Looking at the World
What is your outlook on life?
Everyone has their take on how the world ticks. Your opinion is frequently – if not invariably – influenced by personal experience. And your destiny is then shaped by your outlook on life and your personal experience.
Ask yourself a dozen questions …
1 Do you believe that all children should be strictly brought up so that they can behave according to parental convictions about religion, politics or social interaction?
2 Do you consider that there are a lot of miserable and angry people in the world?
3 Do you think that everyone is out to get you and that you should trust no-one?
4 Do you feel that life is totally empty and meaningless?
5 Do you reflect on the way others behave and then find most of them wanting?
6 Do you believe that you should follow a career which will please your parents?
7 Do you wish you had rebelled more when you were at school?
8 Do you think that most people are annoying and deliberately obstructive?
9 Do you know a colleague at work who is inconsiderate and ruthless?
10 Do you sometimes feel that you would like to scream at an inconsiderate friend, colleague, neighbour or associate?
11 Do you want to follow the path of a loner or a hermit and withdraw almost totally from everyday life?
12 Is your life partner self-obsessed, embarrassingly rude and utterly intolerable most of the time?
This list of questions is not an exhaustive list but perhaps you can consider your true outlook on life from the above suggestions and add any relevant questions of your own.
How have your beliefs, opinions and convictions been influenced?
Now ask yourself, in the light of the above enquiries, about the way in which your past is a direct reflection of your current existence, your outlook on life and your unshakeable beliefs about the world.
Ask yourself a dozen questions …
1 Was your upbringing underpinned by beliefs in exemplary yet unrealistic and misguided good conduct?
2 Were your parents, guardians or teachers notably angry and miserable when you were growing up?
3 Have you been the target of someone else making your life a sheer misery in the past?
4 Were you not appreciated, understood or loved as a child?
5 Did your childhood or your schooldays consist of too much discipline from people who had their own unresolved emotional baggage on the agenda?
6 Do you feel unfulfilled by your chosen career because you really took this path in order to appease someone else?
7 Do you find that you are compelled to conform with society when actually you would like to be a rebel or a trendsetter?
8 Did you have a childhood in which you were over-disciplined or not given enough chance for self-expression?
9 Was your father or your mother too obsessed with their own life or career and you then felt you did not count in the equation?
10 Did you feel misunderstood or unappreciated as a child and that you were unable to get anyone to see anything from your perspective?
11 Did you consider that there was no point in asking anyone for help when you experienced difficulties in childhood either at home, at school or with your friends?
12 Did you choose a life partner who actually reminds you of your father or your mother and your partner now exhibits the same traits?
The above questions relate loosely to the questions posed in the previous section but maybe you can add to this list of questions yourself by considering your outlook on life and how your opinions has been shaped by your past life experience.
Ways in which our outlook is shaped?
Sometimes we are influenced directly by those who had control of our life in the past – particularly in childhood and during formative years – such as parents, teachers, guardians or carers. These influences may distort our view of the world and inhabit our mind insidiously and make us feel out of control.
And sometimes we are also believe that other people exhibit those traits which we would wish to deny or not to recognise within ourselves, such as anger, fears, depression or a lack of self-determination because something seemingly unknown is controlling our mind.
If your feel that your outlook on life or your personal convictions are unpleasantly distorted then please visit the “Find A Practitioner” page on the JMHT website.
Jacquelyne Morison
Jacquelyne Morison Hypnotherapy Training