Its time for me to stop

Right now I am personally going through some big changes and transitions. My career to date has been a decade, I started at 18 and am now 28 years old.

The last 5 years, I started my aim to get my message out to the world for as cheap as possible and also for free online.

The last 2 years have been intense for me as I strived to do more free work, like the 8 hour Complete Confidence program, the free Hypnosis iPhone and Android App, and generating and giving away over 70 hours of free hypnosis and coaching audio on my podcast. All of this free work has reaching over 500,000 in those two years which has been amazing and I am honored.

Inevitably producing and having my work being listened to has dramatically made me busier than ever connecting on Facebook/Twitter and the many emails I get with feedback and also with questions and advice to reply with.

On this journey of my mission to create changes in others and to show them how amazing they are, I have lost sight in who I am at times. Detaching my commitment to making changes in the world from my own personal needs (from health/relationships/spiritual/self connection) was non-existent. My commitment to making changes ruled my mind and my behaviors.

In a way I have not been living how and what I teach.

I love the metaphor on how you should be Number One in your life, ‘when on a plane in an event of an emergency and if you were with children you should put on your own oxygen mask before your own children, as you can only help them when you are well’. I feel I have been on mission of trying to put everyone’s oxygen mask on before my own. In recent weeks it’s meant doing 12-14 hour workdays for 14 plus days at time and when I am free, my attention is still on thinking of ways to help others and give more, but my quality of attention has been jaded by quantity rather quality.

So the tides are turning, and I have pretty much made the decision now to step back and focus on me. If all goes to plan I will be going on a holiday/vacation. I’m not sure for how long, maybe 3 weeks, maybe 3 months, maybe more. Not to ‘find myself’ as I know where I am, I’m here, but to connect with myself and my own needs to live life.

It’s a brave decision and one I have been deliberating for 12 months, but ‘work’ got in the way. A close friend of mind has been telling me and telling me to go and be ‘Joe’ for a while. She knows the truth and importance of just ‘being’ for a while.

How much value can you give to others, when you do not give value to your own life? Life is not about existing or running the treadmill. It’s all about this moment and what brings you to life rather than what life brings to you.

Are you/am I putting our attention on our own needs?

Are you/am I prepared to forsake our own happiness and peace for never ending ‘stuff’.

‘Stuff’ will always be there; I can assure you of that…. its life…. it happens. There is always something to do, something or someone who needs our attention.

But if our own attention is not on our own happiness, can we really help others effectively? I do not think we can.

In every way, knowing I am helping a thousand people in some way every day statistically gives me a great sense of honor that I can ever experience, when I stop and think about it, it blows my mind. BUT I do not give myself time to stop often or at all recently.

But I am also aware that if you or I do not honor ourselves then we cannot truly honor others in quality.

Questions for you to get clear:

• Are you doing what you want in life?

• If not for what reason are you not doing it?

Now take that ‘reason’ and realize it will no doubt be an ‘excuse’ more often than not. You are not here simply and just for other peoples expectations or because a situation dictates it.

The ‘well I do not have the money’, ‘I do not have the time’, ‘I do not have the experience’, ‘’x’ expects me to do ______”. These are not reasons, these are maybe obstacles but they are not set in stone until you allow them to be.

• Are you willing to sacrifice your own happiness, (even health) for your reasons? (Its your choice after all)

• If not now, when? Make a decision, stick with it, and do it with committed, inspired action.

Remember, we have to make decisions to do, be, have what we wish. Their will always be lots of examples around the world similar to your situation which will tell you why you cannot do it. BUT there will always be at least one example where someone has, and if someone has, then it makes it possible.

As for me, will I stop doing what I do? Will I stop producing free content? Stop the interaction with you?

No, No, and No. I will always give freely, but I now plan to do it with a healthy spirit and mind, as when I do, I will be inspired and ‘want’ to do it because it feels right, rather a ‘need’ to do it.

Are you ready to leave expand your comfort (familiar zone)?

Join me, and step up and start living, so when you give, it will be because it comes from a heart centered energy which causes you to transform others around you.

With love,

Joseph

What has Hypnosis done for you?

I recieved this wonderful email today and I thought it would be nice to share with you and to show you how powerful hypnosis is when it comes to making changes. Also there is a really really really important insight from me when it comes to empowerment!

Here it is (I have deleted some info such as names and locations etc for privacy reasons) 

"Hello Joseph,

I am always telling my family and friends how amazing your hypnosis CDs are, but I also want YOU to know how much they have helped us.

Back in June, my 28 year old son was desperately ill with bulimia/anorexia. He's over 6' tall, but his weight was under 9st and he could encircle his upper arm with his thumb and middle finger. He had no energy and even the five minute walk to our local Co op shop was too much for him. He could only watch as his 8 year old son played football and most days, he'd just lay in bed, watching TV and listening to songs on his iPod. He'd had many mental health issues from the age of 13, including eating disorders, self-harm and alcoholism, but after stopping drinking two years earlier, and self-harming before that, the bulimia took over and became more destructive than ever before.

I was desperate to help him, but really didn't know what to do, or how to do it. He was being treated by a psychiatrist, his GP and the community mental health nurse and was on anti-depressants, but none of them seemed to help him. As he got weaker and weaker, I really feared that he was going to die and it broke my heart, knowing what a wonderful, talented young man he was beneath this awful illness. In __(month) __( year) , his oldest brother ____ (name) died from _____(reason)  and I hated to think that I might lose another child. In spite of having a positive outlook, and truly believing that no matter what happened, we would always be looked after, I found myself praying for this please, please, to stop, as I couldn't stand much more of the constant fear and worry.

Then I had a dream, in which someone told me that ____(name) was going to be all right. The message was short, but very powerful and I knew that I had to tell ____(name) what I had 'heard'. He didn't reject what I said and in spite of being sceptical about anything 'spiritual', he seemed to be comforted by the idea. For the first time, he told me of his fears and said that he didn't want to die, he wanted to live and get well.

Later that day, I decided to search the Internet for something that might help him and even joined a self-help site for parents of children with eating disorders, but I knew this wasn't really the answer. And then a voice in my head told me to look up self-hypnosis, as a treatment for bulimia and my search led me straight to your site. I found your bulimia download and after asking ____(name) if he was interested (he was), ordered it straight away.

All I can say is that what happened next was amazing and nothing short of a miracle, because from the first time William listened to it on his iPod, he stopped making himself sick and stopped binge eating. None of us could believe it would last at first, but he listened to to download every day for 28 days and he never once looked back. Nine months on, he's a normal, healthy weight, goes for long walks every day (we live in the ____ (location/area), so there are many beautiful walks within easy reach) and reads and writes in his spare time (he always had a love of books as a child, but couldn't read at all in his alcoholic and bulimic days). What's more, he can play football with his son and even manages to keep up with him most of the time :-).

So much for _____(name), because a month or so after we purchased the bulimia download, I decided to buy the sugar addiction one for me. I've always had a sweet tooth, but it had turned into a dependency and I was gaining weight which at my age was difficult to get rid of. I hate diets and hate exercise even more :-), but realised that if I gave up eating sweet, sugary things, I would save around 500 calories a day.

Once again, what happened next was amazing, because after listening to your CD a couple of times, I was no longer interested in sugary things. I no longer craved chocolate, or cake, or ice cream, or sweets and within a few weeks, had lost quite a few pounds. I've now lost a couple of stone, dropped two dress sizes and two bra sizes and feel wonderful. I can eat something sweet if someone offers it, but it doesn't taste special any more and I'd rather not bother at all. I really, really can't believe how easy it was, as from the age of 16, not a day has gone by without me having something sweet to eat, as either a snack or for comfort.

So thank you, thank you Joseph, for giving ____(name) his life back and me my figure back. You are a truly inspirational, generous and talented person - a bringer of love and light.

___(name) x

End of email

So great feedback right? Its impossible to explain how it makes me feel having been a part of the process of transformation. I always reply saying how pleased I am and also THE REALLY IMPORTANT PART that they made the change, they took action on finding the help, they listened to the Hypnosis/Hypnotherapy CD/MP3 download, they carried out the change. They are there very own heros who instigated change and thats the key to change, empowering ones self, and taking those learnings into the future!

Be awesome my friends, lets step outside the darkeness by turning on the ever eternal internal light within!

With love

Joseph