The Legacy of Peter Jennings:
His Weakness Is Your Strength

Peter Jennings was more than a great news anchor; he was also a caring, curious, and compassionate human being. He was a great role model whose passion for excellence overcame his deficiency of not completing high school (something he certainly did not advise doing). The sad loss of Peter Jennings has been a wake-up call to many smokers: the American Lung Association reports that calls and inquiries doubled within hours of his death. However, fear can be a fleeting and momentary motivation. While Peter has passed on, hopefully the lessons to be learned from his death will linger.

When Jennings shared the news of his cancer to the American people, he referred to himself as weak, admitting he had been a smoker for far too many years. Peter Jennings and the millions of people who smoke are not weak, but addicted. It is not a character flaw but a hardcore addiction, and thus must be treated with hardcore change. Rewiring the brain or training the brain to think and act differently is essential for breaking any bad habit, addiction, or behavior that sabotages your success. Lasting behavior change requires a change in your belief system by rebooting the brain and reprogramming your mind for success.

Whether that nagging habit is smoking, eating too much, drinking, drugs, gambling, pornography or stress, pain, and poor performance, neuroscience now provides answers that are found in the unconscious mind. Jennings stated that it was through hypnosis that he finally quit smoking in the eighties, but the stress of 9/11 unfortunately lured him back. (Stress causes a “downshift” in the brain where we resort to our instinctual brain and find comfort in our old familiar bad habits and behaviors.)

However, just as you take your body in for a physical and your car in for a tune-up, so too we need to continually renew our thinking and restore our minds for optimal performance. As physicians become more aware of the mind-body connection, hopefully they too will help their patients live longer, healthier lives by recommending alternative resources that do make a difference. Until there is what I refer to as a “MindShift,” nothing changes. It is why 85%–95% of all diets fail. First of all, diets have a beginning and an end. Beating addictions is a lifestyle change and a change in thinking patterns that is not a six-week plan or maneuver. It is a life plan and action strategy.

One of Peter Jennings’ last requests was that we learn from his mistakes and quit smoking (or never start). For over thirty years as a psychotherapist and hypnotherapist, I have helped thousands of people kick the habit—any habit—including that of negative thinking, which interferes with all of life’s dreams. Unfortunately Jennings had smoked for too many years before discovering hypnosis, which finally gave him the mental blueprint to at least extend his years of love and service. To better understand how hypnosis and the power of the unconscious mind can change your life, the following information was taken from my interview with John Assaraf (in my book, Winning! How Winners Think—What Champions Do).

Brain Boosters: Change your mind, Change Your Life

1. Change your core beliefs: 83% of actions are rooted in the unconscious mind.

2. Commitment: Interest alone will not reverse an established behavior pattern.

3. Develop mental efficiency and shortcuts: Thoughts and impulses on the conscious level race at a top speed of 140 miles per hour. However, thoughts and impulses on the unconscious level rocket at a breathtaking 28 miles per second. We process information 24/7.

4. Beliefs more than truth create our habits.

Belief + Experience x Repetition = Habit
Habit + Experience x Repetition = Conviction

5. Energy is power: Your thoughts are energy and thus the motivating force of change.

6. The choice is yours: Your brain is the switch box and the control center for the realities you create.

7. Forecasts of the future: Check your current thought patterns that determine tomorrow’s successes or failures.

8. Magnetism and attraction: Your thoughts create an energy field that attracts more of the same positive or negative energy. What is your alignment? There is no such thing as a healthy victim.

9. If you don’t like the printout—change the blueprint. All change begins from the “insight” out. Your mental images, self esteem, and what you believe you deserve will determine what you get.

10. Learn the (Donald) Trump philosophy:

“To be a winner you must think like a winner and never quit.”

Peter Jennings was a winner who lost the battle by not having the right ammunition or tools to change early enough in his fight. Hopefully these tips will enlighten you to train your brain to overcome obstacles and attain your personal victories.

Mind-empowering strategies such as visualization and hypnosis actually create new neuropathways and thicken them with repeated exercise. If physical exercise and daily workouts strengthen your physical body, think of what a few mental gymnastics might do to help you take charge of your life.