Today a huge crowd of Chamber of Commerce members arrived at the beautiful Cornwall Hotel and Spa to see if there is such a thing as a free lunch. After two courses I gave a talk to the assembled crowd, while three chefs and an array of mouth-watering puddings waited patiently.

For the talk I used a twist on my usual theme of "USE your Brain". The title was "USE your Self" and I explored the notion that much of what we need, we already have within us, although we don't always use it. I offered three things we can do to help:

1. UNDERSTAND your Self
2. SEE your Self doing the things you want
3. ENJOY your Self

1. UNDERSTAND your Self
One helpful thing to understand about ourselves is that there are at least 3 parts to our personalities, with distinct corresponding areas in our brains:

• The Boss - great at giving direction and support, but can't do everything. Also known as the executive function. The frontal lobes of the brain are more active when the boss is in. The boss also makes us consciously aware of ourselves, so we often think that this is who we are. But it's only one part...
• The Compliance Function - likes to stick to rules, even if they no longer make sense. It is only ever trying to help but can also manifest as stubbornness, resistance, hesitation, procrastination, risk-avoidance, overthinking, overzealousness... It's also known as the monkey mind, lizard brain, amygdala, fight or flight system ... it's interesting that it has so many names and gets so much attention. It's in the lower, middle part of the brain.
• The Team - the third part gets the least attention or appreciation I think, but it's the biggest, and most powerful part, all around the outside of the brain - the neocortex. It's what we often think of as the clever but mysterious part of the subconscious. This is the bit that, given clear direction, says "leave it to us Boss, we'll get it sorted" and the next thing we know - it has! It works like a great team, a team with great experience, skills and qualifications. It exercises autonomy, initiative and boundless creativity.

All areas are very valuable, but it's important to remember: the Boss has limited capacity, the Monkey has limited creativity, but given the right conditions the team can do pretty much anything. Working together the whole person i.e. You can achieve amazing things - with the resources you already have.

What makes it so much easier for this to happen is when we are calm. The best way to achieve this is to go to sleep. When we are asleep our brains are four times more active when we are awake, in very helpful ways that are very interactive between the various parts, particularly when we dream. However a similar thing happens when we are awake and in a state of calm, focused attention. An easy and powerful way to achieve this is to use your imagination and memory to think about things we like. Which brings us to point 2:

2. SEE yourself doing good things.
A client who came to me this week with a fear of driving told me she has a very vivid imagination. From what she'd told me about the "literally 100 million things that could go wrong" - I could see she was right, about her imagination! And we agreed - that's how she could get so scared so quickly, easily and effectively and why she hasn't driven on a motorway for 20 years - it was quite a skill! I asked her what it might be like to apply her amazing imagination to something good instead, like how amazing it's going to be to have her freedom back.

As she sat opposite me and started to imagine delighting her family up-country with a surprise lunch visit, her brow softened, her eyes moistened, colour came to her cheeks and she began to smile. It's quite something to witness someone letting go of something that's held them back for so long. Imagination is incredibly powerful. (See Émile Coué for more on this).

3. ENJOY your Self
And my final tip was: Enjoy yourself. Because enjoyment is like an evolutionary encouragement to do things that are good for us. A happy boss is a good boss and a happy team is a productive team and even monkeys can be good company when they're relaxed. Every time we do something positive, or interact in a positive way, or even just think about positive things, we get a reward. We feel pleasure, satisfaction, courage and motivation. It's a chemical reward designed over our entire human history to encourage us to do more of the stuff that's good for us - like being active, interactive and focusing on good things.

And if we really enjoy ourselves - and I mean REALLY enjoy ourselves, other potential distractions like puddings can be enjoyed too, on our terms, with us in control, rather than the other way round. Like Donut Lady, but that's another story.

The whole event was kindly sponsored by the social enterprise Real Ideas, whose name is either an oxymoron or a tautology (or both perhaps?) depending on your views on 18th Century philosophy or the power of your imagination. It turns out you can have your pudding and eat it. There is a free three-course resource which is already yours. Enjoy it!

Happy New Year folks! I always love January as I feel refreshed and reconnected from the Christmas break, but also excited and - more importantly - there's actually some time in my calendar for planning and reflecting, working on my business and my own life as well as working and living in it!

I've been focusing on what really makes a difference for my clients, what makes it such an enjoyable and beneficial experience, and how I can do even more of that. I want to make it even more "Wow!" and make it more accessible to more people. I'm totally sold on the whole idea - obviously! - but knowing what actually works for my clients, especially what they do in their own time, on their terms, is not always easy! I've decided that for this, I need to learn by doing, and then listening and learning.

So I've restructured my website and launched a section of resources starting with some space for REFLECTION. There's an area on THEORY which if people like it, I'll add more. I've also made more AUDIOS available because people love them and I love doing them. I love the way the audio realm is becoming more popular, through podcasts as well as apps like Insight Timer and a wider appreciation of meditation. There's so much value in this And I've included a page for EVALUATION so that people can learn, and hopefully so can I!

Please feel free to enjoy these, and let me know what you think!

I've also added a whole new selection of pages which are specific to certain conditions such as

• Anxiety
• Confidence
• Sleep
• OCD
• Anger
• Depression
• Fears and Phobias
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Habits & Choices
• Relationships
• Public Speaking
• Sports performance and more

I'm hoping these will make help more accessible to anyone that needs it. Please have a look and share the pages with anyone you think might like to read more, or get in touch and let me know any thoughts - they are very much valued and appreciated.

Thank you! I wish you all a happy and healthy 2023.

We're really pleased and proud to announce that our new book, "The Art of Solution Focused Hypnotherapy - A Collection of Case Studies" is available to buy NOW on Amazon (a day earlier than planned) and we have a SPECIAL OFFER for you.

The paperback is available at the discounted price of £16.99 till Wednesday 17th February ONLY. After that it will increase to £19.99. Delivery is free for Prime members. The eBook will be available at the low price of £9.99 for the foreseeable future.

There are twelve case studies, which have been written by 10 experienced hypnotherapists, and we are also honoured to have a foreword by David Newton, founder of Solution Focused Hypnotherapy and a master of clear insight. Please feel free to tell others so that others can take advantage of the special offer. If you do decide to buy a copy, it would be fabulous if you could leave us a review on Amazon. Thank you! 

While the world around us continues to change we are trying to stay nimble. From 5th November we'll be conducting all sessions online. We will be setting up some support groups again. Last lockdown we ran these for furloughed workers and anxious people referred to us by GPs and Social Prescribing link workers. We're looking at how we can support people over the next couple of months.

Meanwhile, there's so much going on in the world of wellbeing - from the grass roots to the very highest levels. I was on a webinar recently with two members of the House of Lords and an OBE, all talking about wellbeing in Cornwall. Very exciting stuff. A strong emerging theme is "health creation", and putting power back where it belongs - with people, in the community.

Wellbeing is complex. So is life. That's why we need to talk. Share. Work together. Here are some of the meetings and events coming up in November.

1. The Cornwall Festival of Business (2-6 Nov) including the Cornwall Business Fair on Weds 4th November. Free, and even easier than last year - you don't have to travel anywhere and you can meet hundreds of interesting people doing amazing things. I will be running a session called "USE your Brain" in the auditorium at 2pm - register at the Fair to attend. Some of you might recognise the content :) 

2. CornWELL Festivals will be hosting the second of a 3-part series on The Future of Wellbeing. Thursday 5th Nov, 10-1130am. The aims of the meetings are to share knowledge, stories, ideas, hopes and inspiration about how well-being is working, and can work in the future. Anyone with an interest in wellbeing will gain something. The assumption is that by improving the wellbeing network, and the conversations in it, we can improve wellbeing.

3. Healthy Minds Newquay will be holding their usual monthly meeting on Monday 9th November, 10-1130am. It's also called "Who's who and what can we do" and the aims are very similar to CornWELL Festivals - just more local. All welcome - even if you're not in Newquay!

And that's it for now. I would highly recommend this series of webinars if you want to see the future I'm seeing for "health creation". I particularly recommend the webinar called "Community voices, barriers and enablers" which features some incredible people and success stories from Cornwall and Devon - really inspiring. I particularly enjoyed these moments (they're even more powerful if you've already heard the first hour and a half - it flies by, honestly!): 47:47 Hazel Stuteley, 1:27:54 Alisa Kefford-Parker - YES!!!, 1:28:42 Dawn Shepherd - "Listen to communities. The answers are already here." Together I'd really like to see this happening more in Cornwall.

Very best wishes to you all,

Adam

It's so nice to be seeing people face to face, and interesting to see how enquiries have suddenly picked up again over the last couple of weeks. Thank you!

We've put extra procedures in place and moved the practice around a little to make some extra space, and it's funny how little changes also create opportunities. Clients can now enjoy a sea-view from our consulting room (which was our waiting room before) and it's nice to be practising in a larger space. You can see it here: https://youtu.be/Gy0hnuuvH8A

A number of people are choosing this time to get back on top of habits. I seems lock-down has had some positive benefits for many, but for some the muffins or cigarettes have become a little too regular. It's nice to see that many people are getting back out and about, and it's helpful when we have other things to do - activities, interactions. Life in general can be so good for us, and it's lovely to be able to appreciate the good things - a trip to the beach, a cup of tea with friends, contact with the grandchildren, or in my case nephews and god-children. Contact with family and friends is a medicine in itself.

Give me a call any time if you'd like to talk about any issues or ambitions you have, in this most interesting of times. I'm Adam, I'm here in Newquay and I'm on 01637 852394.

There are some silver linings. I have been very heartened by the community response. As always, we are capable of great things when we want to, including great kindness, and personal sacrifice. Please be assured that I and my team at Newquay Hypnotherapy will do everything we can to support our clients, their families and the communities in which we live. ​Please let me know if there is anything at all we can do to help.

As you may have read, or assumed, all our appointments are now happening online, via video-call or phone. This is something we have always offered, it works very well and there are some benefits. You don't have to go anywhere, for example! All you need is an internet connection or phone line, and a comfy-ish chair.

I look forward to catching up with some of you. My thoughts are with you all and your families.

Best wishes,

​Adam

We just competed our first live team meeting for "hypnotherabots" - our brand new project developing automated, online conversations so people can access help wherever they are, whenever they want, without even having to engage with another human. Sounds strange, but sometimes this is just what people need. Or so we think... we're going to find out. 

We also want volunteers and early adopters to try out the online tools. The only way to learn is by doing.  If you'd like to join in, go to www.hypnotherabots.com - we look forward to seeing you there!