The Power of One Word

The Power of One Word (First Published in 2003)
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For years I've been telling clients and friends how
one trip to a hypnotherapist busted my writer's block
and helped me finish my dissertation. Eighteen years
later, while preparing a virtual class for book writers,
I discovered the secret magic formula within the
suggestion (or incantation?) that untied my
Gordian knot.

Let me tell you about my block, the single phrase
suggestion, and the secret that went undiscovered
till I meditated on it 18 years later. I never quite
understood how this worked. Now I know the source
of the 'power' within the phrase.

Two years after most of my classmates had finished
their dissertations, I was frozen solid, stuck,
totally blocked. My chair seemed to keep changing things
to the point where I was convinced the work would go on
forever, I would never graduate, and all the years of
sacrifice would go unrewarded. I couldn't write a thing,
dreaded approaching any member of my committee, and was
convinced there was nothing I could do to change things.

I believed the situation was hopeless.

A friend suggested the hypnotherapist. I arrived at the
office very curious about what would happen. The hypnotherapist
spoke to me in a matter of fact way. I offered my lament
about what the chairperson seemed to be doing. I remember
him saying in a very curious way, with a Cheshire smile,
'Isn't it nice that things can change?' I started laughing.
I wasn't consciously aware of why this happened. Something
was different.

He said something else that sounded like the first phrase but
was more personal. I associated to all the good changes that
had occurred in my life and to the wonder of many changes
within the world, such as the change of seasons. Something
was melting. I began to feel a sense of freedom and hope.
The session was over, but something had changed, big time!
What remained obscure was the phrasing of the second
suggestion and why the impact of this one session and two
simple phrases had been so profound.

Within a few short weeks I confronted my chairperson and
refused the direction he was taking. There was a brief,
brutal, intellectual and administrative struggle. He was
replaced and I survived. Within a few months I completed my
work and graduated in the fall of that year. A lot changed
very quickly.

In the ensuing years I repeated the story emphasizing
the phrase 'Isn't it nice things can change.' But some-
thing was missing. It wasn't just 'nice”. Something powerful
had happened. There was something more.

This past week, as I prepared a section of my class on
writer's block, I thought about the session in the hypno-
therapist's office. I was preparing a meditation to be
used in my teleclass as an illustration of a method for
dealing with writers block. I began to meditate on the
words and experiences of 18 years ago. I closed my
eyes and took a deep breath. A visual image of one word
appeared eidetically in my mind's eye: 'YOU'! He had said
or implied, 'Isn't it nice that 'You can change things!'?'

I was indeed the only one who could change my situation.
I had to take a profound action. I confronted my fear and
acted in the situation. What was missing from consciousness
all these years was the awareness that 'You can change
things!'. Having overcome my fears and acted, the writing
was easily completed.

The power to act was always potentially there. The hypno-
therapist helped me unlock my potential by leading me to
the opposite of what my fear of change had locked me into.
The power was within my grasp. He helped me by pointing
out the simple eloquence and power within 'You!'.

So now I have it in spades. The single most powerful word
I know: 'You'! Therein lies the power. It is within you,
each and everyone of us to transform our lives. Not only
are you the block, but also the power to undo it and the
power to complete your work on this planet.

Geoff can be reached at 703-883-1770 (voice) or
GeoffMichaelson@hotmail.com (e-mail)