"When you find yourself on a vicious cycle, for goodness sake, stop pedaling"
-Swami Beyondananda
Virtually all people who struggle to free themselves from unhealthy habits of thought, feeling and behavior have something in common, namely what might be called the "cycle of impulsivity."
The people I see for hypnosis services have a habitual response or behavior that they logically know is doing them a disservice or else they would decide to hang on to it. It can come to seem as if a negative pattern has a life of its own beyond your conscious control So how does an unhealthy habit sustain itself? Look at the diagram below:
At the top of the cycle is AWARENESS. Either consciously or subconsciously there is a sense that something is out of balance within you. Quite often the awareness is under the radar, but it is there. Next, the imbalance creates TENSION that can be mental, physical or both. Seeking to relieve this stress a person resorts to his or her EMERGENCY COPING STRATEGY. This can take the form of a behavior (smoking, overeating, gambling, retail therapy, drug of choice, etc) or perhaps a social/emotional response (irritability, social withdrawal, anger, procrastination, etc). Afterward there is TEMPORARY RELIEF from the stress. However this temporary measure did absolutely nothing to to correct what was bothering you in the first place and the cycle begins anew, often intensifying over time.
One of the simplest and most effective ways to disrupt the Cycle of Impulsivity is by practicing INTENTIONAL RELAXATION as many times a day as needed. This is why I emphasize to my hypnosis counseling clients how important it is to practice any and all homework assignments they were given, whether it is listening to mp3's, practicing mindfulness other self-empowerment exercises. Please feel free to connect if you have any questions, the telephone number here is (732) 714-7040 or you fill out the Life Enhancement Strategy Form and I will get back to you ASAP.
P.S. I have a number of relaxation MP3s you can access at the Online Store page at my site.