The Erotic Mind-Control Story Archive

Our hypnosis examinations and certifications on Saturday had come and gone without too much drama. Only one person had trouble-Madeline. When it had been her turn to demonstrate rapid induction hypnosis with Robert standing in front of her, such as I had done with Rita, Maddy snapped her fingers and jerked Robert’s arm firmly. He’d just looked at her like she was an idiot. Then he’d burst out laughing. Maddy had gone a beetroot red and blushed with embarrassment from head to toe. The rest of her tests, however, had gone off fine, but that one, the standing rapid induction had been trouble for her from the beginning. Nobody but Robert had laughed, however.

My own tests had gone off remarkably well, I thought, given that I was so nervous. Now we were all celebrating our individual achievements at a party thrown by Jim that night at his house. Sarah, his wife and receptionist, was being the perfect host in ensuring everyone had plenty to drink. There were many of Jim and Sarah’s friends there as well; including quite a few past graduates of Jim’s hypnotherapy courses.

By only ten o’clock, everyone except me was well on their way to earning their hangover for the following morning. Alcohol, unfortunately, had always made me sick before it made me happy, so, I had never followed a drinking path. Instead, I was the ‘soft drink man’, as one guy used to call me. I smiled at the memory as I listened to Maddy relive her life’s most embarrassing moment in the re-telling of the story and how she felt. This time, though, we all laughed and so did she.

‘A little more serious practice, Maddy,’ Jim said to her, ‘and you’ll have it down pat, don’t worry. I’m sure Steven here will help you.’ With that, Jim winked at me.

‘Somehow, I don’t think so.’ Maddy replied. ‘I mean, I believe it will work. Christ, I’ve seen it and experienced it myself. I think it’s just one technique that ‘I’ can’t seem to get happening, that’s all.’

She shook her head and sipped her drink. I tended to agree with her. If she didn’t believe she could use that technique, then she’d never develop the confidence to use it. As far as I was concerned, with that technique in particular, it was all about self-confidence.

I liked Maddy, but for some reason I didn’t think she was suited to the role of a hypnotherapist. Yet, as a hypnotic subject, she was brilliant. Most of us had used that rapid induction technique on her and she’d collapsed like a deflated balloon, and, she’d gone under more quickly and deeply with each successful demonstration.

Maddy had been under-confident from the word go, I felt, and, although she had managed to get through the course, I knew she’d to work very hard just to scrape through at the end. Beryl had told me she’d done a lot of private practice with her. She had been a beautician, previously, but had gone bust because of bad debts and not enough confidence to ask her clients to pay, she’d told us. Personally, I didn’t see how her life was going to change much in the hypnotherapy business if she didn’t find a more aggressive and self-assertive attitude from somewhere.

Jim then gave another demonstration of the technique using Jean as a subject. He explained it slowly to Maddy as he went. It worked like a charm. Jean went out like a light. We all laughed while Maddy just shook her head and stood staring at Jean who rested slumped against Jim’s chest like a second skin. He then brought Jean back to the party all smiles.

After the laughter had died down, the single-minded crowd broke up and moved apart in smaller groups. Then Sarah brought out the hot snacks to eat and Jim ensured all had fresh drinks while she walked around with the tasty snacks. After we’d eaten, they both cleaned up the plates and again got everybody fresh drinks, with a soft drink for me.

‘Party time!’ Jim called, walking back through the servery door with Sarah hanging onto his arm all smiles. They moved to the center of the large lounge room. I moved closer, as did many others, such that there was soon a circle of people standing around them both a few bodies deep, like a human wagon train. I could see Jim’s eyes were a little glassy, but his speech was true and unaffected by the alcohol. Sarah was pretty chirpy as well, but I wouldn’t have called her drunk. I wondered what Jim had in mind.

‘Okay!’ He beamed loudly, which seemed to be the only change in his demeanor from the grog; his voice was louder when he spoke. ‘Now you all have to pass the final test, and, with a stranger you haven’t hypnotized before!’

We all laughed. I looked about at the faces of Jim and Sarah’s friends and the past graduates that were not familiar to me.

‘And,’ Jim boomed, ‘you each have to use a different technique, as well as successfully causing your subject to do something they would not normally do!’ Then he laughed as loudly as he had spoken. ‘Maddy! You first! Look around and choose your victim and your favorite technique!

Maddy shrieked and stepped back a pace then began to giggle. Her eyes were glassy as well. I didn’t think she was capable of hypnotizing anyone in her state and doubted if most of them were capable, for that matter. Me? I didn’t drink and hoped no one chose the rapid induction that Maddy had so much trouble with. It was my favorite.

I watched and grinned excitedly as Maddy drew a deep breath and gazed glassy-eyed around the room at everybody. The alcohol seemed to have given her a bit of guts. I winked as she glanced quickly at me and thought she looked strong for the first time in the face. Laughing nervously, she chose a young woman in her mid-twenties, then announced positively to all that she would use the rapid induction technique.

I was disappointed, but nevertheless impressed with the alcohol-induced confidence she seemed to have right then. I just hoped she didn’t fall flat on her face. I needn’t have worried, however. Much to everybody’s surprise, none the least of which was Maddy’s, the young girl’s body instantly followed the jerking of her arm by Maddy’s over-done grip on her hand and she fell right into her, loose and relaxed. Not ready for instant success, however, both Maddy and the girl continued to fall backward and ended up in a heap on the floor. Maddy hit first with the young girl landing fully on top of her. The girl’s eyes, however, had remained closed, as Maddy’s body made the perfect soft bed beneath her to have landed upon.

Everybody cracked up. I had to hold my sides. Jim had to kneel down on the carpet, he was laughing so hard. Finally, after a few moments, Jim and I got it together and lifted the girl up then stood her on her feet. Her eyes had remained closed throughout. Then Jim helped Maddy get up and pumped her hand vigorously when he’d done so.

‘It worked!’ Maddy exclaimed excitedly. She was bubbling and looking around quickly at all of us, seemingly in case it might have been an illusion on her part. ‘It worked!’

‘Ahmen to that, brother!’ Jim laughed loudly. That cracked everybody up again. It was several minutes before the laughter died down. Then Maddy deepened the girl’s trance several times by counting down before finally asking her to tell of something that she wouldn’t normally do. The girl spoke quietly, saying she would never smoke. Maddy then suggested that when she awoke from the hypnotic trance, she would find someone who was smoking and ask for a puff or two. I grinned at her suggestion. It was typical Maddy-living on the edge.

She brought the girl out from the trance. We all waited, murmuring quietly while the girl blinked several times before looking slowly around the sea of people. Then, without looking at another face, she stopped gazing and walked over to a woman in her forties. She stopped in front of her, looking down at her right hand, which held a burning cigarette. I moved a little closer and noticed a quiet hush fall over the room.

‘Can I have a puff?’ The young girl asked quietly.

The woman grinned and looked left and right about herself, then handed the young girl the smoke. Taking it in her left hand, the young girl brought the cigarette to her lips and puffed several times, but without doing the drawback. Nevertheless, it was still enough exposure to the blue smoke to cause her to begin to cough and sway on her feet.

Everybody cracked up again. I glanced quickly at Maddy who stood proudly watching her victim carrying out her hypnotic instructions. The young girl stopped coughing and handed the smoke back to its owner. Then she put her left hand on her belly and coughed once more. Maddy came up behind her and cancelled the suggestion. The girl blinked again several times, coughed twice more and then abused Maddy for threatening the health of her lungs with unethical hypnosis.

Red-faced and embarrassed, no longer self-confident or self-assertive, Maddy defended herself quickly, saying that it was only a joke and that she had not told the girl to do the drawback, just to puff on it a few times. The young girl cursed Maddy again before Jim finally intervened and accepted the blame for Maddy’s hypnotic suggestions. That seemed to placate the girl who then wandered off toward the lady’s room, shaking her head and coughing once again.

Everybody cracked up wildly once more. Jim again ended up on his knees on the carpet, holding his sides while he looked up at Maddy with shining eyes. He tried unsuccessfully to keep his laughter down to a dull roar. I had never seen a woman’s face as red as Maddy’s was right then. It caused me to laugh as hard as Jim, almost.

Sarah disappeared into the toilet and returned smiling a few minutes later, saying the girl was a bit seedy-looking and green around the gills, but otherwise, she was fine. She then went to the kitchen and began getting everyone fresh drinks. Jim, meanwhile, had hauled himself back to his feet and was searching for the next one of us. He winked as he passed me by. I grinned, although a little disappointed.

‘Shaun!’ He boomed. ‘You’re next! Choose your victim and technique!’

All eyes turned to Shaun who had been standing on the other side of the circle to me. Shaun grinned and stepped into the center, looking around. He was swaying slightly. I hoped he didn’t make a fool of himself. He was normally pretty good with his demonstrations and had impressed Jim with his tests for certification.

I watched Shaun’s gaze stop on a woman in her thirties who was standing next to a man I knew to be a personal friend of Jim. He had introduced me to the man earlier. The woman with him was tall and solid and had once had a shapely figure. Now, however, the once-shapely curves had flattened somewhat, but she was still a handsome dark-haired woman in my eyes. Shaun nodded to her and crooked the finger on his right hand as he lifted it and signaled her to come forward.

The woman looked uncertainly at the man who stood beside her. He only smiled down at her and nodded his head. She handed him her glass then stepped slowly forward into the center of the circle. Shaun had her place her right hand palm-down upon his left while he pressed upward against her force. He told her to press very hard while he held his right hand in front of her face and then told her to look deeply into his eyes while she pressed downward against his hand.

Then he told her to relax, and that soon she would slip into a deep relaxing trance without even trying, just to ‘fall’ into it and allow it to happen. He repeated the phrase, ‘just fall into it’, several times. In the middle of one of those phrases he suddenly pulled his left hand from beneath hers and snapped the fingers of his right hand in front of her face at the same time, saying very loudly as he did so: ‘SLEEP!’

The withdrawal of Shaun’s left hand from beneath her right suddenly left the woman completely off balance. As well, the unexpected move and sudden confusion of Shaun forcefully saying the word, ‘sleep,’ so loudly while snapping his fingers in front of her face seemed to too much for the woman’s mind to cope with. It tried to deal with all happening things at once and still come up with a normal plan of behavior for her in such a situation. But she obviously didn’t have one in reserve.

Instead, her subconscious mind simply grasped the one that Shaun had given her instead—’sleep!’ She fell forward firmly against him. He grabbed the back of her head and pulled her even more tightly to him then rotated her head gently and began whispering for several moments into her ear. Then he brought her out of the trance, telling all that he would have the proof of his success on Monday and would show it to Jim who would then confirm with anybody who cared to ask.

The woman blinked several times then looked directly at her man who seemed to be frowning. She walked hesitantly back and stood beside him, taking her drink and swallowing a huge mouthful. Shaun grinned at me then walked away from the center of the circle and back into the crowd. I glanced at Jim who only shrugged his shoulders and then laughed.

I then watched Beryl and Jean and all the rest of my course choose a person unknown to them and do their stuff. I found it entertaining, but mostly uninspiring and unexciting. It seemed that nobody was game to venture into any area a little naughty, at least not in public.

As well, I was preoccupied and puzzled. For some reason, Jim was leaving me until last and I couldn’t figure out why. I had decided on another rapid induction technique that I liked. Several scenarios had come and gone regarding what I would have them do by way of a hypnotic suggestion, but, as yet, I hadn’t settled on anything concrete. I also kept wondering what suggestion Shaun had given the tall dark-haired woman. Suddenly, I became aware of Jim’s glassy eyes staring at me. His eyebrows were raised.

I grinned. It was my turn at last. Stepping into the circle, I glanced across at the tall blonde standing between two women, one of whom looked simply like an older version. The thought crossed my mind as I waited for her to come forward if she realized what was waiting for her twenty years down the tracks in the looks and figure department. Her mother was definitely no pin-up girl, nor was she any lightweight. She was tall, but her figure was straight up and down like a muddy yard of pump water.

Nevertheless, the daughter who was now stepping up to me was nice. Long and straight blonde hair, she was about twenty-five or so and quite attractive in her own way. She wore no bra and that was obvious. She also wore a short, but loose cotton skirt that had been tie-died to reflect a lot of different psychedelic-looking shapes and swirls in its horizontal pattern against a white backdrop. I had a hunch, that was all, but it would be interesting to find out if I was right. I decided to do just that.

‘Hi!’ I smiled down at her. She was tall, but not as tall as me.

‘Hi!’ She replied a little shyly.

‘Enjoying yourself?’ I asked with a grin, speaking loud enough for all to hear. In fact, I had the definite feeling that I was a stage hypnotist doing a show, which, I suppose, was what we were all doing-putting on a show. But I was not a stage hypnotist, however. I was a hypnotherapist.

‘It’s all in good fun,’ she laughed then looked around at everybody.

‘Yes.’ I said. ‘It is-all good fun. And what’s your name?’

‘Stella,’ she answered with a shy smile.

‘Stella,’ I repeated, smiling. ‘What a nice name. And you like to have fun, Stella?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ she replied, ‘who doesn’t?’

‘Good answer.’ I laughed. Then I grinned and glanced around the crowded circle. Shaun winked at me and pulled a face. Jim’s eyes were focussed directly on mine. Sarah hung off his arm, mostly, I suspect, to hold herself up.

‘Have you ever been hypnotized before, Stella?’ I asked, staring directly into her clear blue eyes.

‘Yes,’ she answered shyly, ‘a few times.’

‘And did you ever do anything you wouldn’t normally do on those few times you were hypnotized?’ I probed, staring directly down into her eyes. She was blinking already at having to look slightly up at me to hold my gaze. Then she lowered her gaze momentarily with her answer.

‘Not really,’ she said quietly then added, ‘at least, I don’t think so.’

Then she turned and looked back at the older version of herself. ‘Did I?’ She asked her obvious mum who shook her head immediately. Everybody cracked up and began laughing, including Stella. I chuckled as well, but that was all. I wanted to keep the train of thought going to begin leading her to where I needed her imagination to go.

‘I’m sure you didn’t,’ I said, ‘but if you did, I’m sure it was in very good taste, don’t you?’

Stella nodded and grinned. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘I’m sure it would have been.’

‘Do you mind being hypnotized again here tonight,’ I asked her then added, ‘by me?’

Once again she began blinking in trying to hold my gaze.

‘No,’ she replied. ‘It’s okay.’

‘Good girl,’ I said firmly and as I said that phrase in that way her eyes lowered shyly. Quickly, however, she looked back up at me.

‘Okay,’ I began, ‘Now, I’d like you to bring up your left hand in front of your face, like this, palm toward you and fingers lightly pressed together.’

She had dropped her gaze to watch me, then she brought her hand up in front of her face and began to look back up at me.

‘No,’ I said. ‘Have a rest from the strain of looking up at me. I’d like you to give your tired eyes a rest and just gaze into the center of your palm so your tired eyes can relax for a few minutes. Would you like to do that for me?’

‘Yes,’ she said, almost gratefully then lowered her gaze from mine and gazed into her palm.

‘That feels much more relaxing on your tired eyes, doesn’t it?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ she said, a little quietly, nodding her head as well.

‘It’s not easy keeping your tired eyes open while looking up at someone, is it?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she said quietly, blinking a few times.

‘In fact, it was a bit of a strain, wasn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ she said softly.

‘Well,’ I said, ‘you can relax them now. Just gaze into your palm.’

Stella nodded and formed the word, but no audible sound passed her lips that I could hear.

‘That’s better. They were beginning to get very tired gazing up into my eyes, weren’t they?’ I reminded her.

Again she nodded and mouthed the word, but she said nothing.

‘But now you can feel that they’re really beginning to let go and relax deeply,’ I said, ‘now that you don’t have to strain to look up at me?’

Stella nodded and that was all. A deathly hush had fallen over the room, I noticed, as all tried to hear her voice.

‘Feels good, too, doesn’t it?’ I said.

Again, she only nodded, but her blinks were becoming more frequent.

‘Probably feels as if you could just stand there gazing into your relaxing palm forever, doesn’t it?’ I said.

Stella only nodded gently, but this time, she did not mouth the word. Her lips had parted and remained that way. Her breathing was gentle. You could have heard a pin drop in the room right at that moment. For the first time, I felt like a real force to be reckoned with. I was on a trip, a control trip, a mind control trip.

‘And you already know what will happen if you relax deeply enough, just standing there gazing into your palm, don’t you?’ I said, laying the groundwork.

Stella nodded gently, but remained silent and staring into her palm and blinking frequently.

‘That’s right,’ I said, ‘you’ll simply drift off into very deep and relaxing sleep, standing up, right where you are, isn’t that true?’

Stella nodded, barely. Her eyelids had reached the stage where they were struggling to recover from each heavy blink.

‘But you know,’ I said, ‘in a moment, you probably won’t drift into that deep relaxing sleep, standing up right where you are, any faster than the fingers of that hand you’re gazing at will slowly begin to spread widely apart.’

Stella’s head barely nodded, but it did. What made my cock twitch, however, was the brief flick of her little finger as it began to move apart from the one next to it.

‘And you already know, don’t you,’ I continued, ‘that your fingers won’t spread widely apart any faster than your gaze can disappear completely into your palm as that deep relaxing sleep starts to close down your mind so you can experience it?’

Stella nodded, just. I was giving her two things to think about, if, in fact, she was thinking at all, which I doubted. I believed she was just listening now, to every word I said.

‘And you know, too,’ I said then, ‘that only when your fingers are spread widely apart, all by themselves, just as they’re starting to do right now; only then will your tired eyes close down and open the doorway for your deeply relaxed mind to enter through so you can experience that deeply relaxing sleep standing up?’

Stella barely nodded, but my cock jerked. I wondered if any other man’s dick was jerking along with mine. Her blinks were now heavy, and few and far between as she stared unfocussed at the palm of her left hand. Her fingers were separating of their own accord now, little bit by little bit. My cock seemed to be matching them, jerk for jerk. I brought up my left hand beside her right ear in readiness.

‘And do you think it will be long before your fingers are so widely spread apart, all by themselves, so that your eyes can close down and your mind can enter that deeply relaxing sleep while you stand right where you are?’

Stella’s head shook sideways a little, but in truth, it barely moved at all.

‘And are you anxious for your fingers to just get on with it and spread widely apart so you can go quickly to sleep standing right where you are and just be done with it?’ I asked, readying her mind for the plan, my plan.

Her head nodded a little more firmly as her eyes struggled to rise to half-mast. That was as far as they got, but they remained there, unfocussed and fluttering.

‘In fact,’ I said, ‘to cut a long story short, if someone just said, go to sleep, you probably would. It’s really just that true and simple, isn’t it?’

Stella’s head got halfway through its barely imperceptible nod when I snapped the fingers of my left hand loudly beside her right ear, said the word, ‘sleep’ just as loudly, then brought it smartly down over her face, pulling her hand down and away at the same time.

Stella’s eyes and head fell forward and down at the same time. She had jumped slightly, but now sighed. Quickly, I put my left hand on her shoulder to steady her and just stood there watching her breathe and letting her settle a little bit. Then, after a few minutes, I spoke, aware of how quiet the room was.

‘That feels so much better, doesn’t it?’

‘Yes,’ she answered with a soft sigh.

‘In fact,’ I said, ‘now you can really let yourself go as deeply relaxed and as deeply asleep as you like, and standing right up where you are, can’t you?’

‘Yesss,’ she said with a long sigh.

‘Do it now!’ I said suddenly and firmly.

‘Oh!’ She gasped then immediately sighed, and then she did as I’d suggested, or seemed to, at least, anyway, exactly as I had suggested she do. Then she took another deep breath and slowly let it out with an audible sigh, as if she had just lay down on her bed after a hard day’s work. Her shoulders and upper spine rounded and her head fell even further down toward her chest. Her arms now hung lifeless at her sides. Her long straight blonde hair had now fallen forward around her shoulders and face like a golden carpet.

‘Good girl.’ I said firmly.

‘Mmm,’ she answered with a soft sigh. I noticed her lips curl upward at the corners slightly, as if in a little-girl smile.

It was only then that I noticed my erection hiding inside my trousers. It felt absolutely fucking huge. For the briefest of moments I wondered if anybody could see it, but then I lost the thought altogether as I readied my suggestions for Stella to do when she came back from the trance I had placed her in.

Aware that nobody would hear me, I leaned down very close to her ear and whispered my instructions, repeating them firmly several times. Her head had nodded while I spoke and did so when I’d finished. Then I counted her back from her trance. With a loud snap of my fingers beside her ear, her eyes opened and blinked many times, then suddenly cleared and gazed up at me. I smiled then turned to the people in the audience who were all just standing there looking at me. I looked at Jim and Shaun, but did not wink.

‘A big hand for Stella for being such a good sport and wanting to have fun!’ I said loudly.

Everybody suddenly clapped and began chattering, but their eyes never left Stella. She left my side and made her way slowly over to the wall. When she got there, she kicked off her flat-heeled shoes and placed her palms down on the carpet close to the wall, but not against it. Then suddenly, like a gymnast, she kicked upwards, flinging her legs, thighs and body upward and backwards over her head.

The audience gasped quietly while I watched my handiwork. Stella’s bare heels thumped into the wall then she struggled for a few moments to get her balance while upside down yet still support her weight. She adjusted the position of her hands a little bit then steadied. Her face and head were entirely covered by her long blonde hair as she supported herself upside down against the wall.

It happened like the slow unveiling of a plaque. Everybody began to clap and cheer. I glanced around. All eyes were upon her as they continued to clap. All eyes were upon my hypnotic handiwork, except those of her mother as they caught my own and silently told me that enough was enough.

Now!’ I called firmly. Within moments, the place broke up, cheering and clapping. Stella slowly began to move her feet and legs to the side against the wall until they were spread widely apart. As they continued to do so, her loose cotton dress moved further and further down her thighs until her legs were spread almost sixty degrees to the vertical. I grinned, proud and satisfied while the crowd roared.

My half-naked blonde was now spread upside down against the wall. I had taken a punt and had been right. She had been wearing no underwear, whatsoever. Now she struggled to support herself upside down against the wall with her loose dress forced all the way down over her buttocks to her lower back with her spreading. Now down around her waist, all could see clearly that she was wearing absolutely nothing underneath. Her pretty shaven blonde cunt was utterly naked for all to see, yet I had one last peace-de-resistance.

‘Now!’ I said, and with that prearranged instruction, like an Olympian, Stella brought her legs stiffly and slowly back down until they passed the point of no return and gravity took over. On the way down, of course, their widely spread position showed everybody the amazingly erotic display of her widely-spread butt-naked ass, along with its diamond brown decorated and puckered star cherry center.

The crowd went feral. My cock mutinied inside my trousers and everybody cheered wildly and clapped crazily. Everybody, except her mother, that is, but I didn’t care. It was all in good fun. Then slowly, Stella got back up to her feet, smoothed down her dress then came over and stood quietly beside me. Then she leaned up and kissed me softly on the cheek.

‘Good girl,’ I said warmly, but firmly as her trance callout phrase. Then I waited.

Stella blinked several times, then took a deep breath and sighed. Her arms reached up above her head and she stretched lazily. Then she lowered them down to her sides and looked around smiling.

‘How do you feel?’ I asked loudly for all to hear.

‘Mmmm,’ she said, grinning from ear to ear. ‘Great!’

I smiled. ‘And do you remember I told you that for being such a good girl and a good sport that you would remember everything you did when you were woken up after being hypnotized?’

‘Yes,’ she said, nodding and grinning as she looked at her mother who only frowned back.

‘And do you think you enjoyed your puffs of that cigarette more than the young girl did earlier that you saw obviously not enjoy it?’

The crowd cracked up again then as Stella nodded her head. Her mother just hung her head even lower down and shook it slowly sideways.

‘I still didn’t like it, though.’ Stella then said, pulling a disgusted face. ‘Tasted awful.’

‘Good reason not to ever smoke again.’ I said. ‘Another big hand for Stella for being such a good sport, everybody!’ I called loudly.

Stella smiled widely and bowed like a performer on a stage, but the crowd were already cheering and clapping. This time, though, somehow I felt they were all clapping for me.

I glanced at Jim and wondered if I’d gone too far. He winked and started to laugh. LG, I thought, watching Stella make her way back to stand beside her mother who was still hanging her head and shaking it slowly sideways. Life was definitely good. Jim was now back on his knees, laughing and holding his ribs while Shaun just stood and smiled at me with something akin to professional admiration on his face. Yes. Life was definitely good.

On Monday I called Jim about Shaun’s proof that he had hypnotized the tall dark-haired woman. Jim told me that Shaun had showed him seven insurance contracts, all signed, sealed and about to be delivered. Apparently, the woman, along with six of her friends had bought insurance policies from Shaun. Their husband’s did not know and Shaun’s hypnotic victim had talked them all into it. Yes, I figured, hanging up with a grin-with hypnosis, life was definitely, good.