Oh, what happened? Man, I messed this up, big time. Lyndon, my 5-year-old nephew, had just shot me a withering look.
He was. Not happy. What went wrong? I’ll get to that, but let’s rewind a few minutes.
What a glorious afternoon! I had just performed an amazing set of magic tricks for Lyndon. Very impressive if I do say so myself.
I was on such a roll, I felt invincible. And that was my downfall. Pride, oh pride, filled me inside. And soon would be what made me cry.
Lyndon had been amazed at me shuffling the deck of cards and still finding his card. I’d made objects vanish. And I made an object appear out of thin air. Trick after trick, an almost perfect performance.
Do you remember the old TV commercial for Eggo waffles? A family member’s trying to take the boy’s Eggo waffles, and the boy says, “Leggo my Eggo,” as he tried to protect his breakfast.
When I performed the finale, I chose to do a trick I hadn’t practiced enough. All because of ego. Feeling invincible, thinking, “I don’t need to practice this. I just performed a great magic act. I’ve got this.”
And of course, not being prepared, I fell flat on my face. I wish I had learned to leggo my ego that day.
99% of the magic show made Lyndon happy. But what stayed with him most was my finale, my big finish, my big flop.
How do I know that the finale was his focus? Because that afternoon when he left, I hugged him good bye. And his parting words were, “Practice your magic.”
Oh, the truth stings! Slightly hurt, but also laughing inside at his blunt words.
After my wife, Holly, and I watched their car drive away, we laughed. Practice your magic, indeed! When I think back to those words, I still laugh.
Soon Lyndon will cease to be amazed by my magic tricks. That makes me both sad and happy.
… … …
From a hypnosis and NLP perspective, or any other perspective, what did you get from this hypnotic story? Let your subconscious mull it over without too much conscious thinking. As always, the story has multiple levels and meanings to help you create change.
Or feel free to simply share how you felt. Just expressing something can help the story do more for you. You can type your comments, or if you prefer privacy, you can simply speak it.
I felt a little “judgy” about Lyndon, if I’m to be honest. How demanding! You try and do those tricks!
This makes me realize how haughtiness and judgement anger me, as I suffered it from my parents. That’s what I take from this.
We all judge at times. We’re all judged at times. In my opinion, we probably won’t eliminate this judging trait. But I do believe we can reduce its negative impact upon us. I felt slightly hurt at Lyndon’s words, but mainly I laughed, because he spoke the truth. Of course we do need to teach them to be polite and respectful. It’s a balance. I still laugh at this memory, because what he said is still pretty funny.