Responsibility--The first key to mastery is taking responsibility for yourself and your life.  When you agree to take responsibility for your life as it is, it follows that you then have the power to change your life.  If you believe that other people or fate or whimsy are the determiners of how your life has taken shape and who you are now, then how could you possibly change it?  For when you have assigned responsibility for who you are in this life to others, you have, in effect, given away your power to create who you are.  So, the first step in becoming a good self-hypnotist is to consciously claim or reclaim your power to create and shape your life as you see fit.  And this begins by taking responsibility for yourself and your life--all of it, that which you perceive as being positive or good as well as that which you perceive in a negative light.

Awareness--There are two levels of awareness the good self-hypnotist must master.  The first level of awareness requires an intimate understanding of who you are and how you got to be who you are.  You cannot change who you are unless you have a clear understanding of who you are.  Sounds simple, but It's a bit more complex than that.  Many of us go through our lives having the same thoughts and feelings day in and day out, repeating the same behavioral patterns over and over again.  And life takes on a broken-record kind of rhythm to it.  Some of our patterning we might perceive as good or beneficial while others we might want to change.  While we may have awareness we're in a rut, few of us have awareness of how it all began. 

One of the best methods for developing an intimate understanding of who we are is the practice of monitoring our thoughts and feelings.  Most people believe they already do this, but few truly do.  Spend five minutes, 2-3 times a day, becoming still and watching your thoughts and feelings.  You might do this while watching the news or a political debate.  Watch your reactionary thoughts and feelings and understand that most of them are pre-programmed.

The second and perhaps most important type of awareness we can cultivate is awareness of our creative nature.  When you learn to become aware of all that you have already created, this awareness can help build confidence in your creative abilities.  Take a close look at your life and recognize that you have created everything you see around you: your relationships; your job; your mental state (joy, happiness, sadness, anger, love, fear, and on and on); your financial situation; your material possessions; your living environment; everything.  We are all amazing creators.  One method of becoming more aware of our creative nature is to keep a journal. 

Each night, write down three things or experiences that have come into your life that day.  Identify any recent thoughts, feelings, and possible beliefs that led to these creations.  Take responsibility for your creations and recognize your role in creating what has come into your life.  Acknowledge your role and feel your power.  The more you begin to recognize and acknowledge your creations, the more you'll begin to see yourself as a creative being, capable of creating whatever it is you choose to create.  This will help raise your confidence in your creative nature and ability.  All your thoughts are seeds for creation.  And when you become aware of your creative nature by recognizing how your consciousness is the catalyst for creating your life and everyone and everything in it, then you have set the stage for yourself to become an effective, conscious creator--the good self-hypnotist.          

Desire and Imaginative Thought--Nothing gets created without desire.  Desire is the catalyst, the driving force, behind the energy that moves creation.  And it is imaginative thought (and the feelings or energies you have and express about those thoughts) that gives shape to and crafts creation.  The Creative Level of Mind responds to your desires and the thoughts and feelings you have about your desires.  Everything you see in the world around you is the result of desire and imaginative thought working in relationship with one another.  The good self-hypnotist recognizes these truths and applies them in all his/her creative endeavors. 

The key here is to learn to align your imaginative, creative thoughts with your desires.  While your desire creates the energy that makes your dreams possible, it is your thoughts, your feelings, and your beliefs (in essence, your consciousness) about your desires that directs the Creative Level of Mind as to exactly how your desires will or will not come into being. 

To create successfully, your desire must be strong and your imaginative thoughts clear and supportive of your desire.  Creation always succeeds.  Always.  You are the one who will determine what you create in your life.  The good self-hypnotist learns to create effectively by crafting his/her imaginative thoughts to support their desires and give shape to them. 

Faith--Perhaps the most important key to mastering self-hypnosis and becoming an effective, conscious creator is developing faith in our creative nature.  Where your creative nature/abilities are concerned, faith is having absolute certainty in two things: that creation always succeeds, and that you play an integral role in the creative process.  You are a catalyst for creation.  When you have complete faith in your creative nature, you cannot help but be an effective, conscious creator and self-hypnotist.  So, how do we develop that kind of faith?  There are two basic ways.  By developing an awareness of what we have already created in our lives (by journaling, as was mentioned in the section on Awareness) and by building confidence in our creative nature from our successful creative endeavors (those that are created through our conscious intentions).  Take notice of your creative successes and learn to feel confident about your creative abilities.

Make no mistake about it, everyone has faith.  The question is: Where do you place your faith?  Do you place your faith in your ability to create what you desire or have you placed it elsewhere.  No matter where you have placed your faith, you can always choose to develop faith in your creative nature.  Cultivate your faith, and always remember your success in your creative endeavors will be determined, in large part, by your faith.   

Awareness of the Creative Level of Mind--Having awareness of and acknowledging the Creative Level of Mind is important, but of equal importance is the practice of learning to be aware of the opportunities presented to us by the Creative Level of Mind.  Often times, we fail to realize our dreams or desires because we fail to recognize opportunities when they show up.  Why?  Because some of us have a tendency to fixate on exactly how our desires are going to show up (the process they must follow to be created) and what they're going to look like when they get here.  And when they don't show up the way we imagined they would, we end up disappointed and think we've failed or that the Creative Level of Mind has failed.  Here's an example of how that might play out.

Let's say you are looking for the perfect mate.  You create a nice little self-hypnosis script for yourself that perfectly describes your perfect mate and suggests that you will meet this person and develop a relationship.  And let's say there is someone in your life that you have decided must be the person you've been looking for all this time.  But here's the fly in the ointment--this person has no romantic interest in you whatsoever.  And while you're focusing all your attention on this person, another person, who perfectly fits what you've asked for and who is looking for someone just like you, shows up in your life.  But you're still so focused on it being the person you think it has to be, that you don't even notice when your perfect mate walks into your life.  Opportunity gone. 

Remember, the Creative Level of Mind works in mysterious ways.  Your creations won't always show up exactly as you imagine they will.  And the good self-hypnotist is aware of this and is always on the lookout for the opportunities the Creative Level of Mind presents to them to realize their desires.   

Commitment--Commitment for the self-hypnotist is characterized by an unwavering resolve to reach your goals.  The nature of this resolve is focused yet lighthearted as opposed to being overly serious.  And here's why: Have you ever tried to think of the name of a movie but you can't quite think of it, and the more you try to think of the name of the movie, the harder it becomes to remember it.  But the next day, as you're lounging in the bathtub, suddenly, the name of the movie pops up in your mind.  The memory of the name of the movie has been in your subconscious mind the whole time, but the subconscious mind responds best when you are relaxed.  You cannot force a memory up into your conscious mind, and the more you try to force it, the less likely you are to get a response.  The same is true where your creative endeavors are concerned.  The more serious you are, the more you worry or try to force the subconscious and Creative Level of Mind to do your bidding for you, the less response you'll get.  To be successful in your creative endeavors, relax, lighten up, and know that your desires will come into being.  Be consistent and unwavering in your belief that your desires will come into being.  Never give in to weak or disempowering thoughts or feelings.  Be focused on having thoughts and feelings that support your knowledge that your goal is not simply attainable but inevitable.  Be committed to your success.     

Gratitude--Gratitude is an important component of mastery for a self-hypnotist.  An acknowledgment of gratitude for your successes is critical for this reason--when you are grateful for having had success in your creative endeavors and for the abundance you've received, it naturally follows that you are aware that success and abundance exist in your life.  And awareness of abundance creates a feeling of having.  And it is this feeling of having that helps create an abundance consciousness state of mind which then can attract more abundance to you.  And it is this feeling of abundance that breeds more of the same.  An acknowledgment of gratitude can help build your faith in your creative nature and your faith in the existence of abundance in your life.     

The good self-hypnotist focuses on developing a belief system that reflects a powerful confidence and faith in their creative nature; develops an awareness of the pervasive existence of abundance in their life and their role in creating that abundance; and, through awareness and gratitude of their successful creative endeavors, engenders within themselves feelings of success and of having abundance.  These beliefs and feelings can go a long way to helping you become an effective, conscious creator and self-hypnotist.  Time to move on with the self-hypnosis tutorial.  As you go through the tutorial, remember these keys and incorporate them as best you can into your self-hypnosis practice.

Click here to move to the How to Write a Great Self-Hypnosis Script section.