Why the ‘DASH’ is so important.
Hello and welcome to my first blog post. I will be uploading a new blog post each month on certain thoughts I may have, and how positive changes can be made within ourselves, even if we only have a slight shift in how we think. My aim is for you to hopefully get some inspiration from these blogs, and they add some focus on where you have been, where you presently are, and where you are going. This honest look at yourself will only benefit you.
I truly want you to realise all of your hopes and dreams, because they are possible, even if you doubt it. If you would like a certain topic covered, then send me an email here and I will get to it. I would also encourage you to go and do your own research on topics that I will refer to, don’t just take my word for it. Get your own thoughts and ideas as this will start a journey of knowledge and growth within you.
So my first blog is called ‘Why the ‘DASH’ is so important’. Before I get to what I mean by this, I wanted to give a little bit of background as to why I picked this as a starting point.
I live in Kent and enjoy walking in the countryside, exploring its beautiful villages. I was doing this recently and I wandered into an old church ground. It was a beautiful sunny day, the grass had been recently mown and its scent was in the air. I sat on a bench under the shade of a tree. It was very quiet and the only sounds came from distant birds and the occasional passing car.
As I sat there, alone with my thoughts, I was aware of the many headstones around me. Some were very grand and some not. Some were very old and the engravings had worn away whereas others you could read clearly. I also saw many military headstones of soldiers who had lost their lives in different wars. I wandered generally amongst the headstones and when able, read the inscriptions.
Some were of people who had died at a grand old age in contrast to some who had been children and everything in between. Some had fresh flowers in vases and some had clearly had received no attention for many years. I also noticed, on occasions, certain family plots had been grouped together. I carried on with my walk and as I did so, an image began repeating in my mind of how their details had been displayed on the headstones. It was generally in this format:
Their name
Wife/husband of so and so and then
The date of birth, a ‘dash’, and the date they had died.
It was ‘the dash’ that I kept thinking about. I wondered, what these people had done with their ‘dash’. What had their lives been like? Had they spent it wisely or had it been cruelly snatched away from them? As I thought about this in more depth, I began to realise that I was living within my ‘dash’ period right now. I thought about people I know, friends and family. Every single one of them is also living in their ‘dash’.
I began to let my mind run free with this and began thinking, What are we doing with our dash and are we making the most of it? It is a truly precious thing, perhaps the most precious thing we have and we just don’t know how long our ‘dash’ is for. Sadly, I have seen many people who have abused their ‘dash’. I have at times also neglected my own dash. If I am honest with myself, when I think about it, it has been on things that did not really matter.
These thoughts dominated the rest of my walk. I began to think ‘Ok, so what do I know and what do I not know’? I came to the conclusion that I knew at least two things:
1. I knew my date of birth and that
2. I was presently living within ‘my dash’.
What I do not know, is the date I will die. Perhaps not a very inspiring or positive thought, or is that really true? You see, I just like you, have a certain amount of control over my dash. I can decide what I want to do within reason; I know what I can afford, how I live, what food I buy and more importantly, how I think. There are many circumstances beyond my control but I can be in control of my thoughts, and so can you.
What does this have to do with Hypnosis?
EVERYTHING!! You see, we have been programmed since birth to live and think a certain way. Some of these lessons may have been excellent, and some poor. As children, we are a completely blank canvas so we just accept these lessons. We are like sponges and soak up experiences both good and bad. Why wouldn’t we? These lessons may have been from people who were much older and of course seemed much more knowledgeable than we were, so in our mind, they were right. But is that, and was that accurate?
Was there a time when our lessons were not entirely correct, or in fact, just plain wrong? Did we take it on board anyway and perhaps that lesson (or programme) is still running within us right now? Are we inadvertently passing these lessons onto our own children? If so, how will that impact on their lives and ultimately, ‘their’ dash? Will they then pass it onto their children?
You see, if we have a poor programme running within us, it can create a limiting belief about our ability and what we can achieve. This can, in turn, affect how we work with our dash.
An example is being told, ‘You’re ugly’, ‘You’re weak’ or ‘You’re not academic’, etc. Even as I type this blog, I’m thinking my next one should be on limiting belief systems but for the time being, if you can, please believe me when I say, you are the most amazing creation on the planet and because of that, you are truly capable of greatness. (Did a little voice just pop into your head and say ‘No, I’m not’? If so, that was one of your limiting belief systems right there).
If you are not where you want to be either emotionally, physically or psychologically, then you are denying yourself what is rightly yours and what should be your natural state.
What we think, affects how we feel, and what we feel affects how we behave. This is where Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy helps and it can change your life.
How?
We have two parts to our mind called the conscious and sub-conscious (also at times referred to as the ‘unconscious’ mind). We have stored everything we have ever experienced but our mind is so clever, that it has stored it automatically in different ways. Initially, it goes through our conscious and after a period, it is moved to our subconscious.
You don’t consciously think about how to tie your shoelaces, do you? That’s because it is actually your unconscious mind doing that for you. The same with driving, you don’t consciously make every single movement and gear change. Your unconscious does that and you can consciously have a conversation with your passenger. So if a man is driving a car and talking, he is actually multi tasking!!
When we sleep, our subconscious keeps working and in fact, it never rests. It moves the thoughts and experiences of the day into certain files and has a general tidy up. This is why sleep is so important, and the lack of it can really be detrimental to our health.
Our conscious mind only has a certain capacity, so our subconscious mind is always looking to free up space and instead store it away. Now you have been doing this automatically (and unconsciously) since birth and perhaps didn’t even know it.
However, there is a slight issue here and it is this. Our subconscious mind, if it has accepted a programme (and regardless of whether it is good for us or not), will run it. The problem here is that we can inadvertently store, and run, conflicting programmes which will compete for control.
For example, think of a person who is aware they are overweight but really wants to lose those extra pounds. Consciously (and unconsciously) they know this BUT the subconscious may be running a programme of some of those ‘life lessons’ from our past. Lessons such as, ‘Finish what is on your plate’ or ‘There are children starving in Africa’. See the issue? How can we run effectively whilst we have conflicting programmes within us?
Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy works as a kind of ‘software cleaner’ and not only removes old ineffective programmes, it looks at the existing ones. These can either be tweaked or at times, renewed with an improved bespoke programme that will work for you and with you. Suddenly, (and depending on the issue, it can be immediate), you are on your way to greatness and life fulfilment.
How good would that be? How would your ‘dash’ look then and what would you change? What could you go onto achieve? What lessons would you pass onto your children? That they have limits? Or would you rather see them go for their goals with determination and confidence, because of the lessons you taught them?
I truly believe that we are all (without exception) capable of greatness in whatever form this takes. This greatness does not only mean an artist who can create a masterpiece, an amazing director or a person with an ability to make millions, albeit this may be considered by some, to be a sign of greatness.
What I mean is, there is already a greatness within YOU that is already there. You may not (consciously) be aware of it, or using it to its full potential.
I will round this up with a true story. Once upon a time, there was a difficult race. It was difficult because none of the competitors knew how long the course was. They also didn’t know the route or how many competitors they were up against. It was speculated many hundreds of thousands, perhaps even millions may be competing. The race started and it was hard. Each competitor was fighting to be first. None knew if they should speed up and rush ahead or pace themselves. This race was going to be won on a pure determination to be first.
But there was a catch. Even when the race was won, it still wasn’t over. The winner had to go on another journey straight away, without time to rest. This was perhaps the most dangerous part and again, the duration was unknown. They could still fail at any moment. If they didn’t manage this part, there was no consolation prize, it would just be over. Only a certain type could do this and this type had to be a winner in every regard. Nothing else would do, for the prize was unlike any other.
This race I am referring to is a race you have already taken part in, and you won it. You took this race when you were just a sperm and were racing towards the egg and you came first. You then merged with the egg and went on another journey to grow into a person. You beat that challenge as well, but this time you won BIG. You won LIFE.
Now you did this before you even had a brain. Just think about that for a moment and consider the odds against you. By rights, you shouldn’t even be here. But there was something special about you, in the very core of who you are, that made you the best, and none of the others stood a chance against you. You did all that, just to get here. Now if you did that then, just think of what you could do now if you approached your problems with the same vigour.
This greatness still resides within you. Isn’t it time you started living up to your potential?
I really do hope you have found this useful and are inspired to make the most of your dash.
I would like to end with a quote that resonates with me and hopefully, with you too.
“If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got”
To your success
James
