Help your clients develop confidence and resilience with the Stop Being Offended Hypnosis Script

Some people tend to dwell on remarks people have made to them or about them, ruminating ad nauseum and drawing all kinds of wild conclusions about what the person might have meant. While we shouldn't simply accept inappropriate behavior, there are times when the best approach is just to let it go.

The Stop Being Offended Hypnosis Script from The Script Collection was put together to develop clients' self-confidence so they can break out of the pattern of being easily offended.

The pre-talk explores why we take offence and acknowledges that it is important to recognize when a comment or behavior is genuinely inappropriate so that we can take action. However, when we find ourselves frequently taking offence or mulling situations over at length, our reactions may be partly to do with how we feel about ourselves. Finally, it promises to help the client become more self-confident and deal with conflict or inappropriate behavior in a mature, constructive way.

The induction begins with suggestions for slow, smooth breathing. A description of the unconscious mind's ability to process things even as the conscious mind wanders and drifts reassures the client that they need not make any effort to focus. They are encouraged to notice different areas of the body relaxing as they "let go twice as deeply."

The client is guided to drift into a "place that's imbued with calm" and to notice both the sights and the sensations of this sanctuary. A slow countdown allows them to relax deeper and deeper into the peace and comfort of this "inner landscape." After a long pause, the client receives a gentle suggestion that the inner mind is ready to learn "in a way that works uniquely right for [them]."

Now the script relates the story of two people arguing on the internet, demonstrating how context can be stripped away and pointless arguments can come to feel supremely important when people feel vulnerable and therefore driven to protect themselves. It reassures the client that it's normal to get "caught up" like this, but encourages them to remember that eventually we always "snap out of it."

The part of the brain that has been scanning for offence is likened to a little finger that is being expected to bear all life's burdens. But of course, that little finger is supported by the other fingers, the hand, the arm, and indeed the rest of the body - a "powerful, intelligent, harmonious team." The client is encouraged to recognize the power and intelligence of their body when it works as a team, and to draw confidence from that.

The analogy is now explicitly unpacked, ensuring the client understands that the part of their brain that is so used to taking offence needn't feel alone - that it is part of a much bigger, stronger team that will always be there to support it.

Extending this theme, the client is asked to get a sense of being surrounded by "positive, supportive people" in their life. They are guided to imagine absorbing words of strength, acceptance, love, and caring from these people, and letting those words calm and support the part of the brain that has always felt so alone and overburdened. Embedded commands punctuated by long pauses give the client a chance to digest, absorb, and internalize this sense of acceptance and reassurance "into [their] core."

The client is now asked to notice a future self full of ease and confidence, unaffected by "petty squabbles." The story of a wise master who simply "decline[s] to accept ... insults" in the same way one might decline a gift offers the client a useful strategy for remaining calm and unaffected in the face of insults or disrespect.

By considering childhood situations where they may have been brought to tears by something quite trivial, the client is prompted to realize that they are already much more cool-headed, resilient, and mature than they once were. Maturation and development of resilience are portrayed as perfectly natural processes, and therefore ones that will continue as the client learns to focus on what really matters.

Finally, the client is given a chance to "get a sense of the reality of that now" - to feel what it will be like to "comfortably handle situations that once would have bothered [them]" and to consider the positive impact this will have on their lives.

Add the Stop Being Offended Hypnosis Script to your script library today!

Stop Being Offended is also available as an MP3 download.