Finding True Magic, the blog

I never seem to stop needing reminders to broaden my perspective and lighten up. I can get disturbed about something transitory and basically unimportant on a daily basis!

I easily forget I’ve never missed a meal in my life; I’ve always had hot tap water at my fingertips, a heated home, and indoor plumbing. I still remember when I was 5 (1952) and we were showing my grandfather around our newly built home. He immigrated from the Middle East in the early 1900’s and was a simple street peddler.  When we showed him, with some pride, how our home had a second bathroom (a mere 1/2 bath), he said wryly, “Oh, now you can sh** lots!”

We laughed hysterically, but that was the first time in my life that I considered living conditions outside of the American Dream. We are so profoundly enmeshed in our extraordinary material wealth that it becomes a chore to maintain a genuine gratitude for the miracles we have in our lives. It was considered a great contribution to society when Oprah suggested keeping a gratitude journal! Here — where so many of us have gadgets, high fashion gear and gourmet food available 24/7 — we have to make a project out of being grateful.

But don’t try to be grateful so you can be a “good” person or to avoid guilt. Be grateful for the “selfish” reason that lack of gratitude weakens your mind and your character, because it does.

Watch this Louis CK clip to get an insight into how we forget our good fortune:

The question is, “How happy can we be with ourselves regardless of what is happening with our stuff?”  And what can we call this phenomenon — this way in which our sense of well-being  is all tied up with what’s happening to our stuff? In my line of work, I consider it to be a hypnotic trance. We give ourselves a hypnotic suggestion  (and we do this more or less constantly) that our happiness and well-being depend on our stuff. Plus, if we’re not happy with our stuff we can even begin to think life is pointless. And we can usually find other people to agree with us!

It is not easy for us, when we are so used to relying on our stuff, to enjoy it with detachment. A sign of character strength and self confidence is the ability to maintain mental composure and enthusiasm regardless of the condition of our stuff.

This challenge of ours with our material goods has been going on for quite a long time, hasn’t it? In  George Carlin’s classic comic stand-up commentary from 1986, he talks about the absurdity of this relationship with our”Stuff”:

May we all cultivate inner strength so that we benefit ourselves and everyone with our grace and generosity.

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Jack Elias, CHT is founder and director of the Institute for Therapeutic Learning in Seattle, Washington. He is the author of Finding True Magic: Transpersonal Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy/NLP, a book and course which blends NLP training modalities with philosophical traditions of both East and West. Jack offers private sessionsin Lucid Heart Therapy and Life Coaching. He offers live trainings and distance learning trainings in Transpersonal Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy/NLP. Jack also presents keynotes and other programs to teach audiences how to use the techniques of  Transpersonal Hypnotherapy/NLP to achieve success, confidence, and a consistent sense of well-being.  Book Jack Elias to speak to your group or organization.