The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the view of the American Council of Hypnotist Examiners.

by Craig Bickmore

For over 30 years, it has been my experience that the key to assisting people to resolve their “incorrect belief” systems and patterns is to have them search their memories for significant events occurring between the ages of zero and nine. Certainly, events that take place after those first nine years also impact how a person thinks, feels, and behaves, but as I work with each client for the first time, I have found this principle of ‘zero to nine’ to be true, with only one exception.

I’ve come to believe it is this building block of “initial understanding” that sets the pattern for difficulty in their future. If a belief sets in because of an incorrect understanding of some circumstance, event, or thought, even if real or true, that incorrect belief must be corrected for the clients’ systems to, to use carpentry terms, “come back in to plumb,” or rather understanding has to be “squared up”. Think of a wall being built a brick at a time, if one of the foundation stones is not quite “plumb,” or is not set and aligned properly, all future bricks will be increasingly out of place, becoming more and more apparent as the wall gets higher. With each successive brick, the collective pattern becomes more unstable, until at some point the wall is greatly compromised, and may fall.

What I am referring to is the “initial sensitizing event,” not the symptom-producing event. In most cases, the ISE may not be a great tragedy or trauma but only a simple everyday thing that was heavily charged or impactful and subsequently started the “incorrect belief” about who they are and their perceptions of life from that point on.

Re-lived and amplified for years and years it becomes unmanageable, and they seek assistance. The truly remarkable thing is that just as quickly as the “incorrect belief” was embedded, it can be corrected and the ‘wall’s foundation’ can be settled almost immediately into its proper, symmetrical position. Once in proper, natural alignment, the belief system sets out to fix the misperceptions of the past, repairing what difficulties were caused by the wrong beliefs about themselves.

If your clients are not getting the relief they seek, or your session is stalling a bit, do not hesitate to look back to the time between ages zero and nine. The client will, in most cases, be able to clearly describe events and circumstances so vividly and in such real terms that there should be no mistake about how to proceed in assisting them to see things as they are, and not as they had wrongly perceived them to be – and there is nothing so satisfying as this kind of clearing and resolution.

Craig Bickmore has been a Certified Clinical Hypnotherapist for over 30 years and regularly conducts training with business groups to help them overcome the “Barriers in Beliefs” that keep them from performing at their best. He and his wife Lori are the parents of 6 and the grandparents of 13.