The Transparent Hypnotist

It is a typical fall Saturday afternoon. I have been swamped with holiday catalogs and a partner who is into remodeling (yikes). I have never put much stock in the aesthetics of my office bathroom, instead focusing on creating a unique and comfortable environment for my session rooms. But I think maybe, the bathroom really is important, not just the cleanliness factor but how it makes one feel.

I am reminded of a recent expedition to a doctor’s office (I blogged about her acceptance of hypnosis a few weeks ago). She had just moved her office into a new building. It was well done, upscale doctor decor, but the bathroom - the bathroom was phenomenal. It was fabulously designed with an arty looking sink and faucet. It is actually nicer than my home bathroom.

So, I am also thinking faucet design now. I am totally drawn to the cleanliness of the Hansgrohe Stratos. It is completely simple, not daunting. It comes in a few finishes (brass underneath), but I am thinking along the lines of brushed Nickel for less finger prints. It seems quite affordable for the modern look. I found this one at faucets.com. Seems very straight forward, and I suspect my partner could even install it (since he is the one who got me into this mode).

If you cannot tell, I really hate sterile environments, but do crave professionalism. This is sometimes paradoxical.

Last weekend’s Esoteric Saturday subliminal software really caught on in my mind. LOL. Actually, I have been playing that software in the background of my machine since then. Not sure if it is doing any good, but there have been times when I wonder if it makes me a tad bit more aggressive - just a tad. But there are several other factors that could be contributing to that as well. I would need a therapist to help me decipher it all.

hypnotist (which we may go into at some point), she was a base-line for Speaking of therapist (do you like the segway?), I thought we would go into a blast from the past and bring out Eliza. Remember Eliza, the cyber-Rogerian psychotherapist? She was a computer program created in 1966 by Joseph Weizenbaum. Though she is not a cyberartificial intelligence. The program is rather simple in that she more or less just rephrases your comments into questions. She has been called a “parody.”

Here is a short conversation:

Ellie: What do you think of hypnosis?Eliza: Does that question interest you?

Ellie: Very much.

Eliza: Please go on.

Ellie: It is the most fascinating therapy ever.

Eliza: Please go on.

Ellie: Do you have any thoughts about hypnosis?

Eliza: Oh, i have any thoughts about hypnosis.

Anyway, thought she was something fun to explore. You can visit her here.

So, I sit there listening to the group discuss weight woes. The tea pot has boiled the water hot and I have offered this small group of hypno-weight loss devotees each a cup of green tea (and it is not as if I am being uncivilized, there is skim milk, lemon, honey or even pure sugarcane to top it off). Yet, here I sit, drinking my green tea black, alone, while one drinks a diet soda, one has a large litter-like, disposable, fast food beverage, one has a loaded energy drink, and one, bless her heart (and praise be) has bottled water - with saccharine flavoring.

They are bonding over their common issue - the need to lose a few pounds and honestly, if they could just watch their diet a little more and say, well, exercise every so often they would all be in great shape. Yet, these are the stereotypes who seem to come to my weight loss hypnosis programs. As they continue their struggle, and a struggle it is, it beginning to sound like a commercial for Subway. My big but comes from having a nine to five that binds me to the chair and all those fries go straight to the butt. My love handles? I love the extra burger and side order of grease on my sandwich. And if I eat cottage cheese, won’t the cottage cheese on my thighs be worse, cottage cheese is a cheese after all.

I am not sure which at this point really would be more helpful to them - twenty minutes trancing out to my voice or just playing with the new Subway site. It has more rapport and commonalities with them than my skinny-legged self. As they continue to bond and share the horror stories (and when the hurricane hit, I couldn’t even get a candy bar at the convenience store), I actually pull up the site.

There is the familiar drive through. There is the hysterically appropriate “Burger Town” guy to take the order. As they talk, I click on the menu for an order of “badunkadunk but” and out comes the dripping sarcasm. The group, once chatty, now becomes very quiet. I click randomly on the menu for a dish of condescension. There is actually a moment when I feel guilty. The group looks appalled, faces war torn from fad diets and exercising binges.

“What are you doing?” one of them finally ask and I turn the laptop around and show them. They crowd around, and initially after a hair raising moment, smile, then laugh. One writes down the site URL. Ice broken. Luckily, the site also offers some good advice on healthy eating and exercise. Jared is their hero and I wonder briefly about the likeliness of him coming to hang out with us.

Now they are pumped, ready to go, all committing to this program. I wonder if I really even need to give self-esteem or decreasing craving suggestions during the hypnosis or perhaps sharing the site was enough. At first, I feel a little threatened. Why come to me when there is always a Subway down the street?

Then I realize what an interesting tool it makes. The session ends. They all say they feel so relaxed and inspired. They agree that after the next meeting, they will have lunch at Subway and then go power walking in the park.

Goodbye badunkadunk but.

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The great cover-up. Literally. One of the most useful items I have in the office is a blanket. I throw it over a chair and if clients want to cover up, they can. And it always surprises me as to who actually does this. Sometimes it is the high school quarterback who wants to improve his concentration, the blue collar worker who is kicking smoking, or it could be madame CEO herself.

Always in a state of keeping the office fresh through the idea of redecorating, I have come up with another interesting concept. Since I have gone the route of digital picture frame inductions (for some), it might be fun to coordinate the images into other parts of the office, thus perhaps stimulating and reinforcing the suggestions. For instance, one of the pictures that makes a quick pass through the picture frame is now also framed in my rest room.

But what about the blanket, the cover up? This gives certain people a feeling of security, so would it not also make a great reinforce? Visionbedding.com offers such a product, the Photo Blanket . They reproduce your image onto a micro-suede fabric and the back is solar fleece (which means soft and comfy). They are machine washable and dryable.

I have to be careful thought…too many flowers might make the office too girly. I do not want the session room to look alike a teenage girl’s bedroom. Perhaps a landscape might be best.

Today I had an opportunity to have coffee with a hypnotist friend of mine who is finally making the big switch. That is right, she is moving her part-time practice out of her garage and into a spa. Pretty nice for her and much easier than running a business in a solo way.

She says her husband is elated because he will get the garage back. So, I started thinking about how many of us have at one time or another sacrificed the garage to our various professions or spouses’ professions. And I have to wonder, how many of us presently actually use the garage for the automobile members of our families.

I guess mine is still not really relegated to the car. And though I do not see clients there, it still is somewhat of a consciousness room. I do yoga there. I meditate there. And it is my make shift recording studio. No cats or humans, just drips and drabs of equipment, a comfy chair, and me. Oh, and a coffee maker.

It seems like garages are one of the most flexible spaces one can have. I can see why my friend’s husband is happy to have the space back. She is also buying him a celebratory red work bench and cabinets. Wonder if she will use www.carguygarage.com? That should look nice with the parquet floors from the office. Not sure it is what he has in mind, but it sounds lovely to my female aesthetic.

So, the question is, how many of you use your garage for your businesses?

How many of us have, during the course of our pre-talks, done the “try” to shake my hand routine? And of course when the client goes to shake the hand, we say that is “doing,” not “trying.” We do this to make a point when our clients say, “I’ll try…to be a non-smoker (etc.).” There is no try, either there is or there is not.

When discussing this with my partner one evening, in high wisdom, he emulated our favorite wise-one, Yoda, “Do or do not. There is no try.”

How fabulously perfect. So, for a while I have been known to quote Yoda rather than shake hands. And it is always fun to see who is a Star Wars fan, and who is clueless. Their eyes either light up, they think I am crazy, or they think Yoda is akin to Socrates.

So, at gift giving holiday times, I find myself collecting Yoda figurines and such. But, I have found something wonderful that trumps even the most detailed figurine (excluding the handmade sculpture I received from a young client, nothing beats homemade).

In looking for a theme for a special “child’s-view” office, I have found a center piece. I have found the Yoda monument. Yep, a fiber glass monument that stands 27 inches. And one could say it is an investment for the practice (it is part of a limited edition of 1000).

I found Yoda at a place that sells really cool toys at low prices. If you do cater to children at all, they have some interesting things from electronic toys to the ever-necessary Legos (they aren’t just for client kids, you know - they can be a great stress reliever).

Do not let the name of the site fool you though - shoplift.com. They cater to hobbies as well, and have some interesting arcade-like games and pinball (even we serious types need an outlet). I am still trying to work out a pinball induction. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Now I just have to decide on the rest of the furniture.

The people I traveled with recently are a creative lot. So, when it came to group guided meditations, my themes often involved unlocking creativity and such. But what I really noticed was the imagery that was enhanced by place or space. The stories, poetry and sketches that came forth from a simple guided meditation say at the Cadillac Ranch in Texas were astounding. While others were doing artistic endeavors afterwards, I continued meditating and seeing where the subject of the location would take me inwards. Still, I am processing all of it and what I learned about myself.

As I am contemplating a trip back to the UK, I noticed that the British Museum has an exhibit called The First Emperor: China’s Terracotta Army. These are literally an army of terracotta statues that were buried along side the First Emperor from Xi’an, China. Tickets are going like mad, so I have heard. But how fabulous they would be for a meditative exercise. I suspect, though, that it might prove difficult to do so at the museum with hundreds of people being shuffled through. And I have no pull there to get special dispensation. LOL.

In discussing this idea with my companions, another idea surfaced. Why not actually go to the actual site? Why not see the 8000 (plus) statues where they were discovered in Xian, China. There would definitely be something spiritual about this, probably interesting energy, and being surrounded by this archaeological find would resonate a deep cord in many of us.

Here’s the fabulous thing, dialaflight.com is currently offering a few side trips from the UK to China for just this sort of thing (not sure about the meditation part, but just to see them in their natural environment). They have an affordable package that includes a three night stay in China (they have longer options available) that would be perfect. I have always wanted to visit China, but perhaps now I can satisfy my craving for England, and seeing the Terracotta Warriors in their natural glory in the Orient. Life is exciting.

Wrapped in white
and here before you
wizened with words
or costumed as such
standing in the light
the persona grew
striking a mystic cord
and masking much
it is only as a sage
that I present this page.

In the realm of dreams and other fun things, I have decided not to embrace the nightmare. That is, I am embracing the world of sage wisdom and mysticism (with a little Roman Goddess mixed in) for All Saints Eve. Yes, that is what I am doing presently, working on the idea of an office gathering. And I say All Saints Eve because it is a time to remember those who have dearly departed from our lives, but as the legend has it, this is a time they come forth. I know, Ellie is venturing into the nebulous again, but I do have several clients who believe in the presence of those no longer on this plane. Many have seen psychics, mediums and invested in other avenues. I present none of these. But I was thinking about having a gathering for them based on a guided meditation of having a moment to say one last word (or a few) to their loved one.

Despite the deepness of the subject, I think the rest of the evening would be more toward merriment (what merriment you can have with healthy snacks and apple cider). I have thought about making it a costume event as well, hence the poem above.

That means I have to come up with an appropriate masquerade. So, with an artist friend’s help, we created a mock up for a Sage costume, using the Romanesque concept. I think this is my favorite costume yet (did you like my little poem about the costume?).

And because I have gone to all this trouble to create the concept, I entered it in brickfish.com’s Star Costumes contest. So…if you would not mind…please vote for me. And I open this idea up to you as well. You can enter this Halloween costume contest by clicking on this link. Let me know if you do, I will surely vote for you as well.

So, I know this is a little out of the norm, but it is what is going on with the transparent hypnotist. I hoped you enjoyed this little aside as much as I did working on it all.

There is a certain type of gloomy day that really appeals to me, the kind with a few thunderheads lurking in the far-off, no harsh glare to reality, just a softness of light. One can turn on the glow of a subtle lamp or enjoy the candle light in the mid-afternoon. No need to draw the shades (if you have any) and no client voices complaining about the light being too bright (ah, but that is why opne should always have eye pads handy).

And I have this fabulous dream (yes, I am doing that weekly exercise of the idea of changing things about) of moving my office into a conservatory off my non-existent home in the middle of London. An oasis of greenery and glass without the sound of cell phones buzzing in constantly. It would be in the back, overlooking a courtyard of boxwood. How wonderful such an office would be on a gloomy day or during the twilight hours. This is my dream office in reality. I am not so keen for a dimly lit space (as you may already know).

So I looked up the idea of Conservatory in England (ah, to be in England in…the Fall?) and found Anglian Home Improvements. I am torn between the Edwardian and the Garden Room versions, though I suppose it would depend on what housing I had at the time. A good comfy chair, leather (distressed) would be perfect for either. And some sort of antique rug would be nice as well. One could even work a nice induction into the falling rain on the roof glass.

The positive thing about this fantasy is that I can coordinate it. All I would need is a basic structure and this same company could take care of all my Home improvements so that everything would coordinate in modern technologies. Antiques windows and such are lovely, but I think something sound and new would be well worth consideration. If one company handled it all, the doors, the windows, even the roofing and garage doors could be coordinated. How handy it would be to just make one phone call, one meeting and that would be that. I am sure there would be more to it, but how sweet it would be to just deal with one place for it all. Plus Anglian has been serving the UK for more than 36 years, so they have plenty of experience with dealing with slightly neurotic females and their fantasies. I suspect they could handle me with kid gloves (a necessary when spending lots of money).

S0, there you have it. Another flight of fantasy. But you know, when you start actually looking into it, perhaps it is more like future planning, the beginning of a new manifestation.