Are you anxious, frustrated, nervous, depressed or even angry at why things never seem to work out for you as well as they do for other people? Or perhaps you want to learn how to build self confidence of self esteem? These are all emotions and experiences we all have to deal with at some point in our lives - for some it's more often than others. I'd like to share some highly effective tips and techniques that you can start to use right now to explode your self confidence levels and really start to feel good about your life.

Before we get into details, the first thing I ant to say is that no matter how bad you feel, or what negative emotions you are experiencing, if you use the techniques I am going to share below, you will definitely notice a very positive change - these self help techniques really do work.

Neuro Linguistic Programming techniques can empower you to overcome all sorts of negative and dysfunctional emotions, and easily turn them into something much more positive. It's pretty much like having a "happy button" that can take effect within just a few seconds.

Don't be misled - knowledge is not power.

You may be familiar with the saying that "knowledge is power" - unfortunately that's not quite true. You could read everything here, gain the knowledge but still not see any improvements in your life. That's because "Action is Power", not knowledge. To reap the benefits of these techniques you must put them into action. It will only take you 10 - 15 minutes a day, but they will likely be the most powerful and stimulating 15 minutes.

It's time to pick up your Magic Hats

The process I'm going to explain is more widely known as The Magic Hats Program - there's 5 steps and 5 different colored hats - all of which are very powerful and highly effective.

Step 1. Self Hypnosis. Self Hypnosis is the secret door to controlling your mind. You'll learn how to place yourself in a deep state of complete relaxation. Even within the first few minutes of this step you'll start to feel more energised and a lot happier.

Step 2 - Modalities. This simply refers to your modes of thinking. We all remember our past memories and experiences through our senses - visual pictures/photos, familiar sounds, delightful smells and aromas... An example being that when you pick up a familiar smell, it usually triggers the memory of what happened when you last smelt it.

Step 3. Swish Patterns. Using the Swish Technique you can quickly and easily change from a state of sadness or frustration to a state of happiness or self confidence. It's a simple technique we can use to move away from feeling bad and towards feeling good.

Step 4. Anchors. When you are experiencing your new positive behaviour it's important to "anchor" it in your memory so that you can recall it whenever you wish - literally at the drop of a hat.

Step 5. Understand your mode of operation. Most people simply react to the things that happen to them every day, and are therefore controlled by their environment. By understanding how and why we react in these ways, we can start to take control of our reactions, and finally decide how we react to the every day things that we experience.

So first we need to relax.

As human beings we work and function best when we are relaxed. In order for these techniques to work, you need to be fully relaxed - so here's how to get more relaxed than you've probably ever been before. You can do this anywhere you wish just so long as you won't be disturbed for the next 10 minutes.

First, find your self a secluded spot with a comfortable chair where you won't be disturbed. Sit up straight with your feet flat on the floor and the base of your spine pushed back into the base of the chair. OK, let's begin.

1. Place you hand (whichever comes naturally) onto your stomach just about where your belt buckle is (or would be if you were wearing a belt).

2. Push your stomach out into your right hand and at the same time take a deep breath in trying to fill your lungs into your stomach. Then allow your lungs to expand into your ribcage. When your lungs are full, hold your breath for the count of 6. This method ensures you completely fill your lungs with oxygen rich air, and get as much of that oxygen as possible into your blood stream.

3. Now breathe out slowly for a count of 6 and suck in your stomach muscles as far as you can at the same time. This helps expel the maximum amount of air from your lungs ready for the next deep breath in. Once you have exhaled, hold your breathe for another slow count of 6.

4. Do it all over again and repeat for between 6 and 12 times.

So the process is: Push out stomach and breathe in - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6; Hold breath - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6; Suck in stomach and breathe out - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6; Hold breath - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6; Repeat 6 - 12 times.

You may start to feel a bit dizzy or light headed while your doing this, or once you've finished. Don't worry as it's completely natural - just sit still for a few seconds and the feeling will pass. The reason is that you are now very relaxed and your blood is very well oxygenated. The light headedness is due to the increased amount of oxygen getting to your brain (which is a good thing).

Now that you're calm and relaxed you can move on to the rest of the program - I haven't got space to fit everything in here so there's a free download you can get over at http://magic-hats.com with the rest of the steps. You can download it and have completed the first task within the next 10 minutes, and be on your way to a happier, more positive and much more successful life.