Try Hypnotherapy to Experience Life More Fully

Goals are a great thing, I use them all the time…don’t you? Most people have lots of goals throughout life…some big and some small. All successful people are very goal oriented. In fact, it’s hard to get anywhere or get anything meaningful in life without goals. Early goals might be to get into and then graduate from college or simply graduate from high school. Later on, a person might have a goal to move up the corporate ladder, to own their own business or to buy a home or get that vacation house in the mountains or on a lake. As a Hypnotherapist, I work with people all the time on issues relating to accomplishing their goals.. things like esteem, focus, confidence and even procrastination (once they finally quit putting off doing something about it).

Whatever our goals, we use them to keep our focus and our direction moving towards what we want in life. However, as important as goals are to enjoying success in life, they can also be an obstacle to a joyful and meaningful life.

Not too long ago, a new client came to me… I’ll call him “John”. John was a very successful dentist in his mid 50’s. He had a thriving practice, a loving wife, two adult daughters with their own families who were successful in their own right, two beautiful houses, the family home and a waterfront vacation home. Still, for reasons John couldn’t understand, he wasn’t happy and he felt anxious a lot. Something was wrong or missing and he didn’t know what it was but he did know life wasn’t supposed to be like that, he should be happy given all the goals he’d reached, so he scheduled a session with me.

In our initial Hypnotherapy session, John revealed that growing up, his father had taught him that the way to be successful and happy was to remain focused on your goals… or as his father put it “keep your eye on the prize”. John had done just that and done it exceedingly well. From the time he was in elementary school he would set a goal and upon reaching it would set another one. First it was to graduate high school then college with honors. Next was excel in dental school, then start and build a practice, get married and raise a family. Now, having accomplished all these things and in his 50’s, John began considering his life and his next goals, and realized that something was missing. He wasn’t nearly as happy or fulfilled as he thought he would and should be by now.

Using advanced NLP techniques, it didn’t take much more exploration for John to realize that by focusing so completely on his goals, he had missed much of what was happening around him on the journey from goal to goal. He was so focused on the goal, that the goal became everything and the actual journey toward the goal, all those years of life lived between the goals had been reduced to the background of his life.

John had failed to learn one of the most important lessons about goals and life… that goals are what set us on a path in life, determine our direction but it’s the journey itself that gives life meaning and all the many moments along the way that give us joy… that add texture and color to everything.

When John got in touch with the incredible value of experiencing the entire journey, his life changed profoundly for him and his family. He reported to me several weeks later that, after having dinner at one of his daughter’s homes, she remarked to him that “In my entire life, I have never enjoyed an evening with you more than I have tonight.”

Just like we may buy a book or watch a movie for the satisfying conclusion, we don’t just read the last chapter or fast forward to the last scene. Did you ever read a book or watch a movie that was so satisfying, you didn’t want it to end? Life well lived can be just like that.

To me, life is music, something to be experienced and enjoyed fully from the first note to the last and every note in between. And when the music is especially enjoyable, always remember to dance. I dare say, we could all dance a little more than we do.

If you’re having trouble experiencing and enjoying life as much as you’d like and you’d like some help eliminating those self imposed obstacles, Hypnotherapy and NLP can help you get there quickly and comfortably. Give us a call for a free consultation or you can schedule a session by clicking here.