Beauty School

Seeing is believing. Or so they say.
But what if you were on the inside, and knew that the belief was not based on reality?
One lady I met recently used to run what she described as a beauty school. But this was no ordinary beauty school. It aimed to match the inside to the outside. It was her undying belief that what we have inside shows through onto the outside and so the outside only needs a little tweaking to maximise each individual’s potential to look good. The real magic came from transforming people on the inside.

Have you ever seen Trinny and Susanna transforming people through their clothes, hair and make-up? Or that South African stylist who presents, “10 Years Younger”? If you look closely you will see that the people on these shows aren’t looking great because they are not feeling great. They have a lack of confidence or self-esteem because of something that happened in their lives. This “event” could be dramatic or relatively ordinary but the common theme is that the participants aren’t taking care of themselves because they don’t care. And they don’t care because they have lost their own confidence.

It doesn’t take too much effort to buy some new clothes, have a better haircut and learn how to apply make-up. And the lady I met with the beauty school offered all of this, but what was best is that she also offered the deep therapy to make the confidence of new clothes really stick and take hold at a deeper level. Hers was a beauty school from within, really understanding that beauty isn’t skin deep at all.

It’s easy to shine, if you shine from inside.

Hypnotherapy or not?

Prospective clients who are enquiring about hypnotherapy sometimes need to be educated. Followeres and readers of this blog and my Facebook page may sometimes be amazed at what we can achieve to help our clients live happier lives. And it feels great for me too, let's be honest!

But we are not ubiquitous miracle workers and it is good to remember this sometimes. I had an enquiry this week from a lady looking for help for her daughter who was in a hospital psychiatric ward, possibly suffering from borderline personality disorder and was apparently "emotionally unstable" as described by mental health nurses. Hypnotherapists are not often trained to deal with psychiatric diseases/pathology and I gently explained this to the enquirer.

I don't like turning people away but occasionally I have to. Possibly I could have helped the young lady in question but there is a big risk involved. We have to remember our code of ethics and not take on cases that we are not qualified to deal with.

What upset me about the incident was that the lady was desperately disappointed. That was to be expected but I was shocked that she said I was the first person she had contacted who said they couldn't help. She had spoken to some NLP practitioners who had told her that her daughter needed NLP. This course of action is dangerous. NLP and hypnotherapy are not cure-alls and practitioners must remember this. Yes we are all in business to make a buck but not at the expense of vulnerable clients and their parents.

I am an empathetic and understanding person. I really hope this lady can find some appropriate help for her daughter. I also hope it is not with unscrupulous and unethical practitioners.