Joshua: Well, it’s so true. Meditation I think it gets a bad rep and especially people who are performers as you said going, going, going and creating, it’s important for them to do this. Sometimes I notice that on the days that I do meditate versus the days that I don’t, I have a different level of power and focus during my day for sure. Having those things to focus on, and I don’t know if this is proven or whatever, but by focusing, as you were talking about, on different body parts, or focusing your attention on these different areas, you begin to notice the progress that you’re making as you continue to practice that over and over. Would that be a fair statement?
Warren: Yeah, its interesting how it can manifest. It will show in different ways. One of the biggest benefits that I’ve seen from hypnosis and meditation is that individuals are far less wrapped into what is going on in their lives, the separation begins to happen. And just like you said on days that you meditate as opposed to the days that you don’t meditate, there is a big difference in engagement. For example when I’m working with clients that have anger issues the best cure per say for anger is meditation, because when you are in meditation you realize how useless anger is, that it doesn’t serve anything, and it doesn’t get you anywhere. What meditation really allows is it creates that separation more and more so that we can decide what we can be emotionally invested in, and what we don’t want to be emotionally invested in. There’s a wonderful feeling of power in that you see other individuals who are getting very wrapped up in things that, for someone who regularly meditates, won’t even be wrapped up in because they can see how little gain they might get from being angry for any length of time or anything of that kind.
Joshua: That’s so true, when I get really pissed at stuff I either need to go for a run or meditate. Release it and get re-centered right.
Warren: Yeah.
Joshua: Well let’s talk about the next couple of steps in the process so, you talk about that we need to identify the outcome and then we need to visualize the outcome. What does that mean?
Warren: Well in the identification process what we’re trying to do is, and its real important for you to understand, but the outcome that I’m looking for today might not be the outcome that I’m looking for a month from now or 6 months from now. But what is important that on a daily basis is that we feel that we’re moving towards something and we can’t really feel that we’re moving toward something if we don’t have an outcome in mind.
Joshua: Its like a goal then or what you want in the future?
Warren: Exactly. Yeah, and that can be referred to as outcome but just as you’re saying, outcome can be pretty much be the same as a goal, it can also be the same as a dream. What a lot of people get bogged down with is when their outcome does not need to be your life purpose. When I was coming out of let’s say that really dark period that we were talking about before, sometimes my outcome was simply to get to work and get home. Because really one of the things I was suffering from at that time most was memory loss, my memory was really poor and so my outcome was just to not get lost. It was to get to work and get home. That was the outcome. As long as I achieved that I was in a good spot. So that’s really short term. We try to look a little bit further than that and identify if somebody has become unemployed, an outcome that would generally serve them relatively well, is that on a daily basis the outcome they are seeking is employment.
Joshua: Right, so once you started to identify these outcomes, it can be really difficult to think of this grand restructuring of your life and having those small or medium sized outcomes can give you something to focus on and work towards, right?
Warren: Absolutely, just one thing that came to mind when you were saying that is the whole 12 step approach is it’s one day at a time and as long as that particular day that individual hasn’t acted or hasn’t drank or whatever their issue is, that’s the outcome that they are looking for. If it is sobriety that needs to be achieved one day at a time. So outcomes, I really like to be able to look at short term, medium term and long term goals and identifying those and knowing that they need to be changed really at any time. But the awareness of those is extremely important because the mind is in a much better place when it is working towards something than when it’s in free fall or it’s just kind of floating, because when we’re directionless and kind of floating the sense of achievement really disappears. One of the reasons why we set the outcome as well is that if I know today that I’m 1% closer to that outcome, then at least some self-esteem can grow from that, because I’m 1% closer. It may only be 1% today, but still without the outcome I can’t gauge anything.
