Guided Thought | William Batten

If you were struggling back in 2019, I wouldn’t hold that against you.

If you’re struggling now?

Well, I don’t think anyone would hold that against you.

You know what might help, though?

Rethinking how you think about your thinking.

Is misery a natural response to the challenges in your life? Is it inevitable or a choice?

You could argue back and forth about that.

Instead, consider this:

Misery is a luxury.

Like a fancy chocolate cake or a gold-plated watch, it costs a lot while offering dubious value. It’s also not something you can indulge in when facing a crisis. If you can’t pay your bills, you don’t buy Rolexes. Similarly, if you’re literally fighting for your life, you won’t think about how uncertain the future is. You do what you need to and get out.

Feeling whatever you feel might not be pleasant, but it sure is great that you can feel that.

You can keep indulging it if you want or you can spend your earnings elsewhere.

That, at least, remains your choice.

Speaking of choice…

There’s a lot to choose from on my website. I offer mental solutions for a range of issues and budgets.

I won’t talk about those right now, though.

You’re welcome to browse my catalogue at the link below.

Until I know more about who you are, though, I’ll recommend the Neural Reset. Whatever’s going on in life – whether you have your teeth in a juicy opportunity, you’re struggling to get by, or every day feels identically full of languish and anguish – the Neural Reset will help.

It’s like resting, relaxing, meditating, embracing self-care and revitalising your spark, all at once.

How?

By working with your mind to restore itself to how it naturally wants to be.

Sign up for a session here:

https://guided-thought.com/appointment

Say someone comes to you with this:

“I want to automate some of my budgeting. Can learning computer programming help with that?”

You say that it can.

“But what about if I want to automate my schedule? Will it help then?”

Yes, yes it will.

“Okay, but what if I want to automatically clean up and convert some data?”

… yes.

“But what about-“

Does your question involve computers? Then the answer is yes.

I don’t think computer scientists have to deal with this.

Hypnotists do, though. We get all sorts of questions like this. Hell, half the hypnosis subreddit is asking whether hypnosis will help with their issue.

“Can hypnosis help with my anxiety?”

Yes, yes it can.

“But can it help with my lack of focus?”

Yeah, that too.

“But what about-“

Does your question involve the brain? Then the answer is yes.

Hypnosis doesn’t let you ‘reprogram’ folks. If you have an unwanted process running on your computer, the Task Manager can kill it. You can change a computer’s settings quickly, easily and precisely. If you’ve had a mind for at least a few years, you know that changing it isn’t like this.

So the analogy between hypnosis and software isn’t great.

But there’s one parallel I like:

With enough programming talent, you can change anything about how your computer performs.

With the right hypnotic experience, you can change anything about how your brain performs.

In both cases, some changes are quicker and easier than others.

And you’ll be surprised by how simple it is to drastically improve your life.

So stop asking if hypnosis can help with your issue. You’re not some special case, no matter how unique your issue is.

That’s not to say that every hypnotist can help you. Some only work with PTSD or women or high performance. Not every hypnotist knows how to work with someone with ADHD or autism.

But can hypnosis help you?

If you want to think better, feel better, respond better and act better, then yes.

Anything in your mind is fair game.

It’s smart to do your research.

But at some point, you have to stop asking if computers use electricity and get to typing already.

Since hypnosis can help you, what are you waiting for?

https://guided-thought.com/appointment

I could take this article down a dark path.

I could talk about how the media hypnotises you – and, depending on your politics, you can pretend I only mean CNN or FOX.

Then I could bring up social media. Watch someone scrolling Facebook and you’ll see someone in a trance. If they scroll for a few minutes, notice what happens when they return to the real world. There’ll be a little (or not so little) jolt as they reorient to their surroundings.

(But not you, of course. You scroll mindfully and with purpose. You don’t let it influence you because you consider the facts and make up your own mind. Again, I’m talking about those other people…)

I could talk about how people have been hypnotised to believe contradictory things. Like how they say they consider both sides of the issue, yet they only seek out rabid tweets to strawman. Or how Party X or Candidate Y will save/destroy the country, when history shows they’ll be mediocre.

I’ve seen folks vote against their interests to support a ‘higher cause’ that’s nothing but smoke and vapour.

And then they’ll go right back to believing.

So I could say all of that… and oh so much more.

But it would miss the point.

Because I could take any time and place in the world. As long as people live there, people are getting hypnotised – every day.

Ancient China, medieval France, indigenous Papua New Guinea – it doesn’t matter. Humans swim in a sea of trance. It’s essential to the survival of the tribe.

But you’re too strong-minded for that, right? You came to your beliefs through logic, evidence and sheer rational intelligence. If you grew up in medieval France, there’s no way you’d believe in the divine right of kings, of course.

“Freedom is good” is common sense, after all…

But… how do you know?

Couldn’t a hypothetical person – not you, I’m sure, but someone else – be hypnotised into thinking they’d never been hypnotised? Couldn’t someone have a raft of ideas imposed on them, including the idea that it’s all their own ideas?

You could write a Black Mirror episode around that theme.

And you could argue that it’s not worth thinking about. By definition, if you doubt all your own thoughts – including your own doubt – then you won’t get very far.

But there is a way out of that loop.

It’s not perfect, I’ll admit – but in a sea of existential horror, isn’t even an imperfect boat worth grasping?

Here’s that boat:

The Everyday Hypnosis Guide is module 07 (of 19) in Monster Mind Edukaré. With it, you’ll learn to spot the everyday signs that you’re in a hypnotic trance.

Stuff that you write off as being ‘normal’, because it is.

But it’s normal stuff that you can’t consciously fake. If it happens, it means you’re in a trance.

Plus, it covers ways to ride the trance – to use how you’re already being hypnotised to enhance your life.

Until you know what these signs are, if you say you ‘can’t be hypnotised!’, my honest question will be… how do you know?

Grab it and the other 18 modules here:

https://guided-thought.com/monster

It’s one of the great archetypes:

A powerful dragon, radiating physical things like heat and smoke, abstract things like savagery and destruction.

These great and dreaded wyrms have the means to destroy entire villages – even entire kingdoms.

Defeating one is an act of self-defence against the forces of nature.

It’s not all altruism, though.

After all, what pile of treasure could compete with a dragon’s hoard?

That’s sort of how your mind operates. There are ancient and mighty monsters lurking in your unconscious, ready to bring havoc at any time.

Defeating them would be great for you, in the sense that you no longer have a bad thing to worry about.

It’s also great because you uncover riches. It’s not just removing a negative, but adding a positive too.

That’s why I chose the dragon for module 15 in Monster Mind Edukaré.

Edukaré is an intense mind training program. I start at the basics, assuming you know nothing about self-hypnosis or meditation. By the end, you have a level of self-mastery over your mind that might surprise you.

Think about a big challenge for you. Maybe it’s quitting smoking, exercising more or letting go of your anger.

Now, imagine you did that by accident – a side effect of becoming in tune with your unconscious mind.

That’s what Edukaré offers – and you can grab it here:

https://guided-thought.com/monster

Overheard while near a game of trivia:

“According to a survey, 12% of Americans believe Joan of Arc was married to whom?”

I’ll admit that I chewed on that one and didn’t find the answer.

But I could have guessed it.

Because the answer was…

Noah.

The temptation is, like the trivia host did, to crack a joke about ‘stupid Americans’. Or maybe ‘stupid humans’.

But I disagree.

For one thing, 12% is a small number. If you take a soccer team, then statistically, that’s one player who thinks that way. The rest won’t.

“Even one is too many!”

I disagree – here’s why:

Not knowing that Joan of Arc was a medieval French warrior saint might be ignorant… but guessing she was Noah’s wife makes sense. I mean, I said above that I could have guessed that answer. How, unless it followed a certain logic?

Sure, sure, it would be better if 98% of people could tell their medieval history from their biblical history.

But isn’t ‘Noah’ a better answer than something utterly random, like Lois Lane?

Isn’t the presence of some logic worth celebrating?

If you want to build a bonfire, you nurture the spark. You don’t condemn it for not being hot or bright enough.

Besides, ask enough questions of us and we’ll fall into the embarrassing 12% eventually.

Something to think about as I transition into talking about Monster Mind Edukaré. You might wonder what my thorough and intensive self-hypnosis, meditation and personal evolution program has to do with all this.

I could say that it makes you more likely to sit in the more learned 88%, but I don’t know if that’s a useful claim to make.

If you know my style, you already see the connection. We all judge people – I do it too – which only invites us to judge ourselves.

Throw accusations of stupidity and ignorance, and you’ll eventually accuse yourself of the same thing.

I believe in celebrating the sparks, even in a world full of darkness.

Especially in a world full of darkness.

The first, most difficult and most important step is acceptance.

If you struggle with that, that’s where self-hypnosis and meditation come in. No matter where you’re coming from, you can begin to experience it here:

https://guided-thought.com/monster

How do you manage your dark side?

How do you handle your warped emotions, old scars, twisted desires and inner darkness?

Not by fighting it. If there’s one thing the darkness does well, it’s fight.

And not buy burying it, ignoring it and pretending it doesn’t exist.

Doing that doesn’t get rid of it – it only takes away your choice.

Let’s say you’re normally shy. Confidence and charisma lie inside of you, somewhere in your unconscious. If you were to work with me, I wouldn’t delete your shyness – I’d give you the choice to be shy or confident in any moment.

You might say you hate being shy and you’re sick of it. Fair enough, but there are times when it’s better to be reserved. You don’t have to be the centre of every party. Doing so will only drive folks away.

All personal growth is about giving you conscious control. Before, you instinctively did things one way. Now, you can choose.

Burying aspects of yourself is the opposite of personal growth.

It’s personal shrinkage, as you lose the ability to choose.

It’s just as Jung said – you can’t deny parts of yourself. If you try to bury them, they’ll come out in unpredictable and destructive ways.

Want to know where toxic masculinity comes from?

Buried masculinity.

The masculine self wants to strive, conquer, defend, achieve, toil, earn and build. These are all noble, wonderful and essential

If this desire lies unfulfilled and ignored, you seek to fulfil in other ways.

In some cases, you crave artificial substitutes for accomplishment, like video games.

For other people, they feel more destructive impulses. This is because they have no conscious access to their dark side, so they can’t control it – only succumb to it.

It’s not hopeless, though.

Many practices rebuild control and choice.

They can be as simple as sports and hobbies where you build something.

Meditation also works really well.

But if you really want to shine a light into your darkest corners?

First, you have to unshackle yourself from your self-imposed restrictions.

Don’t hide from the parts of you that scare you – face them.

Just as you don’t give in to them, you don’t deny them either.

Doing a Neural Reset before or after will help more than almost anything:

https://guided-thought.com/appointment

Imagine this, if you can stomach it:

It’s 1940 and you’re high up in the British government. Maybe you’re even Churchill – congratulations, I guess?

The Nazis have invaded your allies. Dunkirk is (rightly) hailed as a victory, but only in the sense that you evacuated more folks than expected. That’s not to be sneezed at! Those people are valuable war assets… also, they’re people. Forget a ‘victory’ – it was practically a miracle.

Still, the German military masses on the north of France. Those evacuees won’t have anywhere else to go after this.

Thanks to your skilled intelligence network, you know Hitler plans to invade. You also know what his post-invasion plans are:

‘Liquidation centres’ in major population centres, to handle intellectuals and a certain ethnic minority.

Non-liquidated men of military age will be sent to Europe as slaves.

Non-liquidated women will be sent there as well. They’ll either be slaves or, if they’re of ‘suitable’ stock, they’ll be used to preserve the blood purity of the German race.

“Okay, sheesh, enough already, William! Nazis were evil – big revelation. I know all this already!”

Sure, you do.

But back then, it was a weirdly controversial issue.

Roosevelt wanted to support the UK as much as he could. He faced opposition in the US, though. Some of that came from German fifth columnists, but many came from American business leaders, seduced by promises of lucrative deals with a country that spans all of Europe.

“Don’t fight the Nazis” is a ridiculous stance in the 21^st Century, but many folks  in 1940 want a neutral America.

America might not have the resources to save you. Even if she does, she might not have the political will.

Within the UK, you face opposition. There’s a lingering Chamberlain-style hope for peace and appeasement, even as Hitler demands surrender.

Folks accuse Churchill of being a warmonger for not giving in to the Nazis – for prolonging the conflict.

Many others don’t want the Nazis to win, but they see it as inevitable. Why fight, they say? It’s only going to cause more damage and suffering. Hope is lost so let’s give up.

Even some influential voices in France – not Vichy France, France – want the Nazis to occupy the British Isles, so that they’re all in it together.

I don’t know what to say to that. “Gee, that must have sucked” seems a tad flippant.

The lesson:

There is no evil so pure that people won’t support it.

The mystery isn’t why the typical German citizen supported the Nazi government.

The mystery is why some – a minority, sure, but not a small one – of the British citizens wanted the invasion to happen and be done with it.

“Sure, the Nazis might suck, but it beats living with uncertainty…”

This is why apocalyptic prophecies are so popular. Uncertainty is so uncomfortable that, for some folks, certain annihilation is sort of reassuring.

When I tell people to do better, be stronger or show more character, this is why. This weakness is understandable, even relatable, but it puts entire civilizations at risk.

Want to know how to liberate others from this evil?

Be their example to follow.

I’m dabbling in shadow integration techniques and how to coach others through it. I’ll put together a program for that eventually but, in the meantime, you can get this (and more) by signing up for Platinum Coaching:

https://guided-thought.com/appointment

Dichotomies are like models – they’re wrong, but they’re useful.

Take light and shadow. Even the brightest object in the universe isn’t pure light – it could be brighter. Even the darkest corner of space could be darker. Thanks to quantum foam, nothing is ever truly devoid of light.

Still, it’s useful to think about light versus dark.

Here’s another metaphorical dichotomy:

Fire versus water.

A handy example of this is men compared to women in the bedroom. Men are like fire – we go from a spark to a blaze in little time, burn bright, then extinguish quickly. Women are more like water – it takes longer to bring them to the boil, but they stay there for longer.

If you want to get better in bed, you can learn to expand your range. When women can boil faster and men can burn longer, fascinating things happen.

This isn’t lovemaking advice, though.

This is life advice.

Where in your relationships, career and hobbies are you like water? Do you throw yourself into learning guitar for one glorious weekend, then put it away forever? Or do you pluck at the strings a little each day, too little to make any progress?

Do your friends and partners walk away from you feeling exhausted?

Or do they slink away bored by your tepid demeanour?

Fire and water.

When you can run the range, you can choose the right energy for the moment. Because, yes, some challenges require you to burn hot and bright in an intense, irresistible flash. Others require patience, almost stillness, like a stream carving a pattern down the face of a mountain.

You might have a preferred style – and that’s great! Equal parts fire and water give you something lukewarm and flat. Favouring one end of the spectrum and knowing how to span it gives you the best of both.

Take the tai chi symbol from Taoism – you know, the black-and-white yin/yang circle. It’s not a grey blob. The yin side is mostly yin, with some well-defined yang hidden inside of it. It’s the same going the other way. Each is its own thing, with access to some of the other.

That’s what makes them balanced.

And powerful.

If your life, loves or passions feel lukewarm…

… or an exhausting storm of enthusiasm that quickly burns out…

… or a painfully slow grind that gets you nowhere…

… then you need more range in your mind.

Hypnosis is a great way to introduce you to parts of you that are closed off. You have both fire and water in abundance in your unconscious. Hypnosis’ great strength is bringing unconscious material into conscious awareness.

Once you’re conscious of it, you can choose whether to use it or not.

The best way to start with hypnosis is with a Neural Reset. It’s simple, easy and powerful.

Consider another dichotomy – energising, inspiration and invigorating on one side; relaxing, calming and peaceful on the other. The Neural Reset shows it’s a false dichotomy by giving you more of both at once.

Sign up for a session here:

https://guided-thought.com/appointment

I could say a lot about Stoicism – its history, its core ideals, its achievements.

Instead, I’ll say this:

It’s one of the few philosophies that’s worth a damn.

Most philosophies are curious ways to think about the world. Or they’re useful in some contexts but not others. Stoicism is always useful and there doesn’t seem to be a law of diminishing returns.

The more you and everyone else embrace it, the better.

What other philosophy could have made Marcus Aurelius such a wise and effective emperor?

What other philosophy could have freed Epictetus – a crippled slave – first in his mind, then literally?

Other philosophies are toy notions. Stoicism gets real results and provides spiritual liberation.

It’s useful – nay, vital – in everyday life.

It’s especially handy in a crisis.

Here are a few ideals of Stoicism. Let’s see how well we’re using them in the current crisis.

–

Stoicism: Take Responsibility. In a health crisis, you are responsible for your own well-being. Your needs might be different to the person’s next to you. You might be able to help others. You might need extra help. That’s okay – do everything you can to preserve your wellness on your own. If that’s not enough, reach out.

Society: Abdicate Responsibility. Only large corporations and the government can help you. Your health isn’t your responsibility – you need outside assistance to stay alive, no matter how young or vital you are.

–

Stoicism: Observe Dispassionately. Learn to see the truth with your own senses. Don’t let your perceptions be distorted by your imagination or the delusions of others.

Society: A disease with a +99% survival rate will definitely kill you. It’s reasonable to go to any extremes, no matter how damaging, to slow its spread. Feel intense levels of panic about it.

–

Stoicism: Feel Mindfully. If your house is on fire, then feel fear. That’s appropriate and useful. Once you’re safe, let go of the fear. By all means, take action to prevent it from happening again, but act from reason and compassion, not from lingering panic.

Society: There are no Soviets nearby? Fear them anyway. Terrorism is on decline? Fear it anyway. Someone sneezed in Madagascar? Fear, fear, fear!

It’s your civic duty to watch the news – that way, you can stay in heightened states of anger and panic all the time. If you don’t watch the news, that’s okay – that’s what social media is for.

–

Stoicism: Serve. You have gifts and powers. It’s your moral obligation to use them to leave the world better than when you entered it.

Society: Languish. Put all of your projects on hold, don’t work and don’t contribute (feel free to consume, though).

–

Stoicism: Accept That You Can Only Change Yourself. All other people and many circumstances are beyond your control. Accept that and focus your energies on what you can change. Complaining damages your character – take action if you can, accept it if you can’t.

Society: Pretend That You Can Force Other People To Change. Other people should change their language patterns on the fly. You have the right to not feel offended, even if you choose to be offended by trivial things. Anyone who violates these shifting, arbitrary and contradictory guidelines deserves to have their voice silenced and income halted.

–

Stoicism: Feel Compassion. People hurt you because they themselves are hurting. No one is evil, even when they do evil things. Hate no one, even if you have to remove them from your life. Every human being is worthy of respect, so give it.

Society: Feel Rage. People who hurt you aren’t even real people. They’re NPCs. If you can make them suffer, then do so. Demand respect from everyone but give it out sparingly in return.

–

Stoicism: Have Character. Stand up for what’s right and think for yourself.

Society: Have Obedience. Any deviation from the standard narrative makes you a crazy weirdo fanatical alt-right <everything>-phobic Nazi hate-criminal science-hating scumbag.

–

Stoicism: Accept Your Mortality. Meditate on your death daily, so you are prepared when it comes. Until then, you will live a life of substance.

Society: Deny Your Mortality. Distract yourself with video games, TV, alcohol, adult entertainment and yelling at strangers online. Know that a <1% of dying is far too high and be prepared to surrender all freedoms to fight it.

–

Stoicism arose in a brutal world.

Back then, infant mortality was practically a coin-flip. Disease and malnutrition would probably kill you, unless violence beat them to it.

Today, even poor people have comforts that an emperor of old would surrender half their kingdom for. Cheap heating that doesn’t fill your village with smoke? Entertainment on demand? Food that’s not only varied but safe to eat?

I’d rather be here in 2021 than an emperor at Rome’s peak.

So why are so many of us struggling?

Because we might be technologically superior to the Stoics, but we’re philosophically poorer.

That’s great news. It’s easier to rediscover Stoicism than it is to invent electricity, so you have the edge.

Even better – a small dose of Stoicism goes a long way.

Take anxiety, for example.

The first Stoic step is to accept it. Don’t deny it and don’t write it off as a ‘quirk’… but don’t hate yourself for having it either. Accept it intellectually and emotionally.

Step Two: ask yourself if there’s anything you can do about that.

Step Three: answer ‘yep’.

Then the fourth step is to take action.

Sign up for my Alleviate Anxiety program and break through to the other side of your challenges:

https://guided-thought.com/appointment