By: Shantanu Das Sharma, Sr. Associate Editor, ICN Group
Quick recap of what we have covered in Part 22
How to Intensify Any State
LIST DOWN THE SUBMODALITIES OF YOUR GOAL
SHIFTING SUBMODALITIES TO INCREASE THE LEVEL OF MOTIVATION
De-intensifying a Negative Experience
KOLKATA: At the same time, you may also want to shift your sub-modalities of a bad experience so that it reduces the intensity of a negative state. For example, you may want to de-intensify the fear or anxiety of meeting people, or going on stage or making a sales closure call. You can also reduce the intensity of being depressed over a negative event or experience. When you feel tempted to over-eat or eat something that you know is bad for you, you can do the opposite and shift the picture away, thereby disassociating from it. Let’s do an experiment together. Do you have an experience of failing or being depressed? Is there an experience that still bothers you? What do some people do to keep themselves locked into a negative state? Well, they unknowingly use their sub-modalities to play the negative experience over and over again in their heads, blowing it all out of proportion (increasing the size of the picture or the volume of the sounds), hearing the same nagging voice and reinforcing the bad feelings associated with the experience. Now, let’s find out how successful people deal with bad experiences. Well, they consciously shift their sub-modalities to reduce the intensity of the bad experience. Now, as you think of a negative experience, take note of the current sub-modalities you are going through and the level of intensity of your depression on a scale of 1 to 10.
SUBMODALITIES OF THE NEGATIVE EXPERIENCE (Sample)
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 Close-up Framed Slightly off center |
Auditory
| What sounds do you hear?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft or Loud? Low pitch or High pitch? Slow or Fast? |
Person reprimanding (or rejecting you)
In front Mono Loud Average Medium |
Auditory Digital
| What do you say to yourself?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft Loud? Low pitch High pitch? Slow Fast? |
‘Oh no!’
Right ear Mono Medium Low pitch Medium |
Kinesthetic
| Where is the Location?
What is the Shape? What is the Size? Small Large? Still or Moving? Direction of Movement? Light Heavy? Intensity on a scale of 1 to 10 |
In the chest
Square Very big Moving Downwards Heavy 8 |
Now, I want you to shift the sub-modalities one at a time and notice how it decreases the level of intensity of your state. In general, shift the sub-modalities from the right to the left of the checklist. For example, for the visual sub-modalities, shift it from associated to disassociated, freeze the movie into a still picture, make the image half the size, defocus it and change it from ‘color’ to ‘black and white’. Does the lousy feeling reduce significantly? It should. However, some people could be wired differently, so it pays to test it out. Next, work on the auditory sub-modalities. Take the sounds, reduce the volume (loud to very soft), and shift the direction of sound from in front of you to the right of you. You could make it extremely high pitched so it sounds squeaky and inaudible. What is happening to your state right now?
Finally, shift the location of the feeling from the chest downwards to the stomach. Make the shape from a ‘square’ to a ‘triangle’, reduce the size to a peanut etc. What happens now? This process is illustrated below.
SHIFT SUB-MODALITIES TO DECREASE THE INTENSITY OF THE BAD EXPERIENCE
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 Close-up Framed Slightly off center |
Dissociated
Still picture Small Defocused Dim Black & white Far away (remains the same) Bottom right corner |
Auditory
| What sounds do you hear?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft or Loud? Low pitch or High pitch? Slow or Fast? |
Person reprimanding you
In front Mono Loud Average Medium |
Person reprimanding you
From the right (remains the same) Soft Very high pitch Very slow |
Auditory Digital
| What do you say to yourself?
Direction of Sound? Mono or Stereo? Soft Loud? Low pitch High pitch? Slow Fast? |
‘Oh no!’
Right ear Mono Medium Low pitch Medium |
Oh no!’
Left ear (remains the same) Very soft Very high pitch Very slow |
Kinesthetic
| Where is the Location?
What is the Shape? What is the Size? Small Large? Still or Moving? Direction of Movement? Light Heavy? Intensity on a scale of 1 to 10 |
In the chest
Square Very big Moving Downwards Heavy 8 |
Shift to stomach
Triangle Very small (peanut) Still (remains the same) Light 2 |
* Notice that there are certain sub-modalities that we did not shift (i.e. it remains the same). For example, since the visual image is already ‘Framed’, it is already in a less intense mode. There is no point shifting it to become ‘Panoramic’ where it will make the depression more intense.
Learn Identifying Your Drivers!
As you go through the experience of being able to take control of your mind and shift the intensity of your state, you will notice that shifting some of the sub-modalities had no effect. Shifting some had little effect and shifting some others made a huge difference!
For some people, shifting the visual sub-modalities had the biggest effect on the intensity. For others, shifting the visual sub-modalities may have had no effect but shifting just the kinesthetic sub-modalities made a huge impact! Those sub-modalities which, when shifted, create the biggest effect on your state are called your Drivers! For example, if by changing from disassociated to associated caused your motivation to jump from 2 to 8, then associated / disassociated is definitely a driver for you! If changing the auditory sub-modality from soft to loud, changed the intensity from 2 to 3, then it is not a good driver for you! I want you to go back and take note of which drivers worked best for you! Drivers are extremely important. Once you know what your drivers are, you can just shift those few drivers and dramatically change the intensity of your state.
In short, in order to increase or reduce the intensity of any state, you just have to shift two or three of your main drivers!
Let me tell you how powerful this has been for me. I noticed that my drivers are associated / disassociated, near/far, volume of my internal voice and size of the feeling. So when I am not that motivated to do something, let’s say, write my new articles in this series, what do I do? I just shift my driver sub-modalities until my motivation reaches a 10! I think of myself writing my new article and may notice that my level of motivation is just a 4. Then I make the image associated, I bring the image very close, I say to myself, ‘Go for it!’ and I double the size of the feeling in my chest. In a few seconds, I feel really motivated to write and I start writing non-stop to complete the article in few hours.
(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 how to map across to transfer our mental bluprints. 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.
