2022 was a transformative year, for me and for a lot of global citizens. One of the more unusual things I did in 2022 was have my Chinese astrology read. It’s a convoluted story, but my Chinese astrology, called Bazi, was read by a Russian astrologer who lives in Belgium, who is a friend of a friend e.g. someone I don’t know at all. Natalya, my Chinese astrologist, used my birthdate and time to compose a reading for me and shared it over zoom with me in January 2022.
Of all the fascinating things Natalya told me, one that stuck is that my Chinese astrology is very high in the water element. Chinese astrology has five elements: water, metal, earth, wood, and fire. Because I was born in the middle of the night in December near a full moon, my chart is very high in the water element.
Discovering I was high in the water element gave me a valuable frame for 2022. People high in the water element are deep, flexible and intuitive. They can create enormous change because water can shape the earth. Water people struggle sometimes because they are so flexible and formless that they need to lean on others for structure and shape.
Recently, I received a second reading from Natalya. Natalya’s second reading was fascinating. What I found particularly accurate was her expression of what she called my superpower:
An understanding of human nature, the development of inner strengths and support in personal transformations.
I have been trying to articulate my “why” for years, and suddenly, here it is! What a gift! This article is about what each part of my superpower means and how I thrive at using it to help others.
Why I love the study of human nature
Shortly after I finished my undergraduate education, I took a job at a decision analysis consulting company on Sand Hill Road in Palo Alto. In executive classrooms where we taught top business leaders and CXOs about decision quality, I learned about cognitive biases and how people made decisions. I thought it was so interesting that people don’t always make the most rational decision, and that sometimes the irrational choices people do make can be reliably predicted. It was so interesting!
In graduate business school, I studied marketing, and I continued working in the marketing field for over twenty years. Marketing was a good fit for me because it is a very creative, fast-paced and ever-changing field. Working in marketing gave me an opportunity to create appealing messages that spoke to human wants and needs.
Grief has been a loud part of my life. Grief is also a fundamental part of human nature. My personal experience with grief has taught me a great deal about love, loss and moving forward. I see grief more deeply than many people I know. This familiarity with grief is part of what makes me an expert at understanding human nature.
I have an ability to help people discover people’s inner strengths and leverage them for growth and increased happiness.
One way I help people discover their inner strengths is through hypnosis. I have a knack for helping guide people into deep states of hypnosis where they can explore, discover, and revise their thinking at the subconscious level.
I’ve helped Heather overcome her fear of driving and get her driver’s license for the first time at age 54. I run a session called “Hypnosis for Sales” where I help people who sell relax and visualize their sales success, prompting increased comfort and activity when making those sales calls. For Robert, we discovered that his subconscious wanted him to push back and stand up more, disagreeing where it was appropriate. Hypnosis is one way I help people find inner strength and use it to achieve results.
I also help people through coaching. Because of my excellent listening skills, my ability to gently help people see multiple views of a problem and creatively approach difficult problems, my clients see excellent coaching results.
For example, Olivia made a significant change in her role in her organization. She was frustrated that in her new role; she lacked power that she had previously. Because of the way her work scope was now defined, there was very little she could do to influence the organization and make the kind of changes she would have led in her previous role. With my guidance, she accepted her new role, and found peace she didn’t have when we began our work.
A third way I help people find their inner strengths is through teaching. Teaching gives me the opportunity to be both a lecturer and a class facilitator. I love teaching because in teaching, I have the opportunity to both lead and learn. I teach classes online independently and for various other organizations.
Seeing the smile on someone’s face after they have made a transformation is what powers me.
What makes me happy is to see the personal transformations that take place as a result of my work. I am uplifted by the changes my clients make with my help. Their new perspectives, the release of anxieties and phobias, and their new directions.
For reasons unknown, maybe my birthday or maybe the life I have led, I am so very blessed to have these gifts and talents. It brings me great joy to facilitate people’s transformations.
I offer a free online hypnotherapy session one Friday every month called “Nourish and Flourish.” Get a taste of what hypnosis is like and how it can change you in this 45 minute session. Register for the next one here.
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