By: Shantanu Das Sharma, Sr. Associate Editor, ICN Group
Quick recap of what we have covered in Part 24
Mapping Across: Transferring Our Mental Blueprints
Step 1. Elicit the Sub-modalities of Procrastination
Step 2. Elicit the Sub-modalities of Motivation (e.g. Going for a long drive)
Step 3. Notice the Differences.
Step 4. Take the Sub-modalities of Motivation and Put it into the Procrastination Experience
Step 5. Test it Out
Mapping Across Love to Disgust
Anytime you want to feel differently about a particular experience, just shift the sub-modalities of that experience into the sub-modality structure of what you want to feel instead. Can you do the opposite; i.e. shift being motivated to do something into being not motivated to do it? Of course. This will be useful if you are always motivated to spend money or to overeat. So you can think of spending money and shift the sub-modalities into that of procrastination. So when you think of spending money, you will procrastinate instead. Another powerful application is to change how you feel about foods which you love to eat, but are not particularly good for you. Let’s see how this can work. Again, let’s go through the five steps.
Step 1 Elicit the sub-modalities of a food you Love.
Step 2 Elicit the sub-modalities of a food you Hate.
Step 3 Notice the differences. These are called the Drivers.
Step 4 Take the sub-modalities of ‘Hate’ and put it into the ‘Love’ experience.
Step 5 Test it out.
Step 1. Elicit the Sub-modalities of a Food You Love
I want you to think of something which you love to eat (or drink), but is bad for you. Something that sends you drooling immediately! For example, grilled salmon fish. Now, close your eyes and imagine that you are enjoying a piece of grilled salmon fish. Make a checklist of the sub-modalities of this food that you absolutely love! An example is shown below. Note that for this case, there is a lot more focus on the kinesthetic sub-modality since it involves food. We also focus on different aspects such as the taste, texture and smell. Take note of how much you feel like eating it right now, on a scale of 1 to 10. It should be at a 9 or a 10.
SUBMOALITIES OF FOOD YOU LOVE (e.g. Grilled Fish)
Visual
| Disassociated or Associated?
Still picture or a Movie? Small or Large? Defocused or Focused? Dim or Bright? Black & white or Color? Far away or Close up? Framed or Panoramic? Location of the Image? |
Associated
Movie Large Focused Bright Color (grilled fish is juicy & burnt brown) Close Panoramic Center |
Auditory
| What sounds do you hear?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft or Loud? Low pitch or High pitch? Slow or Fast? |
Nil
Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil |
Auditory Digital
| What do you say to yourself?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft or Loud? Low pitch or High pitch? Slow or Fast? |
‘Yummy!!!’
Right ear Stereo Loud Low pitch Slow |
Kinesthetic
| What does it taste like?
What is the Texture? What is the Smell like? What is the temperature? Location of the feeling? |
Delicious & salty
Tender, thick & juicy Like roast, aromatic Warm In the mouth |
Step 2. Elicit the Sub-modalities of a Food You Hate
Now, think of a food which you absolutely hate. In fact, the more disgusting it is to you, the better. Some people think of liver, pig’s brains or kidney. I had one participant who loved all kinds of food so I got him to think of eating fermented, decomposing garbage. Just thinking about it made him feel like throwing up. Now, imagine that in front of you is this food that you absolutely hate. Then, imagine that you are eating it and notice the smell and taste of it. I know this is really tough, but do whatever it takes to get the result. Now, make a checklist of the sub-modalities. An example is shown below.
SUBMOALITIES OF FOOD YOU DISGUST or HATE (e.g. Liver)
Visual
| Disassociated or Associated?
Still picture or a Movie? Small or Large? Defocused or Focused? Dim or Bright? Black & white or Color? Far away or Close up? Framed or Panoramic? Location of the Image? |
Associated
Movie Large Focused Bright Black & white Further away Framed Center |
Auditory
| What sounds do you hear?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft or Loud? Low pitch or High pitch? Slow or Fast? |
Nil
Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil |
Auditory Digital
| What do you say to yourself?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft or Loud? Low pitch or High pitch? Slow or Fast? |
‘Yuck!!!’
Right ear Stereo Loud High pitch Fast |
Kinesthetic
| What does it taste like?
What is the Texture? What is the Smell like? What is the temperature? Location of the feeling? |
Raw & salty
Slimy & gooey Pungent Cold & clammy On the tongue (feel like throwing up) |
Step 3. Notice the Differences. These are Called ‘Drivers’
Visual
|
Disassociated or Associated? Still picture or a Movie? Small or Large? Defocused or Focused? Dim or Bright? Black & white or Color? Far away or Close-up? Framed or Panoramic? Location of the Image? |
Love (Grilled fish)
Associated Movie Large Focused Bright Color (grilled fish is juicy & burnt brown) Close Panoramic Center |
Hate (Liver)
Associated Movie Large Focused Bright Black & white Further away Framed Center |
Auditory
| What sounds do you hear?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft or Loud? Low pitch or High pitch? Slow or Fast? |
Nil
Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil |
Nil
Nil Nil Nil Nil Nil |
Auditory Digital
| What do you say to yourself?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft Loud? Low pitch High pitch? Slow Fast? |
‘‘Yummy!!!’
Right ear Stereo Loud Low pitch Slow |
‘Yuck!!!’
Right ear Stereo Loud High pitch Fast |
Kinesthetic
| Where is the Location?
What is the Shape? What is the Size? Small Large? Still or Moving? Direction of Movement? |
Delicious & salty
Tender, thick & juicy Like roast, aromatic Warm In the mouth |
Raw & salty
Slimy & gooey Pungent Cold & clammy On the tongue (feel like throwing up) |
Step 4. Take the Sub-modalities of ‘Hate’ and Put it into the ‘Love’ Experience
Think of the food you love again and imagine eating it. Except, use the ‘hate’ sub-modalities to structure the experience. First, imagine yourself getting ready to eat the juicy piece of grilled fish. Take the image and change it to black and white. Now, put a frame around the image and push it further away. Does the intensity of the state decrease? Now, imagine looking at the grilled fish, and see it as the same color as the raw liver (brownish red). Smell it and notice that it has a pungent smell. Now, put it in your mouth and chew it, noticing that it is raw and salty; the texture is slimy and gooey; and it tastes and feels exactly like liver. Then, say to yourself, ‘Yuck!’ in a loud, high pitched flat tone. Feel the sensation of throwing up on your tongue as the raw steak-liver slides down your throat. At this point, just thinking of the grilled fish should give you the same disgusting state as the liver gave you. How do you now feel about eating the grilled fish?
Step 5. Test it Out
The purpose of this exercise is not to turn you off grilled fish permanently. It is to decrease and neutralize the craving sensation for grilled fish. So the next time you look at it, you will be able to say no when you need to. This technique has been extremely useful in helping many of my participants gain control over their bad eating habits. In the past, they had to discipline themselves not to eat, even as they craved for high calorie foods. They felt so miserable that pretty soon, they would quit the diet. However, by using this technique, they changed the neurological associations that their brains linked to these foods. So when they thought of the nice juicy burger, they felt neutral or even put off. At the same time, they conditioned their minds to love healthy foods. Many of them have lost over 15 kgs in six months without much effort at all. Now, let’s explore more powerful strategies using sub-modalities.
Applying Distortion Technique: How to Remove an Intense Negative Experience
Sometimes, when a negative experience is too intense and upsetting, just reducing the sub modalities may not be enough to neutralize the experience. In these cases, you must use the ‘Distortion technique’. This is one of the most powerful techniques used to neutralize an intense negative experience. I want you to think of a bad experience in the recent past. One which still makes you upset when you think about it. For example, it could be a boss or a client treating you in an unreasonable way. Can you think of one? Great!
Now, I want you to close your eyes and play this lousy experience as a movie in your mind. Play the movie until you come to the end of the experience. Then, imagine pausing the movie at the end. Notice, the intensity of the negative state you may have at this time. Now, I want you to play the movie in reverse, at three times the normal speed. So, imagine you see everything moving in reverse. You see people walking backwards, their words going back into their mouths; sounds are also going in reverse. When you reach the beginning of the movie, play it forward at three times the normal speed so the pictures and sounds are going super-fast, and everything becomes really comical. Keep playing the movie backwards and forwards at this fast speed. As you do this, I want you to change your internal representation of this memory by distorting the visual and auditory sub-modalities. Imagine that the people in the experience are growing Mickey Mouse’s ears and their noses are growing longer and longer like Pinocchio. You can also imagine your boss with a bra on his head and his paunchy torso wrapped in a pink ballerina dress. Now, play some funny music in the background so the people’s voices are squeaky like the way a cartoon chipmunk speaks. Again, as you do this, play the movie backwards and forwards rapidly, at least five to eight times.
When you are finished, think of the lousy experience again. How do you feel about it now? At this point, most people would find it extremely difficult to access those miserable feelings. In fact, most people would start laughing when they think about it. What has happened? Well, by changing the way our mind has represented that past experience, we have changed the state you have associated with it. The same experience now triggers off a neutral or humorous state instead.
So, here is a summary of the steps to the Distortion technique
1 Think of a bad experience that is bothering you.
2 Play it as a movie until you come to the end of the experience.
3 Play the movie backwards and forwards at three times the normal speed. Distort the sub-modalities (sounds and pictures) so it looks and sounds funny, even ridiculous.
4 Repeat this process 5-8 times.
5 Test. Think of that bad experience again. How does it feel it now?
The purpose of the distortion technique is not to deny that you have a problem or mentally run away from one. The purpose is to get yourself out of a lousy state and into a neutral one where you can feel more empowered to make better decisions. And then you will take action to deal with the problem, thereby reaching your outcome.
An analogy I can give you is that of a jukebox. Our memories are stored like compact discs (CDs) in our mind, some of our CDs are of happy memories, while others are of sad ones. Whenever someone hits a particular button, we start playing that CD in our mind and get into a certain state. For example, the moment you see your boss’s face, it triggers your mind to play your mental CD of that bad memory. So, you keep feeling more and more frustrated. What the distortion technique does is this: by playing the movie fast backwards and forwards and distorting the sub-modalities, you are in effect taking the CD and scratching it over and over again. If you do it enough times, the CD will never play the same way again. That bad memory will never bother you again! You can use this anytime a past event holds you back emotionally!
(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 the Swish Pattern and how to change a lifelong habit in an instant. 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 & Friday 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.
