Reality bite.

I was told a story but a friend the other day….

There was a woman who went to her king and pleaded, “My house is too small! I need a bigger house, there just isn’t enough space!”

So he gave her a cow, slightly confused she took her home. This happened three times over, she pleaded, she got given another cow, she took each cow home until there was just no more room in her house. Tired of squeezing past the cows, she returned once again to the King, and this time he gave her a goose, then another goose, until once again, she couldn’t move for the animals. Really angry she went back to the King- he gave her a chicken, and another and another, all for her to take home. She was grateful for his generosity but despaired at his lack of understanding, her house was too small!

At her wits end, she had just had enough! - Enough of squeezing through the tiny gaps milking the cows, storing the milk, then collecting the eggs, clambering in and out of the spaces, carefully so they didn’t break, then there was the cleaning up the poo.! -This was just NOT ON! SHe was going to confront him no matter what!

So she went back to the king and seeing her desperation, he went with her to look at the house and requested his guards removed the all the hens, all the geese, and finally, all the cows. Once all the creatures had been removed, they walked in together and he said, “Better now?”

In a round about way this is how hypnosis and reframing can work, it gives us space without giving us any more space. When we suffer with anxiety it can feel like life is crowding in, that everything is too much. What we need is the space and the time and resolve to collect ourselves, that’s what I love about hypnotherapy; not only does it give us ways to become more resilient, it also gives us a window to let go and take time away, so that when we are ready to face life once more, we feel like all the cows, the geese and the hens are gone.