“The benefits of reaching your goal are the feelings of your long awaited achievements.” That is what a young woman said to me who came to see me for hypnotherapy two years ago.

She sounded so confident and glowing with personality and success when she spoke those words to me on the telephone.

Two years ago this woman came into my office stooped shoulders having just miscarried her baby and ended a stormy relationship with her boyfriend. She was distraught and wanted to get rid of emotional baggage relating to her feelings of loss. All her life she had pictured herself as living happily ever after, married with children and living in a lovely house. However, real life got in the way of that and here she was having just lost what she so much desired.

Her boyfriend had cheated on her and she felt she needed to learn to rebuild trust in relationships with men, before even considering moving on.

I suggested to this woman she puts herself on high priority for care and attention for the foreseeable future, until she feels fitter and well enough to start exercise and experience more healthy eating. I explained the process of self-hypnosis and how goal setting can really help her to plan, see and experience a positive future, instead of feeling like everything had ended for her life.

You see the woman’s long term goal was to have children and settle down. All this was achievable, but there were little bits in the middle which she needed to deal with first, like looking after herself and eating and exercising more to get over her miscarriage. So, she set about making small goals to start, like deciding how many time per week she would listen to her self-hypnosis CD.

As her self-hypnosis became more of a good habit, she moved on to bigger goals, such as increasing her self motivation. She went back to work and set her mind to doing a job she enjoyed. It took some reaching, with all the job applications, interviews and rejections. However, she did eventually, two months later, get a job as a Sales Manager in a shoe shop.

Some time later, it was there she met her present partner and because she had learned to rebuild trust within relationships; she was able to enjoy her life with him.

So, other goals she set herself were as follows:-

• Exercising twice a week for 20 minutes
• Eating less chocolate and more fruit
• Getting 8 hours sleep per night
• Listening to a self-hypnosis CD 4 times per week

All the above were small enough to be achievable. I did explain to her that it is important each goal is an emotional desire; she really feels she wants to achieve each of them. There was one part during her hypnotherapy, when she felt low with confidence and self-esteem; but the emotional baggage was soon lifted through hypnotherapy and she felt free to move on.

Oh, and why did she telephone me in the first place, to tell me her dream had come true! (Or rather she had achieved her long term goal). She was pregnant to her long term partner and they were both over the moon!