"It's okay if you want to keep thinking for a little while longer. I know, it can be a hard habit to break. Even when you're trying to just relax and set down all those tiring thoughts for a little while, your mind won't stop. It keeps going and going, wearing you out with the burden of being required to have ideas and opinions about every little thing you notice. That constant narrative in your brain continues no matter how hard you try to let go of it, no matter how much you want to feel that blissful silence inside your head for a little while. It's not exactly a bad habit-there are times when thinking is important, we both know that. But you don't necessarily want to do it all the time. I understand. I can help with that.
"We can start by giving your conscious mind something to focus on. Perhaps that's going to be my words for you, but if you can also find something to watch or something to do that occupies your attention, that works too. You can look at something pretty and distracting, or tap your fingers on the table in a pattern that keeps your attention-really, whatever you want, so long as it requires at least a little bit of mental effort to maintain. The more you focus, the less you think. The first step in breaking that habit of thought is to shed the extra, distracting ones first.
"So if you're still thinking about my words for a little while, right here at the beginning, that's fine. That's normal. As long as you're paying attention to my words, you're already taking the first steps in getting away from your own thoughts. The more you listen to me, the less you're going to be distracted by anything going on inside your head. All those extra thoughts, all that fuzz of mental static that constantly buzzes around the back of your mind, that's fading away as you actively concentrate on your point of focus. You're paying more and more attention to one or two things, so naturally you're already thinking less. And you can already tell how good that feels.
"It's going to get easier and easier to let that focus keep your thoughts occupied, so that the stream of thoughts in your head gradually begins to narrow down and converge on your hypnotic focus. The narrative that forms your conscious mind is quieting down now, and more and more it's beginning to coincide with what I'm telling you. It's so much more simple to listen to my words and let them become your thoughts, so much more relaxing and nicer to allow yourself to simply follow along with me as your point of focus continually keeps your consciousness from intruding on that peace and quiet. Just keep concentrating, keep listening, keep focusing, and you'll find that those unwanted thoughts fall away all on their own.
"And as you do, you'll find that your body naturally relaxes right along with your mind. You might pay attention to it at times, when I direct you to think about it-maybe you'll notice your breathing getting slower and deeper as you relax more and more, maybe you'll notice the way that your shoulders let go of any tension in your muscles and go nice and loose and lazy under my direction. But otherwise, your body becomes less and less important, not really worth thinking about at all compared to your focus. And that's all hypnosis is. It's just a state of relaxation and focus, so if you're feeling relaxed right now and you're feeling focused right now then you're already hypnotized.
