her partner's bad behaviour and continue the downward
some time later, you wake up, remembering nothing
spiral until she eventually reaches the bottom. Only then
about what has been said, and walk away from the
will the slow process of recovery begin.
session cured of whatever it was that ailed you when you
It's part of the human condition that people tend not
walked in.
to listen to or follow good advice. Most of the time they
This is a misconception. At least 90% of hypnotherapy
have to learn the hard way, by their own (often painful)
is just plain therapy. Only about 10% of hypnotherapy
experience. A lesson hard learned is a lesson remembered.
is hypnosis. The key to good therapy is the ability to
But what if there was a short cut to this realisation, one
listen to the client. More important, the most vital part of
based on sound psychological and humanistic principles?
therapy is letting the client discover their own solutions
Actually there is and, as an experienced hypnotherapist,
to their own problems. In other words, therapy is just like
I know that the answer has been staring me in the face
having a chat with your friend, except you're not making
since my friend first started to talk to me. Moreover, I
the mistake of actually offering advice. Once your friend
know that I can fix her damaged emotions and repair her
comes to her own realisation, it's plain sailing from there
self-esteem in about an hour.
on.
Most people think that Hypnotherapy means sitting
in a chair while the therapist tells you that you're feeling
Simple solutions
sleepy until you end up in some kind of trance. Then,
There are some astonishingly simple and straightforward
ODYSSEY 43
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