To answer you question about putting myself in a trance, I can just do that automatically for a light trance. Once you are used to going into trance, whether from self-hypnosis, listening to tapes like Paraliminals, practicing the Silva Mathod, accessing the Accelerated Learning State, etc. you can pretty much just get into the state automatically. By light trance I mean a state like the accelerated learning state. I can do this when I'm active in situations like shopping and even martial arts training. At first you might want to stop what you are doing and close your eyes and do the 3-2-1 method. Even just doing the "tangdarine technique" and photofocusing will work. After a little practice you should be able to do it at will.
As to what I did using the Silva Method, all I did was imagine that I was where the object was once I was in trance. I sort of focused on what I was looking for and saw what surrounded it in the case of the phone or let my intuition guide me to what I was looking for when I was shopping. It really was that simple. 
BTW, I just finished listening to the newer Silva Ultramind ESP CDs this morning. IMO the 6-tape program published a few years ago was much better. I was thinking 2 more tapes would be better.
[This message has been edited by Dosetsu (edited April 13, 2003).]
