For over a century the fields of Psychology and Psychiatry in the Western part of the world focused on the study of disease or that which creates human suffering and dissatisfaction with life. Thankfully, it has been almost two decades now of these fields shifting their focus to the study of what happiness, joy and inner peace areas, focusing on what we want to achieve will lead us to find more effective ways to achieve it.
Eastern Philosophers and professionals have looked at happiness and inner peace as an achievable creation that happens from within. And to be honest, I believe that too. I believe that in large, a reason for the epidemic levels of unhappiness, depression and anxiety in our society, is due to the focus on external gratification and external “cures”.
Am I sounding Buddhist? – Perhaps. Do I practice Buddhism? – No, but I see the wisdom in Eastern philosophies. Hypnotherapy is a modality that looks for answers INSIDE the person, not externally. If the person suffers from anxiety, for example, we look to find the thinking patterns (created inside) that may be causing the feelings associated with anxiety (outside). As the thoughts shift, so do the feelings and the symptoms.
As I further my Masters Degree Studies at the moment I find more and more research focusing on the power of shifting thoughts and feelings by quieting your mind and connecting with your inner wisdom. It is exciting to see scientific research in the West, focusing on this. Looking inside and working from within to create happiness, joy and inner peace has made sense to me for years.
What can we do to cultivate more of those wonderful feelings? We can quiet our mind every day and connect with our inner wisdom. This can be done through meditation, prayer or hypnosis. For all accounts they are all the same thing when you look at the brain activity. Nobel Prize winner research shows that only 12 minutes of mindful meditation can level blood pressure, even out heart rhythms and lower levels of anxiety and depression.
Your happiness is an inspiration, a gift to others, and a way out of suffering.
Starting this September, I will be hosting monthly group sessions focused on cultivating Happiness, Joy and Inner Peace. The work done will be based on the latest Scientific Research and proven techniques. As always, I am committed to practicing and teaching techniques for inner growth and development. Come Join me!
Location: 451 Daly Ave. Conference room, first floor.
When: Saturday September 17
Time: 10:00 to 12:00 am
Fee: 25.00
NOTE: YOU MUST PRE REGISTER TO ATTEND. Space is limited to 10 participants.

I was recently interviewed by Stephen Gruber, a well respected Hypnotist from Montreal. He is on a mission to spread the word about Clinical Hypnosis and those of us who have a serious commitment to the profession. If you want to look a bit deeper into how I think, I invite you to read the interview.

Karinna Najera interview

A best friend is trustworthy, loving, reliable and often fun to be with. Most of all, a best friend is someone who loves you and accepts all your good and all your not so good qualities. A best friend is some whose company you really enjoy. True friends help us grow and empower us by pointing at all our strengths…
Have you ever wondered or asked, how good of a friend are you to yourself?

See, if you can’t call yourself your best friend you must know that is a source of inner conflict. If you don’t treat yourself the way a good friend would treat you, your conscious and subconscious mind live in inner conflict and pulling in opposite directions. If your subconscious mind is being mistreated with your thoughts and feelings, your are creating, a reasonable subconscious expectation of mistrust. Your conscious mind may be conditioned to believe whatever you tell yourself, but your subconscious mind works on the feelings your thoughts produce. In other words, how does your self talk make you feel? What messages is your self talk sending your subconscious mind on the regular basis. And, if you were your subconscious mind, how would you feel about it?

I believe we are largely disconnected from our cores and true essence. It is so easy to get distracted and disconnected from our true natures. Think of how many hours a day do you spend “distracted” by over working, cell phones, computers, sensationalistic TV, tabloids, etc?  The problem with this distraction is that we never get to truly know ourselves. We put what really matters in the back burner. The consequences of living a distracted life are dire. We learn to live in mediocre personal relationships. We learn to live with mediocre expectations or ourselves and our world. It becomes more and more difficult to move forward, reach our dreams or feel at peace.

Internal growth and strengthening happens only through introspection and connection with our core essence.  Spiritual or Mental Introspection help us see beyond the veil of expectations. Spiritual or Mental Introspection help us reach a place of  discovery, true self love and acceptance.  We cannot have internal harmony and true self acceptance without self love and compassion.  We cannot grow and  reach our potential if we don’t treat ourselves with respect, the way a best friend would. Your subconscious mind feeds on the feelings you produce with your thoughts. The more peaceful and self loving your thoughts, the more nourishing the feelings you create in you and around you.

So here is a challenge for self growth. I dare you to examine your relationship with yourself. I dare you to become your own best friend and you treat yourself exactly how you would expect a best friend to treat you. Practice Spiritual or Mental introspection.

Practice kindness with yourself when you make mistakes.   
Cheer yourself on when you stumble and fall down.
Practice unconditional Love towards yourself, the way a best friend would.
Make and keep promises to yourself.
Use loving and caring words in your self talk. the way a best friend would.

Professional Athletes work diligently and they work for years to get to a point where  they can earn a medal. We don’t need to be professional athletes wanting to win gold medals to learn excellent strategies to succeed in our lives. So here are 6 habits or success strategies we can adapt into our lives. Try them. They will work for you too.

1-Success Starts Early. Give yourself the gift of waking up half an hour earlier. Use this gift of time to meditate, visualize or work out. Success is created with small, consecutive steps. Just like professional athletes do.

2- Time Belongs to You. Organize and prioritize activities in your day. Don’t let your inbox or other people’s priorities become yours. Your time is precious and it belongs to you. Do what professional athletes do; organize your time.

3- Prepare for what you want to achieve. Thinking and talking about doing something new will not help you succeed. Preparing for it, will. If you want to become proficient at something, study or gather the necessary information; then take the necessary steps to get there. Just like professional athletes do.

4- Visualize what you want to achieve. Allow time every day, to visualize your goal already achieved. Visualize and feel the feelings of you already having achieved your goal. – Just like professional athletes do.

5- Force Yourself into the Uncomfortable. Growth can only happen when we stretch out of our comfort zone. Push yourself into the uncomfortable. Just like professional athletes do.

6-Push Through. Don’t give up or get distracted by a new shinning thing. Commit to your dream or goal and push through. You deserve that goal / dream.  Just like professional athletes do.

I really enjoy sharing with you the material I find interesting and useful in the area of self development. If you find my newsletters and posts on Facebook useful or informative, feel free to share them.

Your Partner in Change,

Karinna

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Our beliefs make us who we are. Our beliefs determine the choices we make. Some times, those beliefs, far from leading us into happiness, bring us pain and trouble.

Today I’m listing a number of commonly held beliefs preventing people from being happier. The goal of this article is to ignite a conversation, a conversation leading towards growth. Do you agree, disagree, identify or disqualify any of the following:

Belief 1: I need other people’s approval to be happy.
Belief 2: I will be happy when I have…
Belief 3: Everything needs to be perfect, for me to be happy.
Belief 4: I can’t be happy because of what’s happened in the past.
Belief 5: Happiness depends on faith or luck.

Our beliefs can bring us happiness or sorrow. What beliefs do you think you need to change to be happier?

I’ve purposely listed but not discussed these believes because I want to hear from you. I want you, as a reader to tell me if you’d benefit from an article exploring each one of those believes and ideas on how to change them.

Every time I write an article/newsletter, I get emails and feedback from many of the readers. I love hearing back from you. Today I’m asking you all to share your views, share your feedback on my facebook page. (click here) .
Let me know if there a particular belief listed above you’d like for me to expand on.

I don’t know about you, but I find that some times, especially when I’m stressed out, the inner critic loves to come out and share her/his opinions on all I could have done to not get to this point. Has this ever happened to you?

I feel blessed to know and practice techniques to keep this annoying inner critic from getting out of control. If you are familiar with that voice, you’ll agree with me. It can get out of control rather quickly.

In my practice, I get to work with so many beautiful, intelligent and creative people who allow this annoying voice to take over. The problem with allowing the inner critic to take over, is that it usually gives us such a beating that we end up metaphorically curled up in a corner, feeling completely un equipped to handle life.

Today, I’d like to share some of my tricks to keep the inner critic under control.

#1- I catch it talking to me. It’s easy to catch it. It’s never positive. It is always critic
#2- I ask: So what if it’s not perfect? Will the imperfection of my actions determine the faith of the world? (Most likely not)
The Inner Critic doesn’t like to be criticized. (Ironic eh?)

You are cordially invited to join me in practicing the following:

1- show some compassion to yourself. Would you expect the same from your best friend as you expect of yourself?
2-Learn to motivate yourself with praise and love – not criticism
3- Speak to yourself as you would speak to you best friend.
4-Give yourself a mental or a real hug. Yes, you read this right. When was the last time you hugged yourself?
5-Of course you know I’ll mention hypnosis and visualization. Practice visualization, even if just for a few minutes every day. Imagine yourself living a peaceful and beautiful life.

When you do this regularly, you will start to notice what I noticed. Love and self-compassion can shift even the strongest negative thoughts and emotions. Love and self compassion will allow you to enjoy more of your life.

So go out there and start practicing. This is your life. Make it what you want!

I have admit I liked the story I am about to share with you. I cannot take credit for it, as I found it in the internet. Although the word coffin is rarely associated with inspiration and motivation, the moral of this story is (inspirational and motivational).
Here is the story.

On a gloomy Monday morning all employees of the company received a letter from top management. The letter said:
“Yesterday the person who has been hindering your growth in this company passed away. We invite you to join the funeral in the room that has been prepared in the gym.”

In the beginning, they all got sad for the death of one of their colleagues, but after a while they started getting curious to know who was that person who hindered the growth of his/her colleagues and the company itself.

The excitement in the gym was such that security agents were ordered to control the crowd within the room. The more people reached the coffin, the more the excitement heated up.

Everyone thought: Who is this person who was hindering my progress? Well, at least he/she died!

One by one the thrilled employees got closer to the coffin, and when they looked inside it they suddenly became speechless. They stood nearby the coffin, shocked and in silence, as if someone had touched the deepest part of their soul. There was a mirror inside the coffin: everyone who looked inside it could see him or herself.

There was also a sign next to the mirror that said:

There is only one person who is capable to set limits to your growth: IT IS YOU. You are the only person who can revolutionize your life. You are the only person who can influence your happiness, your realization and your success. You are the only person who can help yourself.

Your life does not change when your boss changes, when your friends change, when your parents change, when your partner changes, when
your company changes. Your life changes when YOU change, when you go beyond your limiting beliefs, when you realize that you are the only one responsible for your life.

The most important relationship you can have, is the one you have with yourself.

Examine yourself, watch yourself, build yourself and your reality.

The world is like a mirror: it gives back to anyone the reflection of the thoughts in which one has strongly believed. The world and your reality are like mirrors laying in a coffin, which show to any individual the death of his/her divine capability to imagine and create his/her happiness and success.

What do you think of the story?
Do you like what you see in the mirror?
Do you see things that need to change?
I’m only one email or one phone call away. If I may be of assistance in helping you change the image in the mirror, let me know!

If you want your New Year Resolutions to stick I strongly recommend The Moving Forward Program.

The Moving Forward Program is designed to help participants go inward, find solutions, connect with motivation and move forward.
What better way to begin the NEW YEAR!
Learn about your mind, your brain and your conciousness.
Practice Hypnosis and Visualization
Clarify what is it that you want, what is best for you
Create a clear map to where you’re going
Tap into deeper levels of mental and emotional awareness.
Connect with the motivation and energy to move forward.
Supportive small group setting.
Warning: this program is only for people serious about creating change

Dates: January 10th to 31th 2015
Time: 9:30 to 11:30.
Early bird registration fee is 200.00 (plus HST) Early bird deadline Dec.30th 2014. Regular fee 250.00 (plus HST)
Location: 157 Gilmour St. 3rd floor.