(This blog was originally posted on July 8, 2014)
“Your rescue is within you.” – Lauretta NgCobo, Nigerian Writer
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| Photo by Rick Hustead |
I have been
thinking about heroes a lot lately.
It is more than
a year since the last season of 24 has concluded, and once again I am
thinking about how fantastic it would be if there really was a Jack Bauer to
sweep in and save the world. Yes, he is very rough around the edges and
sometimes takes a—well let’s just say he tends to go “rogue” when it comes to
getting the job done. But he does get
the job done. Whenever I hear Bonnie Tyler’s song, “HoldingOut For a Hero,” I think of Jack.
On a similar
theme, another one of my favorite television hero-types is a disgraced detective-turned-cab-driver
called Mike Olshansky on CBS’s short-lived series, Hack. The hero—or anti-hero, depending on
your point of view—has a knack for turning up at the right time when someone
(usually one of his fares) is in the wrong place. He saves the day and then
quietly disappears. The only token of gratitude Olshansky ever wants is a
promise that whomever he has just rescued will not reveal his role in the
rescue or even his presence at the scene. The tagline for the series is, “When
you need someone who answers to no one,” and that line still resonates with me.
The television
characters of Mike Olshansky and Jack Bauer use their experiences and skills in
law-enforcement officers to rescue clients or, in Bauer’s case, save the world.
As far-fetched as some of their actions and derring-do might seem, these
abilities make sense when we think about all of these behavioral knowns stored
in the mental script of each man’s subconscious mind.
When
I first read Ms. NgCobo’s quote, it reminded me of times in my life when I have
had to rely on myself to solve a problem or to get the job done. While I never
went to any of the extremes that my television heroes did to save my day, looking
back, I am very proud of those accomplishments. I even have a couple of songs to
remind me about this on my iPod—Mariah Carey’s “Hero” and Whitney
Houston’s “Greatest
Love of All”—that still make me smile when I listen to them. The wistful lyrics,
and the soaring voices of the women who deliver them, are like a mini pep-rally
that remind me I still (and always did) have that can-do attitude.
My
training at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute
helped me to identify, refine and nurture the skills and beliefs that brought
me to HMI in the first place. In a way, earning my hypnotherapy certification
was a kind of “self” rescue. But this education also opened my eyes to the fact
that every one of us is capable of
stepping up to a challenge and becoming our own hero. We all possess a
particular skill set that enables us to achieve great things, things that no
one else can do the way we do them. We just have to be reminded or become aware
of all those wonderful things we can do.
Guess
what? When you are your own hero, no others need apply—and you might even get
to help rescue someone else along the way. How cool is that?
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/.
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