Have you ever found yourself wanting to do something, yet feeling unable to get into the right frame of mind? For example, you may encounter a situation where you have to interact with an aggressive personality and start retreating when you know you should be assertive. Or maybe you want to let your creativity flow, yet that energy seems to be blocked. Is there a switch we can flip so we can do what needs to be done?

Practices like hypnosis, self-hypnosis and meditation can teach us how to regulate the functions of mind, mood and body. While these sessions can be deeply relaxing and comforting, their true value is the carry-over effect into the stressful environments of everyday life. Quite often a post-hypnotic cue or anchor is developed so the calm and empowered feelings can be triggered at will post-session. Post-hypnotic cues can take many different forms like certain physical gestures or having environmental stimuli like colors or sounds acting as a reinforcement for the transformational work. The Switch Words technique is a lesser known option that also fits that description.

A switch word is a single specific word that you say like a mantra in order to influence your subconscious mind towards a desired state or course of action. The word is repeated a few times and it acts to switch on the inner mind, which can work quite well on its own once given a direction to move towards. Although this approach may seem too simple to be effective, actually the subconscious is very responsive to basic symbols- a single word can have great potency when thoroughly contemplated upon. More elaborate affirmations may have a tendency to engage the conscious mind, which can be especially problematic when in the midst of a difficult or trying situation.

Switch Words were first identified by self-help writer James Mangan over 40 years ago. His best known contribution was the use of the word "cancel" as a signal to negate unwanted thoughts, although he also created a master list of switch words for over 100 different situations. A couple I have found particularly useful in addition to cancel are "reach" and "slow." Reach is used whenever we want to locate something. Perhaps we hope to find a missing object and by silently repeating the word reach, we are giving the subconscious mind the directive to dedicate its resources towards its retrieval. Quite often we will seem to "spontaneously" locate that item later on that day, whereas a determined conscious-mind search would have probably just led to ever-increasing frustration. Reach is not just limited to lost objects either, it can be used to discover new ideas and creative solutions to problems. Slow is the word that evokes mastery and wisdom. Masters in all sorts of disciplines are oft noted for the careful and unhurried pace of their speech and movements as well as the ability to listen and observe deeply. We can use the word slow to help put ourselves in a similar state of mind and body.

Recently, Hawaii-based artist and author Shunyam Nirav has assembled and updated Mangan's work into a beautifully designed e book that both the general public and helping professionals alike would benefit from owning. If interested, you can download a FREE trial copy of Switch Words E-Book to see if you can benefit from this technique too.