Articles
Factors Critical for Realizing Positive Personal
Change
(This article first appeared in the March 2009
edition of the Denver Natural Awakenings Magazine)
Why can personal change can be so
difficult? Well, the mind’s critical faculty (or factor) has a lot
to do with it. That’s the part of the mind that makes critical and
analytical decisions and it may prevent people from “reprogramming”
the rest of their minds with positive new ways of thinking and
feeling.
One simple way of modeling the human
psyche is to consider it in three closely related, yet distinct,
parts. Two of them will be considered here. The subconscious mind is
the seat of emotions, memory and the “programs” (or beliefs) that we
have about ourselves, others and the world.
This is where rapid and lasting change takes place, in most
cases. The conscious mind is what is primarily used as one reads and
considers this article. The critical factor is a part of the
conscious mind that automatically analyzes all incoming data and
decides whether what is presented is true and should be accepted,
should be further analyzed and considered, or if it should be
altogether rejected. The critical factor acts as an intermediary and
filter between the conscious and subconscious.
If incoming data corresponds with an
accepted belief in the subconscious, the critical factor will accept
it as true and it will tend to reinforce the underlying program,
whether it be positive or negative, or objectively “true” or not.
This mechanism is not fully formed or operational until sometime
between the ages of seven and ten. This is why young children are so
impressionable and often do not “correctly” distinguish between
fantasy and reality, and why they are not fully capable of making
rational decisions.
In order to effectively reprogram old
thought patterns and beliefs, the critical factor needs to be
bypassed, to a certain degree. Relaxing the critical factor to allow
for more direct and unhindered access to the subconscious is a very
effective means of producing the desired change.
Hypnosis is an altered, yet natural,
state of awareness where the critical factor is relaxed to allow for
more direct and unhindered communication between the conscious and
subconscious mind. This facilitates the healing and
transformational techniques employed in hypnotherapy to get rapid,
lasting, and often, dramatic results. Believe it or not.
Kevin P. Stephen, CCHt
