Narrative Therapy and Hypnosis

Most people are familiar with Charles Dickens' story, A Christmas Carol, in which the miserly Scrooge is visited by three spirits who frighten him into becoming a lovable old man who "knew how to keep Christmas better than anyone." If Dickens had written this story in the 21st century instead of the 19th, Scrooge would probably have made three visits to an experiential hypnotist. But, instead of "scaring the Dickens" out of him, the hypnotist would use reward rather than fear as an incentive, and would not be limited to merely intervening at the emotional level.

I know of no other technique besides hypnosis which enables us to work simultaneously with attitudes, emotions, and behavior in order to facilitate lasting change. For example, I was recently working with a client who was going through several anxiety provoking stresses at the same time. She was an excellent amateur gymnast, however, and she would probably have had great success if her family had the means to allow her to compete at the national and international level. She responded extremely well to hypnosis. To boost her confidence and self esteem, I helped her to experience the thrill, the exertion, and the triumph of winning an Olympic competition in a parallel universe, and having the gold medal hung around her neck at the end of the ceremony. At the conclusion of the session, she opened her eyes, obviously thrilled to the core, and exclaimed, "Wow! I just won a gold medal!"

She knew that she had done this in hypnosis, but it didn't seem to make any difference. We chatted for a while, and I jokingly mentioned that I should adopt the motto for our practice that some dance studios use, posting a sign outside which read, "Walk in, dance out." To my surprise, as I watched her leave the office and walk down the hallway to the door at the far end, she was dancing!

She later told me that she had no more difficulties in facing her current stressors with resolution and courage. Just as the three spirits had done for Scrooge in Dickens' story, suggestion-enhanced experience had changed the life of my client by changing the ongoing narrative of her life.

Keeping Passion in a Long-Term Relationship

How to Cope with Flashbacks and Panic Attacks

Here is a list of grounding techniques which you can use immediately, to help when you have lost control of your surroundings in a panic attack. Grounding techniques work well not only with panic attacks, but also with flashbacks from PTSD.

First, look around you. Find five things you can see, four things you can touch, three things you can hear, two things you can smell, and one thing you can taste.

It is also good in a flashback to ask yourself how old you are now, to differentiate from how old you were when the trauma actually happened.

One of the worst things about having a panic attack is how frightened you are about having the next one. Please share. It could really help someone in need!

Steven Hawking Confirms Imaginary Time and Parallel Universes

In the vollowing video, Steven Hawking provides confirmation of both imaginary time and the concept of parallel universes.-- and, most importantly, he's a hoot!

Imaginary numbers are "real," of  course, or we would not be able to use them. They are "imaginary" only in the sense that they do not fit into the mathematical model we happen to be using at the time. Imaginary time is "real," but it happens to be outside of the model of reality we have constructed for ourselves. When a hypnotist provides both the opportunity and the occasion for imaginatively gifted people to use their imagination in an "Alice-in-Wonderland" fashion to go ahead and do so, the resulting experiences can be just as "real" as ny others!

Here's a quote from Steven Hawking which appears to lessen the distinction between external reality and the reality we believe in for other reasons.

One might think this means that imaginary numbers are just a mathematical game having nothing to do with the real world. From the viewpoint of positivist philosophy, however, one cannot determine what is real. All one can do is find which mathematical models describe the universe we live in. It turns out that a mathematical model involving imaginary time predicts not only effects we have already observed but also effects we have not been able to measure yet nevertheless believe in for other reasons. So what is real and what is imaginary? Is the distinction just in our minds?

 Can the exploration of alternate Universes in our imagination help us live better lives in this one? Try it and see!