If I had a pound for every person that I had seen that thought they were a rubbish parent, friend, work mate or lacked the ability to be brave, supportive or creative; oh boy would I be so going to book that sailing holiday.

Most of the people that I see in the clinic are there because they have high anxiety presenting itself in one of its many guises. From depression to being worried about a particular issue, anxiety prevents people from rational thought and calm reflection. The separation from their abilities and potential, renders the even the strongest amongst us pretty ineffective and miserable.

‘It is like a rough sea.’ that is how someone once described the waves of emotion that she experienced during a period of anxiety, she felt like a ship that was tossed around on the top of those unrelenting waves. Back and forth going nowhere fast on those great rollers powered by an unseen force.

She sat there trying to convince me what a useless Mother she was, how she did not deserve her husbands love, that she could never sing again in public as she was a quivering wreck and best of all she had never done anything meaningful in her life. Yet here was a woman who had achieved so much in her life, an accomplished singer, had raised masses of money for charity, had three happy kids and a husband that loved her dearly.

Her past successes sprang from a treasure trove of resources that enabled her to love deeply, work passionately for the things that she believed in, fight for justice for those who could not fight themselves, her beautiful voice gave countless people great pleasure. yet anxiety had churned the waters of her mind preventing her from seeing the strengths that lay just below the surface of those swirling thoughts.

Anxiety turns the tide of your attention to the waves of emotion that make you feel bad and stops you from thinking straight, so it is hard to ‘pull your self together’. You think in a black and white way accessing only thoughts that make you feel worse and confirm your view of how rough things are.

Part of the therapists job is to help you navigate those waters so that thinking becomes calmer and you can access and utilise inner resources of competence, skill and hope.

On the last Uncommon Knowledge Hypnotherapy Diploma weekend I spent a while talking about this principle and how through the use of solution focused questioning and hypnosis the students will be able to guide someone who is adrift to anchor themselves to the calm strength and limitless potential of their internal resources.

The students used our ‘iceberg’ exercise to learn how to uncover resources that can be such an important part of recovery from depression or high anxiety.

Ok now if any of you are wondering why I am using every opportunity to bring in some ol’ metaphor about the sea, take a look at this post. http://www.hypnotherapy-training.uncommon-knowledge.co.uk/metaphor-is-every-where/

Slip and proceed…….sorry I mean bye for now:)

Jill