I was recently reading a great book titled:
“Be Heard Now -Tap Into Your Inner Speaker And Communicate With Ease.”
It’s a book (written by Lee Glickstein) aimed at people who want to overcome the fear of public speaking.
The underlying premise of the book (and Glickstein’s philosophy) is it’s better to be come from a position of genuine vulnerability than it is to put on a choreographed performance.
This got me to thinking.
Vulnerability has had a real bad rap over the years.
Mention the word vulnerability and most people instantly associate it with weakness.
But that is so far off the mark.
Because, contrary to what most people assume, there is great power in being vulnerable.
Only when you are genuinely vulnerable yourself can other people fully open up to you in a genuine way.
Being vulnerable doesn’t mean being inept or a push-over, either.
It simply means being the person to go first and open up in a HUMAN way to another person.
When that happens the other person will feel comfortable enough (and want) to open up to you in a HUMAN way.
And that’s when real authentic connection and communication happens.
It’s also the “place” you need to get to when working with subjects or clients with hypnosis.
The subject doesn’t so much want an infallible expert.
Sure you need to be competent.
But if you’re too perfect (too polished) your subject feels inadequate and they’ll instinctively try to cover up their real issues and weaknesses.
In other words:
What you really need to be – if you want to facilitate breakthrough personal change results – is to be HUMAN.
And that means being willing to be vulnerable in favor of putting on a perfect performance.
It could mean letting the other person know you’re not infallible yourself (maybe by sharing a story that doesn’t show you in the perfect light).
It could mean letting the other person know you used to struggle with a similar problem.
It could mean letting the other person know you’re going to be there with them through the whole hypnosis process.
And so on.
The point:
Being vulnerable is not synonymous with being incompetent or weak.
Instead by revealing a degree of vulnerability, you open up a “doorway” for the other person to “walk through” and drop their barriers.
Only then will they be most receptive to the powerful hypnotic work you can lead them through.
Bottom line:
In one way or another, all the best hypnotherapists are able to get their subjects to fully open up to them.