In the last fortnight, I have read two hypnotherapy text books…. In my time, I have read most books on this subject yet these were two that my students had recommended and so I wanted to read them and ensure I knew of them… Hypnotherapy text books are a tough read… To read them rather than skim through them picking at bits you need is a job and a half….
Sometimes the subject matter is so dry and repetitive that I just couldn’t keep my eyes open! I am sure you have read books that were long, complicated and had a tone that leaves even the most resilient mind numb.
Each time I reclined on the couch, put my feet up and began to read…. Led to me waking with a page stuck to my face some time later following a mini-dream of my hypnotherapy practice…
I do not think that there is anything that dissolves worry or anxiety around like sheer boredom, is there? Anxiety is a readiness to run away, stand and fight…. Boredom is your readiness to do nothing but fall asleep. Just thinking about those dry books makes me feel tired…
When people have unwanted or negative thoughts, they often apply the same techniques that have failed before to those intrusive thoughts… Some people have been taking a firm hand and shouting at themselves to stop them. Some people try to ignore them, or think of nice things instead, or go and do something different that they can focus on… Some even do nothing and just simmer in their own unwanted thoughts…
We all adopt a strategy of some kind… Some work wonderfully well, though many do not work or help us at all…
Among many liberating techniques and strategies I show students and clients to use with unwanted thoughts is one that anyone can use that allows you to inundate yourself with those miserable thoughts…. Immerse yourself in them…. So rather than fighting with them, or rejecting them, you flood yourself with them.
This is using boredome to your advantage.
In the past couple of weeks I have listened to the latest Kasabian album so many times… Over and over… I was so excited by it, I adore their latest single ‘Fire’ and played it over and over… Much like I had done with the song ‘Zero’ by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs…. They lost their zip… The mojo I had for those songs vanished by over-playing…
Imagine if you watched your favourite film five times every day for the next week. I am sure of the outcome… You’d get so bored that you just drift off and fall asleep the third time or you simply start screaming…. Generally, though not universally… If you repeat something enough you just lose interest. Call it habituation, call it desensitisation, call it defusing a thought from a feeling. Whatever. You might just want to call it boredom.
Someoen that has insomnia can continue to repeat “I will never fall asleep” hundreds of times, over and over inside their mind… Have a go at doing that right now…. Close your eyes, repeat very, very slowly, “I will never fall asleep”. If you do this for ten minutes, you know what is going to happen, don’t you?
You may well notice that any anxiety initially went up and then it gradually went down. If you stayed with it, you might have noticed your mind drifting away to other thoughts and concerns. Maybe even thinking “Is this really going to work?” or “Does this chap know what he is doing?” If you did this exercise you might have found yourself getting sleepy, having a hard time keeping a focus on those words “I will never fall asleep”. You may have noticed yourself getting drowsy.
A client of a colleague kept on fearing he was HIV. For years he was plagued with these thoughts, continually having tests and examinations that showed nothing of the sort. In therapy, they began with the feared thought, repeating “Maybe I am HIV”. After a couple of weeks this got boring. So they replaced it with, “I definitely am HIV”. When I heard this, I got terrified about doing anything oft he sort with my own clients… But this became boring too.
Sometimes people get desperate to find something to fear.
Boredom can put pay to that…. zzzzzzzzzzz…….. zzzzzzzzzzzzz…….
(Face down on desk, heavy breathing, hope to wake in time for tomorrow’s blog entry)
