When a duck is not a duck.
I have a friend who told me a story of her childhood. It was a time she spent in Turkey, with a huge extended family. As a five year old she would ride around the local village on a beautiful grey horse.
A child of great privilege, she enjoyed riding through the village and around surrounding farms. She was greatly envied by the other children as she rode past them. A happier little girl you could hardly imagine.
When she would go to the city other members of her family would ask her how she liked the country life. She told them excitedly of the adventures she had on her wonderful horse. They would smile and probably laugh to themselves thinking those adventures were largely made up, although they weren't.
To be so young, to have a horse that was the envy of all her friends, and to ride through villages and hillsides so freely was a young girls dream come true. Her friends numbered not only the local kids, but also the calves, goats and sheep, not to mention the cats in the village which she would feed on fish caught from the stream nearby.
As she grew she became a very proud young lady and a confident one. She felt the world was at her feet and why wouldn't it be? She had all she could wish for.
Then came a day when she was talking about her horse and one of her uncles said to her, "Young lady, that's not a horse."
"Of course it's a horse, don't be so silly," she replied.
"No, my girl, look in this book. You see? It's a donkey.."
She looked at the picture, and sure enough it looked very much like her horse. In fact as she looked at pictures of horses, and compared them to her own, it pretty soon became evident that she had for the last three years been riding a donkey, and a pretty ropey one at that.
Her life did change a little after that. She would study the animal encyclopedia often and she became an authority on the animals about the village. While she kept it quietly hidden within, she decided not to trust people quite so freely.
She loved her donkey - but now he was 'just' a donkey. Something was lost that would never be regained, and some of the girls cousins would tease her about her 'horse'.
And then came a day when all the children were playing in an area far from the village, in an abandoned farm. There was a well there, and through some mishap a child ended up falling into the dark hole and down into the water. Such things had happened before, and this would not be the first child that drowned in an abandoned well. The other children ran back towards the distant village to try to get help. In the cold black water far below it was clear the frightened boy would not last for very long. He was already too weak to pull himself up on the rope that held the bucket far below in the well.
Calling down to him, she told the boy to tie the rope around his chest. She was far too weak to pull him up, but she called to the aging donkey, and he trotted over to the side of the well.
She took the rope from the well and looped it around her donkey's neck, and began leading it steadily away. This weight was nothing for the old, but still stout little donkey, and very easily the child began to climb up towards the light. In a few minutes he was standing beside the well, wet and frightened, but otherwise unharmed.
From that day on, no one teased her about her donkey.
You may be wondering what all this has to do with hypnosis. Well, quite a lot, actually. You see, when we use hypnosis all we do is slightly alter perception. The reality takes care of itself. And just as the perception for my friend was that she had a wonderful grey horse, it was sadly altered by the inconvenient truth that it was in fact a donkey. However, when it really came down to it, it was what she needed to get the boy out of the well.
Horse? Donkey? Who cares. It worked.
A child of great privilege, she enjoyed riding through the village and around surrounding farms. She was greatly envied by the other children as she rode past them. A happier little girl you could hardly imagine.
When she would go to the city other members of her family would ask her how she liked the country life. She told them excitedly of the adventures she had on her wonderful horse. They would smile and probably laugh to themselves thinking those adventures were largely made up, although they weren't.
To be so young, to have a horse that was the envy of all her friends, and to ride through villages and hillsides so freely was a young girls dream come true. Her friends numbered not only the local kids, but also the calves, goats and sheep, not to mention the cats in the village which she would feed on fish caught from the stream nearby.
As she grew she became a very proud young lady and a confident one. She felt the world was at her feet and why wouldn't it be? She had all she could wish for.
Then came a day when she was talking about her horse and one of her uncles said to her, "Young lady, that's not a horse."
"Of course it's a horse, don't be so silly," she replied.
"No, my girl, look in this book. You see? It's a donkey.."
She looked at the picture, and sure enough it looked very much like her horse. In fact as she looked at pictures of horses, and compared them to her own, it pretty soon became evident that she had for the last three years been riding a donkey, and a pretty ropey one at that.
Her life did change a little after that. She would study the animal encyclopedia often and she became an authority on the animals about the village. While she kept it quietly hidden within, she decided not to trust people quite so freely.
She loved her donkey - but now he was 'just' a donkey. Something was lost that would never be regained, and some of the girls cousins would tease her about her 'horse'.
And then came a day when all the children were playing in an area far from the village, in an abandoned farm. There was a well there, and through some mishap a child ended up falling into the dark hole and down into the water. Such things had happened before, and this would not be the first child that drowned in an abandoned well. The other children ran back towards the distant village to try to get help. In the cold black water far below it was clear the frightened boy would not last for very long. He was already too weak to pull himself up on the rope that held the bucket far below in the well.
Calling down to him, she told the boy to tie the rope around his chest. She was far too weak to pull him up, but she called to the aging donkey, and he trotted over to the side of the well.
She took the rope from the well and looped it around her donkey's neck, and began leading it steadily away. This weight was nothing for the old, but still stout little donkey, and very easily the child began to climb up towards the light. In a few minutes he was standing beside the well, wet and frightened, but otherwise unharmed.
From that day on, no one teased her about her donkey.
You may be wondering what all this has to do with hypnosis. Well, quite a lot, actually. You see, when we use hypnosis all we do is slightly alter perception. The reality takes care of itself. And just as the perception for my friend was that she had a wonderful grey horse, it was sadly altered by the inconvenient truth that it was in fact a donkey. However, when it really came down to it, it was what she needed to get the boy out of the well.
Horse? Donkey? Who cares. It worked.
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