…all of a sudden it swept out of the darkness and jumped out towards me frightening the life out of me… what was this thing about to attack me on the streets of London at night?
The stress response had kicked in until I realised it was a plastic bag in the breeze! My heightened stress and anxiety was over a plastic bag! Have you ever had an experience like that? I saw something scary coming at me in the night. My wife saw a plastic bag in the breeze and had a good laugh at my expense and stress over a plastic bag. We both saw the same ‘thing’ but had very different experiences.
What do you see in the picture? Look at it now. Did you see a rabbit or a duck? This picture also reminded me of how we all see the world differently. We all have our own pair of ‘unique experience goggles’ we see the world through. This is why no 2 clients are the same at my hypnotherapy and coaching practice in Cornwall and on Skype all over the world.
Hypnotherapy help us access our subconscious mind. We have to filter what gets in to our consciousness as our conscious mind would not be able to cope with the huge amount of information our unconscious mind takes in. Our unconscious mind can take in up to 2 million bits of information a second. Our conscious mind can only process between 5 and 9 bits of information a second (although my wife says mine can only process 1 per second as I am deep in thought redesigning the cornflake!). The subconscious only puts in to our conscious mind what it thinks is important at the time. Imagine the anxiety and stress if you were consciously aware of all 2 million bits of information!!
What we experience consciously can be influenced by our beliefs, life experiences, expectations, values, emotions… This changes our experience of the world and our relationships. If we are experiencing our spouse/partner to be in a crabby mood and it is affecting your happiness,perhaps your feeling stressed, anxious or narky as a result, then it is what you are taking from that experience that is affecting you, not their mood. Your thoughts about that situation can determine your experience. This obviously works to a degree. If they are being threatening or abusive to you in any way then you may want to take more direct action.
The good news is that you can let go of your thoughts which can change your experience, this is what I help clients do at my Cornwall hypnotherapy clinic. You can relieve your stress by thinking differently. I can often internalise other people’s moods. Make assumptions based on my beliefs about myself rather than seeing it for what it actually is. Just their emotions. Their response to a situation/person/event.
More and more I am aware of my thoughts, the story I am telling myself about the situation based on my emotions, and I can let it go. Leaving me with a sense of peace. A position of love and peace which enables me to be life-giving to people rather than defensive. You can do the same with stress, anxiety or anger – anything.
It is not any particular situation that makes you feel stressed, it is your thinking about it.
Be aware of your thoughts, what are you telling yourself that is affecting your experience of the world and your relationships?
If you would like help letting go of unhelpful thinking patterns then contact me and we can explore how I can help at my London or Cornwall practice.
