Wake up and smell the suggestions!

Here is MY new definition (you can use it if you wish; - ):

Hypnosis is the process of the suspension of analysis wherein the subconscious mind (the seat of all habits, emotions, memories, dreams, and beliefs) readily accepts incoming information and suggestions.

You can easily hypnotize someone against their will. It happens ALL the time. The names Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, and Jim Jones come to mind instantaneously. If this is not mass hypnosis, I don't know what is. We are daily, hourly, minute-by-minute being hypnotized by the media. Wake up and smell the suggestions, people! Hey, when was the last time you fell in love with someone only to "wake up" and realize that your dream lover was really a putz? I call that a love trance.

However, hypnotherapy is an entirely different subject. I tell my clients (and anybody else that will listen), that they are THE MOST in control of their minds EVER when they are in a hypnotherapist's office, because they are (to use Jerome's word) AWARE of all of the incoming information.

All hypnosis is NOT self-hypnosis now, nor has it ever been. It's a harsh reality (and one we really would rather not hear because it could give hypnosis a bad name), but a true one nonetheless. There's nothing wrong with the truth. And you don't have to be afraid of it. It will set you free.