Netflix hypnosis. Your own internal home theater.
Whenever you lose track of time, you are in hypnosis.
The body’s autonomic nervous system keeps you moving along on autopilot while you continue breathing, moving muscles, conducting tasks, absorbing new stimuli, etc.
It’s just that these activities have bypassed the “critical factor”, which is a gatekeeper between the conscious and subconscious mind. It’s what usually slows down willpower and causes us to lose momentum.
The critical factor, which is a comparing mechanism that either allows or disallows new information to be stored in your subconscious or longer-term memory, is like a bar bouncer.
“You can come in or you wait outside”
When you are in Netflix hypnosis, you have access to a greater database of what you know because you are bypassing the critical factor or gatekeeper. It feels like daydreaming. You are absorbing the movie AND absorbing whatever it coming up in your subconscious mind.
When you bypass this mechanism, time seems to either fly by or slow down. That’s because your focal point of attention is absorbed in what you are doing or thinking, so your conscious mind is on a bit of a holiday.
It can feel good to be absorbed in a desired task – better than having to engage in a task that you don’t like – perhaps balancing the checkbook.
In highway hypnosis for instance, if you needed to slam on the brakes, your body’s nervous system, which is always protecting you, would suddenly jolt you back to the task at hand, (driving), and you would realize that you are slamming on the brakes. That’s a wakeup call and it would pull you right out of your light hypnotic trance state.
Your breathing increases as you exhibit a fear response because your conscious mind has not really been focused on the task of driving. That adrenaline rush is designed to bring you sharply into the present moment.
When you are watching Netflix (binge watching “Manifest” is not required!), and snap back into the present moment, you do not feel that adrenaline rush, because your autonomic nervous system has determined that there is no need, unlike slamming the brakes while driving. You generally just blink, inhale, exhale deeply and carry on, enjoying the movie.
When you engage in facilitated hypnosis, especially to eliminate unwanted feelings or gain improved behaviors, your internal home theater leads you on an exciting internal journey with outcomes that rival any great movie!
