Observations of Life

About two weeks ago I was in a local convenience store to refill my soda cup and as I approached the register, the sale for the person in front of me was for one hundred and nine dollars and some odd cents. For a moment I was surprised at such a high sale. A thought passed of what in the world cost that much at the store? Gas? No, most who spend that much for gas usually use a credit card at the pump. Then it hit me and it was confirmed that she, the customer, was buying two cartons of cigarettes. She did use a credit card and did not seem to be bothered to pay so much for them. Again, I thought, wow, that’s just over $5.00 per pack. And if she smokes a pack a day, she will be back again, buying more in just twenty days.

As I paid for my drink, I wondered if she even thought about what she just did. Did she think of how much she just spent with her credit card? Would she have felt differently if she paid cash? Personally, I believe when you pay cash for something, you are more aware of the cost and have a tendency to shop a little wiser. But maybe that’s just me.

I did watch to see if she would notice my van. It has Willard Hypnosis Center in white lettering on the large side windows. It also lists our services that hypnosis can used for, one being “stop smoking”. Even on one of the back doors I have a magnetic sign highlighting, “Stop Smoking”. If she saw any of those, she didn’t show it. No pause, no curiosity, or taking of a business card that is in a holder on the side windows. Now maybe she deliberately ignored it. Maybe she did see it, but just didn’t want someone else to tell her what she should do. Maybe…… well, maybe she wants to quit, but is afraid because it is such a part of her life.

Honestly, I really don’t care if other people want to smoke. It’s their money, their lives, and their health. But if they want help, I and other hypnotists like myself, can help them. Now my indifference for those who want to smoke may seem strange, but I still believe in freedom of choice.

But I do enjoy working with people who sincerely want to stop smoking. Not only does it help them to better health, but both the clients and myself benefit in another way. They pay for my services, for which I am grateful, and for the rest of their lives, they save thousands of dollars from not buying cigarettes. This is a real win-win situation. What a great job.

Without sounding too much like a commercial, hypnosis can help people achieve amazing results. And a little secret on my part, as I guide people though the hypnotic process, while going through the process, I, too, benefit from the hypnosis along with the clients, most noticeably when I teach clients relaxation techniques. We both enter a very relaxed state of mind and body. But don’t think that there is not work on my part or any other consulting hypnotist. It’s just that we get to enjoy our work more than most.

Not only do I enjoy helping people with hypnosis, I enjoy continuing self-study that I impose on myself on a regular basis. I listen to recorded seminars and workshops from our convention of hypnotists. I read and re-read books not only on hypnosis, but many of its related techniques. And with this new information, it helps me to tweek specific wording I use with clients. It helps me to find and develop new ways to help them for their individual needs. Improving myself helps me to better help my clients. And this is as it should be because I know hypnosis works.

Epilogue: As far as blogs go, this may seem a little different from what most blog readers expect. More often than not, I reflect over things, tell stories and eventually wrap them around a particular idea, rather than list my day-to-day thoughts and activities. At times I may do more of that in between these “observations of life”. So give this a little time to digest and by the time that happens, I should have more to share. Thank you.

Roger J. Willard, Consulting Hypnotist
www.willardhypnosis.com

This entry was posted on Wednesday, October 21st, 2009 at 5:57 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.