Jake Pearson  00:00

Are you trying to figure out the secret to happiness? We're here at What Makes You Happy with Jake Pearson. We want to make that happiness more accessible for you in your life. So stick around as we interview everyday people, inspirational leaders and your favorite celebrities on what makes them happy.

Welcome back to the podcast where we ask the question, what makes you happy?

My name is Jake Pearson. And today we have with us a consulting Hypnotherapist. Kevin Patton from London. Kevin, how are you?

Kevin Patton  00:37

I'm great. Yes, it's good to see you.

Jake Pearson  00:41

Thank you for coming on the podcast, we really appreciate it. Can you share a little bit about what makes you happy?

Kevin Patton  00:48

I think it works for everyone is making a difference. Seeing something that you've done, empower someone else and have them step into their own power and start showing up in their life for themselves. That really hits the spot for me.

Jake Pearson  01:08

I love that. And how long did it take you to discover that? Or is that something that you just naturally knew, I like empowering and helping other people step into their confidence in their life.

Kevin Patton  01:20

I've known that for a long time, I used to teach martial arts when I was a young man. And as people grow in confidence, you can really see, and then it just went from there into different things.

Jake Pearson  01:35

I really love that because I'm in the martial arts field myself, where I aspire to be an amateur/novice boxer. And I trained with a lot of new people that come through, and I love seeing them step into their confidence, as well, then getting more comfortable in the ring. And all of a sudden, they're able to throw combos and defend themselves. And they're like, oh, wow, I can't believe that work. So I completely resonate with everything that you're saying. So that's fantastic. And we were talking off screen about this really incredible technique. 

Now, I think it would be very beneficial to hear more about that for the listener about how that could maybe improve a little bit of their happiness in their life. What do you have to say about that one?

Kevin Patton  02:17

All right, yes. So this is a technique to access one of the brains happy chemicals, when we're talking about dopamine. It's the reward and reinforcement chemical. And you can access it very quickly. Now, we've all done this, you're talking with your friend, you're saying, remember the time when we went and you feel good. That's dopamine, I'd like you to imagine a color that you associate with feeling good and warm and safe. You're free, you're happy when you've got that color, fixed your head nod so I can see. Okay, so imagine this color coming into your body, coming in through your toes, coming up, going into every cell of your foot, and spreading out through your chests, up into your head. Shooting down through your arms, your fingers, filling you up, it's coming out into the room. And just bathe in there, just take the time to really settle into that good feeling. I can see from your smile that he already started to feel some of that. [crosstalk 03:46] You can do this any time you like. The trick is that when I asked you to think about a color, you associate with a feeling, you go to the feeling. And the rest of it is just letting that do its work.

Jake Pearson  04:03

And what's that this technique called? 

Kevin Patton  04:06

Oh, well, that one is the color technique. But sometimes people call it a healing light or it's just a visualization. But in essence, what you're doing is euphoric recall. You're remembering what it's like to feel good. And as you remember what it's like to feel good. You feel good.

Jake Pearson  04:28

Fantastic. I love that. It's exactly like you said, you feel good every time you recall that childhood memory. Or when you were just like, Oh, I remember when we did this, when we're riding the bikes or you said this or such and such, and immediately you're filled with this. Really like bubbly feeling happens to me all the time. And I definitely see this as a technique that I'm going to start my days with.

Kevin Patton  04:53

And try not to use memories with people who have suffered trauma because the good feelings can be tainted with bad ones. And that's a real downer and brings them down. Harsh is it? So, using safer visualizations, fantasy visualizations- so the color one, you're avoiding that difficulty, because otherwise, you're going to have to come in and do something about it. And this is you can do it yourself. And there's no dodgy memories kicking around. You're running down the beach with your dog, and you remember how your dog died?

Jake Pearson  05:31

Yes. So that's a really great technique that's safe to practice even if you've experienced a little bit of discomfort or a little bit of trauma in your past, and you still want to step into your own. That's a great technique. 

Kevin, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing all things that make you happy. If you'd love to connect with Kevin, you can do so by checking out the podcast episode description below. Kevin, this is your first podcast and I hope it's one of many more. Thank you for coming on the show. 

Thanks for listening to the podcast. We hope it gives you something to think about on your quest to discover what makes you happy. Make sure to check out whatmakesyouhappypodcast.com to connect with today's guest and follow us on all our social media platforms and to stay up to date on what's happening next and what makes you happy. Don't forget to share this episode with a friend and we'll see you next time !