The Transparent Hypnotist

This past Saturday’s esoteric post inspired me to go farther with the topic. Alex Robinson, graphic novelist extraordinaire turns out to be completely fascinating and open to discussions with fans (what a relief since the hypnotist behind Dilbert was not nearly so forth coming). Alex allowed me to interview him and post some of his panels. I am splitting this into two post because the panels run long. Tomorrow I will run the actual interview. But for now, enjoy Too Cool to be Forgotten…

Want to read more? Check out Alex’s publisher Top Shelf Comix. The story continues there.
Also, visit Alex’s web site, www.comicbookalex.com to see what other things this creative soul is doing.

Photograph by alfredo lietor

Comic books, video games, bubble gum, and lipstick – these are all things I take pretty seriously. Okay, maybe not bubble gum. I have never been much of a gum chewer (I was affected by people who insisted in chewing with their mouths open..yuck). In the past, I have occasionally mentioned my love of video games (including some wrist problems that stemmed from an overload one weekend). You may not know about my lipstick fetish, but hey, I am female – see me paint my lips. And as for comic books, I really enjoy a good graphic novel (the darker the better).

And yes, a comic book is the theme of this Esoteric Saturday, one that is not so dark in its graphic depictions, but of hypnotic interest. It is called Too Cool to Be Forgotten by Alex Robinson. Now I have not actually procured a copy, but I did visit the artist’s website and it offered a selection from the hypnosis portion of the story. It is an amazingly wonderful depiction of a session. The hypnotist has a pretty decent patter and the induction is very familiar. But what is really fun is the open panel of what the protagonist is experiencing during the session. Alex uses words (or thoughts in this case) to create a portrait (literally) of the guy. It is both hilarious and extremely realistic.

Hmm, perhaps this warrants a deeper look or at least a conversation with Alex. Stay tuned…

Well, the day has started like a whirlwind and somehow I have gotten way behind.  With a gulp of tea and a quick shower I must be off with very little content for this post.

So, to keep our energy up:

Two hypnotist walk in to a bar…

You finish the sentence.

I have been sitting at this machine for a little while now thinking what fun it would be to celebrate April 1. Perhaps something totally clever and ultimately silly would be good? I could speak of myths, misconception, and madness as thought they are reality, but I fear the mayhem that might ensue. So, now a tad sad, I realize that doing something crazy and fun might not truly lend itself to the cause. Hypnosis has enough trouble on normal days, so I fear that anything I could write in jest might not be taken as such. It could be discombobulated or even misread (which has happened a few times in my year of being the transparent hypnotist).

Well, shoot. This sucks.

Deep breathe. Long sigh.

Wait. Brain is still churning. I cannot leave this post like this. You did not come here for a downer.

Okay. Here goes.

Though I love hypnosis dearly (perhaps like a first love), I need something more reliable than just the amazing power of the subconscious mind. How it has fascinated me these several years. Romanced me. Titillated me. Oh, the wild ride.

But…it is time to leave the whirlwind behind me. I am going to go back to school and become a brain scientist. There is something really, quite, solid about that, you know? I so love math, probability, hypothesis, the rock-solid foundation and all that comes with the science name. And I think I shall consider an American Ivy League School, Harvard perhaps. That way, I have built in credibility. It is perfect. I can grow old, like a worn in bedroom slipper and content myself with years of dissection, scans, and the smell of formaldehyde (quick question - have they come up with better, less smelling stuff than formaldehyde yet, like in art, there is turpenoid rather than turpentine?).

There. Happy April Fool’s Day.

Sometimes no matter how much you plan in advance, it’s necessary to improvise.

Case in point: I’m getting a late start in my guest blogging stint because of the need to keep up with my day job (yes, I’m one of those part-time hypnotists) and a flurry of extra housecleaning in preparation for a visit from some friends. So while I’ve been thinking about blog topics for a week now, assembling a coherent post has proven more difficult than expected.

A friend of mine, Dick Dyzel, had a similar problem during his show last weekend at The Comedy Spot in Arlington, VA. Dick has been an entertainer and TV personality for … well, longer than it’s polite to say, and in the past year or so has branched out into stage hypnosis.

This past Saturday there was supposed to be a large bachelorette party attending his show, which should have made for a lively crowd and a very entertaining show. As show time approached, though, he had maybe 10 people in the audience and 8 chairs for volunteers on stage. A few more people wandered in as he was getting started, but the bachelorettes never did show.

So Dick adjusted. After his opening he asked for volunteers and got about five people, most of whom came from a group seated in the second row. He began doing a progressive relaxation induction, and people on stage began to relax and settle down. He moved into a modified Dave Elman mode, having the volunteers open their eyes and then close them again in the classic fractionation exercise. As the volunteers opened their eyes, though, their friends in the second row started waving and giggling and catching their attention. Four of the five came completely out of trance and left the stage, leaving Dick with a single teenage boy to work with.

So Dick adjusted. He pointed out, in a very professional and upbeat way, that the show would be a lot better with at least a couple of volunteers. A couple of people responded, and he ran through the induction again. This time all three of his volunteers worked out and he was able to complete the show.

This sort of thing is not limited to stage hypnotists, though. One day I was well into a smoking cessation session. I’d regressed the client to that first cigarette expecting him to remember coughing and choking and hating the taste, only to find that he was that one person in a thousand who actually enjoyed his first cigarette. Oops! So much for that negative anchor I was going to use; time to adjust.

Then there was the time I agreed to do a telephone session. I’d worked with this person before and she just needed some reinforcement and was out of town. So I made sure she had a headset for the phone and began my induction. A minute or two into it, as she was dropping nicely into trance, I heard a thud! and became aware that I could no longer hear my client breathing — she’d dropped the phone and in the process pulled out her headset cord! I had to wait for her to realize I was no longer there, come out of trance, and find the dropped phone before we could try again. This time she put the phone on an end table and we had our session successfully.

We’ve all had things like this happen to us, yes? I’ll admit that I even enjoy them sometimes, after the challenge has been meet and the desired result achieved. That need to deal with the unexpected is what makes working with the mind so much fun, after all.

And sometimes we get lucky. Dick, for instance, had a friend in the audience who was a hypnotist, someone he knew would go into trance easily and be very responsive, and who was willing to change his own plan by volunteering when the first wave abandoned the stage. Considering the other volunteer was my 14-year-old son, it seemed like the least I could do.

<MR>

Today is a work catch-up and clean-up day. On my to do list are several things including a little holiday shopping for Gifts. I received the following press release for gift baskets and I looked up baskets of relaxation. They all have candles and scented things, but it would it not be fun to give real relaxation? Perhaps a gift basket of “summer” including guided meditations for a day at the beach, some sand (maybe), and a bathing suit (bet you can find some on the clearance racks. LOL). just a thought.

Here is the Press Release that inspired this:

DelightfulDeliveries.com Recognized as Hot 100 Retail Website

Internet Retailer Ranks Website Among Best in Nation for 2008

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–DelightfulDeliveries.com, the premiere Internet Gift Retailer and America’s #1 Gift Basket Website, today announced it has been named one of The Hot 100 Retail Websites for 2008 by leading industry magazine, Internet Retailer. The Hot 100 list represents the best of what retailers are doing online, highlighting innovation and setting the standards in online for what the rest of the industry should be doing.

DelightfulDeliveries.com, a privately-held company, with one of the largest and most unique selections of gourmet gifts, ranked alongside larger sites such as Dell, Nike and Amazon.com, by building its award-winning site on selection, functionality, speed and the complete customer experience. A recent re-design has improved the customer’s shopping experience to make holiday gift-giving easy and enjoyable, including rating and reviews, behavioral recommendations and free shipping offers.

“We are extremely honored to be recognized as a pacesetter in online retailing,” said Eric Lituchy, Founder and CEO of DelightfulDeliveries.com. “We pride ourselves on using the latest technology to make gift-giving fun and easy. Being named among the best in the nation validates we are succeeding in our efforts to deliver the best possible customer experience.”

In addition to making Internet Retailer’s The Hot 100 list for 2008, DelightfulDeliveries.com was recently recognized by Inc. Magazine as part of its Inc. 5000, which highlights the fastest growing private companies.

DelightfulDeliveries.com offers over 2000 unique and delicious gifts from America’s best brands to the finest boutique shops. Consumers can easily shop the site by gift or food category, occasion, type and best-seller. Corporate gift-givers can choose from hundreds of customized gourmet treats.

For additional information, and to see a complete selection of gifts available, visit www.DelightfulDeliveries.com.

About Delightful Deliveries

DelightfulDeliveries.com is an award-winning website that began in 1998 and quickly established itself as one of the premier Internet gift retailers. Its mission is to bring great products to gift-givers, while providing world-class service. The company selects its offerings from a broad variety of fine food gift products for consumers and for corporate gifts, and gathers them in one place to make the selection process quick and simple.

Today I spilled coffee all over a suede jacket, not to mention my pants (and it hurt). I am working overtime to not let that be the sum of my day. You know how that goes. Sometimes it is easier than others. However, I am now cold. So indulge with me for a few glorious minutes while I try to move my attitude to a better place.

The topic is: what is your ultimate dream hypnosis job? Is it traveling around the world doing hypno shows? Working in a meditation lodge in the mountains? Street hypnosis in the largest cities in the world? Doing a workshop in Tibet? Seriously. What would it be?

Today, even though the coffee hurt, I would like a cup of Cafe Au Lait in Paris (I have never been). Yep, a hypno trip, staying in one of the nice Paris hotels. Then, since this is my fantasy, I would like to work with clients who have height phobias (that being one that I have personally conquered through hypnosis) at the top of the Eiffel Tower (consider this my being inspired by the mass hypnosis event in Scotland recently). That’s 324 m up, you have to minus a few because that includes the height with the flagpole. Then I would soar down from this height and head to a museum, maybe the Louvre, and do a few sessions on guided imagery (got to pay for those nice hotels). After this, I would go well into the mountains, the Roane Alps, and find some where cozy to bed down and have my own mystical experience of some sort. I hear that France hotels are fairly nice if you find the right one.

Okay, so there. That is my fantasy. How about yours?

The computer has been on overload apparently and wanted a break this morning. It decided to download binary files rather than opening my normal, routine sites. How distressing. But, I guess maybe it is good to shake things up. Change the morning routine. So today the shower came before the coffee.

For those of who who were kind enough to email about my animations, thank you. I am glad that you think they are fun. It is just so easy to get so involved with a subject that humor escapes like air being let out of a balloon in slow bursts. Perhaps the begining point of stress is when the last of the humor escapes and there is nothing left but a sickening seriousness.

So, for those of you who understand that I am just having fun with the advertising medium and our sterotype, good for you! For those who may be offened, I am sorry, but even I need to let lose every now and then. Do you? And if so, what do you do?

Do you ever have days where you just do not feel like working? You can do all the hypnosis in the world, meditate and still you have no desire to actually do what you are supposed to be doing? I am having an afternoon like that. I do not know if it is the cold or too much on my mind. I had ear marked this afternoon for marketing, but the idea seems pretty bleak to me.

So, I have been playing again…stay tuned to see what mischief I have gotten into this time.

The other thing I have going this week is my mini-session weight loss group. We are using meditation and guided imagery, but it is also beginning to feel like “pop culture” weight loss. Doesn’t that sound less scary than hypnotic weight loss? I am almost kidding here.

Well, after talking with the group last week, exercise is definitely something that seems fairly absent. There is predictable moaning about the subject. It isn’t fun. I don’t have time. It doesn’t feel good. I hate exercising alone. And so on. You get the picture.

I personally am in somewhat agreement. Running hurts my knees. There is such little time in the day. I am not dressed to exercise. Excuses, excuses, excuses. They are every where. However, I prefer my exercise in doses of fun or relaxation - I like it disguised as something else. I am faithful to Yoga and dancing. You have heard about the yoga, but probably not the dancing. I have a personal desire to get into competitive ballroom dancing (tango, thank you very much).

I am forcing this upon my poor weight loss group. Once a week, during happy hour, I am clearing my floor and cranking up the sound system. Welcome to Ellie’s Very Small Dance Hall. And dance we shall. Thanks to DanceCrazy.com, we can use their dance videos to learn all the right steps. Started by SalsaCrazy.com, they have expanded their repertoire. A little disco (do the Hustle), a little swing (it don’t mean a thing if it ain’t got that…), and heck, maybe even a measure of ballet (just kidding, but it is a possibility). It is step by step, world class dance instruction.

Anyway, Rumba sounds more fun than running. Salsa sounds satisfying. Waltzing maybe just wild. It will be a great way to let off steam and a few pounds without noticing the pain.