Cirencester Scene Magazine - Supporting Local Businesses Happiness


I heard Derren Brown speak at Cheltenham Liter- ary Festival about his newbook, ’Happy‘, andwhat he had to say made perfect sense to me. Apart from being an eloquent speaker, Brown took a very pragmatic view of what happiness meant to him. He took a philosophical view, based on Stoicism, so what he had to say was not new but rather well thought out after careful research and reflection. He railed against unrealistic self-help books.


Nowadays, we attach a different meaning to the word ‘stoical’ from what the Stoics themselves meant. We think of it as being buttoned up, stiff upper lip, not showing emotions, almost not telling people what we really think. In not being honest with ourselves or others, we can cause ourselves and others great distress.Whilst we need to voice our thoughts diplomatically, we need to be honest. Recently, an acquaintance told a friend of mine about a conversation we’d had, whilst putting his own spin on it. Did he really think she would not tellme? What was difficult for me was that he was not being honest, but using the conversation for his own ends to curry favour.


Happiness means being positive but not getting so het up if things don’t go your way, because, for example, the job you so wanted could have gone to someone else through no fault of your own. Derren’s not a great fan of ’The Gift’ , because he thinks the idea that you only have to put out your intention to the universe to become very rich or fa- mous, causes unnecessary heartache. We have to know pragmatically that sometimes our outcomes in this world do not only rely on ourselves, but also on others’ actions. Events in themselves are not unsettling, rather the stories we tell ourselves about those events are, so in CBT (Cognitive Behav- ioural Therapy) we need to change our stories and be kinder to ourselves. So it is too in Hypnotherapy and Coaching. Have a happy week.


Hilary Norris-Evans uses CBT, Hypnotherapy, Coaching, NLP, Mindfulness, and Resilience Techniques to help you solve your issues and reach your potential. She is presenting in Dub- lin this month on Problem Gambling, an issue she is passionate about helping clients solve.


Hilary teaches Easibirthing and Mindfulness and the next Introduction to mindfulness course (5 weeks only) starts on 10 November (£70) in Cirencester.


Cirencester Scene Magazine 01285 659673 / 07875 071555 info@cirencester-scene.co.uk 31


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