. Atkins, M. Stampfer, T. K. Choueiri. Prospective Evaluation of Analgesic Use and Risk of Renal Cell Cancer. Archives of Internal Medicine, 2011; 171 (16): 1487 DOI: 10.1001/archinternmed.2011.356

³B. Tasker, Anti-smoking medication linked to heart problem risk. http://www.medicalsearch.com.au/News/Anti-smoking-medication-linked-to-heart-problem-risk-52723

⁴S. McNamara, Article posted on MJA Insight, 20/6/2011 – Demand for Action on Research Fraud – German anaesthetist, Joachim Boldt, fabricated a published study on colloids.

⁵N. SINGER, New York Times, 1/9/2010. Article – Maker of Botox Settles Inquiry -  Paid $600 million to settle charges that it illegally promoted and sold the drug through 2005 for unapproved uses like treating headaches.

⁶BMJ-British Medical Journal (2010,July 30). Calcium Supplements linked to increased risk of heart attack, study finds. Sciene Daily, Retrieved July 31, 2010 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/07/100729191154.htm

⁷Natalie McGauran, Beate Wieseler, Julia Kreis, Yvonne-Beatrice Schuler, Heike Kolsch, Thomas Kaiser. Reporting bias in medical research – a narrative review. Trials, 2010; 11 (1): 37 DOI: 10.1186/1745-6215-11-37

⁸Medical Search, Australia & NZ News Article. Source: AAP NewsWire – Common osteoporosis drug is linked to heart problems (alendronate)

⁹Joseph S. Ross; David Madigan; Kevin P. Hill; David S. Egilman; Yongfei Wang; Harlan M. Krumholz. Pooled Analysis of Refocoxib Placebo-Controlled Clinical Trial Data: Lessons for Postmarket Pharmaceutical Safety Surveillance. Arch Intern Med, 2009; 169 (21): 1976-1985 – Vioxx Trial Data Shows Early Cardiovascular Risk

¹⁰Stanford University Medical Center (2008, November 26). 14 Drugs Identified As Most Urgently Needing Study For Off-label Use. ScienceDaily. Retrieved November 27, 2008, from Http://sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081124130939.htm

¹¹Source: AAP NewsWire. 21/8/2008 Article: Diabetes patients using GSK’s drugs told to see doctor (Avandia or Avandamet) http://www.medicalsearch.com.au/News/viewrecord.aspx?id=34000

¹²Infectious Diseases Society of America (2008, Aust 13). Adverse Reactions To Antibiotics Send Thousands Of Pattients To The ER. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 15, 2008, from http://www.sciencedaily/com/releases/2008/08/0612135515.htm

Plus others not shown.

When we hear the term; “Evidence Based Research”, how valid is such a statement?  You would expect that meant it was safe, right?

The Public may not be aware of important uncertainties about drug benefits and harms.  Time and time again we hear of how some of these medications have side effects which are very disturbing indeed, hearing that they are causing major illness for some people, such as kidney disease, heart problems and even cancer.

Many adults believe that only extremely effective drugs without serious adverse effects are approved, that just isn’t true.  But providing explanations to patients that would highlight uncertainties about drug benefits may affect their choices. Or so says a report in the September issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals in the journal’s Less is More series.

Approval from Food and Drug Administration’s does not even necessarily ensure that a drug has a large or important benefit, or that all serious adverse effects of the drug are known, according to background information in the article.

They point out that the cholesterol-lowering drugs Zetia and Vytorin reached $1.8 billion in sales in 2007 before a study found no clinical benefit from these drugs, and that the anti-inflammatory medication Vioxx reached $2.4 billion in sales by 2003 before being withdrawn from the market due to its association with myocardial infarctions (heart attacks) and strokes.¹

A major review of 14 trials of the drug varenicline, sold as Champix in Australia, found people taking the smoking cessation aid faced a 72 per cent higher risk of serious cardiovascular problems compared to those who try other methods.  The researchers said while varenicline did help tobacco users kick their habit, something which should benefit their bodies, they ended up facing a greater risk of doing damage to their heart and lungs.²

In my own practice, clients have indicated that they felt nauseous and anxiety and some had suicidal thoughts.  How much better is it to use hypnotherapy which has no side effect other than relaxation?

One of the recent warnings is for the use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs, saying that researchers in Switzerland undertook a comprehensive analysis of 31 different clinical trials involving seven NSAIDs to look at; risk of heart attack, stroke, death from cardiovascular disease and death from all causes.

This doesn’t mean that you should thwart your doctor’s recommendation to take an NSAID if prescribed. These drugs are widely used in treating a variety of concerns. However, it’s important—because of emerging evidence—to be up front with your physician about your heart health history and other risk factors, such as smoking habits. You and your doctor should also monitor dosage, use of multiple NSAIDs, including over-the-counter medications, and chronic use of these medications. ³

Another recent warning is the findings on the use of antibiotics.  The vast majority of bacteria are harmless to humans, and a great number of bacteria are essential to our survival.  It has been found that antibiotics are killing off not only the bacteria that are causing us to be ill, but also the ones we need to have to survive.  For those of us that are well, occasional antibiotic use can be overcome through our ability to regenerate the good bacteria, however those people with a long illness and long use of antibiotics are killing off their immune system and ability to fight their disease.⁴

And so on the one hand, life could be very debilitating with some of the side-effects of our medical condition, whilst on the other hand; there are many things we might be able to do to avoid the need to get on medications in the first place.  At the first warning of not feeling well whilst it makes sense to visit your doctor and take advice and possibly go on medication in the short-term, it makes even more sense that we work out what we need to do to get well, so that we can come off the medication at the earliest possible time (with your doctors assistance).

Research by Professor Simon Capewell and Dr Martin O’Flaherty at the Institute of Psychology, Health and Well-being, examined evidence from clinical trials and natural experiments.   Capewell said:”Our research found that smoking bans and diet improvements powerfully and rapidly reduce chronic disease in both individuals and in the wider population. This actually happens quickly, within a far shorter timescale than had previously been assumed; within months and years rather than decades ⁵ I would add anxiety and depression to Capewell’s comments.

If you ever want to look up the side effects of any medical drug you might be on a good website is http://www.drugs.com.  Some drugs are coming to the end of their patent life.  This leads to pharmaceutical companies to bring out new patented drugs marketed as superior to the old.  It is your job to check these things out.  No one is going to look after your best interests more that yourself.

References:

¹JAMA and Archieves Journals (2011, September 12). U.S.S public may not be aware of important uncertainties about drug benefits and harms.  ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 14,2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110912164016.htm

²Tasker,Belinda. 07/07/2011. Anti Smoking Medication linked to heart problem risk. http://www.medicalsearch.com.au/News/Anti-smoking-medication-linked-to-heart-problem-risk-52723

³Sources: Sven Trelle, et al. “Cardiovascular safety of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs: network meta-analysis.” BMJ 342:doi:10.1136/bmj.c7086 (Published 11 January 2011)

⁴ Carswell, Lindsay. 29.11.05 Article, Antibiotic Crisis. http://www.sciencentral.com/articles/view.php3?article_id=218392694

⁵ University of Liverpool (2011, September 1). Decrease in smoking reduces death rates within months. ScienceDaily. Retrieved September 14, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2011/09/110901105411.htm

I can’t remember my father.  I have a picture on a chest of drawers where he is looking at me, while my mother was holding me.  I look about four months old.  What he was like I do not remember.  He wasn’t a part of my life growing up.  I never had bad memories about him as I was too little to remember.  My mother did though, saying he had a drinking problem.  She said that he could do in three days, what took others a week to do, but then he was drunk the rest of the week.  I wonder what caused this?  I suspect why, but I can’t be sure.

My brother is a father.  His children don’t like him.  They say that he is selfish and only ever thinking of himself.  He has had four relationships that I know of although I only met his first wife and children.  What will their (the children now grown up) feelings be like on Father’s day?

When I reflect on statistics – as a Child Sexual Assault Counsellor at that time, one in four girls are sexually abused, and one in six boys.  Most by a family member or a friend known to the family and most abusers are men.  Of course there are the Paedophiles as well.  Some would be fathers.  I wonder what these children are feeling like on Father’s day?

Some fathers are physical abusers.  Wives and children from these homes are beaten, scared and fearful.  I wonder what these children are feeling like on Father’s day?

The above is not always the sole case of our misery either.  What about the soldier that goes to war?  The shooting, watching people get killed, watching their mates get killed.  They come home from war and many years later they still have the feelings from their experiences.  (Called Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).  I wonder what their children are feeling on Father’s day?

What about the Father that has suffered an injury and feels pain most days that make him short-tempered and angry all the time?  I wonder what his children are feeling on Father’s day?

I would suppose none of these Father’s opened their eyes at birth and said; “When I grow up I will become an abuser”, (either physically or psychologically or anything else for that matter.)  And many abusers suffered abuse themselves.

That doesn’t mean I forgive them for what they are doing or have done.  Forgiveness is not my job.  I see abusers as people that live in their own hell.  When you love and care and are loved and cared for in return, there is a sort of warm nice safe feeling about your relationship.  Abusers are not loved.   Nor do abusers have warm nice feelings.  They don’t live in harmony inside their bodies.  Their life is not in balance. They have hate, anger, a wanting to lash out and control. I don’t need to forgive them, the Universe is already punishing them for the way they feel, and if they dealt with their feelings that change them, then there is nothing to hate any more.

But what of the people around the abuser that are affected by their abuse?  Those left with the fear, anger, low self esteem, guilt, shame…sometimes many years later when they have grown up?  Some turn to ‘band aids’.  They abuse alcohol, take drugs, gamble and end up in abusive relationships themselves, blaming themselves or others for their misfortune.  We do need to heal our self from the affects of abuse.

When I ask a client; “Who put the feeling in you?”  Often the answer can be; “They (the abuser) did.”  That is not true.  The abuser set the circumstances that got you to feel a range of emotions.

“If only I had been different, then maybe this wouldn’t have happened to me.”  Or; “If only I didn’t have that happen to me, then life would have been different for me.”  Is that true?

No.  It is not true.  You put the emotions in to your body, so mostly you can take them out again (with the help of a specialist able to help you in this area).  Long-term or extreme abuse, may have been dealt with on many levels and feelings about events are no longer there, but through the habit of panic attacks for years, may need to be approached through learning how to stop those automatic body reactions.  This has been done successfully.

The main thing to remember is the power of every person is always in the ‘NOW’, not in their history.  If you were unfortunate enough to miss out on a favourable upbringing or other unfavourable happenings, it is now up to you to change things.  You can now direct your own life as to how you want it to be.  You are now in charge of your life.

Logically you may understand this on a head level (our conscious mind).  But it is another story at the subconscious level if those feelings your past created for you have not been released.  Sometimes we tell ourselves it is the past and we are now over all of that.  But that is not necessarily true.  What does it feel like to be in your body?  Do you feel happy… are you easy going… do you suffer from blood pressure… are you a perfectionist… Are you short tempered… do you drink more than you really think you should… do you gamble too much of your hard-earned savings… does your life suck?

I know of people that have made a financial success of their lives.  In the process they have pushed themselves to extremes, they have smoked like a chimney, having to do it all themselves as no one is good enough or can be trusted to do it well enough.  Are they feeling comfortable in their body?  What does it do to their health?  Oh! Yes! They can afford the best medical treatment, the private nurse at home, the oxygen tent… but they can’t pay to buy health.

Maybe you might consider that this Father’s day you deserve to treat yourself.  Your body is your vehicle in your lifetime.  You need to treat it as well as you can or you are not going to have a good ride along life’s path.  Seeing someone that can help you to release unwanted feelings or stresses is the best gift you can give to yourself.  The gift is not only to yourself, like when you throw a pebble in a pond, the ripples this causes affects everyone within the range of energy around you.  As the saying goes; “When you change, the whole world changes with you.”

Many years ago we had Russell Setright come and give the members of the Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association a talk on vitamins, food and a little bit of history on man’s evolvement.

Setright spoke about how in the early history of man, our teeth and jaw would have been shaped depending on where we lived.  We didn’t travel far in those early days as transport as we know it today had not yet been invented.  So those who lived near the sea predominantly ate fish, those that lived near the forest predominately ate meat and those that lived on the plains would be eating the grasses, berries and suchlike.

Setright hypothesised that to accommodate these food types we would need teeth and jaws that allowed us to eat these types of food.   And in that respect we might have the wide jaw with flat teeth, or the narrower jaw with pointed teeth, depending on where we lived and what we ate.

In our current world with our extensive travel all over the world and our intermarriage of various backgrounds, we might have a flesh eating person marry a fish eating person and so find that we have the genetic jaw of one with the teeth of the other that could end up with having too many teeth that don’t fit into the smaller jaw.  It was an interesting theory.

Now even more interesting is that more than a decade later, researchers at Johns Hopkins have identified the same plausible outcome.  Their research shows that use over time (and not just genetics) forms the structure of jaw bones in human populations.

The researchers found that the jaw bones were similar in children before they were old enough to start chewing, but different in adulthood, which implies that this is likely to be a functional result of their diet and the use of their jaw, rather than genetics.  They say that genetics creates a blueprint of the bone, but a lot of things like mechanical pressure from muscle stress and strain from day-to-day activities can remodel the bone’s surface and internal structure.

It is really not too hard to fathom when you consider other factors in genetics.  You might be small in structure or stature, yet you can work your muscles to become a weight lifter, top runner, horse rider, ballet dancer or cyclist.  Each needing their own predominant muscle group to allow you to do these things.

It is the same with achievement in your life.  It isn’t necessarily all about the genetics you were born with that lead to success.

First you have to determine what success is for you.  Is it money, is it a happy relationship with your spouse and family, or is it a career and all of the above?

Then you have to determine how much you are willing to do to achieve that result.  What needs to be done to achieve that result?

In my early days of changing my career to a hypnotherapist, I also did massage.  I could have achieved earlier and bigger successes as a massage therapist.  People kept coming back, whereas when they came to make changes to their emotional or health wellbeing, having achieved that, you rarely saw them again.

One time whilst massaging a regular client I was lamenting that I did not have the good memory of one of my friends.  This friend had almost a photographic memory, whereas, I had to do things over… and over… and over again… and then check again just to be sure.  Now this client was a millionaire and what he said to me has always stuck in my mind.  “Bruni, I am the same as you.  You just do what it takes”.

It also reminds me of one Christmas party many years ago.  The company for fun had designated little gifts for various employees.  They gave me a pair of glasses, saying that they didn’t know how I could find anything with the amount of paperwork I always had on my desk.  True, I like to spread out, but I knew where to find what I wanted.  Yet other people like everything in folders or neatly stacked away and they can’t understand how people like me can work that way.  We do what we think works for us.

But sometimes that isn’t very helpful.  It doesn’t get us to where we want to go.  Sometimes it is time to get rid of the old and learn something new.  Remember; there is no such thing as failure, there are only things that we do that don’t work.  And if we have an inability to change the things that don’t work for us, then there is usually a deep rooted ‘stopper’ that prevent us to change  even though we know it is causing us to fail.  Willpower isn’t always the answer; your subconscious may need some help.

Reference:

Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions (2011, August 6). What shapes a bone? Diet and genetics dictate adult jaw shape. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 7, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2011/08/110805135351.htm