NLP - Habit Change

I often receive enquiries about whether NLP and/or hypnotherapy can help with giving up an unwanted habit e.g. biting nails, thumb sucking, picking the face, smoking.

There's Giving Up

I don't know about you, but I have never liked "giving up" anything. It just sounds like sacrificing something good.

I guess this is a reminder of how NLP has you take care about the words you use, pay attention to what you hear yourself saying or just watch out for those sneaky phrases.

When you truly decide to stop doing something, you have already decided it no longer serves you, haven't you. So I don't suppose it's really a sacrifice at all, is it. Can you imagine our ancestors making sacrifices of something unwanted to the gods? So that phrase "giving up" seems a bit redundant, doesn't it.

And if you are still in two minds about whether you want to stop this habit or not, the phrase "giving up" is not going to make that decision any easier, is it. You can carry on using that mantra if you like - "giving up, giving up, giving up". It's a wonderful piece of self-hypnosis for having you continue the old habit. Or you can take control of the things you say to yourself and others to make the change you want to happen more easily now.

And There's Giving Up

There's another meaning to the phrase "giving up". Sometimes it means "quitting"...... Oops.

I must admit I have a bit of pride. I really don't like quitting things at all. It just sounds like something I might do if I didn't think I could succeed, like quitting an exam, quitting a challenge, quitting a competition.

It's all about language again, isn't it. After all, there are times in life when it is a good thing to "stop" something. It can be decisive, prudent, wise or even courageous, certainly not the action of a quitter. And there are times when it's best not to quit, when you need to be determined, persistent, motivated. It's funny how people who talk about "quitting smoking" seem to prefer "stopping quitting" and end up feeling like a quitter anyway. It's not their fault. Nobody ever told them about the power of language. I'm glad somebody told me.

I wonder

I wonder what you notice first about how much easier it is to change a habit when you finish quitting and start changing, or you cease giving up and start stopping instead. You might want to read that again or you might like to let it sink into your unconscious where it can begin to make a difference for the better now.

I think that's all I have to say about the subject right now. I could give up typing anything else in this particular posting, however I don't really like giving up, so I'll just stop instead.

Author: Andy Lucas, Advanced NLP Therapeutic Specialist