Escaping the Cage
Hope everyone’s feeling cosy now that the winter’s setting in. There’s nothing like being inside on a cold night - of feeling warm and comfortable in familiar surroundings.
Sometimes we do that in our minds too. We stick with the familiar even if it’s not the best place to be. Because it’s comfortable and because we know it. It feels safe. So even if a situation is making us miserable, we stick with it. Crazy, isn’t it?
In hypnotherapy there’s often a wonderful moment when you observe someone breaking free from a belief or behaviour that had been holding them back in life. This is as a result of the letting go of an emotional response to a past experience.
As a response to an unpleasant experience or trauma, the unconscious mind can set up a defence in the form of a belief or behaviour - to protect you in case the event recurs. Life then goes on and things change as new situations appear. But as the unconscious part of your mind is so determined to protect you, it fails to realise that it is now safe to adapt or let go of the defence. And so the defence - originally created out of good intent - now becomes an obstacle.
The result is, you become ‘stuck’ - unable to move forward but not knowing why as the cause of the belief or behaviour cannot be accessed by your conscious mind. If you have ever thought “Why do I do that?” at the frustration of consciously wanting to change and not being able to, this will resonate with you.
The true value of hypnotherapy, is that it allows you to become aware of these underlying causes and to negotiate with the unconscious part of your mind in order that you CAN change.
When the unconscious realises that it’s now safe to let go it does just that - and any self imposed limitations disappear.
The possibilities that open up then, well......they can be amazing!
Please add a comment
I find the idea of 'unconscious' or 'subconscious' mind quite an interesting and challenging one. The way I perceive it is as a belief that we have two states of mind - conscious and un- or sub-conscious.
This is something that, last I read, has not been proven scientifically. Because of this to this I try to be careful when talking about the aspects of one's self that are not easily accessed, the part that many call the subconscious; I try to label them as I've just done here.
For me, there's also something more empowering about thinking of the parts of your mind and experience that aren't commonly accessed as still there and still connected, rather than a mysterious 'other' brain that can control and manipulate you.
Thanks for writing this post and getting me thinking!