Let He Who is With Hassles Cast the First Spell

Put your hand up if your life is perfect.

I hope it’s at least pretty good. It would thrill me to hear it’s amazing – full of everything you want and need.

But if someone offered you a magic wand that could fix anything with a wave…

Well, you’d cast that spell.

You’re not going to turn around, shrug and politely decline.

There’s always something you can work on, shape and improve. Like a piece of art, you’re never truly finished.

That’s okay, though. You can do something like this. It’s not a magic spell, even though it sometimes feels like one.

It’s what’s known as content-free therapy… only you apply it to yourself. You’re the therapist and client at once.

Content-free therapy is when the coach, hypnotist or therapist doesn’t know the problem. They don’t need to know. The therapist builds the client’s strengths, resources and strategies, and the client solves the problem.

It sounds crazy to people who believe that probing, investigating, analysing and dissecting a pattern of thoughts is the only approach.

If they want to spend months mapping out a thought in its entirety, then I wish them well. Me? I’d rather resolve the issue than draw a diagram of it.

The content-free approach works because the client already knows the issue – unconsciously, at least. Some part of them knows when and how to run those thoughts, so it must be an expert on it.

Let that part of them fix it and everyone will be much happier.

This is great and all, you might be thinking, but how do you apply this to yourself?

Ah, well, that’s not so hard.

Clear your mind and perhaps let you go into a trance now. As you begin to go deeper, take a moment to pause and think about this:

Your life isn’t perfect, but how come? Something could be better, but what?

You don’t need to answer these questions. It’s better if you don’t – these are bigger questions than your conscious mind can wrestle with.

Simply think about them.

Then stop thinking and go deeper into your hypnotic trance.

You can give your unconscious mind some way of expressing itself, so you know when it’s done. A classic is to let your hands move on their own. When they touch your face, land in your lap or come together, it means your unconscious is finished answering the question.

Take your time with this. Don’t rush or interfere with the process. Let it unfold.

When your hand reaches its destination, let yourself rest, relax and integrate what you’ve learned. Then consciously choose something to do to remind you of this. Maybe it’s taking a moment to stare at your hands. Maybe it’s looking up at the sky.

It’s something that, when you do it several times a day, will reactivate the solution inside of you.

And that becomes your magic-but-not-magic spell. A simple gesture or action that fills your mind with resourcefulness, optimism and solutions. It’s better than anything out of fantasy.

Now, there’s a lot to this self-hypnosis process. If you’re new to the practice or less comfortable with it, then practice each step.

Even better than that is to read and use mind training every day:

What can the 8Ps do for you?