The sleepwalking economy

There’s a lot I don’t know about psychology and human behavior and probably a lot of other things. But how does one learn things if they aren’t part of one’s chosen field of study? I don’t have the time, the money or the discipline to go back to school for extra knowledge. For people like me there are distance courses in hypnotherapy.

According to the Hypnosis Motivation Institute, the nation’s only accredited college of hypnotherapy, there are basically two types of people walking around. Both kinds are equally susceptible to the power of suggestion if you only know which buttons to press. After taking the quiz that came with the book and the tapes, I found out that I am right in the middle of the two types in a small group called the natural somnambulists. These are the easiest people in the world to hypnotize.

I recalled this fact when I was on the phone with them trying to get my money back. I would assume that anyone working at the institute would avail themselves of hypnotic powers, even that nice woman who assured me that everything would be all right if I gave her my credit card number again over the phone. As my hand reached for my wallet I wondered if I should remind her that the Web site said the refund would be given after 10 business days, not 30. Now a month has almost gone by and I’m wondering if I know any good lawyers I could use to bluff my way out of this.

I didn’t choose to cancel the course because I don’t believe it works; in fact, I have a feeling that with enough practice I could become a hypnotist. What I learned, however, is that all suggestion does is give the client license to solve their own problems. People believe some change is supposed to come over them because the hypnotist assures them so and then over-stimulates them until their mind plays dead and becomes open to suggestion. It’s really pretty simple and it happens to us all the time.

One of the examples used to explain the principles of hypnosis was the field of advertising. It is well known that two of the best avenues to reach the subconscious minds of consumers are fear and greed. These both impacted my decision to purchase the course, as I wanted to be able to pick up women in bars and make my enemies bark like dogs in public. Now my fear and greed are aimed at the fact that I have nothing to show for the money I’m still waiting to get back. Apparently it still costs to learn lessons after college.