Though it may be difficult to believe it at times, we are all responsible for our own emotions. How we view and think about ourselves, others and the world around us can have a profound effect on our mental and physical well-being. To be mentally fit it is important to use positive and encouraging self-talk. Sometimes we are unmerciful in the mental abuse of ourselves. We fire words at ourselves that we would not dream of aiming at another because they are too harsh: How often have we called ourselves ?stupid idiot? ?brainless twit? ?complete and useless failure?!? How often have we looked in the mirror and thought, ?I look gross/ hideous/ unattractive!?? How often have we blamed ourselves for something that was outside our control, or carried guilt for someone else's bad behaviour and so on? Not exactly ego-boosting stuff! We all understand that if we mistreat our bodies by unhealthy eating or excessive drinking then, most likely, we are going to end up with an unhealthy body. Sometimes we forget that the mind is not any different. If we mistreat our mind by feeding it with unhealthy negative thoughts, then we are going to end up with a mindful of unhealthy thoughts leading to emotional problems such as anxiety, poor self-image, low confidence, stress and unhappiness. In addition, emotional problems can have physical manifestations, for example, weight problems, IBS, skin disorders, bruxism (teeth grinding), headaches, lowered immune system and much more.



Our emotional wellbeing is not something that others give to us; it is something we create ourselves. We create it by using positive words (our self-talk) and by harbouring healthy thoughts. Our way of thinking determines our emotional states.

We can have healthy negative emotions and unhealthy negative emotions. Anger, for example, is an unhealthy negative emotion which can lead towards aggressiveness to self or others, whereas, its healthy counterpart, annoyance tends towards assertiveness.

We were not born to be continuously unhappy and anxious. Do not become accepting and resigned to unhappiness. We are responsible for our own emotions and therefore for our own mental wellbeing. Our emotional well-being stems from our thoughts. Shakespeare very aptly expresses the concept of how we are responsible for ourselves:

?Men at some time are masters of their fates:

The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,

But in ourselves, that we are underlings?

Julius Caesar (Act 1)

The first step in controlling your emotions is to change the mindset that holds the belief that others are responsible for how we feel. Even if someone has done ?something? dreadful to us, our response to that ?something? is within our control. Once we understand and believe that fact then we are in the position to start discarding the unhealthy thoughts. Of course, we need to want to do that! Though it is understood and accepted that we need to discard unhealthy thoughts, it is not always easy to do so. Thoughts of hatred, jealousy, low self-worth and feeling hard-done-by thoughts can be very deeply embedded. We need to motivate ourselves to put the effort into bringing about the change. To be motivated to do anything we have to believe wholeheartedly that there is some benefit in it for us; in other words, it needs to have appeal to our survival instinct. Good physical and mental health is necessary for a long, healthy and happy life. The need to survive drives us to maintain a healthy lifestyle and is the motivation to discard unhealthy and destructive emotions.

Hypnosis can help us to develop a positive and healthy lifestyle. Hypnosis is a means to communicate with the unconscious mind. Hypnosis is a key to the door of unconscious mind. The unconscious mind knows everything about us; it is our personalised brain. Because hypnosis gives us that access, therapy under hypnosis (hypnotherapy) is enormously helpful in bringing about beneficial changes. Hypnotherapy can be much more therapeutically effective than traditional psychotherapy. In addition, hypnotherapy can be considerably less costly in both monetary and time terms.