The key to getting what you want is to focus on it.
You might say to yourself, "I don't want to be tense."
Well what you are focusing on with that statement is the word tense.
So instead a better suggestion would be
I can feel my body relax and as it does my thoughts become slower and slower.
Make sure that the suggestions you give yourself are:
Stated in the positive
Stated in present tense (meaning that it is happening right now)
That they are what we call congruent this means that they are acceptable to you.
For example, you have a big test you are taking in one hour. If you use the suggestion
I can feel my body relax and as it does my thoughts become slower and slower.
that is not likely to help you on your upcoming test is it?
So instead a better suggestion would be
I can feel my body relax and as it does my thoughts become clearer. I can access easily the information needed for my upcoming test. The more relaxed my body is the clearer my thoughts become.
That is an example of a good suggestion.
It is stated in the positive. It is what you want to have happen.
It is stated in the present tense. As you feel your body relax these other things are happening.
And lastly, it is congruent. Your body will be relaxed during the test and this will allow your thoughts to become clearer.
This in turn will help with easily access the information needed for the test.
Add in your suggestions and adjust as necessary to achieve the result you want.
So in the above example in addition to the suggestion you could imagine, as you are relaxing that your mind is like a pool of water or a lake.
If a pebble is dropped into the lake, there is a ripple and you cannot see below the surface.
Your goal with imagery would be to create the pool of water or lake without any ripples.
Allow the ripples (tension and stress) to dissipate and as they do your thoughts become clearer.
Just as the pool or lake becomes calm it also become clearer.
Imagine being able to see down into the water.
If you look closely, the answers you need for your test are there.
Learning to create good guided-imagery hypnosis suggestions is easy once you know how.
