Robert G. Sieveking has an intriguing and delightful essay on dealing with mountains and molehills which describes rather well the way many folks take the wrong glance or greeting and build it up into some nefarious thing when it may not have been meant for them at all or how sometimes when something goes a little awry we feel as if the world is closing in on us. This reaction to negative input is part and parcel to our adaptation strategy to the world. Sieveking goes on to describe how hypnotherapy can help folks learn to let go of those negative feelings and learn to appreciate things or at least see through them. Yes, it is a bit of the "every cloud has a silver lining" menality, the pollyanaish reaction to life that can become so abundantly cheerful that it annoys all around for its escapism and lack of pragmatism . . . however, the key to hypnosis in learning positive adaptive strategies is not self-delusion but rather allowing one to move through the negatives without sensory overload that prevents appropriate adaptation or working through it. Folks who use self-hypnosis in this regard are less likely to be self-delusional than they are to be more proactive.

All the best,
Brian

Brian David Phillips, PhD, CH [phillips@nccu.edu.tw]Certified Hypnotherapist
President, Society of Experiential Trance
Associate Professor, NCCU, Taipei, Taiwan
http://www.BrianDavidPhillips.com