These stories, as well as the preceding ones, are parts of ongoing healing programs for each individual.

The stories are included here to show you some
possibilities available for healing specific issues; they are intended to be
included in more extensive healing programs. They serve to point out healing
potentials for everyone.

Healing a Career Problem

For years, Steve had been a carpenter – but that’s not really what he wanted to
do. He was a skilled people-worker; he knew how to work with people to help
them grow and change.

But Steve at age 31 was still making his living with his
hammer and saw, and he wondered when he’d be able to fully do the work as a
counselor and teacher that he really wanted to do. He came to hypnotherapy
because he suspected there was something inside of him that was holding him
back.

He relaxed very deeply, and I asked him what was the first thing that he either
thought of or felt that related to his delay in doing his true work. The first word
that came to him was “fear”.
“Where is it in your body?” I asked.
“It’s at the pit of my stomach.” he answered.
“When did you first feel that feeling? Do you have a picture of that time in your
mind?” I questioned him.

“It’s my birth,” he replied, tears streaming down his cheeks. His birth had been
traumatic. His mother spent many hours in labor, and he almost didn’t make it
into this world. I asked him if he’d like to heal this picture of his birth.

In this new picture, he was not only the infant, but he was the doctor as well. He
brought the baby out with great love. He dimmed the lights in the room, put on
soft music, and, gently and with the greatest love, he stroked the baby’s body –
its tiny arms and legs and back. Then he put the baby on his mother’s body to
nurse. All the while, he was experiencing this profound love as the baby, and yet
he was also the loving adult. He wept with joy.

The next picture he saw as of himself as a boy of four. His parents were fighting,
and they sent him and his sister out of the house. Again he felt this fear at the pit
of his stomach. His parents were engaged in a merciless brawl, and he was sick
inside.

He again brought his adult self in to heal and comfort the boy. They went
talking together to get as far away from that house as they could. He carried the
boy through the streets, stroking his back and hugging him. There was healing
light around both of them.

I then reminded him: “You’re not that little boy anymore. You’re grown up now,
and this fear is not yours anymore. Soon you will be able to do your true work,
as you wash away all this fear from your childhood years.” Steve emerged from
trance radiant and cleansed, and after some more inner work, he soon began his
path as a counselor and teacher.

Healing a Comfort Habit

Janice had been biting her lip since she was a little girl, sometimes so severely
that her mouth would be raw and her teeth worn down. When she was small, her
parents had stopped her from sucking her thumb, and Janice realized that biting
her lip was a way of being able to suck on something that they might not notice.

When Janice went back in hypnosis and visited her inner child, she began to
weep profusely when she realized how abandoned this little girl felt. She was
able to give love and attention to her inner child, and she realized that biting her
lip had always been a great comfort for her.

She received the posthypnotic
suggestion that instead of biting her lip, now she could stroke her own cheek,
and this would give her the same gratification. The first day after her session, she
stayed in bed and mourned the loss of her habit. After that, the habit vanished,
and she didn’t even need to stroke her face in order to stop.

The contact with her
inner child and the realization of the role this comfort habit had played for her
had given her the freedom to end this habit that had been with her for so many
years.

Healing a Sexual Problem

Bob had an intermittent impotence problem. At times, he enjoyed his sexuality.

At other times, he’d lose his erection. I asked him to go inside and to look at
what his thoughts were just before making love. The first picture of his father
standing there and judging him. His father was Victorian in his morality and
very critical of Bob. The next series of thoughts were Bob’s own “failure
thoughts” – “You’ll never keep it up. You’ve had trouble before. It’s already
drooping.”

I reminded him that his father, being human, had sexual relations himself. This
served to humanize his father, and now, feeling his power, Bob was able to stare
at his father with “laser eyes” and dissolve him in his mind. He then remembered
some of his prime sexual experiences and created, instead of failure thoughts, a
repertoire of success. After that, making love was easy and great.

Bob had a sense of humor also. When I asked him to find his inner guidance,
two wise admonitions came through: “Always wear seat belts…and never wear
blue shoes with a brown suit.”

Healing a Prosperity Problem

Lois never had enough money. She was competent and able, but she had trouble
paying her bills. I asked her to see who was the person inside who had so much
trouble with money. She saw a raggedy young girl who looked forlorn. Her head
was bowed, and her mind was saying, “Nothing can ever come to any good.”
She called her “Poor Pitiful Pearl,” the name of a doll dressed as a waif she had
seen as a child. This is how Lois felt about herself inside.

There was also another
part of Lois, a strong, clear-minded woman who knew her life’s direction. I
asked her to get in touch with this strong part by making contact with her
essence. This part of her went to the raggedy one and asked her to look at the
strong one’s goals. She showed her what she wanted to do in life, what her
aspirations and her goals were, and she enlisted her co-operation. She said to
Pearl: “I need your help in my success. I realize you feel forlorn and poor, but
there is so much I want to do in life, and I need your support.” She hugged
raggedy Pearl, and the two of them merged to form one abundant, competent,
self-actualizing woman.

Healing Powerlessness in Relationship

Mark was married to someone who was outspoken and strong; in contrast, Mark
felt destined to “doormathood” because he sometimes kept silent instead of
speaking up, and he had no sense of his own power. I asked him in hypnosis to
find an image of his power.

He saw himself with a sword, in a fencing stance. “I’m cutting though b.s.,” he
said. It felt good to Mark because he was standing his ground. His sword was his
potency; it wasn’t a symbol of violence. It was an opportunity to “make love, not
war.” He felt his own boldness.

I asked him to describe the fencer. “He’s not fearless,” Mark said. “He feels fear
and goes right to the heart of it with his sword. It’s exhilarating. He also stands
up in front of people and performs. He loves himself. People aren’t attacked by
him. They’re empowered by him. He’s not macho; the point isn’t that he’s great.

He shows you that you can be powerful too— powerful in a real way, going to
the heart of things. “He saw himself and his wife now laughing and embracing.

The power balance now began to shift in Mark’s relationship with his wife.

Healing Anger in Relationship

Ruth was furious at a friend who she felt had betrayed her. I asked her if she’d
like to experience her anger in hypnotherapy. She was ready and eager, for the
rage was overwhelming to her. In her mind’s eye, she saw herself slashing her
friend with a knife – all the way down her body. She slashed with fury, and she
cut her friend wide open. Out of the wound came a “light body companion”, a
friend made of light, who was soft and loving. She came to Ruth and embraced
her. Ruth had been able to go to the other side of her anger, to turn the fire into
light by allowing the anger to run its course. Soon she was able to stand back
and see her relationship with her friend more clearly and allow the love of their
friendship to re-emerge.