302. Writing a Script That Lets You Dream the Impossible Dream

“When I was 13 years old, I wasn’t much of a cool kid. I wasn’t really athletic or confident. But one thing that really fascinated me was theatre. My mom was really big on Broadway plays and all these vinyl record albums. And one of them was Man of La Mancha, the story of Don Quixote, the mad knight who transforms the lives of others around him through the power of wonder. I memorized the play. My dad brought me to see it on Broadway for my 14th birthday. By seeing people through the eyes of fascination, Quixote would inadvertently cause people to see themselves in a more positive way. Most people probably know the song, The Impossible Dream. And I bet you I could probably still recite a good portion of the play.”

After 14 years as a chiropractor in Vermont—which Steve loved because of its philosophical basis in health and well-being—he sold his practice, took a year off to travel, and began studying hypnosis. “I became a stage hypnotist. Later, I wrote the book on hypnosis, which is about removing mental barriers to success, and about waking up from the trance that I think we all live in. We’re all a little bit stuck behind our own invisible walls, and our minds are habituated, thinking the same thoughts over and over again, until they seem real. It’s at the mental level. I think we’re all capable of great things, but we’re blocked by what a chiropractor might call mental subluxation.”

“As soon as we wake up from our hypnotic trance, all of our hypnotic programming ceases—and often very suddenly! We have a bias that tells us the longer a problem has been there the longer it’s going to take to get rid of it. That’s the thing that’s fascinating. For somebody who’s been blocked in a particular way for a long period of time, the moment you wake up, and see that you are not your thoughts, then they lose their power.”

1. Recognize the ways that you’re living in a hypnotic trance.

2. Identify and isolate the thoughts about yourself and about life that are no longer true, thoughts that are holding you back.

3. Commit yourself to using techniques that will help you release faulty beliefs and replace them with beliefs you choose.