How much spontaneity do you have? How often do you still do something on a whim or because you just "feel" that it's going to be fun, or that it's going to work the way you want it to work. Do you not do so much spontaneity anymore? And would you like to become more spontaneous? Then take a moment to read this blog.
What does spontaneous mean?
When you do something spontaneously, it means you do something from a whim. You don't do something because someone asks something of you, but it comes entirely from within yourself. You can also think of it as something impulsive[1].
Only doing something impulsively is something you do yourself. You can also do spontaneous on your own, but with spontaneity, you can also be socially spontaneous. For example, when you spontaneously have a laugh with a friend about something.
Benefits of spontaneity
Spontaneity can be good for your relationships and it's good for your work.
Research shows that spontaneity at work can be good for collegiality, giving helpful suggestions, spreading goodwill and for developing yourself.
Being in a good mood at work is often something that precedes spontaneity[2].
I've lost my spontaneity
Where many people like to be spontaneous is in how they fill their free time. For example, you don't want to have plans, you just want to be free and then figure out what to do[3].
Only sometimes life goes differently and before you know it, your schedule is completely packed and then you may feel like you have lost your spontaneity.
For example, if you have children and you want to do some fun things with the family, chances are you will have to plan it all, especially if your child has a backpack[4].
Then you may also have the idea that you need to be spontaneous for your work or business. True, spontaneity is important for entrepreneurs, but as part of imagination. For example, you can imagine what it would be like to offer a certain service or hold a certain action. That idea can arise spontaneously, but as part of the bigger picture. The more imagination you have as an entrepreneur, the more successful you often become[5].
Learning Spontaneity
Spontaneity sometimes needs training as opposed to creativity. This is because you generally think top-down. You have certain ideas about how the world works and a solution comes from there, which is creativity. With spontaneity, you take the solution, so to speak, and from there you create new ideas and that, in turn, is a little more spontaneous. This is because with spontaneity you get a feeling about how something might work, before you actually have evidence that it might work. You then start doing something without being sure it will work. You take a risk, so to speak, by being spontaneous[6].
One way to learn spontaneity is to do something with drama. Yes, with theater. In fact, this can help you in dealing with things in your life that aren't happening or haven't happened yet. In fact, you can then start playing scenes and then in improvisational theater, for example, you have to think spontaneously about how you are going to react to certain situations.
In the process, more spontaneity can also make for more creativity (source 6).
In addition, how spontaneous you are also depends a bit on your mood, the context you are in (the situation), and mental processes. You also often see in theater that people are warmed up first, that you have to let go for a while, for example, to generate the spontaneity needed in theater.
The great thing is that physical activity can already make you more spontaneous. So by taking a daily walk, doing some skipping rope or doing something else, you can already improve your mood a bit, which can also make you more spontaneous (source 6).
Hypnosis can also help you get into the state that can trigger spontaneity. For example, if you feel that you have lost your spontaneity, I have good news for you. After all, you know how you felt when you were still spontaneous.
With hypnosis, you can get help to retrieve this feeling and then you can anchor that for situations when you would like to be more spontaneous again. For example, in interactions with friends or during meetings at work.
In addition, spontaneity is also more likely to occur when you are in the here and now with your attention[7]. Therefore, some degree of mindfulness can be very helpful.
Spontaneity in therapy
Spontaneity also plays a role in therapy. At the HIN, for example, we believe that everyone already has the solution to the problem within themselves and that the therapist is only there to find that solution within yourself.
In therapy, you then as a therapist first start very consciously with certain techniques, but over time the therapy becomes more spontaneous, because you also have to respond as a therapist to what your client says. You then start looking for that solution together, so to speak.
For example, the dialogue you create as a therapist to make people aware of their own power is something that can become much more spontaneous than you initially expect. This can happen, for example, when you make a good connection with your client, when there is a good relationship between client and therapist. Then the therapist is no longer very consciously working on certain techniques, but is more absorbed in the moment.
That spontaneity is also important for making changes in clients[8].
Hypnosis to become spontaneous again
As mentioned earlier, a hypnotherapist can help you anchor a spontaneous mood that, for example, can help you be more spontaneous at certain times in your life, such as at work or when spending time with your family.
This is because spontaneity also depends on your mood, the better you feel the more likely you are to be spontaneous.
But your mood often depends, again, on your beliefs about how the world works and how you are supposed to function in it. For example, perhaps you find it easy to be spontaneous at home, but for some reason are not so at work or vice versa.
Or you used to be spontaneous, but all sorts of circumstances have caused you to share your great ideas less impulsively now than before.
With hypnosis, you can find out what may be going on right now that is causing you to block when spontaneity bubbles up inside you.
Regression , for example, is a technique you can use to shake off limiting beliefs. With regression, you go back to the first moment when you stopped your spontaneity. Namely, this is the moment when somewhere you came up with the "rule of life" that spontaneity is not useful for you.
These are often moments from your childhood, when you had less knowledge about the world than you do now. Only you usually don't consciously re-evaluate those precepts, and with regression you can. With the help of the hypnotherapist, you can reinterpret the moment, for example, and that can give you insights into why spontaneity can still be a good thing in your present life.
In addition, you can also use hypnosis to boost your self-confidence, which is also useful for generally improving your well-being and having a better mood.
One way to do this is to visualize yourself in a spontaneous mood, and you then visualize that spontaneity being accepted by those around you. By stimulating your imagination about the possibilities that spontaneity offers, you are more likely to be that behavior.
In addition, you can also get affirmations from the hypnotherapist that you can repeat, such as:
"I get to be spontaneous and free."
"My ideas are worthy of being heard."
"It's ok to be unprepared."
"I get to go by my gut."
These are just examples, depending on your problems with spontaneity, you may get other suggestions from the hypnotherapist.
Spontaneity is something where you get an idea about something that might work nicely, without having a solid rationale for it. For example, spontaneously you might think of going to an amusement park as a fun way to spend your day with your family. Or you might get a spontaneous idea about something you can do at work. Usually you get these kinds of spontaneous ideas when you are in a good mood.
You can pick up that mood with an NLP anchor, or through hypnosis.
You can find out exactly how hypnosis works during the free online master class on hypnosis.
Or enroll in one of our training courses or seminars.
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