Have you ever tried to eliminate a negative behavior, only to not succeed? There is list of ordinary problem behaviors that people often try to alter or eradicate using hypnosis. Perhaps the most common are: Overeating and weight loss; stop smoking; quit chewing tobacco; stop nail biting; increasing self-confidence; overcoming insomnia and sleeping better; improving memory; and managing stress.

WHAT THE MIND CAUSES, THE MIND CAN CURE: The motivation for our behaviors starts in our thoughts. If you stop and think about it, all of these negative behaviors are the result of negative thinking. In other words, you think and motivate yourself into all of these behaviors. Or at least you think yourself into feeling worried, and that can result in these behaviors. And in view of the fact that you think and motivate yourself into these behaviors, you can think and motivate yourself out of them as well. But in order to think and motivate yourself out of these behaviors, you will need to know specifically how to go about accomplishing it.

DESIRE: You’re almost certainly reading this commentary for the reason that you want the motivation to alter some personal behaviors. And that is fitting because the first ingredient in the “Motivation Formula For Your Success” is that you must want or desire to change. If you have read this far, at least some part of you wants a change.

BELIEF IS REQUIRED FOR MOTIVATION: Before anyone can eliminate an unconstructive behavior, that person must be motivated to do so. Merely wanting a change is insufficient.

Motivation comes from what we believe. If we believe that something very important to us will get better or “become enhanced” if we make a change in our behavior, then we will feel a high level of motivation. Conversely, if we believe that something very important to us will be in jeopardy if we don’t make a change in our behavior, we will also feel highly motivated to alter our behavior.

Some simple examples of these motivational beliefs would be:

If I take some weight off, then I’ll be able to find a companion.

If I kick my smoking habit, then I will not have to worry about cancer.

If I quit my nail biting, then my hands will look a lot more attractive.

TECHNOLOGIES THAT CAN CREATE THE BELIEFS THAT LEAD TO MOTIVATION: NLP – which is short for Neuro-Linguistic Programming, offers strategies that are able to immediately produce the element of belief. You can learn more on this topic by reading the articles “How To Get Motivated To Exercise Using Hypnosis And NLP” and “Motivation Theory – How To Quit Smoking Using NLP And Hypnosis For Motivation.” These articles are both available in my free hypnosis research library.

DECISION: The dictionary definition of the word “Decision” is making up one’s mind / a verdict or judgment. When you believe an idea that provides you with a powerful feeling of motivation to modify your behavior, you will feel a compulsion to make a decision to get rid of a negative behavior. Decision is the key that unlocks the door to taking action.

ACTION: The dictionary definition of the word “Action” is an act or deed / to do or perform. Taking action means that rather than just thinking about making personal changes, you will actually take steps to create your desired changes.

SELF-TALK: One of the reasons that individuals are unsuccessful at modifying a negative behavior is because of how they talk to themselves. Self-talk is important because time and again it is part of what caused the negative behavior to begin with.

I’d like you to consider this for a moment: Let us say that you want to kick a cigarette addiction. Probably the first thing that you might say or think to yourself is: “I’m not going to smoke anymore.”

It’s common for people to tell themselves what they are not going to do. Unfortunately, when we tell ourselves what we aren’t going to do, we are actually programming ourselves to do it!

SELF-TALK EXERCISE: Say the following to yourself: I can’t see blue. I can’t see polka dots . . . . . . .

I’ll bet your mind showed you the color blue, and then it showed you polka dots. That’s because when we tell ourselves what we do not want to do, or what we won’t do, in order to make sense of it our mind must show us doing whatever it is that we wish to stop doing. And when we imagine ourselves engaging in a behavior, our mind compels us to generate that behavior.

SUMMARY: In order to modify a negative behavior, we must want or DESIRE to eliminate it. BELIEF is the component that leads us to MOTIVATION. MOTIVATION is the drive that compels us to DECISION. DECISION is the means to ACTION. Neuro-Linguistic Programming is a modality that we can use to facilitate beliefs, motivation, decisions, and actions.

When we tell ourselves what we aren’t going to do, we make a mental movie of ourselves in the behavior that we want to get rid of. And that mental picture gives us a powerful urge to create the unwanted behavior. So if we want to eliminate a negative behavior, rather than tell ourselves what we will not do, we must always tell ourselves what we will do.

To stop smoking say: “I can live without them.”

To abort cravings for food that will make you fat or to stop chewing smokeless tobacco say: “I can live without it.”

To eliminate stress say: “I’m relaxed and calm, both mentally and physically.”

To fall asleep quickly and overcome insomnia say: “I fall asleep quickly, and sleep soundly throughout the entire night.”

Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is a long-term illness that occurs because of injury to the lungs. This term is used to identify three lung problems categorized as COPD. These include emphysema, asthma, and chronic bronchitis.

Asthma starts when a person’s body views part of the environment, such as chemicals, tobacco smoke, or foods, as hazardous. The body activates the immune system to release biochemicals called histamines. These proteins produce inflammation in the lungs so the body can ward off invaders. This stiffens the lungs and impairs breathing.

People can be diagnosed with asthma at any stage of life. A key way family members and friends can assist people with asthma is to quit smoking cigarettes, since secondhand smoke is deadly. If someone just diagnosed with asthma smokes, he or she should stop smoking immediately.

Physicians also classify chronic bronchitis as a type of COPD. This health problem develops when a person has smoked for a number of years. Tobacco smoke causes tar and bacteria to become trapped in the lungs. The bacteria result in recurrent inflammation of the bronchi, or airway tubes, of the lungs.

This disease scars and damages the lungs. Persons who have this condition have difficulty exercising or taking deep breaths. Because their airways are stiff and irritated, they develop shortness of breath with just a little activity. Often, if these people stop smoking, many of their breathing difficulties will lessen.

The third lung disease classified as COPD is emphysema. A person’s lungs have air sacs at the end of the bronchi. These grape-shaped sacs, also known as alveoli, expand and contract when a person breathes in and out. Patients who have emphysema become short of breath and are unable to breathe deeply or exhale completely because air stays trapped in these sacs. If these people find ways to stop smoking, these symptoms may get better.

Medicines and breathing exercises may help some individuals who have COPD. Despite these techniques, however, these individuals continue to have significant levels of anxiety. Having COPD is like being underwater and holding your breath. Even though you try to stay underwater longer, you need to breathe – now! Therefore, you rise to the surface and breathe deeply. Unfortunately, people with COPD cannot swim to the surface and take a deep breath.

Some stop smoking programs assist patients who have COPD. Most COPD patients understand that smoking worsens their breathing difficulties. Most have smoked for decades, however, which often makes trying to quit very hard.

Many stop smoking programs are available. Most coach clients to utilize the conscious mind to stop smoking. Because the dependency on smoking is deeply ingrained in a person’s unconscious, rarely do those who quit smoking with the help of programs stay quit without making changes at the unconscious level. Moreover, the majority of these techniques center on a smoker’s physical dependency on smoking, which comprises only about 10 percent of the addictive behavior.

Many stop smoking programs claim to help persons to learn to relax. The most effective ones employ Ericksonian hypnotherapy and Neuro-Linguistic Programming, or NLP. Polarity responses often occur with traditional hypnosis and straightforward post-hypnotic suggestions.

Ericksonian hypnosis employs metaphors, which communicate suggested thoughts that promote tranquility to the unconscious to help clients to overcome the propensity to do the opposite of what is suggested. Often, people who learn to relax through the use of the NLP Flash tool can manage stress and anxiety attacks more effectively. Therefore, they breathe better.

Ericksonian Hypnosis offers an innovative alternative way for helping people learn how to quit smoking. Professionals who practice this understand that the problem is rooted in the unconscious. Therefore, they aid clients in the subconscious, through stop smoking hypnosis. Contrary to the techniques used by traditional programs, hypnosis to quit smoking focuses on decreasing stress, psychological addiction, and habituation, which together make up nine-tenths of one’s smoking habit.

With Ericksonian hypnotherapy and NLP, these patients can have a better life. These techniques teach people with breathing problems to reduce anxiety. They also help eliminate subconscious associations between cigarettes and environmental factors. This extinguishes nicotine cravings. These methods provide hope to people with COPD.

Summary: Three chronic lung problems are classified as COPD. These are asthma, chronic bronchitis, and emphysema. Minimizing anxiety related to breathing and helping people find ways to stop smoking are two of the best ways to help people who have COPD live better lives. Ericksonian hypnosis and NLP techniques help people to control anxiety and stop smoking.