This is something that you are hopefully not trapped into at the moment. The facts I’m going to relate you are very relevant. So you are aware of them and you are forewarned of the danger of gambling. My opinion gambling is probably the most vicious and dangerous vice. An addicted gambler, can not only loose all his money, has also the money hasn’t got, re borrowing. Also his house his relationship, his self respect, everything. It’s not too late for you My time as therapist I have helped may gamblers, usually before it’s too late. If you start gambling the best thing that can happen, you loose. This teaches you the valuable lesson that eventually will lose. Learning this lesson in the beginning is so valuable. If you win you think this is great, this is the way to make money, have the easy life. Gamblers lose. There are exceptions, as there are in all walks of life. These exceptions are not gamblers they use gambling as a business. They deeply research what they are doing, they usually have an excellent mathematical brain they are disciplined. Stay away from gambling I would now relate a true case history. A person came to me to help him with his gambling. My principle is to help my clients with whatever they wish. I’m not there to pass judgement. He knew a person at the casino, that made a living playing roulette, had written a book on his method. Apparently was successful. It was quite a lengthy book, it took time to study it. He needed $800 as a base... It may sound strange that I am writing about lotto in a negative way. A lotto win can result in stress anxiety and may be trauma. A very large percentage of people weekly buy a lotto ticket, may be several. They are all potential millionaires, may be multi millionaires. They have this dream, a lotto win, will solve all their problems and the rest of their life will be a life of bliss and perpetual happiness. Dreaming of winning lotto is wishful thinking, focusing on an achievable goal, is positive thinking. The lotto participant goes through life with a dream wish, with the odds of never been fulfilled. This brings on stress, anxiety and frustration. Lightning strikes and lotto winners The chances of winning lotto has the same chance of standing outside and being struck by lightning. The odds are against you. All serious gamblers never buy a lotto ticket. the odds are to long. With a very remote chance you win. Marvellous you are floating on a cloud. All life’s problems are solved, also all your families problems as well. The fact, money changes people. I have personally witnessed it. The saying money is the root of all evil. That is incorrect the love of money is the root of all evil. They are inundated with family and so called friends, they come out of the woodwork wanting part of it, especially family. They are never satisfied. Here comes the stress and all that goes with it. They find they have fallen between two completely different classes of society. Everyone looks at you differently The social environment that... As we go through life we come across incidents or quotes from other people and situations that stick in our minds. You say to yourself that’s good, that makes sense, I will remember that, it may come in handy. Where it comes from Where I picked this one up and from and who, I have no idea. I just think it’s very relevant to what is happening to us in this fast changing world. Technology is not only advancing it’s accelerating. We are confused with our past and wish we had done different. Obviously we can’t change it, we can take the negative emotion out of it. This I described in one of my previous recordings. We are concerned with future. This is understandable. What you do in the present can have a contribution on the future. In this present environment why are we more stressed? Things have changed. A lot. Previously a person left school, his schooling depended on the social situation of his parents. He or she started in a trade or profession, that is where they stayed during their working lives. The opportunity to develop and progress, where very limited. Also the majority of the population didn’t move far from where they were born How this has changed. The trades and professions have changed. When you have got used to your trade or profession, it has advanced on, or may become obsolete. You are on the tread mill of life, striving to catch up, when you think you have caught up, technology has shot on. No more. I think it was a song or play Stop the... During the years practicing hypnotherapy I have attended many courses and workshops. In the United States, England and many in Australia. They all have useful information. Every so often there is one that really stands out One of the monthly meetings of the Australian Hypnotherapy Association. The main presenter was Judith Richards. She related the abuse physically and mentally she had been inflicted on her in her life. She had a period in her life when she couldn’t show her face through the door. Because of the physical abuse that she have been through. She discovered how to fix it. She now has confidence. All this she related in her presentation. Finally she announced that she was running a workshop to teach other therapist. The most valuable hypnotherapy workshop I was the first to put up my hand. Send me the details. I need to be in. This was her first workshop. It’s the most valuable workshops I have had the opportunity to attend. The therapy is really simple. Everything that we have experienced in our lives has happened. It doesn’t matter how dramatic or horrendous. It’s a fact, we can’t change it. The problem is the negative emotion that has been created. The teaching was how to eliminate the negative emotion. This put my therapy on a whole new level. I can’t thank Judith enough she is an amazing lady.... This is an incident in my personal life, which emphases how a positive belief of your future will diminish the negative emotions of your past. This was a period of my life when through personal reasons I was feeling low. This happens in all our lives. Life is a journey of up and downs, lessons and experiences, which hopefully we learn from. My clichéd mid-life crisis My solution to my feeling low – I wanted a car with some performance, zip in it. At the time I was on the Isle of Man, a small island in the Irish Sea half between Liverpool and Belfast. I went over to England together with my cousin who has a greater knowledge of cars than me. The main features of a car is a means to travel in relative comfort and reliability. To me anyway. Also my youngest daughter who I am very close to, was to choose the colour. I bought if my memory is correct a white Ford. A suped up edition of the Ford Serra. It would still be accelerating at 100 miles per hour miles (not kilometres)! The Isle of Man is only 10 miles wide and 38 miles long. was not covering any long distances. Mainly just around Douglas, the capital. Quit often I took over to England, the mainland. Not far from the ferry was the M6, the major motorway between England and Scotland. Although there was a speed limit, in those day the police were not to focused on enforcing it. It’s a six lane motorway where the trucks were not permitted in the fast lane. The vehicles in... After writing the last three blogs on A,B and, C Attitude Balance and Control I would like to add this extra one. Where stress and anxiety can appear where you least expect it. I see clients from all walks of life, all ages and from a variety of different culture. This gentleman came to see me with some stress problems which was creating anxiety. I always ask the client, what are their goals. We all need goals, whether they are small or large short or long term. It gives us a purpose to get out of bed in the morning This gentleman had built up a reasonably large and successful business and he was coming up to sixty. I quite expected him to say he was looking forward to retiring. To my surprise he said he didn’t intend retiring. He related this story. He enjoyed the achievement of building up the business, he had lunch with his wife several days of the week and each year he and his wife took a long and enjoyable stress free holiday. He would like to delegate a little more responsibility to his son-in-law. Life was good. Main stress, the everyday stress of running a business in the modern fast and continuing changing society He started off his career in finance in the nineteen eighties with Westpac bank. All the banks had the same system and the bank manager had to retire at sixty five. They have now changed the system, if the bank manger is physically and mentally OK they can carry on. Sixty five he was retired. He had... 