It’s that run up to Christmas - lots of worries and anxiety seem to be around. The continuing war and the fallout from the banking crisis provide a fertile backdrop for stress and negativity. I am reminded that for some the challenge is used a positive motivator to fight back and create and build an authenticity and happiness and for others this nightmare is all too much and they know they can’t cope. These opposite polarised belief systems are often connected to messages received in childhood - but not always so. The negative aspect is born out of a belief that the individual isn’t in control - it’s the external that will control their happiness - “how people think of me”, “how happy my partner is”, “how work is going”. Whereas the positive person takes responsibility for their own feelings and they seem immunised in part to external influences - “if I’m made redundant I will show them by making a go of it my own”.

I see my job as a counsellor and therapist is to help my clients find their pen and write the next chapter of their lives for themselves. It’s always there, it’s our pen, it’s our paper - but we want other people to write our story for us! I continue encouraging clients to write their own stories throughout the counselling process.

I also continue to be busy with my hypnotherapy work; the presenting issue of weight loss is the most popular at this time of year. I find this work fascinating - no one client is the same. Stress, emotions, habits, childhood messages, inner-child, authentic living and many varied factors are at play. It is never just about eating too much and exercising too little, I believe that the mind is involved at a deep level. The less we talk about eating the more successful the therapy seems to be. I was delighted to hear of a client recently who had made significant changes, using the counselling and hypnotherapy, in her life and the happy by-product was a 3 and a half stone weight loss - which has stayed off without the need for a diet. She has left the field of diets and obsessions.

Our new diploma in hypnotherapy starts in January at Tameside General Hospital, if you would like to consider a career change - please visit www.ncoch.co.uk for more information.

Jonathan Lloyd
November 2010