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| Photo by Rick Hustead |
The element of fire is also an effective metaphor in
hypnotherapy. For many of us, fire
represents passion in an emotion: love, anger, hate, jealousy. It can also
symbolize dedication, enthusiasm, excitement, desire: “There is/I’ve got a fire
in my belly.” When an event or interaction triggers an emotional reaction, this
response may flare intensely for a little while until enough time has passed to
temper that initial interest. Until that happens, it can feel like a battle is
going on in our mind and heart to handle the sudden overload of feelings,
perceptions and reactions to control our behavior. Sometimes we win that
battle. Sometimes we do not.
Like fire, emotions can be and feel very powerful to
the point where we feel or literally become overwhelmed by their heat and
force. A tiny spark can smolder for hours, days or even years before erupting
into a conflagration. Similarly, perception of a thoughtless word or action can
dig into the subconscious mind and trigger an inexplicably hostile response (parataxic
distortion) that is more a reaction to a previous interaction than the
current one. Nonetheless, to stay consistent with the fire metaphor, once this
metaphoric match is struck the verbal and emotional explosion can feel
overwhelming to all parties involved.
I tap into metaphors for all four elements—water,
air,
earth
and fire—to inspire and encourage clients’ desire to change an unwanted
behavior while simultaneously reinforcing their strategies to control previous
automatic responses to behavioral/emotional triggers. Because the element of
fire can be so volatile, it is useful to reference the power and stability of
earth and the cool, reflective characteristics of water to reframe an emotional
reaction or response. Similarly, when a client needs extra motivation to change
that unwanted behavior once and for all, the energy of fire is ideal to
re-ignite the person’s dedication to achieving that goal.
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/.
© 2017
