Happiful July 2020

while still maintaining a realistic
understanding of the challenges
you might face.”
Lesley suggests that maintaining
a positive mindset is all about the
ratio. “In order to have a positive
mindset, we need to experience
more positive than negative
emotions (experts generally agree
this is a 3:1 ratio). The good news
is that even the briefest experience
of a positive emotion is enough to
make a significant difference to
our positive mindset.”
In fact, even the simple pleasures
in life – such as enjoying a
delicious cup of coffee, or listening
to birds sing – can bring us joy, and
it’s important that we consciously
notice these moments and hold
on to them. And this is where
hypnotherapy comes into play.
How does it work?
At times, we can get stuck in
negative thought patterns and
cycles that serve no use, but we still
unconsciously give these patterns
power to dictate our lives.
Negative thought patterns are
habits that we have learned, and
any habit can be ‘unlearned’. It
takes practise and patience, and
hypnotherapy can be an effective
tool in ensuring an automatic
positive mindset becomes an
everyday response.
Hypnotherapist James Brannan
explains that the brain is
constantly working to automate
responses wherever possible. So
when we have a learned, negative
habit, intervention is needed
to reinforce positive responses.
James says: “Sometimes your brain
will make snapshot decisions
about what something means, and
how to respond to such things in
Negative thought patterns are
habits that we have learned, and
any habit can be ‘unlearned’
the future. Your brain automates
certain responses in order to free
you up to engage with new things
effectively.
“This is great in one way, because
it means we can keep moving
between focuses and attend to
many things in life. However, the
downside is that we sometimes
end up with responses that we
don’t like doing and feeling, and
yet they run unconsciously.”
The practice of hypnotherapy can
help change this automatic pattern
by activating those responses (in
a safe, comfortable environment
such as the hypnotherapist’s
office or your home) and then
introducing them “to new brain
cell networks”, by the power of
suggestion.
James says: “Rather than firing
round the same old loops and
keeping the old responses going,
when present brain cell activity
gets connected to other brain cell
activity, then things change. Using
hypnotherapy, it’s like we can join
32 • happiful.com • July 2020