Wednesday Word Sauce: What do you not notice?
The range of what we think and do
is limited by what we fail to notice.
And because we fail to notice
that we fail to notice
there is little we can do
to change
until we notice
how failing to notice
shapes our thoughts and deeds.
R D Laing
This, from one of the most influential psychotherapists of the 20th century, merits further reflection, I think.
When we slow down enough to notice, to become more consciously aware of, a feeling or a response and how we are doing that response, we can begin to let go of it or enhance it, do more or less of it, depending upon the effects that we now notice it has on our well-being.
So much of what I do as a hypnotherapist is about helping people to notice, right now, how they’re doing this thought, this feeling.
What is that film you’re running inside your mind, right now, and what effect is it having on the way you live your life?
Sometimes your body is desperately trying to tell you something. When you slow down enough to notice – not just with your head but with your body and your breathing – what is happening for you and how you’re doing that response, it is so much easier to begin to recognise what is helpful and what is unhelpful to you.
It can be interesting, surprising – and fun – to notice, with a kind curiosity towards yourself, what you’re doing in any one moment.
You may want to spend the next hour or so just experimenting with that and notice what you notice.
