I heard at one point a lecture on stress.
The speaker started by telling a little story that enchanted those of us who listened. A story about:
What if there was a magic fairy
In the middle of the room
And by walking around and swinging with his wand
Could the magic fairy remove all stress
All stress in the individual
Both in the body
Thoughts and
Emotions
And remove all stress that had
With work or relationships or finances or children or other
To do.
It was easy to live into, and it was an almost audible sigh that sounded when the speaker became realistic again, saying that a magic fairy would hardly get past in anyone’s life. And yet.
Simply sitting and imagining what a stress-free life is like, created constructive thoughts, feelings and ideas in the individual. And when the lecturer, with respect for the individual, handed out a piece of paper where you could write down the three pieces of advice that the magic fairy would give one here and now, the little thought experiment became a concrete and useful exercise.
I myself am a coach, and I myself know many metaphors, more than most, and I always use them in both my teaching, in my courses and in my personal coaching courses.
And someone might say that it’s a bit flat to talk about magic fairies or warriors or fortune tellers or monsters that show up and give one three trials. Personally, I do not think it is flat, because I know what stories do to us as human beings. Simply by applying an introductory phrase like “what if…” our right hemisphere immediately begins to imagine an imaginary, hypothetical scenario. We know very well that it is hypothetical, as in the example of the magic fairy. But the right hemisphere is creative and problem-solving in terms of creating whole solutions, and it is this that is activated. And this is a tool that is more than unusually good in coaching and extremely and exceptionally good when it comes to stress coaching that is on the agenda.
And how can the hypothetical mindset be used in stress coaching, you may ask?
If you want to immerse yourself in it a little, answer the following questions and note what comes out of it:
- Think of one of the last times you were stressed out at your job.
And consider what you would do differently in the situation if you were not stressed - Think of one of the last times you were stressed out, purely private
And consider what you would do in this situation if you were not stressed - Think of one of the last times you were stressed out, just in your own company.
And again, what would you do if you were not stressed.
The exercise can of course be nuanced.
And you can take a closer look at your stress and answer the questions that resonate within you.
- Exactly what would you do if you were not worried
- Exactly what would you do if you were not confused
- Exactly what would you do if you were not powerless
- Exactly what would you do if you were not exhausted
- Exactly what would you do if you were not irritable
- Exactly what would you do if you were not hysterical
- Exactly what would you do if you were not unbalanced
- etc. etc.
The hypothetical approach is unique.
It can become one of your paths through the stress jungle, so that with the help of your right hemisphere’s creative problem solving, you can once again get access to some of the resources that stress has unfortunately had the opportunity to tie together.
So: what if the magic fairy is here right now. So what do you want to do differently before you go to bed, and what do you want to do differently when you wake up tomorrow?
And what will the magic fairy tell you while you sleep? As you can remember, consciously as well as unconsciously and thus your process of stress reduction and profits is set in motion.
