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Yes, I am sure you have many such stories of your own of choices you made that in hindsight were ridiculous, silly, ill-conceived and maybe even irrational. 

So I chose to do something about this trend in my life a very long time ago, and these days I tend to make better choices, just maybe not those ones about the shirts I buy in designer stores!

Within my therapeutic work, I use Problem Solving Therapy, and in life in general I have championed critical thinking skills , all of which I think help with decision making and better choice selection... 

I certainly do not simply rely on intuition, gut feeling and the all-knowing, all seeing unconscious mind to make my decisions. Excuse me being facetious here. 

Today, our aim is also to enhance general life motivation by harnessing the power of those moments when you made choices.
You know what I am referring to here, don't you?
Those moments that occur each day when you make a choice, or a commitment of some kind.

A defining characteristic of a choice moment is that it, symbolically or literally, makes it difficult to turn back.

For example, when you sign a contract, openly speak your marriage vows, or shake hands with someone making a bet with them, you have passed a moment of choice. You have chosen and committed. What often happens is that we then stick to our decisions, remain consistent to choices made and they do become difficult to alter. We often even dig our heels in and defend the choice we have made, however poor it may have been and in the face of evidence showing it to have been a poor decision. 

So today's technique aims to also help you identify and use the many smaller moments of choice that, collectively, have a real big impact upon our lives.

continued below...

As you scan through the happenings of the day, pick out some of the moments when you had to make choices. What choices did you make during that day?

Think about the moments when you had to make those choices, think about immediately prior to committing yourself and how you made the choice.

As you think about those moments that you made those choices, ask yourself some or all of these kinds of questions right now, to explore the way you made those choices: 

• What outcome were you hoping for by making that choice?
    
• How effective was each choice you made?
  
  
• Did your choice achieve that outcome you had hoped for?
  
  
• Upon reflection, how happy do you feel about the choices you made?

Only when you have answered, explored and reflected upon these questions thoroughly and to your satisfaction, then move on to Step Three.

As unusual as this may sound, imagine being back in that scene, that moment where you made that choice. Now watch the scenario happening in front of you, as if you were a fly on the wall, or as if you were/are a neutral observer. Notice all the details of this moment as you watch that choice being made by you earlier on.

Be objective and from this neutral position, be aware of how you feel now about that choice you made then. 

Once you have watched that in great detail, as vivid as you can from a neutral perspective, then go ahead and move on to the next step.

Once you have thought those three variations up, use your imagination, really engage it and imagine actually making those choices and taking actions based on those choices, one choice at a time. 

For now, just run through each potential scenario, without casting any opinion or judgment upon it and remaining objective. Just assess what would have happened and how things may well have played out as a result of this different choice you could have made. Run through each choice making scenario thoroughly and fully.

Then, once you have run through each of those three scenarios, move on to the next step.

So having run through each of those potential scenarios and creating them in your mind, you now imagine stepping into the outcome of each - that is, imagine what would happen as a direct result of you having made that choice and stuck to it. How would people have reacted, how would you have felt?

Step into the potential future outcome of each and imagine living in that outcome for a few moments to get a sense of how each outcome really is.

Again, once you have absorbed as much information about each outcome, then you can proceed to the next step. Be thorough and assess each outcome, the more diligent you are here, the more you'll learn and develop in real-life scenarios when you have to make choices in the future.

We have just announced
the speaker at our next

Hypnotherapist Peer Support Group
on Wednesday 5th June:

The one and only Freddy Jacquin!

You can read more about this event and add yourself to the numbers on this page at the Hub:

http://adamshypnosishub.com/event/hypnotherapy-peer-support-group--june-meeting

I'm addicted to placebos. I'd give them up, but it wouldn't make any difference. 

The joke of the week from Mandy Marshall in the Hub this week... 

Thanks to all of you who send the jokes in, I love getting them.