To minimize risk of exposure to and spread of the COVID-19
virus and COVID-19 variants, I am continuing to suspend in-person hypnotherapy
sessions with me in my office. Meanwhile, phone, and Zoom consultations ARE and
WILL REMAIN AVAILABLE!
(This blog was originally posted on September 2, 2014)
Photo of Jon Bon Jovi, by Jennifer Berkowitz
I recently
witnessed something very interesting. While I was hanging out with my horse
yesterday, a crow sitting on a branch in the tree beside me started to imitate
the “honk” of some geese that belong to a next door to my trainer’s property. I know
that crows are exceptionally bright, but I have never seen or heard anything
like that. I don’t believe that this was just a case of mimicry, either: the
crow deliberately honked to the goose
several times as if trying to get the other bird’s attention. When it finally responded,
the crow honked right back a few times and then waited for the goose to communicate
again. Meanwhile, another crow nearby cawed at the original one in the tree;
the first crow responded in kind a few times and then resumed its calls to the
goose. How cool is that?
This incident
made me think about the different ways people imitate another person’s voices
in speech and in song. Not just the words someone else says but also even the
tone, pitch, rhythm/cadence of the words and even regional dialect or accent.
Why do we do this, and how—and when—do we know that we are getting it right?
For example, when I lived in England while I worked on my post-graduate degree,
I gradually developed a slight lilt in my voice. I didn’t notice this change in
my speech until I returned to the United States and people commented that I had
developed a cool accent while I was away. This change made perfect sense, as
the people with whom I worked, lived and socialized were British; over time, my
subconscious mind accepted these accents as a new known and I eventually
adopted it (or a version of it) as my own.
Similarly, I
often sing along when a favorite song comes on the radio or my iPod. My conscious mind knows that I do
not sound anything Celine Dion,
Annie Lennox, Katy Perry, Bon
Jovi or Tim
McGraw, but I still try to imitate those singers’ voices when I’m singing along
to their songs. Why won’t my subconscious mind let me give up that ghost and sing
without trying to sound like someone I’m not? Even when I consciously try to sing in my own voice, in the back
of my mind I can still imagine hearing what one of those performers sound like
and I catch myself trying to sing the same way.
My answer to
that question may be found in Hypnosis
Motivation Institute founder John
Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind. Dr. Kappas stated that from the moment we
are born we start to develop a subconscious life script by learning specific
behaviors through association and identification. Even though most of this
script is written by the time we are about eight years old, the mind continues
to take in more information which the subconscious mind may accept or reject.
For example, we learned how to talk by associating and identifying specific
words that a primary caretaker taught us, and then we imitated this behavior (e.g.,
how to move our mouths to create words) to speak. Over time, we also modeled
other people to learn and correct our pronunciation and increase our
vocabulary. Many parents or caretakers sing to their young children, which may
explain people’s fondness for listening to music and singing, or participating
in these activities ourselves. And, just like we did when we learned how to
speak, once we learn the words to a song we like we subconsciously imitate the way
the singer performs the lyrics.
I wonder if the crow I observed
yesterday was unintentionally imitating the neighbor’s goose to communicate
with the other bird the same way humans do in speech and song.
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Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist
based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation
Institute in 2005. Sara has been voted the Best Hypnotherapist
in Santa Clarita, California, three years in a row (July 2019, September 2020,
July 2021). For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy® and to set up
an appointment, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.
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