Breaking Bad Habits | Sleep Hypnosis
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Hi, I'm Jessica Porter, and welcome back to Sleep Magic, a podcast where I help you find the magic of your own mind, helping you to sleep better and live better. Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for being here. We've heard from a lot of people lately from all around the world, someone in Australia who does their best to hear the end of an episode, but next thing they hear is their alarm.

a mom in the UK who listens to Sleep Magic, but sometimes her podcast platform serves it up during the day while she's doing housework. It makes her want to take a nap. And a listener in France whose whole relationship to sleep has improved. Hey, I've even heard from someone from Cyprus. So thank you everybody for letting us know that this is helping. It means a lot.

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Tonight, breaking bad habits. Here at Sleep Magic, we're learning how to speak to and listen to the subconscious mind. This is a deeper part of your mind that handles all sorts of interesting things like your memories, emotions, and habits.

You see, your subconscious mind is a really good learning machine. And you've been learning and organizing information since the day you were born. Learning how to talk, walk, eat, do math, ride a bike, all sorts of things. Now, most of the habits we learn are pretty good for us, supporting us in our life so we don't have to think about those things anymore. And we just tend to get better and better and better at them as time passes.

There are other habits, however, I'm looking at you potato chips in front of the TV, that don't feel so good and don't benefit us over time. And the thing is, the subconscious mind doesn't make any distinction between these habits in terms of how well you learn them. So you sit down and watch TV and boom, something in your brain simply says chips because that's the wiring that's gotten in there.

And you can grit your teeth for the next half hour trying to break the habit from your conscious mind, but the idea of chips will just get louder and more frequent until the wiring gets satisfied. So the answer to bad habits over the long run is not to break them per se, because that just makes you focus on the old habit, but to create new ones, to develop a new neural pathway in response to the trigger.

So tonight we're going to work on just one little habit, one moment where you would like to have a new response. And from there, you'll see how much power you have to shift your own behavior.

And by the way, in spite of the name of this show, breaking habits isn't magic. You do need to practice the new response. But as you practice it, especially from this deep subconscious level, it just gets easier and easier and soon it's automatic. So let's create a new habit tonight. So get yourself into a safe and comfortable position and let's begin.

Allow your eyes to close easily and gently. Bring your awareness to your breath and just allow your breath to be normal and natural. But your awareness, your awareness which has been outside of you for most of the day, doing things, learning things, moving things in the world, just allow your awareness to come home to the breath, to come home to your body. Good, and you may notice that you're already

settling in. All sorts of relaxation responses you've been building up in the last little while are kicking in. And that's good. Just let them. By practicing with sleep magic on a regular basis, you have created new habits. And they're becoming automatic. So enjoy how you've already used the power of your mind to improve your life. And if you're new here,

All you need to do is be open to relaxing. That's it. You don't have to think about sleep. This is about relaxing and practicing relaxation. Because relaxation lives right next door to sleep. So I'd like you to bring your awareness now up into your eyelids. And just imagine now that the muscles of your eyelids are feeling loose and limp and relaxed. They're getting very very heavy.

And as this sleepiness, this relaxation takes over your eyelids and they're feeling heavy, I'd like you to accept the suggestion that your eyelids are in fact so relaxed that they will not open. Now of course they would open if you wanted to open them, but I'm asking you to pretend that you can't. And this pretending is very important. It helps us enter a very powerful part of your mind.

So in a moment, I'm going to ask you to test your eyelids to make sure they won't open. And that means wiggling your eyebrows while your eyes remain shut. So let's do that right now. Wiggle your eyebrows while your eyes stay shut. Perfect. Good. Now this lovely heavy feeling you have around your eyes is the same quality of relaxation that you will soon have throughout your entire body.

So let's imagine this relaxation now moving back, sort of spilling back into your head. So your head is feeling really heavy. Just imagine your head is like a bowling ball on the pillow. So heavy. And the muscles of your face are becoming soft and relaxed and peaceful. Your face does so much work during the day. But the day is done and your face gets to rest because no one's watching.

You get this private time as you sleep deep inside yourself, relaxing, going deeper and even deeper, becoming more relaxed than you've been in years as your head feels even heavier and that warm feeling around your eyes spreads back like a warm mist taking up and taking over your brain.

Imagine that that warm mist of relaxation is taking over every single cell of your brain. And now your brain is soaking in this mist and all mental tension has disappeared. So you imagine the relaxation now moving down into your neck, the large muscles of your neck becoming soft and relaxed.

And as the relaxation moves down even more into your shoulders, imagine the muscles of your shoulders are melting like butter. Just let them go. Everything you had to carry on your shoulders today has fallen to the floor. And you can pick any or all of those things up tomorrow. But for right now, you get to focus on you and give to yourself and address yourself

deep inside. And as you go deeper and even deeper, you find a very deep and profound acceptance deep inside. And it feels so good as that warm relaxation moves down your arms now and your arms are feeling very heavy, heavy, like they're made of marble. And as the relaxation moves down now into your hands and fingers, allow your hands to open up

Allow energy to flow through the palms of your hands and out your fingertips as you release the tension of the day. Good. You may be aware of sounds going on around you as you listen to this recording, and that's okay because from this moment on no sound that you hear will bother or disturb you in any way. In fact, from this moment on any sound that you hear, like noises from within your environment,

people in the other room, sounds from the street. Those sounds will actually cause you to go deeper and deeper into relaxation. Just bring your awareness to those sounds right now and let them take you deeper. Good. The only sound you're paying any attention to is the sound of my voice and the sound of my voice is also taking you deeper and deeper with every word that I say.

The muscles of your body becoming loose and limp and relaxed. And as your body is relaxing, your mind is relaxing. And as your mind is relaxing, your body is relaxing. Good. Now let's imagine this warm mist of relaxation moving down deep into your torso. Let's imagine a warm mist of relaxation circling

and spiraling around your heart. Imagine this mist of relaxation holding and supporting your heart like you are holding your own heart with the mist. Notice how it feels to hold your own heart and as you hold it gently and carefully any emotional tension that may have built up over the day has disappeared. Good.

The warm mist of relaxation moves down now deep into your belly and the muscles of your abdomen are relaxing and letting go. The muscles of your back softening, surrendering as your pelvis feels heavy on the bed. Heavy, heavy. And as the mist of relaxation moves down your legs now, allow your legs to feel nice and heavy.

heavy, like they're made of marble. And as the relaxation moves deep into your feet and toes, you let go completely. Good. I'd like you to imagine that you have entered the control room of your mind. You are standing at a board that has a map on it, sort of like a subway map, with lines crossing over one another and connecting stations or stops

And these stations or stops are shown with little lights. Most of the lights are green. Some of them are red. These lines on the subway maps and the stops on the lines are connections you've made in your mind, habits you've created. And each stop along the line is a connection point between one behavior and another. For instance,

you see that under one of the stops are the words "wake up" and at the next stop along the line is "brush your teeth" or maybe it's "drink a hot beverage" whatever it is you do first thing in the morning you have connected waking up with this next behavior and we call this connection a habit it's a connection you have forged over time so you don't really need to think about it anymore

The energy between the two behaviors just moves from one stop to the next effortlessly. Your map is quite big, like the subway map of a major city. There are many lines and hundreds of stops. As I mentioned earlier, you've learned to wake up in the morning and maybe brush your teeth. You've learned to exercise and then take a shower.

You've learned to park your car and then lock the door. And all these connections are very, very good. On the subway map, these stops light up green. They work well and you never have to think about them. Like a subway, the system runs underground and you never pay much attention to it because you are a very, very good learning machine.

But over time you have made some connections that don't work for you quite as well. And that's okay. It's impossible to be a human being and not make connections that are faulty or that we have to learn from in negative ways. When you have a connection between two behaviors that doesn't feel good, that second behavior turns red on the map. So we're going to explore one habit.

that you have made on your subway map. One connection between two behaviors or a connection between a feeling and a behavior or a connection between a thought and a behavior. So I'd like you to imagine a situation in your life in which you do something that you don't feel good about. You may enjoy the activity for a while, but then it leads to bad feelings.

Chances are that this behavior is triggered by a previous feeling or thought or behavior. Maybe you feel lonely, so you scroll social media for too long. Maybe when you're bored, you use intoxicants or substances that you don't feel good about. Maybe when you watch TV, you end up eating. Imagine these are two stops on the subway line.

Stop 1 is the feeling or the original behavior. And stop 2 is what you do next, the thing you don't feel good about. These two stops on your subway line are currently connected. So I'd like you to see this on your subway map or control panel. There's a map of this connection. From stop number 1, you instantly move to stop number 2.

But because you feel bad about stop number two, it lights up red. Notice it lighting up red. This red light represents feeling bad. This is the connection that currently exists in your subconscious mind. But now, as you take yourself deeper and even deeper into relaxation, as every muscle of your body is becoming loose and limp and relaxed,

You're relaxing down to this place in your subconscious mind where you have more control over these connections and you're forging new connections. Just as you've been learning your entire life, you are continuing to learn. But now that you're so relaxed, you're making better choices. Choices that feel good. So today you're creating a new stop on your subway line.

You're creating a new response to the original behavior or feeling. So now I'd like you to imagine that you are experiencing the behavior that you don't feel good about. You are at stop number two as you allow everything to slow down, really slow down as you experience this behavior. And now this whole experience is bathed in red light.

the same red light you see on your subway line. This red light is the negative feelings you feel while doing this. And it's actually helpful to feel this negative feeling just for a little while because it's reminding you why you're going to change it. Well done. So now we rewind and we're going to the feeling or behavior just before this red light behavior.

As you rewind, the red light goes off and you are now doing or thinking or feeling whatever was going on right before the red light behavior. Go back on the subway line to stop number one to the moment before. This is the previous station on your subway map and its light is green. Notice what's happening at this subway stop. How are you feeling?

What are you doing? What are you thinking? Are you bored? Frustrated? Lonely? Over excited? What is going on inside of you at this previous subway stop? Just notice, it's okay to feel uncomfortable. Life contains many uncomfortable moments, but you get to choose what you do with it next. What might be some better options in this moment?

What are some better choices you can make? Maybe it's a good time to drink some cool, refreshing. Imagine that. Maybe it would feel good to go outside for a few minutes and get some fresh air. Imagine doing that. Notice how it feels. Maybe this is a good time to call a friend and tell them what's going on. Imagine doing that. Notice how that feels. Maybe you can take a nice deep breath.

and remind yourself this too shall pass. This too shall pass. Now I'd like you to choose one of these behaviors. There's no perfect one. Just choose one and try it on for size. And now we're going to create this new stop on your subway line using this new behavior. So as we allow everything to get very, very slow again,

slow and relaxed. Let's go back to being at the first subway stop with the original feeling or thought or behavior. And now you notice yourself making your new choice. Good. And as you're making this new choice, a green light surrounds you. And this new subway stop you're creating on your map lights up bright green. Green is go. Green is energy moving in a good direction.

And as you see this green and feel this green, you feel good. This new behavior feels good. This new behavior feels right. Creating a new subway stop in your subconscious mind feels good. So let's do this again, just to reinforce it. Imagine that you're back at the first subway stop, feeling the original feeling or thought or behavior. Notice it.

And now you make this new choice, this better choice. Imagine yourself making the better choice. And as you make this better choice, your whole being, the whole scene becomes green. And you imagine the new subway stop lighting up green. So there's a connection now between stop number one, which is green, and stop number two, which is green. Green is go. Green is energy moving in a good direction.

And as you experience the green, it feels good. This new behavior feels good. Creating a new subway stop in your subconscious mind feels well done. So now I'd like you to look at your subway map and you see this new connection. A new line moving from the old original subway stop to a new subway stop. And because you feel good about this choice, both stations are lit up green.

And now, just to reinforce this connection, I'd like you to imagine the energy moving back and forth from stop number one to stop number two, back to stop number one, then to two, back to one, then to two, forwards and backwards, forwards and backwards. This new connection is becoming hardwired inside of you, forwards and backwards, forwards and backwards.

And now you see that this new connection is connected to the rest of your subway map. It connects back into all the different lines and stations and stops of your life. All the unconscious connections that you've already made. It's part of you now. Part of the greater whole. And now as you step back and look at the entire subway map, you see all its green lights.

and the energy circulating between them so easily and quickly. And every time you think about this subway map, you feel your energy moving easily and happily. Just as you are feeling that feeling right now, you have access to your own subconscious mind. And as you relax, taking yourself deeper and deeper, your life is becoming better and better, more effective,

more streamlined, more peaceful, easier and easier. You're getting more done, but using less energy. And anytime you need to change a connection on your subway map, you take yourself into deep, deep relaxation and practice a new response. And as you practice that new response, just as you will practice tonight's new response, it gets easier and easier and more automatic.

You notice on your subway map that there's a line moving off to the right, moving down of the control panel. Follow it with your fingertip and you come to a station that says, "Relax, this is where you are right now." And this station is connected to the next station at the end of the line. And that station is sleep. And as you relax here, going deeper,

and deeper, you naturally and easily allow yourself to drift and float and dream.