A woman client, Marge, telephoned me one day and said, “Does hypnosis work?” She wondered if I could help her feel confident about achieving a certain goal. “Sue, can I use hypnosis for anxiety?” she asked. “Can you tell me how hypnosis works?”
Preparing herself for the natural crossing over event, she kept questioning the details about it. At 93, Dave, her husband had already crossed over. She felt lonely without him.
Believing in the afterlife, she looked upon her own crossing over event optimistically. Yet, she was worried about it at the same time. Feeling mixed feelings can be a common occurrence for people.
Focusing on the worry about the possibility of pain being included at the crossing, she was “making herself crazy over it.” She wanted to stop the incessant mind chatter. That was the reason for the call.
After she revealed that mind chatter kept her awake at night, I explained how she was doing that. Again she asked, “Does hypnosis work? Can I use hypnosis for anxiety? Can you simply tell me how hypnosis works?”
Calmly I spoke back into the telephone asking Marge, “Do you know what hypnosis is?”
“Not really but I want to know what it really is. Is it mind control?”
“No, it’s not mind control. Do you know what focus and concentration are?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Would you explain to me what those thinking skills are? I just want to make sure we are on the same page here.” I said.
“Focus is focus and concentration is concentration…”
I chuckled. “Yes, excellent, Marge! But could you be a little more specific?”
“Ok. Well, I guess that when I focus on something, it seems like I’m giving all my attention to it. And, when I concentrate on that same something, say when I used to read a recipe to bake biscuits for Dave, I was REALLY focused on getting through each step of the recipe. I wanted to make sure everything turned out good for him. You know Dave really liked to eat…”
“Right, and I bet your biscuits are scrumptious! So, I see by you describing how you use focus and concentration, you do understand what focus and concentration are. They are actually natural thinking skills we must develop and use to achieve goals.”
Hypnosis is a Natural Thinking Skill
“Yes. Right. Thinking skills. That sounds about right.”
“And so did you notice that when you were baking for Dave, nothing else seemed to matter? You were in the kitchen focused on following the steps in the recipe, right? You wanted to make sure your biscuits were as tasty as possible for Dave and you, right?”
“Right…”
“Well, you actually used hypnosis while you were baking biscuits. Hypnosis is a way to think. It is a way to extraordinarily focus and concentrate on achieving a goal. It’s a natural and normal thinking skill ability. Only, when you hypnotize yourself, and all hypnosis is self-hypnosis really, you relax. You use your mind and brain together to strongly focus on achieving a goal.”
“Okay, but how does this help me stop feeling worried about crossing over?”
“Currently, your mind is focused on asking questions you are only guessing the answer to. Did you know I’ve already had three near death experiences myself? Did you also know I’ve been helping people for years with this same event?”
“No, I didn’t know that…”
“Yes, after my own son died and we had Hospice come in and help us with that, it just seemed kind of natural that I started doing palliative care with others. Only the coaching I provide is of an intuitive, inspirational nature. I’ve already had experience myself with this event and came back. Maybe your intuition suggested I’d be the right help for you?”
“Maybe, but I didn’t even know it!”
“That’s okay. Getting back to what hypnosis is, it’s using your mind to focus and concentrate on achieving a goal. I help clients use it to reduce stress naturally. And that’s all worry is; it’s focusing on what you don’t know or on what you can’t do and believing there are no beneficial options to a situation important to you. When you focus on what you CAN’T do or on what you DON’T know, you worry. But, when you focus on what you CAN do, you move forward. You no longer focus on worrying and being unable to improve things. Instead, you focus on different thoughts that improve the situation. Those thoughts bring you comfort. When you ACT on THOSE thoughts, you feel mentally and emotionally calm. Understand?”
“I think so…”
“Let’s go back to the story about making Dave biscuits. When you read the recipe, were you thinking or saying to yourself, “Oh, I’m so worried I won’t be able to make delicious tasting biscuits for Dave! Oh, I’m worried I will forget to add all the right ingredients. Oh, I’m worried I might add in some cayenne pepper and they will be too hot!” or something like that?”
Marge chuckled when I talked about adding in cayenne pepper. “No, that’s not what I was thinking at all. I just knew everything would turn out all right because I had probably made them about a hunnert times before! Funny about the pepper. You’re funny.”
“Well, when you intensely focus and concentrate on talking yourself OUT of being able to achieve a goal, you hypnotize yourself into feel worried. That’s how you create mind chatter. But you can do the reverse, too. Once you intently focus and concentrate on how you can easily ACHIEVE your goal, you hypnotize yourself into achieving your goal. But, you’ve got to ACT on the belief. Believing and ACTING on the belief is what causes movement. That movement can be keeping you stuck in one place, move you backward or forward. It’s all in your viewpoint!”
“That’s it? That’s all hypnosis is? It’s intense focus and concentration? Well then, what is all the fuss about hypnosis being harmful?”
“Hypnosis has gotten a bad rap through the years. If you suggest to yourself you CAN’T do something, people say hypnosis is to blame. But that’s just not true. People think their own thoughts. Sometimes they need help thinking thoughts in a certain structure to achieve their goals and live their dreams in a way they prefer. That’s what a consulting hypnotist does. We act as a guide to help you more toward desired goal achievement.”
“Okay, so now that you explained what hypnosis is, when can we get started on helping me solve my problem?”
“Right now.” And as I guided Marge to relax and intently focus and concentrate, using her imagination and BELIEVING she could achieve her goal, she masterfully developed the natural skill of hypnosis. And, she acted in an optimistic manner believing everything would turn out all right.
It’s something you can do, too. If you want to improve your thinking and concentration skills to live life according to your desires, wants, needs and dreams, call me today for a free consultation in the US and Canada at (740) 531-0400. You’ll be glad you did! Or email me with your questions or thoughts now right here!