July 2013, Mumbai, I meet this young mother in my batch. She wanted to be a entrepreneur. And at the same time she had pressing financial commitments that required her to stay in a full time job. And as we were exploring what she wants to do next with her life, she made this statement, people say, ‘I am unlucky’. I jokingly said, you don’t believe that, do you? I saw her consciously nod ‘no’ and at the same time a part of responding ‘yes’. The thing about beliefs is that they govern our day to day decisions. If someone believes they are lucky or unlucky, they are likely to make decisions based on that assumption. And for Gayathri, her ability to take calculated risks were significantly limited by this belief. And contrary to popular beliefs, one does not need to be in a hypnotized state or unconscious to respond to post hypnotic suggestions. Often, with people we deeply trust as well as at times of shock and surprise, casual conversations tend to have much more impact on the unconscious mind than any formal hypnotic induction. In Gayathri’s, case it was her mother who had told her she was unlucky. I am sure her mother didn’t mean her any harm, but sometimes, the most dangerous post hypnotic suggestions are given by people with good intention out of mere ignorance. Not very different from a doctor telling someone with absolute surety in voice, posture and words that someone would die within 6 months. A research showed that just tweaking that language to ‘X% of people die within 6 month’ improved the rate of survival by more than 40%. And in Gayathri’s case, as I spoke to her, I noticed tears welling up her eyes. And I knew I had to change this belief for her, quickly. And it was easy, I had to just teach her brain how to hear the same words in a different voice. We all have experiences of how the tone can change the meaning of what is said. So, the solution was simple, change the sound of the voice in her head that kept telling her she was unlucky, change it in a way that makes her laugh when she hears it instead of sad. And the technique to make such a change sustained is based on the fundamental Neuro Linguistic Concept called sub-modalities. The change process was less than 5 minutes. She was laughing at the end of it. After which, she joined me for the Genius in Action program, started writing her book, launched her business and today she is a successful story teller running her own business. The picture you see is her message to me after she got featured in DNA for beating depression.
Sometimes, you can change your luck by changing how you think about yourself. And this is just an example of 1 belief, I wonder how many more self-limiting beliefs could be floating around that just started as a casual conversation with a trusted one but later became dangerous post hypnotic suggestions.
This is why I tell people there is more harm done from ignorance than those who intentionally misuse powerful influential techniques and also it does not mean that we cannot change it. We live in a such a wonderful age where everything we need and everyone we may require at any time is just a connection or connection’s connection away. I believe in this old proverb, 'when the student is ready the teacher appears'. And to extend it further, I would say, 'when you are ready for a change, a solution will appear.’
