Phony Phishing Blogs on Blogger

This is going to be wildly off-topic, but I think it is important to tell you. This morning I got an email that purported itself to be from this blog, asking me to moderate a comment someone had made on my latest post, "Father's Day," which I had actually never made. When I clicked on the link, wondering what it was, it turned out to be a phony WordPress Blog with the title of my blog on it and an actual picture of my daughter, taken in 2005 that I believe I had posted in my photography blog, http://www.cindysphotoquest.blogspot.com .

If you come across this phony blog, please just close the webpage immediately, because in doing a bit of research this afternoon, I have discovered that it actually may be malware or a virus masquerading as my website. It will say "Tree of Life Hypnotherapy -Blog."

Thanks and sorry I haven't posted a "real" entry in a long time!

Cynthia

When Smokers Quit

Within 20 minutes of smoking that last cigarette, the body begins a series of changes that continues for years. . .

20 minutes:

*Blood pressure drops to normal

*Pulse rate drops to normal

*Body temperature of hands and feet increases to normal

8 hours:

*Carbon monoxide levels in blood drops to normal

*Oxygen level in blood increases to normal

24 hours:

*Chances of heart attack decreases

48 hours:

*Nerve endings start regrowing

*Ability to smell and taste is enhanced

2 weeks to 3 months:

*Circulation improves

*Walking becomes easier

*Lung function increases up to 30%

1 to 9 months:

*Coughing, sinus congestion, fatigue, shortness of breath decreases

*Cilia regrow in lungs, increasing ability to handle mucus, clean the lungs, reduce infection

*Body's overall energy increases

1 year:

*Excess risk of coronary heart disease is half that of a smoker

5 years:

*Lung cancer death rate for average former smoker (one pack a day) decreases by almost half

*Stroke risk is reduced to that of a nonsmoker 5-15 years after quitting

*Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat and esophagus is half that of a smokers'

10 years:

*Lung cancer death rate similar to that of nonsmokers

*Precancerous cells are replaced

*Risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, esophagus, bladder, kidney and pancreas decreases

15 years:

*Risk of coronary heart disease is that of a non-smoker

SO, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

Having trouble paring down possessions?

It's not always easy to get rid of things you've been storing in closets, the attic and basement. Many items you own have an emotional hold on you, whether good or bad. Old photographs, letters, paperwork, gifts and things you just don't use anymore may hold memories that make it more difficult for you to decide to throw them out or give them away.

What can help is going through the items, one by one, and thinking about them in three different ways:

1. Is the item something you've used in the past year? If you haven't, it's probably time to remove it from your home.

2. What kind of emotions are attached to the item for you? (If very good, you may want to put it in the keep pile for a bit , before deciding to get rid of it. If the emotions surrounding it are negative, get rid of it.)

3. Be honest: if the item has even a somewhat positive emotional value, will you really use it again, or will it continue to take up emotional and physical space in your home and heart? If it is no longer useful or extremely emotionally valuable to you, strongly consider divesting yourself of it.

4. One way to "hold onto" items that you have a strong emotional attachment to, but no longer have the space to store is to take a picture of each thing. You can put them in an album to be able to keep them in your heart and they won't be taking up precious space in your home.

Things you no longer want or need can be either thrown out, recycled or given to charities such as Goodwill or Salvation Army. It may even be possible that you have items that you could sell at consignment stores if they're not emotionally positive to you. The negative values you attribute to an item based on the circumstances you acquired them or events that transpired while owning them won't transfer to other people who might want to buy them.

Another way to get rid of unwanted items is to hold a yard sale or tag sale at your home. If you make a little extra money on the unwanted things, treat yourself in some way as a reward for paring down your possessions.

Hypnosis can help guide you, but if you'd like a little more information to help you in your quest for order, check out the following websites: The National Organization for Professional Organizers, http://www.napo.net/ and The National study Group on Chronic Disorganization, http://www.nsgcd.org/

Good luck to you, and happy organizing!

I teach all of my clients to do a very simple breathing exercise (also known as meditation, but I didn't want to scare you off!) I originally read about it in Deepak Chopra's book, Perfect Health, which should be a must-read for anyone who wants to be a healthy human being in mind, body and spirit. Here it is:
1. Find a comfortable place to sit or lie down, where you won't be interupted for five minutes.
2. Close your eyes and begin to follow the path of your breathing in through your nose or mouth. Some hypnotherapists call this "sleep breathing," because it is similar to the way we breathe when we fall asleep at night.
3. As thoughts occur to you (and they will) make a conscious effort to let them wash over the surface of your body like a wave. Simply take notice of the fact that you've had a thought, without judgment, and let it go.
4. You may want to initially set a timer, so you don't fall asleep, but the sound of a timer beeping or ringing can also take away a lot of the de-stressing action of the meditation!
5. When you open your eyes again, you're going to feel a lot more relaxed and ready to go about your day in a more peaceful way.

It only takes three minutes for the entire autonomic nervous system to calm down when you practice breathing. Feel free to write me an email (click on: Contact Cynthia) and tell me how it worked for you. Good luck!

Welcome to my first HypnoThoughts posting!

I have been a National Guild of Hypnotist's certified hypnotherapist since 1996. I was fortunate to be trained by a wonderful woman by the name of Priscilla King, whose many talents included not only being an accomplished hypnotherapist, but a Registered Nurse, a Reiki practitioner and a truly great teacher. (I'm sure there are many other things I've left out, but at this point, I just don't remember.) I have always felt that Priscilla's having been a nurse gave me a bit more of a medical model perspective where hypnotherapy is concerned, in a profession where many of its practitioners can be pretty far out in the ether, so to speak. It seems to have made my practice a little more approachable to the general public, which is a good thing!

I specialize in Smoking Cessation hypnotherapy. It really didn't become as much of a passion for me to help cure people of their tobacco addictions until my grandmother, Emily Seger, was diagnosed with end-stage Emphysema sometime in 2003. She quit smoking when I was 12 years old, after a lifetime of being a two pack a day smoker. And how do you think she quit? With the patch? No!

My grandfather, Pete Seger, made an appointment for her to see none other than a HYPNOTIST in Kennebunk, Maine. She went to that appointment to prove to him that it wouldn't work because she loved smoking and didn't want to quit. And she walked out of the man's office 45 minutes later, after tossing her last pack of cigarettes in the trash, a non-smoker for the rest of her life. It was profound to me, and I know it was ultimately the other thing that brought me to being a hypnotherapist as a career.

I also do a lot of weight loss and body re-imaging hypnotherapy, which I feel is important, because instead of trying to bring a negative feeling to my clients about eating, I teach them to feel better about themselves, as human beings, and to love the container they've been given for their souls, in addition to making healthier choices with food and getting regular heart and lung-healthy exercise.

I work with Anxiety reduction and relaxation, and I occasionally do Past Life Regression with certain clients as well.

Overall, I find that being a hypnotherapist makes me a kinder, more relaxed and better human being. I feel good when I'm helping people, and I feel relaxed and at peace during and after practicing hypnotherapy. It's kind of a win-win situation all around.