A Burst of Energy
Photograph by Łukasz Strachanowski (cc)
Life seems brighter this week. The quality of light has changed, there is a coolness to the mornings, and I feel very much alive. Maybe it was a week spent in nature. Maybe it is the idea of new prospects on the horizon. I have a feeling of hopefulness about everything (come to think about it, maybe it was a week away from the pessimism of television that is influencing my mood). Maybe it is because I have been trying out David Mason’s 10 Steps to Happiness. Maybe it is because I have been maintaining my goal to do self-hypnosis everyday (with simple, positive suggestions to help me with various concerns as they arise). Whatever the case, I am filled with something other than restlessness, something positive and directing. I am not sure where the pull of the path with lead but it will be interesting to follow its dictates.
Something I have been experiencing lately is how I deal with the question – does hypnosis work? In my first years as a hypnotist, when someone would ask me this question (and they always ask me this), I would exuberantly launch into a diatribe filled with hypnosis enthusiasm. As the years have progressed, I find the question a little more annoying, but realize it is a way to connect with someone else, a way to educate. But recently, when people ask me this, darker thoughts occur. Would I be involved in a profession that offers nothings but scams and hollow promises (that is an emphatic NO)? Why would someone ask me “does hypnosis work?” Do you ask your doctor if his or her advice will “really work” (well maybe)? Do you ask your sanitation workers if the chemicals they use will really remove the dirt?
In my week away, while engaging in self-hypnosis, I asked myself why this question annoyed me so much. The answer came back that it takes a lot of energy to create change. In a career where everything is about change, I had lost sight of the fact that I am not only helping those who seek my services to achieve inner-change, but also helping change the face of hypnotism itself. Sure I come across the occasional person outside my field who is somewhat knowledgeable in the realities of hypnosis, but that sort of person is still not the prevailing population. That means that I have to maintain enough energy to have a realistic discourse on hypnosis with most people I meet. Sometimes my energy wains as I find myself repeating and re-repeating myself.
That is awful, isn’t it? I know. And so, that is one thing I worked on last week - rather than giving all my energy away on those conversations, I can gain energy from other people’s interest in what I do for a living. Today, I feel like this is all possible.
