Sometimes our thinking gets stuck. We can find it hard to move our focus beyond a thought which limits us and we fail to achieve our full potential. There can be unconscious barriers set up along the way and they can affect us throughout our lives. There are emotions and thought processes which we hold onto and unconsciously allow to dominate our reactions to our own thoughts, our environment and the things other people say and do. Consider these and how they affect you. Sometimes simply noticing can help us rise above these blocks.

Fear

Whether we realise it or not, our mind will often unconsciously create defences to protect us from perceived threats, leading to stress which manifests in a variety of ways. Perhaps you can imagine a small part of your mind unconsciously behaving rather like a meerkat sentry, constantly alert and looking for danger. Of course, sometimes there really are threats, but there are also times when although our rational mind tells us everything is okay,...

I woke this morning thinking about smiles!  I was networking today and spent quite a bit of time discussing the same and have rather belatedly discovered that today is World Smile Day.

There are so many phrases about smiles: “A smile costs nothing”, “Smile and the world smiles with you”, “You’re never really dressed without a smile”

My great grandfather always wrote in autograph books “If you expect the good things in life to turn up, keep the corners of your mouth that way!”

So why do we smile?  Well, it really is quite complex! Smiles can represent everything from anxiety and fear to satisfaction and joy.  Charles Darwin theorised that people developed to smile as a greeting as their social encounters required less and less teeth baring, but some of the most important early work on smiles was carried out by Guillaume-Benjamin Duchenne, a contemporary of Darwin specializing in neurology.

“[Duchenne]...

In the midst of researching the power of the imagination I stumbled upon a study carried out at Harvard Medical School. 

The Harvard researchers under Neuroscientist Alvaro Pascual-Leone instructed the members of one group of volunteers who had never played the piano before to play as fluidly as they could, trying to keep to the metronome’s 60 beats per minute. Every day for five days, the volunteers practised for two hours. Then they took a test.

The transcranial-magnetic-stimulation (TMS) test allows scientists to assess the functions of a specific area of neurons. In the piano players, the TMS mapped how much the motor cortex controlled the finger movements needed for the piano exercise. What the scientists found was that after a week of practise. the stretch of motor cortex devoted to these finger movements had spread like naturalised plants onto surrounding areas.

Then Pascual-Leone extended the experiment by having another group of volunteers merely think about...

Over the last four years I have been working to create the online “Imaginators Programme” which launches on 23^rd April 2018.

With 1 in 4 adults experiencing mental illness at some point in their lives, I hope to give people the skills to prevent some of the causes rather than wait to treat the illness.

Having been taught self-hypnosis by my Dad (also a hypnotherapist) as a teenager, i recognise the value of having a mind management toolkit constantly available.  My  passion for many years has been helping people to embrace the power of their imagination – first as a meditation teacher, then creating parties for young children using active meditative techniques and now as a Clinical Hypnotherapist and Coach based in my clinic in Amersham.

The Programme offers techniques to access the imagination and apply it in a different, more beneficial way to create positive, rational responses to challenges.  These techniques enable you to learn how to better...

With the increasing awareness that the only way to reduce the cost of healthcare is to improve the way we treat our bodies, the equivalent approach to mental health seems to be lagging behind.  Sure we have introduced mindfulness and yoga into some schools and workplaces, yet still most of my clients with mental health issues face unmanageable stress in both areas.  I want to take a moment to discuss why I have created The Imaginators Programme.

The Mental Health Foundation publishes information about the state of mental health in the UK within a context of a worldwide problem.  These statistics demonstrate beyond any shadow of doubt that something has gone wrong.

20% of adolescents may experience a mental health problem in any given year.1
50% of mental health problems are established by age 14 and 75% by age 24.2 
10% of children and young people (aged 5-16 years) have a clinically diagnosable...

Most of us start life with a great imaginations, and some people retain and use them throughout their lives.  Others, for a variety of reasons, have theirs quashed and forget how to use them.  The good news is that with a little help and gentle nurturing, it is never too late to re-awaken that precious skill and learn how to apply our imaginations, in a practical way, to every aspect of our lives.

Now, I’m not talking about unrealistic fantasies here, but a practical exercise in seeing possibilities and potential in ourselves, our lives and our environment. This in turn helps us create a powerful Mindset to facilitate successful change using our innate talents and strengths.

There are so many examples of ways we apply our imagination to create new realities.   For example, in business,  by dressing as though you are already a level up on the career ladder you are more likely to gain fast promotion. Why? Because when we apply our imagination to how it...