New Year is traditionally the time for change. It gives us the opportunity to say goodbye to the mistakes and failed aspirations of the past year and look forward to something new.

It's a chance for a fresh start.

It's a time of year for looking forward. Spring is on its way. Increased daylight hours mean greater health from sunlight exposure. More light means a lifting of that depressive winter weight known as S.A.D. (Seasonal Affective Disorder) that makes the darkest months a misery for sufferers. There is a general expectation; a hope even, that this year might be different and good fortune may smile. And so we make our plans resolutions for those life changes that we would like to put in place in our lives.

We experience a determination to lose weight, so that we will no longer feel too embarrassed to wear a swimsuit on the beach; we experience a determination to give up smoking because we owe it to ourselves and it will help us live longer more enjoyable lives; we experience a determination to find a new job one that satisfies and fulfils, rather than the daily drudge we currently put up with; we experience a determination to change, to enhance our lives, to feel fulfilled, and to achieve those longed for dreams and goals.

And we start filled with good intentions, knowing that this year it will be different, but come the end of January, or the end of February or March life, strangely surprisingly looks just the same as it did twelve months ago. We still find ourselves choosing chocolate and cake over apples and grapes; we still find ourselves putting lighted cigarettes in our mouths and sucking; we still find ourselves hating getting up in the morning to spend another interminable day in that place where little or no appreciation is shown for our efforts. We still find ourselves wondering what went wrong. We still find ourselves wondering why the world looked so different and so full of potential at the year-end.

A wise man once said something along the lines that you can't use the thinking that created the problem to solve the problem. Meaning you have to shift gears in your thinking and transcend to a different level in order to bring about permanent change.

Resolutions don't work because they aren't internalised. To take something on board like the idea that I'm going to eat healthily from now on is an easy thought to think when not feeling hungry and not being offered your favourite cream cake or chocolate bar, or grease-filled burger. When confronted with what your memory tells you is a pleasurable eating experience and compares that with the thoughts of a mouth full of lettuce there is no contest.

Resolution nil, Excess Weight 1.

Stopping smoking is easy because all you have to do is stop putting cigarettes in your mouth and there is no way that that is a difficult thing to do because most people have no problem not putting cigarettes in their mouth. But one whiff of cigarette smoke or a visit to a pub or bar filled with smokers and a glass of your favourite tipple in your hand and what do you do with the other one? It sort of flaps around feeling a bit lost and you really miss the sensation of that cigarette paper between your lips in between sips of alcohol just one I can stop again tomorrow

Internalisation is taking your resolution on board in such a way that it is the most important thing in the world to you. It is taking it on board and making it a part of you. It is never losing sight of the long-term benefits you are gaining rather than focusing on shortsighted and short-term pleasures.

So as part of this process you need to explore why your life is so unhappy that the only way you can feel good is to eat or smoke or spend the day doing something you hate because somehow that makes you a good person.

Long-term unhappiness that is unresolved is why resolutions don't work. The unhappiness is what needs attending to, the rest is just a habit that needs breaking.

Fortunately hypnosis is brilliant at breaking habits. It's a powerful tool to internalise intentions. And it's also an excellent tool to use to break down the barriers that keep your wonderful creativity locked up inside you. When you lock your skills and talents up inside you they break out as illness, as well as self-destructive habits like smoking, over-eating, and drudgery.

Make sure that this year's resolutions are successful.

Make them from the inside.

Michael Hadfield

Michael J. Hadfield is 54 years old, born in Liverpool, England. In 1996, after many years spent in the computer industry, he developed an interest in psychology and trained as a clinical hypnotherapist and has since helped many people to live a normal life again after struggling with psychological problems such as phobias, stress, chronic anxiety, over-eating, smoking, stammering, shyness, low self-esteem and lack of confidence.

Michael also has a well-developed interest in spirituality. This interest led to a connection with an 'inner wisdom' or intuitive sense that has helped and guided him on many occasions and is especially attuned to the needs of clients for therapy.

On the 'fun' side of life Michael has a passion for photography and gardening and a small selection of his photographs can be seen on the pages of his website. He was a regular 'ornamentals' contributor, of both words and pictures, to Organic Gardening magazine for many years, with several of his photographs appearing on the cover of this magazine. His work has also appeared in Amateur Gardening, North West Gardener, and Practical Photography magazines.

He continues to explore his interest in health, healing, and the mind/body connection, with a particular fascination for the psychological causes of physical illness as well as the use of Pyschoneuroimmunological techniques for the healing of physical diseases such as cancer.