It is Friday
night. Perhaps you have just completed your work week; or, maybe you just
clocked in for the first of several night/closing shifts at one of your jobs.
The promise of Saturday and Sunday—the weekend—looms
large. Will you have time to complete all of those projects you promised your
spouse that you would definitely, absolutely complete by Sunday night? Has your
employer agreed to give you Sunday afternoon off so you can watch the Super Bowl
with your buddies? Perhaps your boss refused to give you that day off, after
all, and now you are bound and determined to remain in a foul mood all weekend
so others can know how angry and frustrated you are. Or, are your friends and
colleagues amazed that, yes, you are actually very happy to have to be working
or on-call at work because you are thankful to have a job in the first place…and
who cares about football, anyway?
Believe it or
not, your subconscious mind largely determines everything that you will do this
weekend, from whether you will have the weekend “off” or will be at work. The “knowns”
in your subconscious mind will influence whether you get together with your
best friends to watch the championship game or even know that February 2, 2014 could
be a make-it-or-break-it event for some athletes. Your subconscious mind
influences whether you will make a genuine effort to fix the kitchen cabinets
or ultimately postpone the project another week. Your subconscious mind
influences which tasty tidbits you expect to be served at your boss’ Super Bowl
party: you really don’t want to attend, but you just can’t resist Domino’s
pizza and Buffalo wings combination and, anyway, it would look really bad if
you are the only person from work who is a no-show.
Finally, the
mental scripts, or “known” beliefs and behaviors, in your subconscious mind
will determine how you react to everything that occurs this weekend. A rule in
physics states: “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction.” Similarly, over
the years you have learned that specific relationships exist between emotions
about/reactions to a specific, related event: If my team wins a championship, I
will be happy; if it loses, I will be sad/angry/etc. If I do my best, hard work
to complete a project that I promised to do for my spouse, I will feel good
about this work, my spouse will be happy and this task is over; if I do not
complete this job, everyone will be angry and defensive. If you attend your
boss’ Super Bowl party and the food is as tasty and wonderful as you expected
it to be, you might find that you will have a better time at the event than you
expected; but if the host only provides chips and salsa (or any/every other
dish other than the one you wanted), you will wish you never showed up in the
first place.
This weekend,
why not try something different to break this chain of expectations and
behaviors? Before you start your shift at work, or when you get home and kick
off your shoes to relax on the sofa, or before you head out to watch the big
game with your friends, take several slow, deep breaths. Visualize, imagine,
picture or pretend that you are doing “x” activity, and you feel relaxed and
comfortable the entire time. You are focused on doing your very best at work or
to complete a chore at home. You see yourself smiling and enjoying yourself as
you socialize and with the people around you. Visualize, imagine, picture or
pretend that you see yourself being polite and humble about the results of the
game, even if your team doesn’t do as well as you had hoped or expected it to
do. Since the subconscious cannot tell the difference between fantasy and
reality, allow this visualization exercise to create new “knowns” in your mind
and become your new reality or experience.
I hope you have
a great weekend!
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
