280. Expert Interview: How to Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind for Success

“I strongly believe that we’re all hypnotized at some point in our lives, acting unconsciously. So, the challenge is, how do we wake up? What’s the mechanism? I explore this metaphor in my book, Unhypnosis: How to Wake Up, Start Over, and Create the Life You’re Meant to Live. This compelling metaphor helps us see how life is about waking up from a hypnotic trance. We start from a supposition that we all have inner greatness; we’ve all got something to contribute to the world. There’s a reason we’re here. But we’re also endowed with invisible walls which we have absorbed and unconsciously accepted. They are our limiting beliefs, difficult emotions, habitual judgments, negative self-image—what we are saying to ourselves about ourselves when nobody else is looking.”

“Step one has to be our recognition that we are hypnotized. As the philosopher George Gurdjieff said, ‘The first step for escaping from prison is realizing you’re in prison.’ Most of us don’t. We’re living our lives day to day without questioning or thinking about the rationality of some of the things that limit us. We’re lacking critical thinking. We’re not really at a higher order of thinking or consciousness where we can differentiate between beliefs that are empowering and those that are self-limiting. As we ‘un-hypnotize’ and wake up, we can start creating a life based on a healthy inner climate.”