It may be cliche but when I hear the word hypnosis, the first thing that comes to mind is a pendulum.
I had a run in with one of these balls attached to a chain last week at a Ladies Who Launch event about using hypnotherapy to move past your fears and propel your business to the next level.
I was skeptical at first but it turns out that hypnotherapy isn’t the weird “make someone do anything you say” kind of experience I thought it was. In fact, it’s a lot like meditation in that you recondition your mind to think differently using techniques like affirmations and repetition.
At the end, each of us was given a pendulum and instructed to hold the tip of the chain lightly between our thumb and forefinger. Without moving our hand, we were asked to focus on the ball and envision it moving first back and forth, then side to side and finally in a circle. Each time, changing the pendulum’s direction using only the focus of our mind.
I thought this seemed impossible but the second I began to focus, the thing started swinging out of control with ridiculous force. I was shocked and in disbelief. So much so that I became self conscious and worried I was distracting my friend who sat next to me with her own pendulum.
When it was over, my friend looked at me and I at her. Speechless. I did that. How was it possible? There’s no way that I was so powerful, I could move a pendulum with such force. It didn’t make sense.
But it didn’t matter that I couldn’t make logical sense of it because the metaphor was so very clear:
I am powerful, capable and unstoppable.
Each of us is.
But like I did when I experienced that power, most of us convince ourselves otherwise or play down our greatness because we think we’re unworthy, incapable or worse — we’ll be in someone’s way.
It reminded me of my favorite Marianne Williamson quote:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.”
So next time you feel tempted to shrink and step into the shadow of your power, remember this quote, think of the pendulum and shine your light brighter.
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