[img]560|left|Nicholas D. Pollak||no_popup[/img]“Where are you seeing the fire?”

“On my left.”

“North or south?”

“I don’t know. I get them mixed up. Toward the ocean or New York?”

“The ocean.”

“Then it’s heading west.”

Announcer: “There you have it folks. We have no official information, but the last caller gave us an eyewitness account.”

“Traffic is backed up in all directions from freeways to surface streets. You should count on an extra 30 to 45 minutes to get to your destination.”

“Yes, caller.”

“I am northbound on the 405. The fire is just by the Skirball Center. Two fire units are here, and two more have just arrived. Looks like the fire is moving further away, out of reach of the fire hoses.”

“Thank you, caller.”

A Case of Exaggeration

This was from a radio broadcast I heard the other day. I was amazed how quickly this fire had escalated (at least in the media’s eyes) from a small 5-acre fire in one of L.A.’s most affluent areas, to a disaster. I am not kidding. The announcer used the word disaster several times.

Not until the host was 65 minutes into his descriptions of the “disaster” did common sense prevail. The host had an interview with one of the fire marshals on the scene. In a matter-of-fact tone, he said the “small” the fire was 99.99 percent contained.

The host let the fire drop. He moved to other topics. Only briefly was the fire mentioned on the station’s news reports.

What concerned me was that somnambulists among us would react by drastically changing their plans for the evening or, worse, becoming overly anxious, panicking and responding accordingly.

Further, we all take in and speak out information in one of two ways, literally or by inference.

Going the Other Way

To add to a difficult subject, we will speak out opposite to the way we take information in. By understanding your own mix of inference and literal, and hearing how you speak out or take information in, you can significantly improve your communication.

Some persons are “suggestible” to anything they hear, somnambulists.

You may associate this label with the medical term for a sleepwalker. As a hypnotherapist, I associate this word with someone who is a deep-level hypnotic candidate.

These are the people a stage show hypnotist looks for. He will conduct “suggestibility tests” on the audience. Those who respond the most quickly will be brought to the stage.

We have all seen the results and the humor associated with this kind of show, people clucking like chickens, singing like Elvis.

I believe these stage shows are more harmful to the incredibly positive potential of hypnotherapy. Often people gain the wrong idea about what hypnotherapy may accomplish.

Most people become scared, or, at least leery.

Some skeptics say: “They can make you do anything they want.”

Not true. Unless you would be prepared to do something in a fully awake state, then you absolutely will not do it in hypnosis. A hypnotist cannot make anyone do anything he does not want to do. In a hypnotic state, a person still may lie.

A somnambulist has no communication filter, but rather a mix of inference and literal is exactly 50/50, which causes the somnambulist to accept everything he hears. This will overload one’s conscious mind, creating overloaded on a continual basis. This overload is hypnosis.

As in a stage show, when the hypnotist has overloaded a participant’s conscious mind, the person will respond to a suggestion that is given.

One client who wanted me to help her to understand this phenomenon, only came when this happened:

“I was passing by the TV,” she said. “I heard an ad for Miracle Grow. Before I even knew it, I was at Home Depot buying the stuff. When I got home I realized what I had done. I took it back for a refund because I live in an apartment. I don’t have a garden or plants.”

She was clearly somnambulist. We had three sessions. By the end, her suggestibility had changed enough for her to no longer be considered a somnambulist. Her life improved dramatically. Now she was able to filter the communication she was hearing. She was no longer walking around in a state of conscious overload.

Try to be more aware of what you are hearing and saying. Try to see how much of your communication is literal or inferential. Be attentive to what you are doing, hearing and saying.

In some cultures, somnambulists are considered simple minded, easily influenced. The truth is, they are more open to suggestion. Once they know why they act as they do and adopt some simple things to make themselves more aware, their lives become more focused and productive than before.

Should you believe somnambulism is an issue for you, please contact me at the email address shown below.

A clinical hypnotherapist, handwriting analyst and expert master hypnotist, Nicholas Pollak may be contacted at nickpollak@hypnotherapy4you.net