Season 2 Habits Mindset
Do you have a bad habit you would like to overcome once and for all? I believe most people have had the experience of struggling to change habits in some shape or form. My special guest today, Rita Black, is sharing how to reframe your relationship to your undesired habit so your brain can harness the power of the subconscious to shift past belief and habit barriers to create powerful breakthroughs that last.
Rita Black is an author, speaker and the director of Shift Hypnosis in Los Angeles. She is an expert in the psychology of weight management, the author of the bestselling book: From Fat to Thin Thinking: Unlock Your Mind for Permanent Weight Loss. Before Rita was a hypnotherapist, she was a client, using hypnosis to stop a pack-and-a-half a day smoking habit and "release" 40 pounds. It is her passion to help you with your own transformation.
• [3:34] Rita discusses her first hypnosis experience and remembers saying: "I don't want anybody to get in my mind… I'm a type A personality and nobody can get my mind."
• [6:21] "It helped me change my identity and helped me change my beliefs and habits around food…"
• [9:19] "I think when we go through a shift, like an identity change, and we start taking back those parts of our lives we gave away to that other thing. We just can see how powerful our mind is."
• [15:02] Rita talks about our brains being like a computer: "it's taking in so many bits, millions and millions of bits of information every second, and it needs a sorting device to sort of say, pay attention to this, don't pay attention, that is nonsense."
Gain Access to Dr. Christine Li's Free Resource Library where she offers you 12 downloadable tools and templates to help you bypass the impulse to procrastinate. CLICK HERE NOW TO CLAIM YOUR FREE RESOURCES: https://procrastinationcoach.mykajabi.com/freelibrary
Rita Black -
Website: https://shiftweightmastery.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ShiftWeightMastery/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/shiftweightmastery/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ritablack/
Rita Black 0:01
Welcome back to the Make Time for Success podcast. This is episode number 91. Have you been wondering recently if you'll ever be able to break a habit you've been feeling trapped in like yo yo dieting, or smoking or vaping, something like that. I think we've all had the experience of struggling to change our habits for the better in some way, shape or form. I know I have been there. My special guest today Rita Black is here to share with you how to reframe your relationship to your undesired habit, so that your brain can participate in your real desire to change your habit for the better. Rita is an author, speaker and the director of Shift Hypnosis in Los Angeles. She is an expert in the psychology of weight management and the author of the best selling book From Fat to Thin Thinking, Unlock Your Mind for Permanent Weight Loss. She's a hypnotherapist who not only has successfully learned how to quit smoking, and manage her own weight, but who also has a passion for helping you with your own transformation. Her hypnosis based online courses, the Shift Weight Mastery Process, and Smoke Free 123 have helped 1000s by harnessing the power of their subconscious to shift past belief and habit barriers, creating powerful breakthroughs that last. I believe after having interviewed Rita for this episode that this episode is a class in itself. And I can't wait to share all the content with you. Let's go listen to the interview with Rita now.
Hi, I'm Dr. Christine Li, and I'm a psychologist and a procrastination coach. I've helped 1000s of people move past procrastination and overwhelm so they can begin working to their potential. In this podcast, you're going to learn a powerful strategies for getting your mind, body and energy to work together so that you can focus on what's really important and accomplish the goals you want to achieve. When you start living within your full power, you're going to see how being productive can be easy, and how you can create success on demand. Welcome to the make time for success podcast. Hi, everyone. I am so delighted for today's guest Her name is Rita black. And she and I are new to each other. But I feel like Rita entered my life in the most beautiful of ways. We've found so many different connections. We've been working together on different projects. And she is a wealth of knowledge about many issues, including hypnosis, smoking cessation and weight mastery. And I can't wait to dig into these topics with her today on the show. And for you all to get to know Rita yourselves. Welcome to the show, Rita.
Oh, what a great introduction. Thank you, Christina, this feeling is mutual. I'm so glad you've come into my life. And hello, everybody. It's really great to be here.
Yes, thank you read up, everyone. You're going to just love this interview. I can already read up please do us a favor and just tell us how you got to be in this line of work and what lights you up about the work that you
do. Oh, okay. I am so lucky to do what I do. I will tell you that right now because I meet the most amazing people. I got into hypnosis through the back door. I was actually a client I was a pack and a half a day smoker for many years. I also struggled with my weight up and down the scale 40 pounds. I was a binge eater, believing I have so many weight issues and chronic Dieter. So around the age of 30, I had quit smoking, gone back to smoking and I was just at my wit's end. I was like, I am never going to be able to quit smoking, how am I going to quit smoking and then a friend of mine had quit with hypnosis. So she said, Why don't you try hypnosis, it was easy. And I was like, That can't be easy. And that's voodoo. And I don't want anybody to get in my mind and I'm a type A personality and nobody can get my mind. My back was up against the wall. So I was like, Okay, I'm gonna go and I went to this guy's office and I left you know, a couple of hours later a nonsmoker and in a hypnosis session. He kind of explained to me how the mind worked and I was just really fascinated about it and basically in hypnosis itself, it's not like I was out of it like I thought it would be or that it was felt like mind control. It felt like I was in control of my mind like more Then I had and really what the session did for me was reframe how I saw myself and I know you and I have had conversations about identity before. But that was such the key for me because I left that session as a nonsmoker. So I was wowed by this. And I was like, This is so cool. I was kind of lost in my life. At that point, I didn't kind of I like I said, I was struggling with my weight, and therefore I didn't have a lot of self esteem or self confidence. You know, I, I had a husband who I love, I still love and I've been with him for many years, I bet I just didn't feel like I was moving forward with my life in the way I wanted to. So I then thought, oh, gosh, hypnosis. If I can change my identity around smoking, maybe I can change my identity around my way. Because I was so stuck in this, be on a diet, be off the diet, be on a diet, be off the diet, and it really consumed all my thinking, like, literally, I would wake up yelling at myself, because I overeat the night before. I would spend the day you know, is this food going to make me fat? Am I fat, it was just a mess, hotness. And so I was so struggling with that. And so I started using self hypnosis listening to it because this was the 90s like cassette, listening to remember that you probably are too young
to remember because that's
when I started being a hypnotherapist, I was using cassettes. That's how long I've been doing this. So anyway, anyway, I began a journey of weight loss with hypnosis. And again, it helped me change my identity helped me change my beliefs and habits around food so that I really got that long term. Weight Loss wasn't about being good on a diet or being perfect, but it was really about creating a way of living. That allowed me to live at my ideal weight. And that wasn't so much about perfection. But it was about figuring things out and using my mind more creatively and many other things. But so I lost 40 pounds on I've kept them off for 20. I was 27 years almost because I'm I'm just about to turn 58. So that's kind of my story. And then I started I went and became a Hypnotherapist. I was just like, wow. And I just started helping people in both modalities. I've really focused my career on smoking cessation, and weed management. People call me all the time. Oh my gosh, you help my sister quit smoking. You know, can you deal with my snake phobia and stuff? I was like, Yeah, well, I'll find somebody for you. I can't do that. So I mean, it's not I could but I really decided to master those topics. Just kind of like you have decided to master procrastination, which is, you know, again, something people ask me about all the time. Such a powerful and needed focus. Yes,
thank you. Wow, I think wow, is the the right word. When you mentioned and this is the first time that I'm hearing Rita's backstory that the hypnotherapist worked with you. And then a couple hours later, you walked out a nonsmoker. On the video, my jaw dropped. And I was thinking internally Wow, because what a beautiful story, what a beautiful outcome. And it sounded like a huge beginning for you that you saw that there was a whole new way you could work with yourself through that session.
Yes. And really, honestly, when we are struggling with something, whether it's procrastination, weight, smoking, we give so much power over to that thing. Oh, I can't do that. Because I'm like, Oh, I didn't get that done. Because I'm a procrastinator. I'm stressed. So I need a cigarette. And when you leave, and you go and you are stressed, like within the very first week, my non smoking, this was stress because my husband I had a huge fight. And he kind of left the house and a big half. And I didn't know he was coming back. I was super scared. And I was like, Oh, I just went through my husband and I fighting as a nonsmoker. That's amazing. So I didn't even care that he was being a big baby any left, you know. I mean, I did, but but I was just so proud of myself for being a non smoker. And having gone through that. And I think when we go through a shift, like an identity change, and we start taking back those parts of our lives, we gave away to that other thing. We just can see how powerful our mind is. And I think, you know is we as human beings give a lot of our power away to other things. And so by helping people in these last 20 years, it's helped me in my life in so many ways, just be so aware of when I'm giving my power away to whatever it is. And I think, you know, like I work in weight management. And I think a lot of times when people go on diets, the mindset is, you know, I feel deprived. I can't have this foods that I have and I was like, Yeah, but some of those Foods actually, if you think about it, when you eat them, they completely take your power away from you and shifting that relationship from, you know, feeling like you miss something to I mean, you can, you can heal a relationship with the food but but there are certain foods, I have learned the way the brain works around certain foods, when there are wired in there like what you would call a trigger food that we probably just shouldn't have, you know, and every my trigger foods aren't your trigger foods aren't somebody else's trigger foods. And because when we use them the way that the food Prime's the brain, the neural pathways in the brain, we then want to eat more and more and more, and then that might trigger eating something else. And then something else and a pattern like as we talked about habits and patterns. And so when people are like, Oh, I can't have those like, oh, no, but you're choosing, you know, you're coming from a place of power. And so when people make those kinds of shifts, and really get that, that opens up a whole new world for them.
Yes, this is incredibly moving to me, because there's a pathway that people can take to get relief from this feeling that they're trapped within themselves, and they're trapped within their habits. And yes, I can absolutely connect because of the work with procrastination, because I'm working with people to help them get their energy unstuck. So it may not be something that we can see. But energy is very important in terms of how we feel about ourselves and how we take ourselves throughout a single day. It really matters.
But you know what, that's so interesting that you would see it as something you can't see, because I do absolutely agree with you that procrastination is like that. But as somebody who talks to people about procrastination to I don't deal with it, but you know, so many people have stuff piled up on their desks like it does manifest in their environment as well. I mean, so when you're helping somebody out of that challenge, and they're looking in their environment, and then they start to have a different relationship with those things in their environment. Yes. When relief?
Yes, yes, relief, energy, and everything else that the energy is connected to absolutely gets lightened up. And it sounded like your mind got on fire, when you realize exactly how much control you had and how much you had over your own decisions and the food and the cigarettes.
Yeah, absolutely. And then you know, as you go in your life, and what happens when I work with people with weight management, because that's more of a longer term relationship generally, just because you can stop smoking, I never smoke again. And I do help people stop smoking and one session. And people are always very surprised, like, how can you do that, but it really is one decision that they have to make. And it's only one decision. That decision is to become a nonsmoker. We use hypnosis to get into their whole mind, like the deeper subconscious mind, and I'm happy to explain how that works. If you want, I've got my little my little les Yeah, please.
I always use do.
So those of you who are listening, I'm going to refer to this piece of paper. So I have this circle. And the circle has a line drawn through it, which represents 12%, which is about how much of our mind is conscious willpower part of our brain, that's usually the part that wants to quit smoking, that's usually the part that wants to lose weight, make any sort of behavioral change, right? Or even like when I talk to smokers, they'll say this is also the part that here's all the people around you say, quit smoking, it's bad for you, you shouldn't be doing it, blah, blah, blah, right. And the other 80% of the mind is, at the top, I put our identity which we have talked about before, our identity, our beliefs, our habits, our memories, every memory is stored in our subconscious mind, our emotions, and so much more than the part that protects us. So here we have like 12% of our mind that either wants to quit smoking, quit procrastinating, lose weight, and then the other 88% is like, I kinda want to stay the same. That you're telling me to quit smoking that made me just kind of want to keep smoking or you know, or when we think about losing weight was like, wait until Monday and I'll just, you know, just eat everything else until then. So what happens over time, or what I've come to understand, is like from birth into our in our 20s everything our parents, teachers life experiences get imprinted on this bigger, subconscious part of the mind. And then over time, we develop what you would call like this critical filter, and the critical filter is created and it's a variant genius of the brain. Because our brains like a computer, it's taking in so many bits, millions and millions of bits of information every second, and it needs a sorting device to sort of say, pay attention to this, don't pay attention, that is nonsense. Don't even like go there. So the stuff that the brain is filtering out is stuff that doesn't agree with our worldview, you know, our morals the way you know. And that's kind of why everybody is different. Everybody has their own belief systems. And now social media and the way we live in this world, everything is just kind of reinforced in our subconscious mind. So it changed becomes hard. So so what happens with hypnosis is that in a hypnotic trance, or state, which feels really normal, it feels like meditation, or I call it meditation with a mission basically, is that critical filter becomes relaxed. So we're able to give suggestions to the subconscious mind that it wouldn't normally take on. And a lot of times, the way that we're doing in the way that why you want to work with a specialist, is because we're able to present information to the subconscious mind in a way that it will accept it, so won't reject it, because here's the thing, I can't tell you what to do, you have got to want to consciously make that change. So people are always afraid, like, they aren't always afraid. Like when I started my career, everybody was like, you're gonna get my mind. I just worked with a celebrity a couple of weeks ago, who, who absolutely was so fun. It was so funny, because the celebrity was a tough guy, and he was just like, you're gonna get in my mind. And I'm like, if I could get in your mind, my husband would pick up his socks, you know, like, like, if I could hypnotize my husband to pick up his socks, my life would be so much better. I can't make you do anything you don't want to do. But if the person wants to change, hypnosis can be a very effective way to make those changes on a deeper level, and get alignment. So with smoking cessation, it can happen in one session, because we're getting that not just the conscious mind, but your beliefs like okay, yep, I'm going to be a nonsmoker. I'm going to wake up and instead of having a cigarette, I'm going to you know, take a deep breath and have my cup of coffee as a nonsmoker. You know, I can really refocus the way the brain operates. Do you think about smoking? Yeah, like thoughts of cigarettes might go through your mind, but your relationship to those thoughts, they go through your mind more quickly, and they dissipate. And then the neural wiring I talked about, goes into hibernation, and, and so the person is able to really pretty quickly move forward in their life as a nonsmoker. But though it's not like they forget that they smoked or anything like that, I think that's, you know, that's where it gets into Lulu.
So I'm stuck on the word on your image, their beliefs, because I know when you were telling your story about your own smoking history, you thought and grappled with the fear that you would never be able to find your way out that you would never be able to really settle this. And I'm assuming that was a belief, we can categorize that as a belief. And I'm wondering if you could talk to us about just how come those beliefs have such a strong hold on us?
Yeah, I mean, I think the thing is that, we talked about identity. So there's beliefs and identity. And one of those things about being a smoker, is that it becomes a world right, and procrastination becomes a world and weight struggle becomes a world. So we, I call it the house of smoking, we're kind of living in this house. And it's a it's painful, and it's frustrating. But when we try to leave, we feel like we're on the street. And when we start smoking, when somebody starts smoking, we start assigning value to the cigarette like, up until somebody's 15 1617. They've never needed a cigarette to be stressed. They've never needed a cigarette to have breakfast, or wake up or solve a problem. But what happens is they'll smoke their first cigarette and their brain will go Oh, I see. The cigarette helps me be cool, right? So we literally take our cool from us and we give it to the cigarette and now we need that cigarette to be cool, right? It's so amazing. I'll tell you the story because people will come to me all the time in smoking is so black and white and weird way so it's easier to talk about than wait, which is a little more gray area, but people will sit and smoke a cigarette or vape and be like, why am I doing this? This isn't saying you know, it doesn't taste good. I'm hiding in a bathroom or I'm hiding in my backyard. And then this other part of their brain is like Kuzia love it. Right like so there's that duality? Yes. And the This woman came to me and she was in her early 40s. And this is just it's such a crazy story, but this is how crazy our brains are. She was in a wheelchair and she said to me, You know what, read up. I have COPD and emphysema. And if I don't stop smoking, I will die. And she was young to have bad lungs like that. But anyway, she said, but I love smoking, right? Like so. I'm here because I need to quit smoking, but I love smoking. And I was like, Okay, great. What do you love about smoking? And then she kind of looked at me like, hey, what do you love about smoking? And she's like, you know, nobody's ever asked me that question before. I was like, okay, yeah, but what do you love? And then she's like, oh, so weird. I'm having a hard time thinking about what I love about smoking. But I like it with my coffee in the morning as like, oh, okay, that actually isn't smoking. That's an association you've made with coffee, smoking is breathing, that smoke or that vapor into your lungs and breathing out. And that is smoking, everything around. It is an association. So what do you love about smoking? It's just like, oh, I don't like that. Like so. So that is how crazy our brains are. When it comes to making change. There's a part of us, it's like, I'm insane. I'm a fool. Why am I doing this? Why am I over eating? Why am I smoking? Why am I pushing off and procrastinating I should get this done. But this other part, it's safe. It familiar, it's what you know. So that is what we're up against is really integrating the two parts of the mind to be on the same page. And I know you work with this as well like to look at your identity and start to step into a new identity, to start to believe, from a different place, not about not smoking, because most people were like, how am I going to have my coffee without a cigarette, and I was like, you never have to do that. You just have your coffee as a nonsmoker. And in their mind, they're like, Oh my God, I've never thought of it, but you're reintroducing, it's called a cognitive reframe, like how people see themselves, how they see their beliefs. So that old beliefs can melt away really quickly when you give them a new belief system, based on their identity. And then, and then, and then we talk about habit, because smoking is a pattern, a lot of our eating is patterns. And we think of taking away our cigarettes from the day or we take away our food rather than creating a new self care structure that is creative rather than deleted. So I take away words like without trying to do this without a cigarette or without my thing are without a cookie or without whatever. It's like, oh, no, we don't like those words. Because those are words of deprivation, rather than transformation. And we're stepping in and creating something new because the brain loves to work like that. So that's a lot of how I help people is really, and it sounds like from what we've talked about you do too, is like getting repositioning how people see themselves and start to talk to themselves differently and see their world differently.
Yes, as you've been talking, I've been thinking, Well, why exactly is hypnosis needed? And I'm wondering if it's because if you're just talking like this, there's a little less integration with how your body is reacting, and actually acting? Is that correct? To think, ah,
yeah, that's a really great way of putting it you know, when I work with people I work into a so I'm not just doing hypnosis, there are a lot of hypnotherapist who who would just like sit you down in a chair and do a hypnosis session for stopping smoking. But I really am a big believer in coaching the person and getting their brain like using CBT cognitive behavioral therapy and neuro linguistic programming, like what we're talking about, like reframing is a neuro linguistic programming technique, prior to the hypnosis, one for them to trust me, because I think trust is an very, very important part of hypnosis, for it to be impactful and to, for them to really believe they can do it. Because I really don't think like I said, hypnosis isn't magic. But what I do is, like I say, we're creating something here talking to each other. And then hypnosis is going to take it all to the deeper level and get all those different parts of your brain to sign off on it. Because there's, you know, conscious intellectual learning and I know like through coaching and therapy, too, it's limbic learning, so people are getting subconscious value in your conversations. So it's not, but hypnosis is just a modality that can speed up the process of something like quitting smoking, or even weight management, which people can know the root of why they overeat, but a lot times that knowing isn't going to help them. It may help them with some things, but it might not help them. You know, when they're staring down a cookie at or you know, the ice cream, pint of ice cream after dinner at night. And, you know, hypnosis is just a way to align with deeper change more quickly. And I think with something like weight management, smoking, most people don't start until they're 15 is kind of the youngest. You know, there are definitely I've worked with people who smoked when they were 11. But like weight management for a lot of people struggle with their weight from when they're a kid. So those things are also really deeply embedded. They're also generational, like, my mom struggled with her weight, she was obese, there's a lot of genetic propensity like for sugar and carbs that run and family trees or addiction that run in families tree. So you're dealing with not only your beliefs, but the beliefs of your parents, the beliefs of your grandparents, your beliefs of your culture. You know, I work with a lot of different people from different cultures, because I'm in LA. And it's really fascinating to see like our my Armenian clients and their conditioning, about weight and how women should be and men should be and and from my Korean clients, or my Iranian clients, or my, you know, clients from the Midwest or the New Yorker class, like, it's fascinating, how we're all wired differently. But we do have, and I'm sure you've Do you see this too? With procrastination? I'm sure you must. Because you probably work with all different types of people from all different walks of life, right? Because it cuts across all socio economic worlds, that the pain is pretty much the same.
Yes, yes. But a lot of those
beliefs and habits are wired in differently.
Yeah, we come to it from our unique lives and our unique personalities and wiring for sure. And I think it's fascinating to see how everyone can at root be struggling with very similar concepts and feelings and states of being and false beliefs about themselves that we can really be walking around, be our worst enemies in terms of limiting our own power, to be well, to be fully ourselves to be working to our potential. It's amazing. And a lot of it is accidental. So much of it is innocent, so much of it is culturally shaped. It is really fascinating. And so both of us are really working with all the different systems at once, I think absolutely makes fascinating work. But we're really kind of helping people to release themselves. It sounds like,
yeah, and open up that new path forward. Like you were saying, Yeah, which is creative. I mean, I think what you do is very creative to it's using the mind in a creative way, rather than a shame way rather than delete of don't do that. brain does it? I don't think the brain understands. Don't like we were, uh, yeah, like, don't like I was trained. When I became a Hypnotherapist? I don't know how to the degree I believe this 100% I think it's pretty true. That our minds don't process don't to like, don't go to McDonald's. We hear go to McDonald's. Yes,
I was taught the same. So we'll assume that.
Yeah, yeah. So and I hear people donating themselves all the time. And don't do that. Oh, there you go.
I want to I want to put in something that I've been sharing with my clients recently, and this is a relatively new thing I've tried to come up with is that we stay in procrastination, because we feel that any more expenditure of energy is just going to be more waste. It's a waste of time, I can't do it. Anyway, I've tried before, I always am stuck here. And so one way out of that stuck place is to design an action that will feel like it's giving you your energy back. Ooh, or lightening your load somehow. And that can be a trick and you might need to consult with someone to kind of get that one little thing that can give you that freedom. But it's the sense that it's going to make sense to my brain and I'm going to allow myself to proceed after I feel that reinvigoration instead of feeling depleted. I want to feel alive. We all essentially want to feel alive and enlivened, and wow, smokers addicts, people who struggling with their weight procrastinators, everyone is the same in this way, I believe. And
yeah, I love that. And I love that tool. That's an awesome tool, I can see that that would be a really engaging.
And when we feel low about ourselves, because we've been engaging in habits that aren't great for us, we're coming up with not the healthiest or most vibrant of ideas. Sometimes, because we're feeling a little depressed, we're feeling a little anxious, we're feeling a little spent, we haven't been sleeping, things like that. And so we're expecting ourselves to be brilliant, self releasers, when we've been disabled for a while because of these habits. Well, I
think also, what that tool you just discussed does was, it kind of gives the person permission to have a little advocacy for themselves in a little self love is the easy word, but like self respect, because I think when we self identify in a negative way, and we keep disconnecting from ourselves by not showing up for ourselves by reaching for that cigarette, or by saying, We're going to eat chicken or broccoli today, and then we don't. And each time we do it, our brain sees that and says, Oh, you didn't do that, right. So then we disconnect from ourselves, we lack respect for ourselves, we lacked, we lacked self advocacy, because we developed that very critical inner speak. So that tool you're talking about, really demands that person respect themselves enough to care, that they feel good about that first step. So I can see that as like, well, you could call it a brain trick. But it is really making their brain engage from a different perspective, which is really brilliant.
Thank you. I also assume that the person does care. Like that's my they do. That's my first assumption. They care to find this thing for themselves. So let's do this. So yeah,
well, and they're, they're engaging with you, obviously, because they care. But yeah, but there's that apathy. That apathy I think comes from a lot from like, it's that same thing like I work with, and I'm sure you do to brilliant people who are highly functioning who are like, this is the thing in my life that like just as like, Why hide it, nobody, like are just so shameful. And you know, I'm amazing other ways in my life. But that relationship with ourselves in that part of our lives is just so disrespectful and disparaging. And like you said, you're just stuck in this world. It's like the evil stepmother is guarding the door, you know, and not gonna let you out.
And the sad just part of that story is that part of us agrees with the stepmother. Yeah, that's the lock, right? That's when people are really thinking I am never getting out of this dungeon. And really, it's like, and we see everyone living their lives more fully in our perception. So it really is a deep pit of pain. But I'm so glad we were able to just dig in with you today read about the fact that there are very reasonable, very fascinating, very powerful and effective ways to heal that system that has been going through so much pain, the body, the mind, the spirit, the habits, the daily habits, the coffee, the weight, or relationships, everything.
Yeah. And, you know, if you want to speaking to your listeners, you know, something I've been doing for years, that helps me with my like monthly goals is I will just record my monthly goals as if they've already happened as a gratitude list. I don't know, I'm sure you've done that before too. But I actually record them on my phone. And then I just play them every morning, just before I wake up, because that's kind of a natural hypnotic time your brain is sort of in that hypnotic trance state. It's a great time to just listen with an open mind before you start your day.
I have chills listening to that I have never done that. I've been instructed to write that kind of thing out like, you know, my wishes are happening in the present tense. And I found that really works powerfully. Could you give us a sampling of what you might say to yourself for that morning? Recording?
Sure. I start from a hierarchical thing of like, I am grateful and I think about my meaning in the world. So I start from like, I'm really grateful that I've been able to make an impact on the people that I'm serving this month in a way maybe that's D further than ever before that, so that helps my subconscious mind just go ooh, deeper than ever before. Let's see what that is right. And then I'm like, I'm really grateful that I'm really connected with my husband, and we enjoy the things that we share together and on a deep level, you know, and then with my son and my daughter, because my daughter is away, and so it's not only it's so helps me remind myself, like, I'm, you know, to connect, oh, yes, connect today, because it's so easy to get in our own little world, and I gotta do this, I gotta do that, right. And then I bring it to me and my health, you know, like, focusing on like, I'm really grateful that I exercised and took care of my body, that I made healthy, choose food choices that I maintained my way, because like, I've been maintaining my weight for 26 years, you know, and on and so forth. So I always start with my highest level, and then why I feel like I'm hearing what I'm serving, and then I move it to my family. Oh, and I'm so grateful. My family stayed safe this month, and we were healthy. And, and then during COVID Every day, I was just like, I'm so grateful that we were COVID free. Like it was just all but you're looking at long, quickly if you start to think about all the things but but yeah, and then and then I just go in, and I'm really grateful for this day. And then because I'm hypnotherapist and now you can open your eyes and get on with a great day.
I had chills throughout that description and the examples you gave, and I just feel like, wow, just what a gift. What a gift that we can
give ourselves in the morning. Yeah, and it's so simple that one thing you have to get over, I will admit, and I had to get over this, and I am a hypnotherapist and I like I said, I've been taping my voice for 20 plus years, is you might feel a little weird listening to yourself in the beginning, but you get used to it really, really quickly. And every month if you do this on a monthly basis, or BI monthly basis, or whatever you do, it gets easier and easier to do. And you get so used to the sound of your voice doesn't jar you in the beginning. I was like, Oh, that's weird. But then I got really, really, for myself, because I'm totally used to listening to myself. I have a podcast. So I have a you know, whatever, I have a million things that I listen to my voice on but not talking to myself. That's kind of was new.
Well, I have fully loved getting to know you talk, especially on this podcast where I learned so much. I'm got a free gift at the end with the new exercise I'm going to try right away. Good, good, good. Yes. And I know that you have a wonderful event coming up soon. Could you please tell our listeners about how to join up with you?
Yes, yes. So coming up, every autumn and spring I do a launch and I am offering a free masterclass called How to stop the start over tomorrow weight struggles cycle and start releasing weight for good. And really what this is about is really a very specific a so I've talked to you about how the brain works around and why it's, it's, you know, people get so frustrated with themselves about not being able to lose weight despite probably going on every day. Like I have a joke I said most people I know, could write a diet book and have people lose weight. It's not from a lack of understanding how to lose weight, but how to work with your brain effectively for weight management. And so a little epidemic that is kind of going on right now are people really stuck and being good. Then they'll you know, eat something that they weren't supposed to eat or they didn't deem is good. And then they'll be like I blew it. And that internal feeling triggers them into all start over tomorrow. And the problem with that is then they start the start over tomorrow. And I'll be perfect tomorrow. Then tripwires, another behavioral pattern, which is eating everything until they start over tomorrow, because there's a really crazy thing about the mind is that when you make a promise for future action, and I think this is probably the same with procrastination, like, I will be really really I'm going to clean it all up on Monday, it's all going to be perfect on Monday, then it gives the person kind of like that timeout to do the behavior even more. So that is what happens. And then people find themselves gaining the weight back that they lost that week or gaining the weight back that they lost over the last six months. So it's a perpetual habitual cycle. And so in this masterclass, I walk you through how to shift the three major mind shifts that you need to make in order to shift out of this and really get yourself on the path of long term permanent weight mastery.
Sounds wonderful. I will say See everyone who's joining Rita at the master class. And we have developed this link so that you can
register for the master class. If you Christine for making it easy for your listeners,
no problem it is make time for success podcast.com/weight mastery again, it's make time for success podcast.com/weight mastery, and I really do encourage anyone who feels like they are struggling, they're feeling the pain of the back and forth. And feeling like they want to reconnect with their own powerful self to connect with Rita and learn more from her and enjoy more of her wonderful experience and stories and examples and gifts that she has to share. Wow,
thank you, Christine. Thank you. Come and join us. We always have fun at this masterclass. It will be a great time, I assure you, so please come.
Okay, terrific. And before we go, where else can people connect with you on social media?
Oh, okay, great. Yeah, I have a podcast called The thin thinking podcast and your lovely host here. Christine, is on my podcast and one episode. I also have a book called from fat to thin thinking unlock your mind for permanent weight loss, which is on Amazon. And it has hypnosis with it. You get hypnosis downloads with it. So that's kind of cool, too. And then WWW dot shift weight mastery.com. And everything you find me on a shift weight mastery like shift Shi f t, weight, mastery, and Instagram and Facebook, all that stuff. Okay,
Terrific. Thank you. I think this is a wonderful time to say farewell say our gratitude to Rita, thank you so much again for being here.
Rita Black 42:00
Oh, this was such a joy. Thank you for having me, Christine. It was so lovely.
And so to our listeners, we both wish you every joy and power with your habits, your choices and your life. Let's go get them. See you next Thursday. Bye.
Thank you for listening to this episode of the Make Time for Success podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, you can subscribe to make sure you get notified of upcoming episodes. You can also visit our website maketimeforsuccesspodcast.com for past episodes, show notes and all the resources we mentioned on the show. Feel free to connect with me over on Instagram too. You can find me there under the name procrastination coach. Send me a DM and let me know what your thoughts are about the episodes you've been listening to. And let me know any topics that you might like me to talk about on the show. I'd love to hear all about how you're making time for success. We'll talk to you soon
Rita Black
Rita Black is an author, speaker and the director of Shift Hypnosis in Los Angeles. She is an expert in the psychology of weight management the author of the bestselling book: From Fat to Thin Thinking: Unlock Your Mind for Permanent Weight Loss. Before Rita was a hypnotherapist, she was a client, using hypnosis to stop a pack-and-a-half a day smoking habit and "release" 40 pounds. It is her passion to help you with your own transformation.
Her hypnosis based online courses: The Shift Weight Mastery Process and Smokefree123 have helped thousands by harnessing the power of their subconscious to "shift" past belief and habit barriers-- creating powerful breakthroughs that last.