This article is provided by kind permission of Dr. Georgina Cannon. This article MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED without the permission of the author.

Speak Your Way to Sucess

Dr. Georgina Cannon

As a hypnotherapist, my job is to help others reshape their self image. One thing I share with my clients is how speech affects who we are and what we are. The words we say within, and the words we hear, form and shape the person we are, and how we interact with our world. This is good news.... and bad news!

Why Do Words Have Such Power?

Thousands of years ago the Buddha said “Everything we are arises with our thoughts.” And we know that our thoughts manifest our words and our behavior. The good news is, once we move beyond those mid teen years, we are ultimately responsible for our thoughts, words and behavior. I said it was good news and bad news.

That means there’s no one else to blame if we have low self esteem, procrastinate, if we are a ‘pushover’ or over aggressive. It really is in our ability to make the change. The change is in what we think, what we say and how we behave.

Here is one reason this idea is so powerful and useful: We don’t need outside help to change our thoughts. We can change a word or a thought instantly, and can do it any time we are conscious enough to do it. Knowing this simple truth provides tremendous power that comes completely from within.

A lot of the thoughts we think, the words we say, and the behavior we manifest happens seemingly automatically. How many times have you heard yourself behaving like a child? Throwing a tantrum or giving a loved one ‘the silent treatment’? These negative thoughts, feelings and behaviors are simply the manifestation of thoughts and situations we have grown up with – or rather aged with (some of them aren’t too grown up!!) and happen without consideration of cause and effect.

So now it is time to consider cause and effect. What we think and say becomes who we are…. So it’s time to change – time to own our thoughts, our words and our life. Time to become the author of our own story.

Making our words count to make our life as full and joyous as it can be.

So the first thing to do is to learn to recognize these thoughts. They come into our mind automatically, much as our heart beats without having to remind it every second. We don’t have direct control over what thoughts pop into our mind unbidden, but we always have complete control over what thoughts we consciously insert into our thought stream. That is why the principle “as you think, so you are” has such extraordinary power.

Firstly we need to make the decision of which thoughts and spoken phrases we want to eliminate, and what we want to replace them with. For example, if you’re a person who automatically negates a compliment, recognize that, and come up with a new phrase to say when you are complimented.

If you find yourself speechless at group meetings at work, plan ahead, and consider what you might say and contribute for your department. If you didn’t have value you wouldn’t be there! So speak up! Your mind might be shouting out thoughts like “I’m afraid of speaking in public”or “People won’t want to hear what I have to say”

It’s time to change the script. Time to change the thought which changes the words to change your behavior. Time to empower yourself by changing the direction of your thought stream. Every time one of the old negative thoughts rears its ugly head, you will learn to consciously switch and plug in a pre-arranged thought and phrase you say to yourself.

It’s a decision you’ve made.... and you do it. The old negative thoughts might continue to pop up from time to time, but you have now made a fundamental alteration in the program that’s been running your life, with this simple strategy.

At first you may feel foolish, and you may even believe it won’t work. But like all habits, both good and bad, they’ve become habits because of repetition. Doing the same thing over and over again, until it happens automatically and without thinking. Your new thoughts and phrases will become second nature, and your ability to write a new script for your life will give you an outstanding and empowering life.

Have a Trial Run

It takes 21 days to change a habit, but to make sure your subconscious mind ‘gets it’, make a commitment to yourself for a 30 day trial run. You can do anything for 30 days! And when the goal is as profound as changing your life, that commitment is an awesome and exciting promise to yourself.

What Will You Choose to Help You Move Forward?

Choose one of your more debilitating negative or limiting thoughts and behaviors. It could be not

finding the time to work out or eat healthily, or how everyone is an idiot driving on the highway, or how your boss intimidates you. Now say this limiting belief to yourself in one sentence. Write it down. Then say it quietly in your mind a few times, noticing how it feels in your mind and body.

Then choose a positive, empowering thought about the same issue. For example, if you’ve been saying “Everyone’s an idiot on the highway,” make up a sentence like “Everyone drives according to their own comfort standard and I am responsible for my own safe driving.” If that feels stilted and too much of a jump, you could say, “I’m learning to relax on my drive to work.” The exact sentence you use is up to you, just as long as it has a positive quality.

The next step is to quietly in your mind, repeat your negative, limiting thought several times.

Then, just as quietly, replace it with a positive, empowering one. Repeat the new thought over and over, letting it become more and more subtle and effortless. Over the 30 days, practice identifying any negative or limiting thoughts and behaviors. Then, use your newly minted technique and introduce the new phrase and behavior into your thought stream. Just drop in this empowering way of thinking and behavior effortlessly, as if it’s always been there.

At the end of the 30 days your life will have improved dramatically. Your new thoughts and behaviors will be beneficially impacting every interaction you have with others and yourself. You’ll find that you are living the life you were meant to live.

All because you’ve learned to speak your way to success.

Georgina Cannon is a Doctor of Metaphysical Counselling, an NGH Board Certified Hypnotherapist, NLP Practitioner, and an international instructor and teacher of hypnosis and Past Life Regression Therapy. She is the director of the Ontario Hypnosis Centre School and clinic, Canada’s largest freestanding school, and works with students from around the world, and along with four affiliates in the office, works in the clinic in a successful therapeutic practice. With ten years of hypnotherapy experience and many years in the corporate world, Dr. Cannon is sought after by clients from across Canada and around the world. to help them make change and improve their lives.

Dr. Cannon is widely recognized as a leader in her profession, regularly meets with the medical and business profession to explain the benefits of hypnosis, and for this, she has received top honours in the profession. She is a regular columnist in the Journal of Hypnotism, and has been on the convention faculty at the largest annual professional hypnosis educational conference for many years. She is also an Advanced Certified Instructor for the National Guild of Hypnotist and the International Medical and Dental Hypnotherapy Association. She was the first woman, and the first Canadian to be featured on the cover of the Journal of Hypnotism In 2005 she was inducted into the prestigious Order of Braid -- which recognizes a lifetime of outstanding achievement, dedication and service as a professional hypnotist.

In 2003 the CBC produced a documentary about Past Life Regression, titled Past Life Investigation, in which Dr. Cannon facilitated past lives with 32 volunteers recruited by the CBC. This documentary is currently being shown world wide. The book RETURN – past life regression and you, written by Dr. Cannon is a best seller, and two years later is still selling well internationally. In addition she has authored many professional books for the hypnosis professional and is regarded as ‘the source’ for media in Canada when they wish to find out more about the power of the mind.

Her appearances in the media include radio and TV in Ireland, Radio and TV in the U.S. and across Canada including all major radio and TV stations. She is featured extensively on various web e-zines and currently is host of the chat room once a month, on the Shirley MacLaine website, where she discusses hypnosis and past life regression. You can reach her at www.ontariohypnosis-centre.com

Media contact: Darlene Montgomery 416-696-1684 or Lifedreams@idirect.com