Archive for August, 2008

Golf's Secret Weapon – Hypnosis

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

As seen on Searcharticles.com

Michelle Beaudry

Golfers make me grin. It’s fun helping them get the edge on their competition. Lucky for me, my practice is in Orlando, Florida where golfers abound. And whenever I meet one, that grin just pops right up.

A case in point: some time back, I noticed a married couple walking arm and arm into an event, and he sported a golf shirt bearing the name of a prominent golf magazine. So I said, “Hi. Do you work for that magazine, or are you just wearing the shirt?”

“I’m one of the editors,” he puffed.

“Good. I’m hypnotist Michelle Beaudry, and would you like to know why we hypnotists chuckle at you golfers when we get together?”

Of course he did, and said so. Smilingly I began, “You golfers always show up on time, you already know it works, you happily pay the fee, you follow instructions to the letter, but…”

He eyed me narrowly as I raised my voice in a flourish, “But, you golfers never refer.”

He burst out laughing, nodding and bobbing his head. The woman on his arm looked aghast. “Oh, yeah, he said, “I went to a hypnotist for golf…”

Her jaw dropped. “You went to a hypnotist? And you didn’t tell me? I’m your wife!”

“Oh, yeah, I went. Loved it.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” she pleaded.

I interjected, “Because they never do. Golfers never tell anyone about their secret weapon.”

“That’s what it is, “he agreed, “a secret weapon. And I never told a soul.”

See? Golfers dont even tell their wives.

Why? Because the word “hypnosis” bears creepy connotations born of bad Hollywood films and ill-informed tv writers. There has never been a single film or tv show that accurately portrays what hypnosis is or why it works so well. Golfers don’t care about the movies, they care about their game. And they whisper in low voices, spreading rumors on the links…

“Did you hear that Tiger Woods uses a hypnotist?”

“All the pros do.”

“Really?”

Most golf pros do indeed hire “sports consultants” who use “visualization” to help them conquer the mental game of golf. Be not fooled. These sports consultants are hypnotists, use hypnosis, and someday when the general public wakes up to the truth, we all all be able to use the “H Word” loudly and proudly. It is not mind control, and it has nothing whatsoever to do with the occult. It has everything to do with improving your game. Or your life.

In one simple two hour session, all the improvement areas golfers typically need can be covered. These include setting a peak performance trigger, implanting a clean slate for every new tee-up, processing self-forgiveness of all past golf mistakes, raising their ceiling of excellence, creating permission to excel, installing a shield against distractions, and so much more. It can even be done over the phone.

You’ve seen pros use their peak performance triggers many times on tv, like when one of them always taps his or her cap or presses a thumb and finger together before every shot. We hypnotists attach an excellent golf shot of the past to the trigger, so that same quality of excellence is accessed time and time again. It works consistently and well. Surprisingly, golfers often plateau at a too-low level of competence because it can feel risky to excel. Yet once in hypnosis, they process old emotional programming and raise their ceiling of excellence. And voila: better golf.

All hypnosis does is set your conscious mind aside and access your stronger, more powerful subconscious. And there are lots of ways this happens to you every day. When you read a book, for instance, you are actually just looking at ink on a piece of paper; yet, in your mind’s eye, you see all the action in bright living color. Yes, reading a novel does indeed automatically put you into a light trance state (provided you like the book). Falling in love puts you into a deep trance state. Yes, all of us have been in hypnosis over and over again without even knowing it.

Hypnotists operate under the same federal laws as doctors and psychologists. We may not disclose to any third party the name of any client. Our clients, on the other hand, may of course disclose our names, and they do, happily referring us to their friends and family. I get referrals from clients all the time.

Except golfers. I’m their secret weapon, and they ain’t tellin’ nobody.

 

 

About The Author

Michelle Beaudry, board certified hypnotist near Orlando, Florida, takes clients in person and by phone from all over the world. Contact 407 862-9144 or hypnofemme@aol.com.

Beaudry Hypnosis

Satisfaction in life ripens with age

Saturday, August 16th, 2008

As seen on Canada.com:

Misty Harris ,  Canwest News Service

If the Rolling Stones couldn’t get no satisfaction in their youth, new research suggests they might have a better shot now that they qualify for the seniors’ discount.

A study published in the latest edition of the Journal of Positive Psychology investigates the origins of life satisfaction across adulthood and finds the secret to happiness evolves as we age, while the things that dissatisfy us remain constant.

The team of social scientists, drawing from a multi-year study of 818 people aged 18 to 94, were surprised to find that self-reported health was not a significant predictor of life satisfaction. The researchers say this helps explain why older people, who often experience a greater number of medical concerns, tend to rate their happiness just as high — if not higher — as younger people.

By way of example, a cancer patient who maintains a positive attitude will be more satisfied with life than the healthy athlete who’s too sad to smile.

“It’s encouraging, especially when you think about older Canadians,” says lead author Karen Siedlecki, a post-doctoral research fellow in Columbia University’s cognitive neuroscience division.

“Successful aging is a lot of the time defined in terms of cognitive or physical functioning, and it’s usually inevitable that those things will decline. But this shows that the really key components of successful aging may be how happy you are and how satisfied you are with your life, and these factors don’t tend to decline with age.”

The study revealed crystallized ability — the knowledge, skills and experience people acquire throughout their lives — was also not significantly associated with life satisfaction. Siedlecki explains that while age is associated with a general increase in knowledge, it doesn’t significantly change the degree to which people live a contented existence.

By contrast, fluid ability — the capacity to reason abstractly, solve novel problems and draw inferences — was a significant predictor of happiness among younger and middle-aged people, but didn’t notably affect older people.

Researchers suspect it’s because this aptitude is central to career advancement but loses importance after retirement.

“Intelligence is a really highly valued resource in our society and is closely linked with our life satisfaction” says Siedlecki. “But when we get older and leave the workforce, other things may take on more value, such as our emotional ties and bonds with friends.”

The things that bring us down, however, remain much the same at any age. Negative affect, which included elements of depression, anxiety and neuroticism, was a significant predictor of life satisfaction across young, middle-aged and older participants alike.

These were just as likely to make a teenager frustrated with life as someone in their twilight years.

Citing previous research, the study noted combined demographic variables such as income, education, marital status and gender only account for eight to 15 per cent of the differences in individual well-being. Money can buy happiness, it seems, just not very much of it.