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