Fire Hydrants

(This blog was originally posted on July 14, 2014)

 

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

Have you ever seen something so often that it fades into the landscape—until you notice it again? That just happened to me. I must admit this experience took me by surprise, even though the mechanism behind it completely made sense.When I was returning home from an errand this morning, I saw several large trucks around the neighborhood testing fire hydrants. Since Southern California is in the midst of a serious drought, it made sense that the city would want to ensure that water was available to fight fires and test the equipment that would do this. What surprised me was how many fire hydrants there were, and where they were. I have driven down these streets for twenty years and I can’t remember ever noticing, let alone seeing, one of them!

     However, the presence of groups of people huddled around several fire hydrants in the neighborhood, testing that the devices had and were capable of providing water to fire hoses, was definitely unfamiliar (unknown) and deserved my notice. And, yes: I was curious about, if not (yet) alarmed by, what I saw. Within a few seconds, my conscious mind identified who these people probably were by their uniforms and the presence of utility trucks bearing a city label. (The presence of city workers checking over the neighborhood is also familiar, a known, in my mind.) I was able to quickly figure out what they were doing. The critical area of my mind accepted this information and sent it directly to my subconscious mind so I could go about my day. Once again, an otherwise mundane-turned-unusual experience perfectly illustrated the daily relevance of John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind.

But where did all of those fire hydrants come from when I wasn’t paying attention to them? And when did they show up, anyway?

     Of course, this phenomenon makes perfect sense. Actively noticing and responding to everything we perceive in our environment would completely overwhelm us; we would all be in a state of hypnosis every waking moment. Instead, once we determine that these objects or sensations are not jeopardizing our well-being or survival, our bodies tune out those stimuli so we can be more alert to new threats. Furthermore, unless something about the object suddenly changes—such as its color, smell or behavior—our conscious mind barely registers that the thing exists. After repeated exposure to that stimulus, it becomes a known in the subconscious mind: comfortable and even “safe” in its familiarity. There is no reason for the critical awareness part of our mind to reject this information and raise a metaphoric red flag that something new and unknown is nearby.

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®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.