Rekindle Joy With Pleasant Memories

Recalling Pleasant Memories

Can you recall a time when you last felt carefree? Do you have pleasant memories of that light-hearted state where you felt completely free of cares? Or do you think being carefree is only for lucky kids, who have few obligations but to wonder what’s for dinner, what’s on TV, or whether they’re getting a new bike for their birthday? Do you need to rekindle your joy?

I remember the day I thought my carefree days were over.

I was 18 years old, walking on my college campus with an older professor who I worked for at his research farm. I pointed out some kids who were enjoying Tucson’s sunny weather on their roller skates and skateboards. “So carefree,” I remarked nostalgically. “Remind you of younger days?” he inquired. I nodded, feeling too solemn for 18. I’d taken on an attitude of obligation, realizing a life of responsibility lay ahead of me and I better get serious about making something of myself, about making a difference, about making a living.

A weight sat squarely on my shoulders and my head. I felt heavy.

Fast forward to age 56. I am self-employed, have a life filled with activities I enjoy, and am happily busy, but not always balanced in work and play. Yet, I’ve discovered, as a hypnotist, that we can choose how we feel, nonetheless. Indeed, once we open our eyes to what’s needed to earn a living, pay our bills, and save up for our older years (no, 56 is not old), those carefree moments may not be as plentiful as a child’s, yet we can still experience great joy and restore our sense of play.

Allowing Pleasant Memories to Surface

To experience and “re-install” carefree moments into our lives, all we need do is bring ourselves into a relaxed state using self-hypnosis techniques for deep physical relaxation.

In this relaxed state, it’s easy to find oneself floating into the past, a young girl or boy skipping through a field of daisies and dandelions. Or flying a kite, digging up worms in the garden for a fishing trip, climbing trees, running with a pet dog, or flying a kite.

In one particular hypnosis vision, I recall a younger version of myself skipped over to me and held out a dandelion. Carefully placing the yellow flower under my chin she announced, “Your chin looks yellow! You must like butter!” Then she skipped away, secure in the knowledge she’d gathered from her dandelion experiment. Carefree lived in her step, her knowing all about dandelions and their diagnostic skills, and her sheer, unattached joy.

I followed her through the field of flowers to another memory, this one of picking wild berries and eating more than I put in my collection basket. My face stained with wild berries, I gingerly fed a small apple to the horse, who came to the fence on berry picking days. What a thrill to look into the horse’s eyes as he ate this crunchy treat. Then I skipped home, filled with berries, my basket littered with a few along the bottom. Not worried about the future, only living in the moment, the berries in my belly marked another carefree moment of youth. A pleasant memory rekindled, alive and well in my heart and soul.

When I finished my wild berry treat, I found myself in a memory with my grandparents. They grinned, held my hands, and lifted me up between them. I hung in the air, weightless.

This must be carefree, I thought, perfect weightlessness, being carried by a force of care and support.

Not only does the carefree feeling live inside our bodies, awakened by reliving our pleasant memories, but the feelings of balance, support, weightlessness, unconditional love, and many more positive feelings live in our bodies as well. When these feelings bubble up, stress dissolves and there’s a chance for rejuvenation, wonder, and fresh beginnings.

How to Bring Pleasant Memories into the Present Moment

This is a small yet powerful example of how hypnosis can lead us to pleasant memories and feelings that may have been forgotten long ago, but still live in our body-brain-mind-soul. Remembering these feelings, not just as memories, but in a physical sense, through going into a deep trance and revivifying* the moment (*reliving that moment again as if it’s happening right now) enables us to revitalize our lives with positive feelings that are not lost in the past. They just need dusting off and rekindling in order to remind us how to come back into balance.

Milton Erickson, M.D. — A Renowned Role Model

The power of accessing our pleasant memories is exemplified in the self-healing of Milton H. Erickson, the late, renowned psychiatrist and medical hypnotist, who was paralyzed and wheelchair-bound after contracting polio as a teenager. He used the recollection of body memories to activate his body’s physical memories and effectively taught himself to walk again, though he used a cane.

Accessing our internal resources, such as Erickson did, using body memories and pleasant emotional memories, can reignite those abilities and states in ourselves in present time. These are powerful practices for those of us who have lived through challenging emotional and physical experiences.

Your Turn

To access your healing, pleasant memories, set an intention to reconnect to your positive memories of feeling carefree, joyful, and healthy. Then close your eyes and relax from the bottoms of your feet to the top of your head. You can do this with a slow, gentle body scan or by imagining yourself sinking gradually into a jacuzzi of warm healing water. Take your time to recreate the pleasant sensation of relaxing throughout your whole body until you’ve sunk deeply into your chair, sofa, or bed.

Now allow your mind to drift back to a pleasant memory and let a smile erupt on your face as the positive feelings of the memory come into focus. Allow your obligations to drift away and the positive feelings and images to surface. Notice any carefree, childlike feelings of wonder and joy. Notice other positive feelings and physical sensations of health and well-being.

Perhaps you are jumping on a trampoline and feel yourself in mid-air. Maybe you are jumping rope and in the flow. Or splashing in the lake with your friends on a summer day.  Whatever carefree is for you, feel that in your body along with powerful feelings of health and well-being.

You can secure this feeling for the future by imagining yourself doing an activity in the days to come while feeling as happy and light as you do right now. Hold onto the feeling until it peaks, then let go and move on with your day.

Practice often and soon you’ll have a basket of pleasant memories fueling your positive outlook. Be aware, in the days, weeks, and months to come how this practice offers subtle and dramatic benefits.

Resources: Gilligan, Stephan (2010) The Legacy of Milton H. Erickson: Selected Papers of Stephen Gilligan. Arizona: Zeig, Tucker & Theisen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milton_H._Erickson