(This blog was originally posted on April 11, 2014)
 |
| Photo courtesy of Sara Fogan |
I stopped at a local Starbucks®
on my way home from the barn today. It was a hot afternoon so I thought an iced
beverage would be a good choice: but, which one? Sweetened iced tea? Iced
coffee? Iced tea or tea with lemonade
would be refreshing, but I would probably drink it very fast and need something
more to completely quench my thirst. Iced coffee was a possibility. Then again,
an iced hazelnut latte or an iced caramel macchiato was appealing, but the milk
and syrups would make the drinks seem too heavy and less likely to quench my
thirst. The line was long enough that I had several minutes to ponder my
options. Even though I was going to use a gift card to pay for the drink I
still had to consider the cost: iced tea costs less than a latte, a latte is
less expensive than the macchiato…what did I want to drink, and did I have
enough on the card to pay for a more expensive beverage? (I thought so.)
I still hadn’t completely made up my mind when the barista
asked me what I would like to order. Ultimately, I settled on none of the
drinks that I and I had previously considered and ordered a Starbucks double
shot over ice. On the one hand, I wasn’t really surprised about my ultimate
choice because it is my favorite, go-to beverage on a hot day. Its strong
flavor and the image of milk swirling and drifting to the bottom of the plastic
cup are so aesthetically appealing to me as to be temporarily mesmerizing.
Also, since I used to prepare this drink at a local Barnes and Noble Café, its sight,
smell and taste have become “knowns” in my subconscious mind. So, why did it
take so long for me to make up my mind that I wanted this beverage before I
ordered it? It’s not like this was a major purchase or anything…
On the other hand, when I really want to do something—when something is very important to me—I
just do it. I don’t do too much strategizing about how to attain that specific
goal, either. I basically just visualize, imagine, picture and pretend that I have
already achieved it and then carry on as if success is a foregone conclusion. When
I decided to pursue my postgraduate degree in London, England, I worked hard to
earn the requisite grade-point average that would qualify me for a spot on the
course; then I just sent in the application and waited for my acceptance
letter. Similarly, when I decided that I wanted to fulfill one of my lifelong
dreams to own a horse, I simply pitched a couple of offers to my then-trainer,
Jim O’Leary, to buy one of his schooling horses that I liked. When Jim and his
wife, Connie, accepted my second bid, I bought the horse. (They even let me
write the purchase agreement.)
One of the classes in my Neurolinguistic Programming
certification course at the Hypnosis
Motivation Institute addressed strategies for achieving a goal. It wasn’t
until I volunteered to allow one of the instructors, Joe Leeway, C.Ht., and my
classmates analyze my horse-purchasing strategy that I realized a lot more
thought and planning typically goes into accomplishing a major goal or task. My
process seemed to be overly simplistic, similar to the motto I once saw on a Cowgirls
Unlimited T-shirt that read: “Cowgirls (Saw it, Wanted it, Had a Fit) Got It.” Surely,
there had to be more to my story then just seeing the horse, wanting and then
buying him? Didn’t I have to readjust my goal? Did I ever need to recruit help
or activate other resources or strategies to attain it? Joe and the other
students asked over and over.
Actually, no: Before I actually met or even rode my future
(first) horse, I saw his name on a stall door: Jeeves. That was on the day of
my first riding lesson in about 20 years. I remember saying to myself, “I have
to meet this horse.” I had lived in England for seven years and was a fan of
the Jeeves and Wooster novels by P.G. Wodehouse. I had even met and had a photo taken
with actor Stephen Frye, the actor
that portrays “Jeeves.” As far as I was concerned, this horse was destined to
be in my life, end of story. I just sent a picture of myself owning the horse
out to the universe, and then waited a few months for that dream to become
manifest—no strategizing required, just patience.
And he was worth the wait.
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/.
© 2015
