Book excerpt: What prevents people from doing what they sincerely want to do?You can come up with all sorts of explanations ranging from childhood trauma to genetics, to personality types, but what it really boils down to is the fact that most people simply aren't skilled in managing their minds.When we try to break a habit our brain sends out signals of alarm and discomfort. To get past this, we must put our "logical brain" in charge. Using self-hypnosis and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) is one of the easiest ways to achieve this.Hypnosis relaxes and quietens the mind's chatter and can provide strategies to manage the mind and to access the qualities and strengths that we already possess. NLP is the one psychological approach that spells out those strategies step-by-step.This book explains how the concepts and mechanisms of hypnosis and the principles of NLP make for effective approaches to self-hypnosis.