Last Updated on September 2, 2024

Remembering to use your superpowers

My wife Jess and I enjoy movies about superheroes and TV shows about people with magical powers.

One of the most frustrating tropes to me is when someone discovers they have a superpower…

…and then they don’t even use it!

They can shoot fire out of their hands.

But when they encounter monsters they just run and hide!

Or they learn they can move objects with their mind…

…but fail to practice and get good at it.

Gah! Just use your magic already!

But the funny thing is I do the same thing.

As do most of my creative, neurodivergent clients.

Super-relaxation powers, activate!

I’ve studied and practiced meditation, hypnosis, and Neuro-Linguistic Programming for over two decades.

So I’ve developed some superpowers of my own.

For instance, I can get extremely relaxed in one to five minutes.

This seems like a weird superpower.

There’s no “Relaxation Man” in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Imagine, he encounters the villain and just sits down and relaxes!

But in real life, having super relaxation powers is extremely practical.

When I go into an extremely deep trance state, I feel totally stress free.

My breathing naturally slows down to 3-5 breaths per minute.

It’s like my whole nervous system resets.

I can easily hang out there for anywhere between five minutes and an hour and a half.

It’s better than taking a drug!

I often forget to use this superpower however.

Probably this is because our culture values productivity, not rest.

I sometimes feel like I’m “wasting time” when I go into deeply relaxing trance states.

Whenever I do the thing I’m great at, I feel like I’m doing something socially unacceptable.

Or even weird.

So I’m exactly like those annoying people on TV shows that don’t use their superpowers!

And so are my talented, neurodivergent coaching clients.

Often someone will come to me with a problem.

But the real problem is that they are a genius and won’t just allow themselves to use their amazing abilities!

Because we’ve internalized that we are broken.

Or that there’s something wrong with us.

Rather than there’s something wonderfully right with us!

A lot of what I ultimately do in my coaching is give people permission.

What if it was OK to be great?

What if it was OK to actually use your superpowers?

On Saturday, I did almost 3 hours of deep, relaxing trance.

Just sitting on the couch and chillin’.

And it was a great use of time.

Take care,

~Duff
(they/them)