Over 33 years ago, a friend of mine asked our Zen master, What is the most important question? Our teacher very calmly and, with a sweet smile, slowly said, The most important thing isto find out what is the most important thing!

Can the most important thing be found by separating different areas of our life and asking what is the most important thing here and there? For example, what is the most important thing in a hypnotherapy practice? Is it technique? Many people have excellent technique, and end up offending clients because the client feels manipulated. Is it rapport then? Many people get into such deep rapport they loose their recognition of whose feelings are whose, or they are so accepting that they dont take opportunities to offer an appropriate intervention.

Is it your outer activity at all? Or is it your inner state that is important? Once a famous comedian came before one of my teachers and confided that, though he made people laugh for a living, he felt dry and sad inside. My teacher asked, What makes you think you give people anything of lasting value if you cannot feel true joy yourself? Make yourself happy, then you wont have to do anything to make others happy. They will be happy just to see you. Is this a relevant challenge only to comedians?

Another friend of mine gave a great talk to a large group of people. They felt very inspired and uplifted and many pursued him to tell him so. This, naturally, was extremely gratifying to him. Our teacher walked by and handed him a small peace of paper as she walked on. When he had a quiet moment to himself, he opened it. It read, Do you love to talk, or do you love the people you talk to?

Has the most important thing been found if there is stress and a lack of lightness and humor. Is it important to acquire success even if success is defined as helping others? Is it important to keep track of your efforts, treating them as intangible property? My current teacher has said, If you do something as an offering, it stops being a burden.

What is the most important thing?

2001, Jack Elias, All rights reserved, Permission to reprint granted to Trek Assoc. 2/23/01

Jack Elias
Author, Finding True Magic: Transpersonal Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy/NLP American Institute for Transpersonal Hypnotherapy/NLP www.FindingTrueMagic.com

Jack Elias

Jack Elias is the founder and director of the Institute for Therapeutic Learning, a licensed Vocational School in Seattle, Washington, which trains and certifies Transpersonal Clinical Hypnotherapists. The author of the internationally acclaimed book, Finding True Magic, Jack has been training hypnotherapists and maintaining a private counseling practice since 1988. Mr. Elias presents a unique synthesis of Eastern and Western perspectives on the nature of consciousness and communication. He teaches simple, yet powerful techniques to help people achieve their highest personal and professional goals. Since 1967 he has studied Eastern meditation, philosophy and psychology with recognized masters such as Shunryo Suzuki Roshi and Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche. Mr. Elias offers dynamic experiential workshops, seminars and certification trainings with on-site and distance learning options. His trainings are eligible for credit at various universities, and for RN CEU?s.