The View From Here

I was hanging a light fixture yesterday and kept dropping the screws.  You know how it goes, you're all alone, wanting this beautiful new fixture to be hung properly in a timely manner, and the damn screws keep slipping from your fingers!  Probably due to your arms shaking from having them overhead for so long, or is that just me?  At any rate, the screws were falling and I wasn't sure where they went.  I was getting frustrated because I had to get to work soon, but I had to finish putting up the light first...  I looked all around the carpet, into the kitchen and living room too.  I found one screw fairly easily, but the other was elusive.  I felt myself twitching in agitation.  I had to give myself a time out.

I went for a little walk around the parking lot outside and gave myself a little pep talk.

Decided that I needed to change my perspective.  Maybe, just maybe, if I shifted my reality a little the screws would appear as my reward for being flexible.

The first thing I noticed when I entered my home again was my little dog, Turner.  He tilted his head to the side and lifted his big, floppy ear towards me.  I could almost hear him saying, "Eh? You want to check it out my way?"  Ah, yes, Turner, be flexible like a puppy, brilliant!  "I think that would be a good idea, thanks," I psychically told him.

So I dropped to all fours, snuffled and made dog-like gestures (Yep, I'm pretty aware that if I were spied upon they would like think I was nuts!).  Alas, I was down on the carpet, crawling around for no more than 30 seconds when I spotted the missing screw!  It was tucked rather discreetly behind a large begonia.  It was completely out of site from a topical viewing.  But, in my dog-like stance I was able to spy it immediately!  I grabbed the screw and gave my pup a high five!

Change your perspective, change your life!  Well, sometimes your whole life may not shift immediately, but nevertheless, the incremental change of seeing something or someone from a different, often more compassionate, vantage point can be monumental to the karma that you attract in your life.  And, you just may find your missing screw!

As you reflect back on your life, the choices you've made, and the outcomes that have resulted from your choices, how often do you think you would have achieved a more desirable outcome had you taken the time to shift your perspective and look at alternative angles (of thinking, behaving, sharing, etc..).  I wonder how many times you can, in both your present and in your future, you can take a moment (even when you know you are right) to look at alternative perspectives, and make choices that bring forth the best and most positive win-win solutions.  I think that you will find it quite rewarding.  And, the more you practice, the easier it will get and the results will continue to enrich your life, and others'!

Focus on What's Important

So often it seems that I get buried in the minutia. All of the little incessant things of life that take me away from what's really important. A lot of times, they are also important things, don't get me wrong, just not the things that really drive my bus, so to speak. When you look at your life, and the choices you make that create outcomes, are you living what is important to you? Are you living what is important to others? Or are you living what you think will make you important? So many ways to ponder these questions, and questions within questions... The first thing that I think is good to get a handle on, is what IS important to you? What do you do that fills you with joy? With knowledge? With abundance? Who is important to you? Who really inspires you when you share time with them? Who makes you laugh like no other? Who do you melt into passion with? Who do you feel safe and comfortable with? Conversely, who do you share time with that makes you uncomfortable in a really healthy, growing way? Make some lists answering the above questions and any other questions that pull from them. Ask yourself, "Why are these things important to me?" "How did I learn that these were important?" "Did I come to this on my own, or did someone else tell me they should be important to me?" If they came from someone else, inspect them, check in about them to see if they are authentically something that is important to YOU because of YOU, not because you were told to hold them in value. Delegate out the not-so-important, but still necessary things. For example, if you can afford to, hire someone to clean your house every week or two so that you can use that time for something that really fills you up and inspires you. I struggle with bookkeeping. I just found out that for about $100 bucks a month I can have someone help me keep my books without a lot of extra effort on my part. How cool is that? Bookkeeping is important, but it certainly doesn't inspire me, so now I've found a way to delegate and maximize my time with the things and people that do inspire me! Focus on what is important to you. Let the other non-necessity things in life float on by. Our lives are enriched by our experiences, and as far as anyone knows for certain, we only have this one life. Fill your life with what's important!

Is Hypnosis Safe & Will it Help Me?

Hypnosis and hypnotherapy are often thought of as this ambiguous idea of "mind control" that creates fear and concern in many people.  The media has done a fine job of creating a mammoth misunderstanding about what hypnosis is, and what it isn't.  I would like to provide a little education to my readers, in hopes to squelch the fear patterns.  And, let's face it, we could all use a little less fear in our lives!   (One of the many things that hypnosis can help with, by the way!)

Hypnotic trance is a natural state that we are in and out of periodically throughout our day.  Any time that we are accessing our imagination... watching a compelling movie or television show... driving down the highway lost in thought... planning our lives in our heads with details and pictures, just like we are actually doing the activities... we are in a state of hypnosis.  Therefore, ALL hypnosis is SELF hypnosis.  A natural, safe, wonderful way to allow your conscious mind to rest and your subconscious mind to create!

Locked into our subconscious minds is everything that we have ever heard, seen, imagined, or interpreted.  Our perspectives, at different times in our lives, can be very different.  Remember when you were a little child and your uncle seemed so very big?  And now, as an adult, you can recognize that he's actually a very small man.  He didn't change, but your perspective of how you interpreted him, did change.  We do this with all sorts of stuff.  Something as innocent as overhearing your mother on the phone with someone when you are three years old, saying something to the effect of, "Oh yes, my girl is SUCH a fast learner!"  This seems really innocent, doesn't it?  A nice, positive thing to hear!  Well... maybe.  If this statement becomes locked into your subconscious mind as a truth about who you are and how you identify yourself in this world, what happens when you try to learn something new and you don't learn "fast"?  Maybe the result is that you think you are a failure.  You quit.  You work even harder to prove that you are a fast learner.  You feel like you've let down everyone.  You get depressed and frustrated.  You react full of blame and resentment.  These are all potential fallout of a pleasant, innocuous comment made when you were three years old that you identified with.

As crazy as that scenario may sound, I see it happening in my practice time and again, in one form or the other. Sometimes, it's a negative comment that locks in.  All of what we've heard, seen and learned is taken in through our personal perspective, and somewhere along the way, in our subconscious minds, we decide if it is true or false and then it dictates our behaviors, successes and failures, for the rest of our lives.

Unless we do something about it....

Hypnosis is a tool to do something about it.  A qualified certified hypnotherapist should have the tools to help assess where your stumbling blocks are, and how to navigate the relaxation process to delve into your subconscious mind and help YOU to discover the different things that have come into your awareness throughout your life (and maybe before), and for YOU to create resolution and peace with.

So much healing can occur when you actually understand all of the internal motivating factors that have to do with who you choose to be in this world, and how to change the parts that aren't working for you.

Hypnosis is not a medium to let the devil in.  It doesn't open you up to the "dark side" anymore than sleep does, or watching television, or meditation.  Like I stated above, it is a natural state.  When you work with a qualified, certified hypnotist or hypnotherapist, you will NEVER do anything or say anything that you do not (on some level) want to do or say.  I like to explain it like this--you and your therapist are taking a trip.  You are the driver and they are the navigator.  You have handed them the map of where you would like to be directed, but at any given time, if you choose to turn left instead of right, YOU are in control and can do just that.  A qualified therapist will help keep you on track based on the previously agreed upon plan, but ultimately, you are the boss and you get to exactly where you need to be, and what you are ready for, that day.

Sometimes, multiple sessions are needed to really get the work done.  Baby steps to help you reach your goal.  The old expression, "The teacher will appear when the student is ready" goes even one step further with hypnotherapy, "The subconscious mind will allow what the client is ready for".  Choose your hypnotist that you feel safe and comfortable with, who listens to you (both spoken and unspoken communication), and that you intuit will be supportive and knowledgeable about how to maximize your time together for the best possible results!

Now, allow yourself to relax into a transformative experience that is specially designed just for you and put your worries away!  You'll love it!