Memory and Concentration with Self Hypnosis

Charles E. Henderson, Ph.D.

Self hypnosis is the fastest, easiest way to improve your memory and concentration. With a little practice you'll be able to remember names, faces, facts – anything it is important for you to remember. And you'll improve your concentration beyond anything you thought possible.

The imagination test and relationship.

Imagine this: You walk into a meeting or a party with 20 or 30 strangers already there. One by one you are introduced to each person, told their full names, what company they work for, and something personal about them. (Like, their oldest son just won a swimming scholarship or the person's car broke down on the way to the meeting.) After being introduced to the last person you begin to “work the room,” circulating around among the group. You can remember each person's face and name, and anything else you were told about him or her.

If you can imagine this scene, you can do it! A strong correlation has been established between the ability to imagine something and the effectiveness of self-hypnosis in improving concentration and memory. All you have to know is how to use self-hypnosis.

PLEASE NOTE: My latest book is a complete manual of self-hypnosis: Self Hypnosis: for the Life you Want.

How hard is it?

As with so many things in life, it is very difficult to make self-hypnosis work if you don't know how. If you have to re-invent or rediscover it on your own, it could take you a lifetime. Even then you wouldn't know everything there is to know. But with accurate instructions it becomes fairly easy.

(Please note that I said accurate instructions. It is all too easy for anyone to declare himself an expert in this area when he actually knows very little. Beware of any instruction from such self-proclaimed authorities. When it comes to something like this, it pays to be cynical. You can learn more about my credentials here.)

Here's an example of how it works. Tom Layton was a freshman at the college where I taught and had a research lab. I first met him when he was taking a credit course in self-hypnosis I was teaching at the college. He did fine in the course. Because the size of those courses were often large, with as many as a hundred or more students, I did not know much about him.

About a year later we ran into each other at a university “mixer”. He wasn't particularly surprised that I remembered his name and what grade he made (students and seminar attendees usually were surprised when I remembered their names and something about them), and the story he told me explained why he did not find my memory surprising.

Tom was majoring in marketing and expected to go into sales. But he had always had a terrible memory for names and faces, which was his reason for taking the self-hypnosis course. He wanted to improve his memory and concentration.

“So how's it working for you?” I asked him.

“Fantastic!” he answered. “I never pass up an opportunity to practice remembering names and other things. And maybe show off a little,” he added.

“How about right now,” I asked.

He said “sure.”

There were about 200 people there. I knew most of them. I was pretty sure Tom did not. There were professors and students – both undergraduate and graduate – some of them foreign with difficult names, deans, and so on. I told Tom to tag along with me as I moved around the room and I would introduce him to some of the people there.

Over the next half hour or so I moved fairly fast and introduced Tom to, by my count, 22 people. They were a good mix of the people present. And with each one I told Tom something about the person (something publicly known, of course; nothing that it would have been indiscreet to tell). For instance, “Professor Aldridge specializes in the history of religion. He just returned from sabbatical in Spain where he was researching pre-Inquisition Basque cultural mores.”

Just try to remember that kind of information, coming at you fast, about a number of people, along with their names, faces, and anything else that might be mentioned!

After we had gone around the room we stood off to the side and I would randomly indicate some of the people we had talked to so Tom could tell me what he remembered. After I had picked out five of what I considered the toughest to remember – either because something about them was quite different, such as a name like Krzyadsodic, or common and boring – it was clear that Tom could indeed remember almost anything, and he could tie facts and names to the faces.

And here is an important aspect of this episode: It was not work for him! He enjoyed it!

For more on how to use self-hypnosis to improve concentration and memory, see the books, CDs and tapes available from the catalog.

In other words, with self-hypnosis Tom had been able to remove blocks to good concentration and memory, and to enhance the normal functioning of his mind.

Concentration without boredom

Many people are surprised to learn that they can take the boredom out of concentrating. With self-hypnosis you can make studying or any kind of concentration easier and more productive. You can learn to put yourself into a mode of concentration in which not only do you perceive and remember more, but the time goes much more quickly.

The truth is, this kind of heightened, more productive concentration is actually the natural way the mind works. But a defective education system, plus the accumulation of years of mental “failures” serves to incapacitate the concentrative ability of even the hardiest mind.

Self-hypnosis, properly applied, is like a healing balm. The buildup of nonsense, misconceptions and wrong ways of doing it are cleared out of the way so your mind can do its thing naturally. And let me tell you, a naturally functioning mind is impressive indeed!

Take the next step.

There's a pretty good chance you have no idea how powerful your mind actually is. Forget (!) about all those misconceptions you have about yourself. Don't waste any more time and mental energy beating yourself up over your inability to remember names or anything else. Or excoriating yourself over your inability to concentrate for very long on anything. You can have a good memory and you can concentrate well (and enjoy it!).

All you have to do is learn the relatively easy and pleasant methods of self-hypnosis. Once you do that and have fixed yourself, you'll be amazed at your mental prowess.

Please take a look at the catalog for a listing of all the aids available to you to make self-hypnoses your vehicle to a superior memory and mental ability.

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