People come to me because they want to make a major change in their life (or in all honesty after they’ve gone through a major change in their life and they’re struggling to make sense out of what their life is going to look like now)… I help them create and embrace their new normal!
Some changes that people might choose to make might be something like smoking sensation, weight loss, confidence building, overcoming a fear or worry, relationship issues, performance improvement, etc.
Sometimes people are forced into changes, even major life changes, after an illness, an injury, some sort of unexpected loss, but sometimes even good changes- a change in job or a new home, a change in marital status, etc.
Change can be good, it can be exciting, it can be brought on by our own choice to make a change, and it can be brought upon us and we’ve got to figure out how to adapt. Regardless, there are things to gain and lose in making changes.
Today explore this idea so we can open up to possibilities and potential in order to embrace the new normal.
Since it’s such a common issue, I’m going to use the example of a client who might come to a hypnotist for weight loss. Technically, “weight loss” might be the benefit of the change- we are more likely going to focus on the choice to overcome emotional eating/distracted eating , making healthy choices with food and movement, etc.
One of the first things I’ll ask my clients is “why now?” This helps me better understand whether this is a choice the client is making or if they’re in a position they have to make the change. Sometimes the client themselves might be going through a medical issue that requires changes in their habits. Sometimes someone they love is going through a change and they decide to go along with the change- such as a spouse who needs to eat low sugar or low salt and the rest of the household is impacted. Many of my clients grew up and someone in the house was “always on a diet,” and that impacts the entire household.
Regardless of why the choice for change, next we’ll talk about the benefits of making the change?
I’ll get some common ones like weight loss, more energy, better mobility, more confidence, and sometimes there are even more specific benefits for particular clients- more confidence might help them get out and date, or look for a new job… these are exciting benefits but they can also be scary and create a block to the making the change.
That’s why it’s important to also be aware of the benefits of staying the same.
On my intake paperwork, I use the sentence “When I get better I stand to lose…” That helps us early on with assessing obstacles. Plenty of people will respond with “nothing,” but I’ve also had people acknowledge that one change opens the door to many other changes that can be wonderful and exciting but could also create difficulties in their lives (in the example of the new job or new relationship, those are pretty big changes!).
Generally speaking, the subconscious mind resists change. The devil we know in the current job or relationship feels safer to the subconscious mind than the possibility of what we don’t know in a new job or relationship.
In hypnosis, we dig even further to brighten and enliven the benefits of the change, and understand what is both exciting and scary about the change so the client can make the best decision for themselves to make long lasting changes in their lives and they can create their new normal!
