Hello - This Week The Main Article Is By Steve Baxter
Keith
here:
Adam is away on leave with his family this week and we have the main article written by Steve Baxter - more about Steve, Romans, Monty Python etc in a minute.
Last weekend was the London Marathon and somebody we know was very excited - YES - AE.
I will let Adam tell you more about it next week - but just to say that he ran the London Marathon with a time of 3 hours 7 minutes.
Well done my friend.
He also raised a really great sum for his charity and was grateful to many who are on this mailing list.
Now - I love celebrating - why not - there is so much rubbish going
on everywhere.
So I sent out an offer which was only available for 24 hours - selling all our audios for just 26% - the length of the marathon run.
That was fine - and great to say - the store was active!
However - on Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday I had several messages saying - in so many words - you rotter 'I missed that'.
Now I am not going to spoil it - BUT - this weekend there is something else that I would like to celebrate and I will be sending out another OFFER which will be available from about 6pm Saturday evening until the end of Bank Holiday Monday (holiday in
UK).
So you have been alerted Linda (the idea came from writing to you)
>>
Next - 5 Day Course For Hypnotherapists - (CPD)
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For Hypnotherapists - Join Us In June!
Great professional development
course based in London (near Heathrow)
Why not join some of you peer therapists for this certified five day course.
There is no doubt that the medical profession take more notice of a research based approach to therapy.
Guest Writer Of Article This Week
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Steve Baxter
Many of you will recognise Steve if you have attended courses or
seminars at Adam's College Of Hypnosis.
Steve runs a successful hypnotherapy practice in Hayes, North Kent
Steve is Senior Tutor at the Anglo European College of Therapeutic Hypnosis.
What Have The Romans Ever Done For Us?
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If you are, like me, a fan of Monty Python then you probably just read that title to yourself in your head using the voice of John Cleese.
For those who don’t know the scene, it is from the comedy film ‘The Life of Brian’ where a meeting of terrorists plot against the occupying Roman force.
By way of justification for their intended actions their leader asks the above question. What have the Romans ever done for
us?
To which the answers - - sanitation,
- irrigation,
- roads,
- medicine,
- education,
- wine,
- public baths,
- safety
- and
many more are offered
An irritated John Cleese, having asked the question in an attempt to stoke the anti-Roman feeling in the room, tells them to... shut up!!!. One important item missing from that list, in my opinion, is a school of philosophy called Stoicism whose century old ideas appear at the heart of what you might think
of as thoroughly modern approaches to our emotional wellbeing.
In particular the field of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) has clear roots leading back to those Roman philosophers.
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Though popular at the time, Stoicism actually predates the Roman Empire and can be traced back to ancient Athens where philosophers would, well, philosophise; debate, refine and teach their ideas to eager students.
They gathered in the shade of city centre arches
called stoa thus earning the collective name Stoics.
Their topics centred on reaching an understanding of the nature of human existence, suggesting that not understanding or accepting this true nature was the significant source of destructive emotions and distress.
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Nowadays we largely use the word stoic to refer to someone who endures pain or hardship without emotion or complaint. This probably stems from the Stoic principle
of acceptance of things you have no power over, deeming resistance, anguish and anger as pointless.
Enough about the history, let me give you a taste of Stoicism and introduce a couple of the ideas of those ancient thinkers that have survived the passage of the
centuries.
What Are These Ideas I Am Speaking About?
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Enough about the history, let me give you a taste of Stoicism and introduce a couple of the ideas of those ancient thinkers that have survived the passage of the centuries.
If you were to visit my hypnotherapy practice you would find the following phrase displayed at the
entrance: |
‘People are disturbed not by things but
by the meaning they give to them’
This is based on a quotation from a later Stoic philosopher called Epictetus (55-135 AD), the wording slightly adapted to give it a more therapeutic leaning but hopefully
leaving the meaning intact.
I often refer to this saying to my clients in any situation where they report that life is doing something to them. Their boss is making them angry, the thought of booking a flight, a trip to the dentist or a presentation at work is making them anxious.
Boredom is driving them to the Doritos.
The principle is, of course, that it is not that thing or situation that is causing
the emotion but that the emotion is a learnt response.
Often learnt so well that it feels automatic, out of their control and they have a high level of certainty that this will always happen in that situation.
In modern therapy we would describe the ‘meaning they give to it’ as a belief and as such this ancient idea is translated into the field of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy as follows:
In either form this one idea changes the definition of a problem from the consequences to the belief.
‘This
makes me anxious’ is redefined as ‘I have learnt to get anxious in that situation’.
This opens the therapeutic door to learning a different response.
My second favourite quote is from the Roman Emperor and Marcus Aurelius (121-180 AD) who is one of the later and most important Stoic philosophers.
“How ridiculous and how strange to be
surprised at anything that happens in life!”
The door key that breaks in the lock at 1am
- the flat tire on the way to an important event - the run of bad luck, - the reliable becoming suddenly unreliable in your moment of need.
Stoicism suggests that life is going to proceed around us with little or no regard for the way we think things should go.
Indeed this quotation suggests to expect things to go to plan is ridiculous.
We have a choice when it does not – we can lament, complain and get angry or we can accept that we can only influence and never truly control the events of our life.
Having ditched the pointless emotions we can then just get on and deal with it. (Well, perhaps we can be semi stoic and offer a few carefully chosen swear words first).
This is important to me as it influences a key part of my personal philosophy and the following idea that I often share with my clients. If we accept that life is going to throw us curve balls every now and again let us work on accepting this and become good at picking the ball off the floor.
Let us deliberately decide to do or face things we find moderately challenging in order to push the boundaries of our
comfort zone.
Beyond personal satisfaction and a feeling of growth, we do this in order to develop the habits, emotional robustness and skills that will serve us well when life attempts to surprise us.
Ironically those who constantly seek to control their life, to stay safe, often struggle
greatly when life surprises them as they, in habitually staying safely within their comfort zone, lack those attributes.
Let us move on.
There are many more such quotations but let us now consider the very core of Stoicism and a primary goal of the Stoic - to live a virtuous life contributing to
the society we live in.
We have already talked about the desire of Stoicism to offer a philosophy that represents an accurate model of how life and human existence works. That by understanding the true nature of existence we can learn to accept it rather than being distressed by it.
But what is this virtue or virtuous life that the stoic values?
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The Stoic philosopher Plato, who documented and added to the work of the elder Socrates, suggests that virtue has four components
- Wisdom – The power of thought utilising logic, knowledge, experience and insight.
- Courage – The willingness to confront loss. Loss of life, loss of stature, loss of comfort for example.
- Justice – Promotion of good, (a more precise meaning would require a much longer article!)
- Temperance – The individual’s restraint and
moderation in satisfying their own desires to promote the ability of the individual to be altruistic and fully contribute to their society.
How do you think you measure up to this idea of virtue?
As we approach the election of the new government in the UK how do your local candidates
or their political parties measure up to this ideal?
Plato suggested that society should be led by what he called philosopher kings, men of wisdom embodying Stoic ideas and ideals, divorced from influences such as commerce and human relationships.
So this is a taste of Stoicism, I hope I have
piqued your curiosity and demonstrated that it offers ideas and beliefs that are still relevant centuries later, a source of timeless wisdom perhaps.
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Suggested Reading
Stoicism and the Art of Happiness by Donald Robertson (2010)
Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The Enchiridion, Discourses and Selected Writings by Epictetus
The Philosophy of Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy (CBT): Stoic Philosophy as Rational and Cognitive Psychotherapy by Donald Robertson (2013)
Joke of the week:
A guy asked a girl in a library; “Do you mind if I sit beside you”?
The girl answered with a loud voice; "I DON’TWANT TO SPEND THE NIGHT WITH YOUUU!!!”.
All the students in the library started staring at the guy and he was
embarrassed.
After a couple of minutes, the girl walked quietly to the guy’s table and she told him “I study psychology and I know what a man is thinking, I guess you felt embarrassed right?"
The guy responded with a loud voice: "$200 JUST FOR ONE NIGHT!!!? THAT’S TOO
MUCH!!!"
...and all the people in the library looked at the girl in shock and the guy whispered in her ears; “I study Law and I know how to make someone feel guilty"
We have these seminars coming up in May and July. Edinburgh in May and Manchester in July.r
You can see full details and book
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or
We have a great community centre which is open to anyone who is interested in hypnosis.
Platinum Membership Resources
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We have videoed many hundreds of hours of course modules, seminars etc. The content is always being
updated.
For full information please go and read the following web page:
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We have set up a set of bundles of our hypnosis audio sessions that complement each other. Check them out at: hypnosisfordownload.com |
Some Places We Would Like You To Visit:- Adam's Main Website: This is the command centre of the business - a revamp of this site is currently in progress. You can also find out here about personal therapy with Adam if you are seeking help.
Hypnosis For Download: An online store with about 160 self help hypnosis audio products - always look in the Offers of the month. Please note there will be some extra special discounts coming this month. Don't miss the 75% discount in December - Get prepared for the New
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Hypnosis Weekly: A weekly podcast where Adam interviews peers in the field of hypnosis. Adam is in his element in this section as he loves to debate all
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Adam's Hypnosis Hub: A community site which you can join free as a
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Membership Site - Where you can see hundreds of ours of videos from courses and seminars
AECollege Blog/News: If there is anything new to tell you about what is going on with courses, seminars or post graduation support this is where we will post it. See some charity news posted 4th December.
Book - Science Of
Self-Hypnosis Book - Hypnosis For Running Visit Amazon in your part of the world to get either the paperback or Kindle versions of these books.
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