As a doctor of psychology and a therapeutic hypnotist, I know for a fact that we are all born to win. We are supposed to be the best we can be. We learn to lose, and what we learn, we can unlearn.
Every precious baby enters the world as a completely open conduit of love, acceptance, trust, and joy. They know they are cute enough, smart enough, the right color, gender, etc. Barring any predisposed physiological conditions or addictions, the infant does not have any desire for self-defeating thoughts or habits. It never enters the infant’s mind that its every desire cannot be met. Alas, we learn to be critical. We learn to lower our expectations and to sabotage ourselves, and then come to believe that we deserve less or none at all.
A baby has no desire for a cigarette, self-deprecation, or numbing out, and really has no fear other than the two innate ones we all evolutionary have. The fear of falling, and the fear of loud noises have remained in our DNA since our caveman ancestors for our protection and survival. That means we learned to fear a hot stove, running out into the street, to fear an exam or a job interview. And while certainly some fears are helpful, others are not. And the very good news is that whatever negative habits or beliefs we learned, we can unlearn, and return to that natural infantile state of bliss. There is a plethora of modalities for unlearning and healing, one of which is therapeutic hypnosis.

Hypnosis is a naturally occurring state and has been used for centuries. The ancients Greeks and Egyptians had “sleep temples” where they meditated, self-hypnotized, and emerged refreshed. Indeed, the word hypnosis is Greek for sleep. A far cry from the “squawk like a chicken or sing like Elvis” stereotype of stage hypnosis, all of us unconsciously experience the hypnotic trance on a daily basis. We are all self-healing vessels, and our bodies naturally take us to this necessary state so that we can decompress and recharge. We bookend our day in trance: we wake up in a highly suggestible state (the hypnopompic state), and pass through it again (the hypnogogic state) upon retiring for the night.
Have you ever woke up in the morning and felt like you were “zoning out?” Like you were “out of it,” or “spaced out” even though you were really still awake? That’s trance. And it’s an extremely valuable state for accessing your personal power. There is absolute gold in the mine of your mind. While it is important to monitor our self-talk at all times, it is crucial to do so in trance, as the subconscious is fertile soil for manifesting what you focus on during these powerful, vulnerable states. If one affirms healthy, supportive, positive beliefs and realistic goals, rapid change can be effected with repetition and vigilance, whether or not one consciously believes it can or not.
The conscious mind, which houses our logic, reason, decisiveness, rationale, and willpower, is only about 5-10% of our mental capabilities. So the subconscious, which drives ALL our behavior, comprises 90-95% of our mind power! In hypnosis we marry these two storehouses so that we have 100% of our power supporting us in attaining our goals.

Think of it like this: the subconscious is a machine…like your car or your computer. While both are powerful machines, they are really just big heaps of metal that are only as effective as their driver or programmer. The conscious mind is the “brain” and the subconscious is the “brawn,” and, fortunately, the subconscious is extremely obedient. It indiscriminately follows any order it is given. Can your car care whether you turn left or right? Does your computer judge whether you work on Excel or Power Point? So, you can drive or be driven.
You can allow your subconscious to keep driving you with beliefs like “I’m a fat pig” or “I could never make $100,000 a year” or “it’s impossible to quit smoking,” and your subconscious will manifest those statements as reality for you. Similarly, it is immaterial to your subconscious mind (and your car and computer) if you have $1 million in the bank or thirty-six cents, are a smoker, panic about public speaking, bite your nails, strike out at home plate, have a sexual dysfunction, achieve your goals, suffer from insomnia, have writer’s block, fear flying, etc. Where you care is in your conscious mind; that is where you are judging yourself, frustrated, anxious, angry, depressed, and more.
Understanding this theory of the mind empowers us to access and utilize the enormous power we were born with so that we can live rich, full lives and attract the ideal mate, create a fulfilling career, earn a dream salary, and free our inner winner. There is simply no need to live as a hopeless victim of our subconscious.
We were born to win, and winning can be our default setting. That does not mean that we don’t ever experience failure or loss; we certainly will, but we can learn from those experiences and be stronger for them. Hypnosis is a powerful modality in which we can harness the vast personal power that we ALL innately have. It has nothing to do with intelligence.
Do you know a naturally brilliant person who can never seem to get out of his/her own way and constantly operates beneath his/her potential? Conversely, do you know someone of average intelligence who is wildly successful and always succeeds? Perhaps man is not created equal when it comes to inherent intelligence and abilities, but personal power is certainly a level playing field. Just like we all have the same 24 hours in a day and seven days a week, we all have the ability to plug into our own power source.
Therapeutic hypnosis is unlike stage hypnosis in that it is conducted in a private clinical setting, one-on-one, like traditional psychotherapy, and basically does for the mind what massage therapy does for the body. The hypnotherapist treats one issue at a time, honing in on the learned obstacle(s) that is blocking one’s path to better performance, and through the deep state of relaxation where the brain waves attain an alpha state or even deeper, the client can gain rapid relief.

Michelangelo once stated that to create a masterpiece, he looked at a raw chunk of marble, visualized his final sculpture in it, and simply carved away what was not part of his vision. Designing your life works the same way. There is a masterpiece in us all waiting to be free. Grab yourself by the gold and shake off the dirt. By plumbing the depths of the subconscious, your inner winner emerges.
All hypnosis is really self-hypnosis. We have about 100,000 thoughts a day, and if most of those thoughts (suggestions) focus on what is wrong, what’s not working in your life, how hopeless it is, how it will never improve, then guess what you will manifest? Thoughts turn into beliefs, and beliefs drive our behavior, and all behavior comes from the subconscious mind. Thus, it is imperative that you become aware of your unhelpful thoughts, and turn them into helpful ones. Of course, you must stay in action to attain them as well.
The subconscious mind takes its directions through words and images. Indeed, words represent images in the mind’s eye. If you tell a child: “Don’t slam that door!” What will he more than likely do? Slam it, because that is the image his mind projected. The mind cannot see an image of a don’t, a not, or a never. It only images an action word or a noun.
We never treat smokers by suggesting: “You will not smoke…” because the mind conjures up images of smoking. We suggest focusing on saving money, having stronger cardio, kissing your mate with clean breath. No matter what your goal, this formula can work. In working with scores of professional athletes, I train them to manage their thoughts and visualize swishing the ball through the hoop; not “Oh, God, don’t blow this free throw!” This may sound subtle, but it is enormous in the unconscious mind.
For example, let’s say you want to make more money:
- The first step is to be grateful for what you already have or are earning. If you complain about this or compare yourself to others, that energy stymies the flow of abundance. It is smart to know what the market offers someone with your experience, skills and education. Know your worth.
- The second step is to acknowledge if your occupation is meaningful and fulfilling to you. Picking a job strictly based on potential earnings power is more times than not a short-term motivator. I can’t tell you how many high-salaried professionals I have treated who realized in mid-life (or before or later) that they chose that profession to please their parents, or their spouse, or because society smiles on that occupation.
- The third step is to set short-term and long-term financial goals. When you ask for a raise or shop for a new job, request a realistic amount based on your due diligence, and an amount that is an increase for you; your short term goal. Over X number of years, you will find you are attaining that amount or even surpassing it.
- The fourth suggestion is to keep a gratitude journal and include your gratitude for your abundance, and for the trust that your abundance is growing. And, again, you must stay in action to earn that money, and share it with others to ensure the flow.
Formal education will make you a living; self-education will make you a fortune.
– Jim Rohn
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Dr. Nancy Irwin
Dr. Irwin is a licensed clinical psychologist and certified therapeutic hypnotherapist in private practice in West Los Angeles, California.. A trauma specialist, she practices EMDR we well as Neurolinguistic Programming, Emotion Free Therapy and Time Line Therapy as adjuncts to psychotherapy and clinical hypnosis. 310/235-2882. Click here to visit her website.
Thank you for sharing this valuable information. I have been using self-hypnosis for many years, and I can certainly confirm that it provides valuable results. I have used it to remove fears, increase abundance and confidence, and heal myself. I would recommend it for anyone :)
Hi Joe, thanks for reading. I agree, self-hypnosis and hypnotherapy are super valuable. These are some of the very few methods I have used to retrain my mind as well, super (almost scarily sometimes) effective!