Over 33 years ago, a friend of mine asked our Zen master,
"What is the most important thing?" Our teacher very calmly and, with a sweet
smile, slowly said, "The most important thing is…to find out what is the most
important thing!"
Can the most important thing be found by separating
different areas of our life and asking what is the most important thing here
and there? For example, what is the most important thing in a hypnotherapy
practice? Is it technique? Many people have excellent technique, and end up
offending clients because the client feels manipulated.
Is it rapport then? Many people get into such deep rapport
they loose their recognition of whose feelings are whose, or they are so
accepting that they don’t take opportunities to offer an appropriate
intervention.
Is it your outer activity at all? Or is it your inner state
that is important? Once a famous comedian came before one of my teachers and
confided that, though he made people laugh for a living, he felt dry and sad
inside. My teacher asked, "What makes you think you give people anything of
lasting value if you cannot feel true joy yourself? Make yourself happy, then
you won’t have to do anything to make others happy. They will be happy just to
see you." Is this a relevant challenge only to comedians?
Another friend of mine gave a great talk to a large group
of people. They felt very inspired and uplifted and many pursued him to tell
him so. This, naturally, was extremely gratifying to him. Our teacher walked
by and handed him a small peace of paper as she walked on. When he had a quiet
moment to himself, he opened it. It read, "Do you love to talk, or do you love
the people you talk to?"
Has the most important thing been found if there is stress
and a lack of lightness and humor? Is it important to acquire success even if
success is defined as helping others? Is it important to keep track of your
efforts, treating them as intangible property? My current teacher has said,
"If you do something as an offering, it stops being a burden."
What is the most important thing?
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©2007, All rights reserved. Jack Elias, Author,
Finding True Magic: Transpersonal Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy/NLP,
American Institute for Transpersonal Hypnotherapy/NLP
www.FindingTrueMagic.com
jack@FindingTrueMagic.com
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