EMOTIONAL RESONANCE 

 

Emotions from the past often do us a disservice. Resonance is a term used in physics and music. It has to do with how things vibrate. Substances of different mass, size and construction have a tendency to vibrate at a particular frequency when disturbed with sufficient energy. For example, if you hit a bell, it will vibrate at a particular frequency. As will a string on a guitar, when plucked. We then hear these vibrations as a particular tone. Now, let me take this a little further. Objects can vibrate sympathetically with each other. For example, if you have a guitar and a piano in the same room, and they are in tune with each other you can go over to the piano, strike the ‘A’ key and the ‘A’ string on the guitar will vibrate. It vibrates because it has a natural tendency to vibrate at that frequency and the vibrations in the air from the piano are sufficient enough to make that happen.

 

What does that have to do with emotions? Have you ever had the experience of overreacting to a situation? I mean where you reacted to a situation that was really out of proportion to what was happening. Even worse, that overreaction might even have been a little childish when you think about it, like a tantrum? This is why I think that happens.

 

Many of the experiences that we have each day are very close to similar experiences that we have had earlier in our lives. When these experiences are emotionally packed, we respond more strongly. If you experience an emotionally packed situation right now, and it is very close in a circumstance to something that you experienced in the past, because of their similarity, they activate each other through a kind of emotional resonance. 

 

Emotions from the past cascade forward into the present, causing an over-reaction. Plus, the behaviors, thoughts, and beliefs associated with the emotions from the past are less mature in nature than the feelings in the present, so they may carry with them some rather immature behaviors.

 

The list of immature behaviors that are possible is quite long, but many of the behaviors are exactly what we deal with because they are compulsive in nature. Compulsions are irrational behaviors that go beyond what is in the best interest of the client. Addictions of all kinds fall into this category (e.g., excessive drinking, eating, and use of drugs, gambling, and even shopping!), as well as irrational fears (also known as phobias).

 

In your mind’s eye imagine an upside-down stack of bricks. How the problem evolved, into what it is today is kind of like that stack of bricks. The brick on the bottom is like the first situation in your life (usually forgotten) that started the whole thing. 

 

It is some situation, thought or idea that occurred in your past, it was like a "seed" in the above example of the weed. All by itself, it does not amount to much, but given the "right" circumstances, enough reinforcement in subsequent days, months and years (the next three layers of bricks), and it can develop into some real troublesome symptoms (the top layer of bricks). Each brick on the top layer could represent a different symptom, compulsive eating, headaches, low self-esteem, drug abuse, etc. (like the part of the weed that sticks up in the air). 

 

Hypnotherapy done correctly removes the bottom brick (the power of the initial event) that holds up all of the rest of the stack of bricks. If the bottom brick is removed the whole thing crumbles, symptoms, problems and all!