Obsessions can arrive from nowhere…
I like to convince myself that I have a stable and unsurprising personality.
As a man who’s spent considerable time on this planet, I tend to think that I always respond in predictable ways, with unexpected shifts and desires being the playing field of the young.
After all, life goes on, and so do I, embracing the comfort and stability of a predictable routine.
I’ll be at the opera today, and will crown the evening with North Indian food and some Argentinian Malbec.
And then the obsession will hit again…
I accept that I am not an athletic man, unlike my friend Chris Thompson, who’s equally at home playing volleyball, curling, or softball. To him it’s all easy and part of his nature.
I cannot stand up on skates, and skiing is a largely terrifying ordeal, as I learned in Vail, Colorado back in 1979. I’m a Brit, and although we did produce Torvill and Dean, our athleticism is largely confined to throwing Germany out of France every fifty years or so.
But as a young boy, my older sister introduced the family to the world of hockey, and every Saturday night for much of the year, we would sit around our small black and white Admiral TV and cheer on the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Over the years, though, I lost interest in hockey. The Leafs had let me down too many times, so I switched to watching the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team, back when they won the World Series.
But as a hand-to-hand combat instructor, it was the early UFC that caught my attention. Although I’m not athletic, I’m very fit, and my British Jiu Jitsu makes me a formidable opponent. I’ve often said that sports don’t interest me unless someone gets knocked out, choked out, or has to tap out.
And then I made a life-changing decision.
I watched a Monday night hockey game on Amazon Prime, and I was hooked again. But this time it wasn’t just the Leafs that drew my attention. It was all hockey.
I signed up for a streaming service, and now the NHL playoff games are constantly available, live or in replays.
Naturally, I had to add to my Leafs hockey jersey and acquired an iconic one for the Montreal Canadiens, and also an Edmonton Oilers jersey for the rack.
And something has happened…
I am obsessed with hockey, but I cannot really figure out why.
Somehow, my unconscious mind has told me it’s time to get back into watching the world’s fastest and most electrifying game. And just like that, it happened.
When I awaken now, the first thing I do is check what games will be on today or tonight. I’ve expanded my interest back into baseball as well.
And bizarrely, I’ve become the kind of person I used to mock. The kind of person who’s more interested in hockey stats than the descent of our planet into the maelstrom of war, poverty, and disease.
A serious reader, I have a couple of books on the go, including one by Willie Nelson, who shares my birthday. But I haven’t opened it since hockey came back and brought baseball with it.
But I’m cool with this, because I’ll be at the opera today for Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin, and last Sunday it was Arnold Berg’s Wozzeck, so I’m maintaining my cultural interests too.
But damn, I’m enjoying hockey in a way that I haven’t for decades.
So why am I telling you this?
Because my unconscious mind was correct in bringing hockey and baseball back into my purview, and somehow knew it would be a very healthy thing for me at this point in my life. Fortunately, as a hypnotist, I listen to the promptings of my deep mind, which knows me better than I do.
It’s literally like a switch was thrown and everything shifted in an instant, turning something as mindless as a rubber puck on a sheet of ice, wielded by costumed gladiators, into one of the greatest sources of happiness available to me.
It’s another reason to learn how to use hypnosis for others and also for oneself, because anyone who’s gotten good at hypnosis has an inside track to their own unconscious mind.
But the unconscious is not just available to put sports back on our radar.
It’s a powerful ally that knows us better than we know ourselves.
And learning hypnosis deepens that alliance, as we learn to listen to the promptings that can vastly improve the quality of our lives and bring back the fun we used to have.
So maybe it’s not really about hockey or baseball at all. Maybe it’s about tuning in when something stirs us, no matter how unlikely or overdue it feels. Maybe it’s about recognizing that joy doesn't always come from lofty pursuits or perfect timing. Sometimes, it sneaks in wearing skates, carrying a stick, and reminds us that life still has surprises worth falling in love with all over again.
- Mike Mandel
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