A detective with extra training in magic

This week I found myself hypnotised by a story a client was telling me. Over the last month she’d had this realisation that things weren’t about weight loss anymore. It about the journey along the way. The positive little changes she’s noticing each day. And doing this automatically. Like when you go to a café and think “a cup of coffee is all I need”. Then later that day you realise you didn’t go for any of the cakes, just had the coffee. The desire for cake wasn’t even there. You know what I mean? I mentally shook myself. Getting hypnotised wasn’t part of my detective work. In case you didn’t know, I’m a detective with extra training in magic. Well, technically it’s training in the unconscious mind but I think of it as magic. To me some of the changes clients experience are magic. I specialise in finding the extra clues and info that are going to change anything that’s holding you back. Those thoughts, behaviours and emotions that you know aren’t helping you. Like all good detectives, I set about bringing these culprits to justice but through hypnosis; rather than courts, evidence and paperwork. That’s all a bit time consuming and boring for me, not my style at all. I’m more into results and doing things the practical, quick and easy way. This all takes place in the very interesting court room of the person’s mind. Often things start off as the classic “good” and “bad” emotions and behaviours. Then somewhere along the way things start to shift and change. Sort of like how you think Darth Vader is twisted, evil and horrible but by the end of the movie you've got a different perspective. For those of you who aren’t Star Wars fans, Darth Vader is the bad guy who wears all black and has to wear a mask to help him breath and stay alive. He gets around with a black cape, sounds like a robot and has heavy breathing. Classic bad guy material. If you skip ahead to the end of the trilogy Luke (the good guy who is a Jedi and actually Darth Vader’s son but initially doesn’t know it) believes there's good in Vader and gives him the chance to change. Vader resists this change but in the end surprises you by having something good in there and saves Luke from the even more evil Emperor. Whoops, should have put a spoiler alert in there. I remember when I first watched Star Wars, I keep waiting for Vader to turn on Luke. I mean he’s more machine than human and he’s been evil for decades. It’s impossible for him to change, right? Sometimes you feel like this about your emotions and behaviours. “I’ve over eaten and snacked for as long as I can remember.” “I’ve tried all the different ways to quit smoking, seriously.” “I get stressed out and worried all the time.” You think there’s no way to change these things. It’s easier to accept them as being part of life and manage them. Is it even possible to remove them? That’s where I come in with my magic detective work. So, I mentally shook myself. Back to the detective work. I had to find out if there was anything else holding this client back from being the healthy, slender and confident her that she wanted to be. Answer: no. What happened next was the same as the part where Luke takes off Darth Vader’s mask. Luke can see him for what he is, a person. Rather than the evil that he initially thought he was. This client had removed the mask of seeing snacking and over eating as a self-destructive and self-sabotaging bad habit. She didn’t need to beat herself up and continually fight it anymore. Things were different now. She could she the journey she was on. The snacking and over eating were simply habits and behaviours that her mind had started a long time ago to help her in some way. At that point in time she had been doing the best she could with the resources she had access to. Now she had totally new habits and behaviours, so there was no need for her mind to go back to those old ones. What surprised her the most was how easy it had been. I mean what’s with that? No lightsaber fights, intergalactic battles, quests, betrayals, severed limbs or Death Star. Did I short change her? Just like Luke, she now had a whole new insight and perception on herself and life. There was no going back to the old way of living. Case closed. Next.