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Relaxation through hypnosis, and other articles

Visit this page often for new and interesting articles on a variety of topics, including relaxation, weight loss, anger, quitting cigarettes and other issues that hypnosis can be used to deal with.
 
 

Come on American Workers, Relax, Have A Little Fun!

by Marie H. Beach

When Norman Cousins, editor of the prestigious Saturday Review , checked himself out the hospital with a life-threatening condition after disagreeing with doctors over his medical assessment, he secreted himself in a hotel room and laughed himself silly watching Charlie Chaplin and Three Stooges movies. So startling was his recovery that he wrote a bestselling book about his experience entitled, “Anatomy of an Illness.”

When was the last time you had a side splitting, robust gut-busting laugh? Do you remember? If not, it’s time to bring out the kid in you that’s been getting moldy locked up in the darkness of solemnity. Do what Cousins did. Rent comedic videos and laugh yourself into a side-splitting reverie. Laughing impresses your immune system, ramping it up by several notches.

Not laughing enough is a serious matter as the title of our hypnosis CD and tapes, “Lighten Up! series conveys. If you’re not laughing because you are dis-illusioned with the world, CONGRATULATIONS!—you’re on the right track , for ironically you’re touching into the reality that the world cannot offer what it tantalizes us with which is happiness. Thinking it can is delusion. We’re not laughing enough because every time we choose the path we’ve been hypnotized into thinking will lead us to the Promised Land, we find we’ve been led astray. Actually we should think that’s hilarious because we’re fooled so often. The world’s toys and trinkets are temporary and can give us nothing that is better than what lies inside. But not being as smart as rats, who give up going down the corridors of a maze after three times of not finding any cheese, a human being will keep on trucking down there no matter how many times he finds no cheese. Substitute happiness for cheese and you get the picture.

We are a stressed-out nation; the workplace is the usual suspect. The stressed worker needs rescuing and someone who is stepping up to the plate is John deGraaf, author of “Affluenza: The All Consuming Epidemic,” who is so disturbed by American consumerism and the untold hours we have to work to maintain our lifestyle he wants us to open our windows like the Howard Beale character played by Peter Finch in the movie, Network,.and yell that we’re “mad as hell and not taking it any more”. He says affluenza is carefully planned out to keep our economy going but is painful because it puts us on overload, in debt, anxious and gives employers the upper hand in our life. The inequity spurred de Graaf to found a movement called, “Take Back Your Time” which offers a six-point plan making three weeks vacation mandatory because Americans end up giving back 21 billion of it back to their employers.

His is no voice crying in the wilderness for one of many joining in his quest is Harvard economist , Juliet Schor, who’s written a book on the stressed out and drowning in debt worker entitled, “The Overworked American.” There’s even a website, Meetup.com, where like minded people meet on a multitude of mutual interests; one a group with a stated objective to “reduce annual work hours and create legislative proposals to allow for a better work/life balance.” Their request must dumbfound Europeans who would revolt if they got less than six weeks vacation. We even outwork the work obsessed Japanese. Yet while companies wail continuously over out of control healthcare costs, they at the same time hold over their employees heads a foreshadowing of job loss. Those who remain must wonder if they indeed were the lucky ones in keeping their jobs because they are left more stressed as they take up the slack.

The real bottom line is that if you want to stay healthy, put a little pleasure in your life— the non-addictive kind—and strive for balance for life is about balance. Our bodies are about balance, nature is about balance. Nature rights itself through tsunamis, earthquakes, ravaging fires and tornadoes. Sure it leads to chaos temporarily , and so will your life unless you will yourself to get back into the flow. You’re not a mechanical puppet or robot. Your psyche requires pleasure and if you don’t get enough your system is in overload , and we would guess it’s a good bet you smoke, drink, overindulge, overshop, overspend, can’t sleep and in general are not living optimally, and aren’t really that happy.. We need to pay attention to Ecclesiastes, an ancient scriptural text , that foreshadowed the delicate balancing act we need in our lives when it so wisely opined that “to everything there is a season, a time to every purpose under the heavens, a time to weep, a time to laugh, a time to sow, a time to reap...” In other words, in the understanding that despite the amount of control we try to exert over our lives, some, if not most, situations are simply going to happen and it is easier to go with the flow, ie, let go and allow yourself to be the observer, not in passivity, but in acceptance. Whirling dervishes often wear themselves out by fighting the unchangeable. Wisdom is in knowing the difference as 12 Step programs like to point out.

Take a little retreat—by yourself for a couple of hours, And don’t say you can’t; (read the quotation on our home page). Does the idea of a respite bring up anxiety? That’ll tell you a thing or two, also. At the very least, take some time to get quiet and listen to what your heart and your “still, small voice” is asking. Don’t be afraid. Sometimes the greatest leaps of growth are preceded by a deep fear to “jump into the abyss”. Don’t wait for a magical solution or wish something would happen. Wish is a blah word, so is “try”...Be pro-active. Set a goal or two—a walk in the woods or rewarding yourself by alone time. Tend to the needs of your soul, and nurture it as you would a young child or puppy. Too often in our success-acculturated society we spend our lives climbing the ladder of success only to discover we leaned our ladder against the wrong wall. Find out what growing wall works for you. You are unique as your thumbprint. Remember that and never, never measure yourself against someone else , as that is a recipe for defeat.

Note: If this article interests you see Lighten Up! Experience Radical Relaxation!!, our hypnosis audio session on the topic.

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