Chemicals to produce for happiness

Happiness - what is it?
The dictionary defines it as 'a mental or emotional state of well-being defined by positive or pleasant emotions ranging from contentment to intense joy'... What gives people these pleasant emotions differs from person to person, meaning that everyone's version of happiness can be different.
For me, happiness is sitting in front of the fire with a cat on my lap and a glass of wine in my hand - Yes, I am easily pleased! But for many people, when you ask what happiness means to them they say:
'winning the lottery'
'having no financial worries'
'being on holiday'
or simply 'surrounded by my family and friends'.
The good new is, that we can create our own happiness - and it starts with being realistic. Winning the lottery isn't realistic - so does that mean if you don't win, you'll forever remain depressed/unhappy/heavy-hearted? No! Of course it doesn't, happiness depends on you. When your parents/teachers/older siblings said to you 'life is what you make it' - they were right!
Positive emotions produce a range of chemicals in our brain.
Dopamine - Also known as our 'motivation molecule'. It boosts our drive, focus and concentration so that we can achieve our goals. It allows us to have feelings of enjoyment, bliss, and even euphoria.
Too little dopamine can leave you unfocused, unmotivated, lethargic, and even depressed.
Serotonin - A molecule of happiness! This neurotransmitter is produced when we do something we like - reading a book, exercising, being with friends and family. Low serotonin is linked to depression.
Oxytocin - Widely referred to as 'the love hormone'. This hormone plays a role in social activities and bonding.
Endorphins - These are the natural chemicals in the body that fight pain. They are released when a person gets hurt, exercises, laughs or gets sexually intimate.
So, if these four chemicals are important in making us feel happy, we need to do activities that promote production of these. What have you done lately?

Pick something this week from this list and do it - increase your happy hormones!
1) Set a short term goal and achieve it.
2) Read a book.
3) Meet up with friends.
4) Exercise for 30 minutes (pick something you know you enjoy).
5) Laugh with people.
6) Watch a film you've been dying to see for ages.
7) Phone a friend you've been meaning to phone for a while.
8) Cook something you've not made before and sit down with a loved one and have some time out. Discuss what's been good about your week.
9) Have some 'alone time' with your other half - no distractions.
10) Go somewhere you've not been before and have an adventure.
11) Have a massage - they produce lots of oxytocin!

The truth about hypnotherapy

Creating change on your own is challenging  and sometimes it can seem easier to stay stuck than move forward.
This is why people want to try hypnotherapy – often after they have tried everything else. There is a belief that it is a magic bullet. In some ways it is, but thinking it so is not helpful. Here are 10 facts which will help you understand it better.  
1.  It isn’t new
Hypnosis has been around for thousands of years and was accepted by the British Medical Association in 1958.
2.  What is it?
Hypnosis allows communication with your subconscious mind – that part of you which is constantly influencing your thoughts and behaviour - to help you achieve your goals, overcome bad habits and remove subconscious blocks.
It is an altered state of awareness and is something you experience naturally every day - like when you drive from A to B and don’t recall the journey, because your conscious mind has been thinking about other things. It is not sleep. It is not even relaxation, though most people feel relaxed when they are hypnotised.
Hypnotherapy is creating this naturally occurring phenomena for therapeutic effect – that which is good for your emotional and physical well-being.
It is great for so many problems – weight-loss, stress, smoking cessation, self-esteem, anxiety, insomnia, IBS and more. Anything which stress makes worse, hypnotherapy can make better.
3.  Inconvenient truth
Although some people experience it as a ‘magic bullet’ most people experience it as a process rather than an event and the number of sessions you will need depends on the complexity of the problem and the degree to which you are reliant on the problem as a coping mechanism for other issues in your life.  It can’t force change on you – but facilitates change through you – you still have free will.

4.  It isn’t mind control
A lot of people think that hypnosis is mind control but, in truth, it can only happen with your willing co-operation. You have something called ‘the critical factor’ which is like a gatekeeper between your conscious mind and subconscious mind to protect you from anything which isn’t for your highest good. Hypnotherapy helps you achieve what you want for yourself. You can’t be forced to do anything you don’t want to do or say anything you don’t want to say – you are in control throughout.  If you want to understand the difference between hypnotherapy and stage-hypnosis, read this article http://www.yourempoweredself.co.uk/stage-hypnosis-versus-hypnotherapy/.

5.  How do I know if I can be hypnotised?
Almost everyone can be hypnotised. Anyone from the age of around five with at least a normal level of intelligence can be hypnotised – if you want to be. You cannot be hypnotised against your will so feeling comfortable with your hypnotherapist is very, very important. 

6.  What does it feel like?
People experience it differently, but most people simply feel as though they have their eyes shut, and are able to hear everything that goes on around them. Nothing more than that. Others feel a tremendous sense of relaxation, yet others feel tingly or numb, heavy or light. Or all of the above, or none of them. The secret is not to expect a particular experience, not to try to relax, simply allow it to happen in whichever way is right for you.

7.  How many sessions will I need?
Because everyone is different, it is difficult to predict the number of sessions needed. The number of sessions often is affected by the complexity of the problem, the strength of your defence mechanisms and your readiness for change. It is useful to consider that a problem can take years to create so takes a little time to dissolve. Some people like change to happen gradually so it feels easier to acclimatise. Others are very ready for change now and it can be really quick.

8.  How will I know that the work is complete?
When you first get the results you want – or you’re nearly there - it can feel like the work is complete and it may be. What you need to look out for though, is that the change can be maintained even through times of challenge. We can all behave differently when things are going well. But, typically, when we are stressed, if therapy stops too soon, chances are that your subconscious mind will revert to old habits because it is overloaded with whatever else is going on. It is much better to continue working until the change becomes a default habit, or, failing that, have top-ups to put you back on track.

9.  Can it really change your mind?
Neuroscience has proved that we can change our mind. The more we repeat an action, the stronger it gets. So to change a habit, including an emotional response, it is important to create a new habit to replace it. The more these are repeated, the more your mind will change and the old habit will be weaker than the new habit. Hypnotherapy speeds up this process for you.

10. How do I find a good hypnotherapist?
A good hypnotherapist will help you regain control of your life. Because you will be working in partnership with your therapist, it is important to find the right person for you. This will be a mixture of chemistry, empathy, experience, and skill.  It is important to find one who has a good understanding of psychology too. For more information on how to do this, read this article http://www.yourempoweredself.co.uk/how-to-choose-a-hypnotherapist/. Then, you can check out Hypnotherapy Directory to see who is the best one for you.

How To Successfully Lose Weight With Hypnosis

So what’s the general perception about weight loss? I think it’s fair to say that the majority of the population will tell you that losing weight can be tough. Whether it’s a couple of kg's for a special event or holiday or you need to lose a lot of weight to dramatically improve your health, for some people, weight loss seems like a steep mountain to climb.
Yet, think of the benefits of losing weight because it extends beyond just being able to fit into a small clothes size. Losing weight will make you feel great about yourself, your confidence and self-esteem will be boosted. You will enjoy having more energy, you’ll have a renewed zest for life and of course you will extend your life expectancy.
The problem is that you set out with all the best intentions and you may even lose some weight along the way. But, for many of us, this initial good start doesn't continue, you reach a plateau at some point here then it's hard to keep going.
Then maybe you try the fad diets, pills and quick-fix solutions which of course don't work in the long term and they could actually be harmful to your health.
What you need to know is that weight loss is not just about what you do with your body and what you put in it. It's also about what's going on in your head. It’s about your mindset and your thinking, which ultimately drive your results. This is why more and more of us are turning to hypnosis as the effective solution.
So, why does hypnosis work when every diet you've ever tried doesn't?
The answer to that question is simple. Hypnosis gets to the root of your issues about your weight and helps to overcome your bad habits too. (You may not even realise that you have any bad habits!)
Hypnosis works because it helps you to unconsciously accept the behaviours that will get you fit and healthy. An expert hypnotherapist, for example, will help your brain reject unhealthy foods and actually crave healthy ones. They can also help you overcome any eating issues like comfort eating and will give you the confidence to believe that you can lose weight. Plus because your hypnotherapist will work with you to change the core issues, the weight will stay off once you start to lose it.

Improve Self-esteem and let go of Anxiety

To understand the link between anxiety and self-esteem, we need to go right back to the beginning. When we are children, we have a need to feel loved and secure in order to be sure of our safety, of ourselves and for a sense of belonging to grow. If this is in any way disrupted or not present at all, that sense of belonging and safety will not be able to develop and we will be left with insecurities.
As we then grow older these insecurities begin to develop into negative core beliefs such as ‘I am not good enough – that is why I wasn’t made to feel safe/loved/nurtured/taken care of.’ Or, ‘I am not deserving – that is why bad things have happened to me’ Or, ‘I am not important – that is why nobody wants to keep me safe.’ These are all very damaging core beliefs and when we grow with damaging beliefs we evolve with a low or hurt self-esteem. This low self-esteem combined with our lack of security are the perfect ingredients for living a life filled with worries, concerns, perceived threats and fear, in other words, anxiety. If, however we work to improve this self-esteem, our sense of belonging, self and security will grow reducing the amount of fear or concern we live with. 
 Here are three ways you can boost yourself esteem and watch your anxiety drop away:
1) Realise and retrain
When we suffer with low self-esteem, we become our worst critics, reinforcing the negative core beliefs we have taken on over time. Although it may feel like we can’t do anything to alter that inner critic, actually we can. We just have to first notice what it’s telling us and then be dedicated enough to re-train that critic. There are a huge variety of ways we can do this but self-love is a great place to start and five minutes each day is all it takes! Simply start your day with noting down one positive thing about yourself. This could be about your physical appearance, your personality, talents or accomplishments. Over time you will build up a long list of compliments about yourself which will begin to retrain your brain to focus on the positives instead of the negatives.
2) Acknowledge and appreciate
Commonly when we have low self-esteem we have a low opinion of our physical appearance, criticizing and shaming various parts of our body. Again this simply reinforces our negative beliefs, making it harder to shift them. So instead, acknowledge each part of your body from your feet up to your head, appreciating it and showing gratitude for the part that area of your body plays in making you, you! For example, ‘thank you feet for carrying me all the places I need to be every day.’ Notice how much more you begin to appreciate your body and feel connected to it rather than hate and shame it.
3) Decide and declare
Believe it or not we do have the ability to decide exactly how we feel about ourselves and how we choose to think about ourselves, although at times it may not feel like it. Positive affirmations are a great way to take time to decide how we want to feel about ourselves. They are simple sentences we can choose, about the way we want to feel, so once we have decided what they are we can then declare them to ourselves on a daily basis. For example, ‘I am confident and positive.’ ‘I am brave.’ ‘I am capable.’
Hypnotherapy is hugely effective for supporting you in growing your self-esteem. Positive and confidence building suggestions in hypnosis can all help your self-esteem to grow as well as helping you to overcome and let go of negative beliefs that hurt or damage your self-esteem.