There is an interesting thing that is happening for me currently, and I believe it is a result of the work I am and have been doing using hypnosis.
The levels to which my emotions can fall have change; I thought I might be imagining it in a hopeful way, however Jaret, my husband, mused out loud how different my responses to challenging situations have been.
I attempted to explain the heavy curtain of hypnotic sleep to him and he came up with this analogy, which made it clear for him. What is happening inside me when I encounter these old triggers or difficult interactions is kind of like going to a large production outing, the kind with the red velvet ropes that herd people into their particular seats. When something happens that would normal have me rushing the stage to join the drama, instead, the kind but assertive bounder will stop me and direct me back to my seat.
In The Utopia Protocol Hypnosis System there is a trigger introduced for deep hypnotic sleep, which involves drawing a heavy curtain between the conscious mind and the hypnosis session, allowing better connection between the super conscious and subconscious minds. I believe I have successfully created that as a solution for myself outside of hypnosis with the initial help of my facilitators and follow up self-hypnosis practice.
There are certain old triggers in my life which, when activated previously, could derail my mood, sleep, and create a near obsessive state of mind; now instead of being an area of focus, discussion, or even silent rumination for days, I am returned to my usual Zen state in hours, sometimes an even shorter amount of time.
This is fascinating to me, the power of my mind to create my world as heaven or hell. It intrigues me when I see my daily life improving. There are times when clients come to me for a single session, after which I never see or hear from them again. I have no idea if that is because they were alleviated of their issue or if it was because they thought I was a quack! Now, I can see for myself, or rather in this case FEEL for myself the immense inner change. I am amazed and then infinitely grateful for these tools.
Over the past two years or more, I have been doing deep inner work to explore my triggers and their origins for years, really homing in on the identification and conscious resolution of ancient wounds. My life is markedly improved because of this focus and my willingness to allow my Higher Self or Super Conscious the freedom to assist.
Some things require a single session with the support of conscious habit changes during my waking hours; other issues are more onion-like and require repeated session work to peel and heal the layers.
Boundary setting and forgiveness are key to enable and reinforce these grand changes.
The work has been incredibly rewarding. Relationships that I wish to maintain with those who previously triggered me, have become, dare I say, enjoyable. I have better boundaries due to learning what to take responsibility for, what to let slide, and frankly, my limits of time to know when to walk away for the moment; allowing myself space to return to my set point of Zen before reengaging with them.
Forgiveness is the other important ingredient for the peace I found. I have come to accept that all of the experiences I had in these five plus decades on the planet have shaped me into the person I am today. I like myself and would not change a thing in my life, even the devastating loss of my daughter served to make me a better version of my prior self.
I believe there is no good or bad, no right or wrong, and no black or white, there are only experiences all perfect for me in their timing for my learning. Paraphrase from the teachings of Bonnie Bogner.
“There are no mistakes in life, only lessons. There is no such thing as a negative experience, only opportunities to grow, learn, and advance along the road of self-mastery. From struggle comes strength. Even pain can be a wonderful teacher.” …Robin Sharma
I say this even though I have watched my middle son dealing with the effects of type-one diabetes since age four. I painfully saw my daughter’s life end at age five from the ravages of a glioblastoma and lost my father to a track car accident when he was 65, on the brink of retirement. I have been through some seriously rough patches, although there are those whose lives present more persistent and devastating experience, I have death with enough to be speaking from a place of lived truth.
I do believe we come here to have these life experiences to feel a full range of emotions, with the goal being to find our way back to peace and love; that path includes acceptance, forgiveness of self, and others. The way there includes creating boundaries and influencing others where possible. Key is choosing peace for our own state of being.
I will try to describe the gift of hypnotic sleep for me as I experience it. In the past, triggering situations would have a familiar pattern: I would feel a certain way resulting in bodily tension and a sensation which felt almost like falling into a lower vibration. The fall would be accompanied by a parade of memories of previous encounters where I perceived the other person to have wronged me or where I would feel not good enough, having failed their expectations in a real or perceived manner. The current experience is vastly different; when the trigger is perceived, my body begins to clench, but instead of the fall, it is like I hear an Ooooommm and the feeling of the heavy curtain closing. If I do fall in vibration, it is if the bottom has lifted up and I do not shift into that uncomfortable lower state of being. This is not something that I choose to do consciously, it is a shift in the subconscious automatic response that is engaged in place of the vagal nervous system responses to fight, flee, or freeze. Every time it happens, I am left in awe of the shift I have made, and grateful to not fall into the trap of the blame, shame, guilt, and occasional rage trap.
My goal as a hypnotherapist is to take clients to the places which they need to go to do the work that they need to do. I provide then with the tools I think will assist them in getting there because I want everyone to rise up like I have and live life with greater Grace and Ease.
What are your thoughts?
What extreme life experiences have made vast and lasting change in you?
What is lingering that you are ready to let go of?