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We were propping up the bar and agonising over which crisps or snacks we would have to accompany our pints. I wanted Twiglets or dry roasted peanuts, but we could not settle on a flavour of crisp that would go nicely with them... It was high-brow stuff, I am sure you can imagine.

However, in the midst of our agonising, we realised how absolutely lucky we were to have a choice of which crisps we consumed... Especially when there were so many people in this world who'd just love anything to eat at all.

We became humbled, made our decision and scoffed our faces in a ridiculous attempt to sober up before closing time.

We are confronted with choices all the time... I encounter many people in my personal and professional life that make poor choices, or make easy, unrewarding choices that lead to equally unrewarding lives...

This blog entry is all about the choices we make, in the first instance the process is more reflective and seems to have little to do with making better choices... But then, an inherent bi-product of the process here is that you start to make better choices... This is the plan anyhow.

You know what? I've made some incredibly crappy choices in my time.

- You should see a couple of the unworn, hideous looking expensive shirts in my wardrobe.

- As a young naïve man, I once followed a horse betting syndicate that assured me of making thousands of pounds. I lost money.

- My friend convinced me that starting an impromptu party on the school roof instead of the local facilities to celebrate leaving school was a great idea. So I chose to do that.

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 election... 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.

So here we go then... Lets develop an internal culture of good decision making and healthy choice development.

Once you have induced hypnosis, move on to step two.

As you have revisited this moment when you made that choice, now think of three other, different choices you could have made at that time. Really be creative, or downright realistic and think up three different choices that you could have made at that time instead of the choice that you actually did make. Gather up some alternatives.

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.

Now you progress with imagining the outcome of each of these imaginary choices.

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.

Now you get to test what you have learned.

During the upcoming days, start to be aware of and notice if your ability for making better choices is improving. Run through this entire process again each day for the next week and notice if your results are any better.

Consider and think about ways you could improve your choice making when you are confronted with them, and then start to create a process of your own to ensure you make better choices. Especially start to use the process in situations or circumstance that in the past may have been problematic.

Resolve to take time to fully consider options and the impact of decisions you make, as well as thinking of other choices you can make.

If someone drinks a lot of alcohol they are alcoholic.

I drink a lot of Fanta so I must be Fantastic.

Hahahahaha... I really like that one! 

Thanks to everyone who continues to send me in jokes each week, I love getting them!

If you want to train to be a hypnotherapist, there has never been a better time, we are thriving in this economic climate! 

If you'd like to train, check out here for a course prospectus, dates and application form for this year's diploma, fully approved and accredited in several countries... 

The spaces are going at some pace right now though... 

My training school is one of a few in the UK to currently offer the externally verified HPD (Hypnotherapy Practitioner Diploma) which matches government occupational standards and is the equivalent of National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) level 4