In my village there is an old man, who again and again tells of how he fled with nothing more than the shirt on his back, because the occupying Russian troops had taken everything he owned and his house and yard in order to give it to others. He said: “I cannot forgive the Russians.” The man lives in a beautiful house with a balcony and a large garden. His favourite pastime is watching his great-grandchildren play.
In countries where a strong wind sweeps across the land and makes the fields fruitful, there is a custom among the farmers that is called winnowing. Every year, after the harvest, when they have threshed the corn, they bring it outside in front of the barn. They all throw the grain into the air. The good, heavy kernels fall to the ground, while the light chaff is carried away by the wind. The hardest work is done by the wind. Who knows if one can also winnow thoughts?
When the king had spoken, everyone went home. “What did the king talk about?” asked the soldier’s wife. “About the strength of our country”, he answered. “What did the king talk about?” asked the salesman’s wife. “About the wealth of our country”, he answered. “What did the king talk about?” asked the poet’s wife. “About the beauty of our country”, he said. “What did the king talk about?”, asked the farmer’s wife. “About the fertility of our country”, he answered. “What did you talk about then?” asked the king’s wife. “About the diversity of our country”, he said.
She was divorced. She told me: “During our long marriage my husband brought me red roses. I never told him that the loveliest roses for me are cream-white. I always thought, if he really loved me, he would notice by himself.”
Do you also find that there are too many unhappy people in the world? Then I would like to tell you a story related to this.. In a large town, there lived a man who had a special trait. He could not bear to see people in misery. Perhaps that would not be worth mentioning, since there are many people who see themselves in this situation these days. But this man had a second trait. He had done everything he could to relieve the misery of the poorest people. He had, together with his friends and later co-fighters, helped hundreds of thousands to lead a worthy life.
The man asked himself: Why are some people so successful, when killing and destruction are concerned? Why do armies work more effectively than churches and many social organisations? And he decided to create his own army; a strict organisation with officers and soldiers, with flags and uniform. An army for peace. The war aim of this army was, so it was said, “to save at all cost the population of the slums which is threatened to go under in a sea of debauchery, alcoholism and vice”. That certainly did not please many pub landlords and pimps. The “soldiers” of the Salvation Army were attacked and often wounded; three of them were even killed. Gradually the persecution stopped. The Salvation Army remained in existence and continued to work against prostitution and pimping, homelessness, and the consequences of war, according to their Christian conviction. Their position was: “We want peace. There are enough calls for peace, but the evil in the world does not react to well-intentioned appeals. Conflict, strife, fear and desperation cannot be fought with admonitions, they demand a true fight!”
The living room lamp had stopped working. The whole family was trying to get it going again. “No, Simon, don’t!” Simon had Down Syndrome. Too late! Simon had turned the bulb, and the light was burning again.
The name of the blog means “Hypno-Systemics” or also “Hypnotic Storytelling”. The term “Hypno-Systemics as well as “Hypno-Systemic Therapy”… or Hypno-Systemic Coaching, Consultation, etc., refers to a combined approach of Systemic Therapy and Coaching (i.e., all the methods which originate from family therapy) and Hypnotherapy (mainly in the tradition of the American therapy pioneer Milton Erickson). The term “Hypno-Systemics” has been introduced by a German trainer called Gunther Schmidt who is one of my teachers and who uses Systemic principles (like those of Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg) as well as Erickson’s hypnotherapeutic techniques. This type of consultation can be applied with families, teams and single people in relatively “awake” states, i.e. without explicit rituals of trance induction. My working style is called “narrative hypnosystemics” because it’s working a lot with stories, metaphors, inner films and so on. But mostly I call it “Therapeutic Storytelling” because for me most of what I hear, say and do in consultation is “a story” or “a game”.
“My parents never listen to me. They don’t even notice me”, the boy sighed. “He’s forever talking. He speaks long and often. He interrupts others and doesn’t want to be interrupted”, his parents reported. “The louder I got, the less they listened”, said the boy later. “And the less they listened, the louder I got.” Then he learned to speak in a low voice, and his parents listened.
Meanwhile, I have succeeded to get the “Blade of Grass” book on the website of Amazon.com. Strangely, the system wouldn’t allow me to state that the books are new. So I sell them as “used – like new”. Maybe I’ll get that changed in the next few days. They’re new anyway. Just in case anyone wonders why I’ve got 200 used books all with the same title on my shelf…
Not all but many of the stories I am relating in this blog are written down in my book and E-book “The Blade of Grass in the Desert” which was released this October. There will also be stories which I write as life goes on, and there may be some which are – unfortunately – otherwise only available in some untranslated German books like the “Handbook of therapeutic Storytelling”. If you are interested to discover which of the stories can be found in “The Blade of Grass in the Desert” you will find the table of contents in the preview of the “Blade of Grass” E-Book on amazon.com or on amazon.co.uk. The book is also available in a paper version. You can order it from me, from amazon.de or amazon.com.