Idle thoughts

Something I've found about having a little bit of experience and knowledge of hypnosis is that I find it manages to creep into my though process in practically any context. A good example of this is a couple of idle thoughts I had today in town during my last minute Christmas shopping.

The first thought was that one of these days I am going to snap and try a handshake induction on one of these individuals who insist on stopping people on the street with clipboards. I guess this thought has its origins in Reality is Plastic, where Anthony Jacquin suggests practicing the handshake on traffic wardens. Trouble is I never know how seriously to take him when he makes comments like that.

I guess what I'd do is just say "Sure, you can survey me, but first can I show you something?", show them magnetics fingers, then go for the handshake. Of course the big question would be what to do with them next. Probably have them think that I've already filled out their damn form at least, but that's not very inventive.

I've not yet managed positive hallucinations, but perhaps somehow having them believe they're filling out a form for their favourite celebrity would be a good idea to aim for. Or they might forget how to use a pen, or find their feet have stuck to the floor. There are indeed many possibilities...

Of course though there's the other factor, which is that doing this would require quite a bit more confidence on my part than I feel I currently possess, so I'll have to file this thought under "someday maybe".

The latter, and significantly more idle, of my thoughts today came from a strange moment in a shopping centre. I was passing one of these innumerable identical women's fashion shops when a very realistic looking mannequin in a shop window caught my eye. This wouldn't have qualified for any further thought but for the fact that it moved ever so slightly and I realised that it was also blinking and breathing. This mannequin was actually some girl that was presumably being paid to just stand, almost motionless, as a sort of living window display.

I would love to know how she is able to overcome self consciousness to the point where she is able to stand in full view like that, because that really impresses me, but I'd also like an insight into her motivation. I mean, is her human mannequin act just for a little cash, or perhaps there's more to it and she's a drama student taking an opportunity to develop skills and self-discipline? Does she enjoy doing what she's doing? What's she thinking about when she's stood there looking at shoppers passing by? Suffice to say I would pay more than a penny for her thoughts.

I was quite impressed how motionlessly she was able stand there too, hand on one hip with a constant smile. Well, actually almost impressed... and I'm sure you can guess where this is going.

Yes I have to confess that my inner hypnotist, which since I discovered it never seems to hide particularly deep beneath the surface in any case, hijacked my thought process from here onward. Would this girl be interested in trying a few hypnotic techniques to make her job easier or maybe even more fun?

I might have found a practical application for the freeze trigger! This girl was very good at standing still, but she it was easy to tell from the small movements that she did make that this motionlessness was down to a conscious effort on her part rather than hypnosis. It might certainly be a lot easier for her if one could make being frozen completely subsconcious, removing any conscious effort from the process, and it would certainly be a good position from which to relax mentally and enjoy a bit of people watching, if that's her motivation.

Then of course there's the mental state side to it all. I've had people tell me that being completely frozen is an incredibly odd experience, and it might get a bit boring after a while, but of course one could always direct the conscious mind to just wander off into a pleasant daydream for the duration of the freeze, and of course there's always the option of trancing out completely and not noticing any time passing at all with a "time stop". Just pray nobody asks the subject the question "so, how was your day?" or she'll be a bit stuck for an answer.

Perhaps, to make things more interesting one could arrange it so that the freeze would triggered by a repeating watch countdown timer or something, allowing the subject to change pose periodically whilst the beeps were sounding. This would certainly produce interesting results if she felt the need to scratch and didn't get back into pose quickly enough. Use with caution!

Of course it's all very well having these idle thoughts but somehow the thought of going into that shop and saying "Hello, I'm a hypnotist and I'd like to talk to the woman in your shop window, you know, the attractive one wearing only pajamas..." seems just a little bit too surreal.

By the time my mind had reached this point my feet had somehow carried me out of the far end of the shopping centre and I realised I'd overshot the shop I was aiming for by miles. An interesting example of trancing oneself and proceeding completely on autopilot. Fortunately I was able to double back and complete my Christmas shopping.

Anyway, here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.