Sticks and Stones
Do you remember that children's rhyme, “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me?” Damn, is that WRONG?!
I know what our parents/teachers/influential adults were trying to get across, and unfortunately for some (or most) of us, this little rhyme did more damage that it did good.
My years of hypnotherapy and NLP (neuro linguistics programming) training have taught me the VALUE of our words, and especially when those words are thoughts.
Here's a great word to start using more often in your vocabulary…and feel free to teach this to your patients too, and see how their lives transform.
AVOID
I have two sayings (that I sometimes mix up lol):
Where your focus goes, your energy flows
What you focus on grows
When we are focusing our energy on what we DON'T want, that's what grows because our unconscious mind is incapable or recognizing a negative such as NOT/DON'T/CAN'T, etc.
So when we start focusing on what we WANT, our unconscious mind can assist in making that happen…this is where "avoid" comes in.
Acupuncturist: I don't want to get sick because I'm so busy
HypnoPuncturist: I want to avoid getting sick because I'm so busy
Do you see the subtle difference and how powerful it is?
I encourage you to teach this little trick to your patients the next time you hear them say, “I don't want to be in pain anymore (or insert whatever you treat here)." Ask them to rephrase it to, “I want to avoid being in pain.” Then watch the empowerment shine across their face!