MILTON

Ronald Havens (2005). The Wisdom of Milton H. Erickson.

Havens read most of the writings of Milton H. Erickson and then curated and organized what he found into themes supported by ample quotes from Erickson. Some of the themes are:

the clinician needs careful, detailed, objective observation of the person they are working with--this is the bedrock for all that follows.

the unconscious mind is always LISTENING and LEARNING (Erickson views the unconscious as separate from the conscious mind that knows more than we can consciously know, that is a creative force, and that is also fallible).

to create change, one needs to be creative about breaking/disrupting rigid habitual patterns of behavior using an individual's language, metaphors, and stories as the medium for the change inducing messages.

hypnosis is focusing on internal experience, suggesting simple things a person can easily do, and building on that.

we need to learn to put the self into a trance and let the unconscious do what it needs to with as little conscious interference as possible--Erickson would get up in the middle of the night, type an editorial piece for the next day, and go back to bed without being aware of what he had written until he saw it in print later (he didn't even read what he wrote before he submitted it--that's how much he trusted his unconscious).

The most pragmatic thing we can all learn to do based on the wisdom of Milton Erickson is to sharpen our power of observation with clear, finely detailed, objective observation...noticing as much of the little things about the person we are communicating with, including nonverbal behavior (posture, dress, facial expressions, gestures, vocal tone/rhythm/pitch/loudness/clarity) and their language choices, especially the metaphors and stories they reveal--and then, use this information to assist them in attaining goals for health and happiness...these observational capacities may take a lifetime to master.