How to Change our Habits
A behavior is anything we do automatically, or without intention. Our posture, walking gait, speech, and driving habits are behaviors. There are also behaviors that we eventually find disruptive, like hair pulling, nail biting, food, cravings, compulsions, addictions.
Modifying behavior is the basis for the more commonly thought of hypnosis uses - smoking cessation and weight management. Modifying behavior is a useful technique in changing habits. It can help you stop doing something you want to stop or create motivation for something where there was previously none. Ending an addiction and replace it with positive action. Behavior modification with hypnosis can "neutralize" old habits and help you create a new habit of your own choosing.
In understanding hypnosis and behavior modification, it is important to see the similarity of habits, fixed ideas, beliefs, and reactions. They all have a base or trigger that can create strong emotional reactions. This strong emotional reaction can be experienced as a craving, addiction, urge, anxiousness, compulsion, desire, wanting, fear, anger, joy, happiness, anticipation, feeling nervous, etc.. In working with the emotion attached to a specific trigger you can increase or decrease the strength of the resulting action.
A benign example of this would be how the smell of fresh cut grass makes some people feel happy and "good". It could be the result of the smell triggering the emotions connected to a past situation where that smell was present. i.e. a summer day when very young while playing with friends outside and feeling particularly good.
Another example of this could be a young child at a family gathering where the grown-ups sit around smoking and drinking. They are laughing and having a good time. In this situation a child may create the connection of smoking and drinking with feeling good. With repeated similar situations while growing up, this connection strengthens.
When this person is older, they may have good experiences because of this connection. But, it may also lead a person to go to this connection when they are feeling sad or down resulting in a continued search for happiness in this way. This person may never consciously understand why they have such a strong reaction for that situation. Their behavior has been modified by their experience and they now have a habit.
If a, traumatic experience creates an emotional association, it can result in a person feeling sad, tired, depressed, just feeling bad. If this happens, it can increase the motivation to feel good in ways your mind as previously experienced. This can be a foundation for addictions like drugs, alcohol, food, gambling, smoking.
When using hypnosis for something like a gambling problem, it is effective to look for the feeling associated with the gambling activity, then change or remove that emotional association.
