Thursday 28 February 2008

Clumsiness, Changing Your Life & Hypnotism

A couple of weeks ago a friend told me he was clearing his bookcases and asked if I wanted any of his books. Naturally I beamed myself up almost instantaneously and one of the books that I brought home was Paul McKenna's Change Your Life in 7 Days. I haven't ever read any of his work before and have only seen him in the odd tv programme but as it had a CD at the back and talked of relaxation techniques and hypnotism, I thought it worth a look.

Dd found a Walkman for me to use and a comfortable pair of earphones and I took to my bed, only remembering an hour or so later that I wanted to listen to the CD. Not wanting to wake dh who had to be up early in the morning, I spent an age faffing about trying to figure out how to turn the darn thing on in the dark and finally lay back, eyes closed to be hypnotised. It was wonderful, I zoned out dreamily and relaxed listening to PMcK speaking in one ear phone the the next, then both at the same time (a little confusing but I went with it anyway). Dh then started snoring and desperate not to miss anything, I nudged him, only for him to make even more noise. The dog growled from his bed and I ended up more wound up than I had at the start. The next night, I made sure that I went to bed earlier than dh and gave him strict instructions not to disturb me and this time zoned out completely.

I don't expect or in fact really want to change much in my life but it would be great to stop stressing about work related issues and feel more positive and self-confident with regard to my writing - one can only try.

I woke up this morning refreshed (having gone to bed by 9pm and listened to the CD) but unfortunately my clumsiness is always worse when I'm feeling under the weather and before 8 this morning, I managed to:

Knock over several photo frames whilst opening the lounge curtains, though thankfully saving my toast and jam from hitting the new carpet at the last minute
Nearly re-pierced my ear when trying to insert an earring
Stabbed myself in the eye with a make-up brush making me look like I was crying from one eye only.

That was before I left the house for work.

Work was better than I had feared mainly due to the fact that I spent from 11 - noon in a meeting, followed by a retirement lunch from 12.30 - 2pm, so I wasn't at my desk for too much of the day, although I did have to stay and extra 2 hours late to make sure that something I have a deadline for was sorted out today.

I feel thoroughly washed out now as well as rather sore so shall not try and edit anything tonight but will carry on reading Mr McKenna's brilliant book and hope for the best.

18 comments:

Karen said...

I managed to put my contact lenses in the wrong eyes this morning (well they were MY eyes, but one is weaker than the other if you get my drift) and spent the whole morning squinting and blinking like I'd got a nervous twitch.

A friend of mine has tried the Paul McKenna CD and was impressed - she felt it worked subliminally rather than immediately, and she started feeling the effects after a couple of weeks (rather than 7 days!) :o)

Marcie Steele said...

It is a good book Debs and the CD is good, if a little weird but it does make you feel relaxed, when done in private! But I'm too much of a pessimist to be all postive and press my thumb and think of a good place to be. Did however feel that if I was positive, AND IT WORKED, life wouldn't be so 'either/or' x

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

karen - poor you, that did make me laugh. Can't have been comfortable though. I've never worn contact lenses and can't imagine how strange they must feel.

I hope it does work, I need all the help I can get!

l-plate author - I agree with you regarding the finger and thumb thing. I can't imagine remembering to do that bit. I do like the calming CD though. Anything that helps me sleep has to be worth listening to.

HelenMWalters said...

I have Paul McKenna's 'I can make you thin'. Sadly, I would have to say it hasn't worked ...

Flowerpot said...

sounds like obne hell of a day. What's going to happen while you read the rest of the book I wonder?!!

Lane Mathias said...

At least you were awake enough to save the new carpet from being jammed.

I've never listened/read anything by McKenna so wil be interested to hear if there's any effect.

Phillipa said...

I'm way behind your blog Deb but wanting to say hello - I was just wondering whether to go along to the LBF.

Re Paul McKenna - I don't believe in psychics etc but I DO believe vey strongly in the power of the mind

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

helenmh - apparently he reckons that people with weight issues have them because they ask themselves the wrong questions, such as 'why am I fat' instead of the more positive 'how can I become thin'. I wish it was that simple!

flowerpot - I dare hardly think! Thankfully today was far calmer. What a relief.

lane - dh would not have been impressed if I had got jam on the carpet, Grumpy is managing to mess it up with his muddy paws as it is.

I shall let you know, though to be honest I'm not usually one to believe these things.

phillipa - hello and thanks for the comment. If you are there at the same time as I will be for the seminar, do let me know as it would be fun to meet up even if for short while.

I do also agree with the power of the mind and just hope that mine pays enough attention to remember what I'm supposed to be thinking.

DAB said...

Interesting chap, went to one of his live shows once, what an eye opener! TFX

Ray-Anne said...

It is Friday night so I hope I can see you sprawling in decadent luxury - possibly with wine and a book?
:-)

Anonymous said...

Ive read his confidence book. I loved it, found it really inspiring. Listened to the c.d but got so relaxed that I fell asleep! dont think that was the idea somehow!

Faye said...

Hi Debs--thanks so much for stopping by my blog. I enjoyed your "Mr. Darcy" story. The chances are mine would have ended the same way if we hadn't been so clueless--ah well.

I read your most recent posts and look forward to going back to archives for more. I noticed that you liked "Becoming Jane". I agree even though it may not be accurate Austen. I'm a bit besotted by this whole Austen series on public television--just bought and watched the DVD of P & P again tonight. This may interest you. I 've ordered the book, "Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman Trilogy" by Pamela Aidan, which tells the story from Mr. Darcy's point of view. Promises to be a great read.

Sorry for this lengthy comment and thanks again for checking out my blog. Oh yes, re today's post: like other commenters, I've never met a self help book that I didn't like!

Jen said...

It's not very cool to confess a liking of Paul McK but, um, yes! I think he's quite good, if a little creepy.

I have the Make You Thin CD and listen to it purely for relaxation purposes.

Sympathise entirely with the clumsiness problem - I'm so bad that I have to swig water straight out of a huge bottle at work. The chances of me knocking over a glass all over my papers are just far too high.

Sigh. Maybe Mr McK could hypnotism us to be a bit more sensible?

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

tom foolery - I can imagine, I would like to see one of his shows but can't imagine he would come over here.

ray-anne - that would have been lovely, unfortunately I was waiting for my son to finish work and spent 1/2 sitting in the car while his boss kept him longer than I had expected.

motherx - I can see how it would send you to sleep, it does the same to me and you're supposed to listen to the cd then read the pages of the book but I have to do it the other way round!

faye - thanks for visiting my blog, lovely to see you here. I also have 'Darcy's Diary' by Amanda Grange, also written from Darcy's pov. She has also written 'Mr Knightley's Diary' and 'Captain Wentworth's Diary' too.

spiralskies - I also have to have a bottle of water at my desk!

A friend of mine didn't like the CD as she found his voice...um, how shall I put this...not to her liking.

Unknown said...

Eek! Are you sure none of this is a direct result of what Mr McKenna might have been whispering in your ear in the night... *shiver*

That said, I go to sleep every night listening to a collection of Reiki music and it's sublime.

Glad the carpet didn't get jammed!

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

absolute vanilla (& atyllah) - crikey, I hadn't thought of that. Maybe I should look into this Reiki music, I certainly need calming music at the end of the day to relax my brain a bit.

Annieye said...

I'm like you Debs, I need something to de-stress me after work.

I've had helluva week at work and today (Saturday) hasn't been much better because I went in this morning to try and get a training session put together for next Tuesday night.

I might try it.

Deborah Carr (Debs) said...

annieye - your workload sounds horrendous, I do hope that you manage to find some time to be able to recharge your batteries. Hope you have a great Mother's Day today.