Why breaking my arm was a triumph, not a disaster

I broke my arm two days ago. For the first 40 minutes I was in a huge amount of pain. I was focused on the pain and trauma. When I got to the emergency department at the hospital, they assessed me and said they would bring me some painkillers while I waited for an x-ray. After an hour, no painkillers had arrived, but by then I’d decided I didn’t need them.

The television in the waiting room screened a news item about an earthquake and flood in Serbia. Images of people injured, dying, losing their homes and families flashed before my eyes and I shifted my focus from my trauma to my blessings. I realised that as someone who teaches people resilience skills – how to survive and prosper in life and business – I had to live my philosophy 24/7.

So, I used hypnosis to control the pain and set myself the challenge of becoming fully ambidextrous within a few days. Instead of ‘awfulising’ about my situation (I broke my right arm which is my dominant one), I geared myself up to be excited about the challenge and how I would go about it.

I always believe you are wise to choose to learn to do something from people who truly know how to do that specific skill. I know I have in my life. I go out of my way to find experts in whatever field I want to master. There are many people out there who say they know how to teach you how to do certain skills but you have to walk your talk to be a great teacher and to teach, not preach.

I learnt to be an effective therapist from Ray Keedy-Lilly in the UK, who was a skilled and talented hypnotherapist for 55 years.

I learnt to manage money from my mother who, after 30 years retired, is still living very comfortably.

I learnt economics from Bob Beckman whose books taught me about upwaves and downwaves.

And having learned how to overcome adversity from a very young age, combined with the skills and techniques I’ve accumulated in my 20-plus years as a clinical hypnotherapist, psychotherapist and coach, I teach you how to be resilient so you can survive and prosper – in life and business.

Here’s a 2-minute video clip of how I turned breaking my arm from a disaster into a triumph:

NB: Within just 24 hours I’d mastered completing the majority of daily tasks with my other hand. I did it by rewiring my brain. I’ll be sharing more about brain rewiring in an upcoming post.