Your Control Center

Taking a road trip anytime soon? Whether you are driving alone, or with family members, here’s a creative way to pass the time.

Imagine that somewhere in your body-mind is a Control Center where all of your body’s systems are monitored. Imagine that this Control Center also monitors the full spectrum of your attitudes, behaviors, thoughts, beliefs and actions. What might your Control Center look like or feel like? Perhaps a room or a series of rooms filled with levers, gauges and dials, each clearly marked as to its purpose. Perhaps a computer monitor with colorful icons that you can click on for access to all your information. Perhaps the bridge of a ship or the cockpit of a plane. Allow your imagination to run free and honor whatever image comes to mind.

The sole purpose of your Control Center is to allow you full access and control of your body and mind in very clear, precise and useful ways. Just as you can check and re-set the sprinkler system that irrigates your backyard, so can you check and re-set (if desired) any and all of the factors that make up your body and your mind. I use this image with clients in hypnosis to deepen the access and, subsequently, the results; however, it can be a goldmine of information and effectiveness simply as an open-eyed, “What if …” type of daydream.

Imagine the possibilities with children. Say you have a child who is shy or lacking in confidence. You could have him imagine his Control Center and describe it. Prepare yourself for some wonderful descriptions!

Then ask him to locate the part of the Control Center where his confidence is monitored. Ask what the current level is of his confidence: low, medium, high? Perhaps there are actual numbers from one to ten that he “sees.” If he has trouble, encourage him gently to just “imagine.” Once a level is assessed, ask your child to re-set the gauge or lever or dial (as the case may be – just go with whatever image your child is seeing) to a higher level. “Lock in” the new setting so it doesn’t slip back down.

Once the change has been made, you can address any other changes your child may wish to make, or go on to the final step of this purposeful adventure: The Screening Room.

The Screening Room may be like a home movie theater, with a huge screen and a cushy chair with a control panel built into the arm rest. When your child flips the system on, suggest that an image of him -- as he has been in the past -- comes up on the screen. Perhaps it’s an image of him in a situation when he has felt his low confidence holding him back. Once he describes whatever scene comes up for him, ask him to fast-forward a few weeks – maybe to the first day of school in the fall. Remind your child that the improvement he made to his confidence level has been in place and working all this time. How does he see himself acting and feeling with that higher confidence level? Generally, the improvements are very clear and easily “felt.”

Finish on this high note by suggesting he “pause” a particularly happy image – one of him smiling, confident, happy – so that it becomes a giant poster on the screen. And assure him that this is now a done-deal in his deep, inner mind.

Try the Control Center on yourself or with your children next time you’re stuck in traffic or on a trip. I’d love to hear about your experience. Email me at lucy@ahigherperspective.com

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