‘Weightless Being in a Time of Heaviness;’ Dott. Pirro Shines a Light
January 22 Meeting speaker recap
by Lisa Robbins
Wednesday in January we were treated to a stimulating talk about how to cope with adversity and find resilience in stressful times. This most welcome topic comes as we confront restricted conditions imposed by the virus pandemic. Our speaker, Dott. Piero Pirro, is a Florence-based Australian/Italian Psychologist who teaches Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction and practical strategies for handling hardship. He runs reliance courses for the police and for families with members in psychiatric institutions. His earnest and meaty presentation was complimented by intriguing, colourful PowerPoint slides. In short, the evening offered energy and contemplation: a fresh perspective, much appreciated.
accessible skills of ‘ordinary magic’, whereby we triumph over difficulty through imaginative thinking.
He briefly reviewed how the above aspects of resilience help find the way to a balanced, healthy state of mind and body.
We can increase resilience through three paths: doing (right action), non-doing (right non-action), and knowing (internal consciousness of the direction we want to go in), he suggested. He provided useful methods for achieving positive goals based on a book by James Clear. He extolled the merits of relaxation and tuning into the present thought mindfulness and eye focalisation. Change needs to be a gradual process if results are to be sustainable, he added.
Ask yourself essential questions: ‘what is my life about? Who do I want to be? Then reflect: am I living consistently with the answers to those questions?’ Pirro reminded us that a current perspective is only one of many ways to see things. If that perspective shifts, a whole new world of possibilities emerges. He counselled that adversity can be a teacher; overcoming it can revise our strategy or refine the path we are on. Bad habits complicate our lives, block us from moving forward. Hardship offers an opportunity to surmount those obstacles through reflection and practice, which lead to adaptation.
Pirro followed his talk with a brief demonstration of hypnotherapy, another avenue for finding balance and calm. Hypnotism challenges us to believe in imagination, and thus allow ourselves to relax deeply.
Hypnotherapy provides a way to diminish or eliminate fear and anxiety through mind over matter practice. Dott. Pirro is offering a 30-45 minute hypno-meditation session as a raffle prize for the February Members’ Fair meeting.
Books he recommended include: Atomic Habits, James Clear, The Star Thrower, Loren Eiseley
He can be reached at piero.stanley.pirro@gmail.com or his website: https://dottorpirropsicologo.it/