Becoming Your Own Inner Detective

Book Clips from It's Time to Stop Nail Biting...4 Steps to Success
An Innovative Program for Adults & Children by Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht & Joseph Bohorquez, M.D., Originators of Interactive Awareness & Interactive Self-Hypnosis



KNOWLEDGE HOOK

We are complicated beings, but it is, indeed, possible and extremely worthwhile to get to know ourselves better. To begin, do know that whatever we notice is good. This awareness, even though it may be small, means that we are waking up and the subconscious mind intuitively knows tht we are ready to get on with the inner detective work. In nursing this is called assessment, and once this has been accomplished, it is possible to develop a plan of action. This is exactly what the person in the above box needs, because until she knows what needs to be changed, she can't change it.

Most of us live in a mess or utter confusion. Few of us truly know where we are and for those of us who do, it is often very frightening. Most likely you can identify with this person's statement. This type of living can be dangerous as well, often leading to stress-related diseases and other chronic conditions.

Imagine for a moment that you have entered a house that depicts the level of mess in your life. Now.....on your mind screen make it worse....because the truth of the matter is that we can't truly evaluate our inside mess. Here's an example of what I mean. This morning I met with a 49 year old man who besides biting his nails to the quick, has been smoking from the age of 5. When I asked him why he wanted to stop these behaviors now, he said that he "wanted to feel better." Ouch! He was definitely not seeing or sensing the level of his mess. His statement was far too emotionally bland, almost like he wanted to get rid of my question by the easiest route. I might give him the benefit of the doubt, at least a little bit. Perhaps he is more aware than this, but he wasn't letting on, and he certainly didn't appear focused or frightened enough. But, this was soon to end. He was plenty frightened when he finished our first session. Fear is a great motivator, but you have to know where to attach the fear, and that is where careful assessing or detective work comes into play.

When working with habits such as nail biting or skin picking, we have to plan in very special ways. We need information about ourselves that may not be in our current memory bank. These memories, however, are waiting for you in your subconscious mind library. Some of these things will pertain to your family of origin, as well as from your own health history, starting from the time you were born, and right up through today. You will also want to reclaim memory files about your beliefs, as well as where they came from so you can know whether or not they are blocking your recovery from your undesirable habits or other lifestyle change behaviors or addictions.

MIND EXERCISE

Spend a few moments to relax your body physically. You already know that you don't have to be in deep trance to be successful with these mind exercises. This is a matter of locating your center of focus, and then fully intending to enter it. Today let's use the golden egg image. Once you have entered, settle in and turn on your mind screen. Bring up an image of yourself surrounded by clutter. Most of us have no difficulty at all with this image, but if you are an exceptionally neat person, just go ahead and build some clutter for yourself. Now notice that the clutter extends into your mind. I call this mind clutter. Notice that I'm handing you a big eraser. Take your time and begin to erase the outer clutter. If you like, you can keep some things that are present, but arrange them in some logical order. Next, do the same with your mind clutter. I like to have my thoughts line up, like kids getting ready to enter school. That's it....simple as that. Your subconscious mind now has a program for both inner and outer organization, erasing what is not needed or wanted.

Nail biters and skin pickers are often overly-stressed individuals. The actual biting & picking can act as a stress-releaser or self-hypnosis induction. Ask your subconscious mind librarian to alert you by way of your mind-screen, if this is so for you. If you get an affirmative answer, simply place a large black X over the image. This will communicate to your subconscious mind that you do not wish this program to play for you in this way. Instead, place your fingers on your lower abdomen, allowing them to ride up and down on your inner merry-go-round horse, noticing how your body relaxes as it enters a healthy trance state.

ACTIVE AFFIRMATION - I clear my environment, both inner and outer of clutter. I enjoy organizing my world and my life. My body and mind release my need to nail bite or skin pick.

Introducing Knowledge Hooks and Mind Exercises

Book Clips from It's Time to Stop Nail Biting...4 Steps to Success
An Innovative Program for Adults & Children by Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht & Joseph Bohorquez, M.D., Originators of Interactive Awareness & Interactive Self-Hypnosis

KNOWLEDGE HOOKS

This book is filled with Knowledge Hooks & Interactive Self-Hypnosis Exercises, each having their own destinct purpose. Information is important, as it presents a platform for programming the mind for change. If there are areas that you would like to highlight, please do this. this is another examply of your own mind telling you that it wants to work towards success. It's rather nice to know that even though you might think you are on your own with this, you are not.


Nail biting and related behaviors, such as cuticle picking and finger skin picking are considered obsessive-compulsive behaviors that have become mind-etched over the years into heavily cemented habits. Each and every time you become involved in any aspect of these undesirable habits, the subconscious mind is etched over and over again. So it is easy to understand how habits become so engrained or cemented into the mind. To make matters even more complicated, you are often unaware when you are participating in these things, often not waking up until they have inflicted a good amount of damage of pain.

Because your pain sensors are dulled by the negative hypnotic trance of the habit, it can be quite amazing as how much pain needs to be inflicted before you wake up to it. This particular facet of nail biting and skin picking makes it very different from other pain-causing, self-destructive habits as pinching or cutting. You may awaken at the sign of blood or when you have reached a certain level of destruction, often programmed into your own subconscious mind. Once the awakening occurs, the pain can then be felt and you may find yourself focusing on this, then choosing to stop the self-destruction. It's interesting to note that you may or may not stop automatically when this specific level of destruction or pain occurs. It's as if the mind had it's own rules about this, and in a way, it does.

Let's explore this a bit further. The subconscious mind appears to have an internal censor, that determines how much destruction will be acceptable. The individual, in this instance you, will unconsciously go to that acceptable level and then stop. Sometimes that level is set quite high and so the damage might be quite extensive. You might also have an inner mind program with a lower acceptable level, providing less damage, but still disallowing yourself to be completely free of the habit. For some biters and pickers, it's like living with a teasing monster. You may think you have finished, but for some reason you can never achieve the perfect ten. This, in itself, is a terrible self-punishment. The habit becomes a controlling force within the personality, often working to destroy the self-image and self-esteem.

I had this issue with the middle finger of my left hand. All other nails and surrounding skin were fairly normal, even the cuticles, everything except the skin on the right side of this particular finger. Unconsciously, and sometimes consciously I picked this area, often causing a deep hole that often times became infected. Until I began utilizing interactive self-hypnosis, I simply couldn't leave it alone to heal.

MIND EXERCISE

You already know how to relax deeply into the moment. If you need more practice in this department, take this opportunity to go back to this prelimary exercise. It's a common compulsion to want to rush ahead, but decide right now that you will break that habit as well. You'll be greatly rewarded in the future for taking this special time for yourself.

Once you feel physically relaxed and your thoughts have slowed, locate your mind screen. Even as you are reading this, your subconscious mind will be accepting the new programs. Later, after you have finished reading, you can go ahead and reprogram again. This will further etch this particular program into your inner library.

Back to the mind screen. Image or simply think yourself biting or picking. Don't turn away. This is simply in front of you and it is very important to look and observe. Notice there is a number up in the right hand corner with a dial sitting right next to it. The number corresponds to when your subconscious mind agrees to wake you up to what you are doing. You might also notice that the level of self-destruction is also indicated. Play with the dial, first turning it way up and then way down. There is a number that indicates less damage, but still allowing biting or picking. Obviously the behavior will be less than the higher numbers that are connected to the more severe damage. Find that number, observing the image. There is also the digit called zero, indicating no biting, no picking and therefore, no damage.

I'd like you to program the first number, the one that wakes you up earlier, the one with less damage, but still allowing the biting or picking. This is an excellent place to begin because it is here that you will begin to build your awareness. Noticing your image, allow it to relax deeper into the moment. Change the breathing..... change the pace of the movement.....if the fingers are in the mouth, remove them gently, placing them on your relaxed abdomen that is going slowly up and down. Allow the fingers to ride the abdomen, just as if they were sitting on a merry-go-round horse. If the you in the image is picking cuticles, or other areas, gently bring the fingers to the merry go round horse.

As this program is etched over and over, you will soon find yourself ready to stop completely.

Active Affirmation - I am in charge of my subconscious mind dial. I decide the level of activity between my fingers and other parts of my body.