Recently I took a trip to the dentist chair. I've been getting my teeth worked on since I was a little kid but a couple of years ago I developed a fear of the dentist. I dread going. And unfortunately I keep on getting cavities, despite my impeccable home care. Bad genes I guess. Oh, and I eat a lot of candy.
To keep myself from freaking out in the chair, which would be counterproductive and embarrassing, I've had to come up with some tricks to take my mind off of what is going on in my mouth. Sometimes this means listening to my Ipod. Sometimes it means using relaxation techniques. For this trip, I ended up playing a game that I now call "Where am I?"
Its a simple game. I ask myself, "Where am I?", think of a place I want to be, then visualize my surroundings. Here is how it went--
Where am I? I'm standing at the top of Edinburgh Castle looking out over the hazy city scape made up of stone buildings and church spires. Its cool and my hair is whipping around my face. I touch the rough stones of the turret I am leaning against.
Where am I? I'm in the backyard of the home I grew up in. I'm lying in the cool, thick grass, covered by the shade from the towering cottonwood trees. Their leaves rustle loudly in the breeze. I smell decaying apples that cover the ground beneath a nearby apple tree. It must be late summer.
Where am I? Poolside in Southern California. The air is the perfect temperature and carries the smell of eucalyptus. I feel the warm sun on my skin and all I hear is the splish, splish of the water against the side of the pool.
Thats where I am. Where are you?
4 comments:
oh I do this! I got a bikini wax a while back and decided to imagine that I was taking a pleasant walk in the woods. It didn't work so much when I had to go to the dentist...
i am at the top of whistler mountain. the air is cool with just a hint of wind. it smells of clean frost. it is so quiet you can hear the ice slowly melting. the snow is glittering all around me. i catch my breath as my hands shoot into the air, a loud "wahoo" comes out, and i descend down the mountain.
When they were rushing me to the operating room to deliver the baby, I imagined I was standing on the beach by our house with Grant. We were near the pier, it was late afternoon and we were standing in the cool water up to our ankles. I looked over at him and he smiled at me and then I looked in between us at the toddler, a little girl with brown curly hair, holding our hands.
I must have been practically meditating because when the doctor hooked me up to the heart monitor again in the OR he said he was shocked that my heart rate wasn't elevated. Proof that my HypnoBirthing class didn't go to waste. =)
Loved your post.
walking down the streets of NYC, eating yummy street vendor food on my way to a broadway play.
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