Habits are created through a process called habit formation. This process involves three steps:

1. Cue: A cue is a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and perform a behavior. For example, the smell of coffee might be a cue that tells you to make a cup of coffee, when you get anxious you may bite your nails.
2. Routine: The routine is the behavior itself. In the example of the smell of coffee, the routine might be to go to the kitchen and make a cup of coffee.
3. Reward: The reward is something that your brain likes that helps it remember the habit loop. In the example of the smell of coffee, the reward might be the feeling of caffeine coursing through your veins or the action of biting your nails may make you feel less stressed.

When you repeatedly perform a behavior in response to a cue, your brain creates a neural pathway that connects the cue to the routine. Over time, this pathway becomes stronger and stronger, and the behavior becomes more automatic.

Habits can be either good or bad. Good habits can help you to achieve your goals, while bad habits can sabotage your efforts. If you want to change a bad habit, you need to break the habit loop. You can do this by:

• Identifying the cue: The first step is to identify the cue that triggers the behavior. Once you know the cue, you can start to avoid it or change it.
• Changing the routine: The second step is to change the routine. This might mean replacing the bad habit with a good habit, or it might mean finding a new way to respond to the cue.
• Reducing the reward: The third step is to reduce the reward. This might mean finding a way to get the same reward without performing the bad habit, or it might mean finding a way to enjoy the reward less.

Changing a habit takes time and effort, but it is possible. 

Here are some additional tips for changing habits:

• Be patient: It takes time to change a habit. Don't get discouraged if you don't see results immediately.
• Be consistent: The more consistent you are with your new habit, the more likely it is to stick.
• Make it easy: Make it easy for yourself to do the new habit. This might mean setting up reminders, putting things in convenient places, or finding a partner to help you.
• Reward yourself: When you do the new habit, reward yourself with something you enjoy. This will help you to stay motivated.
• Try Hypnosis: A proven strategy to reduce bad habits and encourage good ones.

Live music can release serotonin, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in mood regulation, social bonding, and sleep. When we listen to music, our brains release dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is associated with pleasure and reward. Dopamine is also released when we anticipate something pleasurable, such as hearing our favorite song. This is why we often feel excited and happy when we are about to go to a concert.

In addition to dopamine, live music can also release oxytocin, a hormone that is associated with bonding and trust. Oxytocin is released when we interact with others, and it can also be released when we listen to music. This is why live music can be such a powerful experience. It can bring people together and create a sense of community.

A study published in the journal Nature Neuroscience found that listening to music can increase the release of dopamine in the brain. The study also found that the release of dopamine was greater when people listened to music that they enjoyed.

Another study, published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, found that listening to music can increase the release of oxytocin in the brain. The study also found that the release of oxytocin was greater when people listened to music in a social setting.

These studies suggest that live music can have a number of benefits for our mental and emotional health. It can improve our mood, reduce stress, and increase feelings of social connection. If you are looking for a way to boost your mood and improve your overall well-being, consider attending a live music event.

Here are some additional benefits of live music:

• Reduces stress: Listening to live music can help to reduce stress levels by releasing endorphins, which are hormones that have mood-boosting and pain-relieving effects.
• Improves mood: Live music can also help to improve mood by increasing the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that is associated with pleasure and reward.
• Increases social bonding: Live music can help to increase social bonding by creating a sense of community and shared experience.
• Improves sleep: Listening to calming music before bed can help to promote relaxation and improve sleep quality.

If you are looking for a way to boost your mood, improve your sleep, or reduce stress, consider attending a live music event

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy: A Quick Guide to This Innovative Therapy

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is a type of therapy that combines the principles of solution-focused therapy and hypnosis. It is a short-term, goal-oriented therapy that focuses on the present and future, rather than the past.

What is Solution-Focused Therapy?

Solution-focused therapy is a type of therapy that focuses on the client's goals and solutions, rather than the problem. It is a strengths-based approach that believes that clients already have the resources they need to solve their problems.

What is Hypnosis?

Hypnosis is a state of heightened suggestibility that can be induced by a therapist. In hypnosis, the client is more open to suggestion and can learn new behaviors and skills.

How Does Solution Focused Hypnotherapy Work?

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy works by combining the principles of solution-focused therapy and hypnosis. The therapist will first work with the client to identify their goals. Once the goals have been identified, the therapist will use hypnosis to help the client achieve their goals.

Hypnosis can be used to help the client learn new behaviors and skills, change their thinking patterns, and reduce anxiety and stress.

What Are the Benefits of Solution Focused Hypnotherapy?

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is a short-term, effective therapy that can help people with a variety of problems, including:

• Anxiety
• Stress
• Depression
• Phobias
• Eating disorders
• Pain management
• Performance anxiety
• Sleep problems
• Weight loss

How Many Sessions Do I Need?

The number of sessions you need will vary depending on your individual needs. Most people need between 8 and 12 sessions.

Is Solution Focused Hypnotherapy Safe?

Solution Focused Hypnotherapy is a safe and effective therapy. There are no known side effects.

What Should I Expect During a Session?

Positive Solution focused conversations, identifying small steps to help you reach your goals in life. followed by a session hypnosis,, you will be asked to relax and focus on the therapist's voice. The therapist may use a variety of techniques to help you relax, such as guided imagery or progressive muscle relaxation. Once you are relaxed, the therapist will work with you to identify your goals and develop a plan to achieve them.

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Playing with animals can be good for mental health in a number of ways. Here are some of the reasons why:

• Reduces stress and anxiety. Animals can help to reduce stress and anxiety by providing companionship and unconditional love. When we interact with animals, our bodies release oxytocin, a hormone that has mood-boosting and stress-reducing effects.
• Improves mood. Playing with animals can help to improve mood by providing a sense of purpose and companionship. Caring for an animal can give us a sense of accomplishment and responsibility, which can boost our self-esteem and make us feel happier.
• Increases social interaction. Owning a pet can help to increase social interaction by giving us a reason to get out and meet new people. Taking our pets for walks or to the park can give us the opportunity to talk to other pet owners and make new friends.
• Provides a sense of security. Animals can provide a sense of security and safety, especially for people who live alone or who have experienced trauma. The presence of an animal can make us feel less alone and more protected.
• Promotes physical activity. Owning a dog, for example, can encourage us to get regular exercise by taking them for walks or runs. Physical activity is known to have a number of benefits for mental health, including reducing stress, improving mood, and boosting self-esteem.

Overall, playing with animals can be a great way to improve our mental health. If you are looking for a way to reduce stress, improve your mood, or boost your overall well-being, consider getting a pet.

The Solution Focused Hypnotherapy process does not necessarily give tasks between sessions. Although, we do use elements of CBT, which does set tasks, the difference would be, in CBT they check to see if tasks have been completed, in SFH we don’t... we rely on the client telling us as something that may have been good, or something that has helped since the last session. We do not ask, as we do not want the client to feel he or she has failed in any way.

We do encourage actions between sessions, one of those is to listen to our guided relaxation MP3 as a means of self-hypnosis and to find moments of hypnotic trance between sessions and to aid the therapy process. This gets our clients used to our voices, which in turn helps them to enter trance more easily when they come for a session. It trains their mind to accept suggestion through repetition and makes the most of the improved sleep that it will encourage, therefore hopefully improving REM (rapid eye movement sleep)

Part of our Initial consultation and the workings of the mind presentation explains the physiology of the brain and how we keep a constant flow of beneficial neurotransmitters, serotonin, dopamine and endorphins flowing through our bodies. We use a caveman metaphor to explain the rewards our ancestors received for Positive Actions, Positive interactions and Positive thinking We rely on a good explanation of the physiology of the brain, the MP3 and the work we have done with the client on a subconscious level, to encourage self help and we hope, as the client has come to see us for help, that they will attempt to make small changes in these areas, to aid their journey towards their goals.

We can of course, jump on a suggestion from the client of something that they will do and ask them if indeed they will try it or do it, if we believe it will have a potential positive outcome. Asking them if they will try it and what they think will be better if they did? But again, we would hope that the self-set task was completed, but we would wait to be told if they have.

The swish technique is something we can train our clients to use between sessions, if they feel this would be helpful, something very easy that they can do at anytime during the day when they have a few moments. Once this is taught, the client has it for a lifetime and can use it in many different situations.

The low road and high road are two different pathways that information can travel through the brain when we experience emotions.

The low road is a fast, unconscious pathway that goes directly from the thalamus to the amygdala. The amygdala is a small, almond-shaped structure that is involved in processing emotions, especially fear. The high road is a slower, more conscious pathway that goes from the thalamus to the cortex and then to the amygdala. The cortex is the outer layer of the brain that is responsible for higher-level functions, such as thinking, planning, and decision-making.

The low road is often activated when we experience a sudden, unexpected threat. For example, if you are walking down the street and you see a Polar Bear, the low road will quickly send a signal to the amygdala, which will trigger a fear response. This fear response will cause you to jump back or run away, even before you have had a chance to consciously process what is happening.

The high road is more likely to be activated when we experience a less threatening or more complex situation. For example, if you are walking down the street and you see a dog, the high road will send a signal to the cortex, where you will be able to consciously process the situation. You will be able to see that the dog is not a threat, and you will be able to decide whether or not to pet it.

The low road and high road are both important for processing emotions. The low road allows us to respond quickly to threats, while the high road allows us to make more complex decisions about our emotions.

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The Solution Focused Hypnotherapy model does not necessarily assign tasks between sessions, the clients may suggest that they will do something in between sessions based on something we may have said, for instance we may suggest that some of our clients keep a record of things that they found positive each day or record things that they are thankful for. If they choose to do this, we would not ask them of their progress as if they have failed to complete it, it may put them in a negative frame of mind.

We do though, suggest that they listen to our MP3 recording each evening before they go to sleep, as this will assist the work that we are doing together, this is mentioned in the initial consultation and revisited when we recap on the workings of the mind at the next session. If we are to encourage any task or homework, the recording is the one, as it keeps up the therapeutic benefits of using the left prefrontal cortex and emulates REM sleep, which helps anxiety levels and aids problem solving.

As the structure of our sessions contains scaling and the miracle question, we rely on the client to subconsciously work towards their goals between sessions, based on the small steps that they stated could be done to move themselves up the scales.

The Swish technique is one we can teach and encourage the client to use, I have utilised this with sports performance coaching where clients have a high level of anxiety prior to making a move, for instance weightlifting, where the pre lift is the moment of anxiety and achieving the lift is the moment of success.

Positive thinking, Positive Interactions and Positive activity can be encouraged, if we have described the benefits correctly during the workings of the brain presentation, we would hope subconsciously the client will be working towards this.

Whilst saying goodbye, we can of course ask the client to “keep up the good work” a task in itself!! 

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