Adrenaline of Anticipation

Magic. There is magic in the form of the unknown - in packages to be opened, letters unread, and oyster shells. Call it a combination of potential and hope. It is in the adrenaline of anticipation.

This is a bit of free form posting here, but I have been working on potential guided imagery to enhance the idea of hope and the positive energy (I realize the potential of expectation can also happen but that is a problem to be worked around). Hope can really propel something forward. So, I am in search of a metaphor for things that "open," and hence I come back to the oyster shell idea. There is romance in the concept of finding an unopened oyster shell and opening it up to find a pearl (or at least the beginnings of a tasty treat), but what one is really opening up is an oyster shell of hope or anticipation. There is something to this, glimmering and almost ready to come forth.

And I know this is potentially an awkward sort of thing for some because oysters may signify a health risk. However, if one is educated, Gulf oysters and such, can be a positive experience. The Be Oyster Aware web site provides a lot of information about oysters, oyster processing, and addresses health concerns.

Now I realize not everyone who hears my guided visualization will have access to this web site, but it gives me a place to direct those who are concerned. And yes, I am concerned with those who might find oyster imagery stressful. The visualization would have an opposite affect upon these types of people. It is not fear I want to perpetuate but hope.

Phoning Home...and other places

Another Monday, but this Monday is a little different. Though I am here, coffee in one hand, hunting and pecking with the other, I am in the process of packing for a week long journey with friends. So, I am not sure how the posting is going to go for the next week. I had planned to email my post, but I am a little weary of the service after the trial run this weekend. So, do check back periodically as I may have opportunity to post and keep up with you.

As I get all the details in line, I have been looking for a pre-paid calling card that will allow me international flexibility in calling home and office. Yes, I will be taking my cell phone, but it seems like international calling gets complicated and expensive, so I am looking for alternatives in case I find myself meditating on an Mayan pyramid (there is hope for a group regression at such a place) and need to share my revelations. Probably cell phone service would be limited down there, but its good to have one's ducks in a row, eh? So, I have found a calling card from Pingo.com, that will let me use my cell phone for such a thing (and is available on other phones, too). Their low rates are substantially better than my cell phone carrier. If I am in Mexico, I can call home to the States (and to other places
in Mexico) for under $.20. This is 90% less than what I would normally pay for international cell phone usage. Also note though that if you choose to use Pingo.com, you may want to disable international calling on your cell phone to make sure you are not being charged twice.

The other positive thing about their service is that it saves a lot of time in finding lower fee phone cards (which I have looked for in the past during travels) and their rates are easy to find. You just click on the Rates tab on their site. Pingo’s RateWatcher™ is also pretty nifty for finding low rates. Do note though, that there is a $.98 monthly fee for the service. This is almost made up in promotions. If you sign up, you receive five hours of free calling (for this you pay for $20 worth of service), plus at the moment if you use their coupon, you get more of a discount:

Special phone card blog discount coupon: “ppp3” valid for $3 off Pingo
Receive $25 phone card for just $17.

You can find out more about how it works by clicking on their "How It Works" page. It might also be worth using them as an instant calling card for general calls, not just when you are traveling. For those loved ones that I still have in the UK, the rates seem really competitive (and it would have been helpful for last week's bought of homesickness). And if you sell Cd's and training courses world-wide, this might save some money in communicating with clients outside your local market area.

So, that is one more task checked off on the to do list.

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Homesick

I am having tea time earlier today. It is convenient and a great time to touch base with the blog again.

Yes, I am having tea time as opposed to a coffee break. Ever since doing the exercise on the perfect office, I have been craving London something fierce. I have even been dressing in black. Dinner will probably even be a nice Shepherd's Pie.

But I have a question for all you British hypnotists - why are none of you listed in London on Trustedplaces.com? Granted it is pretty new, but still...where are you? If you are not familiar with Trustedplaces.com, it is a new community website that features places one should visit, such as restaurants, places of culture, and yes - well being. It is done from a user perspective. Places are reviewed and commented upon. Keeps you as a business owner on your toes, don't you think?

So, there I was drooling over the spas and yoga spaces and it occurred to me to look up the rest of my ilk. Now, I am truly inspired to move my practice to the UK. That is right, I looked up hypnosis and found us not represented. We need to do something about that. So is there a lack of our profession there or what?

And just looking over the London restaurant scene is inspiring. There is full diversity in this area. Seems as though one would never be bored food-wise there.

This site also is available for other areas in the world, though their starting focus was on London and the UK, but I see potential for its expansion. Pretty nice.

Justified Paranoia

They show up, looking behind them, surveying the parking lot, reading my words on confidentiality and privacy closely, and tell me that they want no one to know that they are seeing a hypnotist. If we see each other in passing, I am not to be hurt if they do not "know" me. Then they breathe and unpack their life and fears.

And sometimes I wonder if those with a heightened sense of paranoia are not a little wiser than the rest of us. Today while perusing the blog world for marketing ideas, I came across
GimmieTheScoop.com (Random blatherings - I love it!), a so-called Marketing Blog. Though I am not sure I gained perspective in that area, it kept my attention. The blog has different sections for health, business, and politics, among others.

The recent post in health was about China's food safety issues. Where have I been? Last I heard, one had to be careful with toothpaste, now food? See why perhaps those that are a little paranoid maybe right in their ideas? If you read the post before that one, there seems to be some issue with Chinese Medicine as well. Great. The articles do not go into great depth on specifics, but it is enough to make one read labels a little more closely. But what I want to know, does this affect Chinese Herbals? What are the ramifications?

I have been looking into Chinese herbs and their potential to help with PMS (it has been said, I am not sure by whom, that the Chinese do not have the problems we have with PMS). Now I guess I will move a little slower and even more cautiously.

And how will this affect the 2008 Olympics in Beijing? I had entertained an idea of trying to go on holiday then. Or am I just feeding into media frenzy?

On a more positive note, in their Business Blog section, there is a posting on some fabulous new toys that are coming out for businesses. I just might need a cell phone that is a transformer. Perhaps it will protect me from any intruder subplot planing to disrupt the tranquility of my garden room office.

So, as always, feel free to share your thoughts on the whole paranoia idea, Chinese medicine (hey, some of you are herbalist out there, I know you are there, let me hear from you), or if you too need a cell phone that doubles as a toy.

My Dream Office

There is a certain type of gloomy day that really appeals to me, the kind with a few thunderheads lurking in the far-off, no harsh glare to reality, just a softness of light. One can turn on the glow of a subtle lamp or enjoy the candle light in the mid-afternoon. No need to draw the shades (if you have any) and no client voices complaining about the light being too bright (ah, but that is why opne should always have eye pads handy).

And I have this fabulous dream (yes, I am doing that weekly exercise of the idea of changing things about) of moving my office into a conservatory off my non-existent home in the middle of London. An oasis of greenery and glass without the sound of cell phones buzzing in constantly. It would be in the back, overlooking a courtyard of boxwood. How wonderful such an office would be on a gloomy day or during the twilight hours. This is my dream office in reality. I am not so keen for a dimly lit space (as you may already know).

So I looked up the idea of Conservatory in England (ah, to be in England in...the Fall?) and found Anglian Home Improvements. I am torn between the Edwardian and the Garden Room versions, though I suppose it would depend on what housing I had at the time. A good comfy chair, leather (distressed) would be perfect for either. And some sort of antique rug would be nice as well. One could even work a nice induction into the falling rain on the roof glass.

The positive thing about this fantasy is that I can coordinate it. All I would need is a basic structure and this same company could take care of all my Home improvements so that everything would coordinate in modern technologies. Antiques windows and such are lovely, but I think something sound and new would be well worth consideration. If one company handled it all, the doors, the windows, even the roofing and garage doors could be coordinated. How handy it would be to just make one phone call, one meeting and that would be that. I am sure there would be more to it, but how sweet it would be to just deal with one place for it all. Plus Anglian has been serving the UK for more than 36 years, so they have plenty of experience with dealing with slightly neurotic females and their fantasies. I suspect they could handle me with kid gloves (a necessary when spending lots of money).

S0, there you have it. Another flight of fantasy. But you know, when you start actually loooking into it, perhaps it is more like future planning, the beginning of a new manifestation.


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Supporting the blog lifestyle

Most mornings, here we sit, I with my coffee or tea and laptop, and you with, well whatever you drink. And you patiently read my words about my life and feelings about being a hypnotist. Ah, what a grand romance it is. Needless to say, I am completely committed to this relationship.

But...but...it is nice when this effort helps to pay the bills, or at least for the Internet and coffee habit I have. One such way that I am doing this is becoming involved with www.blogsvertise.com and the opportunity for you to do the same is there as well. You have my blessings and support to take advantage of this (if it keeps you coming back to have coffee with me). The way it works is that you register your blog (you have to have a blog) with them. If your blog is approved by www.blogsvertise.com, an administrator will assign you writing tasks to talk about a specific advertiser. You do not have to endorsement them, just talk about them in at least 60 to 100 words and include a minimum of three or more links. Payment is anywhere between $4 - $20 a post and is made to you through PayPal. In other words, start a blog, make sure you have a PayPal account and talk about things that you enjoy. It is that simple.

If you are interested, you might want to look at their FAQ.

A Business Resource

We have talked about this before, but I figured I would continue talking about the actual business of being a professional hypnotist. Running your own business means setting your own schedule, being responsible for everything from keeping the toilets clean to marketing, and paying for the privilege of doing business. Sure, you can start out inexpensively (and I am always one to look at all the options because sometimes what you think will be inexpensive, turns out to be very costly).

Finance wise, I started out without a business loan, though I occasionally consider it with thoughts of expansion (hence what the driving force behind this posting). No, I took perhaps a more expensive route (see there it is…trying to do something inexpensively and it rears its ugly head to become finically exhaustive), I used credit cards. Please note that I am not giving advice here, just telling you the glib facts about the transparent hypnotist. It is also why words like APR have significant meaning for me. I thought it would be easier and less invasive than a loan.

The thing that saved me from insane debt was learning as much about finance as I could. When I realized how fast the credit card debt can go, it gained my full attention. I began reading fine print (with reading glasses on) and made sure I understood the concepts involved. I transfered some balances to cards with better rates and deals, and stuck to the plan for getting out of debt.

The other thing I did was find resources of information. One such resource is at 600.net. This site offers a fair amount of readable insight into various forms of finance and loans, including what to look for, hidden problems and warning signs.

So if you are thinking about starting a business, do research as many sources as you can. You may know all about depth levels, but do you know about interest rates?

All You Ever Wanted to Know About APR

Yes, I am back in research mode today.

Living in this time of flux, many clients come to me who have been laid-off, are going to be laid-off, are in financial crisis or feel over-whelmed with the price of survival. They often want help in dealing with anxiety, increase self-esteem, are trying to find what they really want to do with the rest of their lives, or want to change spending habits. The later is what is on my mind currently.

As you may well be aware, I try to provide clients with resources from reputable sources as a stepping stone after the hypnosis expereince. If you have clients (or know anyone) who are being laid off or have debt problems, suggesting they see a credit counselor may not be a bad idea, or at least giving them counseling resources such as articles, tips, etc. Care One Credit Counseling offers some advice in debt management you may want to check out as well as an insightful article on credit card terms and conditions that explains various credit card "traps" in which we all may likely to succumb. It explains in human terms (for people who have little financial schooling background) how the Annual Percentage Rate works, such as the tempting 0% APR offers that seem to always be arriving in our post boxes. One might think that one can charge away on these cards and have no interest build up, but probably not. If one looks carefully, this is usually for balance transfers. If one has an outstanding balance on another card, transferring it to a 0% APR card might be helpful. I have had a few clients come in with horror stories about this sort of thing, when had they understood more about the credit card, a lot of misery could have been avoided.

So, if this ever comes up for you, please feel free to share this resource.

A Resource in the Sea of Dreams

Well folks, I may not be able to make a post on Esoteric Saturday this week. At the moment it looks like I will be away from computer access tomorrow. I suspect I may miss it more than you. LOL.

I often do self-appointed research projects for various clients. Some times a little push toward their goals lets them know that someone is paying attention to their dreams, and they can take or leave the information (often web sites or local businesses or organizations). So, I guess I will just pass along the latest.

Often people seek my services during times of big change or to begin the process (obviously). They come for one thing and it may turn out to be the catalysis for other changes. Changing jobs is a big one I often see. And then there are the people who dream of starting a business or opening a restaurant. The problem is, where does one get the capital for this type of venture? Many seem to get stuck on concepts like getting a business loan (which can be daunting) and have no idea where to begin. I often recommend local Chambers of Commerces or The Small Business Administration.

But here is a potential resource or at least a starting place. It is a company called ARF (Advance Restaurant Finance, LLC). They offer restaurant finance help, as well as short term loans for merchants in the U.S. Their target clients are small to medium sized merchants. Based in California, they have been in business since 2001. Though I have not used them personally, they seem pretty straight forward. An concept that they mention is a tip that the interest paid on a business loan is tax deductible, which further lowers the net effective rate of the loan. If you are wondering what I just said, better to hear it from an expert in finance, but it sounds like it is good news for those starting small businesses. And gosh knows, as a small business owner myself, we need all the help we can get.

It appears that their loans are short term and flexible. This is really handy if you run a seasonal-based business (like the ice-cream parlor one of my clients is starting) and need some extra capital to get you through the lean months.

So, its just an idea to let you know what is out there.

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