Jessica, PAINTING LESSON Before I knew the medical term for 'bed-wetting' & before I began studying Hypnotherapy an 'accident' happened. At the time I was teaching a Grade 3 class at the multicultural school in Mt Hagen, Papua New Guinea. Year - 1975. My class had students from Australia mostly. Local kids & teachers shared the same campus as the 'international' kids & we had assemblies, played sports & went on excursions together. One afternoon before we started painting class I showed the students how to wash their brushes in the water bucket. How to fill their brushes with paint & cup the paint-filled brush with the other hand so that other people would not get dabs on their clothes & cause mothers to get upset. Everyone nodded & said that they understood & knew exactly what to do. I had a sheet & did a quick demonstration. Several bold students keen to impress their classmates & me also demonstrated their ability to collect paint on their brushes & get to their tables without spilling a drop on the floor & without dabbing paint on each other. “Well done!” I said & the others clapped their hands. We all knew how that should be done properly. Everyone got busy. I was busy too when the biggest boy in the class came up to me & stood next to me. He was distressed & unable to speak. He stood holding his brush in front of him without cupping his hand over the tip. As I looked at him I assumed immediately that there had been an accident. So I called the class to order & began to make a statement when I noticed a pool of 'water' at his feet & that his shorts were wet & that his legs were too. I could see steam rising & smell the odor. I had already said something like, "it's important to be very careful." Having taken the situation in I told the student that he was to get a mop from the caretaker & wipe the floor & then go to the principal's office & ask for another pair of shorts. He followed my instructions & the rest of us kept working on our paintings. As each student finished work paintings were put up on a pegged line to dry. I reflected on the incident that afternoon & thought no more about it until 3 weeks later when the school had an 'open day' - parents & friends came along to see students & teachers at work. After lunch I was supervising a ball game when the lady principal shouted across the playground in her very loud voice that "Mr & Mrs Brown want to see you!" My immediately feeling of apprehension quickly dissipated as a very large mum & dad came striding over to meet me for the very first time. They shook my hand with great vigor & wanted to know what happened at school 3 weeks ago. I told them about the painting lesson & the accident & what had happened. The said they knew something had happened that day because their son had stopped wetting the bed & had not wet the bed since. He'd grown up in other ways too. They went on to say that they had made several trips to Sydney & Melbourne to see doctors & specialists about their son’s difficulty & had tried various other cures without success. It appears that something inexplicable happened during our painting lesson that day.
How does Control Mastery Theory apply to the following story, if at all?
We cleaned up the work place, put the materials away & wiped the table tops with damp cloths & the floor with the mop that had been rinsed off. Tomorrow would be exhibition & discussion day & we would be writing stories about our paintings.
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