Hypnotize this, fool.

*Note: First I just want to point out that OBVIOUSLY the teeny thoughts rolling around in my noggin are not really forming complete and organized concepts (which is nothing new). Namely because I thought yesterday was Thursday.  So much so that I posted my Ten Things Thursday. I was all excited and giddy because I'm 'back' and couldn't wait to share all my scintillating adventures with you all. Lets just all come to a reasonable understanding that not only did the 'ditz' come out to make an appearance yesterday, but 'she' did it with the most amazing flair ever.  I'm just so happy to make you guys giggle with my batty personality.

Moving on.

Yup, the title is correct. I have now joined the elite and sophisticated club of people who have been hypnotized. (Ya, right, more like idiotic and straight up coo coo club. It's fine.)

So, a few weeks ago I decided that with my life being the toilet flush that it is, that I need to get some help de-stressing.  Some of you know that I had a very difficult time in college with depression. And I am a HUGE advocate for seeing and talking to someone about what's going inside that space between your ears.  Well, normally I use a meditation type thing, called Biofeedback, to relieve stress and keep me on track. But this year has really taken a toll on my mental state.  Anyways, it has started to become difficult to keep my anxiety and stress in check so I decided that counseling was in order.  And I made an appointment. The first one was last week, and it went really good.  Poor little Jenny had to write a novel about all my craptasticness. I'm pretty sure she got writer's cramp.

Yesterday was the 2nd appointment. And I was complaining about emotional eating...you all know what I'm talkin' about.  Lately, I have just been shoveling ridiculousness in the hole in my face for no reason.  Chinese food for supper 3 times last week?? Sure. (Despite the salad that's already prepared and in the fridge.)  Donut for a mid-morning snack EVERY SINGLE DAY?? Sure, just inhale it in, Laura. I told Jenny that I knew what I was doing. It wasn't mindless eating where you find your head buried in a bag of Lays licking the crumbs off the bottom, and realize, "what the F did I just do?!"  I KNOW what I'm doing.  As I'm standing in line at the store, I KNOW that I need to go home and eat that great Greek Salad (feta cheese is the nectar of Gods), but instead I mosey on over to the fried rice amazingness and order 8 pounds of General's Chicken.

This is the part when Jenny says, "Well, I can help you with that through hypnosis."

Huh?

She went on to explain that we only recognize about 10% of consciousness in our brain. Meaning we only recognize why we do things, feel things, etc. with 10%.  The other 90% ALSO causes us to do things and feel things, but it's subconscious and we can't recognize what's going on. I explained that I'm obviously trying to fill some 'void' in myself through food.  But I just can't pin-point what that void is.  I think it's a combination of various things that have happened this last year, but I don't know exactly.  That's when Jenny said, "Well, we'll work on the void, but to help with the emotional eating, we can do hypnosis now. That will at least start you off in a better direction, if we can get that under control. And...we've still got 20 minutes."

Well alrighty then. Let's DO THIS!

I sat comfortably in a chair and she started reading a 'mediation' page that slowly gets my body and mind in a relaxed state. Then we used a elevator metaphor to go deep and deeper and deeper.  I was still aware what was going on the whole time but I was incredibly relaxed. So relaxed I thought I was going to just slip right out of the chair and sleep for a decade on her office floor.  That's when she went over a few 'verses' about self-esteem (because i have always struggled with my self-confidence) and next was about the food.  She asked me to tell her about a time when I ate something I wasn't supposed to, or what that food was, and I said cookie. Then she asked me a color that related to the cookie, I said 'blue' (it was an M&M cookie).  Then she went over that I need to recognize when I'm really hungry and not just satisfying my subconscious.  She also had me remember a time when I was proud of myself for making a 'correct' choice, and I said there were donuts and I didn't take them, I walked away. She asked me to use a phrase or word that described my feelings at that time, and I said 'strong'.  Then she had me put my index finger and thumb together and said the word 'strong' over and over and explained that the next time I want to eat without hunger that I put my fingers together and say 'strong'.  Then, she brought me back 'out' of the state of relaxation and explained that I would feel energized and ready.  Oh man was I ever.

I really, really, wanted to just sleep forever when I first got to the appointment. I have been so exhausted all the time, but after that session I was wide awake.  I went home, did laundry, packed my bags, the food, the dog's endless crap, and even made a kazillion phone calls.  And every time I walked in the kitchen I saw a container of kolaches (jam filled pastries) on the counter that I'm bringing down to the lake.....and you know what???? I didn't want to eat a single one.  I didn't 'feel' hungry.  I actually didn't even eat dinner until later because, again, I wasn't hungry.

So I don't know if hypnosis is actually 'helping' me to make better choices or if I'm more 'aware' of my emotional eating, but either way I feel a boat-load better today than I have in a long long time. 

I'm going to continue with my counseling and probably try hypnosis more. I really like the state of relaxation that my body is in.  It's so much like Biofeedback too, and that helped me sooo much when I was in college.

Each person is different. Each person deals with things and feelings different.  I bottle my emotions like a brewery bottles a pilsner.  It's not healthy, I know that.  But what helps is meditation of some sort.  I loved and still love Biofeedback, but now I've found another avenue of mediation, and I really am starting to like that too. I even think the combination of both is going to help me for the rest of my life.

Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that find your 'thing' to help with the stresses in life. Don't bottle your emotions....let them out!  Do yoga, exercise, meditate, seek counseling, ANYTHING!  Don't let stress 'win'. Beat the ever-living piss out of it! Any way you want! (And if you have the chance, you should totally get hypnotized. It's so rad, man.)