Dick boasted while he ate a large slice of cake- “I didn’t need hypnosis to quit smoking, I quit through shear will power!”
Now his “will power” may have stopped the smoking habit but apparently Dick had picked up another habit-eating! For that matter, his finger nails were looking like what he fed on, when food was not available. To give Dick’s “will power” credit, that was some mighty powerful change but perhaps, not in the ways Dick had thought.
It was immediately clear that he had a very determined mind; determined to CHANGE THE WAY HE FELT-SOMEHOW. That same determined mind was completely capable of ignoring the obvious, namely the 50 extra pounds he was carrying around his midline and the connection between all of this and having stopped smoking. Talk about some powerful Self-Hypnosis!
Habits-whether thoughts, feelings and/ or behaviors- are not necessarily good or bad, they are just useful or not useful. You are your habits.
And habits do change-think about it, you have been changing habits your whole life!
And they change quickly, and easily, when your unconsciously held beliefs and values are in line with your consciously held goals. BUT when the unconscious has another agenda... well, “will power” alone is often not enough or ignores the deeper needs the habit was intended to address.