Enhance your Lifestyle with NLP+ © Series: Part 21

By: Shantanu Das Sharma, Senior Associate Editor, ICN Group

Quick recap of what we have covered in Part 20

HOW YOU DIRECT YOUR BRAIN FOR OPTIMUM RESULTS

Our State Is Affected By What We Focus On  

Direct What You Focus On!

Controlling How We Focus

KOLKATA: It is not just WHAT we think about that determines how we feel, but also HOW we think about it. Has there been a time when you thought about something you were really motivated to do, like going shopping? Yet, on another occasion, you thought about the same thing and were less motivated to go. Why? Well, we said that the pictures, sounds and feelings that we generate in our mind determine the state that we are in. However, the intensity of our state is determined by HOW we generate the pictures, sounds and feelings. What do I mean? Well, think about something which you are motivated to do, say going shopping or maybe eating your favorite ice cream.

As you think about it, I want you to close your eyes and make a picture of it. See yourself enjoying that tasty ice cream cone. Notice what else you see around you in this experience. What sounds do you hear that is associated with this picture? You could perhaps hear the slurping sounds you make when you are eating the ice cream. What would you normally say to yourself as you think of this? For example, you may say to yourself, ‘Mmmm, yummy’. I want you to notice how motivated you are about doing this right now. Next, I want you to make some changes to the picture you are making of this experience. Take the picture in your mind and make it twice as big. What happens to the intensity of the state? Does the feeling of motivation increase? Now, make the picture brighter and bring it closer to you. What happens to the intensity of the motivation? If it is a still picture, make it into a movie, where everything is moving. Now, make whatever sounds you hear around you much louder. Make the sounds close and stereo, so you hear it in both ears. Do you feel a lot more motivated to eat that ice cream cone? For most people, making these changes to the picture (visual) and sound (auditory) elements of the experience will significantly increase the intensity of their state.

At times when you felt extremely motivated or excited to do something, it was because the pictures tended to be bigger, closer, brighter and more dynamic. The sounds and internal dialogue you generated were also probably louder and closer to you. Now, the reason why you didn’t feel so motivated at another time was because the pictures and sounds you made were smaller and further away. We normally do not consciously direct the way we make up the pictures, sounds and feelings in our mind. This is why we have little control over how we feel. By shifting these elements, we can immediately shift the intensity of any state we experience.

These elements that we can shift are called our Sub-modalities. Sub-modalities is a powerful concept that was developed by Dr. Richard Bandler, the co-developer of NLP. If you have ever watched a great movie, you will know that what makes a movie truly outstanding is the director’s ability to bring the audience through a series of intense emotional states like excitement, fear, anticipation or romance. How does he achieve this? He does it through manipulating the images and sounds on the screen. The angles, speed, color, focus, brightness, volume, size and distance all affect the intensity of the state that we experience. In order to get us intensely excited, the director will make the images move fast and increase the volume and tempo of the music. To capture the intensity of the emotions, he will zoom up close to the faces of the characters and may even place the audience in a first person perspective (we call this an associated experience).

Well, we do the same thing in our minds! For example, in order to get highly motivated, our brain must generate the pictures and sounds inside in a certain way. The trouble is that most people have never learnt to consciously be the director of their own mental movie. They allow their minds to run on autopilot! As a result, they are not in control of what they feel and how they feel it! Let’s see how you can become the director of your own emotions by mastering…sub-modalities.

Sub-modalities: The Control Keyboard to Our Brain

If you think of your brain as the most powerful computer on earth, then your sub-modalities are like the keyboard to your computer. Through making changes on this keyboard, you can shift yourself into any state and at whatever intensity. There are three major categories of sub-modalities; we call these your visual, auditory and kinesthetic sub-modalities. Let’s look at each of them now. Every time we think of something (internal representation), the pictures, sounds and feelings that we experience internally are always coded in a certain way. The ways in which they are coded are known as sub-modalities.

YOUR SUBMODALITIES

Visual Sub-modalities

• is how our brain codes pictures

Auditory Sub-modalities

• is the way we code sounds and

Kinesthetic Sub-modalities

• is the way we code internal feelings

The way we code any experience affects the state and intensity of that experience. For example, when we think of something that motivates us, our visual sub-modalities are likely to be close, large, moving and in color. Now, when we think of something we are not motivated by, the pictures may be further away, smaller, in black and white, and still. This internal coding is not the same for everybody. So you must discover what your brain does to create a particular state in you.

Disassociation & Association

One of the ways we code pictures is either in an associated or disassociated manner. I want you to close your eyes for a moment and think of a happy occasion in the past. It could be when you were with a loved one on the beach, a celebration, or the time you won an award etc. As you think of that experience, observe if the experience is one where you are looking at yourself from a distance (disassociated) or one where you are inside your own body looking through your own eyes (associated).

I have noticed that about half the audience in my workshops, seminars or even during an individual coaching session generates an associated experience while the other half has a disassociated experience. Now, you know what kind of experience YOU have, depends on the way your brain has been programmed. So is it better to code our experiences in an associated or disassociated way? What difference does it make to our state?

Let’s experiment and find out. Think back to that happy occasion for a moment. If you were associated in that experience, I want you to disassociate from it. Imagine yourself stepping out of your body and pushing the image away so you see yourself and the people around you from a distance. Notice how differently it makes you feel. Now, if you were disassociated in that experience, I want you to now get associated into it. Imagine yourself stepping into your body and into the experience. So, you see the people and things around you through your own eyes, and experience the sounds all around you. Notice how different it makes you feel? Well, what was the difference? If you are like most people, you would have noticed that when you experience events in associated way, the state is more intense! When you are disassociated, the intensity of the state is much lower! The way you code your experiences (associated or disassociated) can make a difference to the states you are in and the results you produce.

Formula for Being Depressed

Do you know someone who is always depressed? They may have had bad experiences a long time ago, but they still get upset by these long past incidents? I had a female client who told me that her life was full of misery. When she talked about her bad experiences, she started crying and got very upset. I found out that she had a pattern of associating into all her painful memories. So, even though these incidents took place about five years ago, she still felt extremely miserable whenever she thought about them. When I asked her to relate happy experiences in her life, she thought for a while but couldn’t feel anything. She said, ‘I don’t feel for those (happy) experiences anymore.’ Guess why? She had a pattern of disassociating from all her happy experiences, and associating into her negative ones!

No wonder she felt depressed constantly. When I taught her that she could consciously direct her mind to disassociate from all her bad experiences and associate into all her happy experiences, she began to take control over her emotions. The change was quite rapid. When she thought of her bad experiences and disassociated, she started to feel the emotional intensity of the pain drop. Then I got her to start thinking of all her happy experiences and associating into them! Her face started glowing and she said she felt a lot better about herself. Since then, she has consciously been taking charge of the way her brain codes her experiences.

Do you know people who are the complete opposite? We call them the happy-go-lucky ones. Such people could have had some horrific experiences but they get over the bad patches very fast. Soon they are into a positive state and have moved on in life. At the same time these cheery people can think back to the good things that happened to them, say five years ago, and feel happy and excited, all over again. Why do they feel so differently about their good and bad experiences from the negative bunch? Again, it is because of the way the cheery people’s brains have coded their memories. They tend to immediately disassociate from negative events they experience. Although they learn from their mistakes, they don’t feel emotionally drained thinking about it. At the same time, they tend to associate or plug into all their happy positive experiences. So they keep feeling the positive vibes of happy events, even after years have passed. This is one of the most important qualities to have in order to be a successful entrepreneur, chief executive, politician, investor or salesperson. Why? Because in order to succeed and create great wealth or success, you are bound to make lots of mistakes and fail a couple of times. And you must be able to quickly learn the lessons, let go of the bad feelings and get excited to make the next move!

Now, just think, if by merely knowing how to shift one’s sub-modality (association or disassociation) we can have such a positive impact on our state, what if we begin to take control

and shift all the sub-modalities that make up our experiences?

Wow! Do you see the boundless possibilities of directing our own minds?

(I facilitate Thought Leaders, Change Makers; Professionals & Business Owners translate NLP concepts into actions to achieve and elicit personal excellence. I conduct NLP Lifestyle Coaching Certification programs for individuals, corporate and celebrity clients. In the next article, you will learn to how to intensify any state. And after that you will come to know in subsequent articles, how you can utilize concepts of NLP+ in all walks of your life to replicate the success blueprint of a winner mindset to win through life.  So, stay tuned every Monday & Saturday and fasten your seat belt to ‘Enhance Your Lifestyle With NLP+’)

Shantanu Das Sharma, Creator of the concept NLP Lifestyle Coaching with NLP+, Founder of Neuromind Leadership Academy is an Amazon #1 Best Selling Author, NLP Lifestyle Master Trainer & Coach, Clean Language Facilitator & Strategic Interventionist.