Hypnotherapy - Part II

Tonight I had my second session with the hypnotherapist.  As I anticipated, at the beginning of the session, we discussed what went well this past week and what, if anything, I had noticed that was positive and what I am seeing improvement in.

There have been a few improvements this week:

• I was able to discern when I had consumed enough sweet stuff – and was even able to have a couple of bites of something and decide I really didn’t *feel* like eating it (and thus threw the rest away.)
• Exercise has been important to me all week – I have enjoyed being out and, yesterday, needed exercise (instead of sweets) to manage my upset.
• I’m more aware of what I am eating – and meals are getting slowly healthier. I have been incorporating much more in the way of vegetables.
• Snacks are more responsible – instead of a couple of granola bars I have been taking one and then making up a dish of fruit and yogurt, or raw carrots for the second snack.
• I actually think I have been eating a little less this week – not as much snacking.
• Ooh – and my Tim Horton’s coffee habit (which was to get one on the way to work) stopped dead in its tracks.

Once we discussed the positives of this past week, I was asked to define what my stressors have been – what’s been bugging me.  I wasn’t expecting this and so had to think a little on this - I didn’t know there was homework! I was, of course, able to talk about the things that came to mind – yesterday afternoon being the freshest and therefore the most discussed.  There were some other little things here and there. 

After this, we started to get into some of the nitty-gritty.  She asked me to tell her what I LIKE about myself. I had a really difficult time with this one.  I only have about four qualities in myself that I actually really like, and after that it’s more easy for me to clearly define what it is that I DON’T like about myself. After I finished rattling off some of the humongous list, well, I started feeling a little emotional (as do we all, I believe, when we start confronting what we dislike about ourselves) and she said something that struck me a little sideways.

She asked me if I realized that the things I listed about myself that I liked were all internal things – and yet I had started off my “don’t like” list with physical things.

Hm.

After a quick final piece of discussion about what I wanted to work on this week, we got into the hypnosis part of the session. She guided me through more work on mindful eating – but this time, she also included mindful exercise into the mix.  She also started laying the groundwork for some self image improvement. I was totally aware through the whole session – and could even hear the background music and ambient noises from the street, but if you asked me to describe the hypnosis part of the session in detail I probably couldn’t at this second.  I can describe snatches of it here and there, but not the whole thing end-to-end. I noticed this last week too – and what’s cool is that little kernels of it sort of “lit up” in my brain throughout the week – kind of like a time-released capsule.

My homework for this coming week isn’t only to keep my eyes and heart open to seeing things that are improving (in my eyes) but also to keep my eyes open to what bugs and stresses me. I’m thinking that, at this point, I might want to put my mini-notebook back into my purse so I can jot things down as I see them (positive and negative) through the week. I may also jot down notes about the “kernels” as they light up in my mind – just to reinforce things, 

My next session is on March 18th.

With love across the waters,