What is New-Age Guilt?
As people who truly believe in the power of the mind, we need to be aware of how our greatest intentions to help others to heal can actually cause harm when we say things that instill fear or guilt in our clients. Many of us in the field of Hypnosis Education honor the idea that we create our own realities. The idea of “New-Age Guilt” comes into play when we tell people who are struggling with any issue that essentially they brought that upon themselves.
When we tell people that their mind caused their problems, we do not necessarily do a true service to our clients, as it is never our job to create more fear or more guilt. Our dedication to Hypnotherapy Training with very high standards goes with a certain responsibility to truly help people as we work to empower them. Continue reading about avoiding creating “New-Age Guilt” and how to truly helping those in need with the power of our words.
What is New-Age Guilt?
In self-actualized metaphysical philosophy, we often hear that we create our own realities and that everything that happens to us is a choice on some level. In our Hypnotherapy School, we honor that there is a lot of truth to this idea, yet it is important to remember that not everyone believes this and our understanding of it might not be fully complete.
Therefore, when we tell someone that their mind caused their problem, we need to be aware of how that will affect the other person because if we agree that the mind is powerful, we can be doing more harm than good. New-Age Guilt is to make someone feel bad for having a problem as if they are the cause of their problem. However, we must remember that it is never our job to make people feel bad. Telling them that their thoughts created the problem can cause fear of their own thinking and guilt for having their own thoughts. Aside from that, it can cause anger when they get upset with us, and frustration for being judged.
Never diagnose from one sign or symptom
Hypnotherapists are not medical doctors and we do not diagnose, however in fields that do diagnose an assessment is not made from only one sign or symptom. For instance, if a patient has a headache, we do not tell them that it must be a brain tumor. If someone has a stomach upset, we do not tell them that it must be some form type of parasite or intestinal worm. In these cases, not only is our assessment based on a very limited amount of knowledge, our words can cause more harm than good because we instill fear and excessive worry in the other person, which of course can lead to anger and frustration with us. The same holds true for understanding the power of the mind over the body when someone has a certain sign or symptom.
For instance, someone who needs to wear glasses is not necessarily suffering from looking at things that he does not want to look at and someone who has difficulty hearing does not necessarily want to not hear what is going on. We can never assess what is truly happening in someone’s body or mind from only one sign or symptom.
What is the best response to someone who is struggling?
Sometimes the best thing to do for someone who feels badly is just to say that we are sorry and that we hope that they feel better soon. Sometimes we can say that we would help in any way that we can. One of the worst things we can say is, “Well, look at what you brought upon yourself.” We might not use those exact words, yet to suggest that the person caused their own illness because of their thinking is not necessarily helpful at all.
In Hypnotherapy Training, we must honor the power of the mind, yet in doing so we must realize that our own words can truly influence people in positive and negative ways. We can avoid New-Age Guilt by simply letting people know that we care about them, that we hope that they feel better soon, and that we are here to help if we can.
Let us remember never to make people feel bad who are already feeling bad and never to diagnose from just one sign or symptom (or never to diagnose at all if we are not qualified to do so.)
To learn more about a career in Hypnotherapy that truly empowers people visit www.InstituteofHypnotherapy.com or give us a call at 800-551-9247.
To learn about the Anahat Meditation System check us out at www.OnlineMonastery.com.
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