One of the delightful things about growing up in the United States or Canada in my generation was the experience of a man called Fred Rogers, or as we knew him, Mr. Rogers.

Mr. Rogers was there for us every day with kind words, a soothing tone and a wonderful way of helping you to feel really good about yourself.

And even years later, when I had outgrown Mister Rogers and his neighborhood, I still got a wonderful feeling whenever I would happen across his show and would even occasionally stop and watch for a minute or two before moving on.

And just the other day I stumbled across a video of Mr. Rogers in a very different setting, fighting for the life of his little show in front of Senator John Pastore, a man with a reputation of being one of the gruffest, hard-nosed, tightfisted and impatient curmudgeons in Washington!

YouTube - Mr. Rogers talks to the US senate

If you have any experience listening to Milton Erickson, especially as a younger man, before his second bout with polio, I'd like for you to bear that in mind as you think back on the video or watch it again...

Although it's not as uniform or densely packed as it would've been if that were Milton having that discussion, the sheer amount and quality of hypnotic language patterns as well as Fred's beautiful pacing and tonality in delivering them have the senator wondering what hit him before Fred's even halfway done!

As amazing and effective a real-world example of hypnotic, persuasive language as I've seen in a long time!

Now I suddenly think I understand why Mr. Rogers left such an impression on me and my generation!

Be Well,

Michael Perez