Making Better Choices

I recently had an opportunity to interview one of my mentors and discuss two techniques that we use to help our hypnotherapy clients to overcome self-sabotage and choose a better path. I support my clients in finding the answers within themselves by tapping into their inner wisdom. I would love to share that interview with you below so that you can check it out for yourself. In the meantime, let’s discuss problem-solving and how to make better choices in your own life. When I look at problem-solving, the first thing I teach my clients is to define what the problem really is. It may sound silly, but many times people are trying to solve the wrong problem! Let’s say for instance that you are unhappy at your job. You’re always complaining about how you haven’t gotten a raise in two years and that you are underpaid for the work that you are doing. Some may think the solution would be to go to your boss, ask for a raise, and when she says yes, you would be happy. But what if that’s not the case? What if you’re still not happy after getting that raise and it turns out your problem wasn’t actually the money, it was that you didn’t feel fulfilled in your work and so no amount of money could make you happy? That’s why it’s so important to sit still with your problem and be mindful of what is really going on. You may find that it’s not as simple as it seems. Look at the source of the problem, not just on the surface, but deeper. Examine what you do and don’t know about the problem, and what you may need to do more work to learn in order to see if from all sides. 

Next, start brainstorming all of the possible solutions to your problem. Look at it from all angles, and examine different strategies. Weigh the pros and cons of each to determine which is the best strategy for your situation. I teach my clients to not only look at the benefits of making a change in one direction but the detriments as well. Sometimes it’s hard to look at something you view as a negative situation and see the positives. What are you getting out of it staying this way? For example, let’s say you wanted to break a habit, such as smoking. You see the negatives as obvious-the health risks, the smell, having to go outside alone to smoke, and the like. But what are the benefits? Well, think about this. Perhaps you get more breaks at work because you go outside to smoke. Not wanting to lose that extra break time could potentially deter you from wanting to stop smoking, and could be the key to what’s been holding you back. Looking at things from all angles will help you to find the right solution, and make it stick.

After you identify what the right course of action is, it’s time to make it happen. Putting your plan in place is important, but don’t forget to continually check to make sure it’s actually working. Keep that list of solutions you made handy because if you do find that the solution you chose isn’t quite working out the way you had hoped and getting you the desired result, you can always adjust and try a different option. Sometimes problems, choices, and challenges in our lives aren’t simple and they are more complex than we can handle on our own. So if that’s the case, feel free to reach out to me for support. It’s amazing what can be hidden just below the surface, away from view, until you have someone else support you in gaining perspective and looking at it from all sides. And make sure to check out my interview with my Hypnotherapy mentor, Mary Lee LaBey, so that you can learn more about the techniques I mentioned above: https://youtu.be/SJ1z26aJkzI