Hypnotism in Real Life: Have You Experienced It? By Wendy N. Lapidus-Saltz At Isnare.com Ezine Articles

Someone offhandedly comments that a salesperson hypnotized them into a purchase. Obama is seen by some as having hypnotized voters into voting for him. A commercial, an effective teacher, a persuasive friend, is characterized as having hypnotic powers.

When a man spends more time with his new girlfriend than with his buddies, you may hear them joke “That woman hypnotized poor Phil!”

The idea, facetious or not, is that Phil is choosing her over them only because he has lost his free will.

But unlike its portrayal in the horror films of yesteryear, hypnotism does not remove free will.

A charismatic leader like Jim Jones was not using mere hypnosis; rather, every action he took, every comment he made, and every detail of his organization and its physical surroundings was constructed to create blind obedience.

Proper hypnosis, on the other hand, is a cooperative, respectful endeavor where the client is in charge, and the practitioner supplies technical expertise to support the client’s healthful needs and desires.

Yes, you may allow yourself to be swept up by a moment, emotion, persuasive argument, attractive visual, or set of tasty words, but most of the time you are simply choosing a feeling you prefer.

The key words here are “you” and “choosing.”

In a hypnosis session—a genuine, in-the-office-with-a-certified-hypnotist session—you have free will, despite movies and books that fantasize otherwise.

For example:

Do you know someone who attended a smoking-cessation session solely to get family members to quit nagging? If the client isn’t choosing to quit, and shows up only to say he made the effort, he will likely start smoking again despite the skill of the practitioner.

This is a demonstration of free will at work.

People fall in love because they want to and have encountered someone who matches their criteria for Love Object.

Most people know only their conscious criteria for a mate (gender, age, looks, personality type, educational and economic stats) and not their unconscious criteria.

Unconscious criteria can diverge strongly from the conscious, which is why your love choices can shock your friends and even you.

If you were raised in a household with an ill parent, you may find yourself attracted to potential mates who are unwell or needy.

Consciously, you want someone fit, strong, and athletic. But you are adept at handling illness and weakness, and unconsciously you feel most useful, skilled, and fulfilled when doing that.

Looking back, you might recall that many of your love interests had or developed chronic ailments. Conversely, someone who grew up in such a situation may bolt from a relationship the moment the partner is diagnosed with a health concern.

Either way, you may be oblivious to the unconscious, below-the-surface elements that influenced your choice. Is this hypnosis?

Notice that in both cases, your inner self was acting to protect you based on how it defines self-protection.

I like this definition of hypnosis offered by Cal Banyan: “A heightened state of suggestibility, such that the suggestions given are accepted as being true and affect the beliefs, habits, perceptions and behaviors of an individual in varying degrees according to the depth of hypnosis established.” (You can find more detail at his website www.hypnosis.org .)

What I like about this thought is the indication that at particular times and circumstances, we are indeed more open to suggestions made to us, and we take them in. Then we tend to behave accordingly.

When we are suggestible, we are drawn up in a current, absorbed in a desirable feeling perhaps, and moved to act in ways we might not otherwise. This is not the same as blind compliance. Our subconscious minds, when acting healthfully, vet the situation and deter us from most dangers.

To some this is still scary. They would rather not be suggestible. But what would we be moved to do if we never embraced such a feeling? Would anyone run into a fiery building to save a child, or move across the world to chance a new love relationship?

Would anyone labor late into the night for years to develop a lifesaving vaccine…if we didn’t take in the suggestion that we could make great and powerful change?

In fact, what if we weren’t suggestible at all (if that’s possible)? Imagine if nothing could influence us, nothing could change us, nothing could open us up to a new point of view—except maybe empirical evidence—and how much of that do we encounter outside the lab?

Most intelligent people want to grow and evolve over the course of their lifetime. Hypnosis with the assistance of a competent, trustworthy practitioner is a pleasant experience that can help you make desired changes easily and permanently.

If you have something you truly desire, or a habit to break as a way of opening up better possibilities in your life, consider finding a local hypnotist or hypnotherapist and vetting her or him well. ©2009 by Wendy Lapidus-Saltz. All rights reserved.

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