Developed from courses taught at the following medical schools under the Tomorrow’s Doctors Programme

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HypnoSOS Episode 60 – Emotional Resilience

In a few moments in time… in a few moments in time… let your eyes rest comfortably closed if you haven’t already… move around and make yourself comfortable… resting in a neutral position is best… and you can forget about your body… As you listen to the sound of my voice… simply the sound of my voice… your muscles can start to relax… and your breathing has already changed… it has become a little deeper… a little slower… for the moment all you need to do is listen or not… all you really need to do is breath… and as you sit or lie there you can find your mind starts to drift… random thoughts wander in and out… they are of no real importance in these moments… all you need to do right now… is allow them to flow in… and out… as naturally as your breath… in fact, these thoughts can be carried on your breath… and anything that is of no importance right now… you can just float it away… float it away to the back of your mind… watch it float away… feel it float away… hear it fading as it floats away… and if that thought is truly important, it will come back to you after this session… and your mind will be clear… and your body will be relaxed… and your thoughts will be focused… and you will be able to deal with it better than before…

In a few moments in time… in a few moments in time… I’d like you to silently and mentally count down from 10 to 1… count on your out breath or even second or third out breath… it doesn’t really matter… the whole purpose of this… is to slow your breathing down… for you to focus on something that is perfectly natural and normal… your breathing… something we pay no attention to… in fact, we forget about it… just trusting the part of our mind that does all of these things to do its job … and as you count down… you use the numbers as a bridge to consciously connect between the conscious part of you, the aware part of you that deals with everything external… and the unconscious part of you that deals with your inner world… your thoughts and feelings in response to any situation you might find yourself in… and this is where it becomes interesting… because each of us experiences the world in a slightly different way… for some a particular event may be fear inducing… for another exciting… and in many cases the things we have to deal with on a daily basis are in themselves quite neutral… but yet based on what we think we know and feel… and understand… we respond in a certain way…

And so there is a difference between the world outside… and the inner world as we experience it… and this is where emotional resilience comes into play… for there is a part of you that knows how best to deal with any situation that you might encounter… no matter where you are… or who you might be with… or what you are doing… and it is this part of your mind during this session, you are engaging with… by focusing on your breathing… by counting down from 10 to 1 you are making a connection so that at the end of this session… if there is anything you need to deal with which in the past caused you to be disturbed or upset… your unconscious mind will find a better, more appropriate, more useful response… and the wonderful thing about this is… it may come from the way in which you have responded before… but it may not… it may come from your dreams… it may come from something that’s inspired you… it may come from you taking action to let go of stress… because stress is an interaction, it is a choice… and we can choose to protect ourselves from it… and in choosing to protect ourself from it, we create emotional resilience… the resilience to be able to prioritise what is important… the resilience to be able to compartmentalise things, so we deal with what is in front of us at any one moment… and the resilience to be able to discard… to let go of things when we can do nothing about them… and by having these three things… you create, refine and enhance your own resilience to be able to deal with anything, anyone, anybody, no matter where you are, no matter who you might be with, no matter what you are doing… having a strong and purposeful boundary around you… being able to clearly identify what you can deal with and what you cannot… and if there is something you cannot deal with, to be able to make a choice to walk away… for if you cannot change the situation, what you can change is your response to that situation…

And it’s so important to know this… to remember it… and to make it part of your future… and in future when there is something coming up that you have to deal with… the night before when you sleep and when you dream your unconscious mind will create a new scenario, a different way of responding one that is healthier… one that is more useful… one that suits the situation and your capabilities better… so that each day you grow stronger… more resilient… more able to deal with anything, anybody and any situation… feeling calm… feeling focused… remembering to look after yourself… feeling better… better and more optimistic than you have felt in a long, long while…

And in a few moments in time… in a few moments in time, you will hear me count from 1 to 10… and with the ascending numbers, you will bring back all of the positive feelings now associated with these moments… you will feel strong… more grounded… you will feel better… and yes, more optimistic you have felt in a while… you will be able to remember the things that give you joy and find time to do them… It’s important, it is the bedrock of your resilience… so ready… 1… 2… 3… more aware… 4… 5… 6… more alert… 7… 8… open your eyes if you haven’t already done so… 9 and 10… have a good stretch and enjoy the benefits of these moments.

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