A Bone to Pick

Now I am confused. I had always thought the Catholic Church accepted hypnosis (wasn't that back in '54?). So now I find that they do not have an official stance. According to one of their publications they warn their flock against the abuse of magnetism and hypnotism, but "want to leave the way free for science." Okay, they really are not panning hypnosis, but warning against the abuse of it (abuse - as in they cannot say bad things about it or not to over indulge?). LOL.

I am off on this jag because I just read an article on Catholiconline.org, the Diocesan News called Church has no stance on hypnotism, but urges all to beware of abuses. This is by Susan Brinkmann. She gives a history and a definition from the Britannica
(which sounds like it was written by L. Ron Hubbard). Then she goes after past life regression. Well, I believe everyone is allowed their opinions and we have gone over this. She quotes Moira Noonan (interesting person), which may have to be a whole different discussion (the concept of Ms.Noonan, I mean).

Now, it has been said that I may be perpetrating myths about hypnosis by discussing mind control,but this is blatant...Here is the quote:

“Not all forms of hypnotherapy are dangerous …,” Noonan continues. “What makes it risky is that a person under hypnosis has surrendered his will and is utterly open to suggestion. So you must know the background and belief system and training of anyone who provides you with hypnosis therapies.”

You know the part I am railing against - the surrender of will. But I will say I do agree on some level with her last statement. I think that is part of gaining rapport.

Just thought I would share what the Catholics (and people like me) are reading...

The Mind and Social Ecommerce

In looking up mind control and hypnosis references, I came across an interesting site. It is actually a sales site called PriceforSure.com, virtual shopping. But before I digress on that topic, the interesting item that came up on that site was a video interview with hypnotist Steve Jones. I am not sure where the news show was located, but they did a good job showing hypnosis in a positive way. They asked him about hypnosis myths and he dutifully replied about the mind control myth and how a person undergoing hypnosis is not a zombie, controlled by the hypnotist. Bravo!

Ultimately this video is selling his latest book Basic Hypnotherapy for Professionals. What a fabulous idea, though. He is one of many businesses on the site, but what a great idea. Rather than just having another price comparison site (which I am always a sucker for), it actually makes the shopping experience a little more personal. There are blogs (my other weakness), reviews, and videos, whatever the business selling the product wants to put up. Yes, it is blatant marketing, but at least it is not all just a refined blurb about products. It gives the company opportunities to not only sell, but also to educate consumers (i.e. Steve Jones) and gives costumers more information and an interactive environment with multimedia (if they chose). There are product chats, WebTV, again – blogs, and an opportunity to relate experiences. Not bad for a shopping site.

Click here to join the fun!



Here is their recent Press Release:

(September 26, 2007) Savannah, GA –PriceForSure.com is the one-stop virtual social community for everyone! The website is brand new and already has thousands of merchants featuring over 2 million products, services, and real estate listings! PriceForSure.com is the only shopping site to provide services, such as medical, health and wellness, and financial services. Check out the Auction Site for deeply discounted products! While shopping is PriceForSure.com’s main focus, there is so much more! There is also live WebTV, video and text blogging, and live chat features. PriceForSure.com has made online shopping a social activity. What a fun and exciting way to shop!

Every day millions of consumers fulfill their shopping needs at PriceForSure.com. They can search for items by price, store and brand and can then sort the results by price, rating or title. So many choices! By scrolling over the pictures of each product, a pop-up box appears where users can read a description about the product. This box is visible on the current page! So no back clicking and searching for the previous page! Consumers can also compare reviews and ratings of products, services, and retailers. All of these features can be seen in one setting as customers browse for their favorite products! There is also the ability to chat directly with merchants.

At PriceForSure.com, consumers can interact with friends while they shop! Users can post video or text blogs and critique their friends’ videos. This can all be done for free! So use PriceForSure.com video blogs to share every great (or not so great!) moment caught on tape. Use the text blogs and reviews to share all thoughts and opinions that cross your mind!

Merchants will experience record amounts of visitors to their sites by signing up with PriceForSure.com. The website is one of the few comparison shopping engines to offer performance-based advertising with Pay per Click and Pay per Action. This means that merchants only pay for shoppers who are directed to their site or make a purchase from their site. So the client is only paying for advertising that actually produces results! And isn’t results what everyone wants? The Advertising Section gives merchants a place to prominently display products with pictures or flash media at a reasonable cost. This section is the first thing that the consumer sees each time they log onto the site!

Retailers can also become a Sponsored Link merchant and have a link to their website on PriceforSure.com’s main page. This is a steal; the cost is only one dollar per day for 30 days! What a perfect opportunity for merchants to encourage consumers to visit their site! With PriceforSure.com’s Auction Site, clients can resell returned or opened goods, create a profile, and chat with other users. The video blogs are a great way to talk about a product or demonstrate how a product works. The live WebTV option provides merchants the opportunity to interact with the consumers. These features provide merchants the chance to give their consumers the best in customer service!

PriceForSure.com has designed a place for shoppers to socialize with friends. Come experience the next generation of online comparison shopping! With these fun and interactive features, PriceForSure.com has something for everyone. Log on today and experience the virtual shopping community at its finest!

Hypnosis in the Mind Control Process

Coffee is on and I am still blurry eyed, but pretending to be ready to go.

So, here we are. We have discussed using self-hypnosis with the Silva Method (or in general) for gaining control over one's own mind and how a hypnotist does not control another's mind. Thanks Michael, for pointing out how Mythbusters did use unethical means in their hypnosis portion of the show (see his comment on yesterday's post). But let us move on to a bit of a darker horse, so we know it if we see it.

What is mind control exactly? According to F.A.C.T.net Inc. (Fight Against Coercive Tactics Network) the world of academia definition of mind control:

refers to all coercive psychological systems, such as brainwashing, thought reform, and coercive persuasion.

This definition is based on Dr. Margaret Singer's definition of coercion:

Coercion is defined as, "to restrain or constrain by force..." Legally it often implies the use of PHYSICAL FORCE or physical or legal threat. This traditional concept of coercion is far better understood than the technological concepts of "coercive persuasion" which are effective restraining, impairing, or compelling through the gradual application of PSYCHOLOGICAL FORCES.

It is in the later interpretation that hypnosis begins to play a roll in all this, but it is just a tiny part of a larger system. It alone is again nothing more than giving a suggestion. It is the factor in the mind control process that I believe may be the weak link. One always has free will, so the hypnotic process may or may not work for various individuals based on the wording, etc. (one suggestion may work for one person, it may not for another).

But, we cannot let it off here, though. Those who are engaged in mind control know this about hypnosis. So the odds are stacked to make "the suggestion" take. This is through means of psychical and psychological manipulation. These are described as tactics. Dr. Singer list these as follows.

• TACTIC 1. The individual is prepared for thought reform through increased suggestibility and/or "softening up," specifically through hypnotic or other suggestibility-increasing techniques such as: A. Extended audio, visual, verbal, or tactile fixation drills; B. Excessive exact repetition of routine activities; C. Decreased sleep; D. Nutritional restriction.
• TACTIC 2. Using rewards and punishments, efforts are made to establish considerable control over a person's social environment, time, and sources of social support.
• TACTIC 3. Disconfirming information and nonsupporting opinions are prohibited in group communication.
• TACTIC 4. Frequent and intense attempts are made to cause a person to re-evaluate the most central aspects of his or her experience of self and prior conduct in negative ways.
• TACTIC 5. Intense and frequent attempts are made to undermine a person's confidence in himself and his judgment, creating a sense of powerlessness.
• TACTIC 6. Nonphysical punishments are used such as intense humiliation, loss of privilege, social isolation, social status changes, intense guilt, anxiety, manipulation and other techniques for creating strong aversive emotional arousals, etc.
• TACTIC 7. Certain secular psychological threats [force] are used or are present

So, we cannot completely exonerate hypnosis techniques in the process of mind control, but it is not the major player. It alone, especially used in a clinical setting, is not one and the same. Mind control is a long-term process using manipulative devises - coercion. It breaks down a person. Hypnosis builds up a person, empowers one to make the changes one seeks.

Hypnosis is not Mind Control

It is nothing but rush, rush, rush, this morning. So, my attention is somewhat out of focus for the moment.

So, I thought I would quickly sum up why hypnosis alone is not brain washing for those who may be thinking it is the ends to the means. There seems to be a lot of teenagers (at least they sound like teenage boys on the phone) who are fascinated by the concept of being able to force others to do their bidding. I admit in high school it would have been very pleasant to have snapped my fingers and make my Calculus professor believe all my wrong answers were correct. But alas, had I perfected my hypnotism skills back then, I still would have struggled with the subject.

The key to hypnosis is suggestibility - the acceptance of suggestions given during a hypnotic session. It is a person's free will to accept or decline such suggestions. For there even to begin to be the semblance of mind control, there has to be a lot more manipulation than just suggestions. If I suggest that you become my slave and you do so, you have chosen to do this.

This is the challenge for the modern clinical hypnotist. It is finding a route for the suggestions to be accepted by the client. This is why there is not a 100% sucess rate to the profession. Sometimes it is hard to find the right way to input a suggestion that the client's subconcious mind will accept.

So, if you are in a trance and someone suggest that you do something totally against your free will or that you do not accept, you simply will not do it. A good resource for this is the Mythbusters' TV show. In season five, they put this concept to test - can hypnosis make you do something against your will - and they busted the myth.

Hence with all this in mind, another person cannot control your mind. Hypnosis is not the same thing as mind control.

Brain Surgery or SEO

Looking at my five-year business plan, it is time to tweak it and consider the always present need to bring in more clients. For the past couple of years I have sort of had a sole proprietor / Harriett-Business-Owner attitude – the I-can-do-it-myself adage. Most of the business is a one-woman show. Me, me, me and me. For the most part that has been all that was required, but things seem to be amping up on the Internet. I admit (though it is hard) that there is much that is over my head. And when one reads more about programming, software, and SEO literature than hypnosis books, that is a bad sign. Hence, it is time to reevaluate my methods.

Yes, the dreaded search engine optimization(SEO) no longer makes any sense to me, nor does ranking. No longer is it about great meta tags (descriptive words the search engines use to find you) or just adding links to your site. You should have this type of link and not that one. You need to do this, you need to do that. Good grief. But I do understand its importance.

And it seems like it could be very expensive to dabble in this. The return of investment (ROI) could be a shallow pool rather than a deep lake, and I want the deep lake. But in this case, I know I cannot swim in those depths. So maybe, just maybe it is time to hire someone who can swim it for me – someone who can handle any Internet campaigns with programs like Google Adwords and even keep the results of the search engine’s high through organic optimization.

I do know however, that I am not ready to bring on new employees (business seems to get a lot more complicated when you do this) and as good as it would be have a marketing person in general, on the monetary side of things that may not be the best choice. So, I am more towards the camp of hiring companies who specialize in various aspects where I need the help. It is sort of like seeing a general physician for brain surgery. Who would you chose? The brain surgeon has all the resources you need. Best to just go that route.

USWeb, a search engine marketing company, could be a really good brain surgeon. LOL. That is, they specialize in SEO and though they are a large company and for all that they offer, their fees are competitive. In this instance, bigger may be better. Though their reviews say that when you use them, it feels like you are dealing with small company, you have the advantage of a lot more resources.

So, that is what I am contemplating at the moment.

Silva Mind Control

It is finally cooling down here. The tea in my cup feels wonderful as it goes down, warming everything on its journey. But it is the sort of morning where one could easily sleep it all away.

Mind control. Hypnosis. Am I propagating that they are one in the same? No. They certainly are not. So, for anyone reading this blog who may be new to the idea of clinical hypnosis, hypnosis has nothing to do with mind control...and yet (Dr. Knight are you rolling your eyes?) it does.

Hang on before getting all upset, you hypnotist out there. First let me start by saying a few years ago I heard about a program called Silva Mind Control (now the Silva Method). It has been out there for awhile, but I had never paid much attention to it, avoiding the whole idea of mind control. I got into hypnotism not as a need to control others, but to help them help themselves. So I figured this program was to be avoided.

Duh. I finally became a little brighter and met some hypnotists who were trained in the Silva Method. Mind Control. I was totally off base with this program. It is not about controlling other people's minds, but having control over one's own. Brilliant!

Here's what the Silva Method is all about:

The goal of the Silva Method is to teach you how to use more of your brain and activate the untapped areas of your mind.

This system seems to utilize self-hypnosis, meditation, visualization, relaxation and on and on. So, I think it is interesting to put the idea of self mind control out there. So many people feel they have no control over anything, even their thoughts and feelings. Just think how empowering this would be. And isn't that what we do?

If anyone had anything to add about this method, please do add it. I have only cursory experience.

Selling Myself

There are times when the Internet feels like one big catalog. You can order anything and everything (and if you do not enjoy shopping in general, like me, it is a godsend). And so, with this in mind, my intern and I are discussing the concept of creating an online store. I suspect many of you have these, so any thoughts or opinions would be helpful.

From what I have disseminated from the growing list of resources, one’s success with an online store has as much to do with ecommerce software as it does the actual the products. Even knowing a little coding is nothing in the scheme of finding the ultimate shopping cart for your customer. I do not know about any of you, but I find this all a bit daunting.

I have looked at various ideas from free shopping carts and vendors who do not require much, but it gets complicated when it comes to creating an actual cyber store. I spend enough time marketing that I do not want to spend my time on complicated Internet resources. It needs to be relatively painless from my end, look professional, provide reliable service to customers and have a user-friendly back-end.

A potential solution is from Ashop Commerce. What I like about them is similar to the reason I like the idea of online storage of files – the software does not live on one computer, but is assessable by several. It means I do not have to cart stuff between the office and home, worrying about having this disk or that, it is all there, online - everything – the store, the shopping cart, the files and the back end.

Essentially, they do it all. Working with their templates (this blog for instance is a template), you upload logos and such, set up the store online, which is hosted on their servers. You can sell tangible goods, downloads, anything and it covers it all. They provide the shopping cart. The customer pays through it and you fulfill the order.

So, I like the ease of this. Anything to make life, especially the business side, a little easier.