Curious About Hypnosis and How It Works?

I recently had the honor of being interviewed by Mystic Wynd. She had a great idea to ask questions about hypnosis, that most people want to know, but never ask. Here are a few that I think are the most common questions people have about hypnosis.

You can't really turn me into a bank robber who clucks like a chicken, can you? Lol!! Actually, a person will only do what they want to do in a hypnotic state. Hypnosis is just a state of deep relaxation. When a person is in hypnosis, they are always aware of what’s going on around them, they remain in control of everything they say and do. We have all seen stage hypnotists that make people cluck like a chicken but the truth is, the stage hypnotist chooses people that seem more likely to “perform” on stage.

Can everyone be hypnotized? Is there anything that can help or hinder a person's ability to be open to hypnotic suggestions? Have you ever driven down the road only to realize later you don’t remember the last five minutes of your trip? If you answered yes, then most likely you can be hypnotized because hypnosis really is just like daydreaming or being very relaxed. Actually, only about 5% of the population cannot be hypnotized, the rest of us will enter into a hypnotic state easily. About 10% of people will be hypnotized very deeply. But deep trance is not needed to have positive therapeutic effects. All that is needed for an effective hypnosis session is the willingness to be open to the process and a desire to change.

If you would like to learn more about hypnosis, hop over to Mystic Wynd's blog. It's a wonderful blog with really interesting posts everyday!

The Artwork above was found on ETSY! I love this piece, it's by Body Beautiful on ETSY.

JustAnswer.com

I am so excited! I have been approved as a mental health expert on Justanswer.com. I was really impressed by the very involved process to become verified as an expert. I needed to prove my credentials and I had to take an exam to prove that I was knowledgeable regarding a wide range of mental health topics. I actually found the site because I had a legal question. My question was answered in about five minutes and it was very helpful! You can choose your price for the question to be answered and pay through Paypal.

Here's my profile on JustAnswer.com if anyone is interested. I also included a widget on my blog for others to use if you have a question regarding just about anything. Enjoy!

My Latest ETSY Acquisition and an Update on Dream Dinners

I've had my eye on this vinyl wall decal from singlestonestudios for quite sometime. My lovely sister bought this for me and I put it up on my living room wall over the weekend. I think the colors are fantastic with my blue walls! I hope the light doesn't melt it. So far so good =)

The Dream Dinners experiment is going well. So far we have made the Steak Gorgonzola and the Toasted Pecan Chicken. My boyfriend exclaimed "This is six servings?" I replied with "yes, honey this is six normal size servings". (He eats like a horse!) We were both full after we ate the steak with a side of roasted potatoes and we actually had leftovers! The gorgonzola butter sauce was fantastic!

The Toasted Pecan Chicken was also delicious. I thawed the meal the day before, took the chicken out of the yummy marinade and coated the chicken in the Pecan/Bread Crumb mixture! It was delicious. How can you go wrong with toasted pecans? I served it with a side of baked potatoes and salad.

Overall, I still feel that the price and ease of preparing these meals is well worth the price. The clean up was simple. Basically, throw the freezer bags in the trash.

Tomorrow night is the Beef Bolognese Pasta! I can't wait =)

Water Polo in Afghanistan! Oh my!

My brother-in-law and sister came to my house this weekend for her 30th birthday celebration. We had a great time! My brother-in-law shared a story which really touched me. His friend, and water polo teammate, Jeremy Piasecki, is on a mission to develop an Olympic water polo team in Afghanistan! He is a marine reservist who went to Afghanistan with one mission and left with an entirely different one.

"In January 2008, Piasecki, who coaches water polo at home in California, headed to Camp Pol-e-Charki, about 15 miles east of Kabul, to assist the Afghan army's 201st Commando Battalion. After a few weeks on base, he spotted a swimming pool on the other side of a steep hill, surrounded by bombed-out buildings. Farther out, beautiful purple mountains towered above the pool deck, he said. Inside the pool: mud, broken glass, scraps of metal and something that looked like a dead animal.
Soldiers rarely swam in the pool - instead, it was used for bathing, washing clothes and dishes, even for drinking. One day, the camp held its annual swimming competition. The pool was cleaned and opened for swimming for the first time in almost a year.
Hundreds of soldiers watched, and many participated in races. Most had experienced swimming only in lakes and rivers, if at all. Afghanistan has little history of competitive water sports - it is estimated that the country has fewer than 20 pools, and only one in five Afghans can swim.
The swimmers were hardly experts, but Piasecki was touched. "It was so exciting just to see their desire to compete and do something other than trying to find out how they're going to support their families," he said.
The base sports officer approached Piasecki at the competition, having heard he coached water sports. The officer wanted to start a team and asked Piasecki to coach it." From the Virginia Pilot Newspaper.

Jeremy held tryouts for a water polo team and chose 26 team members. He hopes to bring the team members to the United States to train for the 2016 Olympics! He started a non profit organization called The Dream of Afghanistan Athletics, drafted a plan and created a Web site, www.afghanistanwaterpolo.com, to spread the word.

Jeremy explains "I know some people might say 'It's just a sports team' but that's just the unifying factor. I gave my promise to them that I would do it. If I didn't do it, I'd just be like every other Westerner or American with great intentions, but they end up leaving Afghanistan and not following through."

Ultimately, he hopes his players will return home to start sports and educational programs and share what they've learned abroad.

His website accepts donations if anyone is interested. His goal is to raise $1 Million to get the team here to train. If you don't want to donate, take a second and bookmark/share this article with others.

Have a great Sunday everyone!

Dream Dinners

I had a wonderful night last night! I decided to go to a Dream Dinners session. I'm always struggling with cooking meals for two people. I find all these wonderful meals I want to cook so I go out and buy all the ingredients needed and make a great meal. Inevitably, I always end up throwing out half a bottle of this and half a jar of that after a few weeks of not using the ingredient again.
Dream Dinners is a Godsend! This place is fantastic. You go to their website, pick out 36 portions on their menu. I chose 6 meals of 6 portions. They offer nutritional information for all of the meals. I chose mostly the heart healthy options since I am a lifetime Weight Watchers member and need to keep track of my points.

When I arrived at Dream Dinners I was greeted by a very friendly employee who welcomed me and explained the process. There is a station set up for each meal they offer. I went to my first session and she explained that I place a gallon Ziploc bag inside of a canister. From there you fill bag according to the recipe in front of you with the ingredients in front of you. Everything is prepared, chopped, minced, grated etc. Easy as pie. I made all six meals in under 1 hour. I placed them all in freezer safe packages along with the defrosting and assembly/cooking instructions. I brought them home ready to serve as soon as we are ready to eat them.

I'm hoping they'll taste as good as they appear to taste. I will need to remember to place each meal in the fridge 24 hours before cooking.

My only complaint would be the lack of sides accompaniments. When I signed up I assumed there would be something to accompany the dishes, but no luck. They did have frozen sides available for an additional cost but I decided not to purchase those.

Overall, I feel it was worth the $172.00 I spent. This comes out to about $28.00 a meal. This sounds like a lot but when I factor in all the food I throw out, time spent at the grocery store, time spent cutting, chopping, CLEANING up, etc. It is totally worth it.

I plan to share the meals and my satisfaction here on the blog for anyone that's interested. I chose the following meals for my first Dream Dinners experience:

Baked Fish and Chips with Tarter Sauce
Toasted Pecan Chicken
Beef Pasta Bolognese
Savory Honey Grilled Chicken with Sesame Honey Butter
Steak Gorgonzola
Slow Cooked BBQ Beef with Rustic Country Rolls

Where The Wild Things Are, Major Disappointment.

I'm lying here feeling kinda bummed. I saw Where the Wild Things Are today and it was horrible! (In my opinion) It was just sooo depressing and slow. I kept waiting to get that wonderful feeling I had as a child when I read the book, under the blankets with a flashlight. But.... no luck. I left the theater in a depressed funk! Max, the boy, was so sad and alone. There was no plot or character development. I felt no connection to any of the "Wild Things" and found them all really strange. Needless to say, I've been waiting months to see this movie but really wish I hadn't. I'd love to hear what others thought.

Now, I am covered up in my new pink (for breast cancer awareness) snuggie! =) My boyfriend surprised me with it this week. It's very cozy. After the movie we got home and watched VA Tech football. Tech lost, bummer. While I was watching the game, I signed up for Dream Dinners. I'm really looking forward to it. I've never tried it before. I'm hoping it will be a delicious and an easy way to have meals quickly. Then we played Beatles Rockband with my boyfriends daughter! Now that was fun. I sang most of the time because I am terrible at the guitar and the drums, lol. I really can't sing either but they are very sweet and cheer me on anyway.

All in all, It was a great Saturday. Tomorrow I need to finish up a custom hypnosis CD I've started working on. Then I have to do my next installment of p90x! Whew that is a heck of a workout. I've been doing it for about two weeks now and I am already much stronger.

Iguana! This is Awesome!

This is so cool! Might want to mute it before watching, the song is a little annoying.