Pivotal Moments and Pivotal Words

One Liners that change people

By: Dr. John Lentz

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

In this fascinating book, Dr. John D. Lentz offers readers a journey toward hope and healing through a deeper understanding of the power of language. Dr. Lentz draws from his years as a therapist and a Presbyterian minister, as well as his experience studying and using hypnotherapy, to explore how the words we choose can affect others and ourselves in positive ways. In fact, he says, we can initiate epiphanies of understanding through the use of positive language.
Dr. Lentz’s book is grounded in the work of Dr. Milton H. Erickson, the renowned hypnotherapist. It is also influenced by his own deep spirituality and his years of helping people find light in the darkness. Through the use of specific examples from his own practice, his own study, and more than 20 years as the head chaplain at the Kentucky Correctional Institution for Women, Dr. Lentz presents ways that choosing positive language at key moments can help with personal transformation.
Therapeutic hypnosis uses trance, comprising indirect suggestion, metaphor, storytelling and other techniques, to help a person change their behavior. Dr. Lentz explores how, as lay people, not professionals, we, too, can learn to use language to positive effect. Sometimes, he writes, a few words delivered at the right moment, can lead to an epiphany of new understanding. These are what he calls pivotal words. Both the speaker of those words and the person who hears them benefit.
This book has a personal aspect for Dr. Lentz, who shares with readers how friends and mentors have helped him when he struggled. For example, he felt great anxiety before a big presentation at a large conference. It was the positive words of the conference leader, delivered seemingly casually yet deliberately and specifically to him that helped him find a state of calm as he stood up to speak. Dr. Lentz uses several examples like this to illuminate the influence on him of others in the field, especially one of his cherished mentors, Jeffrey Zeig, Ph.D., a celebrated hypnotherapist and teacher, and the founder and director of the Milton H. Erickson Foundation.
Dr. Lentz is a member and supervisor for the American Association of Marriage and Family Therapists. He is also a member of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis, and the International Society of Hypnosis.
His other books include Love Trance: Break the Rules and Stay in Love Forever, Borderline Fairytale: How to help Borderline Personality Disorder, Spiritual Solutions to Anxiety and Panic Disorder, Bipolar Disorder: How to help indirectly, How the Word Heals: The Bible and Hypnosis, as well as books about manipulation, as well as miscommunication and sex addiction.