Another (Hypnotic) Story

My most significant hypnotic experience to date would have to have happened when I was about 20. I was attending a Grateful Dead concert somewhere in the South East with a soul sister and the very tall man she had fallen in love with over winter break in New Orleans. We three had decided to drive from our communally shared home in Greeley, CO to take a bag of cereal to the very tall man’s best friend. He was currently following The Dead after losing his traveling partner to the smelliest, nowhere part of Colorado that ever was.   

It was the least we could do; it was his very favorite bag of cereal, after all!

As I have mentioned, hypnosis is an incredibly common and natural state of being that will happen throughout our daily lives, at differing degrees. Have you ever been so engrossed in a book that you didn’t hear someone walk into the room and say your name? So completely into it that your emotions became overwhelmed by the experience? Have you ever been motivated to some action or change afterwards, whether it lasted moments, hours, or even days? 

The strength and length of a change is mostly determined by the level of subconscious buy-in and the level of commitment to the consistency of the change.

Maybe you aren’t a ‘reader’…this phenomenon can actually be as common while fully engrossed in a movie, or even music.

And that’s where this story starts, with the music.

My life has always been interwoven with music, ALWAYS! Since before my first challenging breath for air on the morning of August 25, 1972; somehow, I always knew that if I was confused, I just had to listen to the music play. 

Let there be songs to fill the air!

And there were, I was surrounded by amazing music from that point forward. Dancing to it was the only thing that ever made any sense to me. Right around the time I realized following the NGDB felt too much like following my dad around, I came to the realization that The Grateful Dead had a very familiar groove and family vibe that made me feel like I was home again. 

Ironically, my first show was as a chaperone for my little sister and two of her dearest friends, the winter of 90/91. I took my job seriously, and was a sober and safe chaperone for the young ladies I was entrusted to escort to and from Denver. I loved the show so very much; it was somewhat surprising! I was ecstatic to gush about it to the older and cooler ‘deadheads’ I was doing theatre with in Aspen that winter. 

They all laughed at me, saying my favorite moment of the concert was all of their least favorite. 

I didn’t care, that moment of the whole auditorium singing in unison ‘Love is Real, Not Fade Away’ (for twenty minutes with accompanying rhythmic clapping) was a bonding experience for me with each and every soul in the building, and I was truly grateful for the experience!

The next winter, when I finally went off to college and began hanging around people that I actually felt wanted me around, who enjoyed my company, those to whom I wasn’t simply a novelty; The Grateful Dead seemed to always be playing in the background of our gatherings. 

When they came to town that next time, a year after I had bonded with all those strangers’ hearts, I got tickets for my soul sister and me as a Christmas Celebration. Super excited, I did something I had never done before (and only once after), I reached out to my dad’s (the NGDB’s) manager to get better tickets than I would have been able to get otherwise. We were going to be on the floor, right up front and I was too excited! 

Not understanding yet that ‘going to a show’ was not simply the getting in and enjoying the concert, we didn’t hang out before or after…I didn’t know any better, and my guest was too polite to point out my ignorance. It was the early 90s and seemingly ‘front’ was full of chairs so we could all, ‘get what we paid for’ I guess? The dancing was in the back, my guest must have been so confused at what we were doing there 

Later, with great grace and generosity of her angelic spirit, she explained to me there was actually another way to experience them play. 

When we had the opportunity a few months later, during our spring-break, to drive East I didn’t even care we were taking the very tall man with us. He ended up driving as she braided my hair into itty bitty little braids the entire way. Cereal in hand we found the very tall man’s best-friend and our adventure began!

The very tall man was making it very clear that he felt I was too needy/codependent with his girlfriend; the realization that I was a third wheel in this foursome was somewhat confusing. But I was determined not to let it cause any problems on this exciting adventure that was sure to motivate a story along the way. 

Essentially, my life’s goal to this point was living a life of adventures to share with, and hopefully impress, my dad.

So, as we walked into the venue after hanging out all day making and selling spaghetti to hungry hippies in the parking lot, I was determined not to mess anything up. I wanted to make sure we all had the best concert experience possible! 

Thinking of anyway to make myself as independently comfortable as possible, so as not to create any unwanted stress, I did something differently than usual. Instead of keeping my things with the group, where I would need to maintain my connection to them - no matter what. I safety-pinned my money, id, and lip-balm in my t-shirt’s front pocket. As I closed the safety-pin, locking the pocket safely I said to myself, “I’m a self-contained unit, I don’t need anyone or anything.”

Then the music began and my feet started dancing along! 

Every so often I would remind myself, “I am a self-contained unit; I don’t need anyone or anything!” 

As I danced freer and freer, engrossed in the music, trance-like, I kept repeating it over and over; “I am a self-contained unit; I don’t need anyone or anything.” 

It was the best evening in my life, to that point. I never felt more connected to myself, never felt more confident; I actually felt like a self-contained unit without needs. It was truly beautiful! 

My creativity took over the next day and I wrote a poem that my father actually ended up liking so much he read it that year at Easter Services in the Snowmass Chapel. I was shocked!

The hypnotic effect lasted, in ways, through the years and even into more than the 2 decades since. In fact, to this day, I occasionally have to convince myself why I might need something or someone. 

Need being such a strong and powerful word in comparison to want!

Being ‘self-contained’ is a much trickier matter. As an empath, emotions and energies from others can become very confusing and overwhelmingly my own – if I’m not vigilant. Thankfully, hypnosis has provided me the tools and techniques to proactively protect myself by determining when energy and emotions aren’t mine, and how to cleanse them when they make it past my defenses.

It’s been interesting to me recently, to realize how a-part of my life hypnosis has always been! 

If you would like to adventure into what your subconscious mind holds for you, or holds from you, simply schedule a complimentary consultation.

 There is so much hypnosis can help!

It’s like hitting the turbo, accelerating desired change.

Through intent and focus, you may be surprised what you actually CAN do!