Something to think about from Dr. Wil Horton

Intro to NLP Today E-Zine

NLP Today E-Zine is a monthly series of articles that will bring you the best information in the world of NLP and Hypnosis. We will bring you articles that have been proven in the real world. Heavy with techniques and information you can use in your daily life, whether it's as a therapist with clients, business or sales, or just for self-development. We will get you the information you want and can't get. We focus on proven applications, not theory. Our trainers all "do the work." This is the difference that makes the difference. We cut the fluff and bring the main course. Mental Food you can use. NFNLP is the leader in this type of technology.

This is a service of the National Federation of NeuroLinguistic Psychology and Dr. Wil Horton. We want people to achieve their highest potential, and NLP is the #1 tool for this. If you feel you have been added to this list in error, check out an issue, and then let us know if you would like to be removed.

You can achieve your dreams.

Captains Chair:

Happy Holidays to one and all. Another years is coming to a close, so I thought I would do a quick note to the crew to thank them for sharing their lives with me, and for helping to take NLP and NFNLP as the leader of NLP into the world.

As we look back, did you accomplish your goals that you set out for this year? What goals did you need to retool to get to? Did any new and exciting goals come along that caused you to rethink the old ones? I am constantly reminded to remember that it is the journey that must be enjoyed, not just to lock onto the target.

It has been a good year for me personally. My daughter, serving in the US Navy, returned from a 10-month deployment in the Gulf (during the war) and she is doing well. Her crew also did well.

NFNLP is continuing to grow and change the way NLP is taught and used world-wide.

I opened a new office in Florida enabling me to focus more on at-home trainings.

I also got to be in two plays, and have achieved some physical goals I set for myself. I recently took a physical agility test for the Sheriff’s department and scored well for someone in their 20’s (whereas I’m more than a bit past that), thanks to NLP, self-hypnosis and the skills you all share with me.

Merry Christmas to All! I would like to share this poem sent to me by one of our trainers.

“Twas the night before a NLP Christmas”

by Ed Redard MD

“Twas the night before Christmas”

And look what I find

All these empowering resources

In my unconscious mind

My beliefs and values

Were aligned with great care

In hopes that Erickson

Could work with what’s there

The fears of my past

Were all put to bed

While visions of trance

Danced in my head

I took a deep breath

And adjusted my cap

And settled my brain

For a long winters nap

When into my head

There arose such a clatter

I set up in bed

To see what was the matter

Deep into my mind

I flew like a flash

And shut out the world

By pulling the sash

My tender new beliefs

Shown white as the snow

And gave the luster of permanence

To the convictions below

When, what to my minds eye

Should curiously appear

But the kind Milton Erickson

Drawing me near

With hypnotic language

Seductively slick

I knew in a moment

He put me in trance quick

Reaching down in my memories

The resources they came

With a deep and slow voice

He called them by name

Now Courage, now Compassion

Now Love and Conviction

On Power, On Laughter

On Faith and Determination

To the top of mind

Deep inside I knew how

Now integrate! Integrate!

Integrate Now!

And then in a twinkling

Without any grief

Empowering new ideas

Integrated into beliefs

As I lounged in my head

And was turning around

Deeper into my consciousness

Erickson came with a bound

He was dressed all in purple

From his head to his boots

With his hypnotic skills

Resisting was moot

He was kindly and wise

And quite assured of himself

And I went into trance

In spite of myself

He spoke many strange words

And went straight to work

Creating new possibilities

And then turned with a jerk

Clutching onto an idea

To a dream he gave a whistle

And flew out of my mind

Like a heat seeking missile

But I heard him exclaim

As he flew out of site

Happy NLPing to all

And to all a good night!

Theory into practice:

This is more of a F.Y.I. that I thought you might appreciate since many of us have clients with weight problems (even more so at this time of year.) I saw this on the web and thought I would share it.

Emotional Eating: Feeding Your Feelings

Eating to feed a feeling, and not a growling stomach, is emotional eating.

By Heather Hatfield

WebMD Feature Reviewed By Brunilda Nazario, MD

on Tuesday, November 11, 2003

When you're happy, your food of choice could be steak or pizza, when you're sad it could be ice cream or cookies, and when you're bored it could be potato chips. Food does more than fill our stomachs -- it also satisfies feelings, and when you quench those feelings with comfort food when your stomach isn't growling, that's emotional eating.

"Emotional eating is eating for reasons other than hunger," says Jane Jakubczak, a registered dietitian at the University of Maryland. "Instead of the physical symptom of hunger initiating the eating, an emotion triggers the eating."

What are the telltale signs of emotional eating, what foods are the most likely culprits when it comes to emotional eating, and how it can be overcome? Experts help WebMD find the answers.

How to Tell the Difference

There are several differences between emotional hunger and physical hunger, according to the University of Texas Counseling and Mental Health Center web site:

1. Emotional hunger comes on suddenly; physical hunger occurs gradually.

2. When you are eating to fill a void that isn't related to an empty stomach, you crave a specific food, such as pizza or ice cream, and only that food will meet your need. When you eat because you are actually hungry, you're open to options.

3. Emotional hunger feels like it needs to be satisfied instantly with the food you crave; physical hunger can wait.

4. Even when you are full, if you're eating to satisfy an emotional need, you're more likely to keep eating. When you're eating because you're hungry, you're more likely to stop when you're full.

5. Emotional eating can leave behind feelings of guilt; eating when you are physically hungry does not.

Comfort Foods

When emotional hunger rumbles, one of its distinguishing characteristics is that you're focused on a particular food, which is likely a comfort food.

"Comfort foods are foods a person eats to obtain or maintain a feeling," says Brian Wansink, PhD, director of the Food and Brand Lab at the University of Illinois. "Comfort foods are often wrongly associated with negative moods, and indeed, people often consume them when they're down or depressed, but interestingly enough, comfort foods are also consumed to maintain good moods."

Ice cream is first on the comfort food list. After ice cream, comfort foods break down by sex: For women it's chocolate and cookies; for men it's pizza, steak, and casserole, explains Wansink.

And what you reach for when eating to satisfy an emotion depends on the emotion. According to an article by Wansink, published in the July 2000 American Demographics, "The types of comfort foods a person is drawn toward varies depending on their mood. People in happy moods tended to prefer ... foods such as pizza or steak (32%). Sad people reached for ice cream and cookies 39% of the time, and 36% of bored people opened up a bag of potato chips."

Overfeeding Emotions

"We all eat for emotional reasons sometimes," says Jakubczak, who has talked to college students at the University of Maryland about emotional eating. When eating becomes the only or main strategy a person uses to manage emotions, explains Jakubczak, then problems arise -- especially if the foods a person is choosing to eat to satisfy emotions aren't exactly healthy. "If you eat when you are not hungry, chances are your body does not need the calories," says Jakubczak. "If this happens too often, the extra calories get stored as fat, and too much fat storage can cause one to be overweight, which may present some health risks."

According to an interview with Jakubczak on the University of Maryland web site, 75% of overeating is caused by emotions, so dealing with emotions appropriately is important.

Recognizing Emotional Eating

"The first thing one needs to do to overcome emotional eating is to recognize it," says Jakubczak. "Keeping a food record and ranking your hunger from 1-10 each time you put something in your mouth will bring to light 'if' and 'when' you are eating for reasons other than hunger."

Next, you need to learn techniques that help manage emotions besides eating, explains Jakubczak. "Oftentimes when a child is sad, we cheer them up with a sweet treat," says Jakubczak. "This behavior gets reinforced year after year until we are practicing the same behavior as adults. We never learned how to deal with the sad feeling because we always pushed it away with a sweet treat. Learning how to deal with feelings without food is a new skill many of us need to learn."

Managing Emotional Eating

Here are a few tips to help you deal with emotional eating:

• Recognize emotional eating and learn what triggers this behavior in you.
• Make a list of things to do when you get the urge to eat and you're not hungry, and carry it with you, according to the Tufts Nutrition web site. When you feel overwhelmed, you can put off that desire by doing another enjoyable activity.
• Try taking a walk, calling a friend, playing cards, cleaning your room, doing laundry, or something productive to take your mind off the craving -- even taking a nap, according to the Tufts Nutrition web site.
• When you do get the urge to eat when you're not hungry, find a comfort food that's healthy instead of junk food. "Comfort foods don't need to be unhealthy," says Wansink.
• For some, leaving comfort foods behind when they're dieting can be emotionally difficult. Wansink tells WebMD, "The key is moderation, not elimination." He suggests dividing comfort foods into smaller portions. For instance, if you have a large bag of chips, divide it into smaller containers or baggies and the temptation to eat more than one serving can be avoided.
• When it comes to comfort foods that aren't always healthy, like fattening desserts, Wansink also offers this piece of information: "Your memory of a food peaks after about four bites, so if you only have those bites, a week later you'll recall it as just a good experience than if you polished off the whole thing." So have a few bites of cheesecake, then call it quits, and you'll get equal the pleasure with lower cost.

Lastly, remember that emotional eating is something that most people do when they're bored, happy, or sad. It might be a bag of chips or a steak, but whatever the food choice, learning how to control it and using moderation are key.

Published Nov. 11, 2003.

SOURCES: Brian Wansink, Ph.D., consumer psychologist; marketing and nutritional science professor; director, Food and Brand Lab, University of Illinois. Jane Jakubczak, registered dietitian, University of Maryland. American Demographics, July 2000. Physiology & Behavior, 2003. University of Texas. Tufts University. Food and brand Lab, University of Illinois.

Technique and Tips:

Recently I have changed the way I do the Visual Squash, and several of you in recent trainings have asked for a copy, here it is:

Remember a Visual Squash is for when a client has a polarity response, part of them wants to do some thing, part of them fights it. You could use it for someone who says part of them wants to give up emotional eating, but a part of them likes the comfort foods.

First have client think of a person, place or thing that they love, where do they feel this feeling?

After the client is relaxed:

Imagine, in your mind’s eye, the part of you that wants to change, the part of you that brought you here, that really wants this goal ________. You know the reasons, and there may be others that your not consciously aware of, and that’s OK. Just let this part take a color, shape, sounds and feeling. It could be anything, a white cloud, a pink heart, whatever it is, it is. I would like to thank this part, and you should also, as it only wants what’s best for you. Great.

Now imagine next to it in your mind’s eye, that part of you whatever reasons, stops you from achieving this change. You may know the reasons, or you may not consciously, and that’s OK. Just let this part take a color, shape, sound and feeling. Whatever pops into your mind is fine. It the part of you that holds you back from achieving this goal. Now I would like to thank this part, and you should also, we may not like what it has done, but it has been doing this for a reason. I would like you to let this part look at all the behaviors and beliefs that has caused it to do this. Many times as we are growing up, we learn things that were not intended. A child may hear, clean your plate, people are starving in parts of the world. The parent means not to waste food, not over eat. So really we mislearn information. (insert specifics here, such as: Sometimes our pre-conscious minds misunderstand events or situations. It is not uncommon for a parent or authority figure to tell us to “work harder or you will never succeed,” or “you’re a loser,” and our minds only hear the negative. Sometimes an event that did not work out, a dropped ball, a bad move, a split second pause, can cause us to replay these events as if they were a part of us, not just something that happened that we can learn from.

Now I invite this part to release this event and any others that may be holding you back. You may allow yourself to see these events or causes in a new light.”

So now this part can relearn what it needs to do to take care of you even better.

Now let these two parts face each other in your minds eye, each part acknowledging the other. Many people notice a energy connection between the two. Both parts realize they are not giving anything up, they will be stronger for the merger. Each has something the other needs. That’s right.

Now watch and listen to both these valuable parts of yourself, allowing the two parts to come together only as fast as those two parts can blend and integrate in ways most comfortable and useful to you… in such a way that neither part loses anything, retaining the usefulness and importance of both parts, each gaining form the other the qualities and capacities that are lacking in themselves and present in the other.

You may be fascinated to observe some of the changes that occur in these two images as they start to come together …only as fast as they can comfortably assimilate these changes. You may also be surprised by the image that is created when the two images finally join and become a single image as they melt into each other and take on each other’s capacities. And notice what the new image looks like, because this new part represents a combination of abilities you’ve never had before…as such, this new part will have additional skills and abilities that you could never have guessed at, that you can enjoy … new ways of accomplishing all of these important outcomes simultaneously…

Associate with the new integrated part.

When you are ready, imagine this part coming into yourself, into that place where you feel love and belief.– into your body somehow, so that it becomes a part of you and all your behaviors, easily and readily available. It will be as true for you as the love you feel for this person, place, or thing. As you do this, you feel a surge of energy in your body as this part reunites with you… take a few moments to appreciate and enjoy the qualities of this unique new part.

Now think of the specific times and places where you want these integrated qualities and capacities to be fully at your disposal in the future…”