Wave magazine

Wellbeing Coach Viv Craske turns his attention to the small things in life

Quantum mechanics, which explains how matter and energy exists and interacts on a subatomic scale, tells us some very strange things, which go contrary to what our eyes tell us. The world of the very small is a very odd place, where particles appear from nowhere, and disappear again.

"Until the world interacts with us, we don’t really exist. And if we can get our heads round this new idea of a self-experiencing reality, the potential of how to live our lives is magical"

There’s a wonderfully sweet moment in the film I Heart Huckabees, which is about a pair of existential detectives – Bernard and Vivian – played by Dustin Hoffmann and Lily Tomlin, who solve people’s philosophical crises. A fireman called Tommy, who cycles to fires because he won’t drive a car and use up petrol, bumps into the detectives just when he is at the height of an existential crisis. Bernard tries to put his worries in perspective, telling Tommy: “You and me and the air are actually tiny particles that are swirling round together.” (more…)

NLP practitioner and hypnotherapist Viv Craske on the art of selling yourself without selling your soul

Telesales, estate agents, pyramid schemes, door-to-door and car sales – many people get annoyed at salesmen and women, branding them as opportunistic, cold and manipulative.

So what do we have against sales people that makes them so abhorrent? Let’s take some objections: sure, some of them can come across as cold and ruthless, or over-enthusiastic and manipulative. For these people, the way they act doesn’t match what they’re selling – how exciting is mobile phone insurance anyway?

Here’s the thing: whether we like it or not, we’re all in sales. And the product is ourselves. We see an opportunity and we go for it. If we don’t go for that job, or talk to that person on the other side of the pub, someone else will.

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NLP practitioner and hypnotherapist Viv Craske says weight loss is easy if you start listening to your body

Remember when you were a kid and you believed in Father Christmas, even though you know now it’s an illusion? Have you ever stopped to chew on the idea that a £20 note only has value because we all agree it does. In fact, it’s worth a tiny, tiny amount.

So if you’ve decided to lose weight now, then why were you buying into the illusion that weight loss was hard? When you wanted to believe in Father Christmas, could I have persuaded you otherwise? But when the time is right, it’s easy to change old beliefs.

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NLP practitioner and hypnotherapist Viv Craske says that finding your life purpose is easier than you think

Let’s make an agreement for a moment. For the next five minutes I want you to think about what you really want in life.

I don’t mean what you want to buy with your next pay packet, or where you want to go on holiday. Instead I want to ask you this: what is the biggest possible dream or plan which, if I could make it effortlessly happen for you, would make your life complete? What I’m really asking is this: what is your life’s purpose?

Relax. Grab a pen and paper and just allow your unconscious mind to come up with the answers for you.

If you’re wondering where to start, imagine you’re calmly reviewing your life on your deathbed. Now, what are the five most important things you will wish you had done or be glad you did?

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This month NLP practitioner and hypnotherapist Viv Craske reveals a quick fix for dissolving stress

Ever seen an animal in a zoo which is stuck in a small enclosure, rocking or pacing back and forth? Even when the animal is moved to a bigger zoo with plenty of freedom to move about, the stressed creature still paces back and forth over the same old ground. This is called learned helplessness, and humans are just as capable of creating similar behaviours in reaction to stress.

It’s important to realise that, while we can’t always control our environment, we can control how we react to it. Where one person feels stress in a certain situation, another might find it an exciting challenge. What’s actually happening is that the process we label as ‘stress’ starts with ‘stressors’ – external environmental events. It’s how we respond to these events (and not the events themselves) that cause stress to build up.

“See yourself in various situations where the old you would have felt stressed. Notice how, as this new person, you now feel more in control”

We talk about stress in the same way we talk about an apple or a telephone – as something that we can reach out and touch. But stress is not a thing, it’s a fluid process and something that can be turned up or down, or dispensed with entirely, in our minds. Unlike an animal, our self-awareness allows us to break free from learned helplessness, and stress is just one example of that.

Feeling stressed even thinking about it? Here’s a quick fix you can do. Think of someone you admire and would prefer to be more like. It could be a confident colleague or a TV personality who is calm and in control. Now imagine that you actually are this person, and change how you are sitting and feeling to mimic how you think they would sit and feel. Imagine the two of you merging and create a really vivid picture or feeling of yourself as this new person.

See yourself in various situations where the old you would have felt stressed. Notice how, as this new person, you now feel more in control, and allow that feeling to spread through your body like a warm, golden glow. Hear yourself talking confidently and others praising you. Any time you need to blast away stress, try being this new person – walk and act and talk as if you were them.

Clearing out stress is a two-step process. Firstly, you need to deal with how you react to your environment. Secondly, you need to look at how you decide to put yourself in situations that cause you to choose to feel stressed. A neuro-linguistic programming practitioner can show you how to do this, and other powerful techniques, so you can change your life and achieve your dreams.

Viv Craske is a neuro-linguistic programming practitioner, hypnotherapist and time line therapist™ based in Brighton. To change your life call 07939 134274, email viv@nlpbrighton.co.uk or visit www.nlpbrighton.co.uk