I’m in Banff, Alberta this week, attending a client conference. Opening act, for opening night, was a hypnotist (WayneLee.com, if you want to check him out – highly entertaining).
Maybe it was because I was with clients and wanted to put on a brave face, or maybe it’s my morbid fascination with public humiliation, but I volunteered to be one of the participants in Wayne’s show. So did 7 other people. A couple interesting learnings I picked up from the experience, worth sharing:
1. We have a natural tendency to resist the unknown. I think most of us know this, inherently, but I was reminded of the power of choice as, one by one, half the people were asked to leave the stage, for not being “totally relaxed”. Keep in mind, these were volunteers – people willing to be hypnotized. And yet, HALF of the group couldn’t fully relax enough to stay a part of the show. Had they been unwilling participants, I would have said they had stronger will power than the rest of us, but since they actually wanted to be hypnotized, I was actually kind of sad to see them go. When facing new endeavors, we really need to learn to relax completely and dive into the experience; particularly if we know we’re not going to suffer long term negative consequences.
2. We have no idea what we’re capable of. Remove self-consciousness and insecurities, and we can do some pretty remarkable stuff. Imagine how powerful our lives could be if we could remove inhibition by snapping our fingers.
3. When hypnotized, I can dance like Justin Timberlake. (and no, there will be no YouTube videos… consider my self consciousness back in full effect)
