Motor City Hypnotist
Motor City Hypnotist
Star Wars Wisdom For Real Life Balance: The Force And The Mind (Part 1)
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May the Fourth is a fun excuse to talk Star Wars, but we take a sharper turn: what if “the Force” is really a map of the human mind? We use the language of Jedi and Sith to explore themes we see every day in therapy and hypnosis work: emotional regulation, inner conflict, fear, connection, and the constant push to feel in control while still staying human.
We unpack the Force as an “energy that binds all living things” and connect it to real philosophical traditions like qi and prana, plus Western ideas like Stoicism and the search for inner peace. From there, we get into the part most people live in: the gray area. Light side vs dark side sounds like good vs evil, but yin and yang points to something more useful. Opposing forces can be interconnected, and the real problem is often imbalance, not emotion itself.
Then we look at the Jedi code through a modern mental health lens. Discipline can be a superpower, but detachment can slide into shutdown when it turns into constant suppression. Anakin’s story becomes a cautionary tale about unprocessed fear of loss and what happens when a mentor or a system tells you to “let go” without teaching you how. If you have ever tried to keep it together while something you love feels at risk, this conversation will hit close to home.
If you like thoughtful psychology with a pop culture hook, subscribe for part two, share the episode with a friend, and leave us a review so more people can find the show.
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Change your thinking, change your life!
Laugh hard, run fast, be kind.
David R. Wright MA, LPC, CHT
The Motor City Hypnotist
May Fourth And The Force
SPEAKER_02In this episode of the Motor City Hypnotus Podcast, today is Monday, May 4th. May the fourth be with you. And also with you. Thank you, Matt. And on in honor of May 4th, and May Fourth be with you. And your spirit. We're going to talk about the force. Now, I know this sounds silly, but there's a lot of real-world influences with the force. But we're going to get into that. It's it's it won't be as geeky as you think it will be. Let's put it that way. You asked for it. And then as usual, we're giving away free stuff. Hang in there, folks. We'll be right back.
SPEAKER_04This sounds like something for the authorities in Detroit. Joke's on you. I'm living to 102 men dying at the city of Detroit.
SPEAKER_01Guys like this ain't take over here out of Detroit. Spawn and the hellfire's emotional. Take him to Detroit. Detroit!
SPEAKER_04Stationed in Drambooing worse than Detroit. We did not have as a unit the confidence that we felt like we needed to beat Detroit.
SPEAKER_00Let's go to Detroit. Now you're talking, brother. I don't think so. He plays for Detroit now. Do they have many farms in Detroit? Detroit to Michigan. I go to school, I know where Detroit is.
SPEAKER_04Get ready for the motor city hypnotist David R. Wright, originating from the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. He has hypnotized thousands of people from all over the United States. David R. Wright has been featured on news outlets all across the country and is the clinical director of an outpatient mental health and hypnosis clinic located just south of Detroit, where he helps people daily using the power of hypnosis. Welcome to the Motor City Hypnotist, David O. Wright.
SPEAKER_02What is going on, my friends? It is David Wright, the Motor City Hypnotist. We're back with another episode of the Motor City Hypnotist Podcast. Welcome back, Padawan. Welcome back to you, Matt Fox. That's the other voice you hear. Yes. We're here in the palatial podcast Your Voice, Hellfield Studios. Yeah. Hanging out, doing a podcast. It's celebrating the May 4th. May the fourth be with you.
SPEAKER_01You know what tomorrow is, right? May 5th. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's the it's it's the that's the Sith day.
SPEAKER_02Oh, yes. The fifth, Sith. Yes, yes. We're enjoying a cocktail that we made during the Man Cave Happy Hour podcast, which was just finished up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Check that out if you'd like. We're doing a a drink called the Death Star.
SPEAKER_01We did. Yes. And my our ice cubes were shaped like Death Stars. They were round cubes, or I'm sorry, round balls of ice. And by the end of the episode, my split. My split just like the Death Star did. So it was perfect.
SPEAKER_02And mine, actually, mine's keeping its form. I mean, it's smaller, but hey, you know, that happens. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01No, but no, we're good. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
Free Hypnosis Guide And Reviews
SPEAKER_01So I'm really interested to know what you have to say about the force. Yes. And we're going to get into that.
SPEAKER_02And before we do that, let me tell you first where you can find me, my website, motorcityhitmantis.com. We're right on the verge of grad season starting up. My first grad night is a week from no two weeks from this past Saturday. So a week and a little a week and five days away. And the the the grad season goes into the first, into the second week of June. So I I know it's late notice, but if you have need for entertainment for your grad night party, go to motorcity hypnotist.com/slash shows. You can have a quote within minutes and book within minutes as well. Okay. So do it now because dates are dates are pretty filled up right now, but there are some random openings. So let's hope for the best on that. Yes. Find me on uh social media, Facebook and YouTube, Motor City Hypnotist, and on Snapchat and Instagram and TikTok, Motor City Hypno, H Y P N O. And as we've done every episode going back to number one, text the word hypnosis to 313-800-8510. Within a few moments, you'll get a text with a downloadable PDF. It's a hypnosis guide that I've written. It kind of just goes over basically what hypnosis is, of how and why it works, dispel some myths and misconceptions. And it will also give you a link to my Google business page. If you could leave a review there, that would be greatly appreciated. And whatever platform you're on, wherever you're listening to the podcast, again, whatever platform, Stitcher, iTunes, whatever it is, connect, link, like whatever it is on your platform, and leave a review there as well. Because that's the important thing so that we can get the podcast out to more people. All right. There we go. That's all the good stuff.
SPEAKER_00That's how winning is done.
Winner Of The Week Pistons
SPEAKER_02Alrighty. So this one's straightforward, Matt, because the winner of the week this week are the Detroit Pistons.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'll tell you what. There's a handful of teams that have been able to come back from a three to three to one deficit in the playoffs in a seven-game series. And they did it. Yes. They did it in Piston fashion. Yep. They learned a few lessons.
SPEAKER_02They learned a few of the well, and I was worried when they got down three to one, because I mean and those those of you don't follow sports or basketball, we're gonna get off on a tangent a little bit, but but they were the number one seed, and and Orlando was the number eight seed, right? So we we should have handily should have. Should have. But we did come out on top.
SPEAKER_01They came down from three to one, won three games in a row. And I will say that this is the first playoff series that they have won since 2008. Yes, it's been a while. It's been a while. So they were due. They were, but for them to, but it that's not the story. The story is where they were two seasons ago. Yeah. Worst, yep, worst record in basketball history in basketball to almost to almost making the playoffs last year, right? To now in the playoffs, number one as a number one seat. Number one seed. So they key thing.
SPEAKER_02They have been making strides over the past three seasons. Significant progress over the last few years. And yeah, and and just to see that that that you know to win three games in a row in any sport is is pretty rare. It's tough. Yeah. And if you and if you look, I didn't go through the stats myself, but there were only a handful of teams that came back from a 3-1 deficit and moved on in the playoffs. So so yeah, big shout out to the Pistons. Let's see how they do next round against the Cavaliers. Yep, it's gonna be interesting.
SPEAKER_01They won't have they won't have jet lag. Right. That's true. Yeah, because at least they're close. They're very close. They're they're two and a half hours from each other. So absolutely.
SPEAKER_02Winner of the week. Definitely winner of the week.
SPEAKER_00That's how winning is done.
SPEAKER_02Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_00So back to it.
What The Force Really Means
SPEAKER_02Back to it. So hit hit so we're so we're talking about the force. So so today is is May 4th, typically called May the Fourth Be With You, celebration of Star Wars. Sorry for those of you who are not Star Wars fans, but but I have to believe that that just in general, people know the term when you talk about the force. People know where that is, even if you're not a Star Wars fan or a science fiction fan per se. Everyone has heard that term. May the force be with you. That's why may the fourth be with you. Just turn it into this Star Wars celebration. It just happens. Yes. So it's it's something that has been in the culture since 1977, when when the first Star Wars movie came out. I was 77, I was three. I was 12. And I did see it in the theaters. Yeah. Yeah. Which a lot of people cannot say that.
SPEAKER_01No, I wait. I was 74, 77, right? Yeah, I was 77. Yeah, I was three.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, you did not see it in the theaters, I'm guessing.
SPEAKER_01No, I didn't. Because you were too young.
SPEAKER_02Wow. I still three-year-old, I mean.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so Star Wars has been around the in my entire life that I can remember. Correct.
SPEAKER_02Yes. And see, I can remember life before Star Wars. Right. And I because you had the Brady Bunch. A little anecdotal like story. But my my grandparents, they went, I I remember this because I remember again, I was like 12 and I saw it at the movies. So so they had heard all of this hullabaloo regarding this movie. Like, oh my gosh. But science fiction had been around for a long time. You had Doctor Who. Well, sure, you had Star Trek. Star Trek, and you had Lost in Space, and you had Battlestar Galactica. Or that was was that no, that was right probably in that era. Yeah, right. Yeah. So no, sci-fi was definitely a thing. I mean, even going back into the 50s and 60s. Yeah, isn't Doctor Who? Yeah, absolutely. So so people have known the term the force. And the reason we're talking about it again is it's it's it could because we're celebrating Star Wars, but the concept of the force it echoes real philosophical and spiritual traditions. Well, there's across different different stages of human history.
SPEAKER_01But when it comes to the force itself, there is a dark side and the light side. Yep. And how do you think? Do you think more Sith Lord with the dark side, or are you more Jedi thinking?
SPEAKER_02Well, and that's a great question. Like, like with human beings, what uh you know, it it's kind of questions that human beings have wrestled with for years: duality, inner conflict, connection, balance. And people people come to therapy to get balance in their lives, to get to kind of just focus in and find out just how to function better as a human being, right? And in the force, even though it's fictional, it it kind of gives you that I don't know that that that goal to work towards or to become better, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_01And that that's on both sides of it, though. Right. That's on both sides of the of the force, dark or light. Yeah, you know, they they want to get better personally, they want to be able to save their partner from certain death. They want to you know live forever, they want to understand and understand they they they want to be patient with who they're with, they want they want to give away all their worldly possessions and just live life. There's two different sides to all that, Dave. So when it comes to the force itself, yeah, in Star Wars, it's being able to control it, it's not mind control, it's what's the word I'm looking for?
SPEAKER_02They they can move things controlling your environment, controlling they can move things with their mind, right? Right, yeah, right. So, in Star Wars, those of you who may not know, and maybe you've heard the term, I'm sure you have, but you don't quite know what it means because you haven't seen the movies, which is fine. So, really, the force in Star Wars, it's described as an energy that binds all living things, it flows through everything, it connects all beings, it can be harnessed by those who are sensitive to it. So, when I say that, it probably rings some very familiar bells for you. I'm curious, what's your Medicorean count? Yeah, no idea, but really the idea of the force, it really follows a lot of traditional philosophy teachings and also religious movements as well. Yeah, yeah. So a concept like qi, which is in Chinese thought, or prana in Indian traditions, okay, they both both of those terms refer to the life force that permeates reality. So so there is always there's always been something established with this idea.
SPEAKER_01So do you think George Lucas kind of took and looked at all these different cultures and religions, and he kind of created what we call the force today?
Light Side Dark Side Balance
SPEAKER_02I I that's a great question. I have to believe that that probably Eastern teachings probably influenced that. I I I would guess, but it's hard to say because I've never heard him really say no, he hasn't where like the idea for Star Wars. Yes, it was it was supposed to be a soap opera in space. Yes, but but the specifics I've never heard him say where okay, how did I get the idea for the force? Where did that come from? But even in like Western philosophy, you know, thinkers and and fill philosophers have grappled with similar ideas. For example, the movement, the Stoics believed in rational force called the logos that orders the universe. Okay, so right away, when we talk about the force as a fictional thing, yes, it's fictional as far as Star Wars goes, but the the idea of it, the idea of energy and connection and the structure of reality, that's always been in the human uh psyche psyche or in their lexicon. Yeah, that that's something we've always been striving for. So, and Matt brought it up just briefly, but in Star Wars, the idea of the force, one of the most compelling aspects is there's a light side and a dark side. Yeah, there's duality, there's conflict, there, there, there's differences. And at first, first glance, you would just think, yeah, it's your typical storytelling, it's good versus evil. That's that's what the story is, and that's what most stories are. But but it's it's it's it's a little more nuanced, and and it's it's it leans a lot more into philosophy rather than just being good versus evil. Sure. So the duality mirrors concepts like yin and yang, which is popular, popular in Taoism. Taoism, yeah. Oh, look at that.
SPEAKER_01You gotta, yeah, you gotta get I have a tattoo of yin and yang on my arm. I never knew you had fire and water. I didn't know you had ink. Yeah, I honestly have known you for years.
SPEAKER_02I had no idea you had ink. That's my only ink. That that was my Valentine's gift for my wife when we were dating. Oh, look at that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I just learned something new. All right, did you know he had ink, Jamie?
unknownWe've been in the sauna together.
SPEAKER_01You've taken a bath together in the sauna.
SPEAKER_02All right, and the I kept my towel on, Jamie. Just saying. It's on his arm. All right. Oh, great Odin's Raven. So, yeah, it's it's uh when we're talking about again the these these philosophies and these things, it they're connections to real life philosophy and and religious beliefs. All right. So with with it with Taoism in particular, yin and yang aren't about good and evil, that's not what they promote. No, it's about balance, yeah, it's about opposing forces that are interconnected and interdependent. So you have to have one to have the other.
SPEAKER_01There's different there the the storytelling around yin yin and yang has been around for years, yes, decades, yes, centuries, centuries, yes. And there was a popular cartoon, Avatar, the last airbender, last airbender, yep. And there were two spirits, yin and yang, one was white, one was one was white, one was black. There were two fish, yep, right, and one of them was killed. Yeah, and the balance of the world, the moon disappeared, and that it's this storytelling around the light and dark has been around for centuries. So for George Lucas to take this to another level with storytelling, right, around talism, you know what you're talking about right now. Yeah, it's just it just creates a it just it's so interesting what the human mind can come up with when it comes to storytelling. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02I I I'm always enthralled and Star Wars takes this and and they really kind of in a way they kind of comp complicate it a little bit. Uh and and I'll and I'll say what I I'll explain what I'm saying with this. So in the in in the Star Wars universe, Jedi's are the are the good guys, supposedly, the light side, let's say, and they strive to suppress emotion, seeking calm and control. Oh, they're Vulcans, and the Sith. Well, we're gonna get back. No, no, we're we're coming to that, Matt. Don't worry. I got I got you on that. All right. The opposite power, the Sith, embrace passion, power, and desire. Okay, so it's kind of this duality in our own human natures. We seek we seek to suppress emotion at times. If it's painful, we try to calm and control things. And sometimes when we're I don't, I don't know, maybe if our if our if our intentions are not pure, we can get pulled in to passion and power and desire. Of course. And that's when you see, you know, because that's where the money is. Where where people, yeah, like like criminals, yes, they want money, they want power, they want, they they want these things. So philosophically, it raises a like a human question is suppressing emotion really good, or is it just another extreme? It's a skill. It can be a skill, but but I also say, and again, my bias as a therapist, I would also say it could be a skill, but it can also be a detriment. Yeah, because and there's a balance in that skill. If you're suppressing it, then that says that it it's affecting you the fact that you have to suppress it. So over history, again, many spiritual traditions talk about balance, not suppression as the goal. Interesting, yeah. So, really, kind of like maybe the real lesson isn't light is good, dark is bad, but rather imbalance is bad.
SPEAKER_01See, I work in the gray area because you need you need to be able to control things and have power over certain things, aspects of your life, but on the other side of it, you want to understand, you need to let go, you need you need to, you know, be the better person right in the long run, but you still need to be able to control your own environment at the same time. There's a there's such a gray area in that.
SPEAKER_02And absolutely, and and and again, every everybody has a different developed sense of self. So some people are are able to be very insightful, some people struggle with that.
SPEAKER_01So, so yeah, that that kind of plays into it to understand the sacrifice part of it, the forgiveness side part, the the forgiveness of it, yes, yes, there is such a balance, and you be able to forgive yourself before you forgive somebody else.
SPEAKER_02So, we mentioned a few moments ago stoicism. So, so let's get into two let's talk about the Jedi in particular in Star Wars. Okay, they value discipline, they value detachment, they and they embrace emotional control, and all of these things strongly resemble Stoic philosophy. That's what that that movement is about, right? It's about discipline and detachment and in and suppressing emotion, just take the high ground. So stoics believe that we should not be ruled by emotions, but guided by reason and logic. So, based on that, going back to Matt's thing, Vulcans, yeah, again, you we see these characters in different formats and different different settings. Now, it's really easy to do it in sci-fi just because that's kind of built for that kind of a thing, sure. But yes, in Star Trek, definitely Vulcans are stoics that that they they sub they ascribe to this approach to life, but they're so stoic that they're actually kind of assholes. Yeah. Well, and and here's the whole thing the idea is that with stoicism, if we if we if we don't let our emotions rule us and we just focus on reason and logic, the the thought or or the the the theory is that uh you'll maintain inner peace. Sure. Now there's some argue. There there's arguments, or there's the other side to that. So the Jedi takes this idea to an extreme. They discourage attachment entirely, even love.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
Anakin Fear Mentors And Therapy
SPEAKER_02So it's it's it's isolative in a way. Even though you're part of this bigger movement or you're part of this this thing, you're you're cutting yourself off individually from other areas that could be healthy and positive and and you know good for you. So that becomes a problem. So here's here's the thing, and we talk about Anakin, and again, those of you, I'm I'll just give a brief Anakin was a Jedi and he turned to the dark side.
SPEAKER_01He was trained, he became Darth Vader. He he he was trained as a Jedi. Yes, and through his his passion for his his girlfriend Padme, who he fell in love with, and her him seeing a vision through a dream that she was dying, he wanted to save her, and that's what drove him to the dark side was to save her, but somebody else was pushing him to embrace that that passion to save the power power and passion to save her.
SPEAKER_02And again, Anakin's fall to the dark side. It it's not just emotion that that's not the only thing driving it, right? It's it's his fear of losing something he loves, right? And that's the key part. And here's the thing if if you look at it in a philosophical sense and watch the movie very objectively, the Jedi failed him because they never taught him how to process these feelings of fear, these feelings of of potential loss. They simply tell him to let go, let it go.
SPEAKER_01But Obi his master, Obi-Wan, but Obi-Wan's master, Qui-Gon-Did what he could to uh introduce Anakin to the force, right? And then when he was uh killed by uh Maul or Darth Maul, yeah, Obi-Wan uh killed him, yeah, supposedly. Yeah, right, right, yes, but then Obi-Wan training Anakin and being a older brother to this kid, he the the the two of them were brothers, yeah, right? Yeah, and yes, I was I'm teaching you to to be a Jedi master, to be a Jedi, not a Jedi master, but right in the long run, Obi-Wan felt that he failed Anakin because he didn't teach him how to differentiate, right?
SPEAKER_02Yes, and and and again, that's that's that's good storytelling, but but how applicable is that in real life? Oh, absolutely. I mean, I mean that's that's kind of the question.
SPEAKER_01It's like having a mentor at work, yeah, right, right, yeah, or a mentor in life, you know, a life coach or whatever you're gonna use. Sure. But when you at work, if you have someone that you depend on or that you trust to teach you that you can go to for questions about your own work ethic and how to do things, but then go back in life, how to approach a certain life situation. Yep, if they give you bad advice, who are you gonna blame? Right, and that's what happened with Anakin is that he blamed the Jedi Order.
SPEAKER_02He blamed the system, the system let him down, yeah. In in in a way that is accurate, it is, yeah. So so we're gonna we're gonna continue to talk about the force, folks. I know we're we're we're gonna we're gonna do another episode. So we always do part one and two, so that's what we do, but we are nerding out at the same time, yes, and and that's them and we love this. And I know those of you listening, you can still get something from this. Don't don't bail because it's sci-fi or because it's Star Wars, maybe I don't know. Yeah, it's all relevant. It it it but these things we're we're gonna bring it back to how does this affect us as in real life as human beings with our own duality, with our own sense of right and wrong.
Part Two Tease And Dog Rescue
SPEAKER_01How did your dark how did George Lucas affect us without affecting us? Yes, right, all right, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02So we will be back with part two of the force in honor of May 4th. All right, thank you. So those of you on Facebook Live, stick around. We're doing one more episode. Those of you listening to audio, if the next episode is not there, it will be there on Tuesday or Thursday. Yes, it will. And unfortunately, I don't I I don't have I don't have a dog today. But you don't need it. No, I'm just saying though, because I went to the for some reason the Detroit dog rescue site was down today. All right, I couldn't get in this afternoon.
SPEAKER_01They might be upgrading, updating. Could be, could be. But look to the Detroit Dog Rescue. Yes. If you're looking and want to adopt a pet, bring you know, even if it's a senior, a senior dog or cat and you want to bring them to your household, give them the best years of their life. Yes, even if that's the last years of their life, do it. Just just open your heart, open your home.
SPEAKER_02Yep, that would be fantastic. Detroit dogrescue.com slash adopt. Honestly, every every week that I look these up, there's probably a good 20, 25 dogs. Yeah, so there's a lot. Just go and look. So yeah, and I and let me throw this out there in public because it'll force me to do it. We're we I'm gonna reach out to Detroit Dog Rescue and hopefully get them on the show. We've talked about this like a hundred times, but I I can send a message if you want me to. Please do. All right, yeah, you do it, that'd be great. I'll do it. We'll both do it. Yeah. All right, folks. That was our show. In the meantime, change your thinking, change your life, laugh hard, run fast, be kind. We'll be right back. We'll see you next time.