A Different Perspective

(This blog was originally posted on August 8, 2014)

 

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

    It’s uncanny how spending time and distance away from something gives you a brand new perspective on that situation when you come back. For example, as I finish re-reading Night Fall by Nelson DeMille, just about every page is yielding new details or references to the looming Al Qaeda attacks of 2001 than I remember reading before. The words on the pages and the plot twists in the book have not changed. However, my familiarity with the story, protagonists and the author’s writing style has probably enabled me to notice details I overlooked before.

     One explanation for this phenomenon could be that I am actually more relaxed than I was the first time I read the novel. This makes sense: Night Fall is a very exciting and fast read. I still remember how hard my heart pounded as I got swept up into the action. I couldn’t read fast enough to find out what would happen next, and it was all I could do to not turn to the next page before I finished the one I was on. Even though reading is typically relaxing for me, my physiological response indicated that I was actually agitated—even anxious or stressed—than relaxed. My conscious mind knew that I was not in imminent danger, but DeMille’s writing conjured specific images in my subconscious mind and convinced it that the opposite was true. In other words, my SCM translated the anxiety/excitement I felt while reading the novel as “danger” and my sympathetic nervous system probably went into fight/flight mode to protect me (my body). I couldn’t take the extra time to consider and digest each word on the page because I was literally “running” away from the danger my SCM believed I was in. Without intending to do this, I started skipping words or phrases that my mind identified as triggers of my anxiety before my conscious mind could process their meaning or implication.

     Now that I am reading the book for the third or fourth time, I am more desensitized to some of the more shocking scenes in it. Since my conscious and subconscious mind know what is coming next, I can allow myself to linger over or even re-read a paragraph that I don’t remember from the last time(s) I was on that page. Night Fall is still a thrilling thriller for me, but now that I am able to be more relaxed as I read it, I am able to enjoy each and every word of it.

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014

When Self-Confidence Is on Thin Ice

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Tune out all negative discussion and comments
about things that have already happened.
Focus on what you are doing now.

                On Saturday night, I watched the United States Ladies’ figure-skating championship. This was the big night for these women, because the outcome of this competition would (could) determine who would be on the U.S. Olympic team in Sochi, Russia, next month. One of the skaters—a “favorite” to win the championship—had apparently been repeating some very costly mistakes in her recent skating competitions and had fallen a few times, too. A reporter mentioned that this woman had apparently just missed being selected to compete in the Winter Olympics in 2010, so she was probably putting even more pressure on herself to make the 2014 team. He went on to describe the extra hours of training she had put in and then listed all of the previous skating “faults” that had kept her off the podium in recent championships.  The pressure was on, and I tried to think positive, confidence-boosting thoughts for her as she started her program. This is what I would like to have said to her and some guided imagery that I would have provided, to help increase her confidence so she would feel comfortable to go out and skate her best:

·         Tune out all of the negative discussion, comments and analysis about your previous events that you may overhear around you. These things have already happened. They are over, and it is time to focus on the program you will be skating now.

·         Take a minute to relive how confident and enthusiastic and joyful you felt when you won your last championship. When you have a good image of this experience, draw a deep breath and feel the power, excitement and confidence that you have when you have skated well. Then release any lingering negativity or doubt as you exhale that breath.

·         Allow your body to do what it already knows how to do. You have done each of these jumps, spins, arabesques, etc. thousands of times in practice and in other competitions. Your body knows how to do each of these things, so keep your mind/thoughts out if your body’s way.

·         As you smile during your performance, notice how this smile is building and boosting your confidence exponentially. The more you smile, the more confident you feel. The more confident you feel, the bigger your smile becomes, and so on.

·         As you skate, enjoy how you feel as you glide, spin and leap over the ice. Skate for the love of skating and how good it makes you feel.

·         You are already a champion many times over! You are competing at this national championship because you earned the right to be there, through the various competitions you have won in the past year.

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.