As this new year begins, it's the time when most of us take a personal look at ourselves and ask ourselves if our lives are working for us.

Are we in the kind of relationship that enriches us? Do we feel comfortable with our appearance? Does our state of health supply us with energy and enable us to do the activities that make us happy? Is our career satisfying, financially and personally? If you answered no to any of these questions, then make this your take charge year and get your life working for you. Hypnosis is a powerful tool that can help you do just that.

For those of you who have an aversion to hypnosis, let me dispel a few myths.

(1) It is not mind control. The subconscious mind will refuse any suggestion that is morally or ethically in opposition to your own beliefs. In fact the only person who will gain control over your mind is you.

(2) The concern that someone will discover secrets you don,t want them to know is unfounded. A hypnotherapist will not extract information from you without first obtaining your permission.

(3) Unlike other therapies, most of the time a hypnotherapist addresses the symptom, not the cause. In other words, the priority is creating positive change in your life now, today. What happened to you in the past is only important if working with the symptom doesn't move you closer to your goal in a relatively short period of time. Using this approach, success can be attained in matter of weeks or months.

(4) Hypnosis is not a sleep state; it is a hyper-awareness. You are aware of everything at all times and will remember the experience in detail. Often people find that they are able to visualize more easily, hear sounds more clearly and the experience leaves them feeling deeply relaxed and calm.

So if you're ready to take control of your life and make your dreams a reality, the future is only a phone call away. Find a certified hypnotherapist, one with the letters C.Ht after their name, and start creating the life you deserve.

Stop Smoking with hypnosis. How long have you told yourself that you are going to quit smoking? Make this the year you finally keep that promise. The beauty of this solution is there are fewer and less severe withdrawal symptoms due to the post hypnotic suggestion and most hypnotherapists can help you quit in one to three sessions. They can also teach you self-hypnosis so you can keep your resolution for life. For those who really want to quit, the success rate is about 75%. And just think, you are creating health for those around you as well as yourself. A win/win proposition all the way around.

Lose Weight and keep it off. Through hypnosis you can reduce your desire for unhealthy foods (fats, sugars etc.) and increase your appetite for healthy ones. Suggestions are made that will limit the quantity of food you desire and heighten your enjoyment of the quality. Attitudes toward food, overeating and related feelings of well-being are addressed and altered for safe and permanent weight loss.

Overcome Fears and Phobias. How long have your anxieties and apprehensions been holding you back? Whether you fear heights, failure, rejection, success, pain, open spaces, speaking in front of people or anything else, hypnosis is a highly effective solution. Through a technique called desensitization, your fears are met and faced through the subconscious mind, which eliminates the symptoms of fear, bringing you back into balance. Hypnosis can also slow the heartbeat, generate relaxation, free the throat to swallow and promote clear headedness.

Learn to Communicate better and improve your relationships. We all want to communicate effectively so we can explain our viewpoints, discuss our differences and work out our problems. So why is this so difficult? Perhaps because most of us fall into one of two categories of suggestibility: physical or emotional. Suggestibility defines the way we learn and hear and although we all have characteristics of both, we are usually dominant in one or the other. To complicate matters even more we will usually be attracted to a partner with an opposing suggestibility from our own. In other words, he or she will hear and speak differently than we do and because people tend to listen in accordance with their own personality make-up, we may not hear what they are really saying and vice versa. In hypnotherapy, we can measure your suggestibility and alter it to improve understanding and communication in all your relationships.

Reduce Stress to increase your effectiveness and avoid burnout. When our conscious mind becomes fatigued dueto input overload ie., jobs, relationships, weather, news, noise, traffic, a subconscious mechanism is triggered called fight/flight. It is a primitive response that causes the heart to pump faster, blood pressure to rise and super-strength can be generated. But we can,t fight our environment, job or a bad decision. Unable to fight, the reaction turns to the alternative of flight. If that proves impossible, a state of apathy, depression and hyper-suggestibility ensues. This is when our minds allow negative thoughts, ideas, images and feelings to overtake us and we find ourselves unable to cope. Through hypnosis positive new responses can replace unwanted reactions, buried feelings can be brought to the surface and released and relaxation techniques can be learned to alter limiting attitudes.

Eliminate Self-Doubt from your mind and build your self esteem and confidence. How long will you allow negative programming from the past to keep you from your full potential? Hypnotherapy can free you from the past and open the doors to future success. Utilizing imagery, visualization, direct suggestions and goal setting can help to release self-doubt and build positive attitudes that will not only increase confidence and self-esteem, but will motivate you to turn your dreams into reality.

Procrastination can be a thing of the past with a system of self -hypnosis called the Mental Bank. It utilizes your own suggestibility and the powerful principles of repetition and association to increase your motivation and sustain a positive outlook. This
life changing program takes only minutes a day and is a valuable tool for creating permanent happiness, success and prosperity.

Sleep Well and long without drugs or chemicals. Why endure another year of sleep deprivation and fatigue? Insomnia responds rapidly and effectively to hypnosis. In addition to suggestions for restful and deep sleep, self hypnosis and a personalized tape designed to deal with specific individual problems can lead to comfortable relaxation and a full nights sleep.

Pain Reduction is not only possible through hypnosis, but is so effective that some people can undergo surgery without chemical anesthesia. Hypnosis has proven effective with migraines, injuries, surgeries, back pain and most other forms of pain. Studies have shown that patients recovering from surgery who utilize hypnosis have less pain, develop fewer infections and heal more quickly. Whether your pain is chronic or acute, it can be quickly reduced and managed with hypnosis.

Performance Anxiety can cause an athlete to finish 2nd or 3rd, an actor to forget his lines, or a student to fail a test time after time. So many of us are talented, intelligent and capable of great accomplishment, but anxiety paralyzes us at crucial moments and leaves us feeling stupid, fearful and helpless. If this sounds familiar to you then know that help is available in the form of hypnosis. Anxiety is a response that through desensitization, correct breathing techniques and attention to diet can often be reduced or eliminated completely. Make 2002 the year you throw off the shackles of anxiety and unleash your full potential.