Her Story
About Anne
I have been creating art for about 30 years and have been practicing as a hypnotherapist since 2018-2019. Throughout my career, I've worked in diverse roles including as a corporate trainer teaching software and word processing, as a medical recruiter at the Medical College of Virginia recruiting doctors into their residency program, in secretarial work, and as an art teacher. I am a graduate of the Marissa Peer School where I trained in Rapid Transformational Therapy (RTT). What I find most rewarding is how the insights I've gained as a hypnotherapist directly enhance my art practice. When I paint outdoors, curious people often approach me saying they could never create art, and I share with them that it all depends on how you're thinking - you have to let go of the expectation that everything must be a masterpiece and have the courage to try new things. I believe mistakes often teach us more than masterpieces, and we shouldn't tie our self-worth to what others think of us or compare ourselves to others, because everyone has very different talents and skills. I was accepted into a 3-week painting residency in France and am currently creating a new body of work to resubmit. I'm also developing a group online session for artists to address inherited ideas about money, societal perceptions, and the traps of comparison and competition that many budding artists fall into. My book, Reflections on the Red Reeds, is about halfway through editing and features my collection of paintings of Dale Chihuly's Red Reeds sculpture at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art in Richmond, Virginia, along with essays on holistic health, food as medicine, and stories from painting on site. Using hypnotherapy and food as medicine, I was able to get rid of fatty liver disease, stage 3 kidney disease, and intestinal polyps. I'm passionate about educating people about the power of hypnotherapy, which research shows has an 86% effectiveness rate compared to traditional therapy's 36% rate, and my clients generally need only one session.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Anne
01What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
In the United States, so few people have heard of hypnotherapy, much less understand the power that it has to really improve your lives. I see an opportunity to educate people about the power of hypnotherapy as a public service announcement. Research has shown that hypnotherapy has an 86% effectiveness rate, whereas traditional therapy has about a 36% effectiveness rate. After 200 traditional therapy sessions, which represents enormous time and money, you only have a 36% effectiveness rate to remove the root cause of why you're anxious or feel not good enough. But my clients generally need one session. For artists, there are many inherited ideas that become traps - ideas about money like the starving artist myth, societal ideas about people who create art, and the tendency for budding artists to be constantly in a state of competition and comparison, tying their whole worth to the result. Comparison is the thief of joy. I'm working on putting together a group online session for artists to address these issues, because it's just not fair to anyone to constantly compare yourself to others or try to obtain your authentic self based on what other people think of you.
02What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I believe we have to have the courage to try new things and accept that we are human and none of us is perfect. It's natural to make mistakes, and we have to be equipped to accept it and move on without dwelling in it or tying our whole self-worth to the fact that we made a mistake. Never tie your whole self-worth to what somebody else says about you, because deep down we know who we are, and what other people think is their business and not ours. Never compare yourself to anybody else, because everyone has very different talents and very different skills, and they're here to teach us. We can learn from everyone, and we are here to teach people things as well - it works both ways. Everybody deserves respect and our help if they would like it, and we have to be able to accept help when we need it from people who can provide it. We're all here with our own unique purpose, and it's just not fair to anyone to constantly compare yourself to others or try to define your authentic self based on what other people think of you. If people have negative impressions of you and you hear it, that is their business, not yours. Comparison is the thief of joy.
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