07/07/2010 by Cathy.

Have a look at this article seen on Yahoo News:

 http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100706/thl-rudeness-increases-mistakes-risk-d831572.html

Studies are indicating that our performance in various tasks is impaired if someone has been rude to us beforehand, even mildly rude. What’s more, even witnessing this rudeness to someone else can impair our performance!

Interesting.

The article goes on to say ‘ “This reaction is probably caused by the emotional arousal caused by the rudeness, which resulted in a switchover of cognitive capacity to deal with the required emotional processing, or it may, more simply, be caused by distraction,” Prof Flin said. ‘

This completely rings true. We have a saying that ‘Strong emotion makes us stupid’, and this is because once the emotional brain becomes aroused, the connections to the rational, cognitive part of our brain are obstructed. So how often, for example, do we go into an interview or exam and completely forget everything we know, and we know that we know!

Our minds are pattern matching machines. For some of us the act of walking into an exam or interview is matched to ‘danger’ by our emotional brain, initiating the ‘fight or flight’ response that we are all aware of, switching off our cognitive capacity.

So what can we do?

There are a couple of little tricks that can really help in these situations.

Firstly, did you know that just by going into peripheral vision, we can no longer panic? Try it! Pick a spot to look at on the wall. Remain looking at the spot and start to see how much more either side of the spot you can see, as your eyes de-focus.

Secondly, try a technique called 7/11 breathing. Breathe slowly and deeply from the diaphragm (which means keeping your shoulders and chest still, while your tummy goes in and out). Take a long breath in (for a count of 7), followed by an even longer breath out (for a count of 11), really drawing out that breath out. This causes a physiological response which, after just a few minutes, cannot help but relax you.

I hope you try these out.

For more information on how to get rid of these fears for good, you can email me on

cathy@cathysimmons.co.uk. Full contact details on http://www.cathysimmons.co.uk

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30/01/2010 by Cathy.

Last weekend (23^rd and 24^th January 2010) I had the privilege of  representing SlimQuest at the Diet and Fitness Show at Olympia. For those who have not come across it, SlimQuest is a 6 week course run by Quest Trained therapists, using Hypnotherapy and NLP techniques to help to gain control over our relationship with food - especially over the emotions and beliefs about ourselves that drive us to eat more than we want and when we don’t want to.

We had a really good couple of days where we met many great people with very genuine and sensible questions.  We also had an opportunity to offer 15 minute taster sessions of both hypnotherapy and EFT, and many people walked away amazed at what can be achieved in such a short space of time!

Thank you to all of you who were willing to give this a go.

So many people have tried so many diets and approaches and yet, still seem to put on weight. It can be a real surprise to realise that it can be the dieting itself that causes the weight gain. The more we restrict ourselves, the more our minds and bodies learn to store fat even more efficiently.  In times of famine, this would be a very good approach to keep us alive when times are hard – however now, it is only serving to perpetuate the yo-yo dieting cycle.

So – what a freedom to know that one of the things we need to do in order to lose weight and maintain it is to stop dieting!!

If you would like to know more about the SlimQuest approach and to find out about courses near you, have a look at the SlimQuest website http://www.slimquest.co.uk  or you can contact me for more information.

07792 312 465

cathy@cathysimmons.co.uk

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05/11/2009 by Cathy.

As I turned on Breakfast News this morning as usual, I was struck by an item about the extent of stress and stress related illness in the workplace. According to NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence), 13 million working days are lost a year because of work related stress, anxiety and depression. (I assume this figure applies to the UK, but this wasn’t clear).

Other figures were thrown in regarding the cost to employers, apparently hitting £28.3 billion per year and NICE suggests that £250,000 per year could be saved in a firm of 1,000 staff by tackling this issue.

See the article on BBC News website here

In reality, most of us probably think that this type of issue has been around as long as workplaces have,  but maybe it has not been quantified in this way, or even given the label of ‘work-related stress’ until recently.  Indeed, a certain and appropriate amount of stress is a good thing, depending on the circumstances – some people perform better under a bit of pressure, helping to motivate and drive them. Those of us who are sole traders can’t really blame anyone else for the very real stresses and pressures that running your own business can bring, but however these can be highly motivating factors (and some of us need a kick up the behind every now and then!)

Employers are being given further guidelines about how to improve the workplace, putting the emphasis on training managers and giving positive feedback, as, it seems, that the attitude of managers has been suggested as the biggest culprit.

So – it seems to all be a lot about control. We all find ourselves in situations that we have no control over, the attitude of a bullying manager, perhaps, imposed deadlines and budgets, redundancies, having to deal with people who can seem impossible at times – all these things can lead to stress, anxiety, rumination, negative thinking, and eventually to depression and physical illness.

We may not have any control over these factors, but there is one thing we can always take control over – our attitude to them! Wouldn’t it be great if we could stop being the victims and begin to get control of the way we feel, regardless of those things that we cannot control.

Someone recently said to me “Holding bitterness against someone is like letting someone you despise live rent-free in your head” How true!! Don’t let these external factors dictate how you feel inside.

Easier said than done? Maybe – but with modern NLP techniques and hypnotherapy it can become a real possibility to change the way you react to circumstances, and start behaving and feeling the way you want to, able to cope and stay calm when the world throws you all those challenges – an end to other people and circumstances dictating the way we feel and the beginning of being in charge of our own well-being.

Cathy Simmons

http://www.cathysimmons.co.uk

07792 312 465

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23/10/2009 by Cathy.

“From 2002 to 2006, the number of drugs that were axed after Phase-II clinical trials (volunteer trials) increased by 20% because the drugs couldn’t beat the placebos they were compared against. More recently, in 2008, a new gene therapy for Parkinson’s disease failed against the placebo. Similarly, in March 2009, Eli Lilly withdrew a new drug for schizophrenia because the placebo effect was double that expected. Also in March 2009, Osiris Therapeutics’ new drug for Crohn’s disease was also withdrawn due to a high placebo effect.
What is going on? ” - David R Hamilton PhD - October 2009

You can read the whole article from David’s October newsletter here.

If you like this, then I would stongly recommend his books. Backed by cited research he gives a real insight into the workings of the mind and the mind-body link.

How Your Mind Can Heal Your Body
It’s the Thought That Counts: Why Mind Over Matter Really Works

Both are a great read

http://www.cathysimmons.co.uk

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03/10/2009 by Cathy.

This is a quite disturbing article from the BBC about how mothers who smoke whilst pregnant can put their children at greater risk of psychotic symptoms.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8283723.stm

Get help at:

http://www.hampsteadsmokingclinic.com

Posted in Stopping Smoking, General Ramblings | Print | 1 Comment »

01/10/2009 by Cathy.

A recent article in the Daily Express tells the story of a lady who has been dieting since the age of 12. Pressures from teachers and family at that young age instilled the idea that she needed to be thinner leading to a lifetime of dieting, guilt and worry about weight.

Read the article here

The whole cycle of yo-yo dieting that is so easy to get into, ends up doing far more harm than good. By constantly restricting foods (maybe the overall amount or maybe just certain types of food) your body and mind are tricked into thinking that food is scarce and therefore kicks your body into ‘fat storage’ mode.

How many of us have fallen into that trap?
Are we a little bit afraid to stop dieting because we think we might put on even more weight?

But it is the dieting that causes us to gain weight!
If we turn this around it is actually good news, because it mean that it is possible to
stop dieting and lose weight!

By applying a straight forward approach to eating, understanding more about our relationship to food and learning some simple techniques for helping  when we are tempted to eat more than we should, techniques that can help with cravings and motivation to exercise, for example, then it becomes easy to change our approach to eating (without dieting), allowing us to gently and naturally achieve the weight loss that we want and to maintain it.

This approach is taught in a low-cost course called SlimQuest, for one hour a week over a period of six weeks, and the next weight loss course starts on Tuesday 13th October.  If you would like to know more you can contact Cathy on 07792 312 465, http://www.cathysimmons.co.uk/LoseWeight.html or http://www.slimquest.co.uk

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22/09/2009 by Cathy.

The latest studies indicate a reduction of up to 26% per year in heart attack rates resulting in smoking bans in public places. This is much more than was anticipated.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8267523.stm

Most smokers (and I was one for a long time) don’t really want to look at articles like this and can easily feel ‘picked on’ by the rest of the world about their smoking. However most also know, really, that it is hugely damaging to smoke - quite aware of the risks they are taking with their own lives.

So why is this? How can we carry on doing something that we know is so harmful and justify it with “I enjoy it” or “it helps me relax”.?  What if you “enjoy” salmon sandwiches but have a fish allergy, would you continue to eat salmon purely because you enjoy it? Probably not. So what is different about smoking? Why can’t we easily quit smoking?

Nicotine has tricked your mind! Over time our minds have started to associate cigarettes with the relief of stress, with the relief of that feeling that we may call withdrawal, which is the feeling caused as nicotine from the previous cigarette starts to leave the body. Your mind has also generalised this feeling - and by that I mean that it starts to think that nicotine can help relieve other similar feelings like fear, anxiety, stress, etc…. This is one big con! If you are stressed by something, then all the nicotine does is temporarily relieve the part of that feeling that was caused by the cigarette in the first place! The rest of the worry is still there.

The crazy thing is that the cigarette causes stress in the first place. Every time you have one, it is like injecting pure adrenalin, the stress hormone. Your body is constantly living with higher than normal levels of the stress hormone, caused by smoking. No wonder we feel anxious and on edge so much of the time. However, in the back of our minds (the unconscious part of your mind), you only think that the cigarette relieves the stress, and therefore the unconscious part of your mind will continue to motivate you to smoke.

All we are doing when we say “I  enjoy it” or “It helps me through difficult times” is coming up with a consicous justification of our unconsciously driven behaviour  - which is entirely natural.

So, how on earth can we get out of this cycle? This is where hypnotherapy comes in. It is a way of accessing the unconscious part of your mind to re-train it, so that it no longer motivates you to smoke. Without that deep down motivation it become so easy to stop smoking. The niggling feelings you get in the couple of days afterwards will be so small that they can easily be beaten, and after that… Freedom for Good and a new life of better health!!!

http://www.hampsteadsmokingclinic.com

http://www.cathysimmons.co.uk

Posted in Stopping Smoking, General Ramblings | Print | 1 Comment »

14/09/2009 by Cathy.

Otherwise known as genuphobia, this fear of knees has been in the papers today.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2009/03/13/the-woman-who-is-so-scared-of-knees-she-s-lost-friends-and-can-t-go-swimming-115875-21195732/

Sadly, these stories only get into the papers because they are ‘a bit strange’ and we seem to love to read about other people’s disadvantages. The truth is that so many of us live with fears that we might not want to admit to, and which effect the way we go about our lives. Whether it involves flying, heights, spiders or fear of public speaking which are the better known and somehow (strangely) more socially acceptable phobias, or something more obscure such as knees, particular foods or even a particular tone of voice, there is hope.

Consciously, we know that our fears may be irrational. We can reason with ourselves and know that we shouldn’t be afraid - how many times have you heard “pull yourself together”, or “don’t be silly, it’s perfectly safe”. So, why can’t we pull ourselves together?

The answer lies with the unconscious part of your mind, the part that runs ’on automatic’. This is the part of your mind that allows you to drive without constantly thinking about what you are doing with the pedals and the gear stick.  It is the part that makes us run away from a dangerous wild animal without consciously having to think about it. The unconsious part of your mind is designed to keep you away from danger and motivate you towards pleasure, and the only way it can do this is by learning from the minute you are born.

Sometimes, as part of that learning, incorrect associations can be made. Your unconscious mind can truly ‘believe’ that there is something about knees that is dangerous, because it has somehow learned this in the past. But because it is unconscious, you find yourself automatically reacting before you are consciously aware of it, and without consciously having any idea of why!

This is where hypnotherapy comes in. Hypnotherapy can give access to the unconscious part of your mind, in order to understand where that association came from and gently correct it. There is hope in a technique that does not rely on de-sensitisation, does not rely on forcing someone into overexposure to the very thing they fear. This is a gentle and lasting approach to becoming free of our irrational fears for good.

If I can help in any way, please feel free to contact me on 07792312465 or cathy@cathysimmons.co.uk

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12/09/2009 by Cathy.

Recent research undertaken at King’s College, London found that children with lower self-esteem tend to gain weight as they grow up and be larger as adults.

They talk about how early intervention, in childhood, is key and quote Dr Ian Campbell of the charity Weight Concern as saying “Many of the adults we work with have identifiable underlying emotional and self esteem issues and are often resistant to treatment.”

See the BBC article here

However, it is possible to identify these factors at any age, with the gentle use of hypnotherapy, and to undo the effects of childhood low self-esteem, installing a new confidence and realisation of self-worth. This is itself can make a significant difference to a person’s relationship with food and, together with a new approach to eating (involving NO dieting!!) can be the start of the permanent weight loss they are looking for.

http://www.cathysimmons.co.uk

07792 312 465

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27/08/2009 by Cathy.

Researchers have discovered that a chemical released from cut grass and other vegetation can work directly on the brain in the amygdala and hippocampus areas which are responsible for emotions and memory.

Apparently it can reduce stress and boost memory in addition to preventing damage to the hippocampus normally resulting from chronic stress.

According to this Telegraph article, (see link, below) the Australian researchers have produced a perfume spray which will soon be available.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/6094786/Feeling-stressed-Then-go-mow-the-lawn-claims-research.html

“Eau de mow”?  (It’s true - its not April 1st)

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