What are the right kinds of words to perform covert hypnosis?

One way to really change the way someone feels about something is to use words that make the person see the thing in a different way. I call this reframing.

A famous example of reframing is glass half empty, half full metaphor. This reframing from viewing the glass not as half empty, but rather as half full, helps people see the positive side of something.

You can use reframing for more complex things by changing some very simple words in a sentence. For example, think about the difference between these three sentences:

It's gorgeous outside today, but it's going to be overcast tomorrow.

Its beautiful outside today, and its going to be cloudy tomorrow.

Its beautiful outside today, even though its going to be cloudy tomorrow.

Although each sentence says basically the same thing, just by changing a word or two you change the way you feel about each day. Reread these sentences and see how each one makes you feel about the weather, both for today and tomorrow. See the difference?

The ways of reframing are many.

You can use words that make the frame bigger, so the person you are talking to can see the big picture.

Like, when a person is at a store and is worried about buying a pair of shoes because she knows that a store across town has the same pair for a few dollars less, you may say something like, Wow, I know that the other store has the same pair for a couple dollars less, but thats an hour away. How much gas do you think you would use up driving over there?

The situation context can also be reframed.

Friend: Man! I really wanted to go to the beach today but its so windy outside it wouldnt be any fun.

You: Sure, sitting on the sand in this wind won't be fun, but imagine the waves! What a day for surfing!

And there is also the content reframe.

Friend: What a jerk! That man blew by us doing 100 mph. Can you believe some people!

You: He was going pretty fast. He had his emergency lights on, maybe he is going to the hospital.

This really shows how by changing the language used, you can really change someone's attitude.

Reframing is very powerful because it is a type of conversational hypnosis.

By reframing you distract the person's conscious brain and force her to think anew about something using the subconscious mind.

There is no obvious hypnotic trance here like you would see in overt hypnosis, but nevertheless, this use of words in conversational hypnosis causes the listener to respond to things using her subconscious mind.

Read more about reframing and covert hypnosis and try it out.