2024.08.11 Helping people is never predictable

The practice of Social Work gives fire to each person we meet. In therapy of any kind, it is a sacred act. We are making choices and giving direction out of a million other choices. It is important that we are guided by health.

In hypnosis, the left hemisphere is rested, freeing the right hemisphere to present good and coherent new ideas. Breathing may be associated with right/left activation. There is an interesting idea that inspiration/inhale is healing while exhalation is for relaxation. At least, that appears to work with many clients and is in the hypnotherapy literature.

The right hemisphere is largely uninfluenced by the past, the left hemisphere is all about the past and learning. The right hemisphere sees what is good for the present, which is the basis for the future. The left hemisphere seeks to implement what it has learned. And so, we can not solve a problem when we are stuck because we try to implement what we have learned and can do. We need a fresh idea - and that comes from the activation of the right hemisphere. It where all new ideas and assimilations come from. Activating the right hemisphere comes from relaxation, often in sleep, sometimes with the use of drugs, sometimes with various rituals and practices. Sometimes just with the kind words of an acquaintance.

Hypnosis is analgous to learning by reading a text. First we empty our mind to understand what we want to learn. We first by pass the critical facility of 'we already know' what we are studying, we go into the beginner's mind. Then we concentrate on the material being presented to us. We notice as we concentrate. We catch glimpses of importance and relevance. In hypnosis the responsibility of the hypnotherapist is the presentation of coherent material to our receptive mind.

Better than the passivity of hypnotic suggestions is auto suggestion. Here the individual constructs his own reality with passion and a cool head.